On and On and On {Open}

It had been a long couple of days for Nick Henare. He had been busy at work at St. Mungo's, as it was the time of year many people were sick and in need  of medical help. And of course, instead of heading home to rest, he went home to two sick kids who wanted nothing more than to cuddle with him, therefore keeping him up longer taking care of them. It just left him feeling exhausted, back to the way he felt when he was still training. But back then he had a wife to help take care of the kids. Now, really, it was just him. His wife died at the Battle of Hogwarts, and sure his twin sister was around to help,but he couldn't just have her take care of them all the time. She had her own life to live. Plus they were his kids. He needed to raise them.

But that didn't mean he couldn't take a quick break for himself. So he had decided to move the "start" of his day a couple hours earlier. But instead of heading straight to St. Mungos after grabbing some breakfast to go, he decided to have an actual sit down breakfast. One that didn't include spilled cereal or food on the floor. And the ability to sit and actually read the newspaper. While he didn't necessarily always like to read the newspaper, and see what was going on, it was nice to have the ability to to just sit with relative quiet and read.

So here he was at a quaint breakfast place in Diagon Alley, sitting by the window. His copy of the Daily Prophet was sitting on the table in front of him, but he was watching the world go by outside while sipping his coffee. It was nice to sit and take a breather. He loved what he was doing, and his kids, but sometimes it was just a bit much. He heard a seat at the communal seating he was at move and he looked over to who was coming to join him at the communal table. "Lovely day out there isn't it?" He said placing his coffee back down on the little dish. His status as a St. Mungo's healer would be clear. His lime green robes were draped over the seat behind him.

 

Stella had been having a long day, she'd been running errands all morning.  Groceries were first, she'd dropped into the bank and caught up on all her owls.  Her family had been writing all week. She was quite close with her family and tried to keep in touch for the most part.  She picked up her bag, she knew some people would judge her for not spending every minute with her daughter, Marley.  But she saw her anytime she wasn't working, or at least tried to.  Her husband stayed home most days with Marley but Stella would quite often bring her daughter with her whenever she could, that day however she needed just some time away.  She walked through Diagon Alley having just gone to Gringotts.  She walked along deciding to pop in somewhere and pick up a cup of coffee.  She'd already had a cup that morning but she could go for another anytime.  The moment she walked in she felt more at ease just the smell of coffee calm her down so much.  There seemed to be a bit of a line-up, she ordered her coffee and proceeded to walk over to the communal table.

Stella glanced over when she heard someone commented on the day.  "It is quite nice out there" Stella answered, she was usually a pretty friendly person and generally tried to make conversation whenever someone spoke to her.  "Just leaving work or just starting?" Stella asked while motioned towards the mans scrubs.  She'd always thought being a healer was a great profession, she'd thought at one point she could do that, but she couldn't handle seeing blood at all.  She'd almost passed out giving birth to Marley let alone helping someone feel better.  She pushed her hair out of her face taking a rather large sip of her coffee hoping it would really give her the kick she needed for the rest of the day.

Having the chance to relax and unwind a little bit before heading to work, was such a welcome break. Being a single father who worked full time had its downfalls. Feeling like he was getting pulled in a million different directions and constantly being exhausted were a couple. But when he got home after a long day and saw their smiling faces, there was nothing better. He could always count on them for a pick me up. Sure, he felt a little guilty coming out for a meal without them, but in the end it made him a better father right? It was no good if got to a point he would take it out on his kids. Even if it was just yelling at them for no reason. But for now he'd take the break, and have a conversation. He looked over to see who he had talked to, and smiled when he saw the lady. "I'm glad it's gotten back to nicer days." They had had a string of rainy days, and they had certainly overstayed their welcome.

