A/N: If you've read Christian's bio on FictionPress, you might remember a chance encounter he had one day. This story is the "conclusion" of that encounter, in a way. (Don't forget, if you are sending me a PM, just send it directly to my e-mail if you have it, or leave a review. FF and Juno still don't get along.) Thanks as ever to the usual suspects (smile)!

§ § § -- July 10, 2004

Since Leslie had gone on maternity leave, it had become Roarke's habit to personally greet each party of arriving guests at the plane dock every Saturday, let them know what time he'd like to have them come to the main house, and then have natives guide them to the waiting cars that would take them and their luggage to their bungalows. This morning the process went as usual with his first party of guests; but the second, a solitary older man, was decidedly uncommunicative. He merely nodded when Roarke suggested he come to the main house around ten, and when Roarke asked if he needed anything else, the man only shook his head and murmured something that might have been a thanks.

Roarke reflected on his way back to the house that this fantasy was going to be more than a little interesting, and possibly a bit difficult in the face of his guest's reticence. He wondered with some concern whether he might even be able to pull it off at all: for his guest was Jan-Martin Asplundh, the reclusive composer whose work so captivated Christian, and the man's fantasy—at least as stated—was to finally meet the prince in person.

‡ ‡ ‡

"Please sit down, Mr. Asplundh," Roarke invited. "May I get you anything?"

"No, but I thank you," Asplundh replied. The strength of his jordisk accent surprised Roarke somewhat; he had thought for some reason that the man might be more comfortable in the use of English. But then again, he was a recluse, and undoubtedly had little reason to try to perfect his command of the language. "You wish to speak with me?"

Roarke smiled. "Yes, I am quite curious for more details in regard to your fantasy," he said. "As I'm sure you know, Prince Christian is my son-in-law, and lately he's been on leave from his business, helping my daughter to care for their infant triplets."

"Yes, yes, I am aware of all that," Asplundh said with a touch of impatience. "I want only to know if His Highness will have any time to spare from his wife and children to meet with me." His expression softened for a moment, and Roarke caught a glimpse of far more than the composer himself knew he was revealing. "They are beautiful babies," he said softly. "Fitting offspring for the prince." Then he came back to the moment, and the shutters closed once more, masking all that Roarke had seen. "How long does His Highness plan to remain on leave?"

"Through the summer, I understand," Roarke replied. "But there is certainly no reason he would be unable to meet you. In fact, I daresay he would be eager to do so."

Asplundh didn't react to this, and Roarke wondered just for a moment what sort of man he was really dealing with. After a moment he said, as if Roarke hadn't mentioned this, "Will I have complete privacy and quiet in order to work on my newest composition, then? The conditions under which I can work must be strictly controlled to my specifications, and if there is anything wrong with them, you will know about it."

"Which," said Roarke smoothly, "is why I have put you in the Hilltop Bungalow, Mr. Asplundh. It's set away from the other bungalows, in a grove of trees, overlooking the ocean. Little traffic goes that way, other than my own employees, whom I will send out periodically to replenish whatever supplies you use during your stay. If you wish, I can put a jeep at your disposal, so that you may take the occasional break if you choose."

Asplundh sat in silence, apparently thinking this over, then met Roarke's gaze and nodded. "Very well, I accept," he said. "If you please, I should like to go there now."

Roarke frowned slightly. "If that is your wish," he said, "then by all means you may do so…although I had hoped to speak with you in regard to your fantasy."

Asplundh, who had braced his hands on the arms of his chair in order to get up, paused to stare at Roarke. "Precisely what is there to talk about, Mr. Roarke?"

"Had you not wished to meet Christian as soon as possible?" Roarke inquired, truly puzzled. "That, at least, was my interpretation."

Asplundh looked away. "Not immediately, Mr. Roarke, no," he said shortly. "I am not ready as yet to meet His Highness." He got up, took several steps towards the foyer, then stopped and gave Roarke a look that the latter man imagined was meant to be apologetic, but didn't appear so. "Forgive me," he said, "I am fatigued from the long journey, and I need rest. I'm no longer a young man, as I'm sure you can see."

