Oh Crap! The Tale of a Princely Predicament
Summary: 10 years into Yuri's reign Conrad finds himself in hot water, tempers run high, Wolfram explodes and brothers nearly come to blows. so why is Yozak smiling?
Yuri sighed as he walked through the halls of Covenant Castle in his jogging clothes. It was early morning and he should have been jogging already. Conrad however was running late. Well, actually he just hadn't shown up. Surprised and a little annoyed, he decided to go looking for the other man. He wondered why Conrad was late, the man was never late. He hoped his Godfather wasn't being reckless again. The last time Conrad had missed their morning jog without at least some form of notice, he'd gone with Yozak and Murata to look into the new King Belar.
He rounded a corner and rather abruptly found himself in the same hallway with Conrad. He opened his mouth with every intention of calling out to the man, when he noticed something. Conrad wasn't moving; he was leaning heavily against the wall, and every time he attempted to move he staggered and wound up right back in the same spot. As he watched, Conrad pushed himself away from the wall and took a grand total of five steps, before grabbing almost frantically for the wall.
Alarmed, Yuri bolted down the hall to the other man's side. Conrad looked like hell! Actually, he hadn't looked that great for the past week. True to form however, Conrad had refused to stop and take the time to get better. Muttering under his breath about just how stubborn Conrad could be, Yuri dragged one of Conrad's arms across his shoulders to steady him.
"What's wrong?" he asked, as he started walking back into the heart of the palace towards Conrad's rooms.
"Dizzy," Conrad replied in a small voice.
"Heka?"
Yuri glanced up at the sound of his title. One of the maids stood a few feet away, with a basket of linens in her arms. He didn't know this maid, and while normally he made it a point to at least know the names of his subjects working in the palace, he honestly didn't have time for her right now.
"Could you get Gisela and send her to Conrad's room, please?" He asked calmly, then added "and hurry."
The maid nodded, and dropping the freshly laundered linens unceremoniously on the floor, ran off to do his bidding. Even after 10 years as king, he still wasn't used to that. He shook his head, and glanced over at Conrad, whose weight he was currently supporting. The man was pale and shaking – that was so not good!
He tried to remember the random things he'd learned 6 years ago in his high school health class. But alas he'd dismissed most of the things he learned on earth as irrelevant after he moved permanently to Shin Makoku after graduating from high school. He rarely went back to earth anymore; his life and his home was in the Great Demon kingdom, that and being carded for everything because he still looked about sixteen was getting annoying. Soon he'd have to lie about his age out right just like the others. He had taken a few semesters of Political Science at a junior college. At least those classes had some practical use in the life he was preparing for.
Suddenly he wished he'd kept abreast of some of the more practical classes. Like possibly a first aid class!
It took a few minutes to get Conrad up to his room and into a chair. His godfather made an interesting noise, and Yuri only just managed to get a wastebasket in front of him before the man vomited. He patted Conrad's shoulder awkwardly. He could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times Conrad had been sick in the last decade, and he'd sure as hell never seen him vomit before!
He was thankful when Gisela finally arrived, with a concerned looking Gwendal in tow. Before he quite knew what was happening, Gisela had gotten Gwendal to carry Conrad to bed, and then both he and Gwendal found themselves in the hallway facing Conrad's now closed door.
~~~***~~~
Gisela had been somewhat startled when the young maid nearly plowed into her just after she'd finished giving Gwendal his annual physical. The young woman had then proceeded to inform her that something was wrong with Conrart. She'd given the young lord his own medical checkup just over a month ago, and found him in perfect health then. So it made no sense for him to be too sick to stand up now.
However, she didn't doubt the maid's story and knew that King Yuri wouldn't have sent for her if it wasn't important, so she headed up to Conrad's rooms at a near run, completely oblivious to Gwendal's continued presence. She came in to the startling sight of Conrad dry-heaving into his wastebasket, with a concerned King Yuri at his side.
She took one look at Conrad and was suddenly glad Gwendal had followed her. She didn't think the man would make it into the other room and his bed on his own, and she didn't have the strength to carry him. After getting Conrad into bed, she turned and proceeded to shoo Lord von Voltaire and King Yuri out the door. It was painfully obvious she would likely have to give Conrad a full physical, and she very much doubted the somewhat proud and reserved man would appreciate an audience.
