by Amira Rain
I began backing up to the house, though I didn't want to take cover inside because I was worried that some of Darius' Angel dragons would soon show up, greatly outnumbering Desmond. And if that happened, I wanted to be able to use my zapping power to help him. Although at present, he looked like he could probably take on a dozen Angel dragons at once, single-handedly. At least.
Clawing and snapping at Darius, he soon took him down to the ground, where he breathed a brief jet of fire into his face, making him roar in pain. I knew Desmond had likely only breathed a brief jet and not a longer one because he was probably afraid of the heat from a lengthy fire stream getting too close to me, so I continued backing up to the house, but a little faster now, so that he could breathe all the fire on Darius that he wanted to.
Very soon, he breathed a jet that lasted for at least five seconds, making Darius roar again, writhing beneath Desmond's razor-sharp claws, and it wasn't long after that that Desmond began decapitating him by clamping his strong jaws around Darius' thick, scaly neck.
Not needing to see all that gore, I turned my face away just in time to see more dragons descending from the sky. Worried that they were Angel dragons, I prepared myself to start zapping, but once the first of them had landed, I quickly saw that it was Eric.
After a quick look at the carnage Desmond was causing, Eric shifted and spoke to me.
"Did any other Angel dragons make it here?"
I shook my head. "No. It was just Darius, I think. I haven't seen any others, anyway."
"Good. We have about four hundred of us Destroyers back there dealing with about a hundred of them who were heading this way. We were pretty sure we contained them all, though. All except Darius Archer, and I see Desmond's dealing with him right now."
Actually, Desmond had already dealt with Darius, past tense. Head separated from his body, Darius was clearly dead, though Desmond was still in fighting mode, flying over to the woods, presumably to look for any Angel dragons that might be lurking in there.
Eric began jogging over to Desmond, calling out to him, and Desmond shifted into human form as well, briefly, just to say something to him before the two of them once again shifted into dragon form and charged into the woods.
Still searching the skies for any stray Angels, the other dozen or so dragons who'd landed in the vast backyard were remaining in dragon form. Seeming to be straining their ears for any Angel dragon roaring as well, they were also being fairly quiet. Which is why I was able to hear very light footsteps of someone padding on the grass behind me.
I turned and saw that one of the care home residents, a petite woman with a short gray bob, had wandered out from somewhere, either the front or the back. She stopped right beside me and began surveying the dragons standing in the backyard, hands clasped to her chest, as if in rapture. Her expression was pretty rapturous, too, as she settled her gaze on the dragon nearest us, who was a dark jade color.
"Oh! He's a nice one. I like his long green wings."
Just then, Eloise came tearing out of the house, yelling at the top of her lungs. "Bettina! Bettina!"
Not seeming startled or phased in the least, Bettina turned to look at Eloise with a smile.
"Just look at all these marvelous creatures. What a treat! I don't remember you telling us that we'd be getting such a special visit."
Winded and clutching her chest, Eloise came to a stop and took in the scene, and her frantic expression changed to one a little calmer once she saw that all the dragons that had landed in the backyard didn't mean anyone any harm.
After catching her breath for a few moments, Eloise gently took Bettina by the elbow.
"Time to head back inside. This special visit is over."
Following behind them, I went inside the house to make sure my grandma was okay, as well as everyone else. I feared that maybe some of them had seen the fight between Desmond and Darius, and unlike Bettina, had actually found dragons and gore pretty scary.
However, Eloise gestured to the living room, and I saw that somehow, improbably, most of the residents were fast asleep on the couches and in various recliners and chairs, including my grandma. She'd always been a hard sleeper, though I'd never dreamed she could sleep through something like the thunderous boom Desmond had made when tackling Darius. Apparently, I'd been wrong.
The only two residents who were awake, two men in recliners, were tranquilly watching a game show, and one of them now turned and asked Eloise if a garbage truck had recently rumbled through.
"It was awfully loud. Made me miss hearing them announce the bonus prize of the day."
Soon, after sitting Bettina down, Eloise took me out to the kitchen, asking if I was all right.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Miraculously, no. Other than a bruise on my hip maybe, but I feel pretty lucky that is the worst of it."
I went on to explain to Eloise what had happened, and not a moment after I'd finished, Desmond came striding into the house, asking if I was okay. Eloise went out to the living room to give us privacy, and I pretty much repeated what I'd just told her about the worst of my injuries being a bruise.
Visibly relieved, Desmond took me in his arms and just held me tightly for a long time. Just like I'd wanted him to do earlier that day. Melting into him, I rested my face against his hard chest, inhaling his heavenly scent, realizing something. I couldn't be parted from him ever again. I loved him too deeply, and I was going to do whatever it took to make us work.
