"Hey, you," he said, sitting next to her and taking her hand, "you're not 
supposed to get sick when I can't take care of you."  He leaned forward and 
kissed her.

She flinched slightly as one of his tears splashed on her face, mingling 
with her own, and then hugged him to her.  "I was so scared," she said.

"Everything's going to be okay, love," he said, rocking her.  "Everything 
will be fine."

Slowly she started to calm with him holding her.  She scooted over and made 
room for him in the bed also.  He hesitated.

"Come on.  Technically you are still a patient here too, and I don't think 
they will mind, as crowded as the Medical Center seems to be getting," Diana 
said.

He gave in and lay beside her, just holding her.  They both fell asleep soon 
afterwards.

C'tain came in a little later to check on them.  He listened to Diana and 
then used the device he had been using to hear the baby.  He looked up in 
surprise and bent to her abdomen again with the device.  Diana grew anxious.

"What?  What's wrong?" Diana asked, as Trey also looked on fearfully.

C'tain grinned at them.  "Nothing's wrong.  Its just that I hear two 
heartbeats.  You're going to have twins!"

Diana looked at Trey astonished. "Twins?"

C'tain nodded at them both.  "Now, Diana, I want you here overnight, not 
moving a muscle to do anything, then bedrest for forty-eight hours, but you 
can be at home for that.  We can't jeopardize these two!" He then left to 
check on some of the other patients.

Diana continued to look up at Trey astonished. "Twins?"

He laughed and kissed her.  "You don't do things halfway, do you, love?" he 
said, teasing her.

"Me?  I seem to recall that it takes two."

Trey grinned.  "Gods, you're going to wear this old man out.  Twins!"

She laughed and snuggled closer to him.  They laid that way for a moment 
before he spoke.  "By the way, they found out what's making me sick."

"Oh?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm having a reaction to something in my anti-seizure medicine.  
They're taking me off it."

She looked at him in concern.  "Are they giving you something else?"

He shook his head.  "Everything else interracts with my other medicines."

The concern in her face grew.  "But then, you might have seizures."

"I might," he admitted.  "I'm just going to have to take this one day at a 
time and see."

They lay silent a moment.  "You know what twins means?" he asked, changing 
the topic.

"What?"

"We have to come up with two boys' and two girls' names."

Diana giggled.

They talked quietly.  Trey's stomach, free of the poison, slowly calmed that 
afternoon.  They threw out names, both standard names with meanings and 
names combined of elements they liked or considered important.  Trey thought 
it would be nice to have a referent to Darrin somehow.  Now that they knew 
they had to come up with names for two children, it was a little easier to 
possibly combine three names without leaving anyone out.

After a while, Diana became more quiet and finally drifted to sleep.

There was a gentle tap on the door.

"Come in," Trey called.

Minty tentatively stepped inside.

"Hi!" she said to Trey.  "I just thought I'd pop in and see how Diana was
getting on."

"She's fine," he answered, gently smoothing Diana's blonde hair back from
her face.  "She's just this second fallen asleep."

"And the baby?" Minty asked anxiously.  "Did she get here in time?"

Trey nodded, and Minty sighed with relief.  Diana opened sleepy eyes, and 
smiled when she saw Minty standing there.

"Come and sit down Minty.  Did Trey tell you the good news?" she asked.

"About the baby being all right?" Minty said as she moved further into the
room.  "Yes.  He told me."

"You haven't told her!" Diana scolded Trey gently, and then said to a
puzzled Minty.  "It's twins.  We're having two babies."

Minty hesitated slightly, then smiled and congratulated them.  "I suppose 
this means I'll be without a patrol partner until after the birth?" she said 
lightly.

"Well, I'm out for a couple of days at least," Diana said.  "After that, I 
don't know."

"Well, if Z'lec wouldn't blow a gasket, I'd patrol with you till Shard's up 
and about," Trey volunteered, mentally adding <*if* Shard is ever up and 
about.>  It hurt to think that the young man might never come out of his coma.

Minty smiled.  "I guess we'll see."

"Was David okay?" Trey asked.

"Yes, he was fine.  Thanks."

