Part 4

"So the baby will be here around Thanksgiving," Aaron said looking so happy, that Penelope just had to kiss him.

"Around then yes, since you saved me from the smallpox in June and you said that vampire female gestation period is only two months. We didn't complete the bond until late September and it's only only October now, so I probably got pregnant that first time."

"Or it could've been the second or third time, as we made love nearly constantly for a week straight, but I get what you mean," Aaron agreed with a wide grin. "It probably happened the same day we completed the bond though, as that was a very strong bonding."

"Yes, it was, as it really knocked the breath out of me," Penelope said, as she studied her stomach where she could already see the little pregnancy bump, which made her look like she was at least three of four months along, even though she knew she could be more then two weeks at most.

"Me too," Aaron said. "It was nearly a physical force."

"Is that how it usually happens?" Penelope asked. She now knew that she could ask her mate anything and he would always answer her to the best of his ability or tell her if he didn't know the answer.

"I don't really know," Aaron admitted candidly. "I've never heard it described like that, however, that doesn't mean that it hasn't happened that way or that it doesn't happen that way every time. I've never met any vampires I'm close enough to that are mated in order to ask something so personal so for right now..."

"It's going to have to remain a mystery," Penelope finished and Aaron nodded.

"I'm afraid so," Aaron said. "Perhaps, one day we'll get an answer to our question, but until then, well, we might as well just forget about it."

"So what do you want a son or a daughter?" Penelope asked changing the subject.

"It doesn't really matter to me," Aaron shrugged. "Truly it doesn't," Aaron added when Penelope shot him a look of disbelief. "You're never going to get too old to have children, so it doesn't matter if we have a daughter this time or if we have a son as we are going to have plenty of opportunities to be parents since you got pregnant so easily this time."

"I don't want to be constantly pregnant though, so are you sure there's no way to prevent it until we want more?" Penelope asked and Aaron shook his head regretfully.

"No way that I know of. Of course, I don't know everything and maybe we'll find an answer sometime, so that you're not pregnant every few months or at most every year or so," Aaron said.

"I surely hope so, because even though I know I can't die in childbirth, I still I want to be able travel and not be pregnant constantly, every few months at the very least," Penelope said.

"We'll still be able to do a lot of traveling, because vampire babies aren't going to die in the womb past the first week or so," Aaron promised her, "as they are tough little buggers and you won't ever have a miscarriage I promise you or at the very least it isn't very likely. Vampire babies aren't like mortal ones, and they are very rarely miscarried and never stillborn."

"Well, that's good to know," Penelope said relieved, "but still, I don't want to be constantly pregnant."

"I can't really blame you there, because you're still going to experience things like back pain, but at least you won't get the swelling in your feet that a lot of women do when in the latter stages," Aaron said. "I doubt very much that the weight of the baby will bother you at all and you probably won't even waddle like a lot of pregnant woman do. However, there're some advantages to being a vampire, because you're not going to have a lot of the problems associated with pregnancy for a mortal female and all our children will be perfectly healthy. And so will you, so long as you get enough blood to help renew your energy and heal any injuries caused by the birth."

"So we don't have to worry about any of our children in getting any kind of human disease," Penelope said and Aaron nodded in agreement.

"No, they will remain perfectly healthy throughout their lives and they'll never even catch a cold, much less something more dangerous," Aaron promised.

"Well, that's good to know," Penelope said looking relieved, because so many children died from various diseases all the time, her brother being a case in point. "So at least we don't have to worry about them getting sick and possibly dying."

"Yes, that's one thing we don't have to worry about and one of the advantages of being a vampire," Aaron agreed. "I can hardly wait until he or she is born, as this child will be extra special, because you are my mate and therefore, any children we have will always be more special than if I just had them with some random woman."

"Have you had any children before this?" Penelope asked tentatively, as this was not usually a subject you brought up with your husband, but Aaron had made it clear that he didn't mind honest questions, no matter the subject matter.

"A few," Aaron answered honestly and without hesitation. "Mostly with other vampire females that I was in a relationship with for a few decades. Just like you and I did we pretended we were married whenever we were out in public, so that her reputation wouldn't be in tatters. I hope you know though that those females are a thing of the past now that we have found each other."

