Not by blood [Nolan + Kyanite]

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"Jeran?" A light knock comes upon the door as the girl with brunette hair stands behind it, cradling a sleeping baby in her arms. The child's face is so angelic with sleep that the side of her lip twitches gently and her chest heaves with a heavy breath, not being barged by the light knock on the wooden door. "Jeran?"

Her knuckles rap quietly yet again on the door as she shifts the child just a little in her arms and sways from the left to the right multiple times until the door slowly opens to reveal the man behind. Sleep has taken over his appearance with the boxer shorts and wife beater shirt. His hair was also a telltale sign that his sleep had been disrupted even though it was fifteen minutes past nine in the morning. With a groggy start, he rubs his eyes and look over to his sister and then to the baby in her arms. Immediately, something fearful comes to mind and he has to ask just to get it past that first hurdle.

"She okay? Are you okay?" His caring and compassion is all for the ones that live in this household, only doubled and multiplied since the birth of the tiny little human that lays in her mother's arms. That dark hair hasn't budged since her birth not but just a week ago and it's so obvious to whom she belongs with that nose and the shape of her eyes. Not only does she look like his sister, but there is a bit of his mother reflected upon those beautiful eyes that remain closed. A goofy grin appears as he steps out of the door way and reaches for his niece in her arms.

"Hey little niece-y. Keeping mommy up in the night?" He asks, bouncing slightly and running his hand over her fuzzy head, causing her to stir. She squirms in the blanket causing him to be alerted to Kyanite's harsh stare. He quits immediately. "Can't wake you up, can I? Mommy would hurt me. You need your sleep as much as me since you are keeping Uncle J up all night too with all your girly behavior."

His teasing method only makes Kyanite drop her jaw and then give a scowling grin. "Hey. You can always sleep downstairs if you aren't happy with your niece. She's the guest in this house. She can sleep wherever she wants." She whispers and reaches over to take the little one from his arms, but he shields her and takes a step back.

His messy dark locks shake with the 'no' he's insinuating as he bends over and kisses her forehead. "My niece. Stay away, Kya. Let me have my moments." He presses and nuzzles her nose with his before kissing her forehead and handing her back to Kyanite. "So, mind telling me why you are waking me up this early?"

"Can you do me a favor and go get Nolan O'Rourke? He hasn't seen her yet. I want him to see her. I'd go myself, but I'm still in no shape to run around. I'm doing good enough to try to keep up with the house. Please?" She begs him, putting out her lower lip and then arching Mira upward to make her do a pleading face, but with her sound asleep, it doesn't work.

"You better be glad Dunham made such a cute little girl as much as he hates them."

"Did... and it wasn't his fault. Don't talk about him like that. I don't care if you dislike him or not." She hits his shoulder gently and then backs up again. "Will you go get him?"

"Yeah. Let me get dressed, okay?" He asks and closes the door.

Not long after, a dark haired man, dressed in a simple white shirt and covered by a black jacket, walks up to the door of the family in question that his sister had asked him to visit. Without even thinking about it, his relaxed palm balled up and his knuckles rapped on the door thrice.

When no answer came about, he knocked yet again. "Mr. O'Rourke. It's Jeran Ruze."

[Artemis]

These days, Nolan often wondered how he ever managed to get anything done, back when he was chasing a tiny fair-haired little boy all over the house.

With winter taking its sweet time rolling out of the mountains of District 2, he was constantly chopping more wood to keep their nearly-gone pile in the backyard; there was snow that needed to be pushed off the roof, walkways that needed to be shoveled, and with Brody still milling around in the days before being called back to duty, Nolan was keeping a vigilant eye on him for any signs of trouble.

Of course, now he had the task of trying not to encroach too much on his son's space. Brody had been incredibly tolerant of his parents' smothering and clinginess after they'd nearly lost their only child, but Nolan knew his son too well not to know that it was wearing on him being coddled so much. But it was incredibly hard to put distance between himself and Brody when he was still so fragile; his body had healed, but his mind was plagued by monsters that lived only in his memories that woke him screaming from nightmares that made him suddenly mind his father's hugs and his mother's hands gripping his, a lot less.

For the time being, Brody was asleep in his room, as he often was; he didn't sleep well at night, so Nolan didn't bother him when he drifted off during the day. He'd set up the baby monitor in his son's room after the first night he was home from the hospital; Brody had protested, insisting he 'wasn't a baby, Dad'... Until he'd had one of his night terrors, waking to find himself protectively enclosed in his father's arms.

Brody hadn't complained after that.

The feed over the monitor was Brody's breathing, even and slow; Nolan was back inside, stoking the fire in the hearth and was just beginning to regain feeling in his frozen fingertips when someone knocked at the door. He wasn't due back to work until after Brody returned to duty, but this wouldn't be the first time that had been called into question; Nolan didn't recognize the young man on the porch as he looked through the peephole, but he seemed to know who Nolan was.

"Mr. O'Rourke. It's Jeran Ruze."

Nolan opened the door before he could knock again, not wanting it to wake Brody. This time, at least, he didn't immediately bite off the messenger's head.

"I don't know anyone by that name," He said, slightly wary, "How do you know where I live?"

cc1313 - Jeran Ruze
c44462 - Kyanite Ruze
bb7d00 - Nolan O'Rourke