"What on earth are you doing?" Mycroft asked, coming in to the sitting room. Anthea was on the floor, Ashwini on her lap. Pressing her mouth to the little girls' cheek, she hummed against her skin.

"Mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaa!" the over-dramatization of the noise made Ashwini laugh, wriggling as she imitated the end of the word.

"Oh I see, voice lessons," Mycroft quirked a smile, hitching up his trousers so he could kneel down and kiss them both.

"Voice lessons of sorts," Anthea nodded with a smile. Ashwini reached for her father and he bent closer, she touched his cheek, little fingers coming over is mouth. She squealed at him, bringing her little teeth together and shouted:

"Da!"

"What?"

"Oh!"

Both parents were surprised.

"I've been working on her to say 'ma' all this while and you've been undermining me!" Anthea accused, half annoyed but still pleased by Ashwini's first word.

"Well um…I honestly wasn't trying to," he murmured in response, quite touched that their daughter had said 'da' first. Anthea gave a small sigh, smiling at her husband's misty eyes. Ashwini happily went on babbling, her toddler-speak now and again including 'da'.

A week later, she woke them up happily bellowing "Ma!" from her crib, and Mycroft admitted to helping along her speaking lessons. Two weeks later, much to their shock, she returned from daycare sing-songing 'mur-der-mur-der-murder'. Naturally, they both knew just exactly who was to blame.