Chapter 16

Early one morning, a few weeks or so later, Chloe bolted upright in bed. Lex jerked awake as she shot out from under his arm. Blinking she seemed to be struggling with some inner thought, some inner battle. Lex watched her carefully, and when she swallowed and turned her head to look at him, she smiled. Lex sighed and pulled her back against his chest.

"Gods, you scared me. What's wrong?" Lex brushed her rumpled hair to the side and kissed her softly. "Bad dream?"

"What… No, I don't have bad dreams, you are the one that is always crying out at night." Lex smirked at her giving her a soft swat on her hip in punishment.

"That's not from a bad dream, Baby… It's from a good one." He laughed and shifted her against his groin with a wicked smile. "So, what is wrong?"

"I just suddenly.. didn't feel well." She shook her head and Lex gathered her close.

"Do you think you are getting sick?" Lex immediately pulled the blankets tight around her to keep her from becoming ill in the cold crisp morning, even though if she was sick it was probably too late to prevent it.

"No, I just felt dizzy for a minute and I thought I was going to throw up." Chloe swallowed again and smiled weakly. "Relax, I'm fine Lex." Chloe smiled and stroked his arm reassuringly.

Lex glanced at the roof of the tepee. He could see through the smoke hole to where the sky was lighting up with the sun. Wrapping his arm protectively around her, he nuzzled her with a grin. "Want to go back to sleep?"

"No. I don't think I can sleep right now. But you go ahead… I know you need rest to keep up with me."

Lex grinned. "In bed or out? Cause I am fully able to keep up with you in this department." He ran a hand over he bare breast, his long fingers stroking the nipple. "As for outside of this… I think I could take you." Chloe rolled her eyes at his play on words, making him laugh at her expression.

"I don't know about that Lex, You are the one that seems to not be able to get out of bed in the morning." Chloe shivered against him with a smile, her head dropping onto his shoulder.

"That's only because I think you should be back in bed with me…" He smirked, flopping back into the sleeping mat, taking Chloe with him. Lex began to kiss her neck, his hands roaming over her body.

"Lex…"

"Mhmm"

"Leeexx…"

"Mmmm ?"

"LEX!"

Lex lifted his head, when she shouted. "What, Baby?" Then he saw her face, which looked to be an odd green color.

"I think I'm going…" Chloe put a hand to her mouth, and Lex quickly sat up, wrapping her in a blanket and picking her up, which only made Chloe more dizzy. Lex thought he saw her eyes cross as her skin paled.

"Oh god…." Lex gasped and stumbled out of the tepee, making it to the base of a tree before he felt Chloe's body clench. Quickly he dropped her as gently as possible, sweeping her hair back as she gagged into the grass. There wasn't much of dinner left in her stomach, so she was left dry heaving. Lex felt helpless, trying to hold her trembling body as it clenched, and lurched.

After a few minutes Chloe went still and Lex peered down at her. She was panting and leaning heavily against him, her eyes closed and her face pale. Lex hauled her against him, hugging her tightly.

"You okay now?" Lex whispered softly in her ear. Chloe nodded and Lex began to gather her in his arms. A small feminine hand touched his arm and he looked up into Lois's face.

"Let me look at her Lex…" She said softly. Her hair was still rumpled and she was wearing a jerkin from the day before, which was wrinkled. Lex nodded, but kept Chloe in his arms as Lois checked her over. Suddenly a small child appeared next to Lex's arm. He turned back to watch Lois as she went over Chloe, but was stopped when the girl tapped him carefully on the shoulder.

"What is it?" He growled slightly as he turned to her.

She blushed and looked around. "Prince Lex… You don't have any thing on…" She giggled and Lex blushed bright red, looking around himself. Gulping he saw a few children, some of the women that had tried to entice him before he married Chloe, an old woman, and Pete. Lois had been listening in and she burst out laughing when she heard, laughing even harder when she saw Lex' turn red.

"It's okay Lex, you can take her back to the tepee, now. I will be there in a few minutes." Lois smiled and turned away as he stood.

Lex blushed as he walked past the people and into his tepee. He settled Chloe back in their bed and quickly wrapped his loincloth around his hips. Clearing his throat he stuck his head out of his tepee and called in Lois, who had been standing near the flap.

Lois sat near the fire, while Lex added logs, raising the flames to a bright hot blaze.

"How sick is she?" Lex asked after a few long minutes of silence. He sat down across from Lois, staring into the inferno, vacantly poking it with a stick.

Lois blinked in confusion before she smiled. "Lex… I know you fairly well. I've known you for over ten years. I don't know Chloe that well but I see the way you look at each other. I'm willing to guess that you two haven't slept a whole night since you've been here."

Lex's head shot up before he looked away, his eyes fastening on Chloe's sleeping form. "That's not true… the first night we were here we were too tired. Is that the problem?" Lex jumped at the easy solution… Well it wasn't going to be easy for him, but it was easier than trying to fight off an illness. "I've been too rough with her?"

Lois cleared her throat and blushed lightly. "Lex… I don't know if you have been to rough with her. That might be something you need to ask her. You have been married to Chloe over three weeks, and you have been… with her… every night, minus one, of those three weeks. Didn't you think that she might get pregnant?"

Lex looked at her again, this time his eye were wide with shock, and he began mentally counting. "Plus there were those few times before we were married…" He mumbled under his breath. Lois heard and stifled a gasp of surprise, her hand flying to her mouth to cover her small grin. Clearly Lex and Chloe hadn't been able to wait, which only proved her to be right about the sexual natures of the two, which had been indulged every night for over a month(except for one day of course).

"Chloe's … pregnant!" Lex's voice rose at the end of the sentence and he swallowed his eyes flashing back to Chloe's small blonde head that peeked out from under the blankets. He cleared his throat, "Are you sure?"

"No Lex, I'm not sure. But all the signs point to a baby in your future. Are you going to be alright?" Lois looked at Lex in concern. His face had gone slack and he was staring at Chloe with a shocked and confused expression on his face. "Do you not want a baby? There are herbs that can make her miscarry…"

Lex's eyes flashed back to her, menace burning in the depths of the cold blue ice. "Lois, if you ever ask me such a thing again, I will personally make sure that you don't wake up in the morning." His threat hung in the air and made Lois shiver.

"That's not what I meant Lex… Some men don't want to be fathers right after they get married. You didn't look happy, and I was only curious." Lois quickly answered, not wanting to be on Lex's bad side. And there was a bad side, as she had just seen. In all the years she had known him, she had never heard him speak in the cold threatening voice to anyone- not even enemies, and she had never seen the dark fire that burned protectively in his eyes as they rested on Chloe.

"I'll go now Lex. I didn't mean to upset you." Lois stood and walked to the door-flap of the tepee. Lex called out to her and she paused not looking back at him.

"I'm sorry Lois. I was …shocked and then I was happy, but then I thought you were going to try and take it away from me. I didn't mean to hurt or frighten you." Lex spoke softly and Lois turned, giving him a smile of understanding. Lex had moved and was sitting next to Chloe, slowly rubbing her back.

"I'll let you tell her, Lex. You might want to discuss some names in the next nine months…" Lois smiled and pushed open the flap.

"So.. No more nightly activities, huh?" Lex asked, his voice sad and forlorn.

Lois laughed. "You have a few more months of that. At about six months you have to stop. But you have to be more gentle is your comments are true." With a final wave and orders to give Chloe a hello for her, she left, the flap swishing back into place.

Lex smiled and stretched his body out next to Chloe, waiting for her to wake up so he could tell her the good news.