As always I want to thank everyone that takes time to read and, especially, to review. It keeps me motivated! Disclaimers in previous chapters. Enjoy!

He-Man got back on his feet and sheathed his sword before taking a few steps forward and grabbing his side with a hiss of pain. He made his way towards the group of Masters to make sure everyone was all right and then leaned heavily on Battle Cat.

"He-Man, you are bleeding," Roboto said as he looked at the warrior.

"What?" Duncan exclaimed. "Let me see."

"It's fine," He-Man said turning away from his mentor.

"He-Man," Duncan said sternly. "Let me see how bad your wound is."

He-Man made a face and moved his hand as Man-at-Arms moved closer to look at it.

"That looks like it could use some stitching," he murmured.

"It'll be healed by morning," He-Man told him.

Duncan raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," He-Man nodded.

"He-Man are you gonna be at Prince Adam's and Teela's wedding?" Ram Man asked.

"I can't be there for the actual ceremony, but I'm going to try to at least make an appearance at the reception to wish them well," He-Man replied. "I'm very happy for them."

The other Masters smiled and nodded in agreement and then He-Man thanked them all for their time and assistance before he and Battle Cat took off towards the forest.

Once he was out of sight he pulled his sword and called on the power of Grayskull to help him heal and then he and Battle Cat headed back to the palace. He was going to be late for dinner at court and Teela and his father were probably going to be furious.

As soon as they were back on the palace grounds he returned the power and then hurried to his room to shower and dress for dinner. He had just left his room when a servant approached him.

"Your highness," he said, "Lady Teela will meet you in the dining hall; she will be running a little late this evening."

"Thank you Durnic," Adam smiled at the servant. As soon as Durnic was gone Adam smiled broadly. Teela was running late so that meant that she probably wouldn't realize that he was, too. Hurrying towards the dining hall Adam peeked inside to see if Teela was there yet and, seeing that she wasn't, Adam grinned and moved over to a large flower arrangement just outside the doors. He plucked a long-stemmed dark red Eternian rose from the arrangement and waited for Teela to arrive.

Teela entered the foyer of the dining hall and was surprised to see Adam casually leaning against a pillar waiting for her. She returned the smile he sent her way and blushed when he held out a dark red Eternian rose for her and bowed to her.

"For you my Lady," he said.

"Thank you," she replied. "You didn't have to wait for me."

Adam shrugged casually. "I wanted to. Is everything all right? It's not like you to be late."

Teela blushed slightly and nodded. "I had an appointment with healer Darius that ran a bit later than anticipated."

Adam immediately looked at her in concern. "Are you okay?"

Teela smiled slightly and blushed again as she nodded. "Yes; he wanted to see me before the wedding to do a thorough checkup and to have healer Senedra have a talk with me… you know, about what's supposed to happen after the wedding?"

Adam blinked and then turned a little pink himself. "Oh… how did that go?"

Teela raised an eyebrow archly and then rolled her eyes. "How do you think?"

Adam chuckled softly and nodded slowly as he held her chair for her in the dining hall. As soon as they were both seated, his father looked over at them and then leaned over towards him.

"What kept you?" he asked quietly.

"Teela had an appointment with healers Darius and Senedra that ran longer than they expected it to," he told him softly. "Don't worry; it was just a routine checkup before the wedding."

His father nodded and smiled at him before leaning over to talk quietly to his mother, no doubt filling her in.

When dinner was finished and everyone had been excused for the evening, Adam escorted Teela back out to the gardens and they sat on their favorite bench near the fountain.

"All of my things were moved into our new suite this afternoon," Teela told him. "I've been staying in the suite my cousins are sharing while they're here, so I had the few things I wanted before the wedding sent there earlier today."

Adam nodded. "My things were moved today as well," he told her. "I'll still be in my room until after the wedding, though. I don't know about you, but I'm really nervous about all of this; our lives are about to change in a major way."

"Yeah," Teela murmured. "I am pretty nervous, too."

They were quiet for a moment before Teela looked intently at him.

"Where did you go this afternoon when the alarm sounded?" she asked.

Adam swallowed. "I, uh, went to see what I could do to help."

Teela frowned slightly. "Ram-Man and Roboto said that you weren't at the battle at Castle Grayskull."

Adam shifted slightly and looked at the ground. "I didn't say I was."

Teela sighed. "Where do you go when you run off like that?"

Adam kept his head down but looked up at her with pleading eyes. "I wish I could tell you, I really do, but I gave my word not to tell anyone."

Teela bit her bottom lip and resisted the urge to scream in frustration. She took several deep breaths and then nodded in resignation. "Will you ever tell me?"

"I hope someday I'll be allowed to," he replied. "I hate keeping this from you."

Teela's eyes widened and she realized that he was telling her the truth. That would have to be enough for now. "Okay," she said as she looked towards the fountain.

Adam really wanted to kiss her, but he didn't want to push her and mess up any chance he had of making her fall in love with him. Shifting slightly, he took her hand in his and smiled at her. "How many children do you want to have?" he asked suddenly.

Teela's head jerked to face him. "What?"

"Surely you know we have to provide at least one heir to the throne," Adam said, searching her face for clues as to what she was thinking. "I hate being an only child, so I've always wanted at least three of my own. How many children do you want to have?"

Teela blushed and then shrugged. "I really don't know," she said. "I had never even really thought about getting married, much less ever having children. I was always so focused on my career that those things just never really appealed to me."