He nodded.  "I was saddened to hear about the one hatchling that died after 
she joined.  I can't imagine what that girl is going through."

Minty nodded.  "She's here in the Medical Center, I believe."

They spoke a while longer, then Minty excused herself.

A staffer had just brought dinner in to them when a mating trumpet echoed 
through the air.  Trey felt Koroth's mating heat spread through him.  He had 
enough thought to squeeze Diana's hand before getting up to walk out of the 
Medical Center.

******

Koroth, who had been having trouble sleeping while his rider was ill, 
dropped out early and Trey watched as Raynod dropped out and Sarathain took 
the queen.  He watched Z'lec slump against his dragon.  He felt for the man, 
but knew this was not the time to offer Z'lec comfort.  He turned and headed 
back to the Medical Center, where he spent the night, blissfully asleep 
under the influence of a sleeping pill.

******

Trey spent the next two days taking care of Diana at home.  After that, 
D'ssarian allowed her to get up and out, but kept her off of patrols.  Trey 
slowly recovered his strength from the illness caused by the pills.  He knew 
D'ssarian had gone to speak to Waylene about it, though he didn't understand 
why it was such a big deal, but that was the last he heard of it.

Carie seemed to be improving.  He passed her crutching around the Medical 
Center whenever he was there for a check-up or to see Shard.  The boy 
remained deeply comatose, though the external injuries were all healed.  
Chaldecony was like a ghost around the warren.  Koroth had taken to spending 
a great deal of his free time with the lost dragon.

Trey wrote Ophelia a letter and sent it with the next courier going that 
direction.  He'd yet to receive a letter back and wondered if he was wasting 
his time.

A week after the hatching, word spread quickly through the warren that there 
was to be a council of warrens on the changes in the Wastes.  Trey wondered 
what they thought could be accomplished, but wished them well.  There were 
some odd whispers of a strange man and girl found in the Cleft badly 
wraithburned and how they had something to do with the meeting, but no one 
seemed clear on their story.

An hour or so after D'nar's daughter, Darlea, left for other warrens, Trey 
received a call to visit Waylene in her office.  He headed there quickly and 
entered at her invitation.

Waylene and D'ssarian were both there.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Yes, Tr'etram, sit down."  She paused and let him settle himself before 
continuing.  "I've been intending to address this by sending someone to 
Telnor, but with the chaos the warren's been in here, I haven't done it.  I 
intend to speak to Ophelia about it tomorrow at the Council."

Trey raised his eyebrows, completely mystified.

"Trey, you aren't allergic to your anti-seizure medicine," D'ssarian explained.

"What?  Then why--"

"The medicine we got from Telnor was poisoned."

Trey sat dumbfounded.

Waylene spoke gently.  "I wanted to speak to Ophelia and find out if there's 
anyone specifically in Telnor medical who may have done that intentionally."

"Then there's a possibility it wasn't?"

"There's a very small likelihood," D'ssarian explained.

"I see.  There wasn't anyone in Telnor Medical who had it out for me.  
Besides, I think R'chein made all that himself and he'd never...  He was my 
best friend."

Waylene nodded.  "That's why I wanted to handle this personally and not 
leave it to messages.  It's a very sensitive issue."

Trey nodded.  "Thank you for telling me, Waylene.  I appreciate it."

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Tr'etram and Koroth

NRPG: Feel free to continue this, Kris, but don't forget that Trey (or 
anyone else at Marrid) doesn't know that R'chein and Ophelia are now mates.  
Or you can just drop it here and have him leave.

 **********************************************************************
 * Lynette R. F. Cowper       *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess *
 * lcowper@io.com             *        Circle of Janus Secretary      *
 * lcowper@indy.net           *   VP of P.U.R.P.L.E. (People United   *
 * http://www.io.com/~lcowper/*   Respecting Purple Legal Equality)   *
 **********************************************************************
 *    I write of things which I have neither seen nor suffered nor    *
 *  learned from another, things which are not and never could have   *
 *  been, and therefore my readers should by no means believe them.   *
 *                                            --Lucian of Samosata    *
 **********************************************************************