18. Patrick

Chapter 18

Patrick

I t was nice to be back, but the unexpected fertile period threw everything off. We were gone longer than intended, and not everything that was planned was accomplished. Not that either of us was really complaining—we weren't. But we were gone a bit longer than either of us intended, and now we would have to try and catch up.

"Patrick?"

I grinned. I couldn't help it. Even after all of this time, I still smiled every time Arthur reached out to me. Even if it was just to tell me he loved me, my heart still beat a little faster for those few moments.

"I'm in our quarters still," I told him. I'd managed to get Edric off to school, but I was honestly still recovering a bit, it seemed. I felt tired, and that wasn't unusual for me after a fertile period.

"Patrick?"

My smile grew. "In our room," I called out. I was trying to get myself together, but after I'd taken Edric down to the classroom, I'd come back to our quarters and all but collapsed on our bed. Moments after letting Arthur know where I was, he entered our room. The smile that had been on his face when he walked through the door quickly vanished.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling poorly?"

I shook my head. "Not overly. I'm tired, but it normally takes me a few days to recover from a fertile cycle. We had to return home, so I didn't really get a chance to recover." I could tell Arthur was suddenly conflicted. I reached out for him, and when he took my hand, I was grateful. "I'm fine. Truly. I simply need a couple more days of resting, and then all will be as if it was before we went to Montana."

"I wish you would have reached out through our bond this morning. I would have come to help you in any way I could." Arthur sat beside me on the bed. "At the minimum, I would have taken Edric to school."

It took effort to not roll my eyes. "I'm not an invalid. I simply want a morning nap. There was no issue at all with me getting Edric up and off to school. He was happy to see his friends after so much time apart." I smiled, remembering the morning vividly. "Personally, I think he really wants to brag about all of the time he spent with the dragons. But that's my opinion."

"What can I get you?" Arthur asked. "Water? Snacks? Tea? Coffee?"

I smiled. "I'm fine. I think I'll have a lazy day and spend it resting in bed or on the couch. The biggest help would be fetching Edric later."

"Done. You know I will. Not that he truly needs fetching. He's here on the grounds, just out back in the schoolhouse."

I chuckled. That was true. When the coven started having a baby boom, Arthur had the school building built. Well, he'd used magic to build it, but he'd gone through all of the proper channels and had all of the permits and inspections. We always made sure to do things by the book in the human world when it came to things of that nature. We needed to cover our tracks if it became absolutely necessary.

"Did you wish for me to rest with you?"

I wanted to say yes but shook my head. "No, I'll get more rest if you're doing your own thing. If you're in bed with me, I'll not be able to sleep, and we both know where things will go then."

Arthur smirked. He knew exactly what I was implying and also that I wasn't incorrect. If he joined me, I wouldn't be able to rest, and then we'd end up naked and doing things that certainly wouldn't involve sleeping.

"Very well. I'll simply tidy up here at home, and if you need anything, you just call out."

I tugged on the front of Arthur's shirt. When he fell forward, bracing himself on either side of me with his hands on the bed, I grinned. "Of course I'll do that." I placed my hand on the side of his face. "You know that I truly do wish for you to join me in bed, right? But that I need rest at the moment."

Arthur leaned down and kissed me gently. "I know. Which is why I'll be out in the outer rooms. I love you, and yes, I do remember how you need time to recover from your fertile periods. I'm upset with myself for not remembering already. I should have stayed home this morning and taken care of you."

I rubbed my thumb along Arthur's jaw. "No, you have plenty to do." A yawn overcame me, and I was too slow to try and cover it.

Arthur leaned down and kissed my nose. "Rest. I'll bring you lunch in a bit, and then you will rest some more. Once Edric is home, he and I will both be here to take care of you. Classwork shall be accomplished, and then our evening meal. Your only task is to rest. Anything I need to do with the coven can wait another day or two."

"Are you certain?" I'd already kept him away from the coven for a full week when I knew he'd only intended a few days when he arrived in Montana.

"Yes, now rest." Arthur kissed me again, this time on the lips and lingering just a bit. "I'll be a loud shout away, or reach out through our bond. I have some paperwork I can do here, and if anything is pressing and Costas can't deal with it, I'll run out, take care of things, and then come home to you once more."

I yawned again. "Sorry. I can't seem to stay awake."

"Then don't. Let your body relax and rest." Arthur kissed me once more before he stood and stared down at me. "I'll not be far, and I'll check in on you periodically. Rest, my love."

I nodded, already on my way to dozing off. I heard Arthur's footsteps after they left the thick rug that was around our bed, and moments later, they disappeared completely as he walked out of the room. I had only been in Montana a couple of days before Arthur joined us. We'd spent the five days of my fertile period there together. Well, four and a half. We'd spent another day there simply because neither of us was very coherent and spent it sleeping. Then we'd spent the next day with me still resting and Arthur getting up and around. He'd, of course, taken care of me, but he'd also met with his parents. I know he had discussed a little about our new coven members, but Edison hadn't had a whole lot of information to give us beyond what he'd already shared.

