After the whole Fox family ordeal, Nora’s dad started leaving later in the morning and coming home earlier in the day. It seemed he’d lost a little trust in her mom which she thought was understandable since she disappeared with her for hours with no warning. This gave Nora a chance to see her dad more.

The next six months were mostly spent hanging out with her dad and mom doing the same old same old. She knew however that it had been roughly a year since she was born based on the seasons and was expecting a birthday of some kind. But the month came and went, no birthday. Do birthdays not exist in this world? That fuckin sucks.

Her parents in her past life had never celebrated her birthday or given her gifts. The first birthday gift she ever got was from her best friend in high school. It was a sketchbook and a set of drawing supplies. Ever since then she’d made it a point to get all of her friends and family gifts on their birthday. When I get old enough I’m definitely going to introduce birthdays into this world. Even if it’s just for my family and hopefully future friends.

One day she was sitting in the living room and playing with a tiny wooden ship making up random stories. Anything to pass the time. When her dad came barging through the front door of their house, Blood streaked down his right arm. Her mom, who was in the kitchen, immediately ran over,

“Bora!” She helped him over to a chair at their kitchen table, “What happened?” She ran over to the water basin in the kitchen and wet a cloth.

“Some pricks from the serpents ambushed our deal.” Her mom began carefully pulling off her dad’s shirt, “The guys from Hanndow were all killed and most of the guys from our side died too. I only got away because of their sacrifice.” Her mom looked worried but calm and focused. She’d managed to get his shirt off revealing a deep slash on his shoulder. She began pouring water over the wound from a bowl. What the hell is going on? Is dad a gang member? She really hoped not.

“Do you think they’ll come here?” Her mom asked,

“No.” The answer was confident and reassuring. Nora walked over unsteadily and grabbed onto her dad’s leg for support. He looked down at her with a smile. “You ok baby girl?” Nora nodded. She wasn’t sure if it was ok to show that she understood him but was more worried about whether or not he would be ok. Her mom grabbed the cloth and started cleaning the wound more thoroughly.

“I need to go get the stitching kit. Hold the rag.” Her dad held the rag tight on his wound as her mom went into their bedroom.

Nora wanted to ask if he was ok but up until now had only been able to make random noises. She looked up at him and started trying her hardest to say dad or daddy or da-da. Random noises started coming out and her dad looked down at her.

“It’s ok Nora. There’s nothing to worry about.” He was calm, she wondered if he’d been through something like this before. She knew getting into a life-or-death fight was always super upsetting for her. She took a deep breath and started trying to say dad really slowly.

“D.. d.. Da.” She did it! “Da-Da!” A huge smile appeared on his face. Finally, she’d been able to say something.

“That’s so cute! Can you say it again?” He asked, she would like nothing better.

“Da-Da, Da-Da, Da-Da!” Her mom walked back into the room with what looked to be a needle and some kind of string likely for the stitching.

“Did she just say something?” Her mom was excited but even as she asked that she was sitting down next to her dad and starting to prepare the wound for stitching. Nora, not wanting her dad to ruin a good surprise spoke up,

“Da-Da!” Her mom smiled,

“Good job Nora! Can you say Ma-Ma?” Her mom began to size up the wound with the needle looking for the best part to start the stitching. Nora meanwhile was just trying to cheer them up by talking. She used as much effort as she could as she spoke,

“M.. M.. A… Ma,” Again, Yes I’ll be talkin before I know it. “Ma-Ma!” Her mom and dad smiled big at that,

“That’s so good!” Her mom chuckled out, “Alright I’m going to start stitching now. Ready?” Her dad took a deep breath,

“Yeah.”

“Ok.” She lined the needle and thread up and began stitching. Her dad winced with every pierce and Nora did too. More blood flowed with each pierce of the skin and as she stitched dad would periodically wipe the blood away with the wet cloth. It seemed like they’d done this before with how quickly and smoothly it was going. They’re definitely involved in some shady business. She didn’t want to deal with more criminals and gangs. She’d dealt with more than enough of that shit in her past life.

Her mom was nearly finished with the stitching now. A loud knock on the door broke the concentration and caused everyone’s heads to turn. Her mom let go of the needle and thread and quietly walked into their bedroom. Her dad pushed her toward the other side of the room.

“Stay over there ok” He whispered, Nora followed instructions and went over to the other side of the room away from the door.

A moment later her mom came back with her katana-like sword unsheathed and ready to attack. Her dad stood up and pulled a small blade that looked to be designed for throwing. Her mom approached the shuddered window next to the door and peeked out. She stepped up to the door and looked at Nora’s dad. He nodded and she grabbed the door handle. Is this seriously happening? God, I hope this doesn’t turn into a fight.

Her mom yanked the door open while stepping to the side. Dad reeled the blade back ready to throw. A squall emanated from the woman that appeared. She had golden hair and floppy dog-like ears the same color. Dad lowered his blade.

“Oh, it’s just you,” Dad said, Mom quickly looked to see who it was.

“Come in.” Her mom grabbed the woman and pulled her inside, closing the door behind. Then she went back to her dad who had already sat back down. “Sorry about this. What are you doing here?” The woman looked confused and a little horrified.

“Um… I was just coming by to see if you would want to bring Nora over next week for a playdate.” Her mom had already started stitching again.

“Uhh… one second.” She finished stitching up the wound and used one of Dad’s throwing daggers to cut the thread off. She looked back toward the woman. “Sorry about that. What were you asking?” Nora started walking over to her dad.

