104 Winter Sunshine

"Our daughter is safe with you. Let him see her for just a minute or two more. She'll need to be fed and changed soon anyway, so I'll have to take her back to the nursery. Please." I murmured. Alexandre twitched and Cornelius chuckled. Rory came around to stand beside him and Luc turned his face away.

"Seriously hybrid-you smell worse than a dog." Luc griped, breathing through his mouth. "I can almost taste you." He stuck out his tongue as if to emphasize the point. Rory snuggled up next to Cornelius and pouted as if to look cute, but I could tell it was just because it brought him closer to Luc. Luc gagged.

"Excrement. Excrement smells better!" Luc lifted a shaking hand to place over his nose and mouth. Rory grinned fanning himself.

"Is it hot in here?" Rory asked innocently as Luc gagged again. I rolled my eyes. Rory wrapped an arm around Cornelius' waist. "You think I smell good, though, right? Loverboy?" Rory purred, rubbing a hand up and down Cornelius' chest. Both of their scents increased along with the smell of arousal.

"And now it's worse." I rolled my eyes and turned to see Alexandre standing in the doorway with Mina. I smiled at him and walked over to wrap my arms around his waist. I buried my face in the side of his chest briefly, then looked up at him and smiled again.

"Thank you." I whispered and kissed his jaw softly. Mina made a small sound of protest and I looked down at her.

"Are you jealous, little monster?" I cooed and tickled under her chin. "He was mine first you know." Mina's mouth twitched. "Did you see that?" I asked excitedly. "She tried to smile!" Mina flinched at my near shout and Alexandre chuckled.

"Calm down Carys. God who's the child here?" Luc griped. I looked over to see him stubbornly still holding his nose. There was a small smile on his face, though it barely touched his haunted and sunken eyes. Mina chose that moment to announce to the world that she was starving and wouldn't wait a moment more to be fed, so I took her from Alexandre.

"Vampire is right-you'd drain me dry if you could child." I complained and turned, pulling my shirt up as I walked towards the nursery.

"Well, I'm off to work." Rory said from behind me. I waved a hand.

"Be careful." I told him as he passed me. He scared me on the motorcycle he drove. He sped like a demon and rarely obeyed the rules of the road. He turned around swiftly and caught my upper arms, planting a kiss on my lips before rubbing Mina's head affectionately. This kind of thing would have bothered me before, but..

"It's almost like you care for me." Rory teased. I placed a hand on his chest to put some space between us.

"I do-though maybe not as you'd like me to." I responded cautiously.

"Do you love me?" Rory asked, closing in. I heard Alexandre's growl from behind us. "Just teasing. There are many forms of love and relationships. I'm honored you brought me into your family. See you later Sunshine. And you too, Squirt." Rory patted Mina's head again and put up a hand in a wave before shoving both in his pockets and sauntering out of the house.

"Sunshine." I scoffed. He'd started calling me that shortly after moving in. He said it was because I reminded him of a tropical drink. Alexandre's hands snaked around my waist. He kissed my neck.

"I think it's cute." Alexandre murmured and let his teeth graze my skin. I shivered. Mina grunted and moved as I involuntarily clutched her tighter. Alexandre walked me back to the nursery.

"Soo..news?" I asked abruptly.

"Rory's paperwork is almost finished, he won't have to rely on under the table jobs anymore." Alexandre reported, pulling me down to sit next to him on the bed.

"Well that's amazing! You guys are fantastic!" I kissed Alexandre, he deepened the kiss eagerly, then drew away with a sigh.

"But you're still going to have to go to court." He told me.

God damnit." I complained.

The week of the court date, I paced the house restlessly.

More media than ever hounded us, and was taking a 'special' interest in reporting on Rory's sudden appearance and the fact that he was spending so much time with us. The rumor mills were busy and Cornelius and Alexandre rushed through getting him a new identity to ensure that when they went digging, nothing strange came up. When they handed over all his new legal documents, he nearly cried.