The next day, we'd come home—Arthur doing the magic. I'd been taking it easy since, and that had been three days ago. I was a bit surprised, really. I should have bounced back by now. My fertile period had ended six days ago. It had never taken me this long to recover before.

I was obviously becoming too old for fertile periods, and they were probably going to come to an end soon enough. Oh well. I'd deal with that a bit later. The need to rest was too much to resist any longer, and I let my mind rest completely.

I woke feeling terrible, and if not for the fact that I had magic and could magically put myself in the bathroom in a blink, I would have gotten sick in our bed. It was as I was kneeling over the toilet, expelling the meager contents of my stomach into the commode, that I felt him. I didn't have time to say hello though. I was too busy getting sick to think about what I'd just discovered.

I heard commotion behind me, and when a familiar aura surrounded me, I felt a sense of peace, which seemed to help.

"I'm here, my love." Immediately, a cool cloth was on the back of my neck. Arthur moved it across my neck, then around the sides. When I reached up and pulled on the little lever, I sat up, and the lid of the toilet bowl was suddenly closed as everything swirled around and then away. I glanced at Arthur, seeing not only love but concern on his face. "Are you all right?"

I sighed when he wiped my forehead, then my cheeks. "I will be. Could you help me up so I can rinse my mouth?"

Arthur didn't even answer; he simply jumped into action. I was lifted up off the floor and into my One's arms. I was incredibly thankful for that because my body felt weaker than it ever had before. Arthur placed me on the counter between the two sinks and then turned one of the faucets on. He kept one hand on me while he reached toward the sink. When he brought his other back, in it was a cup filled with water.

I took the paper cup with a shaky hand while Arthur's moved down my torso. When it came to rest on my lower abdomen, we both felt the pulse from our unborn son. That was all it took for me to burst into tears.

Arthur's eyes went wide before he wrapped me in his arms. "Shh. I'm here, my love. This is what we've always wanted, no?"

I couldn't answer, so I tried to nod in agreement. I was pregnant. I wasn't sure it would ever happen again after Alistair. Then I'd become pregnant with Edric, and we'd both been elated. But since then, my fertile periods had become erratic again, and when I had one, I didn't catch. Until now. We both had just sensed the little warlock that I was carrying. There was no denying the fact that we were going to become fathers again.

"Are you upset because you're pregnant? Or are you emotional?"

I pulled back enough to look up at Arthur. "Emotional," I managed to get out. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. It somewhat worked, but not well. I was able to finally rinse my mouth, and when I was finished, Arthur picked me up again and carried me from the bathroom. I expected him to take me back to our bed, but instead, he left the bedroom and carried me to our couch. He had a fire going, and when he sat with me on his lap, I snuggled in.

"Don't get too comfortable," Arthur told me. "Here, you need to drink this," he said as he held out a mug of quite familiar tea. I took it, my hands a bit steadier now than they were just moments ago, but they still weren't strong enough that I would trust myself to carry a newborn baby.

"Is it the one that will make me sleep?"

"Not as of yet. If you keep having sickness, we might have to resort to that. This is the one that will calm your stomach. It's all you have ever required, but each pregnancy is different, and I'm simply trying to remain open to things changing drastically."

He wasn't wrong. With every pregnancy, I'd had at least some sickness. But the tea had always been more than enough to keep my stomach under control. I hoped that would remain the case because I was too busy to have to take the one that made omegas and carriers sleep all of the time. I didn't have time for that.

I took a sip of the tea, closing my eyes and sighing as the warm brew coated my tongue and then my throat as I swallowed. It helped soothe the burning sensation from having just retched, and I was thankful for the change in not only sensation but taste in the back of my mouth.

I drank several more sips before I laid my head on Arthur's shoulder and closed my eyes. "I'm pregnant, Arthur."

I felt Arthur chuckling. I would try to glare at him if I had the energy, but I simply didn't have it at the moment.

"Yes. That can be a result of a carrier spending a fertile period with a sire. That is how we've gotten our four other children."

That comment earned him a very weak and playful tap on the middle of his chest. "I'm aware of that. But Edric is eight. I've not gotten pregnant since I gave birth to him."

"True. But we're an older couple. It's not unheard of for couples our ages to either not have more children or to have them quite spaced apart."

I nodded and then took another drink. "True." I thought about it a moment. "Five is a good number," I said. It was how many Edison and Wallace had.

"It is. I've always said we would have as many as you wanted and we were blessed with. If you wish to have five more, I'll be there to support you in all ways and make sure it happens."

Another reason to love this man. He had never had a negative thought toward me. When he found me in Zürich all those centuries ago, I was incredibly young, could only do very basic magic, and had been incredibly inexperienced in not only sexual relations but life in general. Arthur hadn't thought less of me for it. In fact, he'd simply loved me, helped me explore myself sexually, and we'd immediately started working on my magical abilities.

"I love you," I said quietly. I knew he heard me though. His arms tightened around me. I smiled, took another drink of tea, and then rested my head again. "Do you think it will stay? The pregnancy, I mean."

"I'm not going to even entertain anything otherwise. You have never lost a pregnancy; I don't believe you will this time. In a little over four months, we will welcome another bundle of happiness into our lives, and we'll love him as much as we love all of our children."

