Author's note: The story picks up on the morning after Chapter 2. Rated T. It's mostly about the family relationships in this re-imagined world. The younger characters are my original invention, but the MOTU franchise and its characters are not my property and I am not profiting in any way. The purpose of this story is to take a break from reality and enjoy some lighthearted storytelling. Thank you for your very kind reviews and follows.
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At the crack of dawn, a little girl's voice shrieked, "Papa and Mama forgot to put on their pajamas again!"
Still half-asleep, King Adam swiftly pulled the sheets over his head and his wife's head, which was snuggled into the curve of his neck. Then he waited for his daughters to be whisked away from his suite. Just before the door was finally shut, he heard his 13 year old daughter's voice hissing, "You're disgusting!"
General Teela giggled sleepily, and snuggled even closer to her lover.
"Good morning, beautiful," murmured Adam, kissing his wife's hair. Every morning that he woke up beside her was automatically the best day of his life.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Teela still could not believe the way her life had turned out - definitely not the way she had carefully planned it when she was a student in the royal military academy. Every morning, she still felt surprised by all of this! A pleasant surprise, but still surreal. She didn't share that with Adam. Instead she simply said, "My dearest friend," as she kissed his chin. He knew what that meant. Then she continued, "We're alone, my love. Shall we - ?"
"After last night?" Adam wasn't sure if he was ready for another round - after all, their nocturnal activities had only ended a few hours earlier!
"Five minutes?" pouted Teela. "Four minutes?"
Adam paused. She had a point. They might not have another moment alone for months, or maybe even for a whole year with the new baby coming. So he responded, "Top or bottom?"
Twenty minutes later, King Adam and General Teela, now fully clothed and grinning widely, were walking hand-in-hand down the hall to breakfast with their family.
Adam deliberately dressed to be as attractive as possible to his wife: hair and beard smooth and well-groomed; form-fitting, dark brown leather pants tucked into matching suede boots; a tan suede vest over a loose-fitting white, long-sleeved shirt (Teela liked it loose so that she could slip her hands underneath it and feel his muscles); his sword in a scabbard on his hip. The sword looked like a smaller, ceremonial version of He-Man's sword. After all these years, Teela still didn't know that it really was *the* Power Sword of Grayskull.
By contrast, Teela's long hair was a wild mess, and she wore her usual combat fatigues with standard-issue boots; underneath, Adam knew she was wearing a nursing bra and maternity support briefs. He thought his wife was white-hot exactly as she was, in fact, she was hottest whenever she was trying not to look sexy. Not to mention, just fifteen minutes earlier, she had been whispering something that was going to keep him warm all day long. All his dreams had come true because of her.
Teela glanced provocatively at her husband. "You, know, Adam," she said, "He-Man had the nerve to flirt with me last night."
"Oh," said Adam, "And did you flirt back?"
"Adam! Of course not!" she exclaimed.
"Am I supposed to be jealous then?" he asked casually, knowing that he'd get a good reaction.
"Huh!" Teela was indignant, with her eyes flashing and her cheeks bright pink now. She was positively glowing. Adam thought she was a thousand times more beautiful than she was on the day he proposed. "I just thought you should know that he was making a move on YOUR WIFE."
"Well, what exactly did he say?"
"He knew about our baby, and he...made comments…and...and..."
Adam could see plainly that she really did want him to be jealous, though he didn't understand why. The whole situation was absurd. Years earlier, on the day after their wedding, Adam had taken his bride to Castle Grayskull in order to request that he be allowed to share his secrets with Teela.
His request had been denied.
He had repeated the request again and again as the years passed; and Teela had also gone there alone a few times, to beg the Sorceress to allow her to share her husband's secret burden, whatever it might be. But even now, Teela still did not know that King Adam and the champion He-Man were one and the same person. The truth was hidden by a veil of magic.
So, as silly as it was, Adam found himself fibbing to his wife - again - to protect the mysteries of Grayskull, explaining in his softest, meekest tone of voice: "Well, Teela, I had to tell him about your pregnancy when I sent him on the rescue mission, but as for the rest, that's unacceptable. I'll give orders that he should only address you in the most respectful terms…"
Teela knew that when her husband spoke softly like that, he was at his most potent. He sure liked to play at being submissive to her, but they both knew that was all an act. She let go of his hand and paused in the middle of the hallway, thinking about what he'd just said. "You? It's been you all along?" she questioned.
