Together Part Two
By LelaofBast

"Curses, I forgot how much this hurts!" Alanna mumbled. George laced his fingers into hers.

"Breathe, lass. Just breathe."

"You're doing fine," Maude said, wiping her mistress' forehead with a damp cloth. Alanna tensed while the latest contraction swept through her body. She had worried so much when Thom was born that she barely noticed the pain. That gave her a sense of overconfidence when she had the twins, and Aly and Alan put her out of commission for several days.

Both births had gone relatively smoothly. But this one felt…different.

Alanna sat back and rubbed her belly gently. She wondered if her mother had felt the same when she gave birth to her and Thom, when she realized that she would die to bear her children.

"Copper for your thoughts," George said, startling her.

"I'm just thinking about my mother," Alanna said. She smiled lightly. "Remember, that's a tradition when I give birth."

"You just remember that your mother was quite ill by the end of her pregnancy and that she would have died a few months later of lung rot. You, my lady, are perfectly healthy. Now drink this," Maude said, thrusting a small cup towards Alanna.

"But I'm old," she said, making a face as she chugged the potion that would calm her child and speed the birth. Nearly instantly another contraction hit Alanna's body. She swore, grabbing George's hand.

"Mithros, lass," George said, loosening her grip on his hand. "You'll break it again." He was answered with a glare from his wife.

"This is it, Lass," Maude said, ignoring the miniature temper tantrum. "Push."

A few moments later Maude held a squirming, pink, wrinkly little baby. Alanna smiled with a mother's joy, breathing heavily. She held her arms out and Maude leaned down to give her the baby.

"It's a healthy, perfect, lovely little girl," she cooed. As the healer went about the post-birth cleaning, Alanna and George surveyed their new daughter from head to toe.

"She is beautiful," Alanna said. The little girl already had a soft red fuzz covering her head, and her nose belonged to her mother as well. Her ears and eyes seemed to be inherited from her father.

George scooted to his wife's side, putting an arm around her and the child.

"Yer right, Lass," he said, brushing the baby's cheek with calloused fingers. Alanna's own scarred hand found his.

"What should we call her?" she asked.

"Alan actually came up with something rather brilliant," George said. "He said that we should honor our parents with this baby. He thinks we should name her 'Myleni.' What do you think?"

"Myleni." Alanna tried it out on her tongue. "Little Myli. George, it's perfect. A perfect name for a prefect babe."

Alanna sat for a moment, cradling her sleeping newborn, then she looked up at her husband. "George we've turned into a pair of those parents. The kind who think their kids are the center of everyone's universe. The kind of people who aren't satisfied until everyone knows that their child won this, or their child did that."

"Well, our children are bred from the best," George said with a crooked grin. "It's no wonder we feel a need to show them off." Alanna laughed gently, raising the child to her breast. George watched as his Lioness and their new infant bonded in silence.

"George?" she whispered. "Do you still love me with all your crooked heart?"

George grinned again.

"More than ever."