Nia: Playtime

I'm seriously fucking nervous I'm not being gunned for I'm not gunning for anyone. I'm never nervous for that, this though I don't know how I can manage to sit on this bed in the examination room and not be bouncing off the walls. Sam is reading a magazine in a chair Constance's face on the cover she did go and speak to the press. When the doctor comes in holding a file I almost jump down and charge him.

"Nia please don't look at me like that." I sigh and look down to collect my thoughts, he's moved closer when I look up Sam standing there next to him. "I don't know how to say this," my face falls. "Twitch was correct you are no longer fertile you are a card carrying mother to be."

I squeak and grab him up in a hug, Sam pulls me off him and we dance about the examination room. The doctor watches us his eyes sparkling as we go about then grabs my arm and pulls me back to sit down.

"I understand your enthusiasm and I agree this is glorious news. Not just for you, however I am going to say next time you decide to get pregnant from a vampire no being fed from until after you miss your period. The egg floats around for six to seven days any changes to your body can lead to a miscarriage. Losing a pint of blood is a change." I sigh and nod.

"I wasn't sure I've never had a dragon tell me I'm pregnant before. She never actually said I was either. I know no alcohol, drink orange juice, is there anything else?" He smiles at me.

"Good list, there are pregnancy vitamin pills you can take. They help, you don't have to but they help. Mostly you just need the folic acid, drink milk it helps replenish your calcium levels. Avoid smokers as much as you can nothing more than wine occasionally until after you give birth. Best to not but the occasional wine doesn't hurt your child. No more than one glass a week, less is better. I know your Irish just try and curtail the keggers for nine months." Sam laughs I sigh and nod. "If possible speak to your fiance and see if he can get the local vamps to donate sperm. There are groups wanting to look into how viable a vampire is and they aren't getting many answers." I look up.

"I haven't heard anything on that, I'll be sure and talk to him. Is there anything else or can we go? We have an interview with what were we getting today?" I ask looking over at Sam.

"Centaurs, don't forget Twitch is DM tonight as well, new adventure."

"I wish I had been there for the werewolves. I and all the medical world wants to speak to them, test as well I think. No that was all I needed to say to you, here's some pamphlets for you to go over has all of the information we covered already. Details warning signs of run to the hospital variety go on and see those centaurs." I smile up at him and collect the pamphlets.

As we are leaving I notice Sam still has the magazine, she notices me staring and laughs. We get out to the limo avoiding the reporters, until I stop and tell them I'm pregnant. Sam hauls me into the limo and we are off to her parent's house.

"I can't believe you stole a brand new magazine from your doctor." Sam laughs and leans in to me.

"This one is not out yet, Constance was given a preview copy it comes out next week. The thing that I can't believe is we are staying at my dad's mansion and nobody has keyed in he's in the mafia. I thought they had pegged him as a made man ten years ago." I giggle and nod then hold up the pamphlets.

"I don't know, doesn't matter perhaps the press is being quiet because we got centaurs and ogres and vampires all over the place. Anyway let's go shopping I want those vitamins I'm being fed on and pregnant." Sam giggles and leans in to me.

"I'm starting to change my opinion, Ben is good in bed." I giggle myself as the window comes down.

"Take us to a grocery store we are buying OJ and pregnancy vitamins." The driver nods and the window goes up again.

"Doesn't he ever talk?" Sam looks up at me and shakes her head.

"He doesn't like to talk, prefers to be in the background and forgotten."

"Did Constance ever explain why she can go down on us and have no problem?" Sam sighs and shakes her head.

"Has no idea why, best we can come up with is bodily fluids are bodily fluids. I suppose if bathroom play is your appetite a vamp could feed off piss." I shudder Sam nods and looks a little green.

"May wish to include that in the report it's being shared with everyone in part. So what do we have after centaurs?" Sam smiles at me.

"The only thing left is dragons and those were covered while we were talking to Ben about pregnancy and feeding. I wonder what the FDA is going to say on cockatrice." I shake my head.

"I have no idea Greene told me last night on the phone they had gotten four more, two breeding pairs. They are going to do a six month review, see how they live what they eat so forth. Likely see if they can be turned into food by a standard chicken slaughterhouse. At least there's no more calls to have them as pets." Sam sighs and nods looking a little haunted.

There had been a lot of people wanting to have them as pets, so two days ago we did a demonstration. Twitch herded two away from the rest and they dropped a mannequin in the area. The two cockatrices turned the mannequin into a pile of pieces in under a minute. Did help us narrow down what could have happened to the gang, wasn't cockatrice.

We stop at a small store I look it over then at the driver. He shrugs so we head for the door to find a small or human form please sign. Sam and I glance at each other as we go in to giggle it's a small store with a lot of shelf space. We almost have to walk in single file down the aisles. Orange juice is easy it's in the back well lit. The vitamins take a little searching I get two of those, a folic acid vitamin and the pregnancy vitamins. The clerk eyes us as we walk over then breaks into a smile.

"I am honored to have you in my store. I hope the sign is not offensive." I shake my head.

"Perfectly understandable, I'm not sure a regular man would fit in here very well lovely selection you have." He smiles at me.

