Here, Take It.

[Professor Kalif Styx]

To most people's surprise, Kalif actually remembered birthdays. Today happened to be his wife's. He had ordered her out of the house with Kailie, the twins and Bothizar. Hopefully he had told Kailie to behave and not run off or else she would be in serious trouble, and she would have no other choice but to obey. He had to have some time to himself and also plenty of time to set up another bedroom for the new arrival and a new pest. The pest had been following him around all day, and he didn't want to even touch it. It was a little girl, and Kalif swatted it away from him as it attempted to climb up the chair to sit in his lap. It landed with a thud on the carpet. Yet, here it came again, and Kalif groaned. Why would it not leave him the hell alone? The front door opened, and Kalif actually felt relieved when he knew that it was Nicolette. He took the little thing up with the skin of its' neck, and he stood up and carried it to Nicolette. "Happy bloody birthday," Kalif muttered and he held out the kitten to her. Maybe once it sees her, it will leave him the hell alone.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette had been ordered out of the house for a little while by Kalif for some reason, he had even told her to take the children so she assumed that he just wanted a bit of time to himself. She didn't blame him though because it often became a very stressful having a job that involves kids but then coming home to more kids. Nicolette had been a little stressed herself lately with taking care of the kids, the whole Thomas Hensel being in the Elections thing, and a whole lot of others things that needed to be done. After spending a few hours out with the kids she was drop dead tired and hoped that it was alright if she brought them back home. The twins were getting restless and although Kailie had been on her best behavior for most of the trip Nicolette could only figure that she wanted to break free and be a kid for a little while. So after finishing up what they were doing she apparated them back to the Styx Manor and told them they could go off and do whatever. The moment Nicolette walked into the main room she froze when she saw Kalif holding probably the cutest kitten she had ever seen.

When he brought it over to her, held it out, and told her happy birthday she blinked curiously at him until she heard it's innocent mew. "Kalif...you got me...a kitten for my birthday? Why?" Nicolette asked with the smallest hint of a smile, she had actually forgotten that her birthday was coming soon with how busy she was. To be honest she was unsure if her husband would remember it either and the fact that he even bothered to tell her happy birthday was enough to make her squeal in delight and give him the worlds biggest hug. Shyly she held her hands out to take the small kitten into her arms and the moment she did and it cooed softly she let out a soft awwwh. Nicolette knew Kalif hated cats so why on earth would he buy one?

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif glanced down at Kailie and the twins as they wondered upstairs, he assumed to their bedrooms to go play or something. He trusted in Damianos to not wonder off, but he did not think that Nicolas and Kailie were able to not stir up some sort of trouble. Though Kailie was growing out of it. Of course, Nicolette just had to ask why he had gotten the kitten, and he didn't want to answer really. Finally, he managed to throw some words together, "You liked cats, and figured that this would get you to shut up every once and a while. And the short hair won't bother Kailie as long as she is on that potion. Don't ask why, just say thanks and be happy." Kalif waved his gloved hand in a gesture as he turned and went to the living room and sat down in his chair. "It is a girl too, I think."

He was tired. After dealing with a bunch of bratty teens and children, he had to come home and buy a pest, and fix up another nursery. He did not know what gender it was, but he knew that Nicolette was somehow pregnant again. If she stopped attacking him months ago, this would not have happened. "I needed you all out of the house to set up another nursery and buy that thing. Just so you know, no more turning into a cat for another seven months," Kalif warned Nicolette in a monotone voice.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette listened to Kalif's explanation as to why he had bought her the kitten that he claimed happened to be a girl, she was so cute and looked like she had an eye for trouble so it was decided that she would be called Mischief. After giving the small kitten a small kiss atop the head she carried it over into to the living room. "I think there's more to it than that but...Thank you so much. Awwh, why'd you sit down I was going to give you a hug." She almost teased but really she was serious, she knew he claimed that he disliked being hugged by her and that was mostly because she jumped him, glomped him, or sometimes even other things happened but still she liked to show that she cared. He had yet to ever return one of her hugs but she hoped that one day he would, and even if it was just a little. After a moment she felt a sharp pain in her finger and gasped in pain before she looked down to see that the kitten had playfully bitten her index finger. "Ouch!" She lifted the kitten slightly to glare at it before it tried to swat her nose and she removed it from her face once again. Just wait until she could go into her Animagus form, that cat would just looove to fight with her then.

