Author's note: Haven't done the darn disclaimer in so long, I almost thought I owned the boys... Also, posting this new chapter in honor of a new follower/reader TheDarkQueenOfEvil. Welcome to my sandbox!
ZEDD - THE NEXT MORNING
By the way he looks this morning, Thomas either didn't sleep well, much, or possibly at all. I feel rather badly about that, given the care he took of me last night. I found him in the kitchen on the ship, head down and both hands wrapped around a cup of that god awful coffee. When Dar gets here, that's damned near the first thing I'm going to have him do - after he sees Jason.
In the meantime, I wrap my arms around Thomas' shoulders. "Morning, love."
He leans back into me. "Morning, mate. How are you feeling today?"
I press a kiss to his temple. "Much better, thanks to you. You took such good care of me, how could I not be?"
"I was worried about you. I haven't seen you that exhausted in a long time, and when you wouldn't tell me what was wrong… Now can I ask what happened last night?" he inquires softly.
"As I said, nothing serious. I'd barely gotten in the room and someone came in, so I had to use my magic to hide, basically, until they left. Apparently, it takes forever for the nurses to check on patients - especially when they're busy gossiping while they do it."
He exhales in what is clearly relief, followed by a weak laugh. "As long as that was the only thing that went wrong."
I sigh softly. "Aside from the fact that I came with to help and take care of you and you ended up caring for me instead. I'm sorry, love." No need to mention just how shaken I was at the sight of the former Red Ranger so badly injured.
He sets his coffee down and turns quickly. "Zedd, no, it's okay. I told you - I like taking care of you, however you need me to."
"I know but, well, if I hadn't had that minor problem at the hospital, I had intended to take care of you last night." I think for a minute. "Actually, what I was planning was fairly close to what you did for me."
This brings a smile to his face. "Maybe we're getting to know each other faster and better than I thought."
"That's good then." I pull him close and just hold him, knowing that tonight he's probably going to need comfort from me bare minimum. I can feel in the set of his shoulders and back how much the stress is getting to him, in spite of his efforts not to show it outwardly. "Tonight, my love, I'm going to take care of you."
He kisses me softly, lips lingering against mine. "I'm looking forward to it."
My tone turns husky. "Unless you'd like a preview now?"
He checks his watch. "As much as I'd like that, lover, we need to get going soon." He kisses me again, quickly this time, before he pulls out of my embrace. "Let's see if there's any real coffee at the house that we can take with us."
"Fair enough, and if not I'll run out and get you some after we get to the hospital all right?"
"Deal."
Some hours later, we're finally back at the house, but I don't allow him to linger. With Hayley's help, I managed to acquire dinner without him knowing - and one of his favorites, no less. I herd him to the ship and draw him a bath, much as he did for me last night. While he's soaking, I arrange dinner and drinks, turn the bed down and a few other things designed not only to help him relax, but to make him feel as loved and comforted as I can.
Once I feel it's ready and I can fetch Thomas, I take one last look around, feeling like I've forgotten something or something's off, but I have no idea what and I'm more or less out of time to figure it out at this point. Shaking my head, deciding it must not be too major if I can't place it, I go to retrieve my mate. He's dried and partially dressed in accordance with his preferences and we head into the bedroom. A quick look around has him looking at me sideways with a small smile on his face. "Planning to seduce me, Zedd?"
"What?" I look around again and realize what he means. It does look like that's my goal, rather than simply caring for him, as I'd intended. "That wasn't actually my initial plan, Thomas. I wanted you to feel loved and cared for and comforted. If things turned that way, I certainly wouldn't object, but I also wouldn't be upset if you weren't in the mood."
His smile grows. "You never know, kalleimat, the mood might strike later. For now, I know that I need to eat first, though." I get him settled into bed and place his tray before him before I settle in with my own meal. Just before I start eating, I realize that he's staring at his dinner. "Sushi?"
"It is your favorite, isn't it?"
Looking surprised, but at least pleased, he shakes his head. "How did you know that sushi is my favorite?"
"Hayley. She helped me get it for you. Why? Is it wrong?"
