Chapter 22

Laurel stood outside on the terrace taking a few breaths of cool air, stepping back in the shadows for a second wanting a moment's peace she saw Chloe and Revanche walking up the side steps, Revanche looked stiff and formal, Chloe looked depressed even though she had a smile on her lips. Laurel stepped out of the shadows and motioned to Chloe, she saw Chloe say something to Revanche who nodded curtly then went inside as Chloe walked over to Laurel. Chloe looked at Laurel "your very pale are you all right?" Laurel smiled nodding "I've just been trying to catch my breath that's all, why don't we take a little walk and you can tell me what's wrong, neither you or Re looked very happy a few minutes ago." Laurel handed Chloe a warm shawl that matched her dress, then put one over her own shoulders, not giving Chloe a chance to argue Laurel put her arm through Chloe's and started walking towards the garden below the terrace.

They walked for a few minutes, neither saying a word "I had meant to invite you to stay at Zinmer several times but decided to wait until the pool room was completed, it was finished the other day, so anytime you would like to come, just pop in, bring Re or leave him at home, it's up to you" Laurel said quietly to Chloe. Chloe with deep frustration in her voice told Laurel she would love to visit Zinmer, there was no use bringing Revanche all he would probably do is snap and snarl the whole time. Laurel looked at Chloe in surprise commenting that didn't sound like Re who was usually very even tempered, that she didn't mean to pry but had the two had a lover's quarrel? Chloe sighed "you have to be lover's before you can have a lover's quarrel, Revanche is driving me insane Laurel, we start kissing, then he suddenly steps away from me saying he was forgetting himself and he should treat me the way a gentlemen treats a lady. I know he wants me Laurel, just as much as I want him, one night I tried to talk to him about how I felt but Lady Carolyn walked up, between her always interrupting and Revanche deciding to play the gentleman or snapping and snarling I could just scream, I'm just about ready to go home, Laurel"

Seeing a bench Laurel and Chloe sat down "why don't you come to Zinmer instead, you can relax without worrying about Lady Carolyn and plot a little seduction of Re, you know he is more than likely snapping and snarling because he is just as frustrated as you are and at this point it probably wouldn't take much to send him over the edge" Laurel told Chloe with a grin, Chloe sat thinking over what Laurel had said then started to grin back "when can I come?" Laurel laughed "you can come tonight if you want, send Lady Carolyn a note saying I asked and you didn't want to hurt my feelings by saying no."

An hour later Laurel walked off the dance floor, thanked the blushing young man who had been her partner, going over to Kat she gave her a sickly smile "how rude would it be to get sick in the middle of a ballroom? Kat, I'm not feeling well at all." Kat put her arm around Laurel's waist sitting her down in the nearest chair, Bitsy saw Kat helping Laurel to a seat and came over, brushing a damp tendril of hair off Laurel's forehead, Bitsy frowned "I think you and baby have had enough for one night, it's time to go home, I'll get Alex for you." Kat and Bitsy exchanged glances, Bitsy nodded, Kat smiled "we'll have to talk about hatchlings it seems" Laurel blinked trying to get her vision to focus as Kat seemed to waver and sway in front of her "I don't know anything about hatchling's, but Alex says it can't be too difficult" Kat started to laugh "we definitely need to talk." Bitsy said silently to Collin who was standing next to Michael and Alex "I think Alex needs to take Laurel home, she has had enough for one night." Collin touched Alex arm "Bitsy just told me that you need to get Laurel home" Alex turned and strode across the room, "time to go home urchin" Alex said softly, Laurel nodded reaching out a hand to Alex just before she slide to the floor. The whole room was abuzz watching Alex walk up the grand staircase Laurel in his arms.

Alex laid Laurel on the bed, brushing her hair back he started to sit down on the bed, Bitsy smiled "Alex why don't you go show Chloe where the kitchen is and make a hot pot of tea, Kat and I will get Laurel settled in bed, I know it seems like hours but it's really only been a few minutes since she fainted." Alex left with a backward glance at the bed, it only took Kat and Bitsy a few seconds to get Laurel out of her ball gown and into her nightdress. Laurel blinked a few times, confusion on her face, "Alex?" Bitsy smiled "he'll be back in a few minutes, you fainted dear, and we brought you home, what you need is some sleep and a good meal when you wake up and no more tight ball gowns." Laurel wiped the tears off her face "oh that must of looked good at the Fordham's, it probably ruined everything." Kat chuckled seeing an arm waving a handkerchief in the doorway "no actually it only added to the excitement of the evening, what I heard just before I left was how devoted the two of you were to each other, that you shouldn't have been out of the house since you were breeding but had gone to the ball anyway to stop the horrible rumors about Alex, I do believe it was Jenee and Hank that were having a wonderful time passing that word around." Laurel giggled seeing the handkerchief, Alex stuck his head in the door with a grin "I have a fresh supply" walking into the room he was about to sit on the bed when Bitsy asked about Chloe "Cook is showing Chloe around the kitchen, tea should be up in a minute. You feeling a little better urchin? you're still awfully pale." Laurel nodded "it was all that nasty sweet lemonade, it's a good thing the Fordham's had large potted plant's out on the terrace." Alex laughed just as Chloe carried in the tea tray, Bitsy smiled "Alex why don't you show Chloe to her bedroom, I understand she is going to visit for a week or two" Alex with a woebegone look on his face rested his forearm on the large bed post "ohhh the dread of women bent on keeping a man away from his poor ill urchin, shall I survive, will I survive, can I go on from here." Kat and Bitsy laughed "we think you will survive just fine, now go show Chloe to her room." Once Alex and Chloe had left the room Bitsy smiled "Laurel you need to eat more, as Kat can attest too, when your pregnant with a hatchling you need to eat not a great deal more but more then you usually would, I wanted to tell you that while Alex was out of the room, so you don't have him shoving food down your throat every five minutes." Alex called down the hall "I heard that!" Alex winked at Chloe who was giggling knowing Alex hadn't been able to hear what was being said in Laurel's room. Alex made a sweeping bow "the choice is yours pick anyone you want" with a frown he opened the door at the end of the hall, not remembering it being there and almost fell down the stairs "geeeezzzzzusus, warn a person why don't you" going down the stairs he came back up with a grin. Chloe came out of one of the rooms with a what was it look on her face, Alex chuckled "the bathing pools are down there go take a look, if you've never seen them before you'll be amazed." Chloe went down the stairs to see, when she came back up she had a look of surprise on her face, commenting that she would imagine dragons needed a dragon size bath tub.

