Chapter 7

"We got off lucky this time," Livia said holding up a pregnancy test.

It was about a week after their lunch with Livia's friend Alifair.

Dave saw the minus symbol on the test.

"Well, it looks like we dodged the bullet this time," Dave said, just a little disappointed that his mate wasn't pregnant, even though they knew that neither one of them was anywhere near ready to start a family. He had just gotten so excited about the fact that his mate might be pregnant, even though he knew she might not be, that he had gotten his hopes up, but apparently his hopes were displaced.

Someday, a few years down the road, they would be ready to start that family though, and then Dave's dreams would come true.

"Yeah, we have plenty of time to have as many children as we want, but why rush it along, since I'm still young enough to wait a few years to take that step?"

"Actually, you'll be able to have children until the very end of your life once you take that potion," Dave said. "Dragon shifters often have multiple babies, decades, and even centuries apart, even if that's only one at a time. Remember, you'll be young for many hundreds of years, just as I will be so we can have one or two this time around when we're ready of course, and then one or two more later on. What this means is you won't lose your fertility like every other species does until you're very old."

"I didn't know that, but still, I suppose, it makes sense since you've already established I'll still be young and beautiful and able to procreate hundreds of years from now. I just hadn't thought about the fact that I'd be able to have children if I wanted to 1000 years from now or anytime in between," Livia commented.

"Yeah, well give whatever children we have time to grow up and mature before we have anymore," Dave said. "Dragon shifters mature slowly and they'll barely act like 18-year-olds, even when they're 50. Our infants stage is long and so is our childhood."

"So they're still be acting like teenagers when they are a hundred?" Livia asked.

"They aren't really considered fully mature adults until they're at least 200 years old," Dave confirmed.

"That's a long childhood stage," Livia whistled. "I'm surprised governments haven't discovered shifters, considering how long your childhood stage is."

"It's only mentally and emotionally that we age so slowly not physically, Livia, so if you consider that is not so surprising that the government hasn't discovered shifters," Dave explained smiling at Livia's naïve assumption.

"Ah! Well, that makes more sense," Livia said. "I know humans who acted like teenagers, even when they were in their 30s so I shouldn't be surprised that paranormals are the same."

"Dragon shifters are the only paranormal species that mature so slowly, as all the others mature at the same rate as humans," Dave explained.

"Why do you mature so slowly, though?" Livia asked curiously. "If you are the only species that does so what makes you so different from every other species?"

"Dragon shifters are practically bottomless wells of energy and magic, and we can perform many actions that others can't, not without killing themselves of putting themselves in a coma. Because of this, our lifespan is much longer than anybody else's while our maturity rate is much slower," Dave explained. "There is a legend that says that dragon shifters were not originally born on this planet and came from another dimension entirely."

"Do you think that's true? Do you believe that your species is originally from another plane? That it isn't just a legend?" Livia asked blinking at that information to show she was shocked.

"I have no idea, as I'm not that old, not as old as dragon shifters go anyway. While I've been around awhile, this was supposedly back after the destruction of the dinosaurs, which was a very long time ago," Dave said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's just a myth and it might be true, but I have no idea if it is or not. On the other hand, I have no idea how this world created dragon shifters in the first place if they didn't originally come from another plane, but I've always thought that maybe it was just a mutation of shifter genes, but that's just a theory not fact. I could very well be wrong and probably am, but since I have no information one way on the other, I don't dwell on it."

"It doesn't really matter, I'm just curious," Livia admitted.

"I don't blame you for being curious, but there's no way I can answer your question," Dave said.

"It's OK," Livia said. You can't tell me if you don't know the answer yourself after all."

"I'm almost sorry that you're not pregnant, as I was really looking forward to you growing with our child, but while I'm a little disappointed, it's really just as well, as we weren't ready to start a family yet," Dave said.

"No, we're not as I'm only 25 and I'd like to be a little older before we have a child to look after," Livia said. "That doesn't mean I'm not disappointed that I'm not pregnant just as you are it's just that we really need to get married first."

"I won't argue about marriage, but we need to do it because that's what we want not just so people won't talk," Dave said. "People are going talk regardless, and I don't see the point of spending the money on a wedding, just for appearances, when neither one of us have that many people we wish to invite."

"You don't have anyone you want to invite to your nuptials?" Livia asked in surprise.

"A few people sure, but not enough to go to the expense of a big wedding. I know many people, but that doesn't mean I want to invite them to the ceremony just so they can see us commit to each other. I know a lot of people on both sides of the divide, but I have few close friends just like you. As for my relatives who live in Italy, they won't care one way or the other, though I do need to introduce you to them I know, that."

