ZEDD - ONE MONTH LATER

I can't wait. I have a small surprise planned for Thomas - well a couple of them actually. Things are going fairly well - except for Thomas' hormone driven upsets. Although I will say that they are still far more controlled than mine were. Well maybe, I mean he hasn't thrown any kitchen appliances at me. At least not yet. Hm, perhaps I should put the blender away for safe keeping. "Zedd!" Ah, there he is now.

"Yes, love?" Banking the idea to hide the blender, and maybe the toaster when he's asleep tonight, I answer as I head toward his voice.

There's no mistaking the irritation in his response. "Really how hard is it to put dishes in the dishwasher instead of the damn sink? How many times do I have to ask you to do this one simple thing?"

"Sorry."

He continues as if I hadn't spoken. "I realize that you're used to Dar doing the dishes after meals - and by hand - but it's not really that difficult of a machine. And what's more if you do insist on putting them in the sink, then why not just wash them by hand? I am so tired of having to do the dishes every day because you use ten plates for every damn meal!" Before I can respond, he suddenly turns white and grips the edge of the counter. "That's a kidney, you little brat, not a punching bag. Stop it!"

Lightly, I put my arms around him and rub his belly. "Stop tormenting Daddy, son. You still have a month or so in there so be nice. For both of our sakes."

Thomas pants slightly from the pain. "That's the third time this morning."

"Maybe spicy food and chocolate milk at three in the morning isn't what he actually wanted."

"Well he settled down after that!" Well then by all means try and drown him with another gallon of the chocolate flavored liquid you insist is real milk.

As I open my mouth to answer, and perhaps to go run out and grab him some ice cream from the store, the doorbell rings. Before either of us can move, however, Mara Jane flies down the stairs and toward the door. "I'll get it!"

Thomas calls out, "Mara Jane, no!"

"It's all right, love. I think I know who it is."

"What if you're wrong?" he says anxiously.

"Go and see" I suggest. Before he can even take a step out of my arms, Kira appears in the doorway, laughing.

"What's the matter, Tommy? Too good to come and greet your guests?"

"Kira! What are you doing here?" Thomas hugs her happily.

"Surprise!" she laughs again. "Thought we'd come for a short visit before we take you home."

"I'm glad to see you - wait, we?"

"Been too quiet at the palace without you, brat, tormenting me in my own home. Thought I'd come and torment you in yours for a while." He takes a good look at Thomas. "Hells, brat, are you sure there's just one baby in there?"

"Starting to wonder myself" he agrees. "I've gotten loads bigger than Zedd did."

I roll my eyes. "No, you haven't. It just seems that way because you have a more slender build than I do."

Kira nods, using her hands to 'measure'. "Zedd's right, Tommy. You're roughly the size he was when I came to visit before he had the baby."

"Of course he is. How long can you guys stay?" Thomas asks.

"We're only staying a few days, but we're going to take you back home with us" Pina says from the doorway.

"I-what?"

"Zedd's mentioned that you've been pretty stressed lately. So we all figured that this way you can come home with us and relax and be spoiled a bit before it's time for the baby to be born" Kira tells him.

And there's the roller coaster of emotions that I was expecting, however I'm not expecting it to suddenly stop on upset as hell. "I see" he says slowly.

"Thomas, what's wrong? Mara Jane and I will only be a week or so behind you."

"Nothing, Zedd. That's fine. I guess I'll - go figure out what I'm taking with me." He leaves the room and the rest of us exchange puzzled glances.

I shrug. "I have no idea." I head after him. He's in the bedroom, suitcase open on the bed. "Love, what's wrong?"

"If you wanted me out of your way, Zedd, you should have just said so instead of making the others lie for you."

What in all the hells is he talking about? "I didn't make them lie, Thomas. And why would you think that I'd want you out of my way? And out of my way for what?"

He throws some clothes in the suitcase. "Seriously, Zedd? You think I haven't seen? You think I don't know how the neighbor women look at you? The way they constantly want your 'help' around their homes. How Sara just loves making you cookies. How Becky is so eager to have you enroll Mara Jane in dance classes with her little hell spawn. Not to mention how you were flirting back with Elena two days ago."

I'm speechless for a minute. "I-what? Thomas, what on Earth are you talking about? Sara is taking cooking classes and pawns her leftovers off on everyone in the neighborhood. Becky just thought Mara Jane might like to join the dance class her daughter is in because I mentioned her not having made many friends yet here. And as for Elena, she asked me for help, Thomas, but I certainly wasn't flirting back. Wait - she was flirting with me?"