"Nursery? Doesn't Bothizar already have one...and....why not?" Nicolette raised an eyebrow at her husband curiously and worriedly as it sounded as if he were saying that she were pregnant again or something. There was no way she could have already gotten pregnant, plus she had felt no symptoms whatsoever.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif rolled his onyx eyes before they landed on her once more. She seemed to be enjoying the little rodent or whatever it was. It looked like a first year that ran down the stairs a little too fast. "I don't want any physical contact by you until all that cat fur is off of your clothes." Kalif strongly despised most living creatures, even cats, dogs, anything with fur and feathers. Scales he did not mind however. Kalif gazed at the kitten when she had bitten Nicolette. It was playing, but still, he would curse that thing and make a wall decoration of it if it bit Kailie or any of the children. Animals were just disgusting creatures, almost like humans themselves. Kalif let out a sigh when Nicolette could not figure it out. "Bothizar has one, but there was a need of another and that is why you can't go into your animagus form." He used a gloved index finger to point at her stomach. Maybe then she would get the idea. Why would Kalif kid about this? Well, since when did he joke about anything in the first place? He often wondered if they were in competition with Estrella and Jaken. Only Estrella had twins this time. Nicolette only had one, thankfully.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

"Kalif if you hate cats so much why did you dare even get me one?" Nicolette asked highly curious, sure she was far more than grateful but she wouldn't want Kalif to risk his happiness over her sake. after a moment or so of petting the cat she gave it another gentle kiss on the head before she set it down and watched it totter away to wherever. Then she pulled out her wand to use a simple cleaning spell and get all of the cat hair and such off of her clothing before she put her wand away. Hopefully now he would be less likely to yell now that she was clean of cat hair. "Can I have a hug now?" Nicolette asked softly with a small bat of her girly eyelashes. Whether or not he really wanted to she was going to be getting or giving one, it was her birthday and she did miss him so dearly while he was at work all the time. She would try her best to keep things innocent this time around too since all the kids were up and about right now and that was the last thing they needed to see.

"Errr...I'm pregnant again? But I haven't even been feeling sick and stuff lately...how can that be? This needs to quit happening." Nicolette had been feeling fine and dandy lately, no morning sickness, no odd tiredness, hunger cravings, none of that to be blunt. On top of that as much as she loved babies and having Kalif's babies she figured by this point she had enough of them, especially since she put ten on this one being as boy as well.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

"Both you and Kailie have been wanting one. Getting one would shut the two of you up, so it would be similar to killing two mudbloods with one killing curse," answer Kalif in a cold voice. He watched Nicolette to put down the nuisance and let it run off. At least it was already trained and stuff, or else he would have a serious problem. Kalif wanted nothing to do with cats, but it was not his choice to make it seemed like. He rolled his eyes at Nicolette asking for a hug and he answered with a short tone, "No." That little bat of her eyelashes and her soft voice would not work with him. He had enough training in his life, of his own and from his father, to withstand a lot of the women's tactics. Though he was not used to someone simply pouncing on him and practically forcing him into something that Nicolette was so fond of doing, it seemed. Kalif was not used to this at all, even after a few years of it. Kalif shrugged, "Every pregnancy is different. And it wouldn't happen if you just left me alone while I was here and not pounce on me when I walk into a room on a random occasion. You brought this upon yourself." Kalif smirked slightly, perhaps he had a bit of humor in his bones after all. But it was rare enough that this happened anyway. "Nonetheless, the nursery is built, and it is in the color of light green. I'll change it to a more boyish or girlish color once we figure out what it is."

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette glanced at the kitten before she returned her eyes back to her husband. "It seems to like you already though, I'm going to assume that you don't want it sleeping in our bed though?" She asked with the semi cold tone but still filled slightly with the bubblyness and warmth she was sure the man had become used to over the years. In less than couple of months they would have been married two years, and she wanted it to last so much longer with him too. He was hers now and she would give this life up for anything in the world. When she was denied a hug her smirk faded and she crossed her arms over her chest to glare at her husband softly, he never liked to give her hugs. "Kalif Styx, you did not just tell me no." Nicolette stated slyly, she would get that hug whether Kalif liked it or not because she had yet to embrace him in quite awhile and she missed being that close to him even though she was about a close as one could possibly be to another less than a few months ago. Hopefully there wouldn't be that much of a struggle this time though, she was already feeling a little tired from today.

