“Looks like he takes after my side,” I laughed. Lacey handed our daughter over to Tristan’s arms and he whispered sweet adorations at her as she looked on, cooing.
“Is everything safe for now?” I asked Tristan, feeling a wave of exhaustion hit me.
“We are safe for now, love.” He kissed the heads of our children, and then mine. His breathing was shaky, and I could tell he was losing the battle of staying awake himself.
“Give them to me.” My mother held out her hands and we placed them inside her sturdy arms. No sooner had we done that, our minds and bodies collapsed, and we drifted off peacefully.
When I finally came back around, I felt refreshed. My hands automatically went to my stomach to feel the babes, like I had so many times before, but it was flat. I started to panic, but then Tristan was there gripping my hands.
“It’s okay, love. It all happened. The babies are safe.” He tried to get me to understand. Then I remembered it all, it wasn’t a dream. The battle, Orion, the babies. Almost dying. Tears started to fall from my eyes, and I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. It was all so much. Tristan held me until my final tears dried.
“ The babies?” I looked around trying to find them.
“They are with your mother and Lacey in the living room. When you’re ready, they would like to see you.”He smiled, and cupped my cheek, looking so vulnerable that it hurt my heart.
“I thought I’d lost you again. I felt your agony, and I couldn’t do anything. Wadjet’s venom had paralyzed me temporarily after I disposed of her. When I saw you leaving, I was willing to follow you into the darkness. I’m just not willing to spend eternity without you. You are my world.” He leaned his forehead against mine and I felt all the emotions he was feeling.
“I’ll never leave you, Tristan; I’m not going to let anything ever separate us again. I swear,” I vowed.
“Forever yours, love.” He whispered and leaned to kiss me passionately. I wound myself around him and continued so meet his kiss, passion for passion.
“The babies, love. We are parents now. We must see them,” Tristan pulled back before we could go any further.
“Oops,” I laughed and then looked down at the bed.
The bed was spotless, and the room was completely clean. Like nothing had happened the night before . The bedspread that had been covered in Orion’s blood was gone. He gave up his life for mine, and my babies.
“He redeemed himself, and can finally rest after so long.” Tristan could feel my pain, and I could tell he was feeling some of it himself. He owed Orion everything. We both did.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I know this may not be the best time for you to think about this, but the babies need a place to sleep.” I looked at him in confusion, and the he snapped his fingers, and the two cribs that I’d let Orion work on appeared in their appointed corner. My fingers flew to my mouth. He had turned them into pure art. Intricate carvings of flowers, and symbols of Greek and Egyptian, combining both of the babies’ heritages into the wood. It was beautiful. Even though I wouldn’t have thought I had any left, tears sprung from the corners of my eyes once again. These were happy tears.
Tristan and I looked at the cribs, speechless. Tristan
“Ready?” I held my hand out for her, hoping she would be stable enough to walk. Her body seemed to have healed completely from all that occurred yesterday. We had both passed out from the pure exhaustion of fighting our own battles. I was only out for a few hours, but Thalia had slept uninterrupted for almost twelve hours. Her eyes left the cribs and looked at me. She nodded.
“Yep. Let’s see our babies.” She grasped my hand and I helped her stand. She was sturdy on her legs, and I let out a little sigh of relief that she was indeed perfectly fine.
Aphrodite was cooing to our little girl when we arrived. Lacey was sitting on the couch with a snoozing Ren in her arms.
“She lives!” Leander joked, but Thalia flinched a little. She almost died. I saw Lacey reach out and smack Leander on the arm, while not waking the baby.
“What? Too soon?” He laughed and got up to hug Thalia, whispering to her how glad he was that she was all right. They were bonded forever. He would be devastated, had he lost her. She reassured him that she was fine before they pulled apart, and her eyes zeroed in on Callista.
“She’s been wanting you,” Aphrodite said, still in a cooing voice.
“How do you know?” Thalia asked, and held her hands out for our daughter.
“She is like you in that way, with emotions. Her emotions are saying she wants her mother. Quite loudly.” She faked wincing, then winked as she handed the little bundle over.
“Hi, Callista.” Thalia greeted the child, and the baby smiled. Male pride grew inside me, seeing my wife with our daughter. I walked over to the couch and sat next to Lacey, but tried not to wake Ren. Callista had just woken from her rest, while Ren had just closed his eyes.
He looked peaceful, with his pouty pink lips puffed out. His hair had changed back to its dark blond color, much like Thalia’s. Both of our children looked like us. It was still fantastical to believe that we had children. I had a son and a daughter. When Thalia sat down next to me and held out Callista to get a look at both of us together, I smiled greater than I had ever smiled before.
The little princess smiled, and her chubby cheeks had a sweet dimple in each side. She squealed, and I was instantly wrapped around her little finger.
“See your mommy and daddy?”