She sighed and looked over at Conrart. The man was pale and he looked tired. She walked over to him and calmly checked his temperature, only to discover that it was normal. "All right—judging by what I saw when I walked in and the wastebasket in the other room, I'm fairly certain you've thrown up and if the way you look is any indication I suspect you're feeling fatigued. Is there anything else?"
Conrart sighed, "I'm exhausted, I'm dizzy, I can't hold anything down, and I just don't feel right. I haven't for a little over 3 weeks."
Gisela blinked. Three weeks? He'd been feeling ill for the past three weeks and hadn't bothered to tell her? Honestly, sometimes Conrart was far too stubborn and secretive for his own good.
"Let me get this straight—you've been feeling fatigued, nauseous, and dizzy for the past three weeks in addition to just plain feeling wrong, and I'm only just hearing about this?" She asked, deliberately using the tone of voice she normally reserved for soldiers who'd injured themselves, only to make it worse by doing something stupid, on Conrad. It was a tone she'd never bothered to use on the man before, since he'd never really done anything to deserve it before. "Is there anything else I should know about Conrart? And I want the truth!"
Conrart cringed, than looked down an impressive blush spreading across his cheeks. "My nipples hurt and my breasts* are kind of tender." He muttered.
Gisela froze—she did not like where these symptoms were going. It was possible for demon men to get pregnant; that was one of the reasons same sex marriages were common place in their society. However, the ability wasn't universal; some men had it, others didn't, and there never seemed to be any rhyme or reason behind who could and who couldn't. Boys were tested for the ability after they hit puberty, and those who could were informed of how to determine their own cycles of fertility. If they bore a tendency towards their own gender, they were told what herbs to take to prevent pregnancy.
When she first took over as the head healer assigned to Covenant Castle, she'd asked her predecessor if any of the Queen's sons bore the ability, and had been informed that Gwendal was the only one who did. As such she never bothered to test them for the ability herself. She trusted the other healer's ability and his work ethic to properly test the princes. So why was Conrart now showing all the signs of a man in his first trimester of pregnancy?
Abruptly she realized something; Chester's exact words were "Gwendal can, Wolfram can't, and Conrart's a half-breed." She'd taken that to mean that he had tested the boy and that Conrart couldn't, but judging by Conrart's reaction to what his body was currently telling him, she was beginning to suspect the young man had never been tested. If he had, he would have come straight to her the moment he started feeling the unexplainable fatigue and the embarrassing tenderness.
Male pregnancies were very difficult, particularly during the first trimester. She should have tested Conrad for the ability herself the moment he'd returned from the Great Demon Kingdom Military Academy, regardless of his age, just to make sure prejudice hadn't gotten in the way of Chester's duties. But she decided that giving Conrad an extremely invasive and highly humiliating physical that he'd likely already had simply to make sure would be a humiliation the young prince didn't need.
Now she wished she had.
She took a deep breath—she was going to have to ask Conrart some very personal questions before she examined him. She needed to know if there was even a remote chance that he could be pregnant, because the tests performed on someone to find out if they could become pregnant could not be performed on a pregnant person. It would be too dangerous if she did.
The first question was "Are you sexually active?"
Conrart made a half strangled noise and flushed about three shades of red before replying. "Yes."
Somehow the response didn't surprise her; Conrad was a very attractive young man, and she knew there were many eligible young ladies who'd have been willing to spend a night with the Lion of Luttenberg – even if he was half human.
"When was the last time you had sex?" she asked bluntly.
She didn't think it was possible but Conrad became even redder. "About a month ago," he replied.
She blinked Oh, this so wasn't looking good. She resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. "And the gender of your partner?" she asked.
If it was possible, Conrad's blush got deeper. "Why?"
She sighed "I need to know."
He groaned "Male."
She closed her eyes briefly, "When you and he were together last – who topped?"
"What does that have to do with anything?!" he squeaked, his face a shade of red she'd never seen before.
She met his eyes, "It's rather important," she said firmly in reply.
Conrart looked down, his face bright red, and for a moment he stared intently at his lap before answering in a small voice "He did."
Reaching out she squeezed his shoulder lightly. "Alright, thank you Conrart, last question – Did Healer Chester ever test you to see if you could get pregnant?"