"I am more than willing to respect your privacy, Mr. Asplundh," Roarke said, "and I might add that I am no stranger to such requests. In fact, you have that in common with Christian, whose privacy is very dear to him. However, I caution you not to remain secretive for very long. I can't help you if you are unwilling to share your thoughts."

"In time, Mr. Roarke," Asplundh said gruffly. "But not yet."

Roarke nodded slowly. "Very well, Mr. Asplundh," he said. "If there is anything you need in the meantime, please let me know." The composer nodded back, then left the room without another word. Roarke watched him leave, then shook his head and reached for the phone. He had business to conduct, but the problem of Jan-Martin Asplundh would never be far from his mind for some time to come, he knew.

‡ ‡ ‡

Christian and Leslie were at that moment playing with their six-week-old triplets in the babies' room, while Ingrid was busily cleaning the living room and doing laundry. All three babies were now starting to vocalize spontaneously, making funny little cooing noises that had both parents captivated. Karina and Susanna seemed to prefer long vowel sounds, with lots of "ahhhhs" that Leslie had joked were in imitation of Christian's habit of using the "ah" interjection; Tobias, on the other hand, was a grunter. Most of the time this tended to happen after he burped, but now he had begun to do so just for its own sake.

At the moment Christian and Leslie sat on the floor Indian-style, holding the triplets in their laps; the babies were facing their parents, gazing up at them, listening to their running commentary on anything and everything, and sometimes making noises that got huge grins from their mother and father. "And someday soon," Leslie was saying brightly, "Daddy will take you to work and show you how he fixes computers and makes pretty websites for lots of people, and Mommy will take you to your grandfather's house and you'll get to see what he does, and what Mommy does to help him…"

"Mommy likes to travel back in time," Christian interjected, ostensibly talking to the triplets, but slanting a teasing glance at Leslie.

"Mommy's going to send Daddy back in time to sword-fight with his ancestor King Snake's Beard if he doesn't behave himself," singsonged Leslie, returning his look, and then they began to laugh at each other. Leslie glanced purely coincidentally at Karina and gasped. "Christian, look, look! She's smiling!!"

"What?" he exclaimed and caught sight of Karina himself. There was indeed a smile on the infant's face, as if in response to her parents' laughter. Karina blinked up at them, the smile fading, an almost quizzical expression on her face now that made Christian laugh again. "Yes, that's right, Karina, you smiled at us, and it made us happy!" he assured her.

Tobias grunted as though dismissing his sister's achievement, and Christian and Leslie both laughed again. Susanna seemed to be watching all this, and when her eye caught Leslie's, she released a little cooing call that made Leslie giggle yet again. And one more time, Karina smiled, exciting her parents all over again.

In the midst of all this laughter and playing, they heard the doorbell ring; the triplets all started, another reflex Christian and Leslie had learned was normal to all young babies. "I expect that's Janine," said Christian.

"That's right, I'd forgotten she was coming today," Leslie realized. She glanced at him thoughtfully and added, "Do you want me to take care of it?"

"What, you mean in light of her crush? I really think it's harmless," he said and gave a shrug, carefully laying Tobias on his stomach on a nearby quilt and then climbing to his feet. "You can come with me if you're feeling threatened in any way…"

Leslie rolled her eyes. "By a sixteen-year-old girl? Go ahead if you want, my love. But I have to tell you, it'll be nice when Ingrid gains enough fluency in English that we can let her deal with Janine from that point on." Christian chuckled and leaned down long enough to kiss the top of her head, then left the room.

Downstairs, Ingrid had already let Janine in and gone back to her housework; Christian glanced around the living room and gave Ingrid a nod and smile of approval before going on to the kitchen where Janine waited. The girl lit up when she saw him; he wondered, now that Roarke had let them in on Janine's feelings for him, how long she'd been doing that, and what else about her reactions to him that he was going to notice. "Hi, Mr. Enstad!" Janine greeted him brightly.

"Hello, Janine," Christian replied with a smile. And now that I know, am I going to let it influence the way I treat her? No one can ever say I gave any undue attention to this girl. She's a child with a crush, and that's all there is to it. But he took care to keep his smile impersonal anyway. Being a public figure from birth had taught him how to handle such things. "Just the usual today."

