I am sorry that it took a while to update this story. Like I've explained to others, my muse has been all over the place, so I follow wherever it goes. Regardless, this is where it is now, so I hope you enjoy the update. I will try my best never to have this long of a hiatus again.

Against Nature Chapter 35

King Randor awoke the next morning to find his arms wrapped tightly around his wife. Her head was resting on the center of his chest and her red locks were spread out in all directions covering him like a living blanket. He smiled softly as he remembered last night: they hadn't been able to keep their hands off of one another. Every look, every stroke, and every movement was made in the attempt to tell the other how much they loved one another.

It was funny that this all came about because of his brother. Of course, that wasn't to say that he was grateful for Stefen's actions. Far from it, actually. He was just glad that he was able to find a bright side to the absolute horrid behavior of his younger sibling…

But, he refused to dwell on those occurrences today. Continuing with his realizations from the day before—that his family could indeed be taken away from him at any time by any unsuspected thing—he decided once again to show his loved ones exactly what they meant to him. Marlena and he had spent some quality time together and now it was time for Adam and him.

He took a deep breath to calm his thoughts and smiled when he realized his action woke his wife. Marlena turned her head slowly and kissed the skin beneath her. She then stretched before turning her head upwards to stare at her husband. "Hmm, good morning," she said with a bright smile.

"Good morning," he echoed.

The queen immediately sat up and turned towards her husband. She looked over at the chronometer and arched her eyebrow. "Aren't we getting started a little later than usual?" she asked, slightly surprised.

He shrugged and said, "Last night I decided I didn't want to rush into our daily routine after everything that happened, so I turned off the alarm. I decided that today we should take things easy for as long as we can. What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea," she replied as she leaned forward and met his lips with a soft chaste kiss. When she pulled back, she giggled and said, "Of course, it's probably going to worry everyone. I have no doubt Micah is probably panicking right outside our door since we haven't met with him yet to get our itinerary."

Randor raised his head upward to look at the ceiling and shook his head. "You're quite right, my dear," he said after a deep sigh. "Sometimes I forget even the simplest decisions like sleeping in affects numerous people."

Marlena laughed a little as she got out of bed and walked over to her closet. "Well, we'll rectify that soon enough. What do you have on the agenda for today since you want to take it easy?"

Randor bit his lip lightly before he shared his idea. "I was thinking I could spend the day with Adam. He and I haven't had a lot of one-on-one time recently and I'm starting to think that maybe that's something I should rectify." He stared intently at his queen to gauge her reaction. Her smile told him she approved, so he continued to explain. "Recently, Adam's been afloat with his actions and his emotions. I'm starting to wonder if I had been a little more involved, maybe things wouldn't have gotten so far off track. After all, Adam was clearly looking for some kind of camaraderie from his uncle that he wasn't finding elsewhere. I'd rather be the one that provides whatever he's looking for."

Marlena slipped back onto the bed after getting her standard green dress and grabbed her husband's hand to squeeze it tightly. He responded by sitting up and bringing her knuckles to his lips for a soft kiss. "What do you think?" he asked softly.

She nodded and responded, "I think I like the idea a lot. Adam has told me himself that he wanted to experience the things you did when he went out with Stefen. I think Adam would appreciate it more and he'd be a lot safer if he got to spend some time with his father and talk of the past instead of hearing about it from others."

Randor immediately slipped out of bed and announced, "Those were my thoughts, too. The only question is where I should take him and what we should do."

"Any ideas?" The queen was genuinely curious.

"I don't know, really. I was debating on a couple of ideas, but then I thought maybe I should do all of them." He walked to his wardrobe and instead of picking out his standard red and blue robes, he reached in the back and pulled out a red tunic and a khaki-colored pair of pants. "I was thinking Adam and I could go fishing at some point. I know he enjoys doing that."

She gave a short nod to show her agreement. "That's a good idea. What else?"

King Randor looked down at the floor and blushed a little. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks. "I was also thinking he and I could go to the local pub. Clearly, Adam wants to experience new things and I was thinking I should show him the legal and proper way to do the things that young men his age find appealing. Of course, it probably won't be as exciting as Madelia now that Stefen has introduced him to the shadier side of Eternia, but…"

Before he could get any more out, Queen Marlena exclaimed, "Are you kidding? Adam's going to love it! He's actually going to get the King of Eternia off the throne and into a bar! He's going to think that's a pretty big deal, so he's going to be thrilled!"

"You think so?" he asked with a hesitant smile as he sat his articles of clothing on the bed, as well.

She nodded. "Of course, that might be a little hypocritical. You drink alcohol in bars and we've punished him for doing that very thing recently. And, now, here's his father encouraging it."

