A/N: Hello all you lovely people who are reading this, Belated Holiday wishes and Happy New Year! First things first: I am VERY sorry about my updating (of lack there of). I was banned from the internet for two weeks (stupid lack of download space…) then Christmas ::goes to look at all the pretty presents:: and my birthday. YES!! I AM NOW A MIGHTY 15 YEAR OLD!! Not that being 15 stops your parents telling you off when you use up all of the internet space… ::guilty look::
Chappy two is Kel/Dom fluff (I hope) in answer to the "splendiferous" challenge on WLD (We Love Dom) MSN group. Warning! This is my first K/D fic, not sure how this'll go, so please don't kill me! Its set about 6 years after Lady Knight (Kel & Dom have been married for 3 years).
Disclaimer: All I own this time is Neal and Yuki's twins, Jasper and Elena, and the plot, if there is one. Oh, and I also own the fact that Dom is, somehow, still in the Own, even though he's married. ::shrugs::
Anyways, on with the story.
Walks in the Royal Forest – Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle and Sergent Domitan of Masbolle.
Kel sighed as she sat down in the mess, being seven months pregnant had made her somewhat irritable. Right now she just wanted her husband back, not out with the rest of the Own.
Kel shook her head, 'I've been over this before, Dom and I both have our duties to do. Well, I guess what they say about being pregnant messes up your mind is true.' She thought wryly.
She livened up a bit over lunch, but not much. Too busy to notice anything else except her thoughts and her lunch, Kel didn't notice two of her friends sit down until they actually started talking.
"Well how is the Lady Knight today? Still pining over my crazy cousin?"
Kel jumped a bit when Neal's familiar drawl sounded in her ear. She glared at him.
"For your information, Meathead, I am allowed to miss my husband. And you're a fine one to talk when it come to craziness." She retorted back. "Yuki, how do you put up with him?" she asked in Yamani to the woman sitting next to her friend.
"Very easily," she replied, also in Yamani, her eyes crinkling with laughter while she fiddled with her shukusen in her lap. "I either threaten him this," she motioned to the fan she was now twirling as her husband eyed it with visible apprehension. "Or I get him to look after the twins for a long amount of time."
Kel laughed, the two and a half year old twins, Jasper and Elena, were already showing signs of being mischief-makers, something Neal was too, but couldn't take them quite as well as he expected everyone else to take him.
Neal was now sulking as his wife and best friend talked, well, he really sulking over the fact that he couldn't understand what they were talking about. Though, if the glint in Yuki's eyes, along with the fact she was fiddling with her fan was anything to go by, it wasn't good for him.
"Well, if you two are going to be anti-social, I'll just have talk to someone else." He announced dramatically.
Yuki just looked at him with her dark eyes. Sighing, Neal left the two women to their talk.
Looking her husband's retreating back, Yuki laughed at his antics, her Yamani control over her emotions dropping. Beside her, Kel muttered, "I hope for your sake that neither of the twins end up quite as bad as that Meathead."
Yuki turned back to her friend once again and gave her a look, "If they are, I'll just have to keep them inline as well won't I?" she remarked with a small grin.
Kel smiled back at her. Pushing her now shoulder length brown hair back behind her ears, she settled down to finish the rest of her lunch vegetables While she and Yuki talked.
"So, how are you coping with what feels like 30 pounds sitting around your waist?" her Yamani friend asked mischievously.
Kel groaned, "Badly. I can't do anything! It's driving me mad!" Kel sighed. "How did you do it with Jas and Lena at the same time?" she asked her friend.
Eyes crinkling further, Yuki asked, "I thought you could all hear my back ready to break." Kel sighed, it seemed that Neal's sense of humour was rubbing off onto his wife more than ever. Kel's heart ached to have Dom here sitting next to her here, laughing at Neal and, just here with her.
"Wishing that Dom was here?" Yuki asked more seriously, reading the look on Kel's face as she tried, and failed, to keep her face Yamani smooth.
Kel nodded miserably. "I don't think I've ever missed him quite this much, I mean, Mama warned me that I'd probably feel more emotional and such, but didn't realise quite how much. I feel like I need him here with me, now." Kel sighed, poking mulishly at the remains of her lunch. Yuki nodded, understanding what it felt like to be left behind, she had been 5 months pregnant when Neal had was posted to fight on the western coast, against pirates and freebooters. She knew what Kel was going through.
