Morning came and went, and without a precocious child to wake them, they languished in bed until almost noon when Elle's cell phone roused them - or at least, her - from sleep, one hand groping blindly for the bloody phone without opening her eyes. It was her day off from work, and she had no idea who would be calling, until she heard the perky voice on the other end of the phone. "Mummy! Where are you? I've been waiting for hours and hours, but Aunt Vicki said I had to wait until lunch time to call. Is everything okay' Did you and Dom have too much champagne?"

Daisy's over-enthusiastic and perky voice was answered with a groan as Elle rolled onto her side and glanced at the time. "Yes, darling, we're fine. Just having a bit of a lie-in." She wondered if Vicki was anxious to be rid of her daughter or if Daisy was just missing them.

Wrapped around Elle, Dom groaned softly as he stirred. It wasn't so much the champagne that had kept them in bed so long as it was the time it had taken to thoroughly love one another into unconsciousness. He couldn't help a throaty chuckle at the barrage of small voice from the end of the line, though. "Tell her we'll take her out for lunch if she hasn't already eaten," he suggested, brushing a kiss to Elle's shoulder affectionately.

"It's nearly noon," Elle whispered back to Dom before replying to her daughter. "Have you had lunch yet, darling?" she asked, sliding closer to the man beside her to insinuate herself between his legs, even as she chatted with her daughter.

"Not yet, but I'm hungry!" the little girl whined loud enough for even Dom to hear her.

"Oops," Dom whispered back, but he made no move to stop her sidling back against him, wrapping his arms about her as he smiled. "What if we pick up something on our way over there?" he suggested. "Lis always makes too much - we could drop in there and take lunch over for the smalls, at the very least."

Elle winced at the insistent whine of hunger from her daughter. "Darling, can you put Vicki on the phone, please?" she asked, thinking it might be better to ask the adult in charge what was going on over there before she and Dom made plans for the day. She was already settling herself in to have another go at him, phone call or no phone call.

"You're a very wicked woman," Dom murmured to his fianc"e, but at least this time he wasn't the one on the phone. His eyes lit up with mischief at that thought, and as he heard Vicki's voice take over from Daisy's, his hands started to wander, keeping Elle imprisoned facing away from him. She wasn't going to be able to retaliate much, but oh, he was going to enjoy this.

Oh, she was going to get revenge for that when he was least expecting it. She could still reach enough of him to make him squeal like a girl in retaliation for ruining her fun. "Mmhmm," she replied to Vicki's voice on the other end of the phone, hardly hearing her. All she wanted to know was whether her daughter had had lunch yet, but the chatty redhead kept going on and on.

Knowing Vicki, she probably had a good idea of what was going on at the other end of the line and was extending the conversation for the hell of it. Dom grinned against Elle's shoulder, batting her hand away as his own settled at her waist to raise her up just enough so that her focus was definitely going to be torn as he moved.

She squeaked just a little he changed her position, thinking there was no way they were going to make it to the big house in time for lunch. "You better not wait for us, Vicki. Dom is being a bad boy. We'll try to get there as soon as we can. Give Daisy a kiss for me. Cheers!" she said, clicking the button to end the call before it became too obvious what she and her bedmate were up to.

Dom laughed against her ear as she hung up, dexterous fingers enjoying themselves as he moved inside her. "Is something wrong, love?" How he could sound so innocent while behaving like that was anyone's guess.

"You are in so much trouble," she replied, though the warning was followed by a sigh of pleasure as he applied just the right amount of pressure and friction to get her going again.

"I hope so," he grinned, rolling back onto the bed to make thing infinitely more comfortable for them both. One thing you could say for Dominic Granger ....he always finished what he started, and for Elle, he would always go that extra mile.

She would have been truly disappointed if he hadn't - or she would have taken it upon herself to finish it. Either way, neither of them was going anywhere for at least a little while yet, and once they did, one of them was going to be moving a little slower than usual, but she had no complaints. It was good to know she'd found a man who could not only keep up with her but who actually encouraged such naughty behavior.

