[Timeframe: Morning after the rescue]

	<Melianth says she's awake.>

	M'tan gulped.  <Thanks, lizard.>

	<Anytime, apespawn.>

	He'd spent an hour wandering around outside the Medical Center,
thinking about what to say to Aleta when she woke up.  She and Wyndel
had been asleep when he and Almiron had been through to introduce the
baby.   Almiron was taking the offer to move in quite seriously, which
was exciting... except that now that he was gone M'tan had to face the
fact that he had no idea what to say to his mate.

	Sure, the triad idea had been hers.  She was the one who had made the
offer, years ago, when he had been the one recovering in the Medical
Center.  But they had never seriously discussed it since.  That had been
so long ago, before Almiron was mated, before M'tan's plunge into...
wrongness.  He was a different man now; why should he assume she felt
the same just because he wanted this? 

	<Look, we're not talking about wild sex here>, he reminded himself
firmly.  <This is just about taking care of Almiron through a bad time.>

	<Human,> Zareth sent in disgust, <you're not even fooling me.   Would
you just go talk to her?>

	M'tan winced.  <OK, OK, I'm going.>  He shoved his hands into his
pockets, took a deep breath, and marched inside.

	Aleta was nursing Wyndel as M'tan entered.  The front of her Med Center
smock was demurely pulled open to make room for the hungry baby's head. 
She cradled him in one arm, the other hand reverently stroking the fuzz
of hair on top of his head.  M'tan stopped short when he saw them,
taking in the scene of mother and child.

	She looked up and grinned as she saw him.  "I never thought I could get
so attached to a little monster whose talent is turning milk into shit,"
she said fondly.  "He's not even big enough to cry loudly yet.  That's
coming, I'm sure."  She wrinkled her nose.

	M'tan sat down on the edge of Aleta's bed and watched the baby eat. 
"Yeah, that's coming soon.  He'll grow up fast."

	Aleta surprised him by leaning forward and kissing him hungrily. 
"You'd *think* all this childbirth thing would turn off my sex drive
forever, wouldn't you?" she laughed.  "Kyven says I shouldn't do
anything naughty for weeks.  Bah."

	"Well, he says you can leave after one more day of observation," M'tan
said encouragingly.  "I'm sure there's *something* we could do.  Kissing
can't be off-limits."

	She shook her head.  "Just makes me want what I can't have."

	They sat for a while in silence, watching Wyndel suck greedily.  Then
she looked up slyly.  "OK, spill it."

	"What?"

	"I can see an ulterior motive a mile away, lover.  What did you show up
to talk about?"

	M'tan colored.  "Oh, uhm."  He took a breath.  "About Almiron."

	Aleta's eyes widened.  "Oh!  I heard about Darlea from an orderly here
yesterday.  Is he all right?  How's he taking it?"

	She heard what?  "Pretty hard," he admitted.  "I saw him yesterday and
he broke the news in person.  I... didn't know they'd already told you."

	Aleta took his hand and squeezed it.  "He's not staying in his
apartment all alone with a baby, is he?"

	"Uhm, yeah, sort of."

	Aleta gave him a determined look.  "He needs to be near people who love
him at a time like this.  I know it's sudden, especially with what's
gone between us in the past, but I think we should ask him to move in."

	M'tan blinked.

	"We're going to have to get a bigger place anyway," she reasoned, "with
a new baby who is going to grow up fast and need some privacy.  Probably
something big and ground-accessible.  It'd be no problem to get a place
with three Dragon nests instead of one."

	"Whoa, wait a minute," M'tan croaked.  "Isn't that sudden?  He's going
through a rough time, and things are... weird with us.  Are you sure you
want to take that on?  Are you sure he should take it on?"

	"We're not talking about hot sex here, M'tan," Aleta flared.  "Just
caring for a friend through a rough time.... why are you looking at me
like that?"

	"I, um, didn't expect to be hearing this from you," M'tan explained
weakly.  "Do you think we can handle it?  What if he decides he wants
more?"

	"He shouldn't think like that for a while," Aleta replied
thoughtfully.  "We should avoid the subject for a while.  Charging into
another romance in the wake of this kind of grief can only bring more
pain.  If he wants something with us, we have to be sure he's doing it
for the right reasons."  She looked at him sideways.  "You do still have
feelings for him, don't you?  I mean, you're still amenable to a triad?"

	"Yeah!" M'tan squeaked.  "Sure.  I'm fine with that.  This is just so
sudden."

	Aleta smiled.  "Yeah, well sometimes there's just one shot at a second
chance.  Why don't we call him in here and make the offer straight away?

	M'tan coughed.  "Ahem."

	"OK, my cryptic mate, what does *that* look mean?"

	"I, uh, already made the offer."

	"You *what*?"

	"I already asked him to move in.  He said yes."

	"Oh, YOU!"  She threw a pillow at him, hard.


Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Rati
Creator, DragonLands

NRPG: Non-interactive, but necessary to get all my characters on the
same page :>.

-- 
   Susan Rati  http://members.dsl.telocity.com/~kaeryth | ************
 kaeryth@dsl.telocity.com, AIM: Arandolen, ICQ#53515902 | Raising
  MIB #1110 (Secret Rep SJGames) http://www.sjgames.com | Overcommitment
  George, InConJunction ** http://www.inconjunction.org | to an art form
    Creator, DragonLands http://www.dragonlands.dhs.org | ************