She must have spotted his outfit and then asked about his job. "Heading to work. Enjoying some food and coffee without having to convince my kids to eat." At least they were past the throwing food on the floor phase. The two of them were becoming more and more independent everyday. It was almost bittersweet. They were no longer his babies. He wished his wife had been able to see them in this phase. Their oldest had only been 4 when she had been killed. "Not that they're awful kids of course." He said with a small smile before taking another sip of his drink. "I'm Nick by the way." he said. His ever present New Zealand accent coming through.

 

Stella was used to the rain, having lived in Scotland or England most of her life. Whenever the weather was a little nicer than normal she was always reminded of her trip to America when she'd met her husband, it was the most sun she'd ever experienced in her life. She enjoyed the rain though, she'd always found it quite calming. She really never experienced much sun, as she thought about it she didn't even really go to warm countries much through-out her travels.  She realized she really needed to see more warm and dry countries.  "Hopefully they last a little longer this time," Stella responded smiling at the thought of some sun on her back, it would be nice.   

Stella was so grateful that she had her husband that was willing to look after their daughter. She didn't know what she'd do if she didn't have him in her life. Stella smiled at the point he made about kids, "I'm glad I'm not at the convincing point yet... I'm still at the smear it everywhere," Stella commented with a little laugh. Her daughter could barely get through a meal without smearing her food all over her high chair. Eight months is still young to expect any better though. Stella nodded, she understood needing a break, "Of course, it is a nice feeling to have a little break," she responded softly. She took a quick sip of her coffee as the man said his name. "I'm Stella, nice to meet you," she said softly. Always nice to meet new people. "Do you have more than one? Child I mean," she asked softly. Meeting other parents was always a tip her siblings gave her, they said it made it easier to deal with parenting stress when it came along... She couldn't say she fully believed it, but then again she didn't know any other parents.

Nick had grown up around the world, but until he had moved to the UK just after school with his then girlfriend, he had lived in places where rain wasn't an every day occurrence. Moving here it had been a big adjustment. Sometimes he really missed not really having to worry if the weather was going to be good enough to plan an outdoor adventure. Not that his kids minded being able to play in the mud. It just meant more work for him. "Hopefully. It'd be nice to enjoy a day outside on my next day off." He could take his kids somewhere nice outside. Maybe it would even be nice enough to go to the beach. Even if it was just to run around on the sand for a while.

Even before she had died, Nick and his wife had both been employed, and managed to make it all work. It hadn't been the easiest, but they had had some help and had still been able to spend quality time together. Thankfully now he also had the help of his twin sister. But he was still the primary caretaker. "I remember that phase. It last much longer than it needed to." How many times had he had food smeared on his face by both of his kids. He had lost count. Of course they both still made a mess, but it was more because they dropped things accidentally. "Nice to meet you as well." He said with a smile and a nod. "I have two. An 8 year old daughter, and a 6 year old son. Both keep me quite on my toes. Do you have any kids?" Having some other parents was always nice to have. He had quite a few fellow parents in his network. Also meant his kids had playmates built into their network. There were always plenty of play dates on the calendar.

 

Stella nodded in agreement it would be nice to have some nice weather. She took another sip of her coffee, she did enjoy some good weather. Stella smiled at the thought of her daughter smearing food everywhere. "Hopefully it doesn't last too long" Stella said softly. She knew her daughter would probably end up taking just as long as any other kid would. Stella loved talking about her daughter, which she knew sometimes annoyed people hopefully she wasn't doing that right now. She smiled when the Nick said he had two kids. "I have an eight month old daughter, who I'm guessing will be keeping me on my toes much more very soon," she said softly. Her daughter was getting close to to walking age, she was already starting to crawl, Stella was just hoping that she wouldn't miss too much. Being a working mother was hard but she loved her work and was happy that once her daughter was old enough to start walking she could take her to the studio with her.   