"Well, we're quite the pair aren't we?" Livia said her lips twitching trying to contain her amusement.

"Yes, we are," Dave agreed smiling. "I mean, I know business people, high society people, artists, bankers and even conmen, so you see, I know plenty of people, but that doesn't mean I want to invite them to my wedding."

"You know a conman?" Livia giggled. "People who basically live their lives from bilking, others out of their hard earned money?"

"The guy I know is retired from that type of business and owns a shop in Cairo Egypt," Dave said. "I should say he used to be a conman. We've known each other for a long time and since I helped him get out of that life, he was so grateful he always does what I ask without question. I always make sure I pay him whenever I ask him for a favor."

"And how do you really know he went straight as I believe it's called?" Livia asked. "He could still be stealing from people behind your back."

"That's true, except for the fact, that I keep a close eye on him and he doesn't want to earn my wrath, trust me on that. He would regret lying to me if I found out he's gone back to his old ways and he'd be in more trouble than he'd be able to handle," Dave said his expression rather ferocious. "He'd rather have me on his side and not as his enemy."

"I won't ask how you keep an eye on him just to make sure he doesn't slip back into his old ways," said Livia.

"I'll tell you anyway," Dave said, kissing her cheek affectionately, still getting used to the fact that he had found found his mate just like the seer had predicted he would centuries ago. "One thing I do is I go to Cairo at least once a year to check up on him but this time you can come with me when I do that and we can explore some of Egypt while we're there. Number two, when he's right in front of me, he can't lie to me, as I can always tell, even if it's a half truth, as I can read him with no trouble, body language and such. I've never met anyone yet the way I can't read their body language, even though some people are good at controlling it. Number three, I always check his books and every one of his old hiding places, where he used to store what he had stolen temporarily. He used to have hidey-holes all over the city and I always check them to make sure he isn't hiding a second set of books. Four, I never tell him when I'm coming as it's totally random so he can't prepare for my visit by hiding that second set of books somewhere I don't know about."

"Well, that's quite a system you have," Livia decided. "Just to make sure that your friend doesn't go back to taking peoples money."

"He wasn't really the type to bilk people of their money directly, more the type to sell them a bill of goods and claim it's authentic and then take their money before going on his way."

"So he sold them some kind of product and claimed it was the genuine deal," Livia asked, trying to understand what Dave meant as here she had no experience.

"Egypt is filled with artifacts that are thousands of years old, and some people make their money making replicas of things like vases, soap dishes, jewelry boxes or scarab beetles and then claim they were found in the tomb of some pharaoh or one of the queens of Egypt. People who are interested in Egyptian artifacts often don't know the real from the fakes and so spend an enormous amount of money on it, and sometimes they can't afford to spend that money, which then leaves that person in severe financial trouble. I know I can't stop people from conning others, but I helped this guy out by giving him some money to start his own shop so long as he stopped his other line of work and so far he seems to be keeping his word."

"I think I understand," Livia said.

"Oh, you will, once you have a little bit more experience with people," Dave said, "as you're still young and in someways, very naïve, even having grown up in the foster care system. You'll lose that naivete eventually."

"I likely never would've had such an experience as you describe if we had never met, as I kept mostly to myself, because of my visions and my weird silver eyes," Livia said.

"Your eyes disconcert people," Dave said. "You said, when we first met, that you deliberately used them to intimidate people so they backed off on asking any personal questions."

"Yeah, they did, as I said earlier I kept mostly to myself," Livia said.

"But Alifair wasn't intimidated," Dave said. "Then she is a witch, so she knew that you were also a paranormal, which I'm sure helped to not be intimidated by your unusual eyes, even when they are not glowing."

"She's about the only one other than you that has never been intimidated by my eyes, so I feel free to not wear my sunglasses when I'm around you two, but as for anybody else..." said Livia.

"Other humans will likely be rather fearful, but as for other paranormals, well, maybe some of them, especially once they learn that you can see the future they probably won't want you to tell them their future," Dave said.

"Not even if it will prevent their death, just for example," Livia said "I mean, if I knew the people in my visions, I could give them information that might help them prevent getting injured or ending up dead."

"You could, but they'd have to trust you first and if you hadn't established a relationship then, no, they'd likely dismiss whatever you tell them. Of course I'm assuming we're talking about paranormals not humans as you couldn't tell a human about your gift," Dave said.