I wasn't exactly ready to say that I'd never fight again or anything like that, but I was willing to try my hardest to work through things. I was going to fight to work through things just as hard as I'd just fought to save my own life when Darius had been attacking me.
Becoming overcome with emotion, I lifted my face from Desmond's chest to tell him exactly what I was thinking, but he spoke first.
"I've faced it now twice...once when you fought in the city, and then here when Darius attacked you. I've faced losing you. At first, it made me want to push you away, so that I wouldn't fall any deeper in love with a woman who seemed intent on taking risks that made me fear losing her.
“But then just now...when I saw Darius charging you...I realized that I can't live without you. No matter what, Madison. Losing you to my own stupid fear of loss would be the greatest loss of all. So, I'm not going to hold back anymore. I'm never going to push you away ever again.
“If you'll agree to give things another shot with me, maybe we can compromise. Maybe we could agree to something like no more fighting Angels when you're in your second and third trimesters. Then once the baby is born, you could rejoin the rest of the Gifteds. This is just an example of a compromise, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I'm going to fight to make us work."
With my eyes filling with tears, I nodded.
"I am, too. I want us both to fight. And I like your compromise. I can work with that. I just want us to be together."
With his own eyes surprisingly a little shiny, Desmond smiled.
"That's what I want, too. More than anything. And I'm willing to compromise on some calculated risks to make that happen." He paused just long enough to plant a brief, firm kiss on my lips. "I think you're incredibly brave, and brilliant, and strong, Madison. You're also kind and sweet beyond belief. You're everything I've always wanted in a woman...you're everything good all in one person...and I think you're going to make a phenomenal mother."
Tears flowing freely now, I could only manage to croak out a thank you. Desmond grabbed a tissue from a box on the counter and dried my tears for me, kissing me a few times along the way, and just as he'd finished, my grandma came shuffling out to the kitchen, one side of her hair matted from sleep.
Praying she'd still recognize me, I introduced Desmond to her.
"He's my baby's father, Grandma."
At first, she looked a bit befuddled, and she looked from Desmond to me, and then back to him. But then her eyes got a bit of a spark to them and she opened her arms wide
to hug him.
"Welcome to the family!"
Grinning, Desmond gently wrapped her in a hug. Instantly misty again, I just watched them embrace, wanting to freeze the picture in my mind forever.
Bettina soon wandered out and joined the group, too, asking Desmond if he'd seen the dragons. He replied that he might have seen one or two. My grandma laughed and called him a "big kidder," then began telling him a joke.
I rode back to Chicago on Desmond's broad, scaly back, with the wind drying yet another wave of joyful tears streaming down my cheeks.
Over the next several weeks, it became clear that though the Angel dragons were probably going to remain a problem for quite some time, they were a much weaker group without their leader. It would likely only be a matter of time before they chose a new one and became more organized once again, but for the time being, Chicago had entered a period of relative tranquility.
Because of this, and because he didn't have to spend quite so much time tracking the Angel dragons and directing surveillance operations on them, Desmond had more time to spend with me, and I enjoyed every minute of it, thrilled that our love was growing deeper and deeper.
In fact, one night after a marathon lovemaking session followed by an hour-long talk just spent in each other's arms, Desmond asked me to move into his penthouse, and I gladly said I'd love to. He had all my things moved in the very next day.
We continued to tease each other about whether we were going to have a son or a daughter, but when I was four months along, the day of truth finally came when I went in for my ultrasound. However, first, Desmond and I were in for a bit of a scare.
Immediately after moving the ultrasound wand over my now-very-pronounced baby bump, the technician looked at the screen intently. Then, expression neutral, as she'd probably been trained to keep it, she said she'd be right back with Dr. Jansen, and she left the room.
For at least a solid minute, I just clutched one of Desmond's hands, hardly even daring to breathe, while he told me that everything was going to be okay, looking as if he was struggling to really believe that himself. When Dr. Jansen came into the room, I instantly began begging her to please just tell us what was wrong, and to my astonishment, she just gave me a little smile.
"Nothing's wrong. Just lie back and relax again."
Relieved but dumbfounded, I did as I'd been told, and soon the technician was gliding the wand over my stomach again, producing images that only she and Dr. Jansen could see, because the monitor was turned toward them. Dumbfounding me even further, the technician began giving Dr. Jansen funny little glances, then moving the wand again, and giving her more funny little glances. Looking like she was fighting a grin for some bizarre reason, Dr. Jansen just looked at the monitor, murmuring things like, "Uh-huh," and "Yep, I got that" every so often.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Please...will one of you just tell us what's going on with our baby?"
Dr. Jansen looked up from the monitor, now not even fighting a grin, just outright grinning.
"Commander Grant, you told me that the two of you are having a boy, and Madison, you told me that the two of you are having a girl. Would you both like your guesses confirmed now?"