My smile grew. He was correct, of course. "It makes so much sense," I said.

"What does?"

"Sorry, I'm still tired." I glanced down at the tea and wondered if he'd mixed them up by accident.

"The tea isn't the sleepy one. Your body is still recovering, not only from your fertile period but also the fact that you were just sick. That takes a lot of energy from you."

It was my turn to chuckle. "That's what I was meaning before. It now made sense as to why I haven't recovered from my last fertile period. I'm pregnant, and my body is sending energy elsewhere."

"Yes. You will need to eat snacks. Many, like you did when you were pregnant with Edric."

I nodded but groaned at the same time. For the first month when I was pregnant with Edric, I'd been incredibly tired and had to eat often. I'd felt as if that was all I did, and it made me feel stuffed all of the time. But it was only for a few weeks' time, and if that was what I had to do in order to give Arthur another son, I would.

"Fruit is always good," I said.

"Yes, but perhaps some cheese and crackers. Maybe some small bites of meats as well."

I grinned. "I'm always down for a good charcuterie board, and you know that."

Arthur chuckled again. "Would you like to start now?"

"What time is it?"

"Around eleven. It's not yet quite lunchtime. If you'd like something smaller, I could get you some toast or perhaps a bagel?"

I sat up, feeling better now that I'd drank the majority of my tea and had rested on Arthur's lap.

"Maybe some toast and jam? I'd like to try and have lunch with you and see how things go. Perhaps I got sick because I didn't eat anything yet this morning. Or maybe I'm going to have to do as you suggested. It's not my favorite thing, but when it comes to being pregnant, we're not always given much of a choice."

"I wish you were. I would gladly bear all of the less enjoyable parts of being pregnant for you if I could."

If I wasn't already completely in love with Arthur, I would have fallen in love with him then and there. "I know you would. It's not so bad, truly. It's really all about figuring things out in the beginning, and then it becomes so much easier once you do. Today is the first that I sensed the baby, and it's a bit early, really. I think he just wanted us to know he was there and he'd be making changes to our lives starting today."

Arthur snorted. "True baby Whitmore fashion."

I chuckled. The chuckle turned into full-out laughter, and when I struggled to hold the mug, Arthur took it. The laughing fit then morphed into crying, and I was once more being held and soothed by my One.

"I don't know why I'm crying," I told him.

I felt Arthur kiss my forehead before he started rubbing up and down my back. "Because you're pregnant and emotional. It's all right that you're crying. It's a perfectly normal and acceptable emotion for both pregnant and non-pregnant carriers." A tissue appeared in front of me, and I eagerly took it. We sat there for several more minutes while emotions coursed through me. This was something new. I'd never been emotional like this before.

After I'd finally stopped crying and I finished my tea, Arthur kissed me again before giving me one of his amazing smiles. This particular type was reserved only for me. Our children had their own smiles, but this particular one was mine only, and it always made me feel cherished and that the world would be all right because Arthur would see to it.

"Feeling better?"

I tilted my head to the side a bit. "Eh. Yes and no. I know you're here for me and will be every moment of the pregnancy and after. I'm not sure what's going on with my emotions."

"They'll mellow out," Arthur ran his fingers through my hair. It was incredibly messy, but I simply couldn't come up with enough energy to care. Arthur had seen me at my absolute worst and still loved me without a question. He'd also seen me at my best, and his pride in me and my accomplishments had never been hidden.

"I love you," I told him. Arthur immediately smiled.

"I love you too. How about some toast, and then we'll see about lunch in a bit. You can join me in the office here while I work on something for Dante to do because the poor man is bored out of his mind."

I laughed at that while nodding. I had obviously met Dante but only briefly before I'd gone off to Montana with Edric. I'd not been out of our quarters except to take Edric to class since our return.

"Toast sounds amazing. But what are you going to come up with Dante to do? The coven is secure. Even before you took over, Dad had ensured this place was locked down and secure."

"True." Arthur stood with me in his arms and started toward his office he had here in our quarters. "You can't have a coven of warlocks and shifters in a world of humans that know nothing about us without it being secure." Arthur carefully set me down on the plush chair he'd put in his home office for me. It was overstuffed and had an ottoman that, when pushed up against the chair, basically made it a lounger. It was amazing, and I often spent hours in it without moving. Arthur held out a plate with several pieces of toast, and I took it, placing it on my lap. "Here's another tea. This is just breakfast tea that you drink daily."

I smiled up at my One. "You take such wonderful care of me."

"It's my pleasure. You take care of me as well though."

"Yes," I said. It did no good to argue because he wasn't wrong. It went both ways with us and always had. Arthur, from the very beginning, had always doted on me. He'd brought me tiny tokens back then: flowers, small gifts that he'd created himself with and without magic. I still had some; others had long been lost centuries ago.

"Eat your toast if at all possible." Arthur's phone rang on his desk. I picked up a piece of toast that was smothered in butter and jam while Arthur went to answer his phone. I was surprised he'd left it in the office, but then again, I'd been ill, and it wasn't unlike him to drop everything to rush to my side. I had been truly blessed when I'd been gifted Arthur as my One.