His chuckling was not making things better, perhaps she should have hit him harder after all. Emily placed the remnants of her sandwich and its packaging back into the paper bag, and placed in the bin beside the bench. Her appetite was officially shot to hell.

Eyebrows arching, she was about to confirm that it was indeed a threat, because it seemed a threat needed to be made for him to get the message. Unfortunately for her, he proceeded to dig himself a hole - one that she would have to fill and cover up.... or rescue him from. The man needed saving, mostly from himself. "Well perhaps I should restore your faith in my threa--" ts. Lips locking with his, Emily closed her eyes and let him have this one, she wasn't in a mood for biting today. In breaking away, Gavin did raise a good point, just the one. Zeke was never to be trusted with ingestables ever again. "Nothing that I consume will ever come from his hands, so he'll have to do better than chocolates for special occasions from now on." Not to mention she needed to find someone to do what he usually did for her, fetch her coffees. How did he bring himself to ruin something they shared together?

But, perhaps there was a pro to take away from the situation, and it was one she could very well use to threaten him with. "Remember how I liked making you twitch and jerk in the beginning? When you didn't like touching... let alone, kissing?" At this point she leaned in and planted another on his lips, letting it linger before pulling away. "Well, now I know what extremes I need to go to for that same reaction." And as ghastly as proposals were, it might be worth it just to see him twitch with distaste. Merlin, she'd said it once, that cat was out of the bag - so it could hardly get much worse.

Everything stopped for that one moment while he watched her throw away a perfectly good sandwich. This right here, was a sure sign to tread carefully...but it wasn't a message that had gotten through to him the way it should as evidenced by his kiss.

A kiss he survived apparently. "Not possible." He informed after he'd pulled away. Her threats were to be taken seriously but....not in this situation. "I'm inclined to believe you didn't hate every waking moment of this morning." The proposal, yes, but everything else, maybe not. They would never know. "Don't think Zeke had thought that far ahead when he spiked your coffee. A laugh and some scolding but nothing more." Forgive him if he happened to not think the boy thought things through well enough. Five steps ahead was always a nice place to be. "But you've been meaning to get a PA anyway. Someone else to get you coffee." So no real loss there.

.....That statement though....not even the kiss could distract him from the undertone that spoke to certain ruin in his future. Distracted, he was very distracted and wouldn't let himself enjoy the second kiss nearly as much. Moments later, he knew why he didn't like the sound of it. If you looked close enough, the man was starting to show signs of being uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "But...um...there's no need to go to that extreme." Like...ever.

Not possible.

If there ever were two words in the dictionary that she disliked together, not possible was definitely high up there. And if he was fishing for more compliments to boost his already inflated ego, then he was sorely mistaken if he thought he'd get them. "Not in front of the children. Not when I'm not myself." So no, she hadn't enjoyed it and there was little more to be said to that. She liked having control of her actions, but there was no calculation in her behaviour this morning, none whatsoever, she was a puppet - in principle - a slave to the poison she'd ingested.

As for Zeke, he wasn't wrong in his assumptions. The boy failed where recognising consequences of his actions were concerned. If she didn't have a soft spot for him, he'd have been in a world of pain by now, and that was a cause for concern. Others might not be so forgiving if he continued to make himself a nuisance. "I suppose he can taste test everything from now on, should he think to pull a move like that again and he'll find himself grounded or worse" - depending on his choices.

PA, yeah, she was still looking for one of those. Interviewed a few and sent them on a test errand... all of which failed to complete the task to a satisfactory level. Shame. "I don't see that coming to fruition anytime soon."

But now this was much better. She could sense the fear she'd struck into his heart... and it was satisfying. Even his hesitant reply was music to her ears. She could have waved it off and told him that there would be consequences for his actions, but she very dearly needed a laugh, and more to the point, she wanted to have fun. "Gavin, dearest," she started, taking both of his hands in hers, "will you do me the tremendous honour of ma---------" brief pause to watch the penny drop, "--king dinner reservations for tonight, I'm in a mood to eat out."

