None of the stories in Plot Bunnies are beta read, so don't expect much in the way of quality

Disclaimer: Seven Deadly Sins also known as Nanatsu no Taizai is not mine and I make no profit off this.

Summary: Baby Elizabeth is sick and nothing will calm her down… except her favourite person.

Characters: Elizabeth, Caroline, Meliodas, Veronica

Tears and Frustrations

Many young girls dream of being a princess or queen, thinking only of the wealth, pretty dresses and jewelry available to them. Believing that as royalty they could do whatever they want and order about the servants on whatever whim that they happen to have at the time.

What they don't realize is that being a queen is a full time job where one is forced to make difficult decisions knowing full well that no matter what you decide someone is going to either oppose you or suffer from your choice or both. It's a position that requires a great deal of sacrifice and dedication with little in the way of thanks.

Many young girls dream of being a mother, thinking only of the joy of holding one's own creation in their arms filled with smiles and warm coos. Imagining teaching their child how to walk and talk, of kisses on cheeks and time spent together.

Then reality sets in with the arrival of a younger sibling or said child. Nights became filled with screams and wails, sleep is a rare luxury, and one comes to the unpleasant realization that cloth diapers don't work very well for very long. To say nothing about the pain of giving birth to the child in the first place.

Being queen did offer a few perks when it came to being a mother, however. Nannies could look after a child while the mother was busy with other matters and wet nurses could be hired easily to feed a hungry infant. In truth, beyond giving birth a queen could just hand their child over to others and be done with the matter until the child was old enough to carry on conversation, and some did just that.

Caroline was not one of those queens. When she married Bartra, who was still a prince at the time, she had made her stance on motherhood very clear. Caroline was going to feed her children and not some wet nurse, unless there was some medical reason why she couldn't. Nannies, while sadly necessary to the busy queen, would not be used often since Caroline wanted to be involved in her children's lives.

It worked out well for both Margaret and Veronica, it took a bit of fumbling in the beginning with Margaret and her nanny, but eventually everything settled and when Veronica came along. Caroline mostly knew what to expect and when she needed to hand her child off to perform her queenly duties. Elizabeth was a bit different however.

Because Caroline didn't give birth to Elizabeth her body had no milk to offer, and because of that a wet nurse became necessary. Because of being forced to give up a vast portion of interacting with her youngest daughter Caroline was even more determined to be in her daughter's life as often as she could. Right now as her ears were being deafened with piercing screams, and sobbing hiccups, Caroline was both simultaneously grateful and questioning the logic of her decision.

The whole of Liones had come down with some sort of illness that caused high fevers, upset stomachs and ache that could be felt throughout the whole body. It didn't last very long fortunately, only about three days, but it was still enough that so far nine elderly and twelve children had died from this outbreak. Caroline held her daughter closer at the thought, wishing that her husband were here with them and not out with Zaratras in Camelot negotiating treaties.

Veronica had been the first in the family to get sick, followed shortly after by Denzel, and Margaret. It wasn't until Veronica was completely better and Denzel and Margaret were on the mend did Caroline herself fall victim to the illness. Exhausted from caring for her children with little rest for days on end, Caroline was exhausted and the illness had hit her hard only for her to find that Elizabeth too was sick. By that time the death toll for children from this illness had risen once again and Caroline was determined to spend every moment with her youngest daughter in fear that it might be her last.

Bouncing her wailing infant in her arms as she paced the length of the bedroom Caroline turned her head to the side and let out a full bodied cough. The action startled the already upset child and Elizabeth's cries took on a more angry tone before stopping to let out a few coughs herself.

"Poor baby." Caroline soothed her child as best she could with her voice hoarse from a swollen throat. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Elizabeth ignored her mother's efforts to soothe her and just went back into another round of painful crying.

