The Salvatore Saga, Part Four: My new Life

As I had eaten enough, meaning many portions, and coffee had also been brewed for me in addition to my two pots already, I was stuffed. But the alarm on my wrist prompted me to move.

I said to Damon, who was now holding Mona in his arms, "Excuse me, I can take her, I have Milo waking up."

Damon asked, "How do you know that, and what's with the wristwatch?"

Adam explained, "It's an alarm system for Mimi. She can see which baby is fussing or crying, she can remotely move cribs or start recorded talk to try to calm babies down if needed. Now there is an alarm on Milo, meaning the little gentleman is awake and probably wet."

Mariella said, "When can I have that system?"

Damon replied, "Not you, darling, but me, all the Salvatores, and the other men, too. So we are aware of where is fussing and where we are needed. I'm not sure if you should have one."

I took Mona and walked towards my nursery, leaving them to talk things over. Mona was drowsy after her blood meal and all the excitement. So I placed her into her crib, picked up Milo (who was indeed wet and in need of new clothes), and walked over to my care station.

I placed him in there and reached under the table, opening a little hatch so a part of the table folded down, making room for me to get closer and change him properly. I heard footsteps approaching, and Damon walked in, looking at my care station.

Wulfe said, "Yeah, there's that part that folds down so she can reach things better, and there are trash baskets under there, but she insists on keeping the part up when she's not using it."

Damon came next to me and used a spell to make the folding part permanent, saying, "Why in the world do you make things harder when this works better?"

I just grunted as I shushed Milo, opening the left side cupboard to put the dirty laundry in a bag, which was quite full.

"Fine, I have to do laundry next," I thought to myself.

Milo was cooing as I finally got him naked. He grabbed his own toes and tried to put them in his mouth. I took his pacifier from the upper shelf and gave it to him. He also had fangs that sometimes bit themselves, which upset him.

The triplets were asleep for now, and I was trying to keep them that way. Damon went to check on the triplets, and I could hear him commenting to Mariella about how much they had grown. Well, they grew twice as fast as human babies - three weeks for them equals six weeks in human terms, so yes, they had grown. 

I opened my right-side cupboard to get clean clothes for Milo and noticed his shelf was empty. My mind was too busy, and I remembered that I had intended to stock clothes after the meal.

Adam asked, "What do you need? Oh, you're out of clothes for Milo? Let me get them."

Damon promptly came near me and said, "Let me."

I nodded and said, "Milo has the green shelf. There should be bigger clothes for him."

I had just cleaned him up as they were excellent at pooping all over themselves, and he had a little diaper rash that I had to deal with, too.

I reached for a bottle of thick white substance at the back of my table, but number two grabbed it and asked, "There is no label here. What is this?"

He pumped a few squirts and smelled it. "Bump? Are you using our cream of love for babies?"

I nodded and said, "There is some dental substance from me in the mix. It soothes rashes and is better for cleaning than commercial baby wipes, as they are used a lot. So I don't want to irritate their skin with all those chemicals."

Damon brought a pile of clothes and put them in the cupboard, noticing that others were low on stock too.

 I said to him, "I get them, no need to worry."

He grunted, not really listening as numbers ten and four brought more clothes for others, so my station was fully stocked. Number three took my full laundry bag, as well as the bag from another station.

I said to him, "Throw them into the chute. I'll do the laundry after I finish Milo. I already have the machine ready."

Mariella said to me, "No wonder you're beat; you try to do everything yourself. Let us help you."

Damon told ten and nine, "Go do the laundry, take what you need from Mimi's mind, and act."

They walked away. I rolled my eyes - I was a control freak, and it wasn't easy for me to let go of control.

Number one also took a bottle of bump, tasted it, and said, "I can make this even better; just wait a minute. Darling, we can use this too. We just need to perfect the bump and add a few things. I'm not sure whose stuff will be the best, so we should test them."

Mariella agreed, adding, "We could also add some scent, so the baby would smell nice, like passionfruit or something."

Damon nodded. Numbers four and six were already discussing how many different bumps they had and planned to test them.

Number one came next to me to see the rash, and he softly tutted, "Oh, you poor thing. Let me give you some relief."

He conjured a jar with a lid, poured some substance on it, and handed it to me, saying, "Use that; it should help."

I took the jar and dabbed a little substance on my fingers, spreading it on Milo's bum, which made him giggle. They had learned to coo and giggle, and it was fun being naked while Mommy fussed over them.

I told Damon, "They sometimes bite themselves with their fangs; I'm not sure if we should do something about that."

Damon grunted, glanced at Wulfe, who rolled his eyes, and said, "I'll take care of it."

Mariella chimed in, "Let me help you. Let's see what we can come up with."

As I began to dress Milo, Matteo started to wake up.

He was fussing slightly, and Number Three went to check on him, exclaiming, "Oh, we're dirty!"

He picked him up and took him to the station to clean him up, as he had another messy poo incident, leaving him covered in poo.

I told Number Three, "He tends to squirt, so keep the shield on," meaning he liked to pee when his diaper was taken off.

If not careful, he would pee all over unexpectedly.

Number Three grunted and muttered, "Good to know."

The nursery wasn't as pleasant-smelling at that moment, with several little ones needing diaper changes, but thanks to the good air conditioning, the smell would soon dissipate.

