Two months had passed since Kel found out about her father's passing and Yuki had surprised them all. Everyone had settled into the new rhythm of things, with Yuki taking over instructing the children with staves and also in the school house, freeing up others to do jobs they were more skilled to do that, while Yuki was willing to learn, honestly had no idea how. Yuki also had a natural gift and patience with children that most others freely admitted they did not. At the moment New Hope was waiting on the arrival of Lord Raoul and Buri, who were on their way to Mastiff from Corus, and were coming to New Hope for a brief stay. They were also bringing a substitute healer from Corus so that Neal and Yuki could finally go to Queenscove and retrieve some of Yuki's belongings. They decided to wait on retrieving their rings until they left the warzone for good, not wanting to risk losing or damaging them. They would be gone for a month, and while Kel would miss them, she was happy they would finally get some time to themselves.

"Mother," Tobe called, Kel noticed he used that more than her name these days. "Is Lord Raoul going to be arriving today?" Tobe and Lord Raoul adored each other. Probably because it gave Lord Raoul a child to spoil and a more than accepting child.

"Yes Tobe, Lord Raoul and Buri will be arriving today," she smiled at him as he ran away in glee. "I don't know what I'm going to do with those two," she muttered to herself.

"What did I do now?" Dom teased her as he came up behind her and rested his forearm on her shoulder, leaning against her.

"Surprisingly I wasn't talking about you," she said turning her head towards him and moving to the side quickly, causing him to stumble to the side. "I was talking about Tobe and Lord Raoul. The child and over grown child that loves to spoil him," she smiled.

"Well, then nothing at all my dear," he laughed.

"My thought precisely," she smirked. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast, they should be here sometime today." With that they made their way to the mess hall.

Around two bells past midday they heard the horn calls for friends approaching the gates. Kel went to wait by the gates for her friends, excited to see them after so much time.

"Keladry of Mindelan, Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak! There she is! I told you she would be waiting for us Buri!" she heard Lord Raoul shout. She could only shake her head at him as he jumped off his horse and rushed over to her, enveloping her in a hug.

"You are a bad man, My Lord, but it is very good to see you," she said into his shoulder, returning the hug just as hard, not realizing how much she missed him until that moment.

"And to see you as well," Raoul responded as he coughed to clear his throat. He then put her at arm's length, examining her. "I see Dom's made sure you didn't kill yourself."

"We haven't actually seen much action besides a random group of raiders here and there, and those are usually less than ten men that are so thin I could just send out two of the warhorses and they could take care of them on their own. With the lovely defenses that we got, I usually just have the archers take care of them from the walls. That or if the farmers are out in the fields they usually take care of them on their own before we even get out there," she smirked. Following him back to his horse, watching him curiously as he grabbed a large wrapped package off of his saddle.

"This is for you," he said brightly, holding out the large package.

"Lord Raoul, you didn't have to get me anything," Kel told him.

"Just take the blasted thing Kel, that man hasn't stopped talking about it the whole trip up here," Buri called out as she got off her own horse and made her way over with just as much excitement on her face despite her words.

"Ok." Kel took the large box, which was apparently deceivingly heavy! She set it on the ground and started taking the cloth off the outside of the box, only to find it was actually a wooden crate. Her curiosity was peaked as she displaced the heavy lid and saw the large wood shavings inside to protect whatever was buried in there. "Now I'm beginning to see why Toby like's when you come to visit," she said with a smirk as she looked at him. She reached into the shavings and felt the edge of something cold and hard and grabbed on, pulling it out of the box. Out she pulled the most beautiful shield she had ever seen, which was saying something. It was a kite shaped shield (upside down teardrop, just more stretched out) with slightly curved edges to help deflect a blade and arrows. The design was a work of art in itself. Within her double border was the a side profile of a rearing bear, the banner of Godlenlake and Malorie's Peak, and then her own Mindelan Owl with wings outstretched above it, holding a glaive in its talons. She looked it over turning it all around, then spotted the Raven Armory emblem on the back. "Lord Raoul, this…This is," she was about to say too much, but stopped herself. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, feeling something she thought she wouldn't for a long time after she found out about her father's death. "Thank you." She gave him a hug, trying to prevent the tears from falling.

"You are more than welcome Kel, I can't let my daughter go around with anything other than the best after all," he said softly to her as he returned the hug.

"No," she laughed, "We can't do that, now can we."

Buri just stood back, watching the two interact. They were finally getting there. Raoul was so upset when he found out about Piers death, but they were already in Corus. He wanted to leave right away and go to Kel, thankfully Buri was able to talk him out of it. Reminding him that Dom was there for her and that they were planning on stopping on their way to Mastiff. Once they got word that Yuki had snuck up there and married Neal in order to stay, it made them feel even better since she had even more support.