"Meh if I didn't like you so much I wouldn't have to jump you all the time. Thanks for building the nursery though..it means a lot. Chances are that it'll be a boy though..we seem to have a lot of those." Nicolette stated lightly. The whole time she vaguely tried to focus on something other than her husbands face so she wouldn't start to giggle or turn completely red on him. Suddenly she remembered something and lifted her head a little as there was something that had been bugging her recently. "Hey Kalif...can I ask you something?" It was rare and a little bit worrisome to have her act like she was when asking a question but this did concern one of her babies lives here. And she knew that Kalif or Asparuh would be the best people to ask for this.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

"No, I don't want that mangy thing around our bed," answered Kalif in a cold tone, something she was used to even back in the days when he went to school. The kitten came over to him and he rolled his eyes. He silently cast a repelling charm to keep it from touching him. He smirked slightly when it bumped into the invisible barrier around his legs. His black eyes went to Nicolette once more. Kalif had been working too much right now to want to be touched. He wanted a peaceful day where everyone would just leave him alone. But seeing as that would not be the case, Kalif had given up. But he was still stubborn on certain aspects. Kalif stated, "I've told you no many times. This one is no different." Kalif could not do anything if she did bound over to him, cause she was pregnant and all, he did not want to touch her from fear of losing the child. Kalif rolled his eyes and he pointed out, "Learn to control yourself every once and while. Just because you 'like me so much' doesn't mean you have to prove it by pouncing on me." Kalif thought that her doing that in the kitchen on several occasions was bad enough. "It's no problem," Kalif shrugged, "You will never know. It is a fifty-fifty chance, Nicolette. I personally don't care what it is." He didn't much care for children's gender, as he had never hoped for whatever. He just had what he had and then went along with it. "Ask away, Nicolette."

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette's mouth dropped open a little before she closed it again to smirk just slightly, sometimes Kalif was such meanie but thats also what she loved about him as well. "Kalif thats so mean! She is not mangy!" Nicolette picked up the kitten and pet it's head gently as it mewed and and nuzzled it's little head against her chest, telling her to keep petting it. After a moment she set it back down and smiled lightly as she watched it scamper away, she wondered how the kids would take to it. Listening to Kalif's statement about telling her no she smirked and decided that she didn't really feel like listening to him tell her no today and bound over to him before she lightly sat herself on Kalif's lap since he was still sitting down in his chair. A hug would have to wait until he actually got up before she saw a bit of an issue with trying to hug a person while sitting on them, since she was fairly small and still weighed nit much at all despite her small baby bump she hope she didn't feel heavy to Kalif.

"Sure it does, your just that much fun to pounce on. But fine I'll work on controlling myself. Still, it means a lot. I'm hoping for a girl but I'm not keeping my hopes up." Nicolette couldn't help but smile the whole time she spoke this to him just because really she thought Kalif was just too cute and that he really was fun to jump on and stuff, she really liked the closeness between them. Even though she was hoping for a baby girl a baby boy wouldn't bother her so much either, she loved all her children. When Kalif told her to ask away she sighed lightly and bit her lip before started to speak; "Damianos goes into training soon right?" She asked him worriedly, he could probably tell just by the sound of her voice that she did not sound happy or cheerful about this, she was worried about her son more then she was willing to admit. She trusted their decision but she was still worried.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif shrugged lightly, saying that he was used to the comments. However, his kept his eyes on that pest as Nicolette seemed to be fond over it. And it still came to him before he placed that spell around him to repel the cat. However, it was a shame that he did not cast it to repel Nicolette from him, because what he was expecting next was not what she had done. She smirked, and that made him suspicious enough. She had come and sat in his lap. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Nicolette wasn't heavy to him. After all, he had once had to carry Jaken into the house back when he was still...injured from Hades. Kalif glanced down at her baby bump that was hardly even noticeable. "You are lucky you are pregnant or else you would be shoved off into the floor." It was known that Kalif was always careful when it came to Nicolette being pregnant. Though when she wasn't, he would gladly shove her out of a tree, which he had before in the past. Kalif sighed, "At least you will try. You can check the gender in April to see what it is. I normally don't hope for anything. I have enough of both." His baby girl right now was Kailie, and she was growing up fast on him. It was hard to believe. When Nicolette sounded worried about Damianos' training, Kalif sighed once more. He was trained as a Patriarch, not a Head. His training was a lot crueler than the others. He could not see his family on weekends like the Heads can. "Yes, but his training won't be as harsh as mine, Nicolette. He will come here every weekend. You'll see that he is ready for the training." Kalif had taken a strong notice into Damianos. He had that personality. He could handle it easy.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