"Sure," said Janine, picking up the list from the table and accepting the keys he handed her. "Did you get a chance to watch the Pops on TV last week?"

Christian looked blankly at her, then remembered what she'd talked about the previous Saturday. "Oh, yes, the celebrations in Boston. No, our schedules really don't allow for much television nowadays. I hope you were able to watch, though."

Janine sighed heavily and admitted, "By the time I figured out the stupid TV system on this island, I'd already missed it. God, Mr. Enstad, I can't tell you how much I wish I could go back home. I think I'm the most homesick person in the world." She glanced at him curiously and remarked, "I bet you know just how I feel, don't you?"

Christian, about to go through the bills to see what was due, paused and gave her another blank look. "Hm?"

"Being homesick," Janine said. "You must really miss Lilla Jordsö."

"Oh, at times," Christian said and shrugged. "But I'm in frequent touch with my family there, and one of my nieces moved here as well to get married, so I'm not totally alone here. In any case, I have my wife—she's very much the reason I left."

"Oh," said Janine, and he saw her bite her lip. "Wow. It's hard to imagine loving someone enough to move to a whole 'nother country just for them."

Christian chuckled. "Perhaps it will happen to you too, you never know. Well, thank you again." Janine took the subtle hint and departed, and Christian sighed gently. At least today she hadn't offered any edible treats! Shaking his head and smiling wryly to himself, he pulled out two bills and set them aside to write checks for, later in the day.

He found Leslie changing Susanna's diaper upstairs; Tobias and Karina were both in their cribs, Karina apparently waiting her turn to be changed and Tobias nearly asleep. She looked up when he came in. "Hi, my love," she said with a smile.

"Hello, my Rose," he replied and kissed her. "I suppose they finally got tired."

"Yep," she said. "You know, I forgot to mention last night after I got off the phone with Michiko that she's extended her stay here to the end of the summer. She's thinking about having another get-together, all of us—our friends, wives and husbands both, and everyone's kids."

"That's ambitious," Christian commented. "Where does she envision having this?"

"She didn't say," said Leslie. "I have a feeling she might try to talk her parents into being the hosts. Noelle and Alexander are actually their grandchildren, but since Toki and Myeko divorced, Myeko doesn't really talk to the Tokitas anymore. Michiko says her mom and dad usually see only Toki's children by his second wife—four boys now."

"Hm," Christian mused. "So in reality, this is a ploy for Michiko's parents to see their two lost grandchildren." He grinned.

Leslie smiled back and said, "Well, maybe partly. It's a sad story though. Michiko's parents are really nice people. Her dad was the sheriff for years, and he was well-liked around the island. Mrs. Tokita's very Japanese. She speaks English, but she's not truly comfortable in the language, which is why Michiko and her siblings were all raised bilingual."

"Ah, I see," said Christian. "Well, it sounds like fun, if she and her parents don't mind a lot of infants around—especially if this doesn't take place until Grady and Maureen's baby arrives. Speaking of which…if I remember my last conversation with Grady correctly, Maureen is overdue. It was my understanding that she was to give birth around the fifth."

"Oh, you know babies, arriving on their own schedule," said Leslie. "Mom used to tell me that Kristy and Kelly were born a week before the doctor said they would be—and that was even more premature than they should've been."

"And what of you?" Christian inquired with a grin.

Leslie grinned back and said, "I was born exactly when I was supposed to be born. Father told Mom when she came to the island that I was going to be born on May 6, and he was right."

Christian snorted, making her laugh as she began dressing Susanna. "I'm sure she had a different due date before Mr. Roarke predicted your birth for her! What was it?"

"I was actually about fifteen days late, according to Mom's doctor's prediction," said Leslie. "Maybe she made a mistake in calculating conception or something. The last time I talked to Maureen, she said that she could pin down to the day when she thinks this baby was conceived, but because of the way doctors calculate it, she's 'officially' late. She's convinced she's right on schedule."

The phone rang just about then, and Christian left the room to answer it. Leslie finished dressing Susanna and laid her in the crib, and lifted Karina to check her diaper just as her husband returned with the cordless phone to his ear. "Well, I think we can do that," he was saying, "but how does Brianna feel about it?"

