Beyond My Reach

Disclaimer: Castlevania belongs to konami not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Alucard . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Setting: Pre-animated series.

Authoress note: Lisa faces a problem she never expected to have.

Lisa had always thought her and her husband's difference in species would cause them some problems. Nothing they couldn't overcome, even so, she had expected there to be problems. Her knowledge of her husband came, at first, from legends and myth, and so she had thought they could never take an afternoon walk together. She was delighted when she was proven wrong, though she was less delighted when her husband had laughed at her for twenty minutes for thinking a ball of gas burning billions of light-years away would hurt him.

As their relationship developed the problems, she thought they would have didn't materialise, instead they got a bunch of new ones.

She had assumed that after they married, they would never have children. She had been a little disappointed at the thought; she had always assumed she would have children, though it had never been a primary desire of hers. She contentedly gave up on that idea when she said, "I do," and went about her new life in a happy bubble surrounded by knowledge, love and exhilaration. Until the day when she realised she'd thrown up every morning for the last week and it probably wasn't food poisoning or a stomach infection.

The absolute fear on her husband's face when she told him had been upsetting to witness. But it quickly became apparent that he wasn't dreading the addition of a child. It terrified him she wouldn't survive the pregnancy.

Apparently, the two species could interbreed. However, it was unlikely that the pregnancy and/or the mother would survive. Initially, her husband had wanted to end the pregnancy. He hadn't believed in their child in those days and had seen it only as a threat to her. She'd laughed his concerns off and protected the life inside her from its father. She had stopped laughing when the growing infant kicked and broke two of her ribs. She had panicked when the bruising became undeniable and the risk of internal damage became all too real.

Fortunately, her husband was not without means and called upon creatures of myth, fairies and fey. Their expertise in magical healing was amazing to behold, and if she hadn't been on the edge of death every time her unborn son moved inside her, she'd have been taking notes.

The birth had come closer to ending her life than she had expected. She'd known from the pregnancy that the birth was going to be difficult, but when at six months her son decided he wanted out and started tearing her apart in his efforts to escape. Well, say that she wasn't keen to repeat the event. Though that was not something she was going to have to worry about, the fey, despite being incredible, were not so incredible as to bring her through the birth without permeant damage. The damage that meant she would not carry any more children.

She had woken up three days after the birth of her son and had been happy.

She had assumed that after the birth everything would be fine, especially when her husband came to her with the tiny infant alive and swaddled in his arms. He handed the boy to her and Lisa had wept. She'd never expected to feel this kind of love.

Then her son broke her arm.

The infant had turned, looked up at her with bright golden eyes and smiled. Something no three days old should be able to manage. His wide grin revealed just one way her husband had come through in their son. She smiled back, and he wiggled in delight, pudgy legs kicking, tearing through the swaddling cloth as if it were tissue paper and hitting her radius.

Luckily, the fey were still on hand and had healed her arm in days rather than weeks.

But the incident revealed a problem she had never even thought possible.

Lisa couldn't pick up her son.

Her husband's heritage meant the infant was strong enough to do actual damage to her, and he was too young to understand this. If a happy wriggle could break her bones, it worried her what a tantrum might do. So she couldn't risk picking him up.

Having been an aspiring doctor/midwife for the collection of villages around her old home, she was used to hearing mothers complain about not having a spare moment, not having enough help and being unable to put their child, or children down to get anything else done. She had always sympathised with these women and she still did, but it was harder for her now.

"At least breastfeeding isn't an issue." She walked in on her husband feeding their son. He had opened a cut on his thumb for their boy to suckle, and the infant seemed perfectly happy to live this way. Her husband looked up at her and winced.

"Thankfully not," he said. "Though we should consider solid foods soon."

"He's barely a month old," Lisa said, coming to her husband's side and resting her fingers gently on her son's head. "He doesn't even have a name yet."

"He's growing fast."

"Perhaps milk?" She offered, stroking soft blonde hair.