Adam panicked inside: did he just give away his identity? Would she leave him and take the kids if she discovered the truth? He tried to contact the Sorceress of Grayskull telepathically. But he kept his face as neutral as possible, waiting for Teela's next words.
Teela continued, "You've just admitted that you give orders to He-Man - you've never admitted that to me before. You're his commander - always have been, I'd guess - you summon him somehow, and send him on missions. Am I right?"
Adam bowed wordlessly to his lady.
"Well, then," she said, taking his hand again, "I guess that makes you more powerful than the most powerful man in the universe." She had the urge to slip her tongue into his mouth and get her hands up under his shirt, but just then, their toddler started crying down the hall in the family dining room.
King Adam escorted his wife to the breakfast table and helped her get seated. Someone put the squalling baby in Teela's arms to nurse, while a hairdresser immediately started taming the general's tangled locks. All of the children were talking at once, kissing and hugging their parents good morning, arguing with each other, laughing, chasing each other around the table.
But they all fell silent as soon as King Adam sat down and started the morning blessing, with his 6 year old and 4 year old daughters on his lap: "...we thank the Elders for the blessings before us; so that we may use our gifts for the benefit of Eternia. We humbly beg the Elders, especially Grandfather Randor and Grandfather Duncan, who are with the Elders, to guide us in our actions so that we may follow in their noble example; and I ask for special guidance and blessing for each of our children," he continued, looking around the table at each precious child, "Prince Randor and Prince Duncan, Princesses Teela-Ra, Marlena-Ra, Aurora, Pandora, Kira and little Zara. Let us each fulfill our purpose in the history of our world."
The king couldn't help getting choked up when he said his children's names. General Teela sighed, "Oh, Adam…" He had become increasingly sentimental as the years passed and their family grew. She lovingly locked eyes with him across the length of the dining table.
The 6 year old girl on Adam's lap looked up at her father sympathetically and said, "Don't be sad, Papa. Grandpapa is proud of you." Adam gave her a squeeze and a kiss on top of her head. His precocious Pandora always said things like that.
Blinking back tears, Adam was about to speak to his sons on his right and left, when 4 year old Kira asked innocently, "Papa, are you sad because you and Mama lost your pajamas again last night?"
"Aaaand I just lost my appetite," said Duncan, nudging his plate away from himself.
"More for me, bruh," replied Randor, inhaling his food and switching his now-empty plate with his twin's full one. "At least he didn't prang her up this time."
The room became silent.
"Bruh…" Duncan warned his twin in a stage whisper. Their father looked livid. Their mother looked strangely radiant, and she was definitely suppressing a smile. Their grandmother arched an eyebrow and looked at each boy with her head cocked slightly sideways.
The oldest daughter, Teela-Ra, who always seemed to know things without being told, was the first to leap out of her seat. "Mama!" she announced breathlessly. "You're having another baby! Just what we wanted!"
All the girls rushed to their mother to congratulate her, saying, "Another sister! Hooray!" They all assumed the baby would be another red-haired girl.
The king calmly spoke to his sons: "You will apologize to your mother now." They immediately did as their father asked; then they both decided it would be prudent to shut the hell up.
Six year old Pandora put her hands on Teela's belly and closed her eyes. The little girl said, "Her name is Luna-Ra. She wants a double full moon on her birthday - that's the solstice."
Amid the chatter, Queen Marlena leaned toward her grandsons and said, "The day is coming when you will wish you had more sisters, not fewer."
When the girls settled down again, Teela decided to tell a story. "Boys, I would have reacted the same way at your age. When your father and I were growing up, we didn't have any siblings - we were around adults most of the time, and we only met Aunt Adora after we turned 18. I didn't really know anything about babies or children. But when we married, we wanted you all to have each other as friends and playmates. We decided to have as many children as the Elders would send to us. So don't be surprised, boys, if we give you even more siblings after this one." She had a twinkle in her eye as she watched her sons squirm, suppressing their disgust.
Addressing the princes next, Adam said, "I don't expect you to understand now, but someday, sons, you'll find love as your mother and I did…"
The oldest sister, Teela-Ra, chortled and tried to pretend it was a cough. It almost sounded like she muttered, "Sooner than you think." She became very focused on her plate and didn't look at anyone.
