Ice cream (Daria, Noah)

[ourwaterways.insanejournal.com]

Every outing with Phoebe and Cassandra was a mission, but a mission Daria and Noah faced head on, without fear or faltering! Well, usually without fear. Well, not a lot of fear. They were adults, goddammit, and surely two adults could keep control over two two-and-a-half-year old twins at least most of the time.

Today they were out hunting. They’d successfully ran down a couple of new sets of clothes and shoes for the girls, who were definitely starting to catch up with their growth spurts. They’d stocked up on cough syrup for Phoebe’s reoccurring cold, and, the biggest mission of all, they’d successfully completed a complete circuit of the supermarket without anyone starting to cry.

Daria was so seriously on top of this motherhood business!

But she definitely needed a sugar hit. “Hey Noah,” she said, eyeing up the ice cream stand in the middle of the food court. “You’ve been so well behaved today, I think I should buy you an ice cream.”

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Noah glanced over at his fiance and he grinned widely at her in response. "Have I? I thought my slight temper tantrum in the dairy aisle might get me in trouble!" He looked at the girls and raised his eyebrows. "What do you think, girls, has daddy been a good boy?"

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"I think I can forgive the odd cream cheese based huff," Daria nudged him with her hip, though the sharp sideways motion made her feel a little dizzy. She definitely needed some sugar, and maybe a well deserved nap when she got home. Sneak away and let Noah deal with putting everything away, aha!

The girls were going wild at the idea of ice cream. Phoebe, who was sitting in the shopping trolley was banging her hands on her bouncing legs repeating the words 'ice cream!' and Cassandra looked up Noah in all seriousness and said "I'm good."

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Noah burst out laughing and then he leaned in to kiss Cassandra's head. "Yes you are, beautiful. Very very good." To Daria, he grinned and nodded. "To the ice cream!"

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"To the ice cream," Daria agreed, giving the trolley a push to get it moving in the right direction. She gripped the handle a little harder as the floor sunk away, like maybe it was a little uneven here. "Hm," she wondered out loud, confused by the floor. Was it the floor? Was it her brain? Maybe she just needed to push through it.

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Noah glanced sideways at Daria as he pushed the pram with Cassandra in it. "Hey," he said gently as Daria looked a little wobbly. "You okay?" he asked, nearly under his breath so he didn't upset the twins.

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"Probably?" Daria replied. "I think I just need to eat something. With sprinkles," she said, pronouncing the word carefully because it was one of Phoebe's favourites but she pronounced it 'spittles', and it wasn't a great look having your child ask everyone she met for 'spittles'.

Phoebe changed her tune from a chant of ice cream to a chant of spittles. Oh well, Daria thought, she'll get it eventually. Her legs folded underneath her sight narrowed down to tunnel vision, till all she could see was her hand on the floor as she tried to stop herself collapsing completely. She could hear Phoebe laughing through the rushing blood in her ears, and thought, maybe she thinks I'm playing hide and seek? But then her tunnel vision was completely overtaken by black.

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Noah was distracted by Phoebe's chanting for spittles and he had been mid-laugh when Daria went down.

"Shit-" he hissed, completely forgetting to censor himself in front of the twins. "Daria!" He fell to his knees beside her, trying to make sure she hadn't hit her head. "Daria! Oh, Jesus, someone help!"

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She came swimming back to herself a few moments later, finding her head in Noah's lap, the rest of her body stretched out across the floor. "Shit," she whispered, echoing him without realising it, a spark of panic shooting adrenaline through her. Was this the work of a demon? Should she have asked Allanah to come today? But there hadn't been in trouble for ages. She tried to lift herself back up but the dizziness swamped her again. She pressed her face against Noah's leg. Maybe she should just lie here for a moment.

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"Okay, just- Just wait there," he told Daria, who seemed to still be in trouble. "Mummy's fine," he informed the twins quickly as he pulled his mobile out to dial the hospital's number. "I'm calling an ambulance, Daria. You're going to be okay."

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"M'okay," she said, looking upwards to Phoebe who was danging her legs out of the trolley, directly above her. She looked quite a long way off, and Daria hoped she was securely in there. What a tall child she had.

Daria pressed her hands against the side of her face, as if she could push her full consciousness back into her head. It did make her feel a little better. The tunnel of her vision kept getting wider, then would narrow a little, then widen again.

Noah was still there, and the babies. So maybe she wasn't about to get hauled away by a demon. That seemed unlikely, in the bright fluorescent light of the shopping mall. And she'd been feeling a little off for a few days, but that wasn't unusual, since she caught everything the girls bought home from playcenter.

"Think I'm just being silly," she murmured. "Silly body."

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Noah pushed the hair off of her forehead and then he reached out to take Cassandra's hand. Phoebe was too far away, but he could try to comfort one of them. "We'll go see a doctor to make sure," he said, inviting no argument. "See, girls, Mummy's fine."

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"Mmm," Daria agreed, making a silly face up at her daughters so show them she was just playing. "That's a very good idea," she said to Noah, her voice sounding much less Daria-like than usual, that is to say, without its usual strength. "I made a very good choice with you."

