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cristinablackthornkingson · 6 years ago

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Shadowhunters Short Story #40 Baby Carstairs #2.

It is a warm summer’s day in 2014 and Kit Herondale has found himself spending his summer playing with his little sister Mina. Right now they are playing ‘Eye Spy’ which Mina always cheats at, not choosing an object until the end when Kit has guessed almost every object in the room. He didn’t mind of course, he thought it was funny and cute.

“I spy wif my little eye somfin the color of blue!” Mina exclaims, bouncing up and down in her seat in delight. She loved playing with her big brother, it was one of her favorite things to do, she adored him so very much and thought he was one of the best people ever to exist, alongside her daddy and Uncle Magnus.

“My jeans?” Kit asks, pulling at the cuff of his jeans.

“Nu uh!” Mina says, shaking her head, black curls flying everywhere.

“My eyes?” Kit asks.

“No silly!” Mina giggles.

“Hmmm, dad’s jacket?” Kit asks, looking at Jem’s blue jacket hanging up by the door. Tessa and Jem had always been so kind and loving to him, they made him feel so loved and cared for and safe, shortly after Mina was born Kit had gotten so use to Jem and Tessa being referred to as ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’ that he started to call them mum and dad too, they didn’t make a big deal or fuss out of it, for which he was extremely grateful.

“Nope!” Mina exclaims, popping the ‘P.’

“I don’t know Min-Min, I give up.” Kit says.

“Your socks!” Mina says, pointing at Kit’s bright blue socks that Ty had gotten him for their first anniversary because he knew Kit was always in need of socks. He and Ty had first reunited shortly after Mina. was born, Emma was forever visiting here in Devon and often when Kit couldn’t watch Mina, Emma would. When Mina was 2 months old, Ty came with Emma one day to meet Mina. He and Kit got to talking and quickly became friends again. Shortly after that Kit worked up the courage to tell Ty how he felt about him and to his great surprise and delight, Ty felt the same about him. Now they had been dating for almost 2 years and they have been the best two years of Kit’s life.

“Ah good one!” Kit says, smiling brightly at his sister.

“My turn!” Mina exclaims, even though she just had a turn.

“No way you just went!” Kit says in a light tone.

“Having fun you two?” Kit hears Tessa ask. He twists around on the sofa and sees her standing in the doorway, smiling at both her children.

“Uh hu! I winnin’ mama!” Mina says.

“My clever girl.” Tessa says, walking over and kissing her daughter’s forehead. “When your dad gets back we need to talk to you two.” She lightly adds. Jem was out picking up some things from the store, and should be back very soon.

“I’m not in trouble am I?” Kit cautiously asks, wondering if Tessa and Jem were finally fed up of him and want him gone, he wouldn’t blame them of course but he would miss them and Mina if they did ask him to go.

“No not at all, we just need to tell you something.” Tessa assures him.

Approximately half an hour later Mina is curled up in Kit’s lap watching Paw Patrol and Kit is scrolling through his messages from Dru which are mostly memes and pictures of Cristina, Mark and Kieran’s daughter Amelia, who is a few months old, dressed in the most adorable pink onsie with white llamas printed on it, along with a big pink bow holding her black curls back from her face. She looks just like Kieran and is absolutely adored by all her aunts and uncles, no doubt Emma bought that onsie for her and Helen probably bought her the hairband.

As the credits roll for paw patrol, the front door swings open and Jem steps in with two shopping bags, one in each hand.

“Daddy!” Mina exclaims, taking her thumb out of her mouth and grinning at him. Jem smiles at her and walks over to her and Kit.

“Hi my babies.” Jem softly says, bending to kiss his daughter’s forehead and ruffling Kit’s hair.

“Dad! I’m not a baby!” Kit says in a tone of embarrassment, blushing bright red.

“You’re 17, you are absolutely a baby.” Jem jokingly says.

“Silly daddy, Kitty big boy, not baby!” Mina giggles, finding it hilarious that her dad thought her big strong, tall brother was a baby.

“You are too sweet.” Jem says, scooping Mina up and kissing her cheek. “Shall we go see how mama is?” Poor Tessa has been very sick these last few days, she hasn’t been able to do much because she’s felt so unwell, Kit assumed she has some sort of bug and just hopes he doesn’t get it too.

“Uh hu!” Mina says, wrapping her arms around the back of Jem’s neck.