When it was appropriate, at least. Still, it was a way to start the day with a smile, and it continued on into the bathroom and their shower before Dom finally managed to untangle himself from his beautiful fianc"e and remember that there was a small girl impatient to see her mother again. Which was how he ended up wandering around in his boxers, scarfing down half a slice of toast. The other half was Elle's, and he was trying very hard not to eat that, too.

She had accepted the slice of toast with a snicker, teasing him about his generosity, as well as the view he posed in those boxers. If she wasn't careful, they'd get distracted again and wouldn't get over to pick Daisy up until dinner. Vicki didn't seem to mind her company, and both Ben and Emily adored her daughter, but she didn't want to take advantage of her either. "We're going to have to return the favor one of these days, you know," she said as she picked through her closet for something to wear. She'd come through the portal with nothing but the clothes on her back, but that had been quickly rectified, thanks to Vicki and Miranda.

"Jon and Vicki have a date night once a week, I'm sure we can volunteer for one of those," Dom suggested, swallowing the last of his toast as he hunted out clean jeans and a shirt. Autumn was hurtling toward winter now, so the loose t-shirt phase of the year was over. He was back into fitted tees and button down shirts.

"Once a week?" she echoed, muttering, "Lucky them." Though it was a lot easier caring for one six year old than a couple of toddlers. She dug out a long skirt and a sweater for herself to wear with a pair of knee-high boots, casual but still fashionable, pausing a moment to admire the sparkly that was shining on her left hand.

Tossing his tee and shirt on the bed, Dom turned back from his own chest of drawers as he did up his fly, a pair of socks hanging out of his pocket. "There's no reason we couldn't do something similar, you know," he pointed out to her, dropping onto the bed to pull his socks on. "Maybe not so often, but there are plenty of babysitters on the Grove."

Elle winced at the word that probably gave her away. "I'm happy ....I am! I adore Dom and I've been waiting for him to pop the question for a while. It's not that. It's ..." She frowned a little, but she knew if there was anything she could talk to about these things it was her. "I'd like you to be my maid of honor, but it's not that either."

Vicki eyed her for a moment with a smile. "Sit," she said, pointing to the kitchen table, and turned the kettle off, reaching into the fridge for a bottle of white wine. Some things could only be discussed with wine. Glasses and corkscrew in hand, she moved to join Elle. "First things first," she said, pulling the cork free with a distinct pop. "I would love to be your maid of honor, just so long as you know it will involve a proper English hen do. Deely-boppers, sash, and a pub crawl complete with male stripper."

That brought a smile to Elle's face, a chuckle even, as she tried to imagine them both in that ridiculous headdress that no one would take seriously. "That sounds brilliant, love, except for one thing ....What if I'm pregnant?" She hadn't been using birth control since her arrival in Rhy'Din, and though nothing had come of it so far, she had a feeling the odds were going to catch up to her sooner or later.

Vicki shrugged. "I was pregnant when I got married," she told her friend, pouring two glasses of wine for them both. "And no arguing - even if you are pregnant right this minute, one glass of wine isn't going to make a whole lot of difference." She smiled, sipping from her glass. "All right, so what is bothering you about the possibility of being pregnant' Is it because you don't feel ready for that yet, or is there something else niggling away in your mind?"

Elle opened her mouth to argue that she shouldn't be drinking wine, but then she'd already shared a partial bottle of champagne with Dom the night before and hadn't even thought twice about it. Why was it bothering her now" "Yes and no," she replied to both questions, a little surprised to learn her friend had been pregnant before she'd married Jon. "It's ..." Elle glanced toward the door, as if to make sure there was no one eavesdropping, especially Dom. "It's Gwen," she told her friend quietly. Or the ghost of Gwen.

It really was just as well Vicki was gossip central, or she wouldn't have understood that quiet comment. Thankfully, Jon had been more than happy to spill every detail he could think of about Dom when Elle had dropped into their lives. "So this is more about Dom than about you?" she hazarded softly.

"Mostly, yes," Elle replied, turning the glass of wine in her hands. "I'm going to be thirty-five, Vicki. I'm not getting any younger." Though she was clearly still young enough to have a child, the odds of not having a healthy baby increased the older she got, so it was not entirely Dom that worried her, but her own age.

