Yozak smiled at his mate, as the smaller man leaned against him, their now 16-month-old daughter resting in his arms. One hand rested lightly on the now distinctive bulge of his mate's stomach. Just another 6 months and their second child would be in their arms. Carefully he ran his fingers through his daughter's soft hair, and kissed Conrart's cheek. They were waiting for Gisela. The healer had been giving their child regular physicals every couple of months, since she'd been born.

It was simply procedure when a child was born as prematurely as their daughter had been. So far she hadn't found anything to suggest developmental problems. Personally, he was just happy they had a happy healthy little girl.

Today's physical was as much for Conrart, and the child growing in his womb, as for little Ysolde.

Conrart was heavily pregnant and fairly tired, but nowhere near as exhausted as he had been during his first pregnancy. This time the man was more active, more alert. He still had pregnancy symptoms.

However, he was nowhere near as hard to deal with as he had been.

~~~***~~~

Gisela couldn't help smiling when she walked into Conrart and Yozak's quarters. Conrart lay reclined against Yozak's chest, his eyes closed. Although she could tell he was still awake by the careful way he cradled Ysolde in his arms. The small child was squirming in his arms, and playing with the green velvet, rattling, ball that Yozak had originally bought for her before he and Conrart had even gotten married.

Conrart opened his eyes and inclined his head in greeting as she approached.

Ysolde was less than happy to see her. The small child looked up at her out of startlingly purple eyes and said 'no' before attempting to hide in Conrart's chest.

She smiled, that was a perfectly normal response.

Gisela settled herself down on the edge of the bed and gently began her examination of the little girl, after a few minutes of Ysolde squirming and kicking she backed off and calmly asked Conrart to hand the baby over to her father. The man was heavily pregnant and his daughter's flailing feet, where in danger of striking his swollen belly.

Yozak gladly took his daughter into his arms, to happy squeals of 'pa-pa, pa-pa', and held her while Gisela examined the squirming child. "Is she still waking you up for 3 am feedings?" she asked calmly.

Conrart yawned, and quietly gave her an affirmative response.

"Okay, I want you to reduce the amount you allow her to eat when she wakes you at three, slowly until you wean her off of that particular feeding time, she should be sleeping through the night without waking you, unless she has a nightmare within the next two months.

At length she finished her examination of little Ysolde. "She's in great health." She told the proud parents quietly.

She spent a few minutes talking to Conrart and Yozak, answering questions and reassuring them that Ysolde had suffered no ill effects from being born a month prematurely. Then she turned her attention to Conrart, she offered him a small smile, "how are you feeling?" she asked.

He smiled, "I'm alright, eating weird things, and a little bit tied but other than that I'm fine."

She nodded, "alright then, you know the drill, strip and lay down."

Conrart grumbled but did as she asked, stripping out of his robe, and laying back down against the pillows, he pulled a thin blanket across his hips to cover himself. She allowed him that small measure of modesty, and began her examination, gently prodding his belly.

She finished up her examination, assuring both Conrart and Yozak that their unborn child was in good health and growing as expected.

~~~***~~~~

Yozak Gurrier froze as he entered his bedroom, after spending the day dealing with a few of his less then intelligent cadets. Honestly how that idiot Jerad had managed to stampeded the Warhorses, was beyond him! However the sight of his now 15 months pregnant mate sitting in the middle of their bed, surrounded by Pocky wrappers and shaking one of the empty boxes in a vain attempt to get more – was truly hilarious.

He stepped on the urge to laugh at the sight. "Conrart?" he asked quietly.

Conrart gave him the most pathetic look he'd seen in a very long time. "I'm out of Pocky." He said sadly.

Yozak, trying desperately not to laugh, walked into their combined offices, and dug through his desk for the pack of Pocky he kept with his emergency sweets. This just proved it – their son had a sweet tooth.

The only thing Conrart really liked in the way of sweets was honey. Yet throughout this pregnancy, he'd been eating sweets and adding honey to everything.