"I know that," Penelope promised him, as she kissed him gently. "As I told you not to long ago I trust you. I know that the bonding shows that we'll always love and be loyal to each other, as it is just nature's way of saying that we're a perfect match."

Aaron sighed in relief and took his very naked mate into his arms. "Good, so long as you remember that, you'll always know that I would never cheat on the love of my existence."

"I will," Penelope promised him solemnly. "Do we need to worry about finding a doctor or midwife?"

"No, that's not going to be necessary, as I know enough about helping women to give birth due to my previous relationships that I will make a very good helper for you. Besides, I was once a doctor more decades ago than I care to think about and I remember how it's done. Of course, things were much more primitive back then, then they are now, so I might want to see if I can find out about recent procedures, keep myself up to date on that particular aspect of doctoring," Aaron said. "I admit I really haven't been keeping track of recent discoveries."

"Well good, we won't have to worry about finding some strange doctor or midwife we're not sure if we can trust or not," Penelope said relieved.

"It's really easy tell if someone is being truthful, so long as you are a vampire, as all you have to do is listen to their heartbeat and if it speeds up whenever they're speaking, well, unless they're really good at lying it means that being truthful. Of course, the heartbeat also speeds up when somebody is scared or afraid as well, as your adrenaline is surging through your body in both those instances just like when you're lying. I'll teach you everything I know about how to tell when somebody's being honest and truthful and when they're lying, so that you won't be taken in by anybody easily. Very few humans can lie so calmly that the heartbeat doesn't change, but it has been known to happen," Aaron explained.

"Sounds like a very good idea," Penelope said appreciatively. "Of course, I think it can wait until after this little one is born."

"I don't know why, as you should still be able to do your normal activities, even though I know a lot of doctors recommend you don't make love for at least six weeks after the baby is born that won't be necessary for us and also they usually advise a woman to not to do anything to strenuous like lifting something heavy and that's really good advice for a mortal, but for a vampire it doesn't really matter, because you aren't going to lose the baby, like a mortal can," Aaron said.

"In other words, most of the advice that the doctor would give me doesn't apply, because I'm not mortal anymore," Penelope summarized and Aaron nodded.

"Exactly," Aaron agreed smiling at his mate's instant understanding. "Also a vampire's pregnancy is much more regulated than a mortal one, as vampire children are never late and also never early, so we'll know within a few days of when you're supposed to give birth, because you're no more than a couple of weeks pregnant and a vampire pregnancy is always exactly 2 months."

"Well, that does make it easier to estimate when I'll go into labor," Penelope said, "and I'll know to stay home for a few days before that event just in case our estimate is off."

"That would be the sensible thing to do," Aaron agreed.

"I can be very sensible when I want to be," Penelope told him with a grin. "Of course, I don't always obey the rules of society and only do activities that are considered suitable for women, but in this case I do plan on being very cautious, as I don't want to go into labor while I'm out shopping for instance."

"Man you do have a wild side, don't you," Aaron said amused. "You do know that you'd be called a lot of unsavory names if anybody, but your own family caught you doing things that are considered suitable for a mere female."

"If most men had their way, the women would be shackled to the home and wouldn't be allowed to go out at all, except on her husband's arm to be displayed like some kind of ornament or trophy. Someone that had no personality or emotions or intelligence of her own," Penelope snorted her opinion of what men thought was suitable for woman crystal clear.

Aaron actually snorted at that in order to suppress a chuckle, because his mate's opinion on the subject of what most men thought about women were very clear in that statement. He couldn't really blame her though, because she had seen how a lot of men treated women, even ones they weren't married to, but of course, she had never left the city of her birth and there was a much wider world out there. However, a lot of men did think like Penelope described, so her opinion was still very valid.

"A lot a men do act like that, although not all of them and not just vampire ones either. I'll slowly introduce you to the whole wide world that's out there and you'll see all kinds of behavior some of which you've probably never seen before, since I doubt you ever went more than a few miles from where you lived," Aaron said. "You likely had your favorite shops, places to eat and so forth, all within a few miles of your home."

"You know I never thought about it, but you're right I think I only went farther into the city then I usually did, maybe two or three times when I was growing up and always with my family, for some kind of special occasion," Penelope agreed. She thought about it for a few minutes having to dredge up memories of her childhood.