Nicolette heard Kalif tell her that she was lucky that she was pregnant or he'd shove her onto the floor, which she sort of expected because it usually happened anyways. Which is why she preferred hugging him because then she was less likely to get shoved to the ground since Kalif was usually a bit more gentle with her than he seemed like he would most of the time. "If you were standing up I could have just given you a hug and this would all be over which means it's your own fault so NEH to you!" She stuck her tongue out at him and made one of those raspberry noises before she smiled softly, it was so much fun to tease and bother him that even after awhile of being married to him and growing colder by heart she still found time to tease. Why and how he managed to put up with it the way he was she didn't know but she liked it because no one was allowed to bother him like this but her. During his next sentence Nicolette grinned. "I make no promises at being able to resist. I think you see enough of those stupid little teen...err...those Hogwarts students to make you not hope for anything." Nicolette shrugged, still she was hoping for a girl but would not keep her hopes up because she knew that chances were slim of her having one. At least she didn't have to teach at the school like her husband did or she would shed some blood sooner or later.

"Still, I'm worried for him. Promise you won't let anything happen to him for me?" She bit her lip as she asked Kalif nervously, she knew the training would be rough and she would still get to see him and take care of him on the weekends but she was a mother after all. Worrying over Kalif and the others was what she did best.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif smirked faintly and he said, "I could always apparate to the couch, and let you fall into the chair." Kalif poked Nicolette in the head when she stuck her tongue out at him like Kailie. He put his hand back on the armrest. Nicolette found humor in teasing him, but he also tolerated it, which was something that no one else had ever accomplished. "Being around those students make me worry about the future of our children. Most of them have straightened up since I have become the Head over the Slytherins." He had not had to issue any detentions in a while, which was good for him. He had enough on his shoulders keeping his identity in check. "I promise nothing will happen to him. Someone who knows about the situation is Rosaline. You could talk to her about how to handle things, since I am not here all the time." Kalif shrugged it lightly. Rosaline had finally converted to the Death Eaters. Maybe they could get in touch more since both of their firstborn sons are future Heads of the family.

 

[Nicolette Styx]

The moment Nicolette saw Kalif smirk her own smirk immediately faded as she suddenly became worried that he was about to do something to her, luckily it was only a statement that he said. A small smile rose to her lips when she felt him poke her in the head for sticking her tongue out at him, she loved how he tolerated her nonsense. "Yeah well guess what Mr. Styx, two can play at that game." Nicolette was pretty sure that He knew very well that she would easily just find a way over to him again and if it was a chase he wanted then a chase he would get, she was stubborn so it wouldn't bother her much. There was some part of her that made her think that secretly he enjoyed being bothered and another part told her he hated it, it was probably both but she never bothered to try and get him to tell her. "Good those kids needed a good kick or two in the head. Your an amazing Head of the family so I think the Head of House Position suits you very well. " She grinned as she knew Kalif was probably an amazing Head of House especially if he was able to tame those Slytherins so many people spoke negatively about. However it did seem to make him a bit more tired when he came home which meant his mood was often less fun for her to deal with or be around. The small kitten bound into the room chasing a ball of string that it must have found, just watching it play made Nicolette giggle softly.

"Thank you Kalif, so much. Next time I hear she's free I'll invite her over and we'll talk some." There was still that feeling inside that meant that she was feeling a bit uncomfortable but she knew that if Kalif had promised her so it would be. He was a man who kept his word whenever possible so she trusted him with this. Damianos would make a fine head with his training he would be receiving. On the weekends she would be able to see her son again which she was thankful for. After a moment of quiet think she sighed before a simple yawn escaped her lips. "Well Kalif, I need to go lay down for a little while. The kids wore me out today. You relax and stuff okay?" Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek she hopped off his lap and grabbed a hold of Mischief in her arms before she head back towards the stairs. Before she would get any rest she needed to check on Bothizar but that probably wouldn't take long. Hopefully Kalif would fine time to relax too, she worried about him sometimes.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif knew where he could go and she could not. "I could apparate to the school." But that was the end of the argument. He tried to not spend all of his time at the school, but he had to spend some time relaxing too. Kalif needed some quiet and he could only get that at his own home. Only his family and hers knew where they lives, but there were still rooms that some could not enter. His private office had the dark mark hanging over the fireplace. Kalif nodded slowly at her compliment to him. It did suit him, and soon he will be Patriarch of the family, but he did not know when that would be. It was unheard of for someone to be Patriarch of the family and not have the last name 'Zhefarovich'. Rosaline should be free all the time, considering that she did not have a job, but she did have two young ones to deal with, plus Vladimir on the weekends. Kalif wiped the kiss from his cheek with the back of his hand as she got off of him and went upstairs with the kitten. Kalif stood up and went to his private office, where he would not be disturbed. Nicolette was napping, the house was quiet, finally Kalif could get some peace of mind.