When Kel decided that she had poked at what was left of her food for long enough, she excused herself, telling Yuki she was going for a ride to clear her mind. After dumping her dishes, she headed out towards the stables.
Deciding that she would ride Hoshi rather than Peachblossom, Kel saddled her gentle brown mare, and leading her out in to the yard before mounting.
Once she was settled, Kel rode towards the forest at a slow trot. While she rode she thought about all the time that she and Dom had spent together in their 3 years of marriage. The times that they would team up on Neal for "Meathead torture", the way that Dom could make her so relaxed, the way that he had melted most of her Yamani mask away.
Kel stopped in a clearing, it was atop a valley and offered a magnificent view of the forest, which stretched as far as the eye could see. Kel dismounted, groaning slightly from effort of hauling her pregnant frame down Hoshi's back. Patting her horse's neck, she let her drink from the stream before she let her graze nearby.
Sitting down on a convenient log, Kel was, once more, lost in her thoughts. A flutter from her swollen abdomen made her smile as slid her right hand across her belly to feel her child move again. She chuckled quietly, remembering the look of shock and joy on Dom's face when she had told him that she was pregnant.
She and Dom had decided against knowing if it was a boy or a girl Kel was carrying, preferring it to be a surprise.
Kel was somewhat scared, she had carried the nickname of "Mother" in the Scanran war, but, in two months time, she would be a mother for real. 'What if I'm a terrible mother?' She thought worriedly.
So wrapped up in her own thoughts, she didn't notice that another horse was now next to Hoshi.
"You know, I thought that you would know that you shouldn't be straining yourself." Commented Dom's voice from behind her. Kel spun around to see her husband standing there, his dark hair slightly ruffled and his clear blue eyes sparkling in the dappled afternoon light.
"Dom!" Kel exclaimed, "What are you doing here? I didn't think you'd be back for a couple more weeks! Oh, you have no idea how much I've missed you!" Kel blurted out while Dom wrapped his strong arms around her and kissed her soundly.
"Well, I managed to wrangle three months leave, so I can be with you. Personally, I think Raoul, and everyone else, was glad to get rid of me moping around everywhere." He stated with a chuckle. "But I'm here now, and Meathead tells me that you've been moping as much as me, although I'm sure that my squad would say that impossible."
Kel and Dom both sat back down on the log once more as Kel snuggled into Dom's arms more. "Neal would say that. I've been going crazy over the fact I can't do anything as well. I can't even do any pattern dances with my glaive." Kel replied dejecteedly.
Dom nodded, he knew that it must be killing Kel to sit back when she was so used to being busy all the time, but all the same, she needed to. Glancing down at his wife, who was now curled up in his arms. He wondered to himself if she had ever looked so beautiful. The light of the late summer day made her hair shine with a golden tint, her hazel-green eyes taking on their usual dreamycast as her hand slid unconsciously over her swollen abdomen.
"Am I allowed to ask what you were doing out here?" he inquired mildly.
"I was just thinking," she answered quietly, enjoying the feeling of have her husband with her again.
"About what?" Dom persisted.
"About you, the baby." She replied. Then she let loose the torrent of worries that had been plaguing her for the past months. "Dom, what if I'm a bad mother? I don't know if I'm ready for this yet, I'm scared." She said softly, tears gathering in her eyes.
"Kel, you'll be fine, we'll be fine, remember how well you handled the children at Haven?" Dom soothed gently, placing his own hand next hers on her stomach. "See," he said as their child kicked under their intertwined hands, "Our baby is kicking because it's telling you that you're being silly, you'll be a great mother." He said, grinning all the while.
"But-" Kel was cut off by her husband as he shut her up with a kiss.
Kel looked at him sternly, "That wasn't fair, Domitan," she said to the grinning man in front of her.
Dom shrugged, "But it works so well, Protector of the Small," a mischievous light was sneaking into his handsome azure eyes as he smirked annoyingly at Kel.