Leslie glanced curiously at him before settling Karina onto the changing table and pulling apart the snaps on her daughter's sleeper. "You, baby girl, are in dire need of a change, I can tell," she teased the baby, who gazed up at her, kicking her feet. "I could smell you across the room, you know that?" She grinned, and to her delight Karina smiled back. One day, Leslie thought with happy anticipation, Karina and the other triplets would smile of their own accord. Though right now the baby smiled merely in response to hers or Christian's smiles, that was more than enough.

"She did?" said Christian into the phone. "Well, if she'd really rather stay with us than over at Nick and Myeko's…" Leslie heard the sound of Grady's voice for a second and looked up again; she met Christian's gaze and he winked, making her smile. "All right, then, she's welcome to stay. She may be very bored, though, so you might suggest she pack some books or something to play with. Oh, I know, but just in case."

Leslie pulled the sleeper away from Karina and began undoing the diaper, while Christian went on, "Well enough. Okay, then, bring her over anytime you like. All right, we'll talk later." He clicked off and looked at his wife. "Well, it seems we're going to have a houseguest. Maureen apparently is going into labor, and Grady's afraid it will take her as long this time as it did with Brianna; so he's asked if Brianna can stay with us overnight."

"With us?" Leslie echoed, very surprised. "Not with Noelle?"

"According to Grady, Brianna asked to stay here. Frankly, I suspect the attraction is the triplets. Most little girls love babies. Brianna's ten, and I have a feeling Grady and Maureen agreed to her request because they're hoping she'll learn enough about caring for babies to help them out when her sibling is finally born."

"True," Leslie said and grinned. "This should be interesting."

"Very," said Christian. "I understand that Brianna, who is quite particular about her food choices, is coming here armed with her own pillows, some dolls, some books, a large plush sheepdog that she can't sleep without, and even her own boxed lunch."

Leslie laughed. "I guess in that case, she won't even need the triplets for entertainment." On Christian's answering laugh, she peeled away Karina's diaper and groaned. "Oh, no. My word, Karina Skye, what've you been holding back from us?"

Christian peered at his daughter's diaper and his eyes widened. "That must be three days' worth of feedings." He stepped around Leslie and reached out to tickle Karina under the chin, grinning at her. "Do you know you just scared your poor mother? Look at all that! Are you proud of yourself?" He went on gently teasing the baby, grinning at her and getting more smiles out of her, while Leslie made swift work of removing the old diaper, cleaning the baby, and getting a fresh one on. She was fastening it securely when Christian lifted the sleeper Karina had been wearing and made an exaggerated face, holding it up by a thumb and forefinger. "Ach, lillan min, I hope this washes out! Ser du här, dehär är din stinkande sovdräkt…" Leslie started to laugh, and Karina smiled again, finally cracking Christian's straight face. "We're going to wake Susanna and Tobias if we go on like this," he chuckled at last, shaking his head. "Anyway, it'll be a while before Brianna gets here, since Grady isn't taking Maureen to the hospital right away. I think he wants to be certain she's really in labor and it's not a false alarm." Maureen had already had two of these.

"Good point," Leslie agreed, opening a drawer in the chest by the door and lifting out a clean sleeper in pale green with a bunch of colorful balloons appliquéd on the front. "Okay, baby girl, time for you to get a little sleep."

"Fat chance," Christian remarked humorously. "Look at her, she's all worked up now. You may have to sing her to sleep."

"I always meant to ask you, after I saw you singing to Tobias that one time," Leslie said. "Would you teach me that jordisk lullaby you were using?"

Christian looked at her in surprise, then smiled, his eyes warming. "Of course, my darling, if you really want to learn it." Something seemed to occur to him at that point. "Uh, by the way…how long did it take for Maureen to give birth to Brianna?"

"Almost 28 hours," Leslie told him. Christian stared at her, and she giggled, lifting Karina to her shoulder and rocking the infant a bit. "Sorry, my love. About all we can do is hope the rule of thumb about second babies coming faster holds true in this case."

"Fate save us," Christian said and shook his head, grinning reluctantly. "Let's just hope the triplets provide plenty of distraction for Brianna in the meantime."