Well when she put it like that...

"Point taken." He conceded, possibly for the first time since the start of the morning thinking that being amused was entirely wrong of him. Zeke should have slipped her something else if he insisted on the prank so much--not saying she should have been slipped anything AT ALL but they were children who didn't think straight so it was at least expected. Needless to say he was now viewing them (except Avery, bless his only little angel left) in a different light. "The humour's lost." Possibly forever. Huh.

The taste testing was a good route to take though. He could see it now, the kid eager to help himself to everything Emily was having or suddenly very pale in the face and full of excuses. "It's hardly any way to live." Was the conclusion. What kind of world were you living in when you couldn't trust your kid to get you food anymore? "Should just set him straight as only you have the ability to do." See? This was him showing her how much faith he still VERY MUCH had in her ability to be fierce and intimidating with her threats and such. "You'll figure something out."

Somehow, the fact she was having no luck with a PA didn't surprise him. Emily was hard to please, everyone knew this. "The offer still stands to make use of mine. She's got enough energy to burn and I could use a few healthy breaks away from her." Too eager....yeah, that's what she was.

Gavin seriously eyed Emily as she took his hands in hers. The Senior Undersecretary didn't like where this was going for one minute and in fact right after the word 'dearest' his skin was crawling like it use to. Wouldn't be much longer before he yanked his hands away if she kept this up. Tremendous honour? He was already wiggling his fingers in an attempt to loosen her grip and by the time she brought up dinner his hands were being held FAR from her. "Dinner. Right." He cleared his throat. "I can do that. Anywhere you had in mind?" him scooting a little away on the bench, pay no attention to that. It's what trauma did to you.

Point taken indeed. Honestly, when was she ever wrong about these things? Hmm? Either way, he'd lost that argument, conceded to her, and now saw it for the sombre occasion that it was. It was without humour from the beginning - or ought to have been.

But as much as she liked to think she had all the answers, Gavin too was capable of making good points. Smart points. "It is," she asserted in the beginning, but of course it wouldn't last, it couldn't last. So there was nothing more to do than set him straight. She'd come down hard on a lot of people in her time, in her brief time even. Zeke, was in his own league where that was concerned, and as much as she'd played down the law on his adventures into forbidden places, this was one she didn't think she'd have to make. "You're right, but that can wait till morning." Right now, she was content with letting him stew over it.

The personal assistant matter though, now that was something else. "Sure, send her my way... but I can't promise you'll have her back in one piece." She may end up a little broken, but that was part of the issue she'd been having. Not many could persevere, they lacked resilience and sometimes even common sense.

This was priceless. Pure gold. It brought a glowing smile back to her face as she watched him go from apprehensive to startled, wiggling and then distancing himself from her. "Yes, dinner," she reiterated nonchalantly. "I'm thinking Chinese, but feel free to surprise me." Food was food, she wouldn't complain. But because they couldn't well sit here with gaps between them, Emily too slid along the bench to close the distance he'd put between them. "I won't go there again," she said, if only to keep him from running a mile.

Anastasia had originally assumed that after graduating from Hogwarts she would have more time to spend with Terry, however, over the past months she'd found that assumption to be incorrect. Sure, she saw him more frequently then she had last year after he graduated, but it still wasn't as often as she had hoped, what with both of them being busy at university now, and living in different countries on top of that. Although at least with her being in London and him in Scotland they were closer than they would be if she'd ended up going back to Russia to study. Not that she wasn't already spending a good amount of time back there helping Liza plan the wedding and being a babysitter for Sasha. She never thought she'd say it but her niece and nephews were actually growing on her, when their antics weren't giving her heart palpitations of course. Not that Stasya would ever admit to that, still the way that Sasha smiled at her sometimes she suspected that her older sibling was well aware of the fact that she was fonder of the little tykes than she had been a few years ago when they were like anathema to her.

