Chapter one

Dearest Dom,

You don't know how much I wish I were you right now, instead of sitting here at home being bored and waiting for this baby to come. I always knew that I would want children, I just didn't know that they would come so soon. Mithros knows that mother is excited, she won't stop fussing over me… Anders is home at the moment and he too has taken to teasing me, whereas his wife is helping my mother fuss. Any idea when you will be home? I won't get my hopes up that you'll be here for the baby but, I can always imagine… Yuki is constantly giving me pregnancy advice and so is Alanna, when she drops by. I just count my lucky stars that I'm not Daine, her pregnancy must have been awful, with the baby shape-changing all the time. But then again, as many of the animals that like me, I'm no wildermage so no worries there eh?

Miss you, love Kel.

Kel sighed and quickly gave the carrier her letter. She was almost 9 months pregnant and Dom showed no signs of being there for the birth. Her first child, and her husband couldn't be there. She knew that this mattered a lot to him, and it frustrated him not being able to be home in time but there was nothing he could do, he was in the King's Own and that meant he had to follow orders, no matter how pregnant his wife was. As much as Kel tried not to be the stay at home wife, she always ended up something near it. Kel heard a soft knocking on her door. "Come in." Kel said loudly as the Lioness walked in and sat herself down. "Hello Kel, how are you doing?" Lady Alanna asked softly. "I wish everyone would stop asking me that. I hate being bed-ridden, why can't babies be easy to have? I suspect that I won't go straight back to my lady knight duties after I've had the baby either." Kel ranted. "Don't worry, I felt the exact same way, but trust me. It's worth it. Your lucky thought, I had twins. Mithros knows they were trouble, even as little tykes. I'll never forget when George discovered that Aly had stolen one of his daggers off him without him noticing. He was in shock for days." Alanna laughed at the memory. Alanna sighed as she thought of her daughter, "It really is a close bond isn't it? Between mother and child?" Kel asked shocked at Lady Alanna's attitude. "Of course it is, you are giving this child a life Kel, you have to think about that. I do know that my daughter and I have had our fights but I still love her, and miss her dearly all the time I'm not with her. You watch them grow up, its life-changing." Alanna said softly.

Kel thought about this, her brain became full with emotions and tears began to form in her eyes. "There's so much about having a child that I haven't thought about… What if the child comes and I don't know what to do with it? What if it doesn't like me? What if…" Kel's panic attack was cut off by Alanna, "I went through the same thing when I had Thom, it's a motherly instinct, you know what your child wants and what to do. You are the first thing that your baby see's, it sticks to you after that, it knows that your its mother. For the other what if, don't worry about it." Alanna stood up and hugged Kel awkwardly. "I have to go, but I do have one present for you…" Alanna gestured to the door as Dom walked in. "Dom!" Kel cried out in surprise. Dom came over and kissed his wife tenderly, "Forgive me for saying, but how's the baby going?" Dom asked a cheeky smile playing upon his face. Ever since Dom knew that Kel was pregnant he'd been smiling non-stop, he was so proud to finally be a father. "Forgiven. At least your asking how the baby's doing and not how I'm doing." Kel said softly. "I had the feeling that you might get annoyed if I asked about you… Even though I wanted to." Dom said softly staring into her eyes. "You know me too well. The baby is doing fine, though it would be good if it would hurry up. How are you? And why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be out with the King's Own?" Kel's eyes danced with love. "Alanna managed to talk Raoul into letting me stay with my beautiful wife while she had our first child. I'm fine, just a little injured after the last spidren hunt that we had." Dom looked over his wife with worry.

"You sure that your fine?" Kel asked later on when Yuki and Neal were over. "Yes I'm fine! And if I weren't I would have asked meathead here to fix me, or at least my Uncle." Dom explained exasperatingly, Kel's mood swings were happening more often these days. Lucky that Duke Baird was there giving her a check-up. "Kel dear, he's fine. No need to worry that last spidren hunt was a while back, he probably just gave you an answer so that you wouldn't keep asking. No need to fret now deary." Yuki reassured her. Neal and Dom were laughing at something, Kel glared at them. "Something funny?" She asked glaring at them. "Just remembering good childhood times dear." Dom answered sensibly not wanting to be subject to his wife's temper. "Well I'm getting up no matter how much you all protest." Kel struggled to get up slowly as Dom rushed to her side and helped her up. She glared at him, "I don't protest to you getting up, only to you struggling to get up." He gave her one of his charming smiles and her heart melted. She walked off to go to the privy when a rush of thoughts came to her head. 'What will my baby look like?' 'I wonder whether it will be a boy or a girl?' 'I hate how he can do that, smile and my heart melts.' 'I wish I could do that…' She did still remember the times when she and Dom were courting, what good times they were.

Kel was laughing hard. "Something funny Keladry?" Domitan of Masbolle snuck up behind her.

"Oh it's only meathead…" Kel giggled as Dom's hands found her hips from behind.

"And what did cousin dearest do this time to make my lady knight giggle?" Dom asked with a mischievous smile.

"I told him that Yuki is only dating him because she feels sorry for him with my Yamani Face on, and he believed me… Now he's freaking out about his date with her tonight." Kel burst into a fit of giggles as she told the story.

"However do you think of this without me?" Dom asked her mocking an incredulous tone.

"Oh I have my ways, just like I can think of doing this without you." Kel turned around and abruptly kissed him whilst taking one of his daggers and sprinting off into the distance.

"Oh no you don't!" Dom playfully chased her until they both fell in a heap on the grass under a tree.

Dom's hands were running through Kel's hair, "I love you…" He murmured softly. "I love you too." Came the reply from a puffing Kel.

They sat up and tenderly kissed for what seemed like an eternity but stopped abruptly as they heard someone approaching.

"Keladry that was NOT FUNNY!" Neal shouted angrily as Kel got up ready to run from him. "Cousin dearest calm down, I myself think it was quite funny and I was having a lot of fun until you rudely interrupted." Dom looked at his cousin mischievously. "You. You thought of this?" Neal was still outraged as he pointed the finger at Dom.

"Don't give me all the credit cousin, for it was not me funnily enough. My lovely lady knight here planned it all herself without me. To the outrage of myself of course but I do agree it was a worthy prank that it could have been planned by the one and only Domitan of Masbolle." Dom claimed playfully.

"Oh I'll get you both!" Neal stormed away angrily. Leaving Dom and Kel in fits of laughter…

Kel laughed at the memory, how fun it was to be an innocent girl courting. Although she did quite enjoy being married, it had its privileges although at the moment having a baby did not seem one of them, despite the attention that Dom gave her. Suddenly Kel doubled over in pain clutching her stomach. Kel was breathing heavily, she knew she should call for help but she couldn't muster up the strength to. A few minutes later she was discovered by one of the servants coming up the stairs who abruptly screamed as soon as she saw Kel and rushed to help her. The servant took one look at the wet patch behind Kel and fetched Duke Baird. Dom had sprinted to the bathroom as soon as he heard the scream, on the way he passed a servant running the other way.

He arrived at the bathroom in a huff and discovered Kel on the floor he immediately bent down to help her only finding that she was unconscious. He yelled for help as the servant returned with Duke Baird, Yuki and Neal in tow. "Everyone move out of the way." Duke Baird took charge with Neal at hand. "Dom go fetch the local mid-wife." Duke Baird ordered his nephew. "I'm not leaving her side." Dom argued looking upon his wife with worry. "Just GO!" Duke Baird yelled loudly. Duke Baird barely ever yelled so Dom quickly sprinted to find the mid-wife in Mindelan.