Sarah stood in front of the mirror in their bathroom. It had been one month since the fire incident and the house was rebuilt. Sarah had gained a little weight, it was only subtle but she had noticed. She wasn't sure but she was afraid of what it might mean. Sodo had left to visit a business partner in the village about his jewelry shop and he left Sarah to roam the mountains. Sarah climbed the path towards Gregori's house. It had been months since they'd seen each other and years since she's known him but he still scared her. She arrived in the clearing and hesitated on his porch. She knocked softly and the door swung open quickly.

"Yes?" Gregori asked, his voice held no emotion but his silver eyes pierced through her soul.

"Um… I hate to bother you but I was wondering, umm, before I get his hopes up I was just, I um…"

"Pardon?" Gregori asked, the corners of his lips twitched but other than that he showed nothing.

"Will you scan, I'm so afraid ill be too hopeful and mess up or misread or, I don't know. Will you tell me if I'm pr-"

"You are."

"What?"

"You are pregnant. Nestled in there is a child. You are pregnant. You are two months along. Would you like to know the gender?"

"Um…can you tell that?"

"Ha ha ha, yes. I am the great Gregori after all."

"Shove off." Savannah said from behind him. "Congrats on the child. Took me forever."

"Is it healthy?" Sarah asked quietly.

"Yes, very healthy." Gregori said with a smile.

"Thank you, I must be going. Sodo will be home soon." Sarah shouted as she sprinted through their yard and into the forest towards her own home. She arrived shortly before Sodo did and was eagerly awaiting his arrival. He strode through the door with a large box and Sarah watched, curious as he struggled to set it down gently.

"What's that?" Sarah asked as she hovered around Sodo. Sodo turned to her and smiled brightly.

"I thought you might be needing this." Sodo said and pulled out baby toys.

"You knew!?" Sarah accused.

"Since day one. You really should scan your body more often."

"Well, that's kinda your job. Hey! That was why Gregori knew! You jerk! You told HIM before you told me?!"

"Yes." Sodo said with a bright smile.

"That's unfair!" Sarah whined.

"I know, well so are you." Sodo protested with a chuckle. Sarah blushed and turned away.

"I can not believe it. How did I not know?"

"You are not that observant."

"Thanks."

"You are welcome." Sodo chuckled. He started to categorize the toys by stuffed animals and play things. Sarah sat in wonder as she watched him move things upstairs to a spare bedroom. "This shall be the nursery. It is right next to ours and ready to be painted."

"Did you wait till I noticed before you brought all this stuff home?"

"That is a possibility."

"Sodo, its not fair. You always know everything. I can't keep up. You keep teaching me new things but I keep forgetting the old things." Sarah sighed. She slumped onto the bed and put her head in her hands. She was not sure she could keep this up. They had agreed to work on it but a crash course in being a good Carpathian female was harder than she thought.

"Cara, why do you worry so. I told you to take your time with your lessons. Do not push yourself. For the sake of your child." Sodo said, exasperated. This is the third time she had to be told to slow it down this week, and it was only Monday night.

"I know, I just can not look stupid in front of everybody. I need to learn all there is to know."

"You have forever to learn."

"I know, I know. You tell me that all the time, but you all are centuries ahead of me. I feel like I need to catch up to you all."

"You do not need to catch up to anybody. How many times must I tell you. If you do not slow down your lessons, I will halt them altogether."

"You cant!" Sarah shouted looking up. "I need those so I can be proper for you. I need this."

"You do not. I told you I would teach you all you have to know."

"But Gregori is the best healer, even you can not deny that. He is teaching me about herbs and things to help you. Syndil is helping me learn to look for the best erth patches. Raven is teaching me names, ranks, and etiquette. Savannah is teaching me small illusions for emergencies. And Mikhail is teaching me defense with his brother."

"Picola, I am tired out just hearing what you are learning and from whom. Slow it down, for the baby, and me."

"I am fine." Sarah protested. She tried to stand but staggered and pulled away from Sodo when he tried to help. She shot from the house and ran down the path to Savannah and Gregori's home. Savannah answered the door with a smile and waved the worried Gregori away.

"What is it?" Svannah asked after setting Sarah down.

"I am here for a lesson, if you are up to it." Sarah said firmly. Savannah shot Gregori a look and turned back to Sarah.

"If you are too weary the illusions will not work. You need rest."

"I do not. Do not let Sodo diverge you from teaching me what I need to know, please." Sarah begged. Savannah looked down at the pleading woman and gave in. Sarah wanted to be able to protect her Lifemate and had no direction. Savannah knew that if she did not help, then Sarah would forever be unhappy with herself.

"This is a tricky one, especially if you are tired." Savannah warned.

'Im ready." Sarah said and stood. She watched Savannah make a msall complicated pattern and Sarah tried to repeat it bt in her haste and weariness, she missed a move and that send Savannah flying. Gregori was able to stop Savannah from hitting the wall but Sarah fell backwards and hit her head on the end table. Gregori raced to her as the odor of blood filled his nose. He healed her quickly but had to do a scan on her occipital lobe for damage.

"Sun scorch you Sarah. We told you that you were too tired." Gregori cursed. As he woke Sarah.

"I am fine, that's a doozey." Sarah said and tried to do the pattern again only to bw stopped by Gregori. "I hereby suspend all lessons until after the birth of your child. Any who continue to give their lessons will answer to me or Mikhail." Gregori hissed.

"But, but, I need them. Ill never be-" Sarah whimpered.