Jem makes his way upstairs to his and Tessa’s room, with Mina in his arms. Tessa is lying in the bed (which hadn’t been made that day because she felt so ill and Jem had gone out to get her some things before he remembered to make the bed) looking very pale and tired.

“How are you feeling love?” Jem softly asks, sitting beside her with Mina in his lap.

“A bit better now, I went downstairs to check on Kit and Mina but then I started to feel really sick again so I had to come lie down for a bit.” Tessa says in a tired tone.

“I picked up some anti-nausea tablets in the pharmacy for you.” Jem says, taking a small packet of tablets out of his pocket and handing them to Tessa.

“You’re a gem.” Tessa says in an appreciative tone. Jem grins at her and says

“I know, that’s my name.” Tessa laughs and kisses his cheek.

“We should tell the kids today.” Tessa quietly says, as Mina scrambles off the bed and chases after Church.

“Do you feel up to it?” Jem gently asks.

“Yeah, I really want them to know.”

An hour later, once Tessa has taken some of her anti-nausea medication and doesn’t feel as awful, she and Jem go downstairs to talk to Kit and Mina.

“So.. what do you need to talk to us about?” Kit nervously asks, wringing his hands together.

“Well... I’m sure you’ve been wondering why I’ve been so sick lately.” Tessa says, looking at Kit.

“I just assumed you had some sort of bug.” Kit says, shrugging his shoulders.

“No, no it’s not that at all. I’m pregnant.” Tessa softly says, placing a hand over her stomach. She had started feeling the symptoms very early on, she recognized them immediately. Once she told Jem, he summoned The Silent Brothers. Brother Enoch confirmed the pregnancy and told them they were having another girl. She and Jem were and are absolutely thrilled.

“Really? You hear that Min-Min? You’re going to a big sister!” Kit says in a tone of delight, smiling at his little sister, who’s eyes have gone wide with amazement.

“Baby?” Mina curiously asks.

“Yes Mina mine, mama’s got a baby in her tummy.” Jem softly says, grasping Tessa’s hand in his and smiling at his daughter.

“Kitty you teach me how be good big sister?” Mina asks, looking up at Kit with pleading brown eyes. She wanted to be just as amazing as her big brother and wanted her little brother or sister to love her just as much as she loves her big brother.

“Of course I will Min-min, you’re going to be a wonderful big sister.” Kit softly says.

“Are you excited to be a big sister Min?” Tessa asks in a tone of excitement.

“Uh hu! Love baby!” Mina says.

“You should upload a pregnancy reveal to your YouTube Channel as a way to tell everyone else.” Kit jokingly says. When he had first moved in with Jem and Tessa he spent most of his time watching YouTube videos, Jem was fascinated by it and Tessa started to really enjoy sitting down and watching videos with Jem and Kit. When Tessa was 6 months pregnant with Mina, Jem asked Kit to help him start a YouTube channel where he could upload videos of him playing his violin. Soon after that Tessa started uploading book reviews to the channel as well as some pregnancy updates but she went back to only posting book reviews when Mina was born, she wasn’t comfortable having her on camera a lot.

“That’s an excellent idea Kit! That would be a lovely way to tell everyone else and we won’t have to make countless phone calls to tell everyone else.” Jem says.

“I was just kidding!” Kit says, hoping that Tessa and Jem wouldn’t rope him into a pregnancy reveal, Dru would never stop teasing him about it and Mark would never stop going on about how sweet, cute and precious it is.

“We’re not, I think it would be nice to do a pregnancy reveal video and as your dad said it’s much easier than calling everyone to let them know.” Tessa says.

A few days later Tessa and Jem arrive home from a scan with three letter boards and a scan picture. Tessa would receive most of her prenatal care from The Silent Brothers, but she and Jem really wanted to have a scan too and Catarina was able to organize one for them at their local hospital. Though Tessa was more use to technology than Jem was, she was equally shocked and awed when she saw her baby curled up inside her, she had never had a scan before, they didn’t exist when she was pregnant with Jamie and Lucie and she never had one with Mina either.

As Jem checks on Mina and Kit upstairs, Tessa sits down at the kitchen table and starts spelling out the kids names on each letter board. She and Jem planned to film and upload the pregnancy reveal today, now that they have chosen a name for their daughter.

About 40 minutes later Tessa has finished the letter boards and Jem has changed Mina from her pajamas into a beautiful ruby red knitted top and jeans, which Emma had bought for her.

“Why do I have to be involved in this?” Kit grumbles as Tessa sets up the camera. He didn’t actually mind being part of this, but it was slightly embarrassing.

