Hello I'm Mea. This is my first Skyrim fanfiction although I've dabbled with plots since getting it when it came out. None of 'em made it though. And I'm not 100% on this one either. But I love the Hearthfire DLC so this is what prompted that.

Anyway; Disclaimer: I don't own Skyrim nor any characters except Rivaine and even then barely.

Please enjoy.

To Protect My Family

"You know, love, you never did answer me."

Rivaine looked up from the book she was now engrossed in. Her husband sat next to her in the only other comfortable chair in her small Breezehome home. She gave him a confused look. He was talking crazy. Again. In the past week he hadn't asked a question that she hadn't given an answer to. Questions like, "Will you be home for dinner tonight, or am I eating and sleeping alone?" "Can you please not dump your armor by the door, love? It clutters the place." "Can you take my old axe up to Eorland? It's getting rusty." All mundane, married dialogue, although that last one had landed a playful smack to his arm. It had gotten repetitive, but with her excuses for putting off facing Delphine dwindling, she cherished and relished every moment.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, dear." She said slowly looking about the house. Had she accidentally left something out-of-place?

Vilkas rose from his seat and came to a kneel before her. He stroked her bare calve lovingly. His touch sent a shiver down her spine. "Children, Rivaine. I want to have children with you."

Oh! That. "No."

He drew back his hand and stood tall. Glaring down at her, much like when they had first met, he crossed his arms. He was clearly upset but Rivaine was Dragonborn, Nord, and a red-head. That potent combination made her three times more stubborn. She met his fierce grey eyes with her own calm blue. He eventually broke first, his hot-headedness getting the better of him.

"Why not? I love you, you love me. We have the room, the coin. Our beastblood is no more. Why are you opposed to this?"

Flashes of hot fire in her face, the sound of a children's laughter turned to screams echoed in her head. She stood abruptly, snapping her book shut, and bumping into him. She tried to turn from him but he seized her arm in a firm grip. "Vilkas, let. Go."

"Not until I'm satisfied with an answer, wife."

She whipped her head around in anger and, not realizing what she was doing, shouted, "FUS!"

He stumbled backward and relinquished his hold on her. She ran past him in his disoriented state and exited the house. Thankful she had purchased a home within sprinting distance of the city's exit, she ran, fear and flashbacks overwhelming her.

The day was warm. Rivaine sat outside the small hut and ran a hand through the hair of the three-year old next to her. She had loudly protested being married at sixteen. Her father, deaf to her protests, had accepted the older suitors bid for her hand, and she found herself bound to a man who viewed her only as a baby making machine and cared very little for her prowess with the bow. However the vile old warrior gave her one good thing. The strawberry blonde toddler sitting next to her, winding purple mountain flowers together with a look of utmost concentration on her face. Fondly, Rivaine kissed the crown of her daughter's head.

A horn trumpeted, signaling the return of the hunters. Rivaine made a face. Mila looked up at her excitedly. "Papa?" She asked.

Rivaine nodded grimly, and the little one gave a squeal of delight. Not even a minute later her husband appeared. Mila ran to her father and he swooped her up in a bear hug, while at the same time tossing a bag of meat at Rivaine. "Make this edible," he grunted at her and sat down to play with and regale his hunting tales to his daughter.

Gritting her teeth she made her way into the hut and over to the fire pit. She had just finished seasoning and spearing the meat on the spit when her husband lifted the flap back and entered. "We must speak."

"Then speak." She said shortly.

The old warrior ran a hand through his hair. "You have yet to give me an heir."

"I gave you Mila!" She protested loudly, rounding on him. He scowled and crossed his arms.

"A girl is hardly fitting of a warrior of my legacy. I need a boy."

Rivaine was furious. How dare he suggest that beautiful strawberry blonde girl wasn't good enough. Without uttering a word to the man Rivaine stormed out of the hut and gathered her daughter. She strode away into the small village and to her father's hut.

"Mama, where are we going?"

It was dark before she realized she was at her small plot of land just outside of Falkreath. Her haze lifting she sat down on a boulder, shivering. That flashback had been powerful, disturbing. She hadn't thought of her life before Helgen since right before her marriage, and even then she had thought she had made peace with it. "Apparently not." She breathed.

"My thane?" A voice called out and Rivaine looked up to see Lydia rushing over to her. "Is everything alright?" Tears filled Rivaine's eyes at the question.

"No, Lydia, I don't think I am." She mumbled and turned away from her long time friend and companion.

Vilkas tossed back another tankard of mead. He was sitting on one of the benches at Jorvasker, watching as he brothers and sisters in arms sang and drank and fought. The image of Rivaine, her red hair flying around from her shoulders as she danced merrily to some song only she seemed to hear, filled his mind. The thought filled him with a fondness that was soon replaced by anger. He could forgive her the Thu'um, she was Dovahkiin after all, but why did she not want to have a child? Did she not love him as much as she claimed? And then she had run from him. He sighed.

"What's wrong, Brother?" Farkas came to rest beside him. "You've been scowling all night."

Vilkas thought a moment. "It's my wife." He finally admitted.

"Is she having an affair?"

Vilkas balked at the thought. What if she was? Was that why she didn't want a child? To keep her body shape to please another lover? "I don't know." Vilkas finally said. "She doesn't want children."

His twin was silent a few moments, thinking. Farkas looked up eventually and swallowed some of his own mead. "Perhaps she has had a child before coming to us."

Vilkas frowned. "But that would mean she's another man's wife."

Farkas shrugged. "I do not know, Brother. But I do know Rivaine loves you. She told me so." Seeming very confident in his own words Farkas stood and wandered off to speak with the others, leaving Vilkas to stew and glare into his own cup.