"Come on My Lord, Buri. Let's go get you settled into the guest room in my quarters. I don't believe you've been here since it's been done," she said happily, leading them into headquarters and up to her rooms, she carried one of their bags as Lord Raoul carried the rest of them.

Lord Raoul let out a loud whistle when they stepped into her quarters. "This is quite the nice space you have here Kel, though I could have done without lugging these bags up three flights of stairs," he grimaced.

Kel and Buri just laughed at him. "I think it is a fair price to pay considering I get my own quarters, guest rooms, and Buri you'll like this the most, bathing room."

"You will most certainly have to show me that," Buri smiled.

"That will be the next stop, right after I show you to your room," she than guided them to one of the guest rooms she had. "I actually had this guest room made with you guys in mind. Well more like the bed in this guest room," she chuckled.

They looked in and saw a large bed, very similar to the one Kel had in her bedroom. Lord Raoul and Buri laughed, "Look Raoul, I won't have to hear you complain about how you don't fit on the bed!"

"I actually have a similar one in my room, the woodworkers made it when I complained about not having any room in the bed with all the animals and then when Toby would crawl in the bed, before I could convince him to sleep in his own room. I remembered all the times you would curse about the beds whenever we stopped at an inn or were visiting a fief. I figured with Buri it would only be worse," Kel tried to hide her amusement.

"I, for one, will be forever thankful, Kel," Buri proclaimed. "Now, you mentioned a bath?"

"Yes, it's right over this way. I'm sure after your long ride you would like to relax." Kel led her to the bathing room and showed her how to work everything.

Raoul poked his head into the room, "I'm going to go for a walk and say hello to everyone, besides I still have a little boy to find," he said with a grin as he ducked out of the doorway.

"This is simply amazing Kel," Buri exclaimed to Kel. "I'm jealous."

"I certainly enjoy it, that's for sure."

Raoul made his way around New Hope, looking for a certain sergeant of his. He finally found him standing up on the wall. "I was wondering when I would see you," Raoul proclaimed.

Dom turned to him with a cheeky smile, "I figured you would track me down soon enough, we all know you can't stay away from these devilish good looks for long."

Lord Raoul laughed at him and swatted his arm. "So how have things been going? Is she doing ok?" He asked concern evident in his voice.

"She's getting there. I think Yuki actually helped the most, as much as it bruises my male ego to say," he chuckled. "She seems slightly better with every day. Every now and then she'll have a bad one, but overall she is doing well."

"Good, I was worried about her. Buri convinced me not to come up here the moment we found out," he heard Dom trying not to laugh, "But it was still hard. I also got that package from your mother that you wanted. You didn't warn me the woman would give me the third degree when I picked it up."

"Yeah well, she's like that with everyone. Sorry about that," Dom said as he took the small package that Lord Raoul held out towards him.

Lord Raoul looked at Dom, searching his face for something. "You know I had an interesting meeting with King Jon while I was in Corus," he stated.

"Oh yeah."

"Apparently they're in the works of a peace treaty with Scanra. The Scanran Lords overthrew Maggar once word got out about Blayce's actions, which our spy master made sure of. Which means that no one is coming for Kel and this war is going to be over soon. A Scanran delegation is due in Corus next week," he said, glancing at Dom out of the corner of his eye.

"We'll get to go home soon," Dom said happily.

"Yes. We will."

"Dom," Kel said his name as they were getting ready for bed that night causing him to look at her.

"Yes dear," he smiled, stopping to look at her before throwing his shirt in the dirty clothes basket, knowing she would scold him if he didn't.

"I was thinking," she paused to think of her words before saying them as she sat on the bed. Taking a deep breath and looking at him she continued, "Tobe calls me mother now, more than Kel, I actually don't remember the last time he called me Kel. Well, what would you think if that we really the case?" She asked him, looking uncertain.

Dom sat down on the bed next to her and took her hand, gently running his thumb over her knuckles. "Kel, Tobe would be the luckiest boy in the world to have you as his mother. I also think he would be ecstatic beyond belief if you asked him. And you know I would be here to help you every step of the way, too," he smiled at her.

Kel smiled at him. "If…When, we get married, would you adopt Toby as your own as well? I mean, I wouldn't fault you if you didn't, I was just," she was saying quickly before Dom hushed her with a soft kiss.

"I would be more than happy to adopt Toby when we get married Kel. You know how much I care for you both. I would love to be just as much of a father for Toby as I will be for our own children one day. So how about we finish getting ready for bed and tomorrow we will have the scribes draw up the papers for adoption and we can talk to Toby about it," he said as he finished undressing and then crawling back into bed and pulling the covers over Kel and himself. "Goodnight love."

"Goodnight," Kel muttered as she curled herself around him, content as could be.

The next morning Kel was walking around the outer walls with Lord Raoul, enjoying the small talk with him. Completely aware that in tomorrow he would have to leave for Mastiff. After a brief moment of silence, Kel looked at Lord Raoul out of the corner of her eye.