He rolls his eyes. "Of course she was! They all do - married or not! And you just love the attention!"

"Thomas-"

"And now you're sending me away so that you can have them - fuck them - before you're stuck dealing with me again - this time with a new baby too! If you're tired of me, just say so! If you want to be free, then just say it!" He turns on me. "Say it!"

Wow - was I this bad? I mean, I've done everything I can think of to make sure he knows that he's still desirable to me without pushing him into mating if he doesn't want to, trying very hard to avoid the problem that we'd run into when I was carrying Mara Jane. What did I do wrong? And more importantly, how the hell do I fix it?

"Thomas, love, I don't want to be apart from you, but as you recall that was your original plan, remember? You were going to leave me and Mara Jane here so she could go to school and you were planning to go back alone, and not just for a week, mate, but for nearly a whole month. I was the one that wanted all of us to go back together."

"So now this is my fault? Is that why you're showing interest in them?"

Exasperated, I say, "I'm not interested in anyone but you, Thomas. Though that interest is starting to include finding ways to knock some sense back into your irrational brain."

"Is this to get back at me for making you think I'd lost interest in you while you were pregnant? That was an accident!"

"No, I know but-"

"Maybe while you're at it, you should give Essa a try too!" And now I've had enough.

Swiftly, I reach out and grab him by his upper arms and pull him close until we're nose to nose. I make my voice as soft as I can so that he must work to hear me. "Thomas. James. Oliver. I love you very much, but do not ever insult me like that again. I have much better morals and taste than to lower myself to - to - screwing the help!"

We stare into each other's eyes for a long minute. I can see the corner of his mouth twitching. Finally, he speaks and I can hear the laughter in his voice. "Screwing the help? Seriously, Zedd? Your nobility is showing."

Relieved my comment seems to have broken through to him and helped him regain some shred of sanity, I kiss him soundly. "I'm sorry, but you went too far."

"I did" he agrees. "I'm sorry, but every time any of those women see you, they stare at you like a lion after fresh meat and then they flirt with you and I just get so jealous."

"I understand that, but why would you think that I'm flirting back?"

"Because you do!"

"Thomas, I do no such thing."

"You do and it's such a part of who you are that you don't even know you're doing it. I don't mind when that attention is focused on me, but when it's focused on someone else, it hurts." I'm about to argue more but he says something that stops me. "Three days ago Anita from across the street got you to put her ladder up in the garage for her, remember? Yet, every other day this week before that, she'd managed to do it herself with no problems. That ladder isn't that heavy but she started commenting about how it was too heavy for her, but it was the only one she had and it made no sense to spend money on a new one. And you, at your most charming, agreed that it would be a waste and it was a shame that she didn't have someone to help her. Zedd - on Earth, that's practically hitting on her."

I shake my head, honestly and truly stunned by this information. "Humans have such a roundabout way of doing things. If we weren't together and I were interested in mating with her, I would have just said so."

"But we are together."

"And we've had this discussion about cheating several times, if you recall."

"Yes, I do and the upshot of the conversation has always been that if one of us wanted to mate with someone else that we should be up front about it, not that it would never happen."

"I suppose technically that's true, but I've also said that I'm never leaving you, never letting you go and absolutely not interested in being with anyone but you."

"I was worried that things might have changed, you've been taking being on Earth so well lately, and you've been more sociable than I've ever really seen you before when not around family or the Rangers, I just wondered if you had changed your mind. Then of course the more I thought about that the more panicked I got about not only myself but the kids."

"The kids?"

"I had no idea how I was going to raise the children by myself if you left."

Shocked at his admission, I finally answer, "Thomas, even if we weren't together any more, I would certainly still want to help raise the children. I carried Mara Jane for hells sake, I'm definitely not going to just abandon her, or you for that matter, for the sake of mating with someone!"

"It happens, mate" he says softly.

Out of the blue, I know what's going on in his head. "Maybe here on Earth it does, but that's not the way families work on Eltar. You know that Serena hadn't gotten along with her husband for some time before the - incident. We don't - what's the word - divorce even when we aren't bonded to our mates and certainly not when we are."

"But what if you don't want to be with each other anymore?"

"Typically if something happens and mates lose interest in each other physically, they will find new mates, but remain family until they're old. Even if we weren't bonded, and by some insane chance in hell I did desire a new mate, I would never, ever expect you or want you to take the children and leave. That is not how it works, love."