Walking back into the bedroom he handed Conrart the chocolate covered breadsticks, smiling as his mate tore into them in a manner that suggested he hadn't seen food in a week.

~~~***~~~

Conrart smiled at his little brother as he watched his baby girl cruse around the palace gardens, he didn't let her go far beyond the borders of the picnic blanket. Wolfram and he were chatting amiably about parenthood, married life, and the everyday goings on of the nation. He couldn't help noticing the way Wolfram was sitting, with one arm wrapped around his stomach. Idly he wondered if there would soon be another member of his extended family.

For a moment, he considered asking but decided against it.

Wolfram should have the option of keeping that joyous news to himself for a while.

~~~***~~~

Conrart sighed as he gazed down at his food, he wasn't really in the mood for beef stew, but he wasn't going to complain. Not while there were people going hungry in the lower districts of his own nation. He chocked down his own food in between feeding spoonfuls of mashed vegetables to his daughter. He couldn't help noticing that although Wolfram was drinking out of a wine glass, he was drinking juice.

When dinner was almost over and deserts had been passed around, Yuri gently tapped the side of his wine glass with his spork and called for their collective attention.

"Wolfram and I have some important news." Yuri said calmly.

Wolfram smiled up at his husband and took a deep breath before picking up where their king had left off. "I'm pregnant."

Conrart smile at his little brother and gave the happy couple before him his congratulations. The last of their dinner passed as a blur of joyous conversation, and when the last of the food had been cleared away, Yozak gently lifted their sleepy daughter onto his hip and offered Conrart his hand.

Conrart smiled and took his mate's hand; they both bid the rest of their family good night and left to put their mostly asleep child to bed.

~~~***~~~

Conrad took a deep breath, and knocked on Gwendal's office door. He opened the door and slipped inside after Gwendal granted him permission to enter. Despite his earlier decision to speak with his elder sibling, he hesitated just inside the door. What if Gwendal laughed at him or worse, thought he was a horrible person?

Gwendal however had always had an uncanny ability to read him – even when he didn't want to be.

"Conrart," the man asked quietly, "what's wrong?"

Conrart sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "At dinner, when Wolfram announced the fact that he's pregnant, I was happy for him and Yuri -"

"But?" Gwendal asked raising one dark brow.

"I also wanted to kill Yuri, for daring to touch my little brother that way. I mean I knew they were – they're married. However that knowledge was all theoretical, having the evidence of it in my face well-"

To his horror, Gwendal laughed at him.

"Conrart, all I have to say about how you're feeling is welcome to my world. When I found out you were pregnant with Ysolde, I wanted to kill Yozak. After I found out she wasn't Yozak's child, I wanted to skin you. I then noticed your behavior and began to suspect what had happened and I wanted nothing more than to find the bastard who'd hurt you, cut his balls off, grind them to a pulp while he watched and mix them with cyanide before force-feeding them to the man. After you and Yozak married, I was relieved, because you were safe, and happy. However when you announced this pregnancy, I wanted to kill Yozak for getting you pregnant and I share your desire to strangle our king. What you're feeling is completely natural."

Conrart sat on the couch beside his elder brother talking for several hours before he excused himself to go home. Just before he left, he paused and thanked the other man for listening.

~~~***~~~

Yozak awoke in the middle of the night from a nightmare. He'd been seeing Aisen a lot in his nightmares of late. Nightmares where the man who had so badly abused and traumatized his mate, simply appeared one day and made off with his beloved daughter. Glancing over at his mate and knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to sleep until he'd checked on his baby girl.

He'd never told Conrart, what Gwendal had told him about Aisen threatening to kill the child should it be female. Conrad had been rightly convinced that the child would in fact be a girl, and he hadn't wanted to traumatize the barely sleeping man further by alarming him needlessly.

Honestly, he didn't know why Aisen was so dead set on having a boy. If he was honest with himself, he was a bit jealous of the man. If only because he had sired a daughter on his mate, when girl children were so rare in relationships where both parents where male. He'd asked Gisela why once, but she'd only said it was a fact of life. Yuri who'd been in the room at the time had tried to explain it using letters, and a weird boxy looking thing.

Apparently, women had two X chromes in their blood while men had one X and one Y. something about the way the chromes mixed meant the resulting child would be a girl or a boy. None of that mattered. Aisen had given Conrart the one thing he'd always wanted – a little girl. Despite the fact that Aisen would never know Ysolde, never claim her as his own, and despite the fact that for all intents and purposes, Yozak was her father – he was jealous.