"No, of course not; why waste valuable time and supplies to run a test you already know the answer to? I'm only half demon, what does that have to do with anything?" he paused then, his face going white as the blood drained away. "Wait a second . . . you don't think?" he trailed off, shaking his head back and forth in a negating motion.
She patted his shoulder, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to strip, so that I can examine you properly."
He looked up at her for a moment before nodding his head and following her orders.
~~~***~~~
Gisela sighed as she took in Conrart's response to the news she'd just given him. The man was staring vacantly ahead, his shoulders shaking. He looked so small and scared sitting there completely naked in his bed. She dragged a blanket across his hips to give the man some form of cover, well aware of the fact that she now had to take him off duty. As of the moment she'd confirmed her suspicions, and because of how active he'd been in the past three weeks and the fact that there was a nice bruise on his hip from where one of his men had actually landed a blow on him two days ago, she was confining him to quarters as well, at least for the next week.
She looked at him for a moment. This was going to ruin his reputation, and in some ways she felt responsible for that fact. If she had done her job right, he wouldn't be in this mess. Conrart would have known he could get pregnant and would have been on medication to prevent that occurrence.
"Conrart," she said calmly. "At this point we're left with two options—you could keep the child or if you want, nobody has to know. It can be taken care of, and the fact that you were ever pregnant will stay between the two of us. I'll tell Gwendal and Yuri that you simply have a very bad cold, and that you'll be off duty for the next week."
His reaction was NOT what she had expected. He curled up into a defensive position, his arms wrapping loosely around his stomach, bringing his knees up as well. The motion made his opinion very clear.
"Over my dead body!" he snapped, moving further away from her as he did so. "I'm raising my baby, even if I have to do it on my own!"
Gisela raised her hands in surrender, "Calm down Conrad; stress isn't good for the baby. You do realize that I'm going to have to inform Gwendal and the king of exactly why I'm relieving you of your duty though?" At his nod of understanding, she pressed on. "Who's the other father? He needs to be told." To her surprise Conrad looked down and didn't respond.
She blinked. "You do know who the other father is, right?" She expected his response to be just as forceful as his answer to her suggestion to terminate the pregnancy. To her surprise however, all Conrad did was wrap his arms more tightly around his stomach, and look away.
She sighed, and patted his shoulder. "Alright, into bed with you – I don't want you going any further then the privy for the next week at least. I'll send a maid up with something light for you to eat. And I'll be back to check on you in a few hours with some herbs for you to drink so that both you and the child stay in good health. For now, I want you to rest."
He inclined his head, and then looked up at her "Thank you, Gisela."
She patted his shoulder and left the room, closing the door lightly behind her. She found herself facing Gwendal and Yuri long before she thought she would have to.
~~~***~~~
Conrart closed his eyes and sank back against his pillows. That had definitely not gone well! Gwendal's reaction to his condition had been anything but pretty. The man had actually had the audacity to order him to 'take care of the situation'. Who the hell did he think he was anyway? Gwendal had also asked who the father was and had automatically assumed that Conrad had no clue who the father was when he'd refused to give his older brother an answer. The words 'whore' and 'tramp' had been thrown around, as had statements about his loose nature and what this was going to do to his reputation.
Conrad had done everything in his power to ignore his elder brother, refusing to give the older man the satisfaction of seeing him upset. But still, Gwendal's words had cut him like a knife. He closed his eyes against the tears he felt forming in the corner of his eyes. He hadn't cried in years, and he wasn't going to start now.
What had probably hurt the most were Gwendal's demands to know who the father was so that he could force the other man to take responsibility for his child. Conrad didn't want to force anyone into marriage and had told his brother so. Gwendal's shouted words about half-breeds and how the man likely had only wanted his body, and definitely wouldn't marry him unless forced to, had left him feeling as horribly betrayed as if his elder brother had physically beaten him!
That couldn't be true!
Could it?
Gwendal had even gone so far as to threaten to disown him if he didn't tell him who the other father was, and marry him like a proper young nobleman. Gisela had been yelling at him the entire time, telling the man to leave him alone, that he needed rest and relaxation, not this stress. Finally, Gwendal had left, but only after Yuri had put his foot down and ordered the man out.