"And there I was thinking that I'd got you away from calling me that." Kel said with a sigh, "Do realise that you are starting to act like your cousin now?"
"Your comparing me to Meathead? I am not acting like that!" Dom exclaimed, appalled that the thought of being like Neal. "This is like crazy Nealan."
Dom dropped to his knees and stuck a dramatic pose, grovelling at Kel's feet. "You're simply splendiferous, will you give me permission to openly fawn over you?" he stated, sound so much like Neal that it was uncanny.
Kel, who had been struggling to keep a straight face through Dom's impersonation of Neal, now burst out into fits of giggles. Between those giggles, she was able to gasp out, "You know…" Giggles. "The saddest thing…" More giggles. "Is that I could…" Giggling. "I could actually see him doing something like that!"
"I know, that's why he is known as the crazy Meathead," pointed out Dom, "But now, Lady Knight, I suggest that we head back before all the gods-cursed insects in this place decide to feast upon us."
Nodding in agreement, Kel hauled herself up off the log.
After helping Kel into Hoshi's saddle, Dom mounted his own horse. Together, they made their way back to the palace, and their friends.
A/N: Ok… that was bad. Well, a bad ending at least. A bit better than the fist chappy length wise. Thoughts? No, I can't get them by thought-waves; they need to be in reviews. I can't believe that was actually able to work that sentence ("Your splendiferous, will you give me permission to openly fawn over you?") into that. (That was the challenge)
Now if you want more K/D, I suggest some of my fellow WLDians (Pheep, Frosted-Darkfox, Lady of the Lilies) and alannalovingwriter's K/D fics are also good, you don't have to look too far to find a good K/D.
Reviewer Replies: 8! ::hugs reviews and reviews alike::
KatYoukai: You spoil me with your praise. tsk, tskI'll get a swelled head!
And I think I mentioned in A Prince is Born that I find pairings that are "neglected" easier to write, for me. And with the endless list of pairings that are possible? I know, already I've found more that I forgot to list!
Dunai: Yes, there isn't a lot of Aly/Nawat up… yet. grins me and my cousin were arguing over that when we read Trickster's Queen, she didn't like Nawat, I did. pokes tongue out at Sarah and as to keeping in the good romance, depends what you call good, if your "good" is canon pairings, your in luck!
DestinyHunter: thanks! And yes, Duke Gareth is Queen Lianne's brother, it says so in "In the Hand of the Goddess" though I just assumed that his name got shortened to Gary as well, and that he was older.
FanFictionFantom: winces the 24th? That's even worse than mine, at least I have nine days to recover… but some people still insist on joint bday/x-mas gifts to me, I got… counts 8 this year. Very bad. And thanks for reviewing!
Roherwen: thanks! Ah… finding the time to write our precious fanfics… it's so difficult isn't it? And the D/N fic will be one of the next ones, I think.
Me, Myself, and Draco: interesting name. And thanks, I know that the first chappy wasn't exactly up to my usual length, and the more detail suggestion was a big help, I tend to end up concentrating on the dialogue to much, unless distracted.
Allcanadiangirl: blushes thankyou, and I love the darkings, so I quote them, often. sighsand I wonder why people called me weird.
etc.: thankyou, hopefully you won't be too disappointed. Yay! Someone who agrees with me on A/J and K/N ships, and supports canon ships shudders when yet another K/J appears
Also, a big thankyou is extended to those people who praised this story via A Prince is Born (WriterMage, Fantasizing-Fluff, KatYoukai)
UPDATED LIST OF COUPLES THAT WILL (hopefully) APPEAR IN HERE:
Jon/Thayet, Alanna/George, Gary/Cythera, Myles/Eleni, Daine/Numair, Raoul/Buri, Neal/Yuki, Evin/Miri, Roald (PotS one)/Shinko, Aly/Nawat, Kally/Kaddar, Sarai/Zaimid… and if you want to suggest others you can, but I draw the line at A/J and K/N (although, I admit that there are some ok ones around) and there is no way in hell that I will even contemplate a K/J ::shudders violently::
Next chappy WILL be up before school starts again in 3 weeks, it looks like it'll be a D/N at this stage, but that could change.
The Aussie Daydream Queen - Misha