"Gege!" Qiuyue called out happily. "I found her hyung!" Jongdae called out to Minseok before turning to her. "Where were you?" He asked her frowning. Minseok hyung had been searching for her all over. "I found Yifan gege! And I saw his mama. She looked huge! She ate a baby!" Qiuyue told him.

"What?" Jongdae exclaimed in shock. "Yeah! Amber auntie ate a baby! Minseok gege! Amber auntie ate a baby!" Qiuyue told Minseok who had just come. "But why would she do that? She is a nice auntie!" Jongdae protested. "Yeah..." Minseok trailed off while agreeing warily. They remembered Amber very well. She was nice. She made cookies and let them eat it before sleeping. But she also made them brush their teeth or Toothless the demon would come and steal their teeth away. 

Had she really eaten a baby?

"Let's go home first or appa will be angry" Jongdae said with a frown. He took his sister's hand and led her down the road from the park. All the while Qiuyue kept talking about the baby and Jongdae and Minseok exchanged worried glances. Babies were so tiny.  Not like big people like their parents.  They were tiny too.

Would she eat them as well?

Yifan upturned the entire pail of sand. The sand fell through seamlessly instead of standing in a tower and he frowned. This had worked on the beach. Why was it not happening here?

"Hyung..." Jongdae interrupted nervously. Yifan turned around to find his didi shuffling his feet nervously. "Hmm?" he asked frowning some more. "Be careful!" Jongdae exclaimed and hugged the bigger boy. Yifan was taken back. Be careful of what?

As swiftly as the moment had come, it was gone as well. Jongdae disappeared leaving confusion behind. Be careful of what? Was his meimei planning a prank on him again? Lin had promised she wouldn't! He frowned even more and went to find his father. He would know what to do.

"Do you think Amber auntie will eat Lin next? Because she is small like a baby?" 

"I hope not! What if she eats Yifan too?!"

Jongdae and Qiuyue exchanged looks over the dining table. Jongdae bit his lip guiltily and looked at Qiuyue.  She shifted awkwardly for a while as she ate. Jongdae frowned and she averted her eyes.

"Baba, what happens if you eat a baby?" Qiuyue asked finally. Jaejoong's eyes widened. "What?" he asked, sharper than he intended to. Qiuyue flinched and he immediately regretted it. "Qiuyue..." he called out gently.  "Who told you something like that?" he asked her.

"Amber auntie ate a baby" Jongdae said, unable to contain it anymore. Qiuyue nodded vigorously. "She ate a big baby. You can see it in her tummy" she added and it became Jongdae's turn to nod. "What if she eats Lin or Yifan hyung next?" he asked worriedly.

Jaejoong looked at both the kids. The look of anxiety and the firmness of their beliefs made him feel really warm but funny at the same time. He tried to control his grins but it was slowly becoming harder. "You think Amber auntie ate her baby? That's how it got in her tummy?" he asked with a grin. When the two kids nodded, he started to laugh.

Oh the innocence. 

"Babies are brought by storks after a lot of praying. But why do you want to know?" Luhan asked suspiciously. Minseok and Jongdae looked at Qiuyue who bit her lip. "Are you getting a baby?" Luhan asked with his eyes widening. His meimei was getting a baby! A little doll like baby they could play with! Did praying really work?

"No! Amber auntie is! Or she was. She ate her baby" Qiuyue said sadly. Luhan pouted. He wanted a baby to play with. He knew his meimei's baby would be quiet like her and not the ones that always cried when they were in the nursery. They always cried or slept and he could never play with them. Sometimes they smelled a lot because they did poopoo in their diapers too. His meimei's baby wouldn't do that.

"She ate the baby?!" he asked doing a double take. The other three nodded grimly. "And she'll eat Lin and Yifan hyung next too" Jongdae added sadly. Luhan's jaw dropped. After all that praying, auntie ate her baby?? "We need to save Lin and Yifan before she eats them too" he said nodding to himself.

"But how?" Minseok asked. Luhan thought about it for a while. "We can bring them here! We'll steal them away from the window" he planned. "But windows are high" Qiuyue pointed out. "We'll ask Yifan to put a bedsheet rope" Minseok said thoughtfully. The other three nodded. Minseok gege was so smart!

"Quickly gege!" Qiuyue insisted pulling Yifan along. "Uh..." Yifan voiced, not really sure why he was letting himself be pulled by his meimei. "Minseok hyung will bring Lin and then we will go to Jongdae gege and Luhan gege and we can save you!" she asserted. "Save me?" Yifan asked blinking at her. "Yes before Amber auntie eats you" Qiuyue told him anxiously. 