His king had done his best to comfort him while he stared blankly at the same wall he'd been gazing at since Gwendal began his tirade, reassuring him that he would always have a place here. But still, it was a hollow comfort when placed against Gwendal's betrayal. He'd expected that sort of reaction out of Wolfram, not Gwendal. He'd truly believed that if nothing else he would have his elder brother's help and support. However, that security had been rather painfully ripped from him.
If this was Gwendal's reaction, how would Wolfram react?
The very thought made him queasy.
Of course that could be morning-sickness.
Oh Great One, how would Yozak react? Yozak was his best friend—they'd stood together through almost everything; he didn't know what he would do if Yozak didn't stand by him in this! He didn't think he could handle it if Yozak thought he should 'handle the problem' too.
He lost his battle with tears.
His shoulders shaking with silent sobs, he rolled onto his side and wrapped his arm protectively around his waist.
Oh no, no, no, no, how would Mother react? He didn't think he could bear it if she reacted the same way Gwendal did. He'd leave, for her he would leave, and take his disgrace with him.
"My child," he whispered. "I'll keep you safe. I love you already," he continued, tears streaming unchecked down his face for the first time in years.
Finally, exhaustion claimed him and he sank off into the realm of sleep.
~~~***~~~
Wolfram sighed as he handed his horse to one of the stable hands. He'd just returned from visiting his uncle and he was tired. He glanced around and noted his husband Yuri and their human daughter Greta (who now looked older than either of them). He also noticed that his elder brother Lord Conrad Weller was not with them. That was a surprise—as the captain of the king's personal guard, Conrart was rarely far from Yuri's side.
Oh, there were guards trailing the king; he could see the two men clad in the uniform of Conrad's unit lurking non-discreetly behind the king.
He shook his head in mild disgust and joined his family. It only took him a few minutes to work the information he was looking for out of his husband. So, Conrart was ill enough that Gisela had removed him from duty three days ago, and ordered him to rest. Perhaps he should look in on his brother. His relationship with Conrad was still quite strained, mostly because he still felt guilty over how he'd treated his brother for the better part of a century before Yuri had taken the throne with his Earth ideals and gradually pulled the wool from over his eyes in regards to humans and those who bore their blood. He was well aware that from Conrart's standpoint all was forgiven and forgotten, although he had noticed that his elder brother was still wary of his temper.
Abruptly the sound of Gwendal's voice raised in anger snapped him out of his thoughts. Somehow his feet had carried him into Conrart's rooms without him even realizing it. Startled, he turned to leave, prepared to give both of his elder brothers some privacy – when something Gwendal said caught his attention.
Gwendal had just, for all intents and purposes, called Conrad a whore. He stood there for a moment listening to Gwendal's tirade; from what he could gather Conrad was pregnant. For a moment he felt a brief stab of jealousy over an ability both his elder brothers possessed that he lacked. However, after a moment the feeling faded, and he realized something - Conrad wasn't defending himself.
He felt pain flare in his breast as he realized Conrad was pregnant and alone. Fury mounted at Gwendal's next words; he had no right to order Conrad to 'handle the situation' and he sure as all hell didn't have the right to threaten Conrart with a life on the streets if he didn't comply with his wishes!
Through it all, the only time he'd heard Conrad's voice was when the younger of his two elder brothers had rather forcibly informed Gwendal that he was keeping his child.
Furious with the conversation he was overhearing, he stormed into Conrad's bedchamber and added his voice to the argument. He couldn't believe the nerve of his eldest brother. Gwendal didn't particularly want children, but Conrart was great with children and even with how strained their relationship was, he knew Conrad wanted children but despaired because he thought he would never have any.
Now he did, and Gwendal was being an ass about it!
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could Gwendal really be that closed minded and stupid? How could he think Conrad didn't know who the father was? This was Conrad they were talking about!
~~~***~~~
Yozak sighed as he rode through the palace gates. He'd just come home from a rather uneventful assignment and he was tired. All he really wanted was a bath, some food, his best friend's company, and his bed. Of course he couldn't do any of that until he reported to Lord von Voltaire. He groaned as he handed his horse over to a stable master and took his gear. He could feel the tension floating through the palace air. He hoped they weren't in another pot of political hot water.
Damned Big Chimeron!
