Disclaimer: I own nothing and only borrowed these characters for a little while.

In the early hours of the morning following her daughter's naming day, Veralidaine Salmalín sat upright in her bed, cushioned against pillows. Her errant curls curtained her face as she looked downward. There, suckling strongly at her breast, was Sarralyn.

It all felt so godsblessed normal.

She raised her head when she heard the door open and a tall man cursed as he stepped inside. "It's raining hurroks and stormwings out there." Seeing Numair muttering in the doorway, she smiled. She had to admit that it was nice being able to focus on other things rather than keeping up with her daughter's constant shapeshifting.

Swiftly changing into dry clothes, the powerful mage took a seat on the edge of their bed as Sarralyn finished nursing. Burped and yawning not long after, Daine gave their daughter over to her husband. He cradled the small form of their baby girl in his hands as the exhausted mother and father looked down at their peaceful little creation.

"It's like meeting her again for the first time," said Numair softly.

Daine looked down at their daughter from her position at her husband's shoulder. Running a finger over her child's soft cheek she agreed wordlessly. The only time in the past eight months that their daughter had taken human form was shortly after birth – an energy-sapping experience of its own – when the baby had ran out energy herself.

It hadn't been for long though.

Daine pressed her lips to her lover's shoulder as she recalled the first time Numair had woken up to find that her bottom half had changed in the night to match their unborn shifting child. The arm wrapped firmly around her waist had met fur.

After a quiet moment, Numair slipped from the bed. Cradling his daughter in his arms – an action he planned to do plenty more of now there wasn't a risk of injury to father or daughter – the new father entered the small room next door.

Easing Sarralyn under the blankets he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her crown, brushing the fine brown hair there.

He knew instinctively that she had followed him and came upright. His eyes were still on his firstborn as he pulled his wife close. He clasped her to his chest as they took another moment to revel in the, dare they say it, calmness of it all.

Numair hadn't expected it and so he startled slightly when his wife's hand slipped under his shirt. Heat spread across his belly as Daine made her destination known. He gripped her hand before she got there causing her face to turn upward to his. "Make love to me," ordered the Wildmage softly. "It's been far too long."

It was on the tip of his lips to object but he saw the determination and desire in her eyes and knew it was matched in his.

With a groan, Numair swung her up into his arms. Setting her on the bed, his eyes raked over his lover's form as she pulled the large shirt of his she wore as a nightgown off her body. He could feel himself growing aroused as he removed his own clothes.

It had been too darn blasted long.

He covered her with his long body. Daine wrapped her legs around her husband's back and clasped his neck instantly as she drew him in for a kiss. What happened next was a blur of movement as both lovers intimately learnt the body of the other once again.

Some time later, unbelievably spent, the powerful mage managed to utter a few words. "I'll get off when I can manage to move," he mumbled into the nape of his lover's neck.

Daine clasped him tighter in return, her fingers slipping into his hair when he managed to lift his head to look at her. "Don't move," she whispered breathleslly.

He covered her lips with his then, the love pouring from one to the other.

When both had regained enough energy to maintain a conversation, Daine propped her head up on his chest and looked up at her husband. His eyes were shut as if dozing though his fingers still raked through her curls. "Perhaps I shouldn't shapeshift for a while."

Numair's hand froze and his eyes slowly opened as he processed the implications of what his wife had just said. "You want another child?" he finally posed carefully his eyes intent on hers.

"You don't?" shot back Daine.

Taken aback, Numair replied quickly. "Of course I do. I just didn't, ah, expect it so soon."

Daine grinned as she pulled herself up and looked down into her love's eyes. "Well, unless you want another shapeshifter changing constantly for nine months," she said sweetly, "I suggest we put some planning into the next one."

Numair groaned in remembrance. "Far be it from me to argue with that logic," he said philosophically as he tumbled them both, he now on top as she looked up at him. "Planning did you say?"

"One of the side effects of marrying a Wild Mage," Daine said lightly.

He paused to look at his wife, his eyes clear with his intent. "I would have married you regardless," he said seriously. Certain she had gotten his message he leaned down to kiss her once again.

What might have been the start of another round of lovemaking was interrupted when a cry sounded.

Daine exchanged a wry grin with Numair as she prepared to leave the bed. He trapped her and shook his head. "I'll get her."

Watching her husband cross the floor, tugging on breeches, her heart almost burst with love.

She'd had every intention of staying awake to see him return but when Numair cradled their daughter in his arms and stopped in the archway between their rooms, Daine was sound asleep.

Numair looked down at his settled baby. "Ma's gone to sleep," he said softly, running a long finger down her cheek. "We wore her out."

Sarralyn Salmalín yawned in reply.

Finito.