"Oh," Ana said, a thoughtful expression on her face as she considered this. "Is that how she saw Micah and the new baby?" she asked curiously. If the Lady could only see a few years into the future, then maybe there was still hope.

"Da, that is how. That is how we knew you were coming as well, little one." She gently tapped Ana's little nose with her finger. "There might be more babies to come. I only saw our family when this one in here was two years old. Do you think you can wait two years to find out if there will be another one, or should we go to the Lady tomorrow and ask?"

Ana screwed up her nose, unsure what the proper answer to that question was. She really wanted to go ask the Lady now, but she could wait until tomorrow if she had to. Or would it be better to be patient and wait' Two years was such a long time. A lot longer than waiting until Christmas. Her Papa always told her surprises were better if you didn't know they were coming, but she really wanted to know.

"I don't know, Mama."

Nat smiled at her. "Ana, there is no wrong answer," she promised softly. "And you can change your mind. If you say today you want to wait, but tomorrow you want to ask the Lady, then we will ask the Lady. What do you want to do?"

"Papa says surprises aren't as good if you know they are coming," Ana reasoned. Though she really wanted to know, it sort of felt like cheating, and yet, she was just a little girl, after all, and her heart was yearning to know. She thought about it a moment, chewing at the corner of her mouth. "I think I want to know." She was her father's daughter, after all.

"There will still be a surprise, malyutka," Nat assured her. "The Lady cannot tell us when we can expect another baby, only that one may be coming. There will still be a surprise if there is another baby for our family still to come." She kissed Ana's brow fondly. "We will ask the Lady tomorrow," she promised. "I am curious too."

"Thank you, Mama!" Ana said, wrapping her arms around her mother's ever-expanding waist to give her a hug. "Ya lyublyu tebya," she said, in her mother's native Russian. Yes, she had been picking up a little, despite the fact that her parents' hadn't been actively teaching it to her.

Hugging the little girl close, Nat smiled at the beautiful sound of her daughter sharing that sentiment in a language that she would likely never need to learn. "I love you too, solnyshka," she murmured, squeezing for a moment longer. "Shall we go and see what we can make for dinner tonight?"

"Da, Mama!"Ana nodded enthusiastically. Now that that was settled, she returned to her usual bright, sunny self. She popped up onto her feet, and took both her mother's hand to pull her up with her. "Are Maris and Mr. Dev having dinner with us?" she asked.

Careful not to put too much of the effort onto Ana, Nat heaved herself up onto her feet. "Yes, they are," she agreed. "And they will be staying tonight, as well."

That put the bright smile back on Ana's face, and she clapped her hands and jumped up and down with glee. "Yay! Micah will be so happy." It was no secret that her little brother had a bit of a crush on "Umreese".

"I think we still have some of the sugar we smuggled in," Nat told her as they walked toward the house. "Should we make some strawberry fool for dessert?"

"Can we?" Ana asked, face brightening. She wasn't the type to stay moody for very long. "Papa will like that," she said, knowing well her father's fondness for sweets.

"Of course we can! No one make meringues like you, solnyshka!" Chuckling, Nat drew her into the house, moving to find the little stool Ana used to help out in the kitchen.

Given the fact that Rhys hadn't rejoined them, there was a good chance he was already at work getting dinner started, while Micah napped. Rhys was no stranger to the kitchen, and the smell of good things cooking greeted them as they returned.

Nat grinned as she set Ana up with egg whites and sugar to beat into submission, moving to kiss Rhys' cheek. "We have dessert covered," she told him impishly.

Rhys grinned at the kiss. He was always happiest when he was in Avalon. Even if there were chores aplenty here, there were no dangers and no threats to worry about here.

"How are my two favorite girls?" he asked, kissing each one on the cheek and eliciting a giggle from Ana.

"We were just making plans for what to do tomorrow," Nat told him, unearthing the strawberries to begin removing the stalks. She looked over at Ana, happily whipping like a fiend. "Do you think Elaine would mind a visit?"

Rhys arched a brow, moving over to finish peeling potatoes. "Elaine?" he echoed. "Why would she mind?" he asked, curiously. Nat knew as well as he did how lonely the Lady got and how much she enjoyed their visits.

"Well, we do tend to just drop in," Nat pointed out in amusement. "I am sure there have been times when she has had other things she should have been doing. Ana would like to see her."

"Oh?" Rhys said, taking a peek over at Ana. That wasn't all that unusual really, given the fact that their daughter was very fond of the Lady and vice versa, but he sensed there was something there Nat wasn't telling him. He didn't have to wonder long though, as Ana wasn't afraid to share her reason for wanting to see the Lady.

"I want to ask her if I'm ever gonna have a baby sister," she said, as she kept vigilantly whipping the sugar and egg whites together.

Nat chuckled quietly to herself as she sliced the strawberries swiftly, filling the bowl as she did so. "I must admit, I too am curious if this is where we will stop with our family," she said. "I only saw three, but this one was only two years old."

"Uh," Rhys murmured, at a loss for words for a moment. He had just turned forty, but his own age hardly mattered. It was Nat's age that was important, and she likely still had a few years left to have children - if she wanted them. "I didn't know you wanted a baby sister."

