A/N: Apologies for lower quality and delay. Procrastination is hard to deal with.

When Dimitri pushed open the door leading to his and Byleth's bedroom, the last thing he expected after a long day of running the kingdom was Byleth sitting on the edge of the bed, a smile on her face, a card in her left hand and a balloon in her right. As soon as he registered this strange sight, he looked at Byleth in confusion.

"Byleth?" he said cautiously. "What's going on?"

"Good evening, Dimitri," Byleth greeted casually. "How was your day?"

"It was…fine," Dimitri said slowly as he stripped himself of his furred cape and armor. Tossing them over the back of the chair, he asked, "What's wrong? You're acting sort of…odd. What's with the balloon?"

In response, Byleth simply smiled even wider and stood up to hand him the card. Taking the card, he ran his eye over the words on the front cover.

"'What is a dad?'" he read. He looked up at Byleth, who looked like she was about to burst into a giggling fit. "What does that mean?"

"Open it," Byleth said.

Dimitri did as he was asked and was simply greeted by another, smaller line of text. "'You. You is a dad.'"

Dimitri looked up at Byleth. "I don't get it. Is it supposed to—oh. Oh!"

Byleth's smile somehow grew even wider when Dimitri looked at her, brandishing the card in a hand as he rested a hand on her shoulder. Once upon a time, she would've seen hate and self-loathing in that brilliant blue orb of his, but now, the only thing she saw in his eye was confusion, caution, happiness, excitement, and above all else, hope.

"Is this a joke?" he asked, waving the card in her face. "Please don't tell me it's a joke."

Byleth simply shook her head.

Dimitri instantly released her shoulder and staggered back before suddenly whooping and pumping his fist. "Yes!" he shouted, and how Byleth's heart soared at the amount of pure joy she heard in that simple word.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Dimitri shouted. He was bouncing up and down in excitement now, much like a child. He pushed his hair away from his eye and grinned towards her.

"Please don't tell me this is a joke," he said.

"It's not," Byleth said, going on her tiptoes barely match his height. "Dimitri…I'm pregnant."

Byleth barely had the time to smile before Dimitri tackled her to the bed in a flying tackle hug, laughing the whole time. Before she knew it, she was laughing as well, partly because of Dimitri's reaction, but also partly because of the pure joy she felt in her heart.

She was going to become a mother.

They were going to become a family.

Just as quickly he hugged her, however, Dimitri released her and looked at her with an apprehensive look. "We-we'll need to start thinking of some names. A-and talking to the nurses! Ah, er, I haven't got much experience, but—"

Byleth couldn't help but giggle, charmed. "Don't worry about the medical stuff," she said. "That's only for me. As for names…I was thinking of…Jeralt."

"Jeralt?" Dimitri asked. "Your father's name?"

Byleth nodded.

"B-but how do you it's going to be a boy?" Dimitri said.

"I just know," Byleth said.

"But what if it's a girl?"

Byleth took a moment to think about that possibility. "We'll cross the bridge when it comes to it," she said finally.

Byleth rolled over, hands groping blindly for Dimitri's, and when she felt air instead of a warm body, she instantly snapped her eyes open. She patted the empty space where her husband should have been before groggily sitting up.

It must have been early in the morning, for the curtains were still drawn and the candle by the side of their bed burned out. A thin sliver of light shone through a gap in the curtains, enough to crack the shadows, but beyond that, Byleth couldn't make out anything save for the most general of shapes.

"Dimitri?" she called out quietly. "Dimitri?"

A light suddenly shone through the bottom of the door and muffled voices came from the other side. Byleth froze before cautiously reaching towards the nightstand for the concealed dagger she always set there. After a failed assassination attempt some months ago, shortly after Jeralt's birth, Byleth and Dimitri always carried a weapon of sorts nearby.

She hated taking up arms, especially so soon after the war, but if anything were to harm Dimitri or her children, she would endure the war a hundred times over for them.

A slight snicker gave her pause, however. The snicker was soon followed by a series of muffled shushing, and a bemused smile spread itself out over Byleth's face as she realized what Dimitri was up to.

Not this time…

Rolling out of bed and pulling her bedsheets with her, Byleth began the seemingly simple task of setting up a makeshift trap out of her and Dimitri's sheets without making a single sound. One time, she teetered, reaching just a little too far, she almost banged her hand against the door. Luckily, she managed to catch herself, but she also managed to catch some words as well.