Stella took another sip of her coffee and noticed the shop was filling up quite rapidly. Although having a nice quiet cup of coffee was nice Stella normally didn't go out for the quiet she got that at home for the most part, well it wasn't silent there for her it was significantly more quiet than it was at a coffee shop it public. Although she did enjoy not having to worry if her daughter was throwing her spoon across the room or not. "Have you been a healer for a while?" Stella asked, knowing a lot of people didn't like to talk about their jobs and just hoping she hadn't poked her head into the wrong area.

Good weather meant the kids could run off even more energy and they could do some exploring. As a child he had loved exploring whatever place he was in. Of course with his parents' careers, he had plenty to explore. They had moved all over the place throughout his childhood. "They pick up the food to mouth thing more efficiently at some point. Of course, there will probably still be a mess for a while." He couldn't even remember when his youngest had moved to better eating, but he certainty still made a mess. "8 Months is a great age. But yes, she'll probably be keeping you on your toes soon enough." Keeping tabs on them when they weren't mobile was easy. Once they started out moving about it was harder. Of course it did make some thing easier. Just had to make sure the stairs won't accessible. "Of course both of mine still manage to find new ways to keep me on my toes."

He took another bite of his meal and a sip of his coffee as he looked around the shop. It was getting busier, but he didn't mind it. Rarely was his life quiet. When it was, it usually meant his kids were getting into trouble. He had never been in a quiet home. It was just too weird to him. "I've been a healer, or training healer and healer, since I was 18. So 16 years." It was what he had always wanted to do. "I knew it's what I had wanted to do since before I even went to school." Ever since he had seen how the healers helped his younger sister when she was in the hospital dying. "What do you do?" He asked, wondering if she'd be open to telling him.

 

Stella smiled at the thought of her daughter running around her little room. "Oh yeah I'm expecting her to continue to make a mess for a while," Stella replied softly. Stella took a sip of her coffee as she thought of her daughter throwing peas all over the ground. Now she couldn't help it but start to miss her daughter. She took another sip of her coffee and smiled at the thought of Marcy running all over the house. "Surprisingly I'm looking forward to her running around everywhere," Stella said softly. She was happy that her daughter would be able to run around she was looking forward to helping her daughter learn to walk. "I'm sure they'll continue to do that," Stella smiled softly.

Stella was glad that she'd ended up eating a full meal before leaving her house that morning. Stella tried really hard to not spend excess money when she didn't need to. She also had a big pet peeve of waiting for food unless it was being brought to her. She loved to cook, her husband was terrible at cooking so either herself or her brother generally made dinner for them. Stella smiled as he explained how long he'd been a healer for. "Wow, that's great, stella said softly. She was glad she knew what she'd wanted to do when she was younger as well. "I'm a retired Ballet Dancer, now I teach Ballet," Stella answered softly. She loved dancing, it was her passion and she was broken when she had to give up professional dancing. But now that she had been teaching for a few years she loved it more than she ever thought she would.

It had been a fun concept to see his kids get up and walk, but they had certainly been trouble makers getting into everything and running away quicker than he could wrangle. They certainly kept him on his toes. "She'll probably make a mess until she's into double digits. Or maybe even longer." He said with a small smile. It was a different kind of mess as they got older, and at least as they did get older they could clean up after themselves as well. "It's fun when they do figure out the walking thing. Does present with some new challenges though." Like needing to make sure there were no open hazards or areas they could fall, like the stairs.

He took a few more bites of his food. He cooked and made most of their meals, but having a meal out here and there was a nice break. Plus, with the busy schedule and sick kids he hadn't quite made it out to the store to get a refill of food, and he couldn't leave nothing in the house for everyone to eat. "Yeah it's been fun." he said with a nod. It had been such a fulfilling career, and he always liked seeing how his patients and their families appreciated the care he gave to each of his patients. "That's pretty cool. I wish I could dance. My wife always tried to get me to dance, but I certainly have two left feet." But he had still taken his wife out dancing every now and again, because that's what she wanted to do. She knew how he danced. She had since they had been in school together. He missed taking her out like that. Not having her around anymore really changed the every day dynamics, but also made him miss the things he wouldn't have thought he would have missed.