Alex saw Bitsy and Kat coming out of Laurel's room, Kat smiled at Alex "she's sleeping, I'll have a talk with your cook about keeping healthy snacks available and what sort of meals to prepare" Kat saw the confused look on Alex face "why don't we go downstairs and you can ask all the questions you want, but I can't promise I'll have an answer." Alex nodded and followed the women downstairs to the front parlor, pouring himself a large snifter of brandy, both Kat and Bitsy grinned at each other, Bitsy said silently to Kat "this should be good, he hasn't even started yet and he's all ready blushing" Alex took a drink of his brandy then looking everywhere but at Kat or Bitsy asked "when Laurel has the baby, is it going to be a real baby or is a little dragon going to come flying out? if it's a baby dragon will it need to be feed, you know mother's milk and all that?" Kat chuckled "even baby dragons need their mother's milk but let's get back to your first question, Laurel is half human, your full human so I imagine she will give birth to a human child as Natalie and I did, it all depends on the baby when the dragon decides to appear, sometimes it can take years, sometimes when the child is a year old or there abouts. You and Laurel need to be prepared for the baby dragon, when they get hiccups they can burn your house down if you're not careful." Bitsy started to laugh seeing the look on Alex face "shall we warn him about fangs?" Kat laughed seeing Alex mouth the word "fangs" with a worried look, "baby dragons can have a temper, especially when their confused about one minute being a human the next a dragon, they have very sharp little talons and fangs, not to mention a tail that can suddenly whip around and smack you. You and Laurel, as soon as the baby dragon appears have to be very stern in saying no biting, especially if the human baby turns dragon while breast feeding as some Mother's do for more than a year" Alex groaned and winced at the same time "this sounds a little complicated, neither Laurel or I have been around any baby dragons, is that what they call adventures in child rearing?" Kat laughed "the two of you will survive, at least until the teen years then it's only your sanity that goes into hiding." Alex laughed "ohh good I've got time to find it before I lose it again" Both Kat and Bitsy laughed, Alex seeing Chloe sitting with a totally bemused look on her face chuckled "now that they've scared the hell out of both of us, you going to run home and hide under the covers for the next twenty years?" Chloe blushed scarlet but shook her head, Alex laughed "yes I know get the male out of the room so the females can have "a talk" ok I'm going to the kitchen, if you want any masculine remarks you know where to find me." Before he left the room he pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to Chloe "just in case" with a wink he left the room.

Both Bitsy and Kat looked at Chloe who blushed even more "you're not expecting also are you?" Kat asked, Chloe her cheeks still pink shook her head "you have to have sex last time I heard to get pregnant" replied a touch of frustration coming out in her voice, "I really shouldn't say this in front of Revanche's Grandmother but I got away from my Aunt Carolyn and came to stay with Laurel hoping Revanche will come and visit too and if I'm lucky he won't act the gentleman here" Chloe went on with an embarrassed look. Kat and Bitsy laughed "well it's up to you to make sure he doesn't play the gentleman and I think your woman enough to do just that, in the mood I've noticed Revanche in lately it won't take much to push him over the edge, a seductive wink may just do it as bad as he's been, if you time it right so you won't be interrupted" Bitsy said with a grin.

Half an hour later Alex stuck his head in the door "I hate to interrupt your women's wiles ladies but it's five in the morning, would you like breakfast? I have to be heading back to London soon, Grandfather has probably paced the carpet bare in the study and I need to catch a quick nap before the gossips that missed the ball descend on us wanting to find out what's true and what's not while appearing not to be nosy." Kat laughed "we'll be staying in town for a few days figuring we're going to be getting the same visitors, Rav and Natalie will be staying also." Alex winked "ohh good, you can come over for dinner and fill in Grandfather about dragon nappies, in fact do it while Kirk and Joe are there it will make their day." Alex lead the ladies into the dining room, once everyone was seated he put an innocent look on his face "so Chloe are you going to save Kirk from defending himself with a sword from a sexually frustrated male who's name we all know, it's never good to take out those sort of frustrations while training a friend in the masculine arts of sword play and fisticuffs and other defenses, more times than not he comes home rather battered, he hasn't complained but Aunt Rachel is close to apoplexy at every new bruise and cut."