If anyone asked her closest friends, like Kenzie, they'd probably say it was strange that Anastasia disliked children so much, considering how well the nineteen year old could act like one. Like now. Instead of walking like an adult to meet with Terry Stasya was literally skipping through the park. It was completely undignified and Anastasia was sure that if her mother could see her she would be scolding her about it. She'd probably also be scolding her about the fact that she hadn't been home since last Christmas and had indicated that she wasn't going to be home this Christmas either, preferring to spend time with her older siblings and grandparents, because no matter how much she loved her mother, and Stasya loved her quite a bit, she did not want to step foot in that house again. Last time had been bad enough and from the letters she got from Katya and Vaska it was like a war zone, only like the Cold War since her parents were ignoring each other, when her father was home at all. So yeah, no, she'd rather not spend time in a toxic environment and risk blurting out her opinion that if they were so miserable they should just get divorced, and whether or not her mother had pulled the same stunt as she had before divorcing her dad. Somehow she didn't think either of her parents would appreciate it if she did.

Anastasia was also hopeful that this Christmas she might get to spend time with Terry, maybe finally actually introduce him to the majority of her family. They'd really been dating long enough that he should have met Sasha and Liza at least, especially since she was hoping to wrangle him into going to her sisters wedding, or at least the reception.

Coming to a halt where they'd agreed to meet Stasya looked around, pouting when she couldn't see her Terry. She was really hoping to sneak up on him for once, like he snuck up on her practically every time they agreed to meet. Seemed like this time would be no different.

Terry wasn’t late. He was perfectly on time.

With his mum being away with the remaining members of his family, Terry had stayed behind and was given full responsibility of every creature that she had in her rescue centre up on the island. It was tough and demanding sometimes and so incredibly tedious on occasion that he had become so lazy and almost a social hermit. He’d seen a few people, been out with Jozsua for lunch once and of course he was still attending University but other than that he was contained in his house surrounded by magical creatures. It was a wonder that he hadn’t started acting like one, he’d had more contact with them than humans recently.

He’d turned the corner just in time to see Ana skipping along happily into the park that they were meeting. An amused smile fell upon his face as he watched her. He’d not seen his girlfriend for far too long and it was a rare treat that their spare time had coincided at exactly the right moment. He approached her from the front this time, knowing she was probably prepared for a sneak attack and unless he apparated really quietly behind her she’d most likely see him coming. “Someone’s happy” he commented, a goofy grin plastered across his face. “Is this happiness to see me or because you’ve finally got away from your family?” he teased. There were big events happening between her family members and although Ana had told him everything he thought it best that he should not get involved. Plus he hadn’t met most of them and despite having dated for a couple of years now the thought still terrified him.

If they were anything like his mum, they spoke their mind.

Once he had reached her he planted a kiss on her cheek and sat down on a bench, pulling her down gently to join him. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing pink. I like it” he smiled. She was often dressed in black, a splash of the girly colour was a welcome surprise. Although Terry admitted he liked her no matter what she wore.

Or maybe not a surprise attack. Seemed for once Terry was approaching from within her sightline.

Stasya allowed herself to check her boyfriend out as he walked towards her, a soft smile taking over her features as she noticed how good he looked. She personally believed that he looked good all the time, but today Terry seemed to be especially handsome. Of course that could also be due to the fact that Anastasia hadn't seen him in far too long and so he was a sight for sore eyes. When things settled down at university she really would have to put in the effort to visit him at home, maybe help out with the pets, more often. Much as she loved studying all the practice she had to do did not leave much time for socialisation with everyone that she wanted to see, especially not to travel to another country.

"Happy to see you? That definitely can't be the case! Must be getting away from babysitting duties for the day," Anastasia teased, confident that after all this time Terry would know that her happiness was indeed linked to seeing him. Sometimes she thought it was ridiculous how happy seeing Terry made her feel, and how melancholy she could get when she didn't have time to at least write to him in a week. That was probably being overdramatic though. "Honestly though I don't mind my family. Mum's still annoyed that I wont be going to my parents for Christmas but she'll get over it. Otherwise spending time with everyone else really isn't a hardship, just confusing at times." Seriously, small gatherings turned large fairly quickly when you took into account the fact that they were actually related to most of their family friends, and how large the respective families could be. "They also want to meet you. I think Sasha wants to get in the threatening older sibling talk," she added dismissively.

