tsubasa

The Ties that Bind

Gunner had walked over to his water bottle and towel when they broke for a break. Gunner decided that he needed to train more than just the students. Any good guardian wouldn't mind, after all, they all wanted to excel it was in their very nature. It was why the four guardians he had been working with kept fighting him no matter how many times he threw them to the mat. He threw his small towel over his shoulder as he squirted some water into his mouth. His body tensed slightly at the sound of Anna's voice but he made no reaction otherwise until she addressed him. He ran the towel over his face and the back of his head, gathering the sweat that had accumulated. He turned to face her, his face as emotionless as a stone, "Ross," He said simply, dropping her title, not so much as an insult to her but because that was what he was most used to calling her. He threw his towel back down on the bench next to his shirt that he had discarded sometime ago and placed his water bottle down beside it. He put his hands into the shorts he was wearing and looked at her, his body rigid and alert, his face empty, "What can I do for you?" ~ Serena sighed and placed her hands on either side of his head when he asked if she'd be able to occupy her time alone without him, "I will find a way to go on without out you for an hour or two." She pressed her lips together when he mentioned having to break it to their friends. She couldn't help but feel a little sting in her eyes. They shouldn't have to break it to their friends, they should celebrate it with them. They should drink champagne and toast to their happy future together. It should be something they want to tell their friends. It shouldn't be something that neither of them really wanted to do. She ran her fingers under her eyes when he stepped away to get dressed and did the same. She knew that Sebastian would be able to tell that she was upset but she didn't want to be visibly upset about it all. Their friends were going through hard times... Of course, it was going to effect them but she didn't want it to dampen their happy times... She walked over to him and untied before retying his tie for him. She tightened it and looked up at him when he mentioned breakfast, "Alright, and make sure that you find time in your schedule to get to the feeders. I don't want you going without on a day that you'll be working with spirit."

The Ties that Bind

Sebastian had been right, Serena's head pounded the next morning and she just barely had a grip on what had happened the night previous. She groaned as she rolled away from Sebastian and buried her face into the pillow in hopes of ridding herself of the ache. She supposed the one good thing about all of this was technically she had no duties to attend to. Sebastian had been hired by the academy and she merely followed as his guardian and girlfriend. Well, now, fiancée. She rolled her head out of the pillow to look at the ring on her finger and smiled. Despite the ache in her head, she moved and kissed Sebastian, "Morning, my finace." She pressed her hand against her head and groaned a little more before she climbed her way out of her bed, "Punch me in the face and I'm fine but a bottle of wine hurts like no other." She made her way into the bathroom and grabbed a couple Advil and took them before leaning against the door frame and looking at Sebastian, "So... How are we going to tell our two heart broken friends that we are getting married and wish for them not to cause chaos at our wedding?" She asked with a small smile. ~ Gunner had gotten together that morning with a few of the guardians and asked if they had wanted to spar. Despite the majority of them being older than him, Gunner was quickly throwing them against the mat. He had most of his anger under control since yesterday and refused to accidentally punch someone in the face again... It didn't take long until the guardians decided that they needed to gain up on Gunner and began a four to one sparring match that should have allowed them to over power Gunner. However, his two years of basically just training nonstop with the best of the best made him far more of a challenge to take down than they thought.

The Ties that Bind

Rae sat in the kiss for a moment thinking that maybe he made the wrong decision. He felt her hands linger on his chest for a moment before one of them moved to the back of his neck pulling him deeper into the kiss. He placed his hand on her hip, moving her closer but ensured that it wasn't anywhere that she might freak about. He was a little bit surprised when she moved suddenly onto his lap. As they kissed the thought of her in bed made him groan a little. He'd been with plenty of Dhampirs and he understood entirely why some Moroi made weekly visits to the commune. They were different in bed. They had more fire in bed, that's for sure. He looked up at her when she pulled away as he tried to chat his breath a little. He searched her face slightly, she was fighting something again... Then she was back to kissing him, her hands running over his chest. He let the kiss last for sometime, his hand in her hair before he pulled back and looked up at her, "We should stop," He said nearly breathless, "I mean... I like... I like this a lot... I like you," He said wincing as he let that slip before he continued on, brushing it aside, "But you're drunk and if we do anything more... You're going to regret it and... I don't want you to regret it because if you do we won't be able to do this again," He gestured to her sitting atop him and smiled, "And by Vlad, I want to do this again." He placed one hand on her back and he sat up a little, ensuring that he didn't knock her over. He scratched the back of his head, "What say you... We do this again tomorrow... We don't drink and if you still kiss me like that, we'll talk about continuing?" He checked his watch, "It's almost curfew.... If you want me to take you home..."