Oh well—if he was going to be sent out again, it wouldn't be without a good meal, some rest, and a night spent in good company. With that in mind, he made his way up to Lord von Voltaire's office.
Gwendal looked mad enough to chew a sword and spit out tacks, and Yozak wondered what had happened in the month since he'd last set foot in the palace to get the man this worked up. He wondered how Conrad was faring, and hoped the kiddo and his family were alright. But that was a foolish worry. King Yuri had the best swordsman in all of Shin Makoku as his personal guard and Yozak was well aware of the fact that Conrad would die to protect his king.
He gave his report to Gwendal, swiftly wondering if the man was going to bite him the entire time. Whatever it was, it had to be bad if had Gwendal this worked up. He turned to leave – he would ask Conrart for the gory details as soon as the man was off duty. He hadn't even gotten halfway to the door however when Gwendal called him back.
"Yes, sir?" he asked curiously despite himself.
Gwendal stared at him for one long moment, and then just when he thought the man wouldn't say anything, he spoke. "Go talk some sense into my damned foolish little brother."
Yozak blinked, "Sir?" he asked mildly.
"Conrad has allowed something disgraceful to happen, and has made a decision that will ruin his life! He won't listen to me and fix the problem, but maybe you can get him to see reason." Gwendal replied forcefully.
"Sir?" he inquired, utterly bewildered.
Gwendal sighed, "Just go talk to him please, Yozak. At this point I think you're the only one capable of getting him to see reason before he's in more hot water then he can keep his head over."
Yozak swallowed and inclined his head before leaving, heading for Conrart's room at a brisk trot. What in the world could Conrad have gotten himself into?
~~~***~~~
Yozak sighed and gathered his courage before knocking on his friend's door. He rarely knocked, usually preferring to come in through the window or simply walking into his friend's rooms. However, given what Gwendal had just said he figured he'd better knock.
"Enter," Conrad called his voice quiet and Yozak could hear the tremor in his voice.
He slipped into the room and made his way to the bedchamber where he guessed Conrart was. The other man sat quietly in the middle of his large bed, the evidence of recent tears staining his cheeks. That above all else worried him. Conrad rarely cried. "Hey," he said gently. "Gwendal wanted me to 'come and talk some sense into you'. So you want to tell me what's this terrible thing you've 'allowed' to happen that's supposedly going to ruin your life so that I know how to go about helping you?"
Conrad looked down at the coverlet that rested across his lap. For a moment he said nothing, then –
"You might want to sit down."
Yozak blinked. He almost hadn't heard that. He grinned, "Oh come on Conrad, it can't be that bed," he joked. "It's not like you're pregnant."
Conrad flinched, and Yozak heard the soft sound of his breath hitching. He studied Conrart for a moment, Gwendal's words floating around in the back of his mind.
decision that will ruin his life
fix the problem
See reason
He felt a rush of anger directed at Gwendal as he settled himself down onto the bed beside Conrad. Carefully he wrapped his arms around his friend, whispering soothing words of comfort. He rubbed the other man's back as Conrad buried his nose in his shirt and sobbed, his ire increasing as Conrad told him exactly how his elder brother had been treating him this past week. He held the other man, reassuring him that he would stand by him no matter what he decided. He knew how much Conrad loved children, and how much Conrad wanted children of his own.
He rocked Conrad back and forth in his arms, supporting him against his chest and encouraging him to do what he thought was right; not what people wanted him to do but what was right for him. He reassured him again and again that he would stand by him no matter what he decided, in general undoing a week's worth of mental abuse - until finally Conrad fell asleep in his arms. He settled the other man down on the bed, tucking the covers around his still form and left the room.
He took a deep breath and prayed for the serenity that would keep him from tearing Gwendal to shreds. He got the fact that he was worried about his little brother, but what Conrad needed right now was love and support, not constant verbal assault. He found himself staring at the doors to Gwendal's office long before he felt calm enough to be there.
He wanted nothing more than to storm the man's office and hang him out a window by his toes, but he knocked instead.
After receiving permission to do so, he entered the room and flopped down into a chair, giving his commanding officer a half-hearted salute and then he set out to be very irritating. If the man wanted information he'd get it – but he was going to have to work for every bit of it!