Anastasia allowed herself to be pulled down onto the bench, bringing her feet up to tuck underneath her body and leaning into Terry. Affection time, yes?

He'd never seen her in pink? "Really? I've worn pink a few times, maybe that tells you that you need to get out more often in group settings," Stasya chided gently. She understood that he was busy, but really if he'd have gone to the music festival earlier this year he would have seen her wearing lots of colours and also would have been able to meet some of her family, killing two birds with one stone. "Thank you, though. I like it too. I blame Kenzie though. She always dresses girly, so I guess she's rubbed off on me a little, even if I'm not yet dressing like I'm going to a formal event just to leave the house!" she exclaimed fondly.

Heh! See? He wasn’t totally cruel. He didn’t always have to scare her every time he saw her. And anyway, it wasn’t exactly the idea of him making her jump it was more about the element of surprise. If she saw when he was coming then it wouldn’t be so exciting, at least that was what was going on in his mind anyway. Boredom was clearly getting to him.

“You are a terrible liar” he smirked. In all honesty he was just as excited to see her as she was but he didn’t do skipping. No, he was sure he’d get a few dodgy looks if the muggles around here spotted him gallivanting over. In fact he’d probably get those looks from anyone around here. He knew the Ministry lot could be a strange bunch but still.. “Where are you spending Christmas?” he asked looking at her with a slight wrinkle of the nose. Terry had no idea what was going on with his Christmas Day. His mum was still far away sorting out ‘stuff’ and his sister had gone with her. There was every possibility that she wouldn’t return home in time and the blonde would be stuck celebrating Christmas by himself and the dozens of animals that were left under his responsibility. He needed help and company. Terry had always been pretty social, he liked being surrounded by friends and since so many of them were doing stupidly well for themselves he had barely seen anyone since graduation.

As for threatening sibling talk? “Pssh, I can handle it” he waved it off. Terry had yet to meet most of the family and he was a little nervous about impressing the parents but they’d been dating for years. “No sibling talk could keep me away from you” he lamented. Besides, Terry was probably one of the most sensible men they could meet. He wasn’t stupid, or reckless and his mum had kept him on a pretty tight leash growing up.

Ana leaned into Terry and he automatically responded by wrapping one arm around her waist pulling her closer for a cuddle and planting a soft kiss on her lips.

“Or it tells me that you should come visit me more often.” Keep him company, he needed it. Terry really didn’t mind what Ana wore, whatever she was dressed in made her look nice anyway. But variation was good and he smiled sweetly down at his girlfriend as she wondered off in a tangent about Kenzie. Her family was so large that he still hadn’t wrapped his head around everyone’s names and their relationship to her. He had a mum and a twin sister now, that was pretty much it. Three people, one house. Simplistic. “You should wear whatever you want to.” And that was final. She was her own person, she made her own decisions and Terry agreed with them no matter what they were. Good boyfriend.

"I suppose it's a good thing that I want to be a classical musician instead of an actress or politician then." Although Yasha had told her that there would always be an element of subterfuge to that as well, like pretending that you actually cared what people were saying about you, or were happy to meet them when really you were dead tired and just wanted to get home to your family and... No. Thinking about Iacov inevitably just made her sad, especially at this time of year, which Stasya did not want to be when she was spending time with Terry.

