Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything new. I've been just enraptured by this book I've been reading called "The Bronze Horseman". It's the BEST love story I have ever read and I was surprised there was erotica in it! If you like "Twilight", I didn't personally but a lot of people do, you will LOVE this book. I have not been able to put it down.

This new story is set after "Arthur's Secrets" and "Hostage". You don't have to read any of them, but I think you will like them.

~ Ariadne falls in love with another man. ~

Ariadne's True Love

~ Ariadne felt a sharp persistent pain in her back. Her the pain had been hurting all night and her constant shifting in the bed was causing Arthur to wake up again.

"Are you alright?" he mumbled without opening his eyes. It had been a hard day on both of them. A new extraction job and an active 6 year old would tire anyone out.

"Yes." She sighed as she felt that dull pain sound off again. She just couldn't find a comfortable position. She had been chasing Darcy all day. The rambunctious little girl was in school now a seemed to have more energy every day. Or, maybe the Architect was just finding it harder to summon strength. Her body didn't currently belong to her, but to the baby that was due to make his appearance in exactly one week. She felt tired all the time and unbearably heavy.

"Ouch!" Ariadne hissed as a pain ripped through her back again.

This time her husband sat up and snapped on the light.

"Pain?" he asked still groggy from sleep. She found her breathing was coming hard as she tried to sit up.

She looked worriedly at Arthur and nodded, her hands at her large belly. Another sharp pain coming to her back made her wince and want to cry out.

"Alright, I think it's time." He said authoritatively. Casting off his bedding and getting dressed. The Point Man taking over.
"We have a week left." Ariadne said feeling scared. She wasn't ready for her son to arrive yet. His nursery was prepared and stocked with loving and beautiful baby things, but mentally she wasn't ready.

"I don't think we make the rules." He said with an impish smile as she slowly maneuvered out of bed. Her back hurting again as she pulled on her house shoes.

~ Edwina was woken up and asked to mind Darcy while the couple went to the hospital. There was no need to wake the little girl. Once roused, she was an unstoppable force.

The Point Man had gotten a drivers license in Paris so the family had their own car now. A luxury and a necessity for them now that they would have a new edition.

"Arthur, I'm worried." Ariadne said as her husband guided her to the car. Her over night bag in his hand.

"Don't be." Arthur said opening her door and gently securing his precious cargo inside. The Architect let him baby her. A fear of the unknown making her feel very child like and scared.

~ The hospital was clean and efficient. It's staff was decked in crisp little uniforms that put her at ease.

'There was nothing to having a baby. It happened thousands of times a day.' She told herself. As a sharp pain bit her again.

The Architect watched as her husband to talked to the doctor, his normally immaculate dress and hair was now sloppy and boyish looking. The nurses hooked her up to monitoring machines. Arthur rubbing her back as another contraction seized hold of her and sweat broke over her brow.

The kindly doctor was pleased that she would deliver soon. Before she knew what was happening, she was being wheeled into a large room with bright lights. Arthur had insisted on an epidural and she was grateful she hadn't pressed the issue of natural child birth.

The kindly doctor talked her through the delivery, telling her what was happening as it was happening. His voice calm and controlled. Her husband by her side. A worried look on his face as he seemed more nervous then her.

"Now it's just a little cut." He said "Nothing at all."

Before she even knew he had done anything, the kindly doctor presented her son. Naked and screaming at the indignity of birth.

Her son was a sight. Her was almost purple and covered in after birth. The nurses cleaning him skillfully as he screamed.

The kindly doctor joking that he was getting enough air with lungs like that. Arthur's face was priceless. A looked of disbelieving joy at the sight of this baby, this son, who was his.

"Is he alright?" Ariadne called. "I want to hold him." She begged of the older nurse as she cleaned the baby.
In a kind accent, the nurse told her in French that the baby was fine. He was swaddled lovingly in a cornflower blue blanket with a white cap on. His mother's exhausted body not too tired to hold her baby. Still purple and wrinkled from his birth.

"Oh my goodness!" She cried as she couldn't fight the smile and laughter at seeing her baby. Her husband standing over her shoulder. All the pain and discomfort was forgotten. The love was instant and unbreakable. The newborn was calm now as his mother held him. Satiated by the warmth of the blanket and being close to Ariadne's heartbeat again.

The staff left the new family alone to bond over the new edition.

"We never talked about names." Arthur said softly running a gentle hand over his son's dark hair. The baby born with a full head of soft, feathery, dark hair.

"We wanted to wait till he got here." She reminded him. A smile trickling over her face as she looked over her baby.

Arthur watched as she unwrapped him carefully and examined him. His perfect little hands with ten, tiny fingers. His eyes, he closed look like Arthur. He father's long legs. One of them kicking suddenly in his sleep. Her hand clasped his perfect little foot.

"That's the foot that was always kicking me." She laughed kissing it. The baby stirred at the contact and kicked his long leg again.

"How would you feel about Dominic? After Cobb?" Arthur suggested as his wife carefully swaddled the baby again. Her constant practice on one of Darcy's dolls paying off.

"I like that." She whispered holding the light bundle to her chest.

"Dominic's body was warm and comforting. She could hold him like this all day.

Arthur was kissing her temple.
"Thank you." He whispered in her ear.

She looked up at him and grinned shyly.

"Thank you." She whispered back.