"I trust you've spoken with him." Gwendal stated calmly.
Yozak kept a tight lid on his temper. "About the pregnancy?" he asked nonchalantly. "Yes, I have."
"And?" Gwendal inquired.
"I must say I was –quite – shocked. I didn't know half-demon men could get pregnant."
Gwendal raised an eyebrow.
Yozak continued mildly. "I should probably have Gisela check me. We wouldn't want any accidents as a result of my work, now would we?"
"Yozak," Gwendal all but growled.
Yozak looked up at him, the very picture of innocence. "Yeah, boss?"
"Can we get back to the point?" Gwendal asked, grinding his teeth in annoyance.
"Sure," he replied quickly, then added. "What were we talking about again?"
"Conrart."
"Oh, right!" he exclaimed, then said "Don't worry, problem solved," in an annoyingly chipper tone of voice.
Gwendal sighed in relief, his posture becoming a bit more relaxed. "Finally; so you convinced him to get rid of it."
Yozak blinked, "Oh Great one no!"
"Then what do you mean by problem solved?" Gwendal demanded.
"He's keeping the child, of course." Yozak replied flippantly. If he hadn't been so mad at Gwendal, he would have felt sorry for the man.
Gwendal stood there quietly for a moment before he finally found his voice. "Then what do you mean the problem's solved?"
"His decision isn't going to ruin his life." Yozak hated to admit it, but he was enjoying this.
Gwendal gritted his teeth and practically growled his response. "What makes you say that?"
"As soon as Conrad wakes up, I'll propose to him… my solution to the problem." he replied mildly.
Gwendal's eyebrow was twitching wildly, and he looked like he had acquired at least three new wrinkles by the time he managed to grind out "Which is . . . ?"
"Marriage, of course," Yozak replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Conrad hadn't spent the last week refusing to tell Gwendal (or anyone else) the father's name.
Gwendal's jaw dropped and he looked utterly flabbergasted for a moment before he managed to find his voice. "To whom?" he growled.
Yozak raised an orange eyebrow, "The father, of course!"
Gwendal tried and failed to suppress a groan, as he smacked himself in the forehead with the heel of his palm. "Conrad DOESN'T KNOW who the FATHER is!"
"Now, whatever gave you that idea?" Yozak asked with mild sarcasm.
Gwendal blinked. "He clams up every time anyone asks him!"
"So you assumed he didn't know?"
Gwendal scowled at him. "Well what would you think? He's a half-demon, and everyone knows a man who beds a half-demon male is only in it for the thrill!"
Yozak blinked, doing his level best to keep a lid on his temper. It was taking every ounce of his will power not to kill Gwendal for that last comment. That was a low blow. "I know who the father is and I hope – for your sake – you didn't tell that to Conrad!"
"Why wouldn't I? He might as well get used to it now, he'll be hearing far worse from the court and his own men before this fiasco is over! And when I find the low life that's responsible for this… he is either going to marry my little brother, or wish he was never born!"
Yozak gave a short bark of laughter, "Didn't I already propose this solution?"
Gwendal gave him the most bewildered look his stone chiseled face could muster, and Yozak thought he rather looked like he'd just been attacked by a rabid trout! After a moment the man seemed to regain the use of his tongue. "I beg your pardon?"
Yozak rose to his feet, and crossed his arms in defiance. "I plan on proposing to him as soon as he wakes up."
"What good would that do?!" Gwendal yelled, obviously too flustered to put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4.
Yozak sighed. He was both annoyed and bored with this game. "I'm the father, you halfwit!"
~~~***~~~
Gisela smiled as she walked over to Conrart's rooms, she'd been giving Conrart daily physicals since she found out he was pregnant, just to make sure the weeks it had taken them to find out he was pregnant and the blow he'd taken to the hip hadn't hurt the child growing in his belly. Conrad had been very reserved this week, not that she could blame him.
This would be the last of his daily checkups. If both he and his unborn child were fine, she'd start examining him once every week until the child came. Had Conrad been a woman or had this not been his first pregnancy, she would only have been examining him once a month. However, male pregnancies were dangerous for the father who was carrying… particularly the first time, before their bodies had fully adjusted to the permanent changes they underwent.