"So…" She started hesitantly. "What would you think about a grandchild?"

"You're pregnant?!" He whispered frantically, trying not to be heard. "I'm going to kill him! You're not even married!"

"No Raoul, no," Kel laughed, stopping him in his tracks.

He looked her up and down. "You used my name," he squinted at her, still suspicious.

"Well, I figured it was time for a change," she looked towards the ground shyly. "Now as for a grandchild, no I am not pregnant, thus you don't get to kill Dom anytime soon. I am going to adopt Toby. I already talked to Dom about it and once we get married he's going to adopt him also. It will be easier that way, less paperwork. I just thought I would mention it to you, since you'll be a grandpa now and all. That and he would become part of House Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak. I wasn't going to give him the option of being an heir at all, if that would have been a concern of yours. I know Toby wouldn't want it, dealing with nobility stuff just scares him. He already has his heart set on taking over for Stephan at the Royal stables. Once this blasted war is over we plan on going to Corus and letting him visit with Daine and Numair so she can help him with his horse magic and to start training under Stephan."

"I prefer the term Papa, I'll have you know," he chuckled. "And if Toby wanted to be an heir after you, it would be fine by me. I just want you guys to be happy. Just to let you know, this war will probably be over sooner rather than later. After the Scanran Lords found out what Maggar allowed Blayce to do, they overthrew him. They have a delegation on their way to Corus now in order to begin peace negotiations. That's why Wyldon is in Corus and I am being sent to Mastiff. I expect that we should all be heading home by the end of the summer."

Kel felt a mixture a happiness and sorrow at this. She was happy at the prospects of going home, but at the same time, she would miss all the friends she had made. She knew the refugees would survive on their own. She would have to submit paperwork to the crown to make New Hope a town of their own, knowing that the refugees now saw this as their home and not just a place to stay till the end of the war. She had set them up with excellent defenses and on thriving farm land, they would be fine.

"Well that's good. I know Neal and Yuki are wanting to start a family soon, but the whole being at war thing kind of puts a damper on it," she smiled.

"What about you?" Raoul nudged her with his elbow. "Any family aspirations in there?"

Kel blushed, not really wanting to talk about her love life with him. "We talk about it, but I think we still have time. I mean, Dom hasn't even asked me to marry him yet, and I certainly am not going to be popping out any little minions before marriage," she said as Raoul laughed at her. "What in the world do you find so funny?"

"You do realize you just referred to your future children as minions, right?" Raoul managed to get out around his laughter and wiping tears away from his eyes.

Kel just smirked at him. "Yes, but you do realize they will not only be my children, they will also be Dom's children. And you, Raoul, get the proud honor of being their Papa," she said with sadistic glee, sobering him immediately.

"Dear gods, I'm done for," he muttered as she walked away.

Kel was helping Yuki pack up her bags for the trip to Queenscove. She was going to miss them greatly, but knew they needed to go get some of Yuki's belongings, plus they wanted some time alone, without worrying about an entire town of people.

"I've gotten so used to you being here," Kel looked at her with a small smile. "I'm going to miss you."

"We'll be back soon, Kel. Probably too soon for Neal's liking," Yuki said fondly. "And I already promised you I would bring you back some green tea to ease the pain of my being away."

"Yes, that will make everything better," Kel teased as she picked up the bag she had just finished packing for Yuki and put it by the door. "How many days will it take you to get to Queenscove?"

"Neal said it should only take three days, which really means four, since we all know how he travels," she said as she folded a pair of his pants and put them in a travel bag. "I will just be happy for when this is over and we can leave the war zone for good. Lord Raoul was saying that they were working on peace talks. I just hope that they are able to come to an agreement. War is never good, especially for the poor civilians that lose what little they already had."

"I can't agree more Yuki. These Kings and Lords can sit in the capital and never realize the destruction that is going on around them. I'm not sure what it's going to take for these peace talks to work, but hopefully they happen," Kel looked at Yuki with hope in her eyes. "Come on, let's get these to the horses before Neal comes and accuses me of trying to stall you." With that they made their way out the door and to the stables where Neal was waiting. After Dom and her waved them off they went to go find Toby, they still had a little boy to make very happy.

"Where on earth do you think he is?" Dom asked her curiously after looking for him for half an hour.

"I don't know, but I know how we can find out," she muttered, lifting her wrist so she could look at it and pushing back her glove to reveal a bracelet that had a polished metal bar on it. She held her thumb to the bar for ten seconds to activate the locator spell. One dot was all the way at the edge and was staying there, she knew that was Yuki. The other was within range off to her left, near the stables. "Like that's surprising, this way." Dom followed her, never actually seeing the locator in action. He followed her into the stables, pass three stalls till they got to Peachblossom's stall. Inside they found Toby, who was huddled into the far corner, crying, with Peachblossom trying to give him a comforting nuzzle every now and then. Kel immediately rushed into the stall and knelt down in front of Toby, giving him a visual glance to see if anything was hurt, but not finding anything.