 

Stella could think of all the things she was going to have to put locks on so that Marley couldn't get into them. "True, I knew I did" Stella said with a bit of a laugh. Stella was the youngest in her family, and she was not the tidiest of her siblings. She remebered her parents yelling when her room was a mess... She was mostly excited for her daughter to walk so that in a years time she could start to teach her daughter to dance. Not that she wanted to be one of those agressive dance mothers but she was sure her daughter would like dancing. "I can imagine, I'm just glad we've not got too many stairs in our home," Stella said softly. When they'd bought their home they made sure that there was doors at the top of each set of stairs. Neither of them wanted to deal with baby gates.

Stella would've probably gone into a career of cooking if she hadn't become a dancer. Stella took another sip of her coffee, it was going a lot faster than she expected, she was obsessed with coffee, it was how she met her husband but she loved coffee even before then. She smiled at the thought of her students performing around the world, she was always hoping that they would become sucessful. "It's a learned talent for sure, my husband can't dance either," Stella smiled, she husband was always tripping over his feet. She didn't know how he could balance so well on a broom but not on his own two feet. She didn't bother trying to get her husband to go out to dance, he wouldn't do it anyways. Stella loved that she had her own thing that her husband couldn't do, he was generally a pretty talented person, but Stella wasn't really... There was too many siblings in her family to spread out the talent.

It was easier on him as a single father to have his two children be a bit more independent. It certainly helped with meals and bedtime. He didn't need to sit there and spoon feed his kids anymore. And while he missed the baby and toddler stage, it was just easier for him to wrangle them. "I swear they must play a game of who can make a bigger mess. I'm just glad I can play the game of if you don't clean it up you don't get dessert." He was trying to instill good habits in his kids. Some days it was easier than others. But they generally did a decent job. He was glad his two kids were relatively easy. He didn't know what he would do if he was on his own with high maintenance kids. "We have quite a few stairs. At least I don't have to use baby gates anymore." That had been a struggle. They just hadn't seemed to be that intuitive. Sometimes it was easier to just step over them.

Nick had pushed himself since he was little to become a healer. There really hadn't been a second option. He was sure he would have found something if the grades hadn't panned out, but thankfully they had. Which was good, given he had enjoyed every moment of the job. Even the overnight shifts. "I was just glad I didn't step on my wife's toes at our wedding." It had been a wonderful night. They had both been so young, but they hadn't cared. They had been dating since school. How he longed for those days back. But she had wanted to fight for what she believed in. He could still see her lifeless body next to two dead death eaters. "A couple of my sisters dance a lot. But I think the boys in my family all got the two left feet gene." None of his brothers were particularly into dancing around. His two older brothers had always played quidditch and had been more rough and tumble. And his younger brother had been the family nerd and was often awkward in situations like that.

 

Stella was glad that for now she only had one kid, she quite often saw quite stressed parents of more than one child. She wanted to have more kids but she had no idea if that was ever going to happen. "I'm glad that I've got just one to look after, and it's not a competition yet," Stella said softly. Stella was glad that her daughter was just old enough to only throw mushed up food everywhere and not too many solid foods yet. Stella loved her house it was perfect for their family. She loved that they were able to afford at such a young age and she loved that there were just the right amount of rooms. She also loved that no one else got to decided what colours her house was. "Yeah we didn't mean to get less stairs, it just worked out quite well," Stella said softly.

Stella loved to dance, it was her thing everyone in her family knew that it was what she did they'd neve tried to get in her way either, her parents paid for her dance classes all the way through her childhood. She knew she'd help her daughter learn when she was old enough, she also knew that was why she wanted to teach. "I'm sure you were fine," Stella commented with a smile, she hadn't pushed her husband too much before their wedding to learn she knew he'd get as much as he could. "That usually what it's like my brothers can't dance either," Stella said with a laugh she was really the only one in her family who could dance, her mom hadn't been too bad of a dancer but otherwise they weren't a dancing family. She took a sip of her coffee and tried to push the memories of her parents out of her mind, there was no need to be sad about that right now.

