“Alexis…”, Morven groaned as she struggled into a sitting position.

“Don’t do that love… you’ve been sick, you just lay back down now”, Alexis’ mind was a complete mess, so unexpected was this turn of events and he certainly did not know how to keep his headstrong, ill wife from getting out of bed.

“Hepsie won’t be pleased”, he said as a last resort, he knew he wouldn’t like to incite her wrath having already felt the sting of her slap, but perhaps Morven wouldn’t take the threat so seriously.

She was already pushing the blankets off and sliding a determined foot to the edge of the bed.

“No! Wait stay there love… I’ll come and join you. Then you have no reason to rise at all”, this seemed to halt her progress and he ran around to the other side of the bed, swearing softly as he hit his shin on the way.

He scrambled onto the bed beside her, wrapping his arms gently around her shoulders. She had lost a lot of weight lying there for weeks and he was surprised by how thin she felt in his embrace. But he could barely contain his happiness, and had to remind himself to be careful with her frail body.

“You… you’re awake”, he whispered, his lips close to hers.

She reached up with her wasted arms and weakly held onto his back.

“I thought I had lost you… I…”, his sentence faltered as he tried to hold back a sob that was threatening to break free.

Tears welled up in his eyes, dripping down onto her upturned face.

“You… you silly man, look at you… cry… crying like a girl”, she managed to wheeze with a pained smile.

But when he looked down at her he could see her eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

“Pl… please… Alexis… I want to sit up… feels… feels like I have been… lying down for weeks”.

He looked down at her and tried to smile jovially but somehow it failed at the end and came out more as a grimace.

“Darling… you have been”, he said softly, his voice threatening to crack, “Here now… let me help you. Just hang onto my luxurious black locks and muscular frame, and here we go”.

He carefully maneuvered her into a sitting position so she was comfortable with pillows behind her back. This seemed to help her breathing a little and the dreadful wheeze began to dissipate.

She closed her eyes and rested her face wearily against his. He shut his to, gently stroking her arm with the backs of his fingers. Then he had to open them again to remember that it wasn’t just a dream, his wife was awake again, sitting in his arms, alive.

Suddenly her body grew tense and she gave a little sob, “Alexis!… I… I can’t feel the bab… the baby moving anymore”.

She turned to him and he could see the terror in her deep blue eyes, “Oh… oh God… did I lose… lose… the baby?”, she asked desperately, the wheezing sound in her lungs returning with the panic.

“Shhh… shh my love, no you didn’t the baby is fine”, he felt her relax into his arms again, her little face drooping tiredly.

“In fact… both babies are fine. Do you really not remember giving birth. You were very brave, they thought all three of you wouldn’t make it, but you woke up and gave me”, he stopped here for a dramatic pause, “two little sons”.

She gazed at him in astonishment at this news, a look which quickly turned into a small proud smile.

“Two sons… well dearest… it… it seems you were right… about that… feeling of… sonliness”, she broke off here with a croaking laugh that turned into a coughing fit.

“There now love”, he murmured when it had finally subsided, “take it easy, you don’t want to wear yourself out, you’ve had a very rough time of it. I promise I will try not to make any more jokes for a while”.

“I… I don’t think that will… be… likely”, she smiled at him, “Alexis… can… can I see them?”.

“Of course darling, but you just have a bit of a rest now. I will get Hepsie to have a look over you and after that we’ll see what we can do”.

He leaned in to gently kiss her face and then helped her back under the blankets, where her exhausted body found sleep again.