"Will you please have a seat?" For the third time today, your husband had caught you leading stray horses back into their stables. You were eight months pregnant, for God's sakes, and just as much of a busybody as you were back when the four of you: that is, you, Alucard, Trevor, and Sypha, were out fighting night creatures and making advances towards dismembering Dracula's court. Days that now felt hazy compared to the very present here and now of the child growing in your belly, giving you immense joy and great back pain all at once.

The dhampir thought a lot about the old days. When Trevor and Sypha had left the castle for adventure and you had promised to keep his company. In that time, he found that you kept him together. Kept him whole and sane and not like he was rotting from the inside out. Alucard had discovered that things were more bearable with you around, and mortal and finite as your life was, as upset as that made him sometimes. As time passed, the village he'd dreamt of was built on the grounds of his home, and children once from Danesti were now running around beneath his feet without a care in the world. He did the impossible not long after and made the decision to marry you. Not long after, you were blessed with the happy news of your baby. Ever since, you'd seem to grow more maternal by the day, playing with the children, letting them feel the baby kick at your belly, tend to the horses and spoil them as if they were infants, helping elders cook and listen to advice from those who were well-versed in the subject of motherhood.

Today, it was the stables. "Y/N," he sighed, catching you happily cooing at a strong black steed with a soft, creamy-white stripe down his snout, and not resting like he'd practically begged you to do. "Please. The horses will survive without ten minutes of attention. You and the baby need rest."