“Are you guys alright?” The woman asked,

“Of course, he just got attacked by some thieves earlier.” Mom said, A lie? I guess this person doesn’t know about whatever it is they are involved in.

“Ok… well, I came by to ask if you wanted to bring Nora by next week to hang out with my kids.” Nora didn’t really want to go hang out with a couple of one-year-olds like herself. It would probably be really boring. She grabbed onto her mom, who looked over. Nora shook her head no and hugged her hand. Her mom cuddled into her.

“Sure why not. We’ll come by on Tuesday.” Her mom replied I guess she didn’t understand that I don’t want to go. Great.

“Great! She’ll love it I’m sure.” The woman walked over to Nora, “Hi, I’m Posie.” Posie patted her on the head. Nora pulled away, she didn’t like random people patting her on the head. Posie just turned to Nora’s dad and looked at the wound. “Are you all right?” He glanced at the wound,

“This is nothing. It’ll be healed within a week.” Nora wondered whether he was just acting tough or if that was true. It didn’t look like it would heal in just a week. Nora’s mom stood up and began leading Posie to the door,

“Anyway. I’ll be over next week.” Posie clearly got the message. She stepped outside,

“Alright, see ya later,” Posie said,

“Bye.” Her mom said as she closed the door. I guess she doesn’t mind offending her if it means she’ll leave. Her mom went back to sit next to her dad. “Alright, let’s finish this up.” She grabbed the wet cloth and started carefully whipping the blood away. She examined the wound very closely, probably checking that the stitching was good.

“Go get the bandages from the room.” Her dad said, mom stood up and went into their room. Dad looked over at Nora, “You doing ok Nora?” Nora nodded in reply. Her dad narrowed his eyes, “Can you actually understand me?” Nora again nodded. Her dad’s eyes widened, “Seriously? But how?” Nora wasn’t sure it was a good idea to be telling him this but she didn’t want to be treated like a literal baby who can’t communicate anymore. So she shrugged in response. Her mom came back into the room with a set of bandages.

“Lia, ask Nora a question.” Her mom looked confused at the request but asked,

“Are you scared?” Nora shook her head no. Her mom looked over to Her dad, “Wait, can she understand us?”

“See, that’s what I thought but I wanted to see what you would make of it.” Her dad turned to her, “Nora,” Nora looked up into his eyes, “Can you talk?” Nora shook her head no, “But you said Da-Da and Ma-Ma earlier. Are you sure?” Nora nodded yes.

“Well, why don’t you try?” Her mom asked, Nora decided she may as well since they were on board with the fact that she could fully understand them. She tried to say I love you but it came out as,

“I ove uh.” Her parents looked amazed.

“Did you say I love you?” Her mom asked. Nora nodded. Her mom hugged her tight and said, “We love you too baby girl.” And then looked back at her dad, “This is amazing, but this isn’t normal for a one-year-old is it?” Her dad shrugged,

“I don’t know. I’ve never really been around any one-year-olds but if I had to guess, I would say no. It’s not normal.”

“What should we do? I mean, if she can understand us, what does that mean?”

“I don’t know, I guess we just treat her like she can understand us from now on.” Nora nodded vigorously at that answer. She wanted to be treated more like an individual instead of a baby. Her parents saw her nodding and her dad said, “There you have it. She wants us to talk to her normally from now on.” Her mom looked at her and slowly said,

“This is weird… but, really cool.”

“Alright, can you put those bandages on me now?” Her dad asked.

“Oh right. Of course.” She started putting the bandages on him but looked over to Nora, “So, have you always been able to understand us?” Nora shook her head no. “So when did this start?” Nora wasn’t sure how to answer that. She tried saying Fox family,

“Ox amily” She was surprised at how well she was talking considering her age but she was glad she wouldn’t have to just do as told from now on. Her mom seemed confused but her dad had a look of recognition,

“Fox family?” Her mom looked over to her dad surprised and back to Nora, Nora nodded.

“So, you remember when I brought you to see my family?” Nora again nodded. This is great, I can finally communicate. “Really? That's crazy.” Nora looked to her dad to see if he had anything to say,

“Your amazing Nora,” Nora hadn’t expected that it was nice, “So if I asked you to do something you could do it?” Nora nodded. “Ok, go in our room and bring a pillow in here.” Nora shook her head no and pointed to the wound,

“Ow?” She asked, trying to say how. He looked at it,

“Some crazy guys attacked me and my friends.” Nora again pointed at it and said,

“Ow?” He looked to her mom,

“Just tell her it’s fine.” She said, He sighed,

“Alright, I was making a deal with a gang from another city but we got attacked by a group called the Serpents. They’re always trying to ruin things for us but our guild has a plan to stop them.” She knew it, he really was part of a gang. She kept looking at him expectantly. He looked to her mom, she just nodded. “We’re gonna plant some illegal drugs in their personal homes and tip off the guards so they’ll find it and arrest them.” Nora thought it seemed like a basic and very normal plan, though the effectiveness would depend on what the punishment was for having those drugs. When she did that in her previous life it only worked well because they planted a felony amount of drugs.

“So, what do you think of all this Nora?” Her mom asked, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t like that they were involved in gangs but she wasn’t one to talk given her history. She decided to just answer with a reassurance,

“I ove uh” She wasn’t sure what else she could do or say in this situation. They both smiled and pulled her into a hug together. They both said,

“We love you too.” Nora felt their warmth and love, it was unusual to her since her past life parents were barely ever around and never hugged her like this. She cuddled in and felt happy to have them as parents.