Nick had grown up in a large family. He had had 7 siblings, and quite a few cousins as well. If Fiona hadn't been killed they likely would have had more children. In fact they had talked about adding to the family once the war was over, but they had never gotten there. "Two isn't all that bad. After all they have a built in playmate." It made things easier when they could entertain each other while he was getting work done around the house. He had always loved playing with his siblings growing up. He and his twin had been smack dab in the middle, so they had been able to play with all of their siblings at different times. "Well my wife had liked the house, and well it didn't seem too bad. Until we had kids of course." He wouldn't change the house though. It served all of their needs.

Each of his 7 siblings had different passions and activities. And they had all developed interests from the different parts of the world they had grown up in. "She said I did fine. But she probably wouldn't have lied to me if she thought differently." He said with a nod. He hadn't really practiced before hand, just got lost in the moment really. They had only been 21, and there had been a lot of people, but he really just saw her that night. "Well you'd think with so many of us, there'd be one who could sort of dance." Sure 4 wasn't really that big, but it was enough. But their mother hadn't really been there to teach them to dance, having been busy with her work all the time.

 

Stella smiled she wished for her daughter to have a sister or brother, with the amount of siblings she had her husband had always thought that she wouldn't want too many children, but the reality was that she wanted a big family, she wasn't used to how quiet it was with only four of them in her house. She wished and longed for many kids. "It would be nice to have more children" Stella said softly taking another sip of coffee. She missed her siblings they were all older, however she was only one of three of her siblings who had kids. Her brothers always talked about not wanting kids, she was pretty sure that was because they actually liked the quiet, but she never really understood not wanting kids. "Well, I suppose we're meant to change the house for our needs, we just bought with the intention of having children, it won't always suit us," Stella said as she played with the rim of her coffee cup it was almost empty already.

Stella smiled at the thought of her husband dancing that night, he'd been so caught up in the day that he'd not even realized how well he danced that night. Stella took the last sip of her coffee glancing over at the clock on the wall, although she'd enjoyed her short conversation with him she had a class to teach in twenty minutes and still had to get to work. "Well, I don't mean to rush off, but I must be getting to work, it was nice to meet you," Stella said with a smile and slowly stood up. Before walking off she turned back, "By the way, if your daughter is ever interested in dancing, my studio is just down the street," Stella said softly with a smile and headed off to work.

He didn't know if he'd have a chance to add to his family. He was so busy with work and his kids he didn't really have a chance to go out and socialize. But even with his first wife, it had been his twin that had pushed them together. She had been the only relationship he had ever been in, so he felt a little rusty on the getting into a relationship thing. "Well your daughter is only 8 months, there shouldn't be a rush to add to the family. Enjoy all the moments." He wished he had been home for more of the moments with both of his kids. He had been home a lot, but his career as a healer had meant working long hours and overnights. He felt as though he hadn't been around for enough of the moments. "Yeah I mean eventually I'd likely move, but for now it all works." Enough room for him, his kids, and his twin, with room to spare if needed in the future.

He finished up his sandwich, relishing the last couple tastes of the still warm sandwich. How often did he get to finish food that was still warm. It had certainly been worth the morning out and about alone. He knew his kids wouldn't be any wiser anyway. His twin maybe, but not the kids, and that's what really mattered. She excused her self saying she had to get back to work and he glanced to the clock himself. "I should be getting to work as well. It was nice meeting you as well." He took the last sip of coffee before she offered the dancing studio as an option for his daughter. "I'll keep it in mind. Thanks for the offer." Once she was gone he took a few more moments before gathering up his things and headed off to St. Mungo's.