"No, it's perfect." He leans over and kisses me firmly. "Thank you, Zedd." Once again, I'm reminded of not only how easy it is to make him happy, but how many of his prior mates took his loving gestures for granted, without acknowledgement or reciprocation. We talk quietly while we eat, avoiding the subject of his chosen brother for now. Unfortunately, one of the subjects he chooses is another one that, apparently, is causing him stress. "Zedd, what are you going to do about those big contracts you have coming due?"
"Don't worry, Thomas. It's being taken care of."
"How? Dar and Pina are on their way here and they take care of things when you're busy. I don't want you falling behind because of this."
I shake my head. "You're over thinking things again, love. Believe me, I have things well under control. I have contacts working on acquiring the desired objects and information and nothing is due in the immediate future. Plus, they and I can work from anywhere. Very few things need my actual personal attention these days." Thinking for a minute, I try to tactfully steer the conversation in another more pleasant direction. "Which is a good thing, you know."
"Why is that? More time we can spend together?" he asks with an almost playful smile.
"Well yes, but it will also be a good thing once we decide to have children."
"I suppose so" he admits. "After all, the last thing we want is people coming after you while you're carrying the baby."
"That would definitely not end well for anyone so foolish as to try such a thing" I assure him, as while I don't mind taking a few risks with my own life, the lives of my mate and our future children will never be allowed to be placed into such situations.
We're quiet for a minute and I almost think my topic change has failed when he suddenly speaks up again. "Do you think that your mother or Serena will want to visit after we have the first one?" First one?
Unable to contain my excitement by his roundabout way of suggesting we have more than just one child now, I can't keep the smile from my face as I give a nod. "I really don't think that they'll give us much of a choice, love. Never mind that the child will probably never be set down for the first year or so of its life."
He chuckles lightly. "Probably not. Would you rather have a boy or a girl first? Or do we even get a choice? How does that work?"
I shrug, as I'm honestly not too certain myself. "Either would be good, but as for the rest, you'll have to talk to Pina about the particulars. Truthfully, I don't care what we have so long as it's ours to love and spoil rotten."
"I'm sure he or she will definitely end up spoiled if your family and our friends have anything to say about it." Smile faltering suddenly, he sobers once more as a thought seems to strike. "Speaking of which…Zedd, you know if something like this happens again, we can't just take off like we did this time if we have a child. I don't want to wait until after everyone has passed, but it almost seems like the best course of action." Oh hell.
"While I agree grabbing a bag and jumping ship, so to speak, is not nearly as easy with a youngling, it's not however impossible either. Listen love, emergencies happen, it's a way of life and I'm certain despite our most carefully laid plans, some such emergency will pop up. It just seems to be a given with us and the universe in general. However I suggest we cross that bridge when we get to it, love. Besides, even I know just how pissed off everyone would be if they knew that you were considering putting off starting a family until they're dead."
"True."
I can't help myself and return to something else he'd said. "So - first one?"
"Once I was old enough and mature enough to really think about the future, I knew I wanted kids. I always thought that the ideal thing would be one boy and one girl, but it really doesn't matter to me in the end. Whatever we get, we get. And if for some reason we don't have any or can only have one, that's fine too."
"If for some reason we can't have one, we could always acquire one."
Looking surprised and slightly amused, Thomas shakes his head. "Acquire one? Zedd please tell me you aren't suggesting kidnapping as a backup plan to us being unable to have children."
"What? No, of course not. I just meant…" Struggling for a minute to recall the word I'd heard him use in the past, I shake my head in slight frustration. "I don't know what it's called, but what happened with you."
"Adoption?"
"Yes, that. We could do that if for some reason we can't bear a child together."
Seeming again surprised, but at least pleased now, his response takes me by slight surprise. "So, you'd be okay with that?"
"Well you were adopted and if we acquired a child even half as great as you I think it'd be well worth it."
Smile growing he leans over and kisses me slowly. "Sometimes, Zedd, you really do know just what to say."
"I try." Smiling myself now, I backtrack a bit to my original point. "I am somewhat glad you do want more than one though, or at least are open to the idea. I was afraid I'd put you off somehow when I mentioned having more a while back."
"Zedd you said five. Five is still a very large number, mate. I get that on your world big families like that is the normal thing, but, love I don't know if I can handle more than two."
"I'd be happy with two. So that in mind though, do you think you'd want to carry one?"