"Christmas for me or Christmas for you?" Stasya asked, cheekily, well aware that most people tended to forget that she didn't actually celebrate at the same time as them. "For me I'll be spending Christmas Eve and the day with my dad's side of the family as per usual, and my brother in laws family is going to be there to see the kids I think, only instead of going to my parents in the afternoon I'll stay the whole day. That's why mum's so annoyed, my father understands though so he's trying to get her to see reason, which just makes me feel guilty really because according to Katya that's causing more issues," Anastasia explained, rolling her eyes as she did so. "So I'm probably going to see my father and that a few days after Christmas, or he, Katya and Vaska might come to brunch the day after when I spend time with my aunt Lucrezia's side of the family. Mum likely I wont see at all though. And then I have to spend some time at my place in Saint Petersburg, which if your mum is home by then you should totally come to. I can show you a Russian winter and it would be just us!" she added excitedly. Because time alone was a hot commodity and she did so adore her childhood home even though she didn't spend a lot of time there anymore.

Taking a breath and shooting a small smile Terry's way Stasya finally decided to answer the question she knew Terry actually wanted the answer to. "As for Christmas your time, I have no plans. I was actually hoping I'd get to spend time with you though..." Only she couldn't just invite herself over. Besides, despite having met his family several times and getting along fairly well with his mother Anastasia was still slightly uncomfortable in his sisters presence. More because she disliked the older girl but tried to appear friendly, than because she was made to feel unwelcome.

Anastasia giggled happily when Terry brushed off the warning about the threatening sibling talk, happy that he didn't seem intimidated by the thought. "Don't worry, Sasha already likes you from what I've told them all. The most important thing to my family is that you make me happy, the fact that you so clearly do means that they'll tone it down. Just don't back down and be honest and you can't go wrong," Stasya advised as she snuggled closer, happily returning his kiss.

"Perhaps. But my place lacks the overabundance of animals, which you know, I like." Because pet hair on clothing was not her favourite thing, even though she was quite fond of most animals, besides snakes. "I know. But you know how Kenzie is. If it weren't for having a uniform she'd probably have dressed like a model to go to class," Anastasia dismissed before thinking about it. Had Terry and Kenzie ever actually met? "I guess sometimes I feel underdressed around her, but then I like my style so I don't really feel bad about that." Anastasia finished with a shrug. It was nice though, that Terry was supportive about her dress sense, well supportive about most things really. Anastasia had been incredibly grateful that she'd had his support from the sidelines when she had her mini melt down before graduation, when instead of telling her to just suck it up he'd let her talk everything out. It was part of what had given her the courage to actually apply for the music programs in the first place.

He wasn’t sure why but Terry couldn’t see Ana as a politician. She could be an actress maybe but he liked that she wasn’t overly ambitious with her future plans. Terry himself was lying low and studying whilst the majority of his former classmates were off high flying and becoming famous. Ana was his girlfriend, he was quite content with keeping her all for himself, as selfish as that may have seemed. “And an amazing musician you will be” he smiled softly at her.

He opened his mouth to answer her question but then she just erupted into her speech about her family plans and he snapped it back shut with an amused smile. If there was one thing about Anastasia it was that she loved to talk and Terry was happy to let her. He wasn’t overly quiet but he was the sort of guy to sit back and listen instead of actively trying to get his voice heard. At least he thought he was like that in the dorm. He nodded in all the right places to her speech, smiling whenever it was required or squeezing her closer when she looked like she needed the comfort. “I.. think I got most of that” he teased. There were so many names to remember that they still got all confused in his brain. The whole inviting to St Petersburg thing. He smiled in response. “That would be pretty amazing. I’m sure I could find someone to take responsibility for me if she’s not back by then.” He’d never been to Russia, he’d rarely been out of Britain at all.

“Well I’m sure we could arrange that” he grinned. “If it’s okay with your family? You could come spend it with me on that stupidly remote island.” Where there was very little to do but it was cosy by the fire and there were plenty of magical creatures for entertainment.

He nodded at her advice for meeting the family. “Just don’t let them beat me up, I’m not very good at physical violence” he laughed although he was really quite serious about that. Terry didn’t even do mean comments.

“Forget about the animals! I’m there that should be your priority!” he lightly nudged her arm with a cheeky smile. “They mainly occupy the barns anyway, the house is almost pet free.” With the exception of Amadeus that was but feathers didn’t really stick to clothes. He reiterated that she should wear what she wanted, she could be influenced all she liked but Terry liked her for who she was and nothing was going to change that.

