The Beilschmidt Family - A Series of Oneshots

Little snippets of Julchen's life before joining the Heidelberg Harriers.

* First Steps
* The Twins

In the living room of the Beilschmidt household, Anneliese and Conrad knelt down on opposite sides of their 1 year old daughter, who was standing steadily and looking back and forth between her parents. Anneliese pushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear and gestured to the child to come to her. "Come to mutti, liebe!" She said, patting her lap. Julchen turned towards her mother and took one step towards her, but Conrad interrupted. "Nein, Julie, come to vatti." He said gesturing to his daughter to come to him. Julchen turned to her father and prepared to step towards him. Anneliese shook her head. "Nein! She'll come to me, won't you, Jul liebe?"

Conrad sent a lighthearted glare at Anneliese and called out to his daughter again. By now, Julchen sat down on the floor, confused as to who she'll go to. "Conrad, liebe, you should've let her come to me. Now Julie is confused." Anneliese said, crossing her arms. "We all know she was about to come to me." He replied. He ran a hand in his brown hair. At that moment, a young 3 year old girl stepped inside, munching on a bowl of French fries. She had Anneliese's blonde hair and Conrad's brown eyes. Her hair was tied into low twin ponytails. She had a confused look on her face.

"Vatti, mutti, are you confusing Julie again?" She asked. The older ones had sheepish looks. "We were competing on who Jul would go to." Conrad said. Elisa shook her head with a sigh. "You are big people but you're acting like little people!" The younger girl had an exasperated look on her face as she plopped down on the couch near her father. She grabbed a handful of fries and ate them. Julchen brightened up at the sight of her older sister and waved. "Lisha!" She called out.

The older girl grinned and waved at her younger sister. "Have you learn to walk?" Elisa asked. Julchen shook her head. Elisa smiled. "Can you try?" Julchen nodded fervently and started to stand up again. After a few seconds of trying to balance herself, she eventually stood steadily. With a huff of determination, she lifted her left foot and took a step. She then lifted her right foot and took another step. The toddler smiled at her achievement of not getting out of balance. She lifted her left foot again and took another step, the right foot for another step, and another, and another. She took a misstep and flailed her arms trying to regain balance. Anneliese immediately rushed to help her daughter. Julchen smiled at her mother in thanks and continued. Grins decorated the family members' faces as they watched the youngest of the family learn to walk.

Elisa went down from the couch, put her bowl of fries aside, and dropped to the ground, opening her arms to receive Julchen as the younger girl continued her way towards Elisa. Julchen's hard work was rewarded with a big hug from her older sister. Their parents smiled at the two fondly. Elisa grinned at her parents. "Looks like I won." Conrad chuckled. "You did, liebe. You did." A clatter interrupted their little moment and four pairs of eyes turned to see what caused it. A young boy with a mop of brown hair and a pair of brown eyes was munching on the fries Elisa had.

"Wolfram!!"

Little one year old Julchen blinked at her mutti. For the past few weeks, her mutti has been feeling sick and tired. Julchen frowned. Mutti wouldn't play with her anymore. Vatti was too busy taking care of mutti to play with her. Elisa and Wolfram were always playing together. Julchen also noticed that her mutti's stomach was getting bigger. When she asked vatti, he said that she was going to be a big sister very soon. Big sister means there will be a baby. But babies don't come from stomachs, they come from storks. That's what her books always said.

She huffed after her mutti had said no when she asked if she could play with her. She turned towards where her siblings were. They were playing with each other. Again. With an agitated face, she sat by the window, looking at the view outside. She was getting lonely as time passed by. She was starting to hate the baby that was going to come soon.

Vatti had said something about too-wins. Julchen doesn't know what that means so she just listened to her parents' conversation. The only words she caught was two and babies. Her mutti was going to get two babies? That's not fair, they'll be the ones who will play together and she'll be all alone. She walked out of the room and into the nursery. She plopped down on the floor, tears gathering in her eyes. She doesn't want to be a big sister. Out of anger, she started to throw things at the wall. Blocks, dolls, balls, anything.