A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting! I've had some trouble with my account, but I'm prety sure I have it figured out. Sorry, for Kishan's explantion last chapter, again, and thanks to TigerWarrior09 for being nice and reviewing every chapter, and bringing the idea that a bit could be offensive to my attention! If you are offended, imagine me on my knees on front of you begging for forgiveness! :) Thnks for reading!
"Of course," Kishan says, shaking his head. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because I am a genius beyond all compare," I say wryly.
Ren gives a short bark of laughter. "Whatever you say, Kelsey."
"I was kidding."
"I know. So was I," Ren counters.
"Anyway," Kishan interrupts. "You are right, Kells. When do you guys want to go?"
"Well, it depends on if we can bring Anik or not. I could carry him in a Baby Bjorn, but the days of hiking might be difficult for him, and then I would have to have enough food to feed him, and we would have to carry diapers," I list.
Kishan stops me. "Why don't you just leave Anik with Nilima?"
I stare at him incredulously. "Would you have left your first child with someone for days when you haven't left them with anyone other than your parents for more than a few hours?" I say sharply.
"Well, my kids were only non-adults for more than two weeks," he says, "so I wouldn't-"
"What?" I interrupt. "Your kids were never babies?"
"That's not what I said. Up in the 'divine' realm, kids are born as babies, then mature, bodily, about ten times faster than normal children, because the mothers have to go right back to being goddesses, not staying at home with a baby. Mentally, though, the kids are fully functioning at about a week and a half," he explains.
I stare, mouth gaping. "So Anik would be like he was eighty months old, which would be about six years and eight months old," I calculate. "That's-that's-that's awful."
"Why?" Kishan asks me. "I never had to worry about kids getting into thing that they shouldn't, or worry about babysitters. We only had to deal with diapers for about a day and a half. Mika and I had the easiest parenting job ever."
"But you never got the moment of their first word, or first crawl, or the normal sequence of milestones. You never got to take your kid to their first day of school and have them cling to you like the vampire monkey things in Kishkindha," I debate.
"And you didn't get to see your wife look like the Madonna while she was holding your first child, who was the size of your shoe," Ren adds.
"Right," I scoff. "The Madonna."
Kishan glares at us. "You might be right. And when our first child born, I did miss those things. But I learned to love the good and overlook the bad. It is a lesson every mortal who became immortal has to learn," Kishan says wisely.
"Okay. So are we leaving Anik here?" I ask sadly.
"No!" Kishan shouts.
"Okay," I say startled at the certainty in his voice. "Why not?"
"Because. I remembered something that Mika said one time. It was 'Kelsey would do well to take her son to my servant,' or something like that," he explains.
"Well that takes care of that, then. When do you want to leave?" I ask.
"As soon as possible," Kishan answers promptly. "At the latest, in the next week."
I exhale. "Well, why don't we just get the rest of this quest done before I have the baby?"
"Because, Kells, you will be hormonal, and you will be more likely to get hurt, because you won't be thinking clearly, and then the baby might get hurt," Ren explains exasperatedly.
I roll my eyes, but I know he has a point. "Fine. Do you want to go to Phet's day after tomorrow?" I suggest.
"That's fine," Kishan says, rolling his shoulders. "Ren?"
"Fine with me," Ren says shortly, and he stalks out of the room.
As he leaves, I stare at the door. "What was that about?" I ask Kishan.
"He's mad because he thinks we just left him out of everything, and he thinks that I only married Ana because she was there and not you, and that I am going to try to get you to leave him and marry me," Kishan explains.
"Jealous idiot," I remark. "I'll go talk to him."
I find Ren in the gym, smashing boards with his head, hands, feet, arms, and legs. I watch him for about three minutes before I walk out onto the floor.
"Ren."
He looks up, frowns, and then he smashes another board. Ren wipes the sweat off his face with the hem of his shirt, and walks over to me. He kisses my cheek, and then waits.
"What?"
"What's wrong?" I ask softly.
"What's wrong? You really need to ask? Maybe you don't know me as well as I thought," he remarks wryly.
"I thought it might be something about feeling left out but that is too immature for you, and then I thought that it might be that you don't want me to want to do this next quest, but then I thought that you know well enough that you don't get to make choices for me," I indirectly chastise.
"Kelsey," Ren says angrily. "You are pregnant. Do you really think that going to fight who knows what while carrying a child is a good idea?" he vents. I wait for him to get it out of his system. "You really want to help the woman who took my brother and your fiancée, took my memories, you nearly got both your legs bitten off for, and all of us were close to death because of some dumb necklace she needed. You want to help her again, and there is no benefit for us," he says, and he smashes his fist into the wall. Luckily, he doesn't have his tiger strength anymore, so the wall doesn't completely disintegrate, but he does make a nice-sized hole.