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"Well at least when you're loopy, you're still very, very wise," he said, smiling down at her. Keeping the tone light was good. It helped him ignore the intense panic he was feeling.

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"Ugh, help me up?" she asked, easing herself into a sitting position using his body. "I think I can sit on a chair, as comfy as this floor is, it's a little degrading."

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Noah would rather she stay on the floor, but he supposed it was her choice. He helped her up, making sure she took it slowly. "Just let me know if you're going down again, okay? You...you know what I mean."

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Daria managed a grin, but mostly she was concentrating on grabbing the table to steady herself, settling her butt firmly in the chair. "Hoy, I'm up," she said, though she was also steadying her head with her hands.

Mostly the other people in the mall had left them alone once they worked out Noah was on top of it, but a few people were still giving her sideways looks to make sure there wasn't trouble. Someone bought her over a large McDonalds cup filled with ice water, which she sipped gratefully through the straw. "There's no sign of a demon," Daria said quietly to Noah. "Which doesn't mean it's not... but the last time I fainted for real, I was pregnant with these two monsters." She pointed at Cassandra, who grabbed onto her hand.

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Noah's eyebrows retreated into his hairline when Daria brought that up. Both twins were fussy, but Phoebe was the twin stuck in the cart, so he retrieved her, holding her close. "Do you think that might be what this is?" he asked quietly, his voice wavering a little, but only because he was bouncing Phoebe on his hip.

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"Uuurgh, god," said Daria. "Won't rule it out. Uuh, pretty sure I had a period recently? A bit? But I have been feeling pretty knackered last couple of weeks." But that might be because of the little monsters as well.

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"Could be," he said, kissing Phoebe's head. "I think we should probably check it out though." It was strange, but the idea of Daria being pregnant now was different than the last scare they had. When that happened, Noah hadn't been ready. He had been terrified and worried and when it had been a false alarm the relief he felt was endless. Now? Now there was a small part of him, a part he was trying to ignore until he knew how Daria felt, that was excited at the thought of it.

"Do you need anything else? Something to eat?"

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"Urgh, no, no food," Daria said, shaking her head a little except that made her dizzy. She would stick with her free gift of water for now. The girls could probably use something to keep the occupied though. Daria leaned forward and pointed at the back of the pram where the baby bag was, that had a couple of little bags of food for the girls. "That," she said, gesturing with hands instead of using proper language. She figured Noah knew well enough what she was saying.

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"Got it." Noah reached for the bags and situated himself close enough to the pram so he could hand bits of the food to both twins without reaching. "Here you go, beautiful," he said, handing a bit to Cassandra. "Just breathe okay, Daria?"

[ourwaterways.insanejournal.com]

Daria continued to breath, paying more attention to it now that Noah had mentioned it. She let him manage the twins, which he did astonishingly well, and thought oh god what if I am? No, best not to think of it until she'd had a test. At least she wasn't alone and terrified this time, fighting with Con, with only Allanah to lean on. Whatever happened this time she had Noah. Not that she was thinking ahead. Not till anything was comfirmed.

Bventually she spotted Matt and a second paramedic coming across the food court toward them. He raised his arm in greeting, "alright Daria, Noah," he said. "What's the trouble?"

"Fainted," said Daria, as he pulled up a chair opposite her. "Felt a bit like being drained by a demon actually. Didn't see anyone though. Or might be pregnant. Felt a bit off lately. Or might be Secret Option Number C." She managed a wry smile, as he took her pulse and looked her over quickly.

"How are you feeling right now? Did you hit your head on the way down?"

"Nah, just sank. Noah caught me," she smiled at Noah, and Matt gave him a blokey pat on the shoulder. "Uh, bit faint still. Bit gross, bit weak."

"Well, better still take you in to R-Macs," Matt said. "Ambo's just outside. I can bring over a wheelchair if you'd rather."

"I think I can walk," Daria said. "Just give me your manly neck to hold onto."

"Attagirl," Matt said, helping her up, one strong arm wrapped around her waist as she looped her arm around his shoulders. "You gonna follow in the car, mate?" he asked Noah.

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"Yes, I'll be right behind you!" he said, trying to get Phoebe into the pram, despite her squirming. "We can have ice cream in the cafe, okay girls? We just have to take a ride first. We're going to meet Mummy there."

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Cassandra started howling as Matt led Daria away and Daria winced painfully, trying to hide her head in his shoulder. Every bit of her wanted to go back and help her daughter, but the way she was feeling at the moment, she'd probably drop her right onto the floor. She had to be strong enough to let Noah deal with it. She knew he could. It was just so damn hard when they were crying.

"How's that sister of yours?" Matt asked, trying to distract her. "Keeping out of trouble?"

"Ppff," said Daria. "Which one?"

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"It's okay, sweetheart," Noah said, trying to settle Cassandra down, but it didn't really work. He managed to get Phoebe all strapped into the pram, however, and hoping it might distract her, Noah handed Cassandra a toy as he pushed the pram towards their car.