"…she doesn't like it?" asked a high-pitched voice

"She'll like it," said another voice, this one much deeper.

Byleth's heart involuntarily skipped a beat as she registered the owner of the deep voice.

Dimitri.

After a few more precious minutes, Byleth found herself crouching on top of a dresser next to the door. As she crouched there, waiting, she heard more muffled footsteps and whispers before someone suddenly said, "Three!"

Two, Byleth thought dryly.

"One! Surprise!"

The door was suddenly thrown upon with a laugh bang. Dimitri paraded in, followed by little Jeralt and Claudia clutching on to him by the legs. Byleth only had a split second to register the powdered pastry doughnut in Dimitri's arms before she realized her mistake.

"Happy bi—"

Whatever Dimitri was going to say was suddenly cut off when a compressed ball of, pillows, clothes, and Sothis knows what else flung itself into his chest, courtesy of the scrappy slingshot Byleth had created using the bedsheets and the posts of the bed.

A great puff of powder rose into the air as Dimitri was flung into the wall with a particularly heavy oof!

Byleth's hands instantly shot to her mouth as she nimbly jumped off the dresser. "Oh my gods, Dimitri!" she said, shocked. She knelt down next to him and gently touched his face and chest. "Are you alright?"

Dimitri simply coughed and waved his hand to clear away the puff cloud covering everything. "I'm fine…I'm fine!" he said between wheezes.

Likewise, the two children were coughing and rubbing their eyes, hunched over as if expecting a blow. Byleth's own eyes began to sting as she crouched and opened her arms. As if on cue, the two children gravitated towards her and buried their faces in her chest and arms.

"We're sorry!" Jeralt said, squeezing Byleth's neck. He shuffled slightly to free an arm before pointing a tiny hand at Dimitri, who was staggering to his feet. "It was Dad's idea!"

"Guilty," Dimitri said as he got to his feet. Byleth momentarily let go of Claudia and Jeralt to look over Dimitri.

He was absolutely covered in white powder; his hair, his face, his chest—everything. The powdered pastry donut that he had been carrying now lay on top of his head, like a crown and Byleth couldn't resist giggling at the sight of it resting lopsidedly before sliding down his face, causing a second puff of powder to rise up.

Dimitri's hands went up to his face to wipe away the powder covering his eyes before a goofy grin overcame his expression. Byleth's eyes widened as she took a step back.

"Don't you dare—"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off when Dimitri wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into one of his signature bear hugs. Byleth squawked and tried to free herself as Dimitri rubbed his powder-covered face into her hair.

"Dimitri!" Byleth protested. "Let go!"

"Happy birthday, my love," Dimitri said, still grinning.

After struggling for a few minutes, Byleth finally managed to free herself from Dimitri's arms and looked down her nightdress in frustration. "Look at what you did!" she said, gesturing to the powder covering her front. "This was supposed to be my sleeping clothes!"

Dimitri simply shrugged apologetically and dusted off some powder on her nose. "I know," he said, smiling. "I just couldn't resist."

Byleth simply huffed and put her hands on her face. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. Before Dimitri or the children could react, she stooped down, scooped up some powder off the floor with a finger, and rubbed it all over Dimitri's face. "Ack!"

Dimitri stumbled back, grabbing Byleth's wrist and taking her with him. Laughing, the two staggered back and forth like a pair of drunk dancers, each one vying for control of Byleth's powder covered finger.

"Go get him, Mom!" Jeralt shouted, jumping up and down. Claudia simply gurgled and clapped her hands as she stumbled towards the two adults.

Finally, Byleth managed to break down Dimitri's defense enough for her to smear a haphazard smiley face on his left cheek.

"There," Byleth said, satisfied, resting her hands on her hips. "Now I'm finished."

"I'm not," Dimitri admitted as he looked over her shoulder at the children.

Jeralt shuffled nervously as his parents turned towards him, a knowing smile on their faces. "Uh, why are you guys smiling?" he asked.

"Oh, you'll see," Byleth said as she reached out towards him.

"Mom?"

Later that night, when the children were well asleep and Byleth laid next to Dimitri, fingers tracing meaningless circles over his skin, Dimitri turned over so that her face was buried in his chest.

"I love you so much," he whispered into her ear. "So…so much."

"I love you too," Byleth whispered back. She shuffled so that her head was rested against his chest, over his soothing heartbeat, and let out a deep, content sigh.

They would always be together. Forever.

A/N: fin