I am not sure how many chapters this will have, only that it will span months during the pregnancy to years after. I just love Ariciah so I decided to go with her. Show her how to teach her parent's humility, teach them how to step away from the world-saving and constant work and turn their attentions to something greater and more important.

The usual disclaimer applies.

I have no beta so that should reflect in the quality. Many apologies.

Summary: Because parenthood is a journey and only Artemis can make it seem like a triathlon. Which, it turns out, it is. Artemis/Holly and, of course, Ariciah.

Title: Baby Steps

By: AleauxVander B.D

Part 1

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for. -Anonymous

Holly's expression mirrored something Artemis had seen on the television before, once when he was coerced into sitting through three hours of inane, sensationalized, media-vomit with both his brothers (who claimed this program they were watching was worth his time); a cross between looking completely confused as to how it is that a man his age and with his brain capacity was unable to do something she deemed so 'simple' and looking exasperated and close to hitting him over the head (if she could reach from her perch on the bed) with a stuffed pillow.

"Its not rocket science, Artemis." She drawled, her legs crossed and dangling over the edge of the bed on the raised platform it stood on in their room. She didn't even look up at his progress, only sat there, buffing her short, well kept nails, keeping them manicured and manageable for her line of work.

She looked better today, more rested than she had in the past weeks, her hair, grown out through the pregnancy and left to sway just below her shoulders, dark skin marred with faint lines of deep wounds and scars throughout her years in the LEP and her midsection, still somewhat padded, since the delivery.

She could sit there, of course, and dictate to him that it was simple and it was hardly astrophysics, because she had done it enough times to understand the workings of this… thing.

Holding the seven month old around her small waist, holding her above the changing table and looking left and right, turning her left and right, horizontally and diagonally, did little in helping him how the hell to put that thing on her. It sat there, mocking him with its layers and super absorbency.

"How do you put that thing on her?" he asked using a free hand to poke at it.

His wife rolled her eyes, tucking hair behind her ears and leveled him with a bored look.

"I'm sure the package comes with directions." She said in reply, "Read it." Then she pointed her nail file at Ariciah who stared adoringly at her father as she made wet noises with her lips and gurgled every time his eyes met hers. "By the way, I fed her not too long ago. Turning her this way and that way isn't the smartest thing."

Artemis turned his gaze from Holly back to their daughter who reached chubby, inquisitive fingers out to squeeze the nearest thing she could; which happened to be his nose.

"Is there some way to bypass this step?" he asked, ignoring Holly's snort of laughter behind him. "I'm serious. This is tedious and, frankly, disgusting."

"Imagine how your parents felt, doing this for the past few months while we lounged on our backsides."

Artemis finally had the squirming, dark haired mass on her back, holding her tiny ankles together while he lifted her back off the padded surface to wipe away whatever mess was there with the scented baby wipes and when he was done, lifted the naked baby into his arms and crossed the room to sit next to his wife.

"We we're lounging about." He said, "You were recovering. It was a horribly delivery."

Holly lifted her brows comically, "Yeah, I was there." She joked, and then ran her hands along his thigh when he narrowed eyes at her playful comment. "Yes, Artemis, it wasn't the greatest day of our lives, but the outcome was amazing." She said quietly, smoothing Ariciah's monstrous hair down with a smile. "Besides, you just lounged about. I was on actual bed rest."

He set Ares down on his lap, eased her fragile spine against her stomach and unconsciously jogged his leg at intervals, rocking her off to sleep.

"I was there for moral support."

Mismatched eyes set in a dark face stared him down.

"You ate most of my food, slept in my bed and stole my covers. Good load of support you were." She said dryly.

He grinned at her and said "I do try."

Laughing through her words, Holly pointed at the naked child.

"Try a bit harder. The child is still naked. You want her to catch a cold? Go get her dressed."

Artemis picked her up into his arms, turning her to face him and couldn't help but smile, completely besotted at the dimpled smile their daughter gave him.

"Why restrict her in those horrible diapers. They can't be comfortable."

Holly inched away from him down the side of the bed and leaned back against the head board comfortably as she watched the show.

"Because she does things like—" she pointed, " that."

Artemis heard it before he saw it, the wet sound of something hitting the tiled ground and then the unmistakable feel of something, liquid and wet, soiling his trousers.

Holly who was doing nothing more than laughing her ass off further away in the mammoth bed, holding up his smart phone to take photographs, shook her head as she wiped away tears and Artemis held Ariciah away from him and the bed before she did further damage.

"Look what you've done." He said, sounding more distraught than angry, staring at the child amazed because, even now, the fountain of urine hadn't ended. "And you're still at it!"

"Take her to the bathroom if it helps." Holly said between constricting peels of laughter.

"And leave a trail all over the floor? What are you, mad- Jesus, she's still at it? What did you give her to drink, the Atlantic?" He stood, stepped over the pool at the foot of the bed, ignored his wife's raucous laughter, and set the baby on the floor not far away.

"Maybe if I leave her there she will assimilate and fend for herself."

He felt the heavy weight of his wife's glare on his shoulder before he even turned to appease her, "I was joking." He said. "I need to get her cleaned up and get myself cleaned up in the process." He paused for a moment and it occurred to him that the smell wasn't permeating from the baby or from the ground, but from him. He nearly gagged.

"I smell horrible."

"Welcome to parenthood in which we eat whatever they hand to us and we spend more time worrying about their safety than our own."

Artemis watched Ares, sitting up on her own, playing around in the linen on the lower shelves of the changing table, picking up things, throwing them about or putting them in her mouth. For a moment, Ares reached for a large toy, about the size of her head, shaped like an apple, and tried to gnaw on it from the sides of her mouth.

She looked up at them, offered the plastic fruit to them and when both shook their heads, put it back to her mouth and continued.

The room, from his organized view point, was a mess, but Ares was happy.

Artemis looked over at Holly, sitting back against the head board, a blanket thrown over her feet and her eyes soft, staring at the child that nearly took her life and he could feel what she felt, this griping love for their beautiful daughter and the crippling fear that whatever they did, their lifestyle, whatever they provided, wouldn't be enough. The fears of a parent, his mother had said.

"Do they ever go away?" Artemis had asked his mother. She had smiled fondly at him and kissed Ariciah's small, ill face.

"Yes," she answered, "maybe when you die. Even then, you worry about how they will manage your death."

"She is a handful." Artemis said softly, "And we want another?"

"Yup."

He nearly wept. But it was good. Her toddler years would soon fly by and he had Holly, he had his family and he had Ariciah. They would be fine.

"I can't even change her." He complained.

Regardless of his smell and whatever waste mater he was covered in, Holly patted his hand and reached up to kiss his cheek.

"I'll teach you." She said, and then wrinkled her nose. "Yeah…you stink, so….go. Take your child with you and don't return until you're clean. Better yet, I'll leave. I'll be in the guest room until all this—" she waved her hands to encompass the room and the two of them, "— is clean."

She picked up the tablet Artemis used when in bed, tucked it under her arm to do some paper work while away, and danced out of the room waving, with her parting words of, "Have fun!"

Before he even approached her, Ariciah had her arms extended towards him, small fingers clenching and releasing anxiously for him, her face contorted in confusion and subtle tears.

He picked her up before she could fuss and instantly, she smiled, cuddling into his arms.

"Alright, love," he said quietly, rocking her as he approached the bathroom and on his way, rang someone up to have the room cleaned, "this shouldn't be so hard."

The child giggled.

How wrong he was.

.: Tsuzuku:.

Reviews would be delightful. Tell me what you think of the idea and if I should continue or no.

Time for University! So much to prepare, so little time. But I must write. It keeps me sane.