"I'm pretty sure that I only see those that are part of our world and not humans," Livia said.

"That makes sense," Dave said thoughtfully. "That's actually how such abilities like yours usually works."

"Yeah, I can see that, as I don't think whoever sends me these visions is going to give me see things about humans who have no idea about supernatural powers unless it involves a supernatural and a human then maybe I'll have a vision with a human in it," Livia said.

"That's very logical," Dave said "and also, you're absolutely right."

"So what about we head upstairs?" Livia suggested after a few minutes of silence. "There's no chance of getting me pregnant since I'm on the pill now."

"Which is a shame, but still that's a great suggestion. I'm always happy to be of service in anyway you want me, but making love to you has to be my absolute favorite thing to do!" Dave exclaimed, and the enthusiasm in his voice made Livia smile.

"Men! You're all the same," Livia teased him. "Offer you sex and you'll do anything a woman wants!"

"What can I say really, except that you're my mate and making love to you is supposed to be out of this world, something I have discovered is absolutely true, so tell me why wouldn't I want to keep making love to you, so long as you'll let me?"

Livia simply laughed at Dave's rejoinder and the two headed upstairs to what was now both their bedroom not just Dave's.

~~~Dave and Livia~~~

Several weeks later

"Oh Dave, you shouldn't have," Livia said, as she looked at all the new clothes Dave had bought without telling her. He had gotten her size exactly right too, but it wouldn't have been hard for him to check the tags of the clothes she had brought from her motorhome while she wasn't present or even the clothes she had brought here and left. She could've gone outside for a few minutes, for example leaving Dave to his own devices it wouldn't have taken him long to check the sizes of her shirts and pants and her underthings.

Dave had been in her motorhome a few times since they had begun seeing each other and Livia remembered leaving him alone for a few minutes so that's when he must've checked out her clothes then. Livia blushed as she imagined Dave looking at her plain underthings, her underwear and bras and checking sizes.

There was nothing fancy about her undergarments as they were plain white cotton, no lace and no silk, as such things more expensive than the cotton ones. She had of course, gone for the cheapest thing available that fit reasonably well. Of course, truthfully, all her clothes were as cheap as they could possibly be T-shirts and pants and were just like her undergarments mass produced by machine in some factory.

The two of them were in the master bedroom, and Livia had seen the racks of clothes waiting on her off to one side.

"Do you like my present?" Dave asked her smiling already knowing the answer.

"I love your present," Livia said, clapping her hands excitedly, as she ran her hands gently over all the fine fabrics that were much nicer than anything else she had ever owned. She certainly hadn't been able to afford this kind of quality that was presented to her on these racks. "I've never owned anything so nice."

There were all types of clothes from blouses to pants to even a few dresses and skirts. Dave had even bought underwear that was made of silk, and she never owned a pair of silk underwear in all her life. There were also bras made of the same material and both those and the panties were various colors, red, pink, white, blue, purple, yellow, even black. The underthings had delicate lace on them and Livia loved them immediately as she was enough of a woman to like pretty things, even if no one would ever see them except her and Dave.

"I should be embarrassed that you bought intimate things for me, as that's usually something only a woman buys for herself. Most men would never imagine going to buy a woman's underthings for them even if that woman was their wife or daughter. It isn't usually a man's territory."

"Don't worry, I didn't actually go out and buy all these clothes for you," Dave told her. "I just hired a personal shopper and she did the shopping. I just gave her your sizes and told her to go all out and to get you a whole new wardrobe. I told her if there was something in particular you didn't like or that didn't fit then she could take it back."

"You actually hired a personal shopper?" Livia asked. "It seems like a useless expense when I'm perfectly capable of buying my own clothes."

"The question is, whether or not you would have bought things like this or gone bought what you usually do and that's as cheap as possible," Dave told her bluntly, but not unkindly. "This avoided a possible argument by me hiring this personal shopper who's name is Miss Adina Stewart to do the shopping for you. If you like what she chose, she can pay you a personal visit and you can go over your likes and dislikes and she'll do whatever shopping you want her to."

"I won't say you're wrong," Livia admitted biting her lower lip to stop herself from chastising Dave for spending so much money on her. It was his money, Livia kept reminding herself silently. He could spend it however he liked, and if he chose to spend it on her, then that was his privilege and she had no right to complain about his generosity. "If I'd gone shopping for myself, I probably would've done the same thing I always do and bought the cheapest thing that I liked. I usually stuck to T-shirts with sarcastic sayings on the front and cheap jeans or slacks, and my underwear was cotton with no lace at the waist or on the legs. I don't have room for all this in my motorhome, as there must be at least 20 or 30 outfits here."