"And you're not on Earth," Vicki reminded her gently, reaching over to touch her hand. "We have all the standard means of monitoring a pregnancy, as well as advanced means, and magical means, too. Both times, I've been seen by a Healer shortly afterward, and I bounced back quickly. Anya, one of the ballet dancers at the Shanachie - she had an emergency C-section in January, and she was back dancing six months later, when on Earth she would have had to have stayed back from dancing for at least a year. I know it's a worry, but there are so many ways to ensure that you and your child are perfectly well, and perfectly cared for."

"None of that helped Gwen, and he's terrified it will happen to me. I tried to reassure him, but I'm not sure it worked. I don't even know if I'm pregnant, but ....I haven't been doing anything to prevent it, and I'm not sure I should." The problem obviously boiled down to fear on both Dom and Elle's part, though for very different reasons. And then, there was Daisy to worry about. Would she accept a sibling or want to have them all to herself"

A small frown touched Vicki's face as Elle poured this out, wondering how her friend could be missing one very crucial piece of information. "Elle ....lovey, Gwen didn't give birth on Rhy'Din," she said gently. "She didn't even give birth in a hospital. She was traveling with Dom, and it was the local tribesmen and women who tried to deliver her safely. Dom is worried because he blames himself, despite the fact that it wasn't something anyone could have predicted. It was a series of freak events. Gwen never blamed him. He's worried because he loves you, and having a baby - even if it's something he desperately wants - feels selfish to him."

From the look on Elle's face, this was all news to her. She had only known what Dom had told her, and that hadn't been much. She hadn't wanted to ask him for more details, afraid of opening a wound that she might not be able to help him close. "It's not selfish," she said, though she was probably not telling the right person. "He said something about it last night. I think it just slipped out, and that's what got me thinking about all this."

Vicki's smile was knowing. "He and Jon have been teasing each other," she told Elle. "They have a bet on that you guys would get engaged before we got pregnant again, but they'll have to wait a couple of months to know who won for certain." She squeezed Elle's hand gently, raising her glass to her lips to take a sip. "What about you, though' This isn't just about Dom and his ghosts, is it?"

"Again?" Elle echoed in surprise. "Are you?" she asked, eager to know. If there was anyone she considered to be her best friend, it was Vicki, though she wasn't sure if the feeling was mutual. It was nice to have a female friend for a change; she'd been surrounded by mostly men for too long. "What about me?" she asked with a small shrug. "I'm not sure what I want. It's all happening too fast. I love him, that much is certain, and I want to make him happy, but we aren't even married yet. Do we want to be tied down with a baby already? And I have to think about Daisy, too. I don't mean any insult, but I'm not exactly the stay-at-home mom type," she added. Then again, neither was Vicki.

"If I am pregnant, I don't know it yet," was the redhead's succinct answer, delivered from behind her smile. She listened as Elle answered her question, smiling all the while. "I'm not a stay at home mum myself," she chuckled. "But Dom is, I'd bet. Well, not the mum part, obviously ....The point is, if you're struggling with all sides of the idea, then you're not ready, and there's nothing wrong with that, Elle. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with wanting a little time to settle into being a family, just you and Dom and Daisy, without having to worry about getting pregnant. I'm on the Pill; Piper takes a potion; so does Gabi. Kaylee's got an implant. It's called birth control for a reason, lovey - it's not a way of killing a baby in the womb, it's a way of making sure that you have control over whether or not you get pregnant to begin with. Nothing is one hundred percent foolproof, but it helps to have the safety net there."

"Yes, but I've been telling him if it happens, it happens. If I do something to stop it from happening, and then we can't get pregnant later, I will hate myself for preventing it." It was all well and good that Vicki and Piper and Gabi and Kaylee were using birth control, but they were all still young and didn't have to worry about their time clock ticking their fertile years away. "I don't know what to do," she admitted at last, with a soft sigh.