"So do we need to discuss baby names or have you decided on Simon if it's a boy and Margaret if it's a girl?" Aaron asked smiling.

"We can discuss middle names if you like, but I've already decided that whatever sex I get that they're going to be named after my parents," Penelope said and Aaron nodded.

"And I assured you earlier that's just fine," Aaron said. "We'll have plenty of children over our centuries, but I think it's only fair that I get to pick out the names next time."

"That sounds fine we can switch back and forth," Penelope agreed, "because as you said we'll have plenty of children over our centuries together."

"I love you so much, Penny and I'll love whatever children we have and I don't care what sex they are," Aaron told her tenderly, as he rubbed her slightly distended belly tenderly looking forward to the birth of his first child with his mate.

"I love you too," Penelope promised him, as she kissed him and Aaron responded immediately. The two kissed for quite sometime before they finally broke apart, one of the advantages of being a vampire was that you didn't need to breathe.

The two of them simply stood there for a few minutes wrapped in each others arms, although Penelope was the only one that was naked, which Aaron certainly appreciated, as he liked feeling in her skin beneath his hands, because to him at least it was as soft as silk, although he knew any mortal would find it not so soft. Of course, if anybody else tried to touch her in intimate way he would deal with the situation swiftly and that man would soon regret ever touching something that wasn't his to begin with.

"So what now?" Penelope asked him.

"I'm going to take you out and we'll do something special to celebrate the upcoming birth," Aaron grinned, as he picked up his mate and swung her around happily. He was so happy about this upcoming birth and he didn't care if they had several hundred children, although not all of the same time.

"Put me down," Penelope told him with affection in her tone.

"Your wish is my command, gorgeous," Aaron grinned and put Penelope back on her feet. "After we get back home I intend on ravishing you until you beg for mercy."

"We do a lot of that anyway," Penelope giggled, as she was so happy with Aaron and she was glad that her father had appeared and released the reservations she had been harbouring.

"And we'll do a lot of it in the future, as the bond between us will take awhile to mature and settle down," Aaron said. "Of course, after it does we'll still make quite a bit of love we just won't be so desperate for each other that we'll be able to go a little longer without practically attacking each other. I'm not exactly sure how I held out for four months or if I would've been able to hold out much longer, so I'm glad your father gave us his blessing."

"I am as well," Penelope said kissing him tenderly.

"Why don't you get dressed and we'll find something to do to celebrate our first child, that you're going to have in less than two months," Aaron said.

"Yes, sir," Penelope giggled and Aaron simply tried to swat her on her lovely round derrière, as she giggled again and avoided the swipe.

"Do you need any help getting dressed, gorgeous?" Aaron asked her solicitously.

"Probably," Penelope admitted. "Women's fashion sure is inconvenient. All those layers that you have to get into. I don't know how women who don't have any help do it, as I used to have the maid help me into and out of the rig that is considered necessary to be properly dressed at least for the rich."

"That will likely change in a few years, just be patient, because as you know fashions are always changing," Aaron told her.

"It can't come soon enough for me," Penelope said. "You men have it so lucky, as it only takes you a few minutes to get dressed."

"Well, I don't know why you can't dress in pants or something and not just when you're hunting as I suggested awhile back. I can help you learn to act like a man when you don't want to bother with all the layers that is considered necessary for a woman," Aaron said.

"You won't think any less of me if I don't act like a proper woman?" Penelope asked him a little tentatively.

"No, because I have no intention of stifling you and insist you only do activities that are considered appropriate for your sex. For one thing, although I know it's hard to understand, we live basically forever and you would get bored very quickly if you stuck to activities that are considered appropriate for a woman to do. Remember our discussion how I was going to teach you to ride properly and not sidesaddle." When Penelope nodded Aaron continued. "Well, that's certainly not considered appropriate for a woman, at least not a woman of your class, but I don't really care, as a vampire who is any age at all is going to not follow the conventions of society, particularly the females. Sure we follow the laws like we mostly don't cause trouble, we don't kill unless we absolutely have to, that kind of thing, but as for just ordinary conventions... like in order for a woman to be considered a lady has to stick to those activities appropriate for her sex...well, to vampires that's just silly, as there is a whole wide world out there. Now if you were human you probably would not consider such conventions silly, but trust me, in a few years you would be absolutely bored out of your skull if you stuck to just sewing, having children or doing charity work or whatever it is women do."