"Clothes you definitely need," Dave told her firmly. "Miss Adina, also bought you multiple pairs of designer sunglasses and you can decide on what style you prefer and then she'll pick you up a few more pairs in different colors."

"This is too much Dave," Livia finally protested, even as she still ran a gentle hand over a beautifully made blouse in a lovely Kelly Green. "I mean, you've already given me so much I don't need anything else."

"You deserve every bit of it," Dave told her firmly. "The government might've kept you fed and put a roof over your head, but what clothes they bought you were cheap and ill made. Even after you aged out of the foster care system you still couldn't afford to buy really expensive things, especially since you were only selling online.

"Your online store was more of a hobby than anything else, even if it brought in enough for you to feed yourself and put gas in your motorhome and also helped you afford that home in the first place. Please don't argue about the new wardrobe or anything else I do for you. I do it because I love you and I want only the best for you. I don't expect anything in return except your love, which you have already given me and that is more than enough."

Livia was overwhelmed by Dave's generosity and turned away from her examination of all the new clothes that Dave had had delivered and jumped into his arms, kissing him all over his face, not caring about his bristly beard.

"You are the nicest, most generous person I have ever met," Livia told him once she was done, giving him a very passionate and possessive kiss on the lips which Dave not only didn't object to, but eagerly participated. "These clothes are the most beautiful clothes I have ever seen and the most gorgeous ones I have ever owned. I can't wait to try them on," Livia told him.

"Go right ahead, I'll enjoy the show I promise. You need to see how everything fit in case it needs to be adjusted or taken back," Dave told her with a smirk now that he knew that Livia wasn't going to put up an argument about him hiring someone to buy her a whole new wardrobe, as he had seen how she was biting her bottom lip, as if preventing herself from arguing with him over the new wardrobe.

"You don't have to be so smug about the fact that I didn't put up much of an argument," Livia told him sharply.

"I'm actually really happy you didn't argue more, as you wouldn't have changed my mind and that just would have made both of us angry at each other. I know you're used to looking after yourself, but now you have me, and I plan on spoiling you rotten something I already warned you I was going to do, so no protesting, when I buy you something, especially if it's expensive."

"I can't win, can I?" Livia said, resigned.

"About me spoiling you rotten? Absolutely not!" Dave told her. "You deserve a lot of spoiling considering you were never spoiled by your parents since at least your mother is dead and your father probably is too."

"Alright then, I suppose I'll have to give in," Livia sighed in resignation. "The sunglasses, really are too much though, Dave. I've never worn designer before and I don't know why I should start now. The cheap ones have always been enough for me."

"Just like the clothes, you could never afford more than a cheap pair of sunglasses as designer ones can be quite high in price. These aren't 15 sunglasses from someplace like Walmart. These are expensive brand names."

"Believe me, I know how high designer sunglasses can run as I often went to look at the display of them in the glasses section just to see what they had, but I also knew I could never afford them," Livia said, even as she tried on a pair with pink frames taking them out of their case and trying them on for size.

"Those look really good on you, honey. Why don't you go check out your image in the mirror in the bathroom," Dave suggested.

There was a large mirror above the sink in the bathroom, which was pretty standard for sinks in bathrooms, as all of them had mirrors over them and Livia went to check out her image, as Dave suggested, since it was only a few steps away.

"I have to admit they look pretty damn good on me," Livia said, as she studied herself in the bathroom mirror. The sunglasses were frameless, but the arms were a pink wire and looked delicate, and the frames were tinted just enough for them to block out the glare of the sun no matter how bright, but for Livia to still be able to see through the lenses. The lenses were also actual glass instead of whatever they used for the cheaper glasses so they could be broken a lot easier.

"Why don't you try on these that have the lenses tinted in purple," Dave suggested holding up a pair of purple tinted sunglasses that he had already taken out of their case. "You'll look even better in these purple ones, as you have the coloring for that color. They'll go well with your long black hair and your skin tone."

Livia did as Dave suggested and took the purple tinted lenses ones from Dave hand and without having to leave the bathroom. She studied herself in the mirror and thought that these were her favorite so far as Dave had been right she looked spectacular in the sunglasses with the purple tinted lenses.

"You have an excellent eye," Livia complemented her mate. "You were right, these go well with my skin tone and black hair."

"And they'll go well with any outfits that contain that color purple just like the pink ones will go well with any outfits that have pink," said Dave.