Yifan stopped. "Why will mama eat me?" he asked her. "Because she ate the baby!" Qiuyue told him. "She didn't eat Meili!" Yifan protested. "Meili?" Qiuyue asked. "That will be my meimei's name" he told her proudly. "It's a pretty name" Qiuyue agreed. She smiled and he smiled back at her. His meimei would be so amazing! He could also tell that Qiuyue would really like her.

"But if she didn't eat Meili then how did Meili go in her tummy?" she asked. Yifan opened his mouth and closed it. How had she gotten there? "Mama wouldn't eat her baby right?" he asked her. Qiuyue bit her lip and shuffled her feet. "We should ask baba. Baba will know" Yifan said firmly. He took Qiuyue's hand and led her to his father's study. 

Henry looked away from the laptop screen and noticed two brown mops of hair beyond the table's edge. What were Lin and Yifan upto? "Henry uncle!" Qiuyue piped up. "Qiuyue,  what are you doing here?" Henry asked, pleasantly surprised. Before she could answer Yifan interrupted them.

"Baba, how did Meili get in mama's tummy?" Yifan asked furrowing his eyebrows. Henry looked at Yifan and then him holding Qiuyue's hand and for a moment wandered if what Amber had suggested was true. Yifan did behave different around her but  he had thought it was because she was the only girl in the group apart from Lin.

"Why?" he asked extremely warily. "Did she eat Meili?" Yifan questioned. Henry's eyes widened. "What?" he asked amused. "Why is Meili in Mama's tummy?" Yifan asked not pleased that his father wasn't answering. 

"That's because the stork put her there" he told the kids, ruffling his son's hair. "But the stork brings babies in its beak" Qiuyue pointed out. "Right. But the baby is very tiny and she can't take care of herself. So till she grows up the stork put her in her mama's tummy for safekeeping" Henry explained. "Like a baby kangaroo with mama kangaroo. Except the pouch is inside" he added.

"See! Mama didn't eat her" Yifan told her with a huff. Qiuyue blushed because she was embarrassed. "So she won't eat you or Lin?" Qiuyue asked. Henry shook his head. "No she won't. Only the stork can put you there" he told her.

"Can I go there too?" Qiuyue asked curiously. "You're too big now" Henry told her regrettably. "Then Yifan hyung too?" she asked looking at her gege. Henry shook his head. "Can the stork put a baby in you?" Yifan asked looking at his father's tummy. It was a little out like his Mama's. Maybe the stork had put a baby there too?

"Oh uh no! Storks can only put it in Mama's belly" Henry explained hastily. "So baba and appa can't have babies in their tummies?" Qiuyue asked. Henry hesitated. Qiuyue's big eyes turned bigger and glistened with tears.

"That's okay. When you grow up you can be  a mama and the stork will put a baby in you" Yifan pointed out. "If I pray very hard will I get a baby too?" she asked Yifan who nodded. "And then we can play with her!" she exclaimed happily.

"Let's go tell everyone else then!" Qiuyue jumped up and down happily. "Maybe Luhan gege can be baba" she wondered to herself. "No fair! I was first. I wanna be baba" Yifan pouted. Qiuyue thought about it. "Okay" she agreed. "You be baba. Luhan gege can be da-ge with Minseok gege"  she decided.

Henry watched the two kids leave excitedly. Amber was going to have a good laugh at this. He would also need to call and apologize to Yunho and Jaejoong gege but he had a feeling they would only be amused. It would be a long time before any of their kids had kids. He chuckled to himself. Atleast now the kids wouldn't worry about the baby.

"But if she's inside, how will the stork bring her out?!" Luhan asked. He gasped when he realized. "Will he tear her tummy out?" The kids exchanged fearful glances. They had to save Amber auntie! 

Qiuyue waited as the call was connecting. Jongdae picked up the phone and she heard rustling of sheets. "Did I wake you up gege?" she asked guiltily. "Nah its ok. I had to get up soon anyways. So what's up?" Jongdae asked her. "Well I have some news for you. And Minseok gege too. Is he there?" Qiuyue asked. "Yeah. Hold on. I'll put you on speaker" Jongdae told her. She heard a beep followed by Minseok gege's sleepy voice.

"Well?" Jongdae prompted after they exchanged pleasantries. "It's good news" Qiuyue assured him. "What is it?" Minseok asked her. "Yifan and I...." she started. "We're having a baby gege!" she told them nervously. There was a silence on the line followed by a loud thud of a person falling. "Whoa" Minseok said after a long while. "Surprise" Qiuyue added lamely. She heard Jongdae ge let put a few choice words and promises to kill Yifan as Minseok ge laughed. 

She hadn't realised how much she missed them.

-x- 

1700 odd words because I love you and I am sorry for not updating quicker. Also unedited.