The Last Rose Of Summer
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It was the sound of coughing that woke Niklaus up that December morning.
He sat up with a light groan, looking to his left where the young woman was laid in bed with him, eyes closed, but she looked more or less worse for wear.
"Hey love-" Niklaus smiled faintly, raising a hand to her cheek, feeling that she felt much too hot. He groaned quietly, then sighed. "You ok there?"
Azalea turned over now, opening her eyes a little and nodded. "I am fine."
"Mmhmm. You lie."
"Please don't go-" she just muttered now as he went to leave the room to fetch his mother, and sighed, raising her boiling hand to his lips for a moment. "Just for a second my love. I promise."
Azalea was silent, then nodded, turning back over in her bed, burying her face in the pillow, ignoring the footsteps as her lover left the room.
When Niklaus returned, it was with his mother in tow, telling him to move out the way as she sat down next to Azalea and turned her over onto her back, raising a hand to her cheek.
"Azalea my dear?"
Azalea opened her eyes a little and nodded. "Yes Mother?"
"Niklaus is concerned." Esther told the young woman who spied the man in question, chuckling weakly. "I am fine. He worries too much."
"But it is my concern that the baby maybe causing you to be ill."
Azalea felt a cold jolt shoot through her, and she felt a hand slide down to her stomach, asking, almost fearful. "My baby's fine, isn't... isn't-?"
Esther put a hand over her adopted daughters and shushed her, sighing. "Relax my dear. Please?"
Azalea nodded, then Niklaus sighed, putting a hand atop her own on her stomach. "Mother is right. Calm down." There was a silence, then Esther just stepped forwards and moved their hands away, pressing down lightly on the eight months pregnant young woman. The pregnancy had gone rather smoothly she had to admit, and knew deep down that the pair would be incredibly good parents...
If only Mikael would let them keep their child. But she knew the answer to that already.
No way in Heaven or Hell.
And she was sorry for it.
Esther just chuckled. "Nothing to worry about. The baby is just fine... you just have a fever that can be tamed by bed rest." Azalea nodded, then closed her eyes once more, letting Niklaus get back in next to her, pulling her ill form into his arms, placing a kiss on the top of her head, closing his own eyes as the door closed as Esther left.
Maybe he did worry too much about her at times...
Later that day, Azalea woke up to find herself feeling even worse, and Niklaus sighed, holding her close as she coughed, tears in her eyes- she never fell ill, and he didn't like to see her upset. The baby making her emotions go out of her control weren't helping too.
"Come on love, come here-"
Azalea let him pull her into his arms, and she closed her eyes against his bare chest, letting the tears flow onto it. Niklaus was silent, stroking the back of her head, then just started to say quietly in a voice like song.
"Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh."
Azalea lay there and listened, smiling a little at the little poem/song he'd recited, then just said.
"But I am not a rose. I am a shrub."
"A beautiful flowering shrub." He chuckled, pressing his lips to his cheek, then Azalea had to ask quietly.
"Our child... you think she will be beautiful?"
"Oh-? You are expecting it to be a girl?"
"Indeed I am. One Niklaus in this world is enough, and even nature knows that."
Niklaus scoffed, then just kissed her cheek once more-
"We shall see my dear. We shall see."
A little piece that didn't make it into the story, so- here we are ^_^ hope you like this little oneshot and review x Nic