She was about to hit him with her usual 'nevermind' but, to her utter disbelief, Sharp answered before she could, "It was my nursery when I was a kid."
In her defence, Stella tried, she really tried not to laugh. And she would have succeeded had her mind not thrown an image of a baby Sharp at her. The baby Sharp in her mind was clutching a zebra doll as he pouted over not wanting to eat beans.
Den narrowed his eyes as he gazed down at Stella, who had burst out laughing. It was weird, hearing this sound in this house. He wondered how long it had been since someone had laughed here, or did people even remember how to laughing this household. It felt weird, sure, but he didn't really mind it. Den frozen on the spot as he looked at Stella, who now had tears in her eyes. He had just realised that he wouldn't very much mind living in this house if he could hear this laugh. The realisation was a huge bombshell, considering that he had spent the better part of the century trying to go as far away from this place as possible.
Den's reverie was broken by Stella as she stopped laughing and asked, "Oh my god! Can we please go in?!" Sharp smiled as he placed a hand on Stella's head. "Maybe some other day. I can hear him already, we should head back." he said, letting out an indulgent smile as he realised that he had used the phrase, 'some other day' in respect of his childhood home for the very first time.
"Finally! I'll be able to see who this 'he' is." Stella muttered as she was led down towards what she assumed was Penelope's room by Sharp. She was sure she heard a slight chuckle escape Sharp's lips as he opened the door of the room and Stella seriously contemplated punching him in the back to take revenge.
She would have gone through the plan, had she not stopped dead in her tracks as Sharp moved aside and she caught a glimpse of the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen in her entire life. Stella did not notice that there were people other than Penelope and Sharp in the room. Didn't even bother reading into their minds to check whether they were dangerous or not, as she looked at the little baby with dark maroon eyes and dirty blonde hair sucking on its thumb.
The baby seemed to have sensed Stella's stare as it turned it's head to look back at her and let out a small smile. Hardly knowing what she was doing, Stella crossed the little distance between her and the baby and streched her arms to hold it. The baby also leaned towards her, seeming to be very eager to come in Stella's arms.
But just before they came in contact, Stella felt cold, hard arms wrap around her and pull her away. Stella blinked as she came out of her reverie and looked at Sharp holding onto her protectively. A hopeful flutter began in Stella's heart at their closeness but she snuffed it out and looked around.
She was shocked to see that the baby was agressively trying to get out of the arms of the woman holding him, who was holding onto him with some difficulty.