If there was one thing Sabel still wasn't used to about London was the quick weather turn-around. The days were already getting milder and the winter seemed all but over. It was a nice change from a Canadian winter, but it was still strange. And he missed his Canadian winters. But at least he didn't have to walk about with a toque or mitts. Less to carry, less to worry about losing.

He had needed a break from all the Diagon Alley patrols. From the city really, and so he had taken to the park. It rarely crossed his mind that he should use apparition for anything other than getting home. If he had thought about it, he might have taken off somewhere a little more remote to get some fresh air and clear his head.

As it was, just being in the small park made him content enough. At least there were a few trees and some grass. That was all he needed. The distant sounds of people and traffic faded into the background. A white noise that didn't bother him.

Jaxton wasn't used to being in London anymore. He liked the calmness of living in the countryside, it mirrored the chaos of having four children under the age of age... and Twins in their mid-twenties who (he was sure) were determined to give him heart attacks with their antics. Really, the American man just wanted to keep all of his children little forever, but with Aries turning five soon that really wasn't happening.

Sigh.

Running a hand through his hair, he stopped to look over the park and smiled at the little bit of countryside they had managed to put in the middle of the city. Or rather, the part that hadn't been destroyed to create the magnificent city that was the Capital. With a soft smile, he looked out over the park enjoying the view of children like his own, running around the grass. See, grass and air were good, good for everyone but especially for kids.

...

And talking of kids, Sabel. Sabel was one of his adopted children. Just like Legend. Yeah, he should stop adopting children he had enough of his own really. No, honestly. Six children is enough. More so.

Moving into the park, through the gap in the wrought iron fencing, the ex-Auror moved towards the bench that the Auror was sitting on. "Sabel," He called out with a smile on his face. "Lovely surprise." He said, sitting down beside the younger man. Hmm, he looked stressed. Silently, Jaxton made a note to call in on the others he had worked with and trained and check on them too.

Had the years under service to the MLE not happened, Sabel would have rested his head back and closed his eyes, blocking out the visual stimulus that was the last white noise on his mind. As it was, he didn't trust doing such things anymore. At least, not on his own.

So instead, he simply slouched on the bench a little, enough to rest his head against the backrest, but not so much that couldn't still watch the world turn about. He absently watched children and parents, pets and their owners as they went about their lives in the park, his thoughts drifting absently with them.

At first, he didn't recognize the voice. It was only the use of his name that brought his head up and his senses on high alert. Even when his eyes fell on the approaching man, the recognition wasn't instantaneous. It took him a moment, before recollection flooded back to him.

And when it did, Sabel beamed, sitting forward properly on the bench. "Jaxton!" He would have risen but the man was moving to take a seat, so he settled for perching on the edge, extending his hand for a shake. "Who's surprising who here?"

And just like that, Sabel felt like he was back in the YATI program. He almost expected Damien and Evander to stroll on up behind Jaxton. He even checked to see if they were on the pathway, but of course they weren't. Time had passed and moved on. His gaze refoccussed on Jaxton. "You look good, like you're keeping out of trouble."

Lawson was on break and he had been forced out by his fellow classmates to go and soak up some sun. It was ridiculous. He got plenty of sun, he didn't need any it. And he was certainly not turning pale with all the work. He hated when people meddled into his life. It was rude and unnecessary. He hated arguing too so he had agreed and left without a word. It was simple that way.

Getting himself some sandwiches and coffee to go, the twenty three year old made his way into the city park. He wished he had enough time to surprise Harper back at Rosa's place and have lunch with her but no. He didn't have that kind of time. So city park, it was.

Finding himself an empty bench in front of a pond, the former Hufflepuff sat down and pulled out a sandwich from the paper bag he held. It was only when he took his first bite did he realize how freaking hungry he really was.

The sun was shining. The sun was shining while Harper had a break. How exciting was that? With a grin, Harper had securely left the day care and the children in the very capable hands of her workers and decided that since the sun was shining she would make the best of it and eat her lunch outside. She had been brought up in the Highlands afterall, now she tried to get the most of the sun - even if she couldn't tan. At all. Ever.