Sighing in defeat Caroline just started walking and bouncing again trying to ignore the heat that plagued her body and desire to crawl into the tempting bed. She wished she could do something to ease Elizabeth's pain but nothing seemed to work. The lukewarm baths that Veronica and Margaret found soothing only aggravated Elizabeth, and the warm soups that helped ease the scratchiness of the throat wouldn't work on a four month old baby who drank only milk. There was only one other option that Caroline could think of that might help, one that had never failed thus far. Sadly that option had been unavailable for the last month, though hopefully he would return to Liones soon.

A knock on the door startled Caroline out of a tired daze that she was unaware she had fallen into and made her pause in her monotonous actions. "What is it?" She called out as best she could with a sore throat to the guard who had knocked.

"We just received word that Sir Meliodas has returned, Your Majesty. Should I send him in once he arrives?" The guard asked, voice muffled through the door.

"Yes, please. Have him come as soon as possible." Caroline answered, very nearly slumping in relief. Hearing an affirmative noise on the other side of the door Caroline turned her attention back to the crying child she carried. "Hear that, baby? Your man's coming to see you. You missed him didn't you?" Elizabeth just kept crying.

It wasn't long before there was another knock on the door, but this time it swung open before Caroline could answer. Meliodas entered the room and quickly made his way over to the wailing infant holding out his arms in anticipation. "Hey there little one, I missed you. What's with all the crying, huh? I could hear you half way across the castle."

As much as she loved her daughter Caroline was more than ready to hand her over. Elizabeth, realizing that her favourite person had arrived, threw her weight in Meliodas' direction wanting to be held by him instead of her mother, leaving Caroline to hold her daughter awkwardly for a few seconds before Meliodas managed to get a hold.

"There, there. I know you're not feeling well and that it hurts, but you'll be alright." Meliodas cooed to Elizabeth who was quickly settling down. "There we go, that's better."

Caroline, who could no longer resist temptation's call and sat on the edge of the bed, watched in silence as her sick and crying daughter calmed and settled into Meliodas' arms.

Silence. Pure, blessed silence.

Green eyes glanced in the queen's direction and quickly gave her an appraising look, taking in the tired slump of her body and glazed look in her eyes. There were several other signs but all of them pointed to one thing. "You look tired, Caroline."

"So do you." Caroline fired back only realizing the truth of that statement after she said it. Meliodas did indeed look tired and more than a little scuffed up. There were rips and tears in his long white jacket that weren't there before and his eyes spoke of long days with little sleep.

A small tired smile crossed Meliodas' face at her words. "Not nearly as tired as you." He said while tapping gentle pats up Elizabeth's back and shifting his weight from one foot to the other in a gentle rocking motion. "Go crawl into bed, Caroline. I got her."

With the sirens' call of sleep beckoning, Meliodas' reassurances and Elizabeth's relative contentment, Caroline could only agree. As she went to the dresser to get a nightgown to change into, a loud belch that would make a grown man proud filled the air. Whirling to face the other two people in the room Caroline was treated to the sight of Meliodas staring at Elizabeth in stunned disbelief.

"That was the most impressive burp I will ever hear in my life," Meliodas deadpanned. Caroline exploded into giggles having already experienced a similar event with Veronica, although Elizabeth's was far more impressive.

Grabbing her nightgown and heading behind the changing screen Caroline could hear Meliodas resume his murmurings to Elizabeth as he paced back and forth within the large bedroom. There was a pause in the murmurings as Meliodas let out a brief noise of surprise.

"Caroline," Meliodas called with rueful amusement colouring his tone. "When you're finished would you mind holding her for a bit?"

"She throw up on you?" Caroline asked pulling the nightgown over head.

"No, but I'm changing her diaper and nightgown. How'd it get all the way up your back?" Meliodas wondered aloud. Caroline couldn't help but huff out a laugh at the question that was clearly directed towards Elizabeth.

Coming from behind the change curtain Caroline observed the scene taking place before her and couldn't help but think that Meliodas would make an excellent father; he changed diapers. Even as far back as Margaret, Bartra never changed any diapers and always passed the job off to one of the servants whenever the task came up. Once Elizabeth was as clean as she was going to get outside of a proper bath Meliodas handed the naked infant over to her mother while he hurried out the door to grab another diaper and nightgown from the nursery.