“Because you’re part of the family and our son, it wouldn’t feel right without you.” Tessa says. Kit can’t help but grin in delight when Tessa calls him family, for the first time in his life he is finally part of a family and with people who really love him and care about him. He had no doubt his birth mother loved him, but he has no memories of her, just one picture he found in his dad’s room of her sitting up in a bed, gazing down at Kit in her arms, just after he had been born.

Tessa gives Kit his letter board which has ‘Christopher Jonathon Herondale- Ke Carstairs.’ and his birthday spelled out on it, and has him sit on the sofa, then she places Mina next to him and hands her a letter board with ‘Wilhelmina Yiqiang Ke Carstairs’ and her birthday spelled out on it. Then Tessa sits at the end of the sofa and places the third letter board over her stomach. The third letter board spells out ‘Charlotte Bi Ke Carstairs, coming March 2015′ and at the bottom of the letter board is a scan picture of the baby.

The next day in Los Angeles, Emma logs onto YouTube to do some research for a mission she and Julian have been assigned. A bunch of mundanes in the local area have been playing a lot of paranormal games like The Midnight man and summoning demons which are obviously causing a lot of harm. Alec has asked her and Julian to do some research on these games and to find mundanes who are playing these games and stop them. Dru told her there were a lot of good videos on YouTube with lots of information on these games so she decided to take a look today. When she pulls up her home page, Emma quickly checks her notifications and sees there’s a new video from Jem and Tessa titled ‘We have something to tell you.’ She clicks on the video and leans forward to watch curiously.

The video opens with a shot of Kit sitting on the sofa looking half thrilled half mortified, holding a letter board that spells out ‘Christopher Jonathon Herondale-Ke Carstairs, February 22nd 1997.’ then it pans to a grinning Mina who is holding a letter board that says ‘Wilhelmina Yiqiang Ke Carstairs, March 14th 2013.’ then the camera pans to Tessa who is also grinning widely and holding a letter board over her stomach that says ‘Charlotte Bi Ke Carstairs, coming April 2015.’

Emma sits back with a gasp as the video ends. She grabs her phone and quickly dials Jem’s number.

“Hello Emma!” Jem answers in a cheery tone, a few seconds later.

“Tessa’s pregnant?” Emma asks in a high pitched tone. Jem chuckles and says

“You saw our video, then?”

“Yes! Why didn’t you tell me?” Emma asks.

“We wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while and when we told Kit and Mina, Kit suggested we upload a pregnancy reveal and Tessa and I thought it was a lovely idea and much easier than making countless phone calls.” Jem calmly explains.

“Oh I’m so happy for you! I can’t believe Min-Min’s going to be a big sister!” Emma exclaims.

“Neither can I but I can’t wait to see her with her sister, she’ll be wonderful, she has such wonderful role models in you and Kit.” Jem softly says. Emma was like a big sister to Mina and Mina just adores her and idolizes her, she thought she was one the most amazing, bravest women ever.

“She certainly will, I have to come visit soon!” Emma says.

“We would love that, we all miss you so much!” Jem says.

“Maybe I could come stay for a bit when the baby is born.” Emma softly suggests.

“That would be lovely, you’re always welcome here, you’re family.” Jem says.

“Thanks Jem. Oh, I better go see if Cristina needs a hand, I can hear Amelia crying and Mark and Kieran are out.” Emma says.

“Of course, see you soon okay?” Jem says.

“Yeah see you soon, bye.” Emma says before hanging up and hurrying down the hall to the nursery.

Throughout the next few weeks of her second trimester, Tessa still feels horribly sick and unwell, it is worse some days than others but she is very lucky that she can rest as much as she needs to while Jem and Kit look after Mina, she has no idea what she would do if she were on her own, though that would never really happen, Magnus, Catarina and Ragnor would never leave her on her own or not support her.

Once her sickness clears up, Tessa has a smooth, healthy pregnancy with regular check ups from The Silent Brothers. Almost everyday after work Catarina comes around to visit and make sure Tessa doesn’t need anything, just like she did when Tessa was pregnant with Mina. Catarina is Mina’s godmother and Magnus is her godfather, they are both wonderful, loving guides for Mina who she adores so much. She and Jem have decided to ask Emma to be Charlotte’s godmother and plan to ask Alec to be her godfather.

