When she felt he was feeling a bit better she leaned back. "So are you going to strip yourself or do you want me to strip you?" Her face was bright with a smile he couldn't resist.
He grinned, "you do it but we still can't do anything right? I don't want to harm your body."
Lana chuckled as she started taking off his shirt. "You, My Love, are getting a massage tonight. You've had a terrible week and even if you fall asleep in the middle, I will finish rubbing my hands all over every inch of your body. You deserve a good rest. I got the babies tonight. I want you to sleep."
She had him stripped by the time she finished explaining. She had him scooch to his side of the bed so she could be near the babies. She then got out a massage lotion she made in her lab and proceeded to turn her husband into putty. Soon after, he became a sleeping pile of putty but she kept her word. Every single knot in every single muscle was washed away by his wife's loving hands. He woke the next day feeling like a new man. She was still sleeping.
The babies were just starting to stir. He pushed the bassinet to the living room and Caser grabbed him the provisions he needed to tend them. Shalt was in his room sleeping as well which enabled Sil to enjoy the quiet time and just watch his babies, waiting for them to be ready for their father's care. Watching them made Sil's mind go back to the monster. He had so many questions that he may never have answers for. How could someone see such tender life and look upon it as though it's nothing?
The innocent lives in front of him were surely not nothing. He intended to ensure they knew they were loved by both of their parents. He resolved, in that moment, to start keeping a journal. He now understood why Lana did. He chuckled to himself. His wife, being right again. He was just grateful she let him win an argument or two.
Olivia started to fuss so he immediately snatched her up and took care of her. He was thankful Owen waited until she was fed and cleaned up before he woke up so he didn't need to deal with two fussy babies at once. He didn't know how she did it but knew she was grateful for the help when she got it. As he tended to Owen, he kept looking at the kitchen. After cleaning up his son, he decided to go for it. It can't be that hard, right?
Soon, the house was full of smoke and the kids were crying. Lana and Shalt ran out of their respective rooms. Nothing was on fire but Shalt did grab the pan and toss it in the sink with some water.
Lana grinned at Sil who hung his head once again. "Shall we go to the Travellers' Center for breakfast or do you want to go to the lab?"
Sil looked defeated. "Lab?"
Lana looked at the time. "Let's go get Qi class done then go to the lab for breakfast. We can cook together and I can teach you more. Eventually you'll be able to do this, okay?"
Sil sighed and nodded. Shalt volunteered to stay behind and clean up the mess. Scraping the char off was going to take a while and he was hoping the cookware wasn't ruined.
At Qi class, Sil was introduced to Dawn and Fiza. He didn't pay them much attention because his wife was going to teach and he wanted listen to her. He was glad she was getting help and she would be teaching these girls. It would give her more time. She needed to work on her stuff, her strength. He felt taking care of others was holding her back. He was beginning to think she should not have become a family head. Quinn got to do his own thing, why was she so busy? Like this class, for example. Could someone else teach it?
He hoped that would be the case someday. He also guessed that was kinda the point. She was the only one who knew so many things. She was spreading that knowledge around and making everyone stronger in the process. He just felt she was too strained, even though she never said such a thing to him. He decided to ask her something. He was not there when these classes started and there were a few new people as well.
"Lana, what does Qi do?"
"Qi is your life force energy. The energy around you. You can use this energy to enhance your body. It can make it harder for attacks to hurt you. I use it in everything. An example would be Qi is what makes my whip sharp enough to cut through a neck, even up through the King tier level. The stronger your Qi, the stronger our own attacks and defense. When I sparred with Leo, he said my whip was at least advanced tier just by adding the qi I had at the time. Does that make sense?"
"How did you learn this?"
"I needed to stabilize my anger and other emotions so I was looking for methodologies to not be so emotional. I found some ancient books on meditations. Qi is one I took up. Chakras are the other. I have been doing them for three years now. Quinn also uses Qi, taught to him by Leo and I hope he teaches it to the others someday. However, it's why his attacks are so powerful, well, one reason anyway. Qi can bypass armor. It can be an equalizer."
Sil nodded with a smile and doubled down listening to her lesson and practicing the meditation she was teaching. He resolved to do this even when away from home. He needed any edge against Hilston he could get. He just had no plans to let Quinn know he already knew it if he chose to teach it.
In the lab, Lana had Sil do all the cooking with supervision. She also taught him how to read a cookbook. The apprentices thought about joining them but Mandy decided to take them back to her house and have them learn as well. This was Lana's family time and she wanted her to enjoy it. Mandy then spent the rest of the day teaching the girls the things she already learned from Lana. She decided this might be the best thing so Lana could focus on the lab and teach Mandy new thins after dinner.
Sil also decided to put the babies on a blanket on the floor in the training room with Caser watching over them while he participated in martial arts class. He marveled at how over protective a murder cat could be. He watched as Lana practiced her sword, impressed with her progress. For the next three days, they got to enjoy being a family, working together.
The babies seemed to enjoy hearing their father read to them as they drifted off to sleep. During their time in the play room at the lab, Lana could hear an animated father talking about zooming off to save the day. Life was good.
As they walked Sil back to the Cursed Ship, Sil asked Lana if she could get Borden and the kids to work on their area. He'd like them off the ship sooner than later. Lana gave him a passionate kiss before going through the teleporter with him. He then went one way, she went another.
In a training room on the Cursed Ship, a short humanoid man, the size of a puppy was leading 30 children in morning combat exercises. Lana walked in and leaned against the wall observing the activity.
Borden noticed and paused the training and walked over to her.
"Hey, Lana! Long time no see!" Borden said.
Lana smiled, "Hey Borden! Has Sil told you his plans for the kids?"
*****************************************
Join me on discord at https://discord.gg/wuNsfeGP Or Patreon at patreon.com/MindyLeeCrouch