Adam nodded and looked down at the ground. "You haven't thought about it at all over the last month?" he asked softly.

"I've thought about our getting married and I knew it would be expected that we provide an heir to the throne, but I haven't really thought much beyond that. I'm open to having more than one child and maybe even three, but I think it will depend on how I like being a mother after we have one before I can really make a decision."

"I think that's fair," Adam nodded and then he smiled at her. "I really want you to be happy."

Teela smiled shyly. "Thanks."

"There you are Teela," a girl's voice said from not far away.

Teela looked over and smiled at her cousin. "Did you need something Laraina?" she asked.

"Tierna and I have a surprise for you, but it can wait if you're busy," Laraina said with a big smile. "I'm sorry to interrupt Prince Adam," she said with a small curtsey.

Adam smiled at her and inclined his head. "It's quite all right," he assured her. He looked at Teela and stood, taking her hand and kissing it lightly as he bowed slightly to her. "My Lady, I will go and leave you in the capable hands of your cousins."

Teela laughed at him. "Adam! I'll see you tomorrow," she said.

Adam winked at Laraina as he walked away and left the cousins alone and made his way to his bedchamber.

Laraina took Teela's hand and led her back into the palace and to the suite that her cousins were sharing. It was decorated with flowers and ribbons and there was a cake and several bottles of wine sitting on one of the tables that had been set up in the sitting room. The other table was covered with gifts and there were several young women, some of whom were young courtiers that had become friends of Teela's in recent weeks and others were members of the royal guard, sitting on the sofas or in chairs around the room.

"What is this?" Teela asked in surprise.

"It's a party to celebrate the bride," Tierna said happily and led her to the center chair.

As soon as Teela was seated Laraina and Tierna began by handing out cake and glasses of wine to everyone. The young women all talked about the upcoming wedding and, more importantly, the wedding night. There was a lot of blushing and giggling as they discussed what they expected the wedding night to be like for Teela.

"I bet he's had lots of practice so you don't have anything to worry about," Lady Madesyn finally said with a smile.

Teela shook her head. "No actually, Adam says that he's never… um, he hasn't ever been with anyone in that way either," she said, blushing furiously.

All the girls' eyes widened at this news. "Really; oh, wow, that's so… sweet," Lady Madesyn replied. "I'm actually really surprised, though. He always seems like such a flirt."

Teela shrugged and Tierna announced that it was time for some games. Since she wasn't really a fan of most games Teela thought that it was going to be terrible, but the games her cousins had come up with were actually kind of fun and a few of them were more than a little embarrassing.

As soon as the winner of the last game was announced Tierna told Teela to sit back down and started handing her gifts to open.

By this time more than a few of the young women were becoming intoxicated and the giggling was growing louder and the comments more lewd as each gift was opened.

Teela herself had had more than she was accustomed to drinking and she was flushed from both the wine and embarrassment as she opened another package and pulled out a see-through wisp of fabric that wouldn't leave anything to the imagination.

"Oh, I bet Prince Adam will love to see you in that," Laraina grinned.

"I bet he'll love to see her out of it more," laughed Tierna. "Although, you could probably wear it while you two…" she trailed off and giggled. "It doesn't have a bottom and the top looks like it would open rather easily."

Teela blinked and blushed before placing the garment back into the box it came from and she hesitated before opening the last one. As she lifted the lid and pulled out the dark green silk negligee with matching robe, she smiled brightly. This had been sent from her cousin Zaina, who wasn't able to attend the wedding since she was expecting a baby any day now, but Teela knew immediately that this was the outfit she would wear on her wedding night. It was alluring without being as revealing as some of the other items she'd received.

The party continued for several more hours and finally Laraina and Tierna began to shoo the other women out the door. Several needed guardsmen to escort them back to their rooms, since they were too intoxicated to walk on their own power.

Teela hugged her cousins and they all giggled as they staggered back to their sleeping chamber to go to bed, each of them walking unsteadily and frequently bumping into one another and the walls. They all three climbed into the over-sized bed in the room and lay there talking and giggling for a while longer before they finally began to doze off.

Teela was the last one to fall asleep. In less than forty-eight hours she would be Princess Teela and married to the heir to the throne. Her stomach jumped slightly at the thought and she placed her hand over it and took a few deep breaths.

Adam's earlier question came back to her and she lowered her hand, placing it over her womb. How many children did she want? She had never pictured herself being a mother. Not having had a mother of her own while growing up, she didn't think that she would make a very good one. True she had Queen Marlena to look to as an example~ and a fine example she was~ but Teela still worried. She also wondered how soon they would be expected to produce an heir to the throne. From what she understood, most couples only had sexual relations on their wedding night and when they were trying to produce a child. Did that mean they couldn't be together in that way unless they wanted a baby right away?

Sighing, Teela decided she'd worry about it later. Her mind was too fuzzy to think about anything serious anymore tonight.

Turning on her side, she closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep.

Several hours later, she startled awake and found herself being grabbed by a rough, hairy hand.

"Don't make a sound or the girls next to you will die," a rough voice said as she was hauled from the bed.

Teela could make out the forms of Beastman, Triclops and Evil-Lyn in the darkness and she nodded to let them know she understood.

Giving Teela a leering grin, Beastman pulled her towards the window as Evil-Lyn placed a note on the pillow where Teela had been lying. A moment later they were all being carried off by griffons with Beastman holding Teela tightly to him as they headed towards Snake Mountain.