Throughout her pregnancy Tessa started uploading pregnancy updates to YouTube again, she enjoyed doing them a lot since she wasn’t accepting many clients through her pregnancy, it gave her something to do. She planned to do a video with Charlotte when she is born so that all their distant friends and family can see her, but then she would stop and just send pictures and short videos to everyone, she wasn’t comfortable with the girls being on camera very much, the internet is full of horrible, dangerous people who would want to hurt her daughters.

Right now Tessa is 9 months pregnant, just weeks from her due date, they had just celebrated Kit’s birthday at the end of February,Mina will turn three in March and Charlotte is due in April. it is rather special that all 3 of their children’s birthday were one month after the other but it meant that Spring was a very busy time for The Carstairs.

Tessa and Jem had just woken up about half an hour ago, Jem is finishing getting dressed before he goes down to make breakfast and Tessa is sitting on the bed, needing a breather after she got dressed. At 9 months pregnant she easily got out of breath and is extremely tired and lethargic all the time, the baby was already 7lbs, though she felt about 20lbs.

As Tessa sits waiting for the baby to stop kicking so roughly, she hears little footsteps padding into the room and looks up to see Mina coming into the room, her black hair in total disarray, she is still dressed in her pajamas and is sucking on her thumb.

“Good morning baby.” Tessa softly says, as Mina scrambles up beside her. Mina totally ignores her mother and crawls into her lap, wraps her arms around her bump and rests her head on the bump.

“I wove you Charlie.” Mina softly says, cuddling further into Tessa’s stomach. Tessa’s heart swells with love and joy.

“Oh Min, you’re so sweet, I can’t wait to see you with your sister.” Tessa softly says, brushing her daughter’s hair back from her face.

“Mama she come soon?” Mina asks in a hopeful tone.

“Yes baby very soon.” Tessa softly says.

A few minutes later Jem, Tessa and Mina head downstairs to the kitchen to have breakfast. Mina immediately runs to play with Kit in the living room. For a few minutes Tessa stands in the doorway to the living room watching Mina and Kit, until she starts to feel a familiar pain in her lower abdomen. She pulls out her phone to time the pains and is relieved to find they are at least 15 minutes apart, though that doesn’t mean Charlotte won’t be making her arrival soon, when Lucie was born Tessa’s contractions were 20 minutes apart when she started feeling them, but within half an hour they were 5 minutes apart and she was feeling the urge to push, there was nothing to say that wouldn’t happen this time.

Tessa makes her way back into the kitchen where Jem is standing over the stove cooking breakfast with Church slinking around his feet, obviously looking for some attention.

“Jem.” Tessa says, slowly making her way over to him. He turns and smiles at her, his eyes lit up with joy.

“Are you alright love?” Jem asks.

“I think it’s time, I think I’m having contractions.” Jem drops the wooden spoon with a clatter and rushes off without a word, to summon The Silent Brothers.

When Brother Enoch arrives, he confirms that the pains Tessa has been feeling are contractions. Jem briefly leaves Tessa to let Kit know that the baby is on the way. He then goes back up to Tessa and quickly sends a message to Emma and Magnus letting them know that the baby is coming and asking them to let all their other friends and family know.

Tessa’s labor is short but painful, only 1 hour after feeling her first contraction, she feels the urge to push and after only 40 minutes of pushing, Tessa feels a weight lift from her and before she knows it she’s listening to her baby crying.

“Jem, is she okay?” Tessa asks in a breathless tone, clutching his hand tightly.

“Yes, she’s perfect just like her big sister and brother.” Jem quietly says, leaning down to kiss Tessa’s forehead as the midwife cleans the baby down and wraps her up in blankets.

A few minutes later the midwife passes the baby to Tessa, who immediately pulls her closer and peppers her little face in kisses.

“Hi Charlotte my sweet girl, I love you so much.” Tessa softly says, holding her daughter tight and close.

“Your big sister is going to absolutely adore you my love, and your big brother.” Jem softly says, gently stroking Charlotte’s flushed pink cheek.

“Oh Jem I can’t believe we made her, and Mina” Tessa quietly says, gazing at her daughter, still in awe of the life she and Jem have made together.

“Neither can I, they’re both so perfect, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have such an amazing life, three amazing children and you, the love of my life, as my wife.” Jem says in a tone soft as a whisper, leaning in to kiss his wife’s cheek.

A little while later Kit and Mina come up to meet their sister. Mina is immediately infatuated with her sister and is so sweet and gentle with her.