"Toby," she said gently while trying to reach out to him, but he just tried to get away from her. She looked at Dom to see if he knew what was wrong, but he only shrugged his shoulders at her. "Toby, can you tell me what's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" However, Toby just continued to silently cry, refusing to look at Kel. "I can't fix it if you don't tell me what is wrong Toby," Kel told him patiently. "Have I ever not helped you?" That statement caused him to look at her with a sniffle.

"I…I heard Lord Raoul and Lady Buri talk'n, bout the peace talks 'n stuff," he said hesitantly. "The wars gonna end, 'n ya gonna leave me. Your gonna go off 'n be happy 'n forget all bout me!"

"Oh Toby, I'm not going to leave you anywhere. The only place you're going to be is with me," she told him with a soft smile as she wiped the tears off his face.

"Do ya mean that mother?" he asked earnestly.

"Yes Toby. Come on, I have a surprise for you, Raoul and Buri are waiting for us in Headquarters." She stood up and gave him a hug, then grabbed his hand.

"Don't worry Toby," Dom smiled. "You'll like this surprise." He held the door open for them as they all walked into the common room of headquarters. There waiting for them was Lord Raoul and Buri, they had the paperwork that was needed for Kel to legally adopt Toby sitting out and waiting for her to sign it. Kel led Toby over to the table and had him sit down and knelt in front of him, his face was still botchy from crying.

"Toby, you know I love and care for you very much. That I will always look out for you and do what I think is in your best interest, right?" She questioned him.

"Yes," he sniffled, not sure where this was going.

"Well, what would you say to calling me your mother for real?" she smiled, seeing how long it would take him to catch on.

"But, I already call you that…" He said, no following what she was saying.

"What I'm asking Toby, is would you like for me to adopt you? Would you like to be my son?"

Toby was out of his seat and in her arms faster than anyone could comprehend.

"You'll really never leave me," he said through muffled cries.

"I'll never leave you Toby. I'll be here for as long as you want me," she told him gently. "So I would like to introduce you to some people." She smiled and turned a confused Toby around, since he already knew everyone in the room. "As you know, Raoul adopted me, just like I'm adopting you. So he wanted to know if he could be your new Papa."

"Really?" Toby looked at him hopefully.

"Really young sprout," Raoul chuckled. "And this young lady beside me," he hugged Buri's waist. "Wanted to know if she could be your new Dapir. (Kurdish word for that I found for grandmother, the cultural group I think somewhat matches the K'miri) That's what Buri's grandma was called and she decided to keep up the tradition."

"So what do you say Toby? I know I'm a little young to be a Dapir, especially compared to this old guy next to me," she elbowed Raoul. "But I think I'm up to the task if you'll have me."

Toby couldn't answer them, he just continued to stare at them, not knowing what to say. Dom decided now was the best time to step in and take his turn as he kneeled down in front of Toby.

"They're not all Toby, as you know Kel and I plan on getting married one day," he smiled as he watched Toby's face slowly trying to process what he was saying. "Which means that if you would have me, I would love to be your father as well. Now while for legal reasons I won't be formally adopting you until Kel and I get married, that doesn't mean that I don't already consider you as a son. We all care for you and will always be here for you."

They all watched Toby closely, not sure what he was going to do. What they didn't expect was for him to break down crying! Kel and Dom knelt in front of him as he sat crying on a bench.

"Tobe, what's wrong, aren't you happy?" she asked carefully.

Tobe flung himself off the bench into Kel and Dom's arms, "Yous are giv'n me som'thin I never though ta have," he said through tears. "A family," he whispered as he held them tightly, and they held onto him just as tight.

After a moment Kel pulled her head back and looked at him smiling, wiping away his tears, "Why don't you go give your new Papa and Dapir a big hug, I'm pretty sure they would love one." With that Tobe ran over to Raoul, who picked the boy up like he weighed nothing and tossed him in the air, only to catch him then give him a huge bear hug. It made her forget he was a boy of nine or ten, even when he was still small for his age from being underfed all those years. Buri didn't even wait her turn and just came over and joined the hug that Raoul was giving him.

"I think we made a boy very happy today," Dom said as he wrapped his arm around her waist watching Raoul, Tobe, and Buri.

Kel just smiled. "I think we made a very happy family," she looked up at him and gave him a small kiss. Then went back to watch Tobe with his new grandparents. "Just wait till he meets my mom, she'll spoil him rotten too. Will yours at least tell him no?" She half joked with him.

"Have you met me, my dear?" he laughed at her. "I wouldn't count on it."

When Kel and Dom got up the next morning they knew it was their last day with Raoul and Buri. They would be leaving around midday for Mastiff, since Lord Wyldon was currently in Corus to help with the peace delegations, meaning Raoul was taking over as district commander until he returned. Raoul would actually be relieving Alanna of the post, who was not happy to have it in the first place.

