Month 1

(Week 1 – 4)

Crying. Crying. And More Crying. Every inch of the monastery was filled with the cries of baby Lumi Garmadon, who seemed to have a knack for giving her parents a hard time. There was no safe place, and there was no escape. It had been like this for the past week that they had been there.

"Lloyd, we love you, but please make her stop." Nya cried from the living room, a blue pillow in her hand as she rubbed her eyes with the other.

"I'm trying, nothing is working." Lloyd called back, rocking the baby in his arms, placing the bottle of milk back on the table.

He was exhausted and no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't get her to stop. Harumi had stayed up all night yesterday trying to make her comfortable so he let her get some rest tonight.

Lumi continued wailing in his arms, her voice getting louder by the second. "What do I do, Nya?" Lloyd pleaded, he too was on the verge of crying.

The door slid open once more to reveal a very tired Misako in her nightgown. Her hair shriveled, her glasses askew, and her face reflected genuine tiredness.

She approached her son and granddaughter and held her arms out. "Give her to me."

Lloyd had no reason to refuse and immediately passed her over, collapsing face first on the couch right after, groaning as he did so.

"There, there. It's okay, dear." Misako tried a different hold on the baby, making sure she was careful with her fragile little body. "Everything is going to be okay."

The crying died down and Lloyd could swear he heard everyone in the monastery sigh in relief. Nya quietly celebrated from the door and immediately ran back to her room to get as much rest as possible.

"How did you do that?" He got up from his spot and sat up straight, watching his mother put his daughter to sleep.

Misako smiled and continued swaying from side to side. "You used to cry a lot when you were a baby too." She informed him which made the boy's eyes widen. "It's easy to learn a thing or two once you get used to it."

Lloyd nodded. "I guess."

"Don't worry, Son. You'll get the hang of it one day."

The boy let out a yawn and stretched his arms. With a quick glance at the clock, he found out it was already two in the morning.

"Get some rest. I'll take it from here." Misako offered.

Lloyd shook his head. "What? No. I can't just leave you here."

"I'll make sure to place her back in your bed. Now go."

Lloyd was reluctant at first. But seeing how peaceful the baby looked with his mother, compared to how she was with him just a few minutes ago, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get some rest.

He placed a soft peck on top of Lumi's head and made his way back to his room. Sliding the doors open, he found Harumi peacefully asleep on one side of the bed—a small blanket was spread out in the middle—making him crawl to the other.

She made it clear that she would either sleep on the floor or inside a guest room if there wasn't a barrier between them. Lloyd was confused at first but respected her wishes and offered that Lumi sleep between them.

He laid his head on the pillow, his body grew heavy, and turned to his right to catch a glimpse of her sleeping figure. Taking a look at her now, it was hard for him not to remember all the times she had hurt him.

Everything she had done just to get revenge was not forgotten and he still hasn't found a way to forgive her, but he knows he will. Maybe someday.

"Goodnight, Rumi." He whispered with a small sigh. It was hard to forget the pain, but it was harder to ignore the fast beating of his heart every time he saw her.

Eventually, exhaustion took control of him—Lloyd didn't even bother changing into more comfortable clothing—letting him finally get some rest after another exhausting day of being a dad.

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Morning came quicker than any of them wanted to, groans and complaints echoed throughout the monastery when they realized the sun was up. When Lloyd opened his eyes the next day, he was greeted by the image of Harumi feeding their baby.

"Gah!" He exclaimed in surprise, making Lumi's hands shoot up in the air, and started fumbling with the sheets until he fell off the bed. "Ow."

Harumi playfully rolled her eyes and comforted her child. "Good morning to you too, Lloyd." She said, her tone sarcastic, making Lloyd narrow his eyes at her when he sat up from the floor. "You need to get used to this."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"I don't think I will." He rubbed the side of his head and yawned. "Why are you crying?"

"Huh?" Harumi was startled that he realized it. "Nothing. Just sad, baby blues maybe." She sniffed again, using the back of her hand to wipe her eyes.

Lloyd felt like he had to do something but his mind couldn't comprehend anything from the lack of sleep.

"What time is it?"

"8 o'clock. Why?"

Lloyd responded with a groan, laying his head on the edge of the bed and closing his eyes in the process. Harumi giggled and placed her shirt down, one of the many clothing items Pixal gave her the day she came to the monastery.

She was grateful the girl had already forgiven her and she was still working her way to gain Nya's trust again too. The other ninja were still pretty nervous around her, but the bracelet around her leg did help calm them down a bit.

She was warned that if she went a good 30 feet away from Lloyd, it would alert the police and track her location immediately. Harumi thought they were all exaggerating with the security measures but she also remembered the reasons behind their actions.

Harumi laid the baby onto the small blanket in the center of the bed and let her play around for the few moments that she was awake. Her eyes were starting to develop some color and her hair was still as white as hers.

She smiled and placed a soft peck on her forehead before getting up and walking over to Lloyd who managed to pass out from his spot on the floor.