“Mama look she got eyes like you!” Mina exclaims in an excited tone, as she cradles her sister and looks at her in amazement. Tessa pulls Charlotte’s’ blankets back and sees that she has opened her eyes wide, to reveal big grey eyes just like Tessa.

“So she does, do you love her as much as you always said you would?” Tessa softly asks.

“Uh uh! I be best big sista eva! Oh! Mama, daddy I ask you somfin?” Mina asks.

“Of course love.” Jem says.

“Can we adopt Ty-Ty?” Mina asks in a deadly serious tone, surprising her parents and brother.

“Adopt him?” Tessa asks, wondering if she heard Mina right.

“Uh hu! He no got a mama and papa, they wif the angel but he need a mama and papa! So can we adopt him? Please?” Mina asks in a pleading tone.

“Baby it’s very sweet that you love Ty so much but though he may not have his mum and dad, he has Helen and Aline and Mark and all his other siblings who love him and look after him, Ty loves you very much but I don’t think he would want to leave his brothers and sisters in LA, you wouldn’t want to leave Kit or Charlotte, would you?” Tessa gently explains. Mina shakes her head vigorously.

“Don’t worry Min-Min, Ty has lots of people who love him and care about him, and he’s a Centurion, he’s super smart and can look after himself, you don’t need to worry about him okay?” Kit gently says, brushing his sister’s hair back.

“Oh okay!” Mina says.

About half an hour later, as Kit is holding Charlotte and fussing over her, they hear a knock downstairs at the front door. Jem and Tessa share a look of confusion, they weren’t expecting anyone. Jem quietly makes his way from the room, shutting the door tightly behind him, before making his way downstairs. When he opens the front door and sees who is standing there, his fear and worry immediately vanish.

“Emma!” Jem says in a tone of delight, pulling her into a hug. “We weren’t expecting you.” He softly adds.

“I know but when I got your text that the baby was coming, I thought I would come and surprise you all, you don’t mind do you?” Emma asks, as she pulls back from the embrace.

“No of course not, Tessa will be so pleased to see you! Come meet your cousin.” Jem says in a joyful tone, ushering her inside.

Once they get upstairs Jem leads her straight to his and Tessa’s room where she and the kids are.

“Look who I found.” Jem says, pushing open the door to his and Tessa’s room and stepping aside to let Emma past. Tessa’s face lights up when she sees her, as do Mina and Kit’s.

“Memma!” Mina shrieks, launching herself off the bed and running to Emma.

“Hi Min-Min!” Emma says, scooping her little cousin up and kissing her little cheek.

“Memma I big sister now!” Mina proudly exclaims.

“So I heard, can you introduce me to her?” Emma softly asks, setting Mina down.

“Uh hu! Come see!” Mina says, grabbing Emma’s hand and dragging her over to Tessa’s bedside where little Charlotte was fast asleep in her bassinet. Emma’s heart swells with love when she sees her, she has a few wisps of brown hair like Tessa’s , she has Jem’s pallor, bone structure and eye shape while she has Tessa’s mouth and nose shape.

“Oh Tess, Jem, she’s so beautiful.” Emma quietly says, gazing down at the sleeping baby in awe.

“Just like her cousin.” Tessa softly says, smiling widely at Emma, delighted to see her. Emma smiles back and takes a sit next to Kit.

“Hey dork.” Emma says in an affectionate tone, ruffling his hair.

“Ahh! It took me hours to style my hair this morning!” Kit exclaims, pushing Emma’s hand away.

“Since when do you care about your hair?” She asks in an amused tone.

“Since he started dating Ty of course.” Tessa says in a teasing tone.

“Next thing we know he’ll be dressing in suits and writing poetry for Ty.” Jem chimes in. Kit groans and buries his face in his hands.

“Oh my god you are all so embarrassing!” He says in a muffled voice.

“It’s our job dummy, you’re just lucky Jace isn’t here to tease you too.” Emma says, lightly bumping his shoulder with hers.

“Or Magnus.” Tessa adds in an amused tone. Magnus always referred to himself as Kit’s Uncle and was always trying to give him advice and dating tips, Kit was always mortified by him and refused to call him ‘Uncle Magnus’ like Magnus wanted.

“Uggh when they come to meet Charlotte I’m hiding from them.” Kit exclaims. Though he hates how his parents and other relatives tease him and embarrass the hell out of him, secretly he wouldn’t have it any other way, this is what is to be part of a family and Kit couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of this family, even if they were the most embarrassing people ever to exist.

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