Having grabbed a sandwich and a few extras on the way to the park, she tried to figure out where she wanted to sit. She took the closest entrance to Diagon Alley and started to look for an empty bench. However, before she found on - she noticed Lawson. Now, should she say hi or keep walking? Uhhh, where was his daughter when you needed a reason to talk to him?

Urgh. Okay, deep breathe. You're a Ward! You can do this!

Smiling, Harper continued in Lawson's direction. "Hey," she called out trying to catch his eye. "It's a lovely day," She started lamely - even if it was the truth. "No Harper today?" She asked, berating herself for not asking how he was. Gosh, she sounded like she wasn't even interested in him - which wasn't really true.

It was sunny out recently, which put her in a good mood. She didn't have to bundle up anymore, and on lucky days she didn't even have to wear a hoodie if it wasn't raining. Today was one of those lucky days. The sun was actually shining a bit (for how long, though, who knew?) and Alix was even on time for their... meeting? Play date, thing.

Wearing her best outfit she had that was not in the hamper and not fancy, Alix set out of her apartment that Saturday mid-morning to meet Tibi, Gabe and, of course, the kids. She was looking forward to this visit, but she was also slightly nervous. It had been a while, probably too long. This time she came bearing gifts, since she heard that Hazel had adopted four mice. A little tiny giftbag was in her hands as she waited for them to arrive, keeping her eye out for a little girl with hair just like her own...

Now that the kids were settled in their home and it seemed like Alix was in a good place - or at least Tiberius hoped she was - it was time to get back to the visits with mum. Especially for Hazel's sake. Tiberius held the young girl's hand as they walked into the park. This had been a special trip already, having opted to take the train from Colchester, and Hazel had pressed her face against the glass of the window to watch the scenery fly by. Looking over to Gabriel, who was pushing a sleepy Noah in a stroller, Tiberius smiled. Family outing.

"MUMMY!!" Hazel squealed, having spotted the woman before Tiberius had. She bounced and tugged on his hand to get him to hurry up. With one more good tug, she'd freed her hand and started to sprint down the path, red pigtails flying behind her and skirt swishing. Launching herself at the woman, and taking no notice of the gift, Hazel wrapped her arms around her mummy's middle and squeeeeeezed. "Hi." Hazel beamed. She had so many things to say about her micies and her new house and the funny noises that Noah makes and the birdies outside her window. But she was going to wait for Daddy and Papa and Noah to catch up.

Pushing the stroller along at a leisurely pace, Gabriel looked down at the newest addition to their family and smiled. It had been a bit of an adventure on the way over, and not just because of the transportation choice this time, and a yet another crash course in fatherhood when Noah had thrown one of his precious hungry hissy fits and thus he and Tibs had had to figure out how to make a bottle right there on the spot so all onlookers could....stop their gawking. It had all worked out in the end and now Noah was fast asleep with both arms raise above his head.

Looking up when he heard Hazel's gleeful greeting and couldn't help but feel a tiny tug on his heart cause by a feeling that he was unable, and also unwilling, to put a label on. Inhaling deeply, he pushed the stroller a bit more forcefully so he could catch up to Tibs.

"It is lovely to see you again," he greeted as he and the stroller came to a stop. And see that she was doing much better.

A delighted squeal that rang throughout the park made a smile spread across her face. Alix stooped down to one knee as her pigtailed redhead came bounding towards her. Alix wrapped her arms around the little girl and sighed. "Hello, my little love. I've missed you." Giving Hazel another squeeze, Alix stood up, taking the girl in her arms with her.

"My goodness, you are getting so big!" Ugh, really, she was. She was getting bigger and heavier and Alix wasn't particularly strong, but that's where she wanted her daughter.