She knocked on Conrad's door, but it was Yozak's voice that gave her permission to enter. This made her smile. She didn't know that Yozak was back from his last assignment, but she was glad he was. She hoped Yozak would be able to help Conrad regain some of the confidence that this past week had stripped from him. She slipped into the room, closing the door behind her, and made her way over to Conrad's bedchamber.
She froze just inside the door. Conrad lay reclined against Yozak's strong chest, his eyes closed. Conrad's hand clutched the fabric of the other man's black undershirt. Conrad's chest was bare and a blanket covered his slim hips- hips that were just beginning to show signs of widening. Yozak's arm was slung around his waist, his hand resting lightly on Conrad's stomach. If she didn't know any better she would have thought he was the father of Conrad's baby.
She took notice of Yozak's black eye and briefly wondered exactly how he'd gotten it. She'd give him some salve for it later.
She smiled at how cute they looked together. "Yozak, I need to examine Conrart, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave for a bit."
"He knows I'm pregnant, Gisela." Conrart told her quietly. "He can stay."
Gisela raised an eyebrow at that. "Conrad, this examination by nature is going to be rather intimate. Are you sure you want him here?"
"The baby's mine Gisela, and as of a few hours ago Conrad is my fiancé. I'm staying. I want to be there for him through everything." Yozak told her firmly.
She blinked and then laughed at that. "Just out of curiosity, Yozak, how did you get the black eye?"
"Gwendal took exception to my knocking up his little brother."
~~~***~~~
Yozak smiled as he looked down at Conrad, who slept quietly beside him. It had been a long and difficult pregnancy followed by a long and difficult labor, but the fruit of over a century of their love and devotion to each other was currently asleep in his arms – one tiny hand curled into the cutest fist he'd ever seen as his son sucked an equally cute thumb. He'd married Conrad only 11 months ago, and they'd simply led everyone to believe that little Ayden had been conceived on their wedding night. When Conrad had gone into labor a little over 3 days ago, they let everyone believe their little bundle of joy was a month premature . . . just like they'd promised Gwendal they would.
But none of it mattered now, not with his husband waking up beside him, and not with Ayden in his arms. He could care less what anyone thought right now! He was busy basking in the glow of fatherhood. Gisela had told him they could receive visitors as soon as Conrad awoke, so other then the proud parents, she was the only one who'd seen little Ayden.
A soft sound drew his attention away from the rapture of his newly born son, back to the man at his side.
"Hey," he said softly, carefully helping Conrad to sit up. Once the man was settled, he carefully handed Ayden over to his daddy. Conrad held the child delicately, in his arms, and gazed lovingly down at their son. Abruptly he laughed, a musical sound that had always lifted his spirit and given his heart wings.
"What's so funny, love?" Yozak asked mildly; smiling at the sight of his husband cradling their son for the first time.
Conrad glanced over at him, a slight grin playing over his face. "I'm glad you're not a low life."
"What?" Yozak asked completely bewildered.
"What was it you told me when I offered to let Gwendal keep believing I didn't know who the father was? 'Only a low life, wouldn't take responsibility for their child?'"
"No I told you only a low life would refuse to take responsibility by demanding you to 'take care of the situation', but that's close enough. What brought this on?" Yozak asked as he carefully rearranged the pillows Conrad had been propped up against.
"Well, I definitely wouldn't have been able to hide who the father was after he was born. He looks just like you." Conrad replied, avoiding the pile of pillows in favor of Yozak's chest.
Yozak wrapped his arms around Conrad's waist, before replying. "He's got your mother's eyes though, and judging by the length of his delicate little fingers and toes, I'd say he has your build. Who knows, his hair may even darken a bit with age. Besides, I'm sure the next one will look just like you."
"Who said there was going to be a 'next one'? I'll have you know you're not touching me again, until I've forgotten exactly how painful 72 hours of labor was." Conrad replied with mild humor.
Yozak was about to reply when Conrad jumped, and uttered a startled little gasp. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, that just…felt funny."
For a moment he was completely bewildered until he caught sight of his son – who'd apparently decided it was time for lunch. He smiled, and gently kissed his husband.
Life was good, and from the look on Conrad's face – he'd already forgotten.
~~~***~~~
A.N. In the old days breasts were the common term for both men and women.
2+2= fish
Fish2= rhubarb pie