"Ready to get up love," Dom asked her gently, knowing she wasn't looking forward to Raoul and Buri leaving.

"No, but I don't think the rest of the world will listen to that answer," she grimaced into his chest.

"I'm afraid not, I'm pretty sure the sun is still rising," he chuckled.

"Come on, let's just get this day over with," she said moodily as she got out of bed and started to put her pants on.

Dom just laughed at her. "Sometimes I wonder what happened to that Yamani mask everyone says you have," he joked with her.

"That's reserved for people I don't like or don't know, or when I'm getting in trouble. So consider yourself special," with that said she turned around and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh. I consider myself very special," he said as he came up behind her and kissed her shoulder.

"Well I'm glad you know your place," she joked around with him. "Now get dressed. Tobe wanted to have breakfast as a family up here since they were leaving today. I think he's going to take them leaving harder than I am, poor kid."

"He'll be ok. He's tougher than he looks, besides he has his ma and da now," he smirked at her.

"Don't make me go correcting your speech, too," she teased him.

"Yes, mother," Dom laughed.

After a nice breakfast Raoul and Buri had decided to head out early, since it looked there was going to be a storm. Kel was glad they did, because by the time dinner was over the wind was trying to rip trees out of the ground and it was thundering and lightening like you wouldn't believe. Kel was nervous that the wind would damage some of the buildings. She already had the men bring in all the livestock and horses, she was just hoping that the crops wouldn't be too damaged.

"How is everything holding up," Dom called loudly from beside her as they stood under an overhang of the mess hall. It had just started to drizzle, but when combined with the wind it could have been a down pour, because it felt like the same thing.

"As long as everyone stays inside I think we should be ok," she yelled back. "Let's get into the mess hall."

They had made the mess hall into a staging area for those on duty throughout the storm. There was food available at one end of the hall and then cots set up at the other end. Everyone was sitting and enjoying a light meal when they heard a loud crack and felt the ground rumble. Quickly followed by another crack and more of the ground vibrating beneath their feet. Kel and Dom jumped to their feet and ran towards the door to look outside. They saw people pouring out of one of the refugee barracks as they had their mouths open in what must have been screams, but they couldn't be heard over the howling wind. That's when Kel and Dom saw the fire, they both jumped into action.

"Dom go get the rest of the men, we need to get all those people out and into the mess hall, then evacuate the barracks next to it as well until we get the fire out," she told him as she rushed out the door to start getting people to safety. Dom ran off to follow her orders.

As Kel got to the barracks she couldn't believe her eyes. Half the roof was blown open, now that she was closer she could hear the people screaming. She looked around for abled bodied people that seemed to have level heads about them still. She found a couple that she knew could keep their cool in tough situations.

"Dillon, Grace," she ran up to them. "What happened?"

"We were just sitting and relaxing, then all of a sudden we felt the barracks shake and the roof exploded and fire started. We tried to get people out, but I know there's still some in there," Dillon said.

"Ok, you did well," Kel tried to reassure him. "I need you to try and get everyone to the mess hall. Do you think you two could do that?" They nodded their heads to her. "Ok, I'm going to go inside and see if I can help anyone." With that Kel ran inside, trying to see if there was anyone trapped.

She could hear people screaming for help inside. It looked like some of the beams had fallen when the blast had occurred. If Kel had to guess, she would say lightning from the storm hit the barracks. First she found two children trapped under a bed by a fallen table, she lifted the table and told them to run out. She kept walking farther in, she was getting closer to the fire. She saw someone was stuck between two beams, thankfully Kel was able to figure out a simple solution and had the person break out the window and didn't have to disturb the already unstable beams. Kel was relieved that she had yet to find anyone that was actually injured. She kept going as the smell of smoke increased and she could hear someone screaming, apparently her previous thought was too soon. She started to run towards the fire, hoping that whoever it was, would be ok. When she got there she found a woman surrounded by fallen beams and roof debris that had all caught fire from the lightning. Kel was scrambling, frantically looking around for something to get to the woman with. The only thing Kel could hope to do was take one of the beams that had not yet caught on fire and lay it across the others and hope the woman could cross before it too caught fire. So Kel grabbed a manageable beam and laid it across the wreckage, pushing another beam under it to give it some balance.

"You have to run," Kel yelled to the woman, but she just stood there. "We really don't have time for this," Kel muttered to herself and she watched the bottom of the beam start to turn red.

"You need to run now!" She called again, noticing the rain and wind were starting to pick up. Still no response. She watched the wood, knew that if she waited much longer this woman would die. With that thought Kel ran across the beam to the woman and grabbed her arms and shook her. "Listen to me," Kel said sternly. "You must go across this beam by yourself, it will collapse from our combined weight, but you must go now and don't stop for any reason till you exit this building." With that said Kel turning her around and shoved her onto the wooden beam that was going to burst into flames at any moment. Kel watched as she kept running. Kel was half way across the beam herself when she heard the sound of wood creaking, she paused in her steps and looked up, only to see the rest of the roof coming down on top of her, she tried to jump out of the way…..