The Ties that Bind

Rae laughed and nodded his head as he raised his hands, "The Teddy promises... So long as the lady wishes I'll keep my hands to myself." His eyebrows rose when she seemed to take a deep breath before promptly throwing back to glasses of wine. He chuckled a little at it, he was pretty sure that he had never seen any girl do that. He heard her murmur and noticed that maybe he wasn't doing as good as he thought at distracting her, the joy that she seemed to have throughout dinner was dampened by some mood that she was now in. He watched her as she seemed to have some kind of internal battle, unaware of his watching. His lips pressed into a flat line as her mood seemed to spiral for the worse the longer they sat in the silence. Except he didn't know what to say, how to get her out of her head. Maybe a movie wasn't the best idea, after all you couldn't really speak during a movie... Maybe he should have chosen some action packed comedy that they could laugh at. Now that he was actually thinking about it, that was probably better than a sad romantic movie when she was trying to get over Marks. He looked back to the movie and laughed at her comment, "I don't think there is such a thing as someone who cries beautifully." He turned his eyes back to her as he did quite a few times throughout the beginning of the movie, checking pointlessly on her mental state. He didn't know what to do! He wrapped his arm around her at some point, resting his hand on her shoulder and innocently pulled her into him. He stayed there for a while before his hand caught the bottom of her chin and tilted her head up enough for him to bring his lips to hers. He decided that this was the best thing to do. If she still wanted to hate him, maybe her anger with him would distract her and... if she didn't, well maybe some making out could. ~~~ Serena smiled when Sebastian agreed to dance but first removed her shoes. She wiggled her toes a little, happy for them to be out of their confinement as her feet were getting a little sore. She laughed when he lifted her into his arms and hid her face in his shoulder, knowing that people were looking. When he set her down and placed his hands on her hips, she moved her own to rest on his chest as she happily kissed him back. She closed her eyes as he kissed her between her eyebrows, a smile lingering on her lips. As he mentioned wanting to give her anything she wanted, she rested her head against his shoulder, enjoying their swaying, "I don't want to be your guardian," She said, the alcohol removing any kind of filter she might of had in place with the secret that she had been working so hard to keep, "I just want to be your wife," She looked up at him, "But I like being your guardian... I just always want to be able to love you..."

The Ties that Bind

Rae thanked Rauri when she brought them their food and placed it all down in front of them. He watched Anna for a moment as she seemed to do her best not to shove the food into her mouth. He laughed a little and started to eat his own food. When he saw her pick up the wine glass for the first time, he watched her, his eyebrows raised. He took it as a good sign that she was going to drink, letting go of her duties a little. He chuckled a little at her response to the drink, coughing a little from food going down the wrong pipe. He grabbed the bottle and looked at it, "I'd hope so. They are a pretty prestigious winery." He sat back a little when she asked him if he was okay with her not being used to all the things he was presenting to her. He laughed again and nodded, "Yes, Ross, I am. Jace called me for a reason. I know how to pamper a girl. So long as you are enjoying yourself, I'm happy." He went back to eating his food and the two of them were done relatively quickly, Anna easily eating twice the amount he had. He helped her out of her seat and placed her hand on his arm before he gathered their glasses and the wine bottle. He walked with her through the garden until they reached a little clearing with two large cushions laid out and a white screen. He placed the wine glasses and bottle down on a wooden surface that sat between the two cushions before he walked behind the screen and picked a movie, "Alright, it you want to feel like a girl tonight, we're watching 'The Notebook' and you have to cry into my shoulder... at the part that gets sad..." He walked back around as the movie started to play, "You know for the amount of times I've watched this movie... I haven't an actual clue what it is about... or why it is so sad." He moved and took a seat on one of the cushions and looked up at her, "You're free to sit on that one if you want," He said pointing to the other cushion, "Of course, then you won't have a shoulder to cry on... and you might get cold without cuddling with the shady teddy bear," He said with a wink. ~ Serena was slightly drunk when they finished eating. She hadn't eaten much that day and she wasn't one to drink often if at all. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she drank since she avoided it entirely while at Sebastian's house. His family was judging her for enough that she didn't need to add any fuel to their fire. She leaned against Sebastian as he played the piano, enjoying the soft music he was making just for her. Well, her and the other thirty or so patrons but it was mainly for her. After his third song or so, she placed her hands on his upper arm and smiled, "I want to dance with you," She rested her head on his shoulder, "We haven't danced in so long." She kissed his cheek and laughed a little, "I think I drank too much," She confessed, "I'm not doing very good at guardianing you," Serena's accent came back as thick as the day she arrived at St. Vlad and her ability to speak English got just as sloppy. That always seemed to be the first things to go, her grip on the English language as well as her feet. Walking always seemed to be a challenge when she got tipsy.