Randor smirked and countered, "There is such a thing as non-alcoholic drinks, Marlena. Adam is going to know them well by the time this trip is over." He laughed in amusement but then paused to ask, "You don't mind, do you? Here I am leaving my wife and queen alone for the day. Would you rather go with us? I can leave Man-at-Arms in charge and…"

"Don't you dare!" Marlena snapped, placing her hands on her hips. "You've come up with a fantastic idea to reconnect with your son! I'm not intruding, nor am I going to let the kingdom do so! I've got things covered today!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! But that does leave the question of how you're going to prevent the rest of Eternia from intruding. It's not every day the King of Eternia graces the public with his presence."

The king gestured to the clothes that he had set on the bed and answered, "Normal attire today, a cloak on the streets, and no crown. I hope that will suffice. I'm going to have some out-of-uniform guards stationed where we go, as well, just in case. Of course, I do need to tell Adam to dress differently today, as well. It will almost defeat the purpose if everyone recognizes him. They'll certainly start paying attention to me and wondering who I am if they see that we're together."

Without a reply, Marlena walked around the bed to stand in front of her husband and hugged him tightly. "Thank you!" she said enthusiastically.

"Whatever for?" he asked.

She flashed him a thousand-watt smile that looked so much like Adam's when he was truly happy. "For just being you today," she whispered before slipping a hand to his neck and pulling his lips to hers.

=)=)=)

Adam and Jesse walked down the corridor towards the dining room. Adam had taken a little longer than usual to get ready, because he had spent most of his morning thinking about Teela…

He couldn't believe it: they were an item. They hadn't really said so officially, but she told him that she loved him and that she wanted him to stay away from Ashlyn. If that wasn't a declaration that she wanted to be with him, he didn't know what was.

He smiled brightly at the memory. He couldn't believe that out of all the chaos that had happened recently, something good had actually come out of it. Before his mind could contemplate the phenomenon a little more, he heard his bodyguard speak to him.

"So, what has you in such a good mood this morning, Your Highness?" Jesse asked curiously.

Adam noticed at that moment that not only had he been smiling, he had a little bounce in his stride, as well. It had been such a long time since he had felt this good. His smile then turned into a wide grin as he replied, "I'm just happy. Things are finally looking up."

Jesse nodded and remarked, "That's good. Hopefully, this means you'll have a better day than yesterday." He bobbed his head back and forth several times as if he were contemplating something. Then, he whispered, "Who's responsible? Teela or Ashlyn? I can only assume the former since I left you with her last night."

Adam wasn't entirely sure what Jesse was asking. After all, one could take a sexual connotation to his words, so he didn't want to give any kind of affirmative proclamations. So, instead of sharing his joy, he replied, "Teela and I simply talked last night. I'm in a good mood, because things are finally settling down. I'm not confined to my bedchambers, Teela's speaking to me again, and it's a beautiful day. What's there to not be happy about?"

Jesse simply smiled and answered, "Nothing at all, Prince Adam. Nothing at all."

Within moments, Adam and Jesse entered the dining room. The first person Adam's eyes sought for was Teela. As usual, she was seated next to her father, so he only saw the back of her head. He then let his gaze drift to where his parents usually sat. When he saw that the seats were empty, he rushed forward. "Where's my parents, Duncan?" he asked abruptly as he reached the table.

Duncan smiled a little and replied playfully, "And, good morning to you, too, Prince Adam." Without waiting for a reply, he continued seriously, "I sent a guard to ask after your parents not too long ago. They decided to sleep in, but they'll be here shortly."

Adam nodded and walked around the table to sit in his usual seat. Jesse sat next to Teela since Orko floated above the chair beside the prince.

Now that he was no longer concerned about his parents, Adam turned his attention back to the redheaded beauty in front of him. He smiled and said, "Good morning, Teela. How are you?"

Teela's face was suddenly as red as her hair and Adam grinned happily. "I'm good," she replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good, too," Adam said immediately.

"That's good."

That's when Adam noticed that Man-at-Arms was looking back and forth between him and Teela hurriedly. The elder then shook his head and muttered, "You would think they hadn't ever socialized with each other before…Hmm, kids." Then he got a little louder and continued teasingly, "Just because you two are courting now doesn't mean you've suddenly lost your brains. Repeating each other won't get you anywhere, trust me."

Adam laughed when he realized Man-at-Arms was right. They had been repeating each other, but he couldn't help but be a little hesitant and nervous this morning. Surely, her father, of all people could understand why. This was all so new! But before he could say anything in response, though, they heard a voice from the doorway:

"Courting? Who's courting? Jesse and Teela? Or, Adam and Teela?"

Everyone turned to see King Randor and Queen Marlena walk into the room. Adam immediately gasped not only because of his father's question, he was also surprised because his father looked nothing like himself. He was dressed in common clothes with no crown in sight; whereas, his mother looked as she usually did. Something was definitely going on…

"Well?" Randor asked as he reached the head of the table and stared at everyone's faces. Adam felt his face flush deeply and he noticed Teela's had grown even brighter.

=)=)=)

I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me know if you're still interested in this story. I hope the hiatus hasn't turned anyone away from it. Truthfully, I think inspiration for this one has struck again. Hopefully, some of you are still willing to stick with it! Thanks!