"Anna, we have to go," Kratos whispered to her, and Anna rolled over on the ground, towards Noishe and his warm fur.
"Ugh, no, Kratos, come back to bed," Anna mumbled.
"Cruxis is constantly after us. We can't afford to miss a day. Besides, we don't have a bed."
"Five more minutes."
"You said that a half hour ago."
"Five minutes."
Kratos sighed and shook his head. The woman was insufferable. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulders, and she yelped in surprise.
"Put me down right now, Kratos Aurion!" He merely chuckled to himself as she protested loudly.
"Not a chance, Mrs. Aurion. It's time to go, and if this is the only way to get moving today, then this is the way it will be."
"But I don't feel very well," she said more weakly this time, and Kratos decided not to fall for the act. She had tried it before, when they first met, and she had run off. It wasn't going to happen again.
"Humph. I distinctly remember an occasion in which you told me that before you hit me with a rock and took off into the woods."
"I'm serious Kratos, I don't—" Anna never finished her sentence, because it was cut off by a loud retching sound, and the splat of vomit as it hit the ground. Noishe whined and Kratos groaned. Of course this time she would actually be sick. He put her down carefully and handed her a spare cloth to clean herself up with.
"You smell like vomit," she said, wrinkling her nose.
"And whose fault is that?"
"Well it couldn't possibly be mine. Nothing is my fault." Anna said teasingly. Kratos glared at her without real malice. He was just glad she felt well enough to laugh at his expense.
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, yes, I suppose. I've been feeling queasy during the morning for awhile now." Anna smiled, but Kratos cringed.
"I know. I should have been more sensitive," Kratos said, looking terribly distressed.
"Oh, stop it. I puked. I can go now, but please don't sling me over your shoulder again, unless you want to repeat the experience." Kratos looked at her worriedly and helped her off the ground.
"Maybe we should find you a doctor. We can stop at a House of Guidance and talk to a healer. They can help you."
"Kratos, I'm not dying, I'm just a little nauseous. And it passes by the afternoon anyway."
"I'm taking you."
"No, you're not." The couple glared at each other, pitted in a battle of wills. Gray eyes met brown, and Noishe whined in the background, disliking the confrontation.
"Now look what you've done. Noishe is sad because he doesn't want me to go to a doctor," Anna said, a hint of a smile showing in her eyes.
"I believe he is upset because you are sick and he's worried about you."
"No. You're wrong. And please, take off that disgusting cape. You smell like an alley behind a bar in the worst parts of Meltokio." Kratos glared at her, but took the cape off. Anna's grin grew.
"Much better. The view is better now, too." A playful glint shone in Kratos' eyes, and he pulled his wife closer.
"Is it now?"
"Mmhmm," Anna said, wrapping her arms around his neck as Kratos' arms encircled her waist. He leaned down to kiss the brunette, but a wave of nausea hit her, and she broke away and stumbled into the bushes to vomit again. Kratos dashed over, and held her hair back, stroking her back as she retched more violently this time.
"You should go see a doctor."
"No, I don't think so," Anna said, but when Kratos changed their course to take them to the house of guidance, she did not protest. And when they arrived and he took her to the resident healer, she merely mumbled about hating doctors.
"So, I understand you are newlyweds?" the healer-priest said, and they both nodded, and Kratos' arm held more tightly to Anna's waist. "And you are feeling sick, but only in the morning?"
"That's correct." Anna said, glaring at the man. Kratos hid amusement at her irrational hatred of doctors by hiding his expression behind his hair momentarily.
"And when is the last time you had your courses?" the healer asked. Anna tensed at Kratos' side, and the angel's mind raced. Surely he couldn't be suggesting…but he was looking at them like they were stupid. Anna had had her courses, had she not? She had to. But Kratos couldn't remember.
"T-two months ago," Anna stuttered, and Kratos' eyes widened in shock. He barely even noticed that the doctor was laughing at them.
"I have a feeling this is morning sickness--You're having a baby. Nothing to worry about, see?" the priest said, chuckling as he left. "Congratulations!" he called as an afterthought, and then went right on chuckling.
"Nothing to worry about?" Anna hissed. "Nothing to worry about? We don't have the time for a baby! Babies cry and make noise and are not conducive to a fugitive lifestyle!" Anna's voice raised steadily through her rant until at the end she was shouting. Kratos couldn't find his voice. Pregnant. He was lucid enough to lead his wife outside to where Noishe was waiting, and into a more private place, but he couldn't even muster the words to calm her down.
"Kratos, please, say something! I-I can't be pregnant, I can't!"
"This is unexpected," was all he said. He was still trying to decide what he felt about bringing a child into this world.
"Unexpected? Is that all you have to say? I'm in the middle of a crisis here! We're in the middle of a crisis!"
"It might not be so bad," Kratos said suddenly, picturing a miniature version of Anna, smiling at him from her arms. "We could be a family."
"Kratos! We are on the run from Cruxis! We can't take care of a child!"
"We'll manage," Kratos said encouragingly, rapidly warming up to the idea. A family—something he had never had.
"I hate babies," Anna said, and Kratos snorted.
"You most certainly do not hate babies. Remember the children in Luin? You played tag for hours, and then sat around the docks and held babies. Then you looked at me and said that you wanted a million of them."
"That was before we were married, that was before I really knew I loved you, that was before—that was before everything."
"So you don't have an objection to all babies—just mine."
"No! Stop twisting my words! I just—I said that when I thought I would settle, when I thought I would live in a place conducive to child-rearing. I would rather have you than a thousand babies."
"But now you can have both," Kratos said, smiling at his wife.
"I sincerely hope I'm not carrying a thousand babies right now—I'm terrified enough of one." Kratos chuckled, giving her a rare laugh, and pulled her close.
"I hope our baby looks like you," Kratos whispered.
"Our baby," Anna whispered. "I could get used to the sound of that."
"Good—because you'll have to."
"Stupid angel. You are really insensitive sometimes."
"Stupid woman. We're having a baby—this is a happy day, not a sad one." Kratos smiled radiantly at his wife, and Anna actually grinned back. In that single moment, Kratos felt more happy than he had at any other time in his life. Here he was, holding the most beautiful woman in the world, and looking forward to a future full of children and laughter. Nothing, he thought, could ever ruin this for me.