A/N: Apologies many times over! School caught up to me and I haven't had time to write, hence the short chapter again...but school is almost done, and I'll have more time to write then... maybe :) And PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEAAAAAASEEEEEE review! I know that you guys in the Philippines and India and Slovakia and all those other super cool countries are reading... and the happier I am the faster I write :). R&R the baby chapter :)

The next few days are spent in making plans for our upcoming trek through the jungle. Kishan has made abundantly clear that Nik must be brought along, so that has been a source of tension between Ren and Kishan, and me a little bit, too. Ren thinks that it would be a foolish risk to take, and I don't really want to subject a now ten month old to a fairy-tale that was hard for me to handle when I was eighteen.

The day Kishan had brought that fine point back up was interesting…

~TR~

"Absolutely not!" Ren had said in a sort-of whisper, as we were all standing outside of sleeping Nik's door. "He is not coming with us! If I don't want my adult wife to go, why would I allow my ten month old son to go?"

Kishan's face hardened and I could tell that he wasn't happy with the way things were turning out. "Ren, I've told you. Nothing will happen to any of us on this leg of the journey. I can't guarantee the real quest, but we don't have to bring Nik on that, I don't think," he said uncertainly.

"Exactly. You think," Ren said disgustedly. "You have no idea what you are doing!"

I had originally decided to stay out of this one, but Ren and Kishan were getting into it, so I had to step in.

"Boys!" I hissed, knowing that neglecting to call them men would irritate them. "First of all, if you are going to argue, do it somewhere else, second of all, don't argue. Ren, the only bad thing that ever happened when we went to see Phet is when I hit my head on the rocks, which was my own fault. We are going, and I'd rather have Nik with us than leave him with virtual strangers. At least we will be able to keep an eye on him. And I bet that Phet would like to see him as well. At this point, Dhiren," I said, pausing to take a breath, "I really don't care about your opinion."

Ren's eyes changed from blue to gray as he tried to reign in his temper. Over the years, I haven't been on the receiving end of his temper too much, other than when we were on the quests, because Ren hates it when he gets mad at me. The few times it has happened since we got married, the next few days were heaven. He pampered me, and didn't let me do anything for myself, which was kind of nice, and he knew exactly when to stop before it became annoying. Maybe I should let him get mad at me…

The change in Ren's demeanor broke me out of my reverie. He slumped in defeat, but straightened and walked away. I looked after him fondly, and then looked at Kishan.

"This whole…ordeal…has been harder on him than I think any of us realize," I had apologized.

Kishan smiled weakly. "I know," he said sadly. "Before I stayed with Mika, I always wanted to take your pain away. Now I know that had I done that, comforted you as thoroughly as I wanted to, things would be so much different. It is so weird, knowing everything that was and would have been, had certain things been set into motion. For example, if I had told you about the baby I saw in the Grove of Dreams, you would have chosen me, and been much more comfortable with the choice. I'm just glad that that didn't happen," he'd smiled.

I ran my fingers over my necklace with Kishan's ruby on it. He noticed, and held my hand to his lips to kiss my fingers.

"I love you, bilauta. Like a sister."

"I love you, too, Kishan. Just don't tell Ren I said that. He would never forgive you," I said with a forced smile.

He laughed, and that was the end of the conversation. For now.