I take his hand and brush he plaster off his knuckles, and then kiss the scrapes. "Are you still mad?"
"A little," Ren says. I look into his normally sapphire-blue eyes, but they are now colored like storm clouds.
"Ren, I don't want to help her because I'm hoping that she will do something for us. I want to help her because she needs help. As for everything that you accused her of, I know. I know because nearly every morning I wake up and think hat there are only eight people that I can call family, and there would have been nine if it weren't for her. I think every morning that my heart wouldn't have so many stitches if it weren't for her.
"But I also think that I never would have met you. I think that the man I love most in the world would have died three hundred years before I was born. I realize that I never would have found the father I had in Mr. Kadam, or the sister in Nilima. I never would have found the love I have in you.
"I probably would have had a good life. I most likely would have found someone like Li, and lived in the suburbs and gone on vacations with our two or three kids, and they would have been good kids that played soccer and did some form of martial arts.
"But, because of Durga, I found you. I have a great life. I live in Oregon with my gorgeous husband, and my newborn son. My husband also has a mansion in India, and I am pregnant again.
"Ren, I don't think you realize how utterly different our lives would be with out Durga. Even ignoring the fact that you would be dead, your life would be different. The amulets are so tied into your family's history that you might never have been born if Durga hadn't been created. You wouldn't have been betrothed to Yesubai, because Lokesh would have been dead before Yesubai's mother had been born."
Ren starts to say something, but I stop him. "I'm almost done.
"So I'm not mad at her as often as I am grateful. Because with out her, I would be a completely different person with a completely different life." I smile, and motion that Ren can say something. "I'm done."
Ren smiles his crooked smile and cups my cheek. "That was quite a speech, rajkumari." I smile shyly and lean my head into his palm. "And you are right. I shouldn't be mad, but I still am slightly irritated. She should have realized that she need this Book before we had kids."
"Hey," I say. "She's giving up her husband for however long he's going to be here. It's not all peaches and cream for her, either."
"I know," Ren sighs resignedly. "And you still haven't made me that peach pie with whipped cream," he reminds me.
"Alright," I laugh. "I'll go make you one right now, and we can give Anik his first taste of fruit."
"I like that idea," Ren says with a laugh.
We walk back out to the kitchen, and Kishan is playing with Nik.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologize, rushing over to take him from Kishan. "I didn't realize that he would wake up so soon."
"No, it's okay," Kishan says as he hands Anik back to me, but he looks wistful, like he doesn't want to let my son go.
"You can keep him if you want," I say, and give him back. "I thought you might want to go do something else. I'm going to make Ren a pie I promised him, gosh, four years ago at WOU," I explain. "Do you want me to make you one, too?"
"What kind?" he asks.
"I'm making Ren a peach pie with whipped cream, but I can make you what ever you want."
"Can you make cherry pies?" Kishan asks giddily.
"Sure. Do you want whipped cream or cream cheese or something like that on top or bottom?" I ask him.
"No thanks. Just some cherry compote," Kishan says with a grin. "There isn't a decent cherry pie on Mount Kailash. It's awful. No one there can cook, because we keep the Golden Fruit in the middle of our house so we can just think food, but even the Fruit can't make very good pie."
"Really?" I say doubtfully. "The Fruit's food was always delicious down here."
"Mika said that the quality of the food diminishes because it is a magic thing in a magic setting instead of a magic thing in an ordinary setting," he says. "I don't understand it completely yet, because those things take years to comprehend if you are just a god or goddesses 'assistant' then things aren't as clear," he explains. "A full-fledged god or goddess understands everything as soon as they become a deity."
"Lovely," I mutter. "I don't suppose that you brought all the gifts with you, huh?"
"Nope," Kishan grins. "But I did end up with a wonderful cook where I am staying."
Ren comes behind me and slides his hands around my waist. I yelp, and Kishan laughs. "Ren, I don't love her anymore. You don't have to be jealous and act possessive."
Ren glares at him. "I know. She did marry me, you know."
"Yes, I realize that. She came in here to make you a pie. Why are you worried?"
Ren stiffens, but I wiggle out of his arms. "Let me go, Ren." He releases me, and I go into the kitchen and start to get the ingredients out for peach pie. I set two cans of peaches on the counter with a bag of sugar, and then I have to go to the bathroom.
I speed walk across the living room where Ren and Kishan are playing with Nik. Ren looks up at me with questioning eyes.
"Bathroom," I say shortly. He nods, and I continue into the restroom and lock the door. As I bend over to lift the lid of the toilet, I see the blood seeping down the legs of my jeans.
I lightly touch it, and my fingers come away scarlet. I feel a tug downward, and my head starts to spin. The last thing I do before I black out is scream my husband's name.