He was also a little afraid. What if Ysolde, resented him when she was older because he wasn't her sire?

He shook his head and forced away the ridiculous thought.

Ysolde was his child not, Aisen's, and he would willingly die to protect her.

He slipped into the nursery, and leaned against the side of his child's cradle. Ysolde slept peacefully, oblivious to her father's worry. Smiling he reached down and gently lifted the small child out of the crib. He cradled his child in his arms and walked over to the rocking chair by the window. He settled himself down in the chair's plush warmth wrapping the soft, warm, throw blanket around himself and his baby girl. For now, he was content to watch her sleep and reassure himself that she was here, safe and sound. After a few minutes, he began to sing softly.

Conrart found them like that an hour later.

~~~***~~~

Gwendal shared a look with the rest of his family as they arrived outside of Conrart and Yozak's rooms to find Gisela, and their lady mother waiting outside the closed doors. Lady Cecilia held a sleeping Ysolde in her arms. It was three in the morning and once again, they'd been awaked by the news that Conrart was in labor, although if Gisela's presence outside the rooms was anything to go by, it was already over.

"Gisela?" he asked around a Yawn.

She smiled at him. "A healthy baby boy," she said mildly, "Conrart is resting well."

He nodded.

~~~***~~~

Conrart looked up when the rest of his family made their way into his bedroom. To his surprise, Yozak handed him Ian, and took Ysolde from her grandmother. The man smiled at his family. "Everyone," he said quietly, his voice full of pride. "I would like you to meet the newest member of our family, baby Ian."

It hadn't escaped his notice that, Ian and Ysolde had the exact same birthday – even if they were two years and 45 minutes apart. He was also very aware of the fact that Ian looked like him, but for his flame blue eyes, and the barest touches of Yozak's red highlights in his hair. There was no doubt about it, with Ian and Ysolde so close together in age; it was likely that most people would mistake them for twins.

Conrart smiled down at his children, trying not to gasp as Ian began to suckle. Gisela assured him that the changes in his milk would not harm his daughter, something for which he was profoundly grateful.

As he looked up at his gathered family, he couldn't help hoping that his next child would look more like Yozak. He had to admit, while pregnancy and labor were horrendous pains, he wanted more children.

He would give Yozak the large family the other man wanted. Never the less, Yozak wasn't coming anywhere near him for the next 8 months, just to be safe.

~~~***~~~

Yozak smiled down at his sleeping mate, and the two small children nestled in around him. For now, Ysolde was considerably bigger then Ian, but he knew that would soon change, as their aging began to slow, Ian would catch up to his sister. Over the years, he would surpass her in size, simply by virtue of being a boy.

Quietly, he ushered his extended family out of their rooms so that Conrart, Ysolde and newborn baby Ian could sleep without worry of interruption. Closing the door softly behind Raven and Cecilia (who'd put off their honeymoon until after Cecilia's grandchildren had been born). Smiling softly to himself, he went back to the bedroom and slipped back into bed.

Life was good. He had a loving husband, and two beautiful children, he couldn't ask for more.

~~~***~~~

Wolfram gazed down at his newborn son, with wonder; the boy had Yuri's midnight hair and his Green eyes.

He was perfect.

Absolutely perfect

"What's his name?" Yozak asked calling him back to reality, and to the fact that his family was currently gathered in his bedroom waiting to hear the child's name.

Wolfram looked up at his brother-in- law and smiled at the sight of a sleeping Ysolde, in the other man's arms. He was glad for Conrart and his little family, Yozak was an exemplary father and a devoted husband. As far as the man was concerned, Ysolde was his child, and he treated her no different now that Conrart had given him a child of his own, then he'd had before Ian had been born.

He glanced over at Conrart who was cradling Ian delicately in his arms.

"Kioshi," Wolfram said after a minute. "Yuri named him Kioshi, it means pure."

Conrart smiled at him, "it's a beautiful name."

~~~***~~~

A.N.

Okay so this is the last chapter of Part 2. Stay tuned for part three, when their ideal world shatters. Okay so read and review. It gives my muse a kick in the pants, and right now, she needs either that or a really really big cup of espresso.