OOC: Set sometime in the morning on April 14th. I left it open as to if he was still asleep or not.

IC: She was pregnant. Ayasha and Liam were going to be parents. She still would need to make sure by going to one of the Furcas since she knew they had at least two and she was acquaintances with one of them. She had told Aeron what was going on and that they had been trying for pups and the older female told her that it was due to her being pregnant. Her being pregnant explained the mood shifts she had been feeling and also her being sick in the mornings. She had been not able to keep much down nor was she hungry, in the morning at least. The rest of the day she had been inexplicably hungry.

She was thrilled but also nervous about telling Liam. Not that she was afraid of his reaction but she supposed it meant that it would no longer be her secret. She had made Aeron promise not tell anyone, not that she thought the older woman would. But she wanted to be the one to tell people that she was expecting.

She had waited until this morning though since she did want to savor the fact that she knew she and Liam were going to have little ones in a little less than a month. It had been nearly a day and she also needed a little bit of time to process what was going on. It was still rather early in the morning, or at least her internal clock told her it was morning. And she needed to tell her mate the good news. ”Liam? I need to talk to you.” Her voice was excited as she got her mate’s attention.

He slept hard, he had since that day in Halifax. His dreams were mercifully absent or unremembered most of the time. This dream would haunt him. His hands twitched, forming fists, then relaxed. Moments later, the cycle would repeat itself. In the dream, shadows circled him, keeping between himself and his heavily pregnant mate. He was in secui, she was in her lupine form. He could see the shadows encircling her, caressing her swollen belly possessively. He lunged, trying to break the wall that separated them, and was unable to reach her.

Her blue eyes pleading expressively, she began to writhe in agony, trying to escape the burning cold of the shadows. And he? He could only watch as the shadows entered his mate through any and all open orifices, her pores, her ears, her nose... He could hear her screaming now. She screamed his name over and over and her body ruptured into prismatic shadows, blood pooling around little shadow forms, the innocent lives of his offspring taken and tainted by the shows that had killed Ayasha.

His leg jerked as her voice chimed, his golden eyes snapping open. His hackles were raised, his short cropped mane in a wild disarray from a restless sleep. Burning amber eyes darted to his mate, assessing her, reassuring himself that the nightmare hadn't become real. He closed his eyes, the images from the hellish vision haunting him. As he opened his eyes again, he had calmed himself. He would protect her, he would keep all evil from her.

"Yes love?"

She watched her mate struggle with something and she was afraid of what was going on in his nightmare. Ayasha wanted to reach out and comfort him but figured that she might accidently get her arm or hand removed by her mate. But she did want to give him the news and maybe by waking him up she could keep it from getting to bad. But she still was sorry when she woke him up.

His leg jerked and his eyes snapped open, looking at her with blazing eyes and his hackles raised. She figured that it was still the end of his nightmare and waited while he closed his eyes and let whatever he was seeing pass. When they were clear she reached out and stroked his cheek gently. "You OK, loverboy?" Her tone was concerned about him.

But she did need to tell him something important. "I have something that I need to tell you." She beamed at him and continued. "You know how we've been trying to have pups? Well, I haven’t been feeling well and I went to see Aeron yesterday and she said that from what I told her that I'm pregnant. Though, I need to see Panda, the medic, to confirm. But we should have them in the beginning of May." She sat back and waited to see what he would say or do.

She looked at him like he was made of glass, he groused to himself. And yet when she asked if he was okay, he felt a wave of love for her. He nodded quietly, not quite trusting his voice, not trusting himself not to warn her about the shadows. The butterflies rustled softly, warning him of the danger she would be in if the vision came to pass. He leaned his face into her hand, pressing his hand to hers gently. The warmth of her touch was reassuring, and the butterflies receded for the time being.

As she spoke, he felt his throat tighten. A mixture of joy and fear filled him. She was pregnant, carrying their pups. His gaze fell to her not yet rounded belly, the hand not holding hers drifting up to touch it, as if he could discern the tiny lives inside of her by touch alone. He splayed his hand over her belly, possessive and protective. He had imagined this in one way or another since they had first met, and now it was true. She was to be the mother of their pups.

His voice was soft at this miracle in their lives. "I never actually thought it would happen, kiddo. I mean, I knew it would, but... now that its happened..." Was he ready for this? Was he ready to protect their offspring from the shadows as well as his mate? Was he ready to be a father? He took her hands, kissing them gently, and holding them, his usually inscrutable gaze full of conflicting emotions.

Ayasha could tell that he didn’t like being babied but there were times when he had to. But luckily he seemed to realize that she was doing it out of love for him. He leaned his face into her touch and used his hand to hold hers there and she gave him a fond and gentle smile, glad that she seemed to be making him feel better. "Want to talk about it?" If he didn’t, that was fine. But she wanted to make sure that he knew that he could talk to her.

As she told him the news, it seemed like he was feeling what she was: a mixture of awe and fear. But he put his hand that wasn’t occupied where his gaze was: on her tummy. He then spread his fingers over where the pups were growing in a protective but possessive manner, completely befitting a father, especially a first time one.

She grinned at his words of not believing that it was possible but that he did and she knew exactly what he meant. "It’s a little frightening now that its going to happen, isn’t it?" He grabbed her hands and kissed them and she could see that there were different emotions swirling in his eyes. She pressed her forehead against his and said, "I love you, Liam." They could discuss names and other things later but now she wanted to spend time with him and try and assure them both that they were ready for this.

They leaned their foreheads together. She seemed to be as uncertain and unsteady as he was. He was glad he wasn't the only one who was nervous about this. "I will protect you, Ayasha. I love you too much to lose you like Taliesin did my mom. No one and nothing will hurt you, ever."