After Dom watched Kel run off towards the refugee barracks he went to the men, telling two of them stay there to help the people that would be coming there. He then sent two men to the barracks next to the one on fire to evacuate it. He also sent a man to get the rest of the soldiers and the healer, since they would be needed everyone's help for this. Once that was said and done, he and the remaining men went to help the wounding and disoriented people. When he got there he found that Dillon and Grace were already doing a good job of rounding people up, so he went over and talked to them.

"What happened?" he asked them.

"We'll tell you the same we told Lady Kel," Dillon said. "We was all sitting and relaxing. Next thing we know there was a big explosion and then the roof was on fire. Lady Kel asked us to try and get people rounded up to the mess hall, then she ran off in there to help whoever might be stuck. I don't know if she's still in there or not though."

Dom felt his heart go into his throat, Kel could be inside that building and they had no idea, thankfully the rain had at least put out the majority of the fire. He started to look around frantically for her. He would notice her, who wouldn't notice an almost six foot tall woman. All of a sudden he saw a woman run out of the barracks. He ran over to her before she could get lost in the crowd. Dom had to think for a minute to remember her name.

"Hannah, Hannah look at me. Is Lady Kel still inside? Is she still in there?" He asked her quickly, knowing at this point time was of the essence.

"She told me to keep going, no matter what. Just keep going," Hannah told him through tears, not wanting to look at him. Dom could feel the color draining from his face.

"Hannah, what do you mean, did something happen?"

"I…I don't know. I was running. Then I heard a loud crash. She should have been right behind me," Hannah sobbed. Dom just let go of Hannah's arms and raced towards the building only to be stopped by Wolset.

"It's not safe, Dom," he said.

"Kel's trapped in there, get the hell out of my way," Dom demanded, trying to swing on him.

Wolset just shook his head, knowing Dom was going into that building with or without them. "Just stay here for a minute at least. Let me get a few of the guys. Don't be stupid. Going in there by yourself will just get you killed and Kel more hurt then she more than likely already is," he gave him a strong stare.

"You have one minute before I go into that building," Dom told him. Wolset ran off and gathered up four other men and they raced back as Dom started making his way towards the door. They all made their way inside carefully, not sure what they would find. They found beds knocked over and wooden beams blown to the ground. They continued to make their way farther into the barracks, starting to see signs of fire damage, but the rains must have put them out since it had picked up more. Now they were seeing the roof was caved in on certain areas. Dom and the men started to call out Kel's name, not sure how far back she could have gone. They were still picking their way through the debris when Dom saw something that made his heart stop cold. There under a pile of rubble and a sheet of roof, was a feminine hand sticking out.

"Over here!" He screamed out to the other men, as he ran over towards the hand, hoping it was Kel, yet at the same time, not. Wolset got there at the same time as him, together they lifted off the large broken sheet of roof that had fallen on top of her. Once that was off Dom could see parts of Kel's face through the broken wood and debris that had fallen her.

Dom turned to one of the men, "Go to Headquarters, use the scrying bowl to message Mastiff to get ahold of Lord Raoul. Tell him Kel was gravely injured, speak only to him, go now! Conner, go get the healer, and a cot!"

The rest of them carefully unburied Kel. Lifting beams off her that weighed twice her amount and chunks of plaster that had cracked and fallen as well. By the time they had uncovered her, they could tell she was at least alive by the movement of her chest.

However, he could also tell she had several broken bones, from the odd angles that her arm, leg, and wrist were sitting at. She was also bleeding from her nose and she had a large gash on her forehead. Not to mention all the numerous cuts she has all over her body from wood splinters cutting through her cloths. He was pulled from his thoughts by the healer arriving. While he wasn't Neal, he would have to do. He watched as the healer used his magic on Kel, making her body glow red as Conner brought a cot and set it beside Kel.

The healer looked to Dom, "I put her into a deep sleep for now, so she won't feel pain. I would like to heal her some before moving her, but this building could finish collapsing at any moment." He rushed out.

Dom shook his head, they needed to move her. "Let's just try to be careful," he said as he leaned down and the healer and he gently lifted her onto the cot. They quickly left the building and heading right for the infirmary. Knowing that Kel needed to be seen to right away.

They set Kel down on a bed and the healer turned to Dom, "You need to wait outside," he stated to Dom.

"I'm not going anywhere," Dom told him looking right in his eyes, using every inch of his six foot plus frame. If he had to use intimidation, than he damn well was going to use it.

"Fine, but stay out of my way," he stated tersely.