The Ties that Bind

A smirk spread across Rae's lips under his fingers when Anna said that she was also enjoying herself as well as the chance to feel like a girl. He leaned forward, grabbing the wine bottle and filled his own glass as well as her's before he picked his up. He held it out in a silent kind of toast, "Well, the day is still young, Ross," He turned his wrist over to look at his gold watch, "We've still got a few hours before curfew and, of course, we don't exactly have to be back at curfew." He took a sip of his wine and looked at her when she asked what it was that he had asked to be ordered for them for dinner, "You seem to me like a girl of simple tastes, so I figured I'd show you want food could really taste like," He laughed a little, "There's a nice Thai place not too far from here that Rauri is ordering from. If we were closer to some large oceanic body of water, I'd have ordered sushi. I'll have to take you to Japan sometime," He took another sip, trying to pass it off like a joke, not having realized before the words were out that he was basically saying that they should do this again. Despite them both seeming to enjoy themselves, that didn't mean that Anna would like him anymore than she did to begin with. He placed his glass back on the table and pointed to a portion of the garden that they had yet to explore. Of course, there was a lot of garden that they had yet to explore due to the sheer size. He smiled, "We can head over that way later. My parents set up a little movie viewing thing over that way... That might distract you from your things and my wildly good looks," He joked as he grabbed his glass again, "That is... Unless there is something else you want to do." ~ Serena leaned in as he kissed her across the table and looked at him as he tried to explain why it was that he chose to do it now. She didn't get anything out before the waitress returned and was asking about their orders. She perked up more at the mention of Italian food. They didn't eat if often due to not many places making it to Serena's standards and when it didn't, it often made her a little homesick. She quickly opened the menu and read over what it was that they put into the dishes, smiling all the while due to the waitress mentioning that they chef was indeed Italian. She quickly ordered a few things for the two of them before she looked back at Sebastian. She smiled at him before she kissed him again. When she pulled away, she placed her hand on his, "It wasn't too soon or sudden... We've been dating for four years... And well..." She put the ring on her finger and smiled at it, admiring how it looked on her finger, "It makes me feel less like a Dhampir whore," She blushed slightly before she looked at him, "I know you've never seen me that way... but I see how people look at me when we are together. They don't expect it to last or they don't think you really love me and... I know you do," She held his hand, "I think this was the perfect time. Not to long to seem like we are never going anywhere with this relationship and not to short to seem like we are doing it for other people," She pulled his hand to her lips and kissed it lightly, "And we aren't. It isn't for your parents to get used to it... It isn't to prove to people that we really do love each other... It is for us... To promise to be together even when the world is against us."

The gladiator and the princess

Lauralye jolted awake some hours later due to Isabella crying. She shushed the baby in a soothing way, trying to calm her tears. She looked at the sleeping Robert and smiled before she lowered Isabella to her breast and allowed the little one to feed. She sat up a little, doing her best not to disturb Robert as she watched her little baby. She ran her finger along the babies face and smiled. She never realized how complete a child could make you feel. She had thought Robert and her were as happy as could be together but with little Isabella, she happier than she had ever been before, just knowing that she was her's and Robert's forever. She rested her head against Robert and smiled.

The gladiator and the princess

Lauralye nodded when offered up the name Isabella, for his mother. She played with some of her little black hairs and nodded, "Isabella... Elaine... For my mother. Little Princess Isabella Elaine Calder Williams," She rested her head against Robert's arm, closing her eyes, "I like the sound of that," She said with a small yawn. She was beyond tried and still in a bit of pain she lay there with him. It didn't take long at all for sleep to whisk her away with Isabella's warm body sleeping along side her on her chest.

The gladiator and the princess

Lauralye looked up at him for a moment before her eyes drifted back down to the baby. With great effort, she moved over slightly to make room beside her. She patted the spot lightly, inviting Robert to sit with her. She smiled up at him before she rested her hand and attention on the back of their baby's head, "What should we name her?" She asked softly, not wanting to wake the now sleeping baby, "Oh... We should invite your uncle to come and meet her."

The gladiator and the princess

Lauralye was already well on her way when Thedas arrived. The doctor was positioned between her legs telling her when to push as the Midwife held her hand, helping her with her breathing. Lauralye looked to Thedas when she saw him and laughed despite the mass amount of pain she was in. She held out her hand for him to hold just before the doctor told her to push and she squeezed both Thedas's hand and the midwife's as she yelled, tearing running down her face. It was sometime later that the baby was actually born. Lauralye laid back in her bed and watched the little baby girl as they cleaned her up before handing her to Lauralye to hold to her bare chest. She started to cry again as she kissed the little head of her baby girl, her hand rubbing her little back as she tried to sooth her child's crying. Lauralye looked up at Thedas and laughed a little through her tears, "She's beautiful..."