"No idea" he admits. "On one level, it just seems creepy and weird, knowing that I wasn't designed that way. On another, though, it's an experience that human males don't get to have and that's kind of an exciting idea. I keep going back and forth."
"That's understandable, of course, though you are aware it's not like you'd actually give birth" I remind him with a slight grin, again recalling his rather hilarious misunderstanding of the changes already made to him thanks to the powers. "The baby would be put in by a basic surgical operation and removed the same way."
"I'm aware, Zedd, however it's still a bit unnerving and something I'm going to need to think about."
"Although, again, not something we need to think or worry about just yet."
"No, there's definitely other things we need to deal with first." I feel like there's something he's not saying, but I have no idea what. "You do know that if our child is anything like a human newborn, we're not going to be getting a lot of sleep for the first few weeks. We need to make sure that the business is handled and whatever research I'm working on is done so that we can take care of whatever needs to be done for the baby."
Oh my god - he's already making plans for handling the youngling? How soon is he wanting to start our family? Cautiously, I ask, "How soon were you thinking we'd be starting our family, love?"
He laughs. "Relax, Zedd. I'm not thinking that we work on it as soon as we get back home. I'm just saying that there's a certain amount of planning that has to be done before we even get to that point, such as making sure the actual procedure is safe, setting up a nursery, getting everything he or she will need-"
"And I'd certainly like to have all the ceremonial stuff out of the way first."
"Again, if that was a proposal, you need to work on it" he says, amusement obvious. And apparently, I need to research how things are done on Earth, because I'm not making any headway doing things the Eltarian way with that being his go to response each time I mention our needed ceremony.
Not wanting to upset him or get into an argument however, I decide to let it be for now. "I guess."
He looks at me suddenly, apparently feeling my frustration and slight depression. "Zedd – Zedd what's wrong?"
"Nothing, love. I just…I don't know, I thought maybe you'd have wanted to start at least discussing some thoughts or ideas regarding our ceremony over the past few months, but you never have so…"
"Wait, what? Zedd I – wait, Zedd how do these things go on Eltar?"
I sigh and shrug. "When a couple is of the same mind about marriage, it simply becomes a discussion of details - when, where, how, but as I said every time I mention it you don't seem to feel like discussing it, so I let it be."
Frowning and suddenly looking concerned his next question takes me by slight surprise. "But how do you know if they're of the same mind? I mean, if there's no actual question and answer, how?"
"Well, like with us, when I mentioned it at Sam's, you didn't reject the idea right out so I thought-"
"Oh my god." The horrified look he now has is worrying me. "So in your mind, we're already engaged to be married?"
Did I misunderstand? Does he not want to marry me as I do him? "Thomas, I-"
He quickly pushes his now empty tray aside and turns to me. "Zedd, I am so sorry. I didn't realize. See, on Earth it's different. There's usually a more formal asking and acceptance - or denial. I didn't think our relationship had progressed to the point of being engaged yet." Okay, ouch.
"If you aren't ready, that's fine, Thomas." I guess.
"No, I'm fine with it, really. I just didn't understand. Every time you brought up a ceremony I just assumed you were making conversation or talking about the future. I didn't realize you were trying to discuss actual, real details with me."
Giving it a little thought, I finally say, "Well, that makes sense. After all, who would have told you? Sam and David wouldn't have known and Dar and Pina weren't there or I'm sure one of them would have said something by now. Although that does explain your remark then."
We both set our trays aside and he practically dives into my arms. I realize that my attempt to ease his stress has horribly backfired and, in fact, made it worse. "God, Zedd, I'm so sorry. I-"
"Shh, Thomas, it's all right." I rub his back lightly. "It's a minor misunderstanding, that's all. Right?"
"But I hurt you. I could feel it. I swear I didn't mean to. I didn't know."
"I'm not upset anymore, I promise, love. I love you."
"I love you too. And it's not that I don't want to marry you at some point, I just didn't think we were at the point to even be discussing it yet."
Inspiration strikes and I pull back from him just enough to see his face. "I know this isn't really formal, but - Thomas Oliver, will you marry me?"
Once again, my muse has saved me as he smiles. "Well, I was planning to ask you at some point fairly soon, but since you beat me to it - yes!"
I kiss him firmly which he returns wholeheartedly. "Perhaps we could celebrate our engagement?"
"Oh, yeah."