He paused for a moment, and then pushed ahead. "The dream was terrible, love. All darkness and shadows...and I couldn't save you in the dream. The butterflies keep warning me that this could happen, that something will go wrong, or that the shadows will get you, get to you. You kept screaming my name, and the shadows killed you, and our pups."

His voice was taut, tense. His last words were a hoarse whisper, his hands gripping her tighter as though to protect her by his will alone.

Ayasha nudged her nose against his and listened as he promised that he would protect her and that he loved her. She was happy that he would and knew that he would. "I know you will, Liam." She then wanted something from him. "Liam? Will you be there with me when the pups are born? I really want you to be there in the room, holding me." She pressed a kiss to his nose despite the still solemn nature of their discussion. She was terrified but at least she wasn’t in it alone nor was she the only one that was nervous.

She moved to straddle him as he talked about his nightmare and she wrapped her arms around his neck, plastering her body against his. "Liam, everything will be OK. You'll be here to protect me and I have my uncle here. Plus, I've been making friends with people here. They wouldn’t let an intruder, shadow wolf or regular wolf, come and hurt me. Plus, they would help you hunt the person who hurt me down, OK?" She gave him a gentle kiss. She buried her face into his neck, breathing in his unique scent, one that was very masculine. She placed gentle kisses to his neck.

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, but not so tight as to accidentally hurt the tiny lives growing inside of her body. His embrace was firm, possessive and protective. "Of course I will be there for you, Ayasha. I won't stop a healer from being there too, but I will be there to personally protect you while you are vulnerable." He felt sick imagining what all could go wrong during labor, during delivery.

Even her soft gentle kisses didn't ease his mind, didn't ease his worry. He found himself wishing he had paid more attention to Taliesin's tree hugging lessons. He wracked his brain, trying to remember if he'd heard any mention of herbs that were beneficial for a pregnant female to take. He licked at her shoulder lightly as he thought.

The words came out before he could stop himself. "No more hunting, love. I'll feed you. And I don't want you exploring the caves on your own. If it weren't for the fact that you can protect yourself better in this form, I'd beg you to use the lupine form during your pregnancy."

He promised to be there for her and protect her. He did say he'd allow a healer and she gave him an incredulous look. Like she was going to give birth without a healer there. That seemed like a very bad idea with how small she was and the fact that it would be her first litter. If they had more, which she did hope so, and then she might not need a healer. But she wasn't going to risk something going wrong with her or the pups.

He gave her shoulder a lick and figured that he be thinking about something but she had no idea what it was. Hopefully it wasn’t moping about the worries about her pregnancy since she did not need him to worry when she already was worried. But she wouldn’t tell him that unless it was absolutely necessary.

He talked about babying her and she gave him "that" look. She was not going down without a fight. "Liam, I appreciate your concern but I'm not going to break. I'll take it easy until a few days before I'm due. Then you can baby me all you want, and I'll enjoy it. But now, I'd go crazy not exploring. Though I promise that I won't shift, OK?" And she was very serious about it.

An incredulous and annoyed look crossed is face as she refused his simple requests. He was her mate, he knew what was best for her. So he thought. "Kiddo, be reasonable. Anything could happen to you, exploring alone. How would you feel if there was a cave in, and they got hurt? Or if you were hunting, and you got kicked. Women lose pups over smaller things than those, Kiddo."

The manipulative side kicked in and he gently pushed her back. "You don't want these pups, do you? If you did, you would have no issues listening to me." His eyes glittered with a well feigned hurt, his voice soft and pleading. He crossed his arms, looking at her like a hurt child. If she didn't want to listen to reason, he'd play with her emotions, until he got his way.

He glanced away, anger beginning to seethe in his gut. He could picture himself standing and jerking her to her feet. He could see the shocked and scared look in her eyes as he screamed in her face that he was her mate and she would obey him or he would put her in a collar and keep her chained in their den like an animal. He could see himself pushing her away, shoving her against the wall, he could see the things he would tear apart until she was cowed enough to meekly agree.

He hadn't moved.

Hell, was he being unreasonable? He didn't think so, at least. If he had to resort to living out the images in his sudden and vibrant fantasy, though, he would.

OOC: Ayasha is kind of giving in

IC: She watched as he reacted rather badly to her response to his request. It would appear that they would have an argument, one that she didn't particularly feeling like having. He brought up some good points about what could happen but she still didn’t say anything, simply allowing him to talk and explain his point of view.

Then he crossed a line by questioning her wanting to have pups. But instead of getting angry, she burst out into tears, burrowing into his chest. Her voice was muffled as she tried to explain things. "Liam, I really want these pups. But I'm going to feel caged in if you don’t let me out. It won't be good for me or the pups to be inside in one place all the time." She took a few breaths to control her crying.

She lifted her head and became uncharacteristically shy and submissive. "I won't hunt but I will need some time outside the caves mostly to myself. We can maybe figure out a time everyday where we can go outside and be together but also where I can be a little ways away from other people?" She would go nuts if she were in one place for the next almost two months. She hoped that Liam would understand that and help her through it. "I would like to go to see Panda by myself though. She's right next-door. Then I'll come right home."

He kept his arms crossed until she burst into tears. He felt a wave of almost sexual satisfaction as she burrowed into his chest, sobbing. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her gently. As she begged for some little freedoms, he kissed the top of her head gently. "Love, that was all I was asking... is that you didn't go anywhere totally alone. I have no problem going with you, even when you want to explore the cave. After all, I don't want to control you or your life, Kiddo, just protect you."

"Panda is the healer? Yeah, that's fine." His battle being won, he was relaxed about letting her go for a short visit and coming right back. He wondered if this was the the way to prevent his nightmares from coming true, to keep her closer to him, keep her closer to him. He had a gut feeling that it was the answer to his concerns.