Variation - W.M.

Chapter 68 - January 14, 2017

"You can't give knives to a child, Natasha" I scolded, eyeing the bag that the redhead carried. "Or any other weapons for that matter."

"Who says they're weapons?"

"My super amazing x-ray vision says so" I bluffed, earning a look from the Russian. "Alright fine, I don't have x-ray vision, but come on."

Nat rolled her eyes. "For your information, I consulted with Laura before I bought anything. There are no weapons in this bag."

I hummed in disbelief, opening my mouth to say something else when a loud voice interrupted us.

"Ollie! Aunty Nat!"

I grinned widely as Lila jumped to her feet, dashing off the porch towards where me and Nat entered the gate of the farmhouse.

"See that, she put my name first. I'm clearly loved more" I whispered, smiling smugly, although it quickly vanished when Lila barreled into Nat first. "Wow Li, and here I brought you the best present ever. To be betrayed like this."

"I have to hug her first, she's Aunty Nat" Lila said as though it was obvious, moving over to hug me as well.

"You were saying?" Nat prompted and I flipped her off outside of the girl's view.

We continued towards the farmhouse with Lila now in tow, the little girl, pestering me about what exactly I had gotten for her as 'the best present ever.'

"It's a surprise" I told the girl and she pouted.

"You can tell me, I promise I won't tell anyone else."

"It's a surprise for you" I snorted, nudging the girl with my hip. Her face broke into a wild grin and she gave up, darting in the door once we reached the porch, dodging Laura who held the door open.

"I'm glad you could make it, she's been telling her friends about her best friend Ollie and her Aunty Nat all day" Laura sighed, clearly at her limit with her daughter's energy combined with what I assumed to be other nine and ten year olds within the house.

Nat made a face. "How many kids are in this house. I'm not good with kids."

"Cooper went to a friends house, so besides Nate and Lila, there are 10 other kids here. Seven are Lila's classmates and the other three are my nieces and nephew" Laura reported as a loud screech came from somewhere inside. She let her eyes close and pressed a hand to her forehead. "I told Lila she could have all her friends over but I'm starting to realize my house is not big enough for all these kids."

"I don't mind entertaining them outside for a bit if you need, I've had enough of adults for a while" I offered, catching sight of Nate waddling over to us.

"That would be great" Laura said, letting out a sigh of relief. Nate peeked past his mom's leg, his face lighting up when he saw me.

"Ollie!"

I grinned at the way his Ls turned in to Ws, bending down and scooping him off the ground as he dashed over.

"You wanna come with me to entertain your sister and her friends?"

He smiled toothily, nodding as he let out a soft "yeah" that made my heart melt.

It took a few minutes to gather the various children that were currently running around the house playing hide and seek but I soon had them all outside in a circle, me sitting at the head of it with Nate in my lap, Laura's three year old nephew Eddie right next to me with his hand on my knee.

"Alright, do you guys wanna see something cool?" I asked, earning a chorus of excited affirmations. "Okay, name an animal." Various types of animals were thrown at me and I struggled to focus on one until I heard Lila's voice shout out.