Chapter 19
Beka fidgeted with the blankets nervously as she willed the weather to go back to normal. This was why she hated planets, as nice as Tarazed was and as constant as its weather usually was, it had its storms.
Beka's heart pounded in her chest as another clap of thunder broke over the house and the raindrops kept their pounding fury. She could hear the wind against the window and the tree's branches outside whip harshly against the glass. Turning on her side towards her husband she moved closer to him. As another flash of lightning and the deep boom of thunder rolled through the room she couldn't take it anymore.
How the hell could he sleep through this?
"Telemachus?" Beka whispered as she poked his shoulder.
No movement.
"Telemachus? Tel-EM-achus!" she alternated between poking and slapping before she finally punched him in the shoulder, which earned her a groan and light movement. Beka waited a minute for him to say something but then found him to be once more fast asleep. Shaking him harder, Beka dug her nails into his shoulder and punched him again.
"Telemachus wake up!" she hissed.
"Hmmmm?" He slowly rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes. "What?"
"Were you sleeping?"
He groaned, "I was until you woke me up."
"Oh."
Rhade yawned as he felt Beka move up to nestle into him. She was very close. He lifted his head and looked over at the clock which told him that it was 2:30 in the morning. Sighing, his head fell back onto the pillow.
"Why are you up?"
"It's raining."
"I can hear that."
He felt Beka jump as it thundered. "I don't like thunder."
Rhade pulled her closer into his arms and breathed deeply. "Go to sleep."
"It's too loud."
"I'm right here."
"That thunder's loud enough to wake the dead." It was after saying that that he felt her tense and start to roll over to the edge of the bed, taking him with her. Rhade found himself lying on his side with Beka's back close against his chest. "How can he sleep through this?"
It took him a minute to realize that she was talking about their son. Caden was set up in a bassinette beside their bed and Beka had rolled over to check on him.
"He can sleep through it because I could have slept through it had you not woken me up."
"He's only a baby…what if-"
"He's fine Beka, I can hear him breathing."
"Over this weather?"
"Yes, I can hear him. He's sleeping, as we should be." Rhade rolled onto his back and closed his eyes. He felt Beka snuggle back into him and then moan pitifully as the thunder once more rattled the windows.
"Why is there a storm out there?"
"Go to sleep."
"I can't."
"Yes you can."
After that there was no sound but from the storm outside. Beka's heart rate was still erratic but it was calming some. Letting himself relax, he found himself drifting back into blissful sleep-
"How often does Tarazed have storms?"
until Beka asked him another question.
"Honey it's two in the morning," he whined.
"If I can't sleep then you can't either."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not fair."
"Beka-"
Rhade cut his comment short as he thought he heard the room's door creep open and the patter of tiny feet across the carpet. His daughter's presence was confirmed as he felt a small shift on the bed as Cassandra lifted the covers and crawled in next to Beka.
"Cass?"
"Hi mommy."
"Did the storm wake you up honey?"
"Yes."
"The scary thunder?"
"No, it's pretty and I was gonna go to sleep but didn't."
Beka blanched. Pretty? Her daughter thought the thunder was…pretty?
"Then why'd you stay awake sweetie?" asked Rhade straightening one of Cassandra's curls only to have it wave back into place.
"Uncle Harper said mommy didn't like weather and dat it scared her."
"He did?" asked Beka. "When?"
" 'Fore we came here. So I'm seeing if you're okay."
Beka's heart melted. Her four-year-old baby had crawled out of her own warm bed and came down the dark hall to their room just to check on her.
"I'm fine baby."
"Kay, but now I stay and protect you like daddy does."
Beka felt her husband shake with silent laughter as he smiled into her hair and kiss her forehead.
She smiled into the darkness and held Cassandra tight. She had her daughter on one side and Telemachus on the other, the both of them were so alike where she was concerned.
With her arms around Cassandra and Rhade's around them both, Beka felt that she could finally sleep, ignoring all else in favour of her family.
Her husband, her daughter… and her son who hadn't woken up once.
>>>
A/N: I have one more idea for a new chapter but I was thinking of maybe holding that off and maybe doing some more chapters with the Rhade family on Tarazed. Is there anything you guys would like to see happen in this?
Vana Telcontar: Cassandra lacks boneblades? What? She does have them, honest! She was showing them off to Solaris a few chapters ago! And yes I have a lot of Greek names. Rhade's mom's is Roman though, I branched out!
"Caden" is actually an American name. It had a close meaning to Telemachus and I really liked it, so it stuck. I had a a tough time finding a name for the little guy when I originally decided to give Beka and Rhade a son a few months back;)
prin69: There is a ton of Harper fic now isn't there? We need more Beka/Rhade, old authors, new authors, ideas, suggestions...courier pigeons? Lots more Beka/Rhade! We will rule the world! ...or not...but I can dream...Matriarch and First Alpha ruling the universe together.
Thanks for the reviews guys! More story to come!