"Come on." She tried to pry him up using his arms but he was way too heavy. "Lloyd, I'm not allowed to lift anything heavy right now."

"Five minutes." The boy grumbled and insisted he slept more.

"Alright, but you need to stay on the bed." Harumi kept trying to push him up until he had no choice but to crawl back on his bed.

"Happy?" He asked, quite annoyed at her insistence.

"Yes, thank you."

The sliding door to his room came open, a small crack that was enough to let someone peek inside.

"Knock, knock." Cole grinned from his spot behind the door. "We were hoping to take the baby from you guys for a bit. Let you get some rest."

Harumi's eyes widened and she took a small step back. She already felt like a burden staying here, what more if she let them take care of her child while she gets to rest.

"Um." She couldn't form a response.

"It's okay, Harumi. You guys deserve it." Nya poked her head through the small opening, a small smile on her face.

Harumi wasn't sure if she was just being nice or she actually wanted to talk to the girl again.

It seems like her unspoken question was answered when the girl added, "Maybe we can have a little chat when you wake up."

Harumi smiled, she knew what to respond this time. "That would be nice."

"This is great and all. But I want to see my niece!" The familiar voice of the Master of Lightning from behind them entered her ears, making the girl smile.

She made her way back to the bed and grabbed the baby in her arms.

"Mommy and daddy need to rest, okay? You behave with your aunts and uncles." Harumi reminded her even if she knew she was way too young to understand anything.

The ninja opened the door further to get the child. Each of them holding their hands out to try and hold her first.

"Please bring her back in one piece." Harumi joked as Cole fixed his hold on her.

"Will do!" Jay assured a little too enthusiastically and immediately left with the rest of the team.

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"We're going to learn what?" Lloyd repeated, making sure he heard his mother right.

They were standing over the kitchen sink where a small tub was prepared along with a basin of hot water and some soap. Baby Lumi was playing around in Harumi's arms when Misako had called them.

"To give her a bath, Lloyd. You need to learn how to do it yourselves." Misako placed a hand on her hip and took the baby from Harumi. She had been the one in charge of bathing Lumi for the past few days, and decided it was high time they learned how.

The pair gulped. They were definitely not ready for this.

Lumi was quiet during the first few minutes, occasionally following them with her eyes as Lloyd and Harumi struggled to complete the task.

"You're holding her wrong! She's going to slip."

"Why don't you hurry up and just pour the water so we're done?!"

"Well I'm sorry, who took too long with the soap?!"

"You did!"

"She's going to fall!"

"Not unless you rinse her now."

Misako sighed, watching the couple bicker over the slightest things. But she wasn't the only one watching. Once Lumi figured out her parents were fighting, she immediately began crying—much to their dismay—and didn't stop until they did.

"Look what you did!"

"What I did? I'm trying to fix your mess!"

Misako continued to guide them until the baby was finally wrapped in a towel—a gift from her aunts and uncles—and the madness was put to a stop.

"There. She's clean." Lloyd pointed out, his hair dripping with sweat and his gi was soaked with water and soap.

"You're not." Harumi snickered, making Lloyd shoot her a glare, and continued drying the baby.

"The next thing you need to learn is how to change her diaper." Misako smiled and held up a small pad.

"You do it." Lloyd nudged Harumi's shoulder. "I'm gonna go clean up." He walked past his mother and made his way towards the bathroom.

"Let's do it, Mrs. G." Harumi sighed and paid attention to what she had to do.

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By the time she was a few weeks old, Pixal had started introducing Harumi to the different abilities her daughter has.

"This is called a plantar reflex." The nindroid informed her, gently stroking her finger across the bottom of Lumi's foot. "Her toes start to curl up and respond to your touches."

They were sitting on the living room floor with Lumi quietly playing on the couch, cooing every now and then, as Pixal continued to teach her about all the new information she had in her system.

"Wow." Harumi watched with amazement, she was lucky to have a nindroid friend around to help her with things.

Nya had talked to her a few days back to clear the air between them. It was a brief conversation that ended with more laughs than either of them expected and she was glad to have her too.

The other ninja were starting to get comfortable—even if Harumi knew they had no choice—and really made an effort to try and accept the hard situation. She appreciated the simplest gestures they did to show her that they were working on it.

"How are you holding up?" Pixal asked as she continued playing with the baby. "I was informed that most mothers experience pain even after delivery, are you alright?"

Harumi smiled at her concern. "I'm doing okay. My back hurts every now and then and most of my shirts are wet from all the milk that keeps leaking out of me." She groaned at the reminder.

"Perhaps storing some milk in the freezer would help."

Lumi started crying, which startled the two girls, her hands occasionally gracing her face as she did.

"She's tired. Put her in for a nap, it will help." Pixal advised as Harumi picked up the baby.

She raised her eyebrow and began swaying from side to side. "How do you know that?"

"Lumi Garmadon is starting to figure out the power of crying. As of the moment, she is using it to tell you that she's tired."

Upon hearing her words, Lumi let out a long yawn and began to get comfortable in her mother's arms.

"You are amazing, Pixal."