As I got Milo ready, he was a bit restless, indicating he was hungry and my breasts were full. I went to sit on my rocking chair, opened my shirt, and let him breastfeed.

Mariella remarked, "You're still breastfeeding! No wonder you look like a skeleton."

Damon looked at me and raised his brow, saying, "Really, baby? I thought you had taken medication to stop milk production."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "You know my body; it's not that much, just a meal from time to time."

Number Four went to my small fridge in the nursery and noticed several jugs of my milk.

I explained to him, "It's not as much anymore; I've frozen some too."

The Salvatores soon collected my milk to move it to a larger freezer or the kitchen for formula mixes.

Damon assured me, "You will stop breastfeeding; I'll make sure of that personally. You can count on it."

His tone was firm, leaving no room for arguments. 

Milo was still feeding when number five walked in with several full bottles. He loaded up my fridge, took one bottle and Milo off of my breast. Milo was starting to fuss, but number five gave him a bottle and sat on a chair to feed him.

I closed my shirt; I was almost empty, so it was all good.

Number one said, "Now, today, you go and have a spa day. Go have a long, hot sauna, relax in the pool for at least three hours, and then I will sleep with you tonight. Others will take care of the babies."

I replied, "No need to fuss, I can handle this. I am not that frail yet."

My tone was irritated as I was managing my babies just fine. It irked me how Damon barged in as usual and started to order me around. I was not Mariella, who obeyed him blindly.

Damon said in a soft but tense voice, "Baby, now is not the time. You go and have a spa, a long one and relax. Learn to let go and let others tend to the kids, too."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Damon, there are 28 babies in this pack right now. We are all needed. I can't take a day off just because I'm tired."

Damon replied, "I know very well how many babies there are. Each of them doesn't need to have one person tending to them. Stop being an idiot who is burning the candle at both ends and let everyone pitch in."

I took a breath and said in a calm voice, "Now, can I trust that I will have your support for more than a day or a week? As the novelty wears off, will you still be there for me, for us?"

Damon patiently reassured, "Baby, we are here for you all the time. You have expertise and experience, and we are learning from you. We want to be part of taking care of these five babies, too. Trust me on this. You are not supposed to do this alone. It takes a village to raise a baby, let alone five."

I rolled my eyes and reluctantly replied, "Fine, I have a spa day today, but I am not sure about sleeping as Matteo and Milo need to be fed at night."

Damon calmly said, "We have feeders, not you, but someone else. Everything will be fine. It's not good if you exhaust yourself from the beginning. We will handle this, and no cheating."

I took a breath, and number two suggested, "Let's have all the females take a spa day, and we will take care of the babies in the meantime, at least for three hours, and then you can have a restful night too."

Mariella rolled her eyes but also agreed to the plan. 

As I walked to the cupboard to reserve clean bedding for the babies, changing them weekly, Damon asked me, "Do you ever just sit down and relax? You don't have to do something all the time, you know."

I replied, "It's fine. This is not hard. I have my routines. It's bedding changing day, so I just reserve them ready."

Mariella mentioned, "I have not changed beddings at first, no need."

I told her, "You do what you do, I have my things to be done."

Damon suggested, "Let's put bedding change day for everyone. Adam, Charles, boys, Time, and Taylor, you go reserve clean bedding for the Wolves. Dresden, Constantine, Alaric, and Murdock, you go reserve for Mariella's babies' beddings."

Damon checked the reserved bedding and made some adjustments in the cupboard, which made me roll my eyes once again.

Number two proposed, "We make a calendar, in the kitchen or somewhere, where we put up what stuff is done on what day. Let's make sure that the patio is large enough for every baby to sleep on there and we have strollers for outings, but that is done only with good weather."

I went next to reserve clean pacifiers since they had fangs and sometimes chewed on them. I made sure no bits were coming off. Wulfe had made a spell, but they still needed changing from time to time.

Damon walked right behind me and commented, "Oh, new pacifiers. Let me check them out, too."

I explained to him, "They tend to bite with their fangs, so they need to be replaced from time to time."

I showed him a bitten one, and he grunted. Wulfe mentioned, "I'll see if I can come up with a fang binding potion."

Damon nodded and selected a few pacifier strips as well. I noticed a few Salvatores were filling up my care station, ensuring the diaper drawer was full, and emptying the trash bags.

Our trash would be burned, and the heat was used to warm up our house, keeping us warm even in winter. Our waste was used to fuel our heaters as well. Sure, there were many fireplaces in our houses as well, so if we were staying here during the winter, there was no problem keeping warm. No need to buy that much heating oil or electricity. 

I was having a hard time getting used to Damon constantly standing next to me, commenting and interfering with my routine, along with the rest of the pack. I hoped that soon the pack would tend to other tasks and leave me at peace with my five babies.

As I was thinking this, Damon's soft but dangerous voice echoed in my mind, "Baby, I am your husband, the father of these babies, and the pack leader. You should start using the correct pronouns for them. They are not just yours; they are ours. I will remind you of that, so get ready to be a good wife and mother to my children. It's time to end your independence and focus on our relationship."

His tone was strict, so I didn't reply, determined to be a good girl for once.