"Actually I always did consider the activities appropriate for women ridiculous," Penelope informed him feeling relieved, "but I also realize that if I hadn't been raised like I had where I was allowed to think for myself I probably wouldn't have."

"Yes, I admit that your upbringing was rather unconventional," Aaron said, "but I suspect that if you'd had a more conventional upbringing then you and I wouldn't be mates. I don't want some silly woman, that doesn't voice her thoughts or know how to think for herself and just did what she was told, never giving her opinion. Yes, I'm well aware that most men want a woman to obey his every word, but trust me, that would get very annoying after a century or two, because you'd basically be someone without a will of your own and that would get very staid at the very least. Vampires have different priorities, although I admit that's not true for all of them. A lot of humans, just don't have enough experience with the world to realize that treating females like chattel is not the way to go, as all that does is cause trouble. Of course, we also have our bad eggs just like human society does, but still, vampire females have more freedom then human ones do, at least with other vampires. If those females are intelligent, well, they learn how to use it subtly when out around mortals."

"So you've run across a lot of vampire females that do exactly what they want?" Penelope asked.

"Oh, yes, quite a few in my 600 years. Most vampires don't care what a mortal's opinion of them is, as they go their own way no matter what. I've already told you I had a few serious relationships that lasted for decades and those females certainly had more freedom with me and were basically free to do what they wanted so long as they were very discreet about it. We, of course, had to pretend to be married and we acted like a married couple whenever we were out in public, but other than that and the fact that we had sex with each other... Well, let's just say that we wouldn't have agreed to live together if we weren't at least attracted to each other. Still, it certainly wasn't really much of a relationship, not like the one we have anyway."

"So it was basically friends with benefits," Penelope said the term just coming to her suddenly.

"You know I've never heard a phrase like that before, but that's only because no human female would dare have sex, except with her husband if she didn't want to be shunned. Unfortunately, humans unlike vampires don't have hypnotic powers that can make a man forget exactly who they had sex with."

"We can do that?" Penelope asked startled, as this was something she had not known.

"Well, it's easier when the conscious mind is relaxed like when you're half asleep or drunk," Aaron explained. "Even when we aren't taking a human's blood for our meals we're able to attract our prey easily, as you've seen for yourself, but that's only because humans are distracted by the fact that we are so handsome or gorgeous and they are attracted to our looks. Really most humans aren't very strong minded, although I have known a few that can resist a vampire hypnotic suggestion. Vampires are naturally attractive to humans and most don't realize that they're not talking to just an ordinary mortal. The reason this is, is it makes to easy to attract whoever you want to feed off of as humans are programmed to respond to someone who is extremely beautiful male or female. Really, we look like gods and goddesses, because we have no imperfections on our skin, like a birthmark and even though it's completely white it still has a healthy glow to it."

"So you're saying that humans are naturally attracted to us, just because we look so utterly perfect," Penelope summarized and Aaron nodded in confirmation.

"That's why you've never had any trouble luring your prey, although I admit it works easier on the males, because you're an attractive female and it's vice versa for me," Aaron explained.

"Yes, I had noticed that," Penelope admitted slowly. "We're just kind of made to be attractive to the opposite sex, except other vampires, who are just as gorgeous as we are."

"Yes, to varying degrees, as I've met some vampires both male and female who were so stunningly drop dead gorgeous that they couldn't possibly be human, much more so then your ordinary, garden-variety vampires."

"So you're saying that both of us are about average in looks at least when it comes to vampire standards, but to humans we are undeniably more attractive then any mortal," Penelope summarized.

"Exactly," Aaron agreed. "Now you get dressed, and I'll change clothes and we'll go out for nice dinner."

"Yes, sir," Penelope said with a teasing, flirty smile.

"Go on, before I decide to keep you here as my prisoner," Aaron mock growled at her causing Penelope to giggle, a sound that was very pleasant to hear, which was why Aaron tried to get her laughing as often as possible.

Penelope disappeared into their bedroom and Aaron admired the way she sauntered, likely just for his benefit, before following.

~~~Aaron and Penelope~~~