Dom sat in his chair and watched as the healer fixed stuff he couldn't see, after twenty minutes one of his men came in to tell him that he spoke to Lord Raoul. He, Buri, and Duke Baird were on their way and would be traveling through the night to get there. That made Dom feel better, whatever this crack of a healer couldn't do, his uncle would make sure Kel was healed correctly. Dom just sat and watched more. The hours passed and still he watched. Her limbs still bent at odd angles, still not sure what was going on. Finally he saw her leg start to go back to a normal angle, he also saw the man was about to pass out.

Dom got up and went over to the healer, gripping his shoulder. "Take a break. I don't know what you've been working on, but my Uncle, Duke Baird is on his way, they should be here within the hour. And you look like you'll need your own healer soon."

The healer looked up at him wearily. "Thank you, I'm afraid I still don't know my limits. Lady Kel had extensive internal injuries from when one of the beams fell across her abdomen. It caused multiple organs to rupture. She also had a concussion. Those injuries were more life threatening then there broken bones. They also take a great more time and energy to heal. It's a good thing your uncle is coming, they could use additional healing, it will help with her recovery. With those types of injuries, you can only heal the area so much at a time. It will, of course, continue to heal on its own, but additional healing will always speed up recovery."

"Thank you, for all you've done," Dom told him. "Go get some rest. I'll sit with her."

"I have her in an induced sleep. I don't want to take her out of it for a bit, at least till her head it better and her organs are healed a little more," the healer told him as he made his way towards the door.

Dom just sat next to Kel. He didn't care if she slept for the next month. She was alive. That's all that mattered to him. He sat there with her, thanking every god and goddess he could think of that she was still alive when Raoul, Buri, and his uncle rushed into the infirmary.

"Gods, is she going to be ok?" Raoul came hurried over to Kel, reaching out to pick up her hand, but stopping when he saw it was still at an odd angle, along with the rest of her arm.

His uncle already started to go over her with his own magic, most likely had started to heal her as well. "The healer said she had a lot of internal injuries. He worked on her for hours. He had just managed to fix her leg when he looked like he was going to pass out himself. I told him to stop and go get some rest. The roof collapsed on top of her when she was saving one of a women trapped inside the refugee barracks that was struck by lightning. I almost didn't see her, the only thing sticking out was her hand, and that was barely visible with how dark it was and how everything had fallen. We had to literally dig her out," Dom looked at Raoul with haunted eyes. "I thought…I thought I lost here," he whispered. "I thought she was dead. I thought the one person I loved more than life itself, was gone forever. I felt like the gods gave me another life when I saw her breathing. She was broken, battered, and bruised, but she was breathing and alive. "

"She'll be ok Dom," Raoul told him. Trying to reassure himself just as much as Dom. It was hard to look down at Kel and see her like that.

"Baird, what's the damage?" Raoul heard Buri ask.

"A number was done that's for sure. Your healer did a good job so far, he just ran out of magic to finish the job. She had a number of internal injuries, it takes a lot to heal those. What fell on her?" Baird asked, wanting to know if he should look farther for more injuries.

"A beam fall right across her stomach," Dom replied numbly. "Along with other beams and pieces of debris, then there was the eight foot section of roof we had to lift off of her."

"I'll look for more injuries just to be sure," he said as he poured more healing magic into her. They watched as her bones slowly went back into a normal position and the cuts on her skin started to heal. After another hour had passed Duke Baird looked up at them, "There's nothing more I can do for now, I'll heal her more in the morning. The best thing for her is rest. We'll take her out of the sleep in the morning."

With that Dom showed his uncle to Neal's room, so he could get some rest, knowing that he would have to heal Kel more in the morning. Then he went back to her side and Raoul, Buri and he got ready to post up for the night.

Morning came, sometime during the night Tobe had snuck into the infirmary and was now asleep on the floor next to Kel's bed. Dom and Raoul had not slept at all throughout the night, too worried about Kel. Duke Baird had just came out from Neal's rooms and was going over Kel again.

"Why don't you two go get something to eat, then I'll wake her from the magic sleep, but it may take her a few hours to wake up after that," he told them.

"I'll just stay here," Dom told him, earning him a hard look from his uncle.

"Dom, I am telling you as your uncle, go get some food. She'll still be here, I won't let anything happen to her," he laid a reassuring hand on Dom's shoulder.

"Ok uncle, I'll be back in half an hour," with that Dom leaned over and gave Kel a light kiss on her forehead and then walked out the door. He had a few things to do.

Half an hour later saw a very anxious Dom, Raoul, Buri, and Tobe around Kel, who was being brought out of the magical sleep. They saw the light green magic fade from Kel's skin.

"Now we just wait," Duke Baird said to them all. With that they all sat in for what could be a very long few hours.

Kel could feel pain all over her body, but didn't remember why. The last thing she recalled was going into the building that had been struck by lightning. She slowly opened her eyes, letting out a groan from the blinding sunlight. She heard a sudden shuffle of feet.