"There must be a couple of dozen pair of sunglasses cases, and I don't need that many Dave," Livia told him.

"You just need to choose a particular style that you like and then you can buy pairs in various colors to go with your various outfits so that you match, since I know that's important to most women."

"And what do you know about things like matching accessories?" Livia asked him with an eyebrow raised in amusement, and a little smirk on her lips.

"I just know that most women like everything to match from their clothes to their shoes to their accessories like sunglasses. They like to coordinate down to the last detail. That way they look even better than they do before they coordinate their outfits including their accessories." Dave said with a shrug, knowing he was being teased.

"You're not wrong," Livia said giving Dave a break mostly because he was right. "In my case, my wardrobe was small, as not only did I have limited space on the RV. I didn't have the money to buy a whole lot of coordinating outfits. I never owned anything really fancy because there was no point, since I never went anywhere that required that kind of thing. You seemed determined to correct that now though, if all the clothes out in the other room are any indication."

"I'd be happy if you still wore T-shirts, blouses, slacks and jeans, but people will accept you more easily if you dress for success, as the saying goes. It is a saying for a reason," Dave pointed out. "That I provided the wardrobe nobody else has to know and never will unless you tell them."

"People pay far more attention then they should to others, especially if they are wealthy and well connected and look like movie stars," Livia opinioned.

"I won't disagree," Dave said. "It is the way of society though, so you need to look the part, so no one will question you no matter where you go so long as you look and act like you belong. No one will ever know differently and soon you will belong in truth. Just wait and see."

"Like people won't know that I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth," Livia snorted sounding very cynical.

"A lot of wealthy people weren't though, as they earn their money a dollar at a time and while I inherited a lot of my wealth, I've increased the money my ancestors had by a lot over the years. It helps that I am several hundreds years old, so I've had a lot of time to learn about what makes a good investment. You'll eventually get that same experience."

Since Dave was right Livia conceded the point. She well remembered Dave's promise to help her invest her own money and would remind him sometime soon.

Livia walked back into the other room and got several other pairs of sunglasses to try on and soon she had tried on all that Adina Stewart had brought for her to try. She really liked a lot of them, but one particular brand was the winner and so Livia set the one from that brand aside to keep. She would tell Miss Adina to get every pair in the brand she chose in every color they had, through Dave, of course.

"These are my favorite," Livia said. "The others are nice, but right now, I like this style and this brand the best."

"We'll have Miss Adina get you every single pair in that style and brand then, different color frames and lenses so that you can coordinate with any outfits," Dave said.

Dave wasn't surprised to discover it was the pair he had handed her with the purple tented lenses that she had like the best, but still, it was quite the compliment.

"I won't argue, although I know that particular brand of sunglasses is hideously expensive," Livia said with a wince, as she remembered the prices for designer sunglasses. "I believe they're Gucci and run at least 300 to at least a 1000 and that's just for one pair! A pair! Do you know how many sketchbooks and pencils I could buy with that kind of money that only one pair of Gucci sunglasses cost?"

"Hundreds," Dave said with a smile. "While what you said is true that doesn't mean you don't deserve nice things and not just the cheap cotton and plastic frames lenses that you were wearing."

"Absolutely!" Livia said falling silent, and Dave saw her eyes roll back in her head, and he realized after a few seconds she was going into a vision the first one since they had met several months ago. Apparently, the break from her visions was over. Dave stepped forward quickly and caught Livia before she hit the ground and then lowered her gently.

"I need my sketching supplies," Livia said having regained her voice, even as her eyes glowed silver to show she was in the midst of a vision.

"I'll get them. Your bag is in the living area," Dave said, as he picked Livia up enough to lean her up against one of the walls of the master bedroom and then hurried to get Livia's satchel that she usually kept on her at all times.

Dave was back quickly and handed Livia her sketchpad and a pencil. Dave then stood back and watched as his mate accepted the sketchbook and pencil and started to draw.

A shape of a person quickly formed on the page, and Dave watched as the picture took shape. Livia's concentration was total and Dave decided he'd go fix some lunch while Livia drew, as she didn't need him right now. He'd see whatever images she drew when they were completed not before, as he wasn't going to disturb her. He wasn't entirely sure he could disturb her concentration, so it was probably best if he just left until she was done. He was sure that she would come and find him when her vision ended.

Dave left the room, knowing that the fashion show he had been looking forward to would have to wait until Livia came out of whatever vision she was having.

~~~Dave and Livia~~~