Caroline watched in amusement as Elizabeth slowly came to the realization that her favourite person was no longer the one holding her and scrunched her face up in displeasure. Just as the first sounds of a cry started up Meliodas walked back through the door, and instantly Elizabeth's face smoothed out and the crying stopped. Caroline was almost jealous at such blatant favouritism.

Caroline watched in silence as Meliodas finished his self appointed task before picking Elizabeth up again and walking with her, telling her of some story or another. With the soothing sound of Meliodas' voice filling the air Caroline could feel herself slipping into a doze again as her vision became hazy. This time it was the feel of a hand on her arm that brought Caroline back to reality.

"Bed, Caroline." Meliodas ordered softly, gently pushing her in the direction of the bed.

Giving a hum of acknowledgement Caroline crawled under the covers and settled. The way that the room was covered in a soft glow from the fire in the hearth and the sound of Meliodas' soft footsteps blended with the sound of his voice was so very soothing, Caroline had no problem falling deep asleep.

Sleeping the sleep of only the truly exhausted Caroline completely missed when Meliodas surrendered to his own exhaustion and kicked off his boots so he could lay atop of the bed with Elizabeth sleeping on his chest. She also missed when, hours later, Elizabeth woke up and started to fuss signaling her hunger. She never once stirred when Meliodas got up and asked the guards at the door to send for the wet nurse, or when the nurse arrived to feed Elizabeth. When the wet nurse left and Meliodas once again lay atop the bed with Elizabeth on his chest the only motion Caroline made was to turn over onto her side facing away from the two. Not once did she wake.

The sun was bright as Veronica ran down the hall with the energy and enthusiasm only a child could have. It was late morning and since her mother didn't come down for breakfast, Veronica decided she would go up to her. So with that simple logic in mind Veronica made her way to her parents' room.

The guards at the door saw the incoming princess and, to their credit, tried to avert the damage that would be inadvertently caused by the young princess. "Princess Veronica, your mother and Princess Elizabeth are ill. They're currently resting so please, let them sleep."

"No! Open door!" Veronica demanded with a deep scowl on her face at being denied what she wanted.

The other guard tried his luck. "Princess, please try to understand-"

"NO!" Veronica interrupted with a stomp of her foot. "Want my Mommy!"

The two guards looked at each other knowing full well of the tantrum that would soon erupt from the young princess. "Alright princess, we'll let you in but please let them sleep."

Scowl suddenly gone from her face, Veronica instead gave a lovely smile. "Ok." She chirped happily.

Opening the door one of the guards had the presence of mind to follow after the princess to observe the scene so that there would be no misunderstandings later.

On the bed the queen slept under the covers, on her side facing away from the other two sleeping on the bed. On the other side of the bed, a respectable distance away and on top of the covers, was Meliodas who was sleeping sitting up against the headboard and pillows with Princess Elizabeth sleeping splayed out on his chest with his left arm supporting her. All three figures on the bed were fully clothed so the scene was innocent and chaste and the guard did not doubt the pureness of the situation.

All this was lost to Veronica.

With the loudest, highest pitched scream she could achieve, Veronica lept forward to latch on to Meliodas' right arm to try and pull him away from her mother and off the bed. "No, no, no, no, NO!"

Everyone woke with a jolt.

"Wha?" Caroline managed to get out, sitting up to look over at the commotion. While Elizabeth, who was surprised by the sudden noise, started to cry. Meliodas just looked blankly at the two year old tugging on his right arm.

"Off, off, off! Daddy sleeps there! Daddy sleeps with Mommy! Off, off, off!" Veronica screamed as loud as she could while yanking on the captured arm with all her strength.

Caroline fell back onto the bed with a moan.

Turning to face the queen Meliodas could see that she had thrown one arm over her eyes and was muttering under her breath. The words "I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids…" could barely be heard over the cries of one child that he held to his chest with one arm and the screams of "NO" from another child pulling on his other arm while stomping her feet.

Needless to say, even though the day had only just begun, both Meliodas and Caroline wanted it to end.

End