Desmond and I nodded simultaneously, and I spoke in a voice half-strangled with anticipation. "Yes. Please tell us."
Dr. Jansen grinned even bigger. "Okay. I'm officially confirming your guesses."
A long moment ticked by, then two, and she didn't say anything else, just looked at us, smiling.
I struggled not to leap up off the table and grab her by the lapels of her white lab jacket.
"Dr. Jansen, please...no more suspense. Please just tell us."
By my side, Desmond joined in. "Yes. Please, Dr. Jansen. Tell us."
Still smiling away, she just shrugged.
"I already did tell you both. I confirmed both your guesses. You were both right. Jessie, why don't you turn the monitor toward them so they can see."
Jessie the technician did as she'd been instructed, and once the monitor was squarely facing Desmond and me, Dr. Jansen gestured to it, brown eyes twinkling.
"There's your girl that you were so certain of, Madison, and there's your boy that you were equally certain of, Commander Grant. There are your twins."
If I hadn't been reclining on a table, my knees definitely would have buckled. Somebody in the exam room gasped, and it took me a second to realize it had been me.
Still holding my hand, Desmond chuckled weakly, then with a little more force.
"I don't believe it. Twins."
Dr. Jansen joined in with a hearty chuckle of her own.
"Sometimes this early on, we don't pick up two heartbeats during office visits; we just get one. One twin hides behind the other...it happens."
Grinning, Desmond soon pulled me into his arms, and naturally, no huge surprise at all, I cried. Once Dr. Jansen and Jessie had left the exam room, Desmond developed a distinct frog in his throat and it took him multiple throat clears to get it under control.
A month later, he asked me to marry him, and I said yes, borderline shouting the word, actually, because I was so filled with joy. By this point, I wanted nothing more than to become his wife.
Considering that Desmond was commander of the city, we could have gotten married in extremely high style, sparing no expense. However, when I was five-and-a-half months along, we got married in the vast backyard behind Eloise's care home, so that my grandma could attend without having to travel and possibly become disoriented and upset.
She, Eloise, and Emma served as my attendants. Eric, who was Emma's husband by this point, stood up for Desmond, along with two other shifters. Jake, who was walking by now, though really, he ran more than walked, served as our ring bearer. Adorable as could be in a tiny suit and tie, he only dropped the ring twice. Each time, he looked toward Eric, saying "Uh-oh, Dada!"
The only other guests at the ceremony were the other care home residents, two other caregivers, and Dr. Jansen, who actually married Desmond and me. Not only was she an MD and a certified midwife, she was also somehow a certified minister as well, with legal right to marry couples in the state of Illinois.
Simple and meaningful, the ceremony was just what Desmond and I had wanted. It was sweet, funny, and even a bit chaotic at times. It was perfect.
My grandma had her mental bearings maybe seventy-five percent of the day, which I was beyond grateful for. Even during the times that she didn't recognize me, she just kept telling me over and over, between repeatedly asking my name, that I was such a beautiful bride, making my heart swell with an overflow of love.
In early February, the twins were born healthy, beautiful, and a whopping six pounds each exactly, large for twins. When they were two months old and had both proven to have hardy immune systems, Desmond and I took them to visit their great-grandma. Very sadly, she'd had a few weeks of marked steady decline, and she didn't recognize Desmond or me. However, her eyes lit up when she spotted the babies, and she asked if she could see them.
"I'd like to hold one, too, please, if I might."
Taking a seat beside her on the couch, I first introduced her to Matthew Desmond, who, just like his daddy, had thick dark hair and blue eyes that were already turning gray.
Eyes filling, my grandma clasped her hands together, saying he was the most precious little thing ever.
"May I pat his sweet little head? Oh, he's got so much hair."
Heart melting, I told her to go right ahead, and she gently stroked Matthew's dark hair, then gave him a few little pats while he looked at her, cooing and gurgling.
Soon I swapped out babies with Desmond, and carefully placed our baby girl in my grandma's arms, continuing to hold her with one hand, just in case my grandma suddenly lost strength.
"Grandma, this is Sophie Rose."
Though my frequent, borderline-incessant crying had thankfully stopped since I'd given birth, my voice had cracked on saying my daughter's middle name, and m
y eyes had suddenly filled with tears. Rose was my grandma's name, and I'd decided to use it as a middle name instead of Alexandra.
Eyes lighting with recognition, my grandma remarked that Rose was her name, and I smiled, nodding.
"I picked Sophie's middle name to honor you, because you're her great-grandma."
She looked from me to Sophie, frowning, and then back to me with her frown slowly changing to a little smile.
"You're a nice girl."
I managed a smile in return, blinking back tears.
"Thank you."
"Are you the new helper girl here?"