coo

melt

"All right, ya little demon." sigh "Cupe! I need anothah diapah."

"Again?"

"Yah, an' don't look so amused, dammit."

Cupid got anothah diapah an' handed it ta me. "When are you going to learn to bring a spare with you, Strife?"

"Shaddup. She just wet tha damn thing, I figured she was through. Wait, I still gotta get her wiped." I laid down tha clean diapah next ta tha original soppy one. Slidin my hand undah my daughtah's back I gently lifted her teeny butt, reachin fah tha warm, wet cloth. She squirmed. "Hold still, Impy. I know ya don't like layin on yer wings, but I ain't figured out how ta change ya any othah way, an'..." I felt a trickle of warm liquid on my hand. "Imp!"

She jerked, green eyes goin wide, arms an' legs shooting out in all directions (I felt tha wings twitchin. They'da flapped if she hadn't been layin on 'em.) before curlin back up. "Strife! Don't yell at the baby," Cupid scolded.

"I wasn't. Well, I didn't mean ta. Cupe, she peed on me again! Where tha Tartarus is she gettin it all? An' stop laughin!"

He tried, but his feathahs were shakin. "I'm sorry, baby, but the look on your face! You have it easy. I used to change Bliss, and I swear, I think he aimed.." Tha image of my big, beautiful hubby catchin a faceful of baby lemonade wiped away any irritation I mighta had, an' I giggled. Cupe joined me. "Mom almost had fits. She insisted on me using one of her special face creams after each 'annointing'. I was going through so much that she decided pretty soon that it wasn't necessary."

Bliss trotted in an' came ovah ta tha bed. He looked at Imp, then at me, wrinklin his nose. "Wet or tinky?"

"Just wet this time, Bliss-ter."

He giggled. "Ol' Imp sure does tinkle a lot."

"Well, kiddo, ya gotta remembah that even when she eats, she drinks."

Bliss puffed out his chest. "I don' tiddle in my drawers no more! I'se a big boy!"

"That you are," Cupe said fondly, ruffling his hair.

"When's Imp gonna stop tiddling in her drawers?"

I sighed. "I kinda figure she's gonna hafta learn how ta walk before we worry 'bout that, Blissy."

He thought about this. "I could bring her the pot when she wants to," he offered.

I grinned. "Sweet of ya ta offah, kiddo, but she'd hafta learn ta talk before ya could do that."

He put his hands on his hips. "Well, when she gonna do that?"

"Gah, kid, impatient much? Bright as ya are, you still didn't get undahstandable till ya were around two."

Cupid lifted Bliss up onta his lap. "You could understand him then? I couldn't understand him very well till he was almost three."

"Hey, I'm Mischief! Me an' kids communicate onna real close level." I got Imp wiped an' dried. I was about ta finish up, but I stopped fah a minute ta admire her again. I sighed. "Cupe, tell me tha truth--is that, or is that not tha most beautiful butt on earth or Olympus?" Cupid leered at me. I laughed. "Lemme rephrase that--tha most beautiful-in-a-non-sexy way female butt."

"Without a doubt."

I powdahed Imp's behind with somma that sweet smellin stuff Dite had provided us with. If this hadn't been her grandkid I woulda suspected it was some face powdah she'd decided was too pale fah her, but I knew she'd put her head tagetha with Ace ta come up with it way back when Bliss had still been in nappies an' had gotten a rash. It worked great. No mattah how much Imp leaked, she hadn't gotten chafed yet. 'Course I tried ta be sure she got changed tha second she finished tiddlin.

I slipped tha new didey undah The Universe's Sweetest Baby Butt an' wrapped it around her. I sighed, takin wunna tha pins offa my outfit. (Yeah, I was back in my leathahs. Only took me about three weeks ta lose tha extra blubber. Nyeh! High metabolism). "Okay, here comes tha part that is shortinin my immortal life."

I positioned tha point of tha pin against tha diapah. Imp looked up at me with big, trustin eyes. I stuck a fingah inside tha diapah, feelin till I found tha bump that was tha pin-point. Me, Cupid, an' Bliss all held our breath. I pushed. This time I managed ta stop with just a little stick insteada rammin it inta my fingah. We all three let our breath back out. I wiggled tha pin around till it poked back out, an' clasped it. I went through tha same routine on tha othat side. I looked at Cupe an Bliss. "Cross yer fingahs." They did, both holdin up both hands, with fingahs crossed.

I picked up Imp. Tha diapah slid down an inch. "Quick, Cupe, do we have a God of Fittin?"

"I'd say Mom, but it's not official."

Tha diapah stopped. It hung a little low on Imp's hips... Okay, where her hips would eventually be... but low slung clothes are a fine ol' Olympic tradition. I sighed. "I think I'm finally gettin tha hang of this."

Cupid an' Bliss applauded. I hitched Imp up on my shouldah an' took a bow. Imp flapped her wings an' smacked me in tha face. "Way ta keep yer old man humble, doll."

Bliss held out her arms. "Lemme hold her."

I settled Imp in Bliss's arms. Cupe casually cupped his hand undah Imp's head, puttin his otha hand ovah her legs, but he really didn't hafta worry much. Bliss was really good with Imp. He peered down at her an' said, "Imp, youse got an innie now." He looked up at Cupid. "Her boo-boo's all better, Daddy." When tha umbilical cord stump had finally fallen off there had been a little raw patch for a coupla days. We wiped it down with wine ta make sure it didn't get infected. Imp didn't like that--I think it might've stung a little. She cried. All three of tha men in her life--both her daddies an' her big brothah, had cried, too.

