The Calm Before

Briar watched her husband as he continued to fuss with he pen he had constructed in their room and then fuss with it again and again, looking on from where he had insisted she rest with exasperated amusement. The immediate existential worry that Artorias had shown when she told him the news of her pregnancy probably should have tipped her off for how much of a frantic new father he was going to be, but she wasn't sure she could have prepared herself for the level of concern and effort he was putting into every little detail. It was incredibly sweet seeing him be so excited and particular about everything that their pups might need and wanting the very, very best for them, but now it was starting to get obsessive and a little silly. She chuckled softly to herself and rested her head on her paws while she waited for him to finish, knowing that if she tried to get up to help or do anything she was going to get a very stern Artorias telling her to rest.

Eventually he did declare that the bed was set—at least until he noticed something was ever so slightly out of place or he thought of something else to add—and she smirked as he turned to look at her. She lifted her head, replying teasingly, "Are you sure this time?" He came over to where she was laying mostly on her side due to her large, swollen stomach making it nearly impossible to lay on her belly, just propped up on one elbow to keep her upper half turned upright and she tipped her muzzle up to return the gentle bump to his nose. The further she got into her pregnancy the more it became incredibly evident that the family trait to have large litters of large pups had indeed been passed on to them. She had gotten pretty large very quickly and as they began to draw ever closer to when Gwynevere expected she might go into labor that was only becoming more true. It was starting to get difficult to do more than move from one part of the castle to the other and even without Artorias' fretting she still didn't do much more activity than short walks through the garden simply because of how easily her paws and ankles got sore from it now.

When he asked how she and the pups were doing, she grinned and chuckled as she told him, "For the tenth time today, we are perfectly fine. They've mostly just been sleeping while you've been running around fluffing pillows all morning." She knew he meant so well by all of it and she knew he was just nervous, but how he ended up being far more nervous than herself when she was the one that was going to be birthing this large family of theirs was beyond her. She patted the fur beside her and added, "Come on, come cuddle with me for a while and stop worrying so much." She went to tug on his foreleg to pull him toward her, reaching up a bit to press her lips to his in a light, playful kiss.

"Artorias & Briar Carpathius"