"You guys! I can get an actual job now!" He sniffed. Alexandre chuckled and wrapped his arm around my waist. Rory pounced on us and gave us both affectionate hugs and kisses, then turned to Cornelius and quite literally climbed him, wrapping his arms and legs around him and kissing him deeply enough to make me blush and turn away.

"Yeah, uh, time for us to go I think." I muttered to Alexandre. Cornelius caught my arm as we walked by with a twinkle in his eye, breaking free from Rory's kiss for a moment.

"Why little fire nymph, embarrassed already? Are you sure you don't want to stay and join the fun?" I looked at his hand like I was going to break it and he let go with a chuckle. "Next time then." He said.

I nervously paced the nursery once we reached it. Alexandre had entertained Mina until she fell asleep, now he grabbed me on one of my passes.

"Are you still worried about the court date?" He asked, wrapping me in a hug, pulling my back to his chest and kissing my neck.

"Yes. And Luc's improving, so we're going to have to keep an eye on him a little more closely now, and Mina." I muttered. Alexandre spun me around.

"I thought you trusted him!" He said incredulously.

"I may be nice, but I'm not an idiot Alexandre!" I griped. "I still know we need to do this slowly and carefully. It took Cornelius a long time to gentle and he wanted to change. Luc-does not." Alexandre suddenly pulled me into a tight hug.

"What's this for?" I asked in a muffled voice. Alexandre shook his head slightly before releasing me.

"I'm amazed at my own stupidity." He chuckled. "I'm afraid I had quite forgotten the reason I fell in love with you in the first place." He stroked my cheek. "There is so much going on beneath the surface." I frowned.

"That almost doesn't sound like a compliment, Alexandre." I remarked. He laughed.

"Oh it is, it most definitely is." He kissed me softly. "Because you hide so much from the world that I forget.." Another kiss. ".. that I can't anticipate your every move like I would another." He ran his fingers down my throat. "You hide your intelligence and knowledge and observations." Each point was punctuated by another kiss moving lower on my neck. "I've gotten so used to thinking ahead.." He nipped the skin where my shoulder and neck met. "That life got boring for me, watching it all unfold as I anticipated." He paused and looked me in the eyes.

"But you're not like that. You're full of surprises. And it just lights a fire in my soul.. and quite frankly Carys, it turns me on. Now, since we have a few spare moments to ourselves, I'd love to ask you for your consent.." His expression was so seductive that I almost didn't hear what he said, but as his fingers plucked gently at my shirt while awaiting my answer, I nodded a reply. He laid me back gently on the bed.

"I'm still not sure that was a compliment." I said in a daze as he let his teeth graze my collarbone. He chuckled.

"Hey Carys." Rory knocked gently at the door. "I'm headed into town to pick up a few things. Alexandre said to check with you if he missed anything on this list for you and the baby." I jerked awake and sat up abruptly. houseful of vampires and a vampire myself and they still managed to sneak up on me.

"Damn!" I cursed.

"Are you ok?" Rory peeked around the door frame with worry. I sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, lemme see the list." I motioned with one hand as I held my forehead with the other and slumped forward. My heartbeat still raced somewhere in the stratosphere, and as Rory neared the bed, he tilted his head curiously.

"Are you sure you're ok? Your heart's beating awful fast." Rory commented.

"Yeah, I just-with the court case tomorrow and all, I've not been getting a lot of sleep. Nightmares. It's my thing." I waved a hand. Rory frowned. He sat on the side of the bed and placed a hand on my forehead.

"You seem a little flushed too, but you look underfed. Can vampires get sick?" Rory asked curiously.

"No, I don't think so.." I responded with a shrug. "But my anxiety has caused problems for me before, so what do I know?" I held up my hands in defeat.

"That's it-come on, get up! You're coming with me." Rory demanded, pulling me up from the bed.

"No!" I said, horrified. I knew the way he drove. There was no way I was getting on that bike with him. Rory crossed his arms.