Bliss gently petted Imp's head, bein careful of tha soft spot. "Daddy Stwife, howcome Imp got bald? Where all her hair go?"

I sighed. "Search me. I nevah found any on tha pillow or sheets, but there was just less an' less each day." Now there was nothin but a little browny-green fuzz, kinda like a skim of moss. Apollo had found that hilarious. I screwed up tha tunin on all his instruments aftah he snickered about it.

We sat Imp up so that she leaned ovah Bliss's arm, an' Cupe started groomin her feathahs. Cupe's got big hands, but when he touches someone he loves they're as gentle an' sure as anyone's. Imp likes havin her wings preened, an' she started ta doze off.

I winked away tha dirty didies, an' thought up a tall, fresh stack, makin sure that they was nice an' warm. I laid back, sighin. "I wish I'da kept track of how many nappies Imp goes through right from tha start. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a record."

"Not even close, babe," Cupe assured me, tenderly stroking one tiny, greenish feathah straight. "Not to hear Unc talk about you when you were little. Of course, as soon as you figured out how, you'd rip yours off, whether you were wet or not. You ran around the Halls of War in the buff a lot of the time. You were so fast and so pale that the priests called you White Lightning."

'Careful about bringin up my past, lover. I'm sure Dite has a sketch of ya nekkid on a rug somewhere, an' someone might see ta it that it got reproduced an' hung up in all yer temples." He laughed, an' I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that don't worry ya?"

He gave me a suggestive grin. "I just wonder if you'd be willing to let everyone look at nekkid pictures of me, even when I was a baby."

"Mmm, I'd hafta think about it. Anyways, back ta diapahs. Ya sure that I don't hafta worry if Imp goes a day without poopin?"

"I talked to Ace, and he said it isn't a problem, especially if she isn't on solids yet. More than one day, yeah, we need to see him, in case she's blocked, but one day is no problem."

"Good, that's a relief." I leaned ovah an' tickled Imp's feet, watchin her jerk her knees. "Babies have weird poop. Ya haven't changed wunna tha poopy ones yet, have ya Cupe?"

Cupid cleared his throat. "I'm not avoiding it, Strife, I swear. I'm just never around at the right time."

"Uh-huh. I'm thinkin of one or two errands that turned up real fast aftah I noticed ya sniffin around Imp." I smiled at him. "Do ya know what Imp's poops look like, Cupe? That's somethin ya should know about yer kid. Ya gotta be able ta tell when they change, in case there's somethin wrong."

Cupid shifted uncomfortably. "I sort of thought you could keep track of that."

"We share this business, right?"

He nodded reluctantly. "I guess so, but that's really not something I want to know."

"Ya ready?" Cupid gritted his teeth. "Scrambled eggs." He turned green. "Yellah, soft, an' a little lumpy. Kinda like scrambled eggs with a lotta milk cooked just till they're set. An' ya know, sometimes they're almost as warm as..."

Cupid turned away, materialized a basin in his lap, an' upchucked. I took Imp. "Bliss, get yer daddy a nice wet cloth ta clean his face." Bliss trotted toward tha bathin room.

When Cupid finished he said breathlessly, "Okay, that was low. The scrambled eggs..." His cheeks puffed out, an' he made an urf sound, but he didn't chuck again. Finally he could continue, "were enough. You didn't need to add the last bits."

I smiled sweetly. "Just wanted ta be sure ya could visualize it."

"Well, stop it. You know it makes me horny when you're bad."

That wiped tha smile offa my face. Cupe an' I hadn't had any real sex since that nice session right before Imp was born. I hardly counted that coupla handjobs we'd exchanged. I mean, they're nice enough--as fill-ins. It seemed that just before we really got goin Imp hadta be fed or changed, or Bliss needed ta be fed, or bathed, or read to. An' when there wan't that, Cupid was workin', an' I had started ta take up a few of my duties again. Half tha time wunna us went ta bed first an' was snorin by tha time tha othah one got there, an neithah wunna us wanted ta wake tha othah, cause sleep had become uncertain, ya know? "Cupe, please don't say 'horny' while I'm holdin our daughtah. It makes me feel funny."

We just stared at each othah till Bliss came in with tha cloth, climbed up on tha bed an' wiped Cupe's face fah him. "You need cousin Ace, Daddy?"

"Nah." He got kissed. "It was just something that I'm not going to eat again for a long, long time." We stared at each othah again. I went an' put Imp in her cradle, an' Cupe didn't pull Bliss up inta his lap fah tha same reason--we were both gettin hard just looking at each othah. Cupid's voice was kinda hoarse. "How much longer?"

I didn't hafta ask him what he meant. How much longah till we could have Imp babysat, fah at least a few hours. As much as I wanted ta say 'Holler fah Unc now!', I couldn't. "One more week, when she's ovah a month old--then."

He smiled, colors shiftin in his eyes, an' bent ovah ta give me a kiss. He gave tongue, damn him. Cupid called Bliss, an' said, "C'mon, baby boy. I feel like a dip in a nice, cool, actually cold pool." I watched his ass as he walked out, an' I swear that beautiful bastard put an extra swing in his hips. I sighed. It was gonna be a long, long week.