Adam eyed her suspiciously, then his sons. "So, you've already found love then," he said, volleying his stern paternal gaze back and forth between each boy in an effort to crack them. "Who? Are you secretly betrothed? Oh, Elders, don't tell me you're already married?"
"No, Papa!" they responded in unison, then angrily at their sister Teela-Ra, "Thanks a lot, Trixie."
"In truth, Papa," said Duncan, "We intend to court the daughters of Princess Janice when they come of age."
Taken aback, but also impressed with his sons' ambition, the king questioned, "I see, well, Janette is nearly old enough, but isn't Janelle is only 14? How long have you been planning this, and how long were you going to keep it secret?"
The boys' answers came tumbling out on top of each other: "Janelle will be 15 next month - only a year younger than us!" "It's not a secret - Granny has known for years!" "And Mama, too!" "And Trixie! And Moxie knows, too!" (The girls giggled sheepishly.) "You just didn't notice!" "Princess Janice said we have to wait until Janelle is 18 before courting." "Then six months for courting and six months for betrothal." "So it's a minimum of 4 years before any royal wedding." "Yeah, the girls want a double wedding." Finally, Prince Randor concluded, "And before you ask, Granny always chaperones us when they visit. No funny business."
Adam took it all in. So there were some family secrets being kept from him…he wasn't in a position to criticize that. "I suppose you have it all figured out gentlemen," he said to his sons. "There's nothing for me to add."
Together the family discussed the day's activities, with Adam taking the boys to Castle Grayskull, Marlena taking the three bigger girls to her lab and a nanny taking the three smaller girls to the royal gardens, while Teela had a series of meetings with the security council and its delegates.
"But after lunch, I'll nap with Zara and then spend the rest of the afternoon with you girls - we can do gymnastics or whatever you like," Teela said, beaming at her daughters.
Adam was struck by the fact that the girls didn't look similar to their mother: instead, they looked IDENTICAL to her, just at different ages and sizes. He added, "And tomorrow morning, all of you can take the morning off from your lessons so that we can go fishing together." There were gasps of delight around the table - at least the girls took after their father in their love of fishing!
After breakfast, Teela decided to accompany her husband and sons to their Wind Raider. "Yes, of course I'll order a complete analysis of the security protocols to determine how Skeletor's crew was able to break in last night," she said, "but my guess is that they were able to breach the system behind the stables, since that's the furthest point from the generator…it's probably time to invest in a second generator to cover all those corners anyway….wait -"
The two princes were about to jump into the Wind Raider, but Teela wanted to say goodbye to them first. She embraced them together in an awkward group hug. She sighed, "I suppose you'll come home with more secrets, just like your father…but it's all right, as long as you always come home to me…"
"Of course, Mama," said Duncan. Randor added with a grin, "You'll always be our C.O." He made a move to bounce into the driver's seat of the Wind Raider, but Adam blocked him.
Knowing which son would be more reckless, the king said, "Truth, you're the pilot on the way to Grayskull; Dare, you fly on the way back."
They tossed a pile of jackets, backpacks, plus a basket of fruit and baked treats for the Sorceress, into the back seat with Dare, and flew away into a wide-open sky.
As soon as they were clear of the city, Dare leaned forward to ask, "So, you're going to let one of us take over as He-Man today, right?"
"What?" exclaimed a startled Adam.
"C'mon, Papa, you've had more than 20 years as He-Man - it's time for us to have a turn," said Truth.
"No - uh - who told you?"
"Trixie, obviously," said Truth, using the nickname of his sister, 13-year-old Princess Teela-Ra. "Three years ago." Dare explained, "We didn't even believe her at first." Truth chimed in, "But then we saw for ourselves…"
Suddenly nervous, Adam asked, "Who else knows - besides Trixie?"
At that moment, the vehicle's communicator beeped and crackled to life. Queen Marlena's voice came through clearly, "Adam dear, not to alarm you, but Trixie didn't follow me to the lab. Did she perchance stow away with you?"
Adam turned sharply toward the back seat, as Dare pulled away the bundle of jackets. There on the floor, a skinny, wide-eyed girl, hugging her knees, materialized and ever-so-innocently looked up at her father.
"Yes, Mother. Trixie is with us," Adam spoke into the communicator. "I guess she made herself invisible - again."