"Tried it. He threw it up." Vlad leaned back and showed her a portion of his cape, which was very marked. Lisa snorted.

"I wish I had seen that." She couldn't keep the wistful tone out of her voice. "I feel like I'm missing so much." Vlad shuffled their boy into his other arm. The infant was mostly asleep by this point. His now free arm he wrapped around Lisa's waist.

"I'm sorry, love." He glanced at the sleeping infant. "He's a bloated thing." He handed the sleeping infant to her. "It should be fine." Lisa smiled and took their boy from her husband.

"I never thought I'd morn not being able to change him, or wash him, feed him." Her voice caught as she spoke. "But I do."

"You're not missing much with the changing part." Her husband pulled a face, but kept a watchful eye on his wife and child. "The smell makes my eyes water."

"Regardless."

"The bathing is interesting. He seems to both love and loathe the water." Her husband smiled. "Struggles something fierce, but laughs the entire time."

"Tell me next time," Lisa said. "I can at least watch."

"You want to watch me drown our boy?" Lisa rolled her eyes.

"I don't want to miss more than I have to." She weighed the child in her arms. "Is he bigger?"

"I think so," Vlad said. "He's growing ludicrously fast."

"He's barely a month," Lisa repeated her words from earlier. "But he looks three months, if not older." Her husband shrugged.

"I've never known one to live," he said. "I've heard stories about half breeds, but never have I come across one. Perhaps this is normal? He's not showing signs of illness? Little shit eats almost constantly."

"Don't swear in front of him."

"He's asleep," her husband grumbled and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a moment before resuming watching his wife and child. "Besides, it's accurate."

"No, it isn't," she cooed at her sleeping son. "He's my angel."

"So, he's yours when he's behaved. I see how it is." Her husband smiled. "You know he broke the crib again last night."

"I thought you reinforced it?" Lisa said.

"I did," Vlad laughed. "He's going to be very strong when he's older."

"He's strong now." Lisa could not stop her heartbeat from picking up as her son fidgeted in his sleep. "He's going to fuss." She handed him back to her husband.

"I told you he's nothing but trouble." His words did not match the look of affection on his face. "If you're hungry again, I'm going to end up looking like a raisin." Lisa snorted at the image in her mind.

"That would be an impressive feat for him to accomplish." She watched with soft eyes as her husband reopened the injury to his thumb and fed their son again. She only stopped when she felt his eyes on her.

"I truly am sorry, love."

"It cannot be helped." She tried to shrug, but it felt disingenuous. "But as soon as he's old enough to control his strength a bit, I'm going to cling to him for at least a month, possibly longer."

"He's going to end up spoiled," her husband muttered. "But while he is growing fast, it's still going to be some time before you can ruin him with far too much attention."

"It won't ruin him," Lisa said. "Besides, you cannot say that to me. I've seen you put him down all of once since he was born."

"It's different when I do it."

"What rubbish," Lisa smiled. "If anyone is ruining the boy, it's you."

"Slander," Vlad said. "But my point remains, it will be some time before you can shower him with your glorious motherly affection. I think it might help if you had something to connect you to the boy now."

"You've got something in mind?" Lisa had recognised her husband's tone.

"I do. I think you should give him his name." Lisa swallowed the lump that rapidly formed in her throat.

"You're just saying that so you don't have to think of one," she choked out. Her husband blustered briefly at the accusation.

"I have several very fine suggestions, but I think this would be a splendid opportunity for you to connect." Lisa couldn't help but laugh. Her husband raised an eyebrow at her.

"This reminds me of when children bring home lost animals, parents stop them from naming it because when you name it you become attached." She laughed louder. "I'm already attached."

"If you would rather…" her husband started.

"No," she blurted. "No, no, I'd love to name our son." She smiled widely. "I'll give it all my attention."

End Chapter One

In my head, it has always been Drac who named Adrian, not sure why but it has. Then I started writing this.

a

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