She laughed, leaning back into him fondly, her hands covering his over the bump at her waist. "I am sure she would feel better hearing it from both of us," she agreed. "Micah is too small yet to worry too much about a new baby, but it seems to be preying on Ana's mind."

"We'll just have to prove to her that having another baby won't change how we feel about her," he said. He wasn't sure mere words would do that, but once the baby was born and she saw they still loved her as much as ever, he hoped she'd feel better.

"And we will," Nat promised him. "But for now, a little reassurance won't go amiss." She tilted her head back to look at him. "How many people are we feeding tonight?"

"Mmm," he murmured in agreement. He made a mental note to have a little talk with Ana later and make sure she knew no matter how many children they had, their love for her wouldn't change. He shrugged in answer to her question. "Just Maris and Dev, I think," he replied, not having heard otherwise.

"I should make up the spare room for them," she mused, though she made no attempt to move. She liked the quiet moments with Rhys too much to bring them to an end prematurely. "I do not think they would be comfortable to stay in one of the guest cottages."

"Probably not," he said, leaning over her shoulder to scoop up a bit of meringue on his fingertip again and lick it off, with a boyish grin. "We should make their stay memorable," he added, though it was unlikely they'd ever forget Avalon.

"Oh, I do not think they will ever forget today." Nat laughed, smacking his hand lightly. "Stop that. I suppose I should finish making this and put it in the cold store before you eat it all!"

"I only had a little!" he assured her, unable to stop grinning. "Do you think they'll ever come back?" he asked, though neither of them could know the answer to that.

"I have no idea, milaya," she sighed softly. "In a way, we should hope they do not. I believe the only reason they would return would be if something terrible happened."

"I guess," he admitted, untangling himself from her so she could finish up the dessert and he could take a peek out the window at Ana. Though she was perfectly safe here in Avalon, he could never be too sure. "It's just nice having friends and family here sometimes." Of course, they could just as easily see those same friends and family back home in Brooklyn. Except for his sister.

"I know." She smiled as she turned back to the dessert. "But we can always get Rachel and Zachariel to New York for large family gatherings. I think that was the plan for Christmas, wasn't it' We were going to host this year?" With a new baby in the house. That would be interesting.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" he asked. He'd had a vision of Zach and Rachel visiting them somewhere on Earth someday, but he wasn't too sure when or where. Were they ready for a trip to New York, or would it prove too much for them"

"They came on their own last time," she pointed out, but let out a laugh as she did so. "Perhaps we should get them some modern clothing, so they do not end up wearing everything Lionel can find in our closet this time."

"Sorry, I guess I'm a little over-protective," he apologized, as he peeked out the window at Ana, chasing or being chased by Cody and Sasha. As big as they were, they were good with the children and better than a bodyguard at keeping them safe.

"Rhys, they do not even need to attempt the city any longer," Nat reminded him. "I can bring them across the mists to wherever they need to be. I am sure Rachel would have something to say about being told she cannot visit Earth, too."

"I just don't want them to get into any trouble," he said, knowing how naive his sister and her mate were, despite Zachariel having once been immortal. Not as naive as they'd once been though.

"They won't." Nat smiled over at him, gently stirring thick cream and strawberries into the meringue mixture. "Try not to worry so much, hmm' Otherwise you are going to find more gray hairs."

Rhys smiled as he turned back to her, satisfied Ana was safe. "Is that how you got your grays?" he asked, moving over to finish peeling the potatoes. If she had some, he hadn't noticed, or maybe he just didn't care to notice.

"I am very proud of my gray hairs, thank you," she said with impish pertness. "I have always seen them a sign that I am living my life exactly as I should be."

"Hmm, maybe I should ask the Lady for a youth serum," he said, winking over at her. "If we're gonna have four kids, I'm gonna need it!" he added, chuckling.

She snorted with laughter. "You are far too concerned with a number, milaya," she informed him, covering the bowl before picking it up. "That is all it is, a number. You will never be old."

"Young at heart maybe, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get old," he told her. "It's just not enough time, Nat," he said after a moment, frowning at the half-peeled potato he was holding in his hand.

She paused, juggling the bowl onto one hand to let her lay the other on his arm gently. "Then we make the most of the time we have," she told him. "If life went on forever, would we live, or would we just exist' I would rather live."

He smiled, leaning over to touch a kiss to her lips. "You're right, as always. Who wants to live forever anyway?" he asked, believing in the immortality of the soul anyway. "Here, let me," he said, leaving the potato on the table and moving to help her with the bowl. "Where do you want this?"

She couldn't help laughing a little. He was adorably over-protective when she was pregnant, but taking over carrying a bowl was a little much. "It just needs to go into the cold store," she told him, letting him have the bowl.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied obediently. "I need to check the chicken. I'll be right back," he promised, pushing outside to take the cake to the cold storage and check on the spit on the spit outside. If there was one thing about Avalon, it was that they had no modern conveniences here, but Rhys had never complained.

What was there to complain about, after all" The threat from the rogue vampires and lycans had been eliminated, and Rhys was surrounded by family and friends in a place he thought of as home.

No matter where they were, Avalon would always be home. And that was something neither he nor Nat had truly had until they had found each other. So what if their future held one more child than they had expected" They could handle it. They could handle anything, if they stuck together.

And there was no reason to believe they wouldn't; after all, they had the Lady on their side.