Finally, she greeted the men with bright smiles, her mood lifted from having her little girl with her. "Same to you," she said to Gabriel, who seemed to be the same as always. Alix liked them both, but she had always been more comfortable with Tiberius, due to the fact that he had always been more comfortable with her and more... in tune to her thoughts and feelings. When it came to daughter, at least.

And her son, of course. "How's he doing?" she asked, nodding to the stroller. Quiet, so he was probably sleeping.

It's in a day like this that Lara decides she's going to come up with more activities to do in here free time. But that's just a decision she comes up whenever she wasn't swamped with work and errands. As much as she enjoys being a personal assistant, she sometimes feels that it makes her forget how to get things done for her own self. But now she had free time and was going to get advantage of it.

And just five minutes after she got to the park she realized she could have probably chosen a better place ? She certainly wasn't going to run around or something. However she was here so might as well get something out of it.

Her eyes scanned her surroundings and was not surprised to not find any familiar face. Shrugging, because she wasn't really expecting that, she plopped down on the grass and crossed her legs. She could sit on the ground, right ?

"I am, I am," Hazel giggled, laughing into Alix's neck as her mum picked her up. "I'm SIX." The child didn't do much to help Alix hold her up, however, just letting her legs dangle and only loosely hugging 'round her neck. "Do you want to play? We can pretend to be golden snidgets and fly around the park." Hazel bounced a little in Alix's arms.

Tiberius, for his part, was smiling at Hazel's happiness. Sure, there was some part of him that wondered if Hazel would ever run to him like that, but after growing up not knowing his father... well.. there was no way in good conscience that he could deny Hazel the opportunity to know Alix. And so visits there would be, for Hazel. And Tiberius would get over his... weird pangs of not-quite-jealousy.

"Wait, no... not yet." Hazel shifted a little, twiiiisting her little body to look at Gabriel, having had a sudden thought. "Papa Gabey, did you bring my book? I wanna show Mummy the book about me." It was her very very favorite thing, the story book that they had made for her. Well, after her micies, but Daddy Tibi said those had to stay at home.

It wasn't often he came up here. Even rarer when he didn't have business about. But it wasn't unheard of for him. It was that need of wandering, and watching, that had dragged him along the pathways and the sidewalks until he ended up here. Among the trees. In the sun.

Squinting, Mathis glanced up at the half-revealed sky. The leaves rustled with the faint breeze. Summer was here. People were out.

His attention dropped back to the pathway, his gaze pulling him along bit by bit. Occasionally it would snag on a person, but quickly drift away, catching nothing of real interest. His eyes slid about, lingering here and there, drawing him onto the grass and away from the designated walking areas.

After a few minutes he came to a stop, his attention travelling up the back of a young woman that was sitting a few feet away. He blinked at her, his own voice sounding as if it was coming from a distance. "There are benches for that."

The more seconds ticked by, the more she realized that this was not one of her best ideas. And she knew herself to be full of those, ideas. Was she losing her touch ? She sure hoped not.

Her eyes squinted as she looked up at the sky, she could have at least chosen to sit somewhere under a tree in the shade. And just when she was going to get up and do that she heard someone address her.

Benches. Sure, those.

"Benches are overrated," She told him. Were they, though? Well, she definitely didn't want to look silly now and admit that it wasn't the smartest ideas to pick this particular spot. So she was going to keep sitting here, on the grass and away from shade to prove a point. More smart ideas. They just keep coming.

Lara took a closer look at the person to see that he looked around her age. "Are you a fan of them?" By them she meant the benches. It sounded like a legit question in her mind but it sounded less like it when she spoke it up.

Was....he a fan of them?

Mathis blinked at the woman for a moment, before his gaze drifted over to the nearest bench. It was empty. No one sitting, no one stretching, no one pausing. All too busy. To wrapped up in their lives, in their lies.

He felt his shoulder shrug, but didn't pay much attention to his gesture. "I'm indifferent." To the benches. To sitting on them? Well, that was what they were for, wasn't it? And if they were overrated, then why were they created in the first place? An old need that had turned into a discarded want?

He eyed the woman again. "What are you doing out here?"