"Enough" Sarah spun to the door to see Sodo standing. His face was expressionless but his eyes held a rage that she did not think he could contain. Even his voice held anger. He was furious at her for doing what he himself had told her not to. "Thank you healer. You once again, saved her from herself. I will take her from here. We are leaving now Sarah." Sodo said. Sarah knew she had gone too far and meekly went to his side. Savannah moved to speak up for Sarah but even Gregori could see the anger Sodo was holding onto was deep and dangerous. He grabbed Savannah's arm and held her back as Sodo drug Sarah to the sky. Sarah was silent as she watched Sodo's face stay as expressionless as a statue's. He too was silent, and that scared Sarah even more, usually he would have had a lecture rolling right now. Sarah was silent was they passed over their home and kept going up into the mountains. She watched as they came to a small cabin so high in the mountains that she was unsure if they were still in Romania.

"Here we will stay until the birth of the child. You will receive no lessons again, even after the birth. You will stay in the house and you will not go out alone." Sodo commanded. "I must go hunting so I may feed you." Sodo said as he left Sarah alone. Sarah roamed the five room cabin. There was an eat-in kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room, and an office. There were no books and there was no electricity. Sarah sat, listlessly oon the couch and waited. As the night drug on she went to ground in the secret chamber beneath the living room floor. She laid on the soft earth and covered her body except her arms and head for warmth, for some reason she could not regulate her temperature. She went to sleep and her last thought was how could he have taken away everything she needed and wanted, and had. Sodo arrived and hour later to find her there. He went to move her but something told him she would be happier if he left her alone. Instead he curled up next to her and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. He went to sleep as well, unsure of how Sarah would act next rising.

Sodo woker first, unsure of wether to wake Sarah or not but in the end he did not have to. She woke up and left the chamber without saying a word. She waved her hand and her clothes disappeared and she laid on thee couch and stared at the ceiling. Sodo followed and when he saw her his hips jerked. He could feel his cock swell and he knew he had to touch her. He moved forward to touch her and she quickly got up and walked away. Sodo knew he had pissed her off. This was her punishment for him. He could only look, not touch what he so desperately needed. This would not last long though, would it? Sodo retreated to his office and poured over papers and books. Sarah remained sitting at the kitchen table for hours, she never once moved, except to blink.

"You must feed picola." Sodo said as he approached her at three in the morning. He held out his hand to help her up so he could help her feed but she just bit into his wrist, uncaring and unfeeling. She drank the blood and swiped her tongue over the pinpricks to close them up and she returned to her previous position, staring out the window. She stayed there until time to go to ground at which point she put herself to sleep. Sodo laid awake pondering for an hour or so.

"You seriously need to cheer her up." Finally a voice of reason, Sod though. It was toboe, and he of all people would understand and agree with Sodo's actions. "You are wrong little brother. You hurt her. You took away all she wanted to do and stuck her in a house with nothing to occupy her mind. She loves to read yet there are no books. She loves movies yet there is no television. She loves music yet no stereo. You need to also provide for her happiness as well as her safety." Toboe said matter of factly.

"You are supposed to support family brother." Sodo groused.

"Ah but I am. The moment you chose her, she became family." Toboe chuckled. Sodo cut off connection and walked toward Sarah who did not even acknowledge his presence.

"Sarah dear, I have some things for you. I know you must be bored." Sodo said calmly and produced a stack of books that he knew she enjoyed. Sarah did not even look at them. She comtinued to stare out the window. "How about a movie?" Sodo asked as he set down a portable dvd player with dvd's. Sarah stood and walked into the living room where she curled up on the couch and curled up for a nap. "Sarah, what is it going to take to make you happy again? I can not let you put yourself in danger again. How about this, when you have the child I will let you start lessons again, but only when I say its safe and that you are not pushing yourself too hard." He sighed heavily and turned to leave. He needed to hunt so he could feed her. He slammed the door angrily behind him, childishly hoping it would wake Sarah. As soon as he left Sarah rose. She ripped all the pages out of the books in a flourish and snapped all the dvd's in half. She even stomped on the dvd player. She was not going to play his game. And now that he was angry enough not to check in on her, she had a small window in which to leave. She changed quickly into jeans and a tight shirt and burst from the house. She sent out a call for aid from Mikhail, Gregori, Toboe, and Jaques. One of them would surely free her from the man she was tied to. She loved him but could not be with him if he was going to lock her away from the world.

"I wish I could step in little sister, you know I would but this is something only Mikhail can order." Toboe said sadly. He knew she was suffering at the hands of his brother but it was for her safety and he had no right to step in. Mikhail will have to make the decision to remove her from her situation, no matter how much he knew he should. Guilt raced through him as he pictured her once happy face and the new fallen one.

"Do not worry, I understand. You are not responsible." Sarah said as she felt the guilt that was tearing at Toboe. She cut of the connection and pleaded that Mikhail or Gregori or even Jacques would help her.

"What is wrong little one?" It was Gregori, his voice pure and soft.

"Its Sodo. He is out hunting. He has locked me away from the world. I do not know where I am but I need someone to come get me."

"Has he hurt you?"

"No, but, I have to get out of here. He has forgotten my happiness. I need out. If you do not come for me then I will go find my way home by myself. With the training I have from you, savannah, syndil, and Jacques, I can manage. Never mind then. Ill do it myself. I do not want to get any of you in trouble. I just can not stand to be here anymore." Sarah said with anger filling her heart. She was angry that her so called Lifemate, after so long of happiness, had shown her men are still just dominating and commanding. She was done. She loved him more than the very air she breathed but it was not healthy for either of them if she stayed. He had to change or she did, and neither one was giving in. Sarah realized that to save her and the child she bore, she would have to leave. Fury ran through her veins as she tracked and searched for a sign of where she was. She found very little but she knew that each step she took was a step farther from Sodo and closer to freedom.