There was a long pause as Vicki considered her. "Elle," she said finally. "Use condoms. That way, it is a mutual decision as to when you're ready, and it's still not completely foolproof."

Elle winced a little at that idea, wondering how Dom would react if she asked him to wear one. The truth was she was torn on the idea, and leaving it to fate meant she didn't have to make the decision, as it would be made for her. "I don't know what?s the matter with me. He said something about impregnating me before you and Jon beat us to it, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since."

Piper looked surprised for a moment, but that expression melted into a soft smile as she covered Elle's hand with her own. "That's a lovely thought," she smiled brightly. "I would be honored, thank you. And congratulations - you seem to be wearing a good portion of South Africa on your hand."

Vicki snorted into her glass, choking on her wine as she laughed at Piper's dry sense of humor, and groped for a napkin before she ended up wearing her drink.

Elle grinned back, unruffled by the remark. She only extended her arm and held her hand so that the light caught the diamond and reflected the light. "It's lovely, isn't it' Daisy helped pick it out," she added, obviously proud of that fact and the fact that her daughter shared her mother's good taste. She frowned again suddenly, as another thought came to mind. "Do you think it's too much?" It wasn't the cost of the diamond that had impressed her so much as the fact that Dom had chosen it with her in mind. She couldn't have imagined loving it any less if it was a tiny chip.

"Oh, good grief, no," Vicki was quick to jump on that one, rolling her eyes at the fresh worry on Elle's face. "It suits you perfectly, which is the point. He and Daisy obviously know you almost better than you know yourself."

Piper nodded in agreement, one fingertip delicately tracing the sparkling ring on Elle's finger for a long moment. "Something simple for the wedding band, though," she suggested. "You don't want anything that will detract from this beauty."

"Oh, definitely," Elle agreed. "I've got a job at Spirit Crystals. It's a jewelry shop in the Marketplace. Do you know it' I'm sure they have just the thing." She drew her hand back, a little embarrassed at all the attention the diamond was getting. "It's going to be the two of you and Ashlyn, Dom's sister. I promised Daisy she could be a junior bridesmaid, too. Do you think Emily would like to be flower girl?"

"I've passed it a few times," Piper nodded, releasing Elle's hand to reclaim her glass with a smile. "It's a lovely shop."

Vicki grinned, glancing between them. "Wow ....I'm sitting at a table with women and wine, having a normal girly conversation," she reflected in amusement. "Where did my tomboy tendencies go?" She did, however, have an answer for Elle. "I think Emily would probably kiss your feet if you gave her a pretty dress to wear and someone to hold her hand. She gets a little bit anxious if she has to do something on her own in front of people."

"Well, Miranda will be in charge of the dress. I'm pretty sure she'd kill me if I didn't ask her to design the gowns," Elle remarked with a grin. "I'm not sure about a ring bearer though. Ben and Dylan are both too young. Do either of you have any suggestions?"

"Good call," Vicki nodded in agreement with Elle, glancing to Piper as the question was asked.

The dark-haired woman looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, Jack was the ring-bearer at my wedding," she suggested. "Caroline's son, not Jasmin's husband. He'd be, what, four rising five next year?"

"It's up to Dom, I suppose, but I'll keep him in mind." She had only met Caroline a few times in passing, but had heard nothing but good things about her from Dom. Elle lifted her glass to her two closest friends and bridesmaids. "To good friends and good times," she said.

"To winkies and flower girls," Vicki intoned, raising her glass with a grin.

Piper rolled her eyes, laughing at the silly interjection as she touched her own glass to theirs. "Welcome to the family, Elle."

"Definitely to winkies," Elle replied with a grin. What would the world be without men and their winkies, after all" "Thank you, Piper. That means a lot," she said, touching her glass to theirs, a fond smile on her face.

Whatever happened in the future, she was confident she had found two friends for life sitting right here beside her. And you couldn't do better than Granger gossip central. Elle was never going to be behind on another rumor so long as she lived, not with Vicki and Piper on the case. There were real advantages to being a part of the English posse.

((It's official - the ladies of the Granger clan are beginning to socialize! Menfolk beware! :grin: ))