"Kel…Kel love? Can you hear me?" She heard Dom call as she felt him take her hand. She was finally able to see and looked up to into Dom's worried face.

Kel tried to answer him but all she could get out was a croaking sound. She saw him grab a glass of water and bring it up to her lips, she took a greedy gulp from it and then tried again.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"You mean you don't remember?" he looked at her with concern, then over to his uncle, who she just noticed was there, then she saw Raoul and Buri were also there.

"It's a side effect from the concussion Dom, she'll be fine, it's normal. She may remember later or she may not," Duke Baird told him.

Dom just nodded his head before looking back at Kel. "You went into the building that was struck by lightning, do you remember that?" he asked her gently as he stroked her cheek.

"I remember just before entering the building, then nothing," she told him.

"When I got there I was getting people to the mess hall when I saw Dillon and Grace, who said you ran inside the building. I was making my way over to it when Hannah ran out. She was hysterical, she said you saved her, told her to keep running no matter what. When I got her to calm down enough to explain she said she heard a loud crash, and that you should have been right behind her, but you never came out. We went looking for you and found you buried under a pile of rubble. Part of the roof had collapsed on top of you Kel," he said quietly. "We got you over here as fast as we could, I sent word to Raoul and they left Mastiff as soon as they had found out."

"You gave us all quite the scare young lady," Raoul told her as he came up beside her. "I'm just glad to see you'll make a full recovery" With that he leaned down and gave her a gentle hug.

"Mother," Tobe came up to her cautiously.

"I'll be fine Tobe," Kel smiled to him. "Nothing a little time won't fix. Why don't you go play with the children? I don't want you cooped up in here because of me." She lifted her good arm to give Tobe a light hug, which he gladly returned. Raoul and Buri helped to usher Tobe out of the infirmary as Duke Baird made his way to the mess hall, hoping to beg an early lunch, as his reserves were depleted from all the healing he was doing on Kel, leaving Dom and Kel alone.

"How are you really feeling?" Dom asked her.

"I feel like I was just trampled by a squadron of men," she grimaced at him. "But I'll live."

Dom couldn't hold it in anymore. He was beyond worried and pissed off. "Gods Kel, you almost died! I thought you were dead when I saw you under that pile of rubble. We literally had to lift an eight foot section of roof off of you and then a huge beam that feel right across your stomach. It's amazing you weren't crushed," by this point he was pacing. "That's not even counting all the other wood and plaster that we had to move. All I kept thinking was please don't be dead. When we got everything off it moved to thank god she's breathing! You are never allowed to do that to me again!" he stopped pacing and was staring at her.

"I didn't mean to do it to you in the first place," she tried to joke with him, but he wasn't having it. He came over to her side and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm serious Kel, I would be lost without you. You're not allowed to die, if you're going to do something as stupid and foolish as running into a burning building, at least wait for backup. I need you too much, Tobe needs you too much." He then leaned over and gave her a deep kiss, reveling in the fact that she could actually return it.

When Kel leaned back she looked at Dom, in his hand he was holding a little open box, with a beautiful sapphire and gold ring in it, accompanied by a plainer gold band. Kel just looked from the box to Dom, who was giving her a brilliant smile.

"I was going to wait and do some big romantic gesture, but after last night, I couldn't let another day go by without asking you," he said. "I was so scared that I would never get to share my life with you, never see my children grow in your beautiful body, or watch you be the amazing mother to them that you are. I was scared that you would be lost to me forever, and I would be alone, because I would never want anyone after having you Kel. So Keladry of Mindelan, Goldenlake, and Malorie's Peak," Dom said, getting down on one knee. "Would you please make me the happiest man on the earth and marry me?"

Kel couldn't stop the tears with her Yamani mask even if she wanted to. The man that she loved with all her heart just poured his soul out for her and asked her to marry her. "Of course," she whispered to him. "I would love to marry you." She smiled brightly.

He stood up and leaned over the bed, giving her a gentle yet passionate kiss, trying to keep in mind her injuries. "I love you Kel," he whispered to her. "I even thought to have a ring made for when you are working," he beamed at her as he showed her the plain gold band as he slipped it on her finger. "The other one was my great grandmother's ring. We were really close before she passed and she wanted me to give it to my betrothed. We'll have to get it fitted once we get back to Corus though, I'm afraid her hands were a lot smaller than yours," he chuckled.

Kel didn't care about having to get the ring fitted, they were both perfect. "They're perfect Dom," she told him lovingly. "I couldn't be more honored to have your great grandmother's ring. I love you."

There you go finished. I want to go on and on, but I just don't have time to now. So I figured a finished story is better than leaving it hanging. If you're following the story I'll drop an update on it when I start on the second part of this story, most likely this summer. I do plan on doing at least one more scene for Time goes on 85, my M rated section, but it will just be a random scene and I won't be getting to it till later. I was just trying to finish this story for everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.