"Thank you, we try to carry everything, some of the variety is not there but we do our best. Oh I see that you are pregnant, very good news it's been all over the news on what happens if you are and are not." I sigh and nod.

"I know I'm not happy with the media circus following me around so much. I suppose it is good, no one has ever been proposed to like that before." Sam giggles and leans into me, he smiles as he collects money from Sam.

Back in the limo I look out the window seeing a number of ogre and troll people sitting or walking. One of the posters sticking out of a trashcan gets the memory going, I smile it was a magical night. Ben had stayed out the night after he got to town, and left a message that I should meet him in central park the night after. The media was shouting questions as we exited the driveway. None of it made sense until I notice the posters there were posters all over asking me if I would marry Ben. There were pictures of me and Ben in a little heart under the words it was the most romantic thing I'd ever seen.

The people we passed were either asking if I would say yes or urging me to say yes. Some of the posters said central park on them, there was a lot of traffic that night. When we got to central park it was a madhouse, there were cops everywhere clearing a path for me and Sam. I found Ben at the fountain with a lot of mages I had talked to them earlier in the day. A silence falls there are reporters watching with their cameras, Ben falls to his knee pulls out a beautiful ring and asks me to marry him.

I shout yes getting a cheer from the crowd I jump in Ben's arms and kiss him. The mages put on a fireworks show of rather biblical proportions with my answer showing prominently in the sky. I think the second best part came the next day it was national news with video of the posters all over New York. The fireworks are going down as second only to the two hundred celebrations in Washington. Sam touches my shoulder and smiles at me, we are home.

"I saw the poster that was far and away the best proposal I've ever heard of. To think he's only twenty six, I bet Constance had a hand in the planning." I giggle and nod.

Liz is waiting for us in the door we get walked around into the backyard. There are three centaurs here one is being ridden by Crescenzo both are smiling. I notice one is female, she has a sport bra on we walk toward her and the other one. Liz chases after Crescenzo and his ride shouting something at him. As we get closer both centaur drop low in a kneel then stand tall again.

"Greetings Nia and Sam, we are pleased to make your acquaintance." I look at Sam she giggles then puts her hand over my mouth.

"Greetings to you in return, we are pleased to see you standing tall and strong. May your tails never wither." They smile at us then motion to chairs.

I sit in one chair Sam sits in one next to me, the male asks me to look away then sits down in human form.

"Apologies, unlike the rest we hold formal greetings very high. I'm Xander and this is Mia. Our third is Franklin, he is young and enjoys frolicking."

"No apologies needed, I missed the class on your formal greetings. I admit I was a little shocked to see Mia in a sports bra, the rest do not cover up." Mia giggles and covers her mouth.

"Centaurs are singular in the need for these bras, when we still wandered in our true form we would hold our breasts to move past a slow walk." I sigh and nod.

"Yes I think I know why I have to wear sports bras to jog that much higher up would be worse."

"I understand congratulations are in order." Xander says leaning forward with a smile.

"Yes the doctor just told me, I am pregnant and it's Ben's. At least with me vampires can still breed. I need to speak to him, they wish to test vampire sperm of different ages to see if they get less potent or if there is something else stopping them."

"At least they are sharing the information not that I blame them, they are singular creatures feared the world over. At least they were, with you saying yes and being pregnant from one the fears should die. I know you have the information already but I will say it again, we have no powers. We can't put lights in the sky or burn things with our fingers, we can't do the eye trick I agree that is neat. All we can do is heal ourselves using things we find in the forest, we have known that for a very long time. We are good archers, our warriors have a singular ability to attack in two or even three directions at once." I smile at Xander.

"I knew everything but the last, it is good you covered it all again. I was mostly wondering how your mating works." Mia turns pink and puts a hand over her mouth.

"That is a little embarrassing, when we are not in human form we mate like a combination of horses and your doggy style. We are like horses, in we only become fertile at certain times. Luckily we carry a child for nine months like a human even if we are both centaurs. We have twins sometimes, it is rarer than for humans." Sam looks over at me and smiles, I nod and look back at Xander.

"Sam and I are wondering why you chose to look human rather than a horse." Xander chuckles and leans forward.

"Horses do not trust us on sight, it would be a little hard to not be killed if the rest of the herd on the ranch is afraid of you. We walk like a horse the similarities end there they always know we are different, they can smell it." Sam leans forward.

"What do centaurs prefer to eat?" Xander and Mia laugh.

"We like salads, we also like hamburgers and really anything you would find a human eating a centaur will eat." I look over at Sam, she's grinning.

"You are the easiest interview we have had during the day. There's really only one question left. Can you be killed with a shot to the torso or is your heart in the horse section?" Xander smiles at me.

"Yes and yes, we have two hearts in this form. I suppose lends credence to the myth that a centaur is a man and horse forged in to one. If that is true it was a very long time ago, our records go back almost as far as the trolls." Mia steps forward and clears her throat.

"I hope you do not find me rude but I wished to ask if you have been told how long vampires have been around. We do not know ourselves it was always seen as a myth until they came to us."

"We've asked, they do not know, their records only go back to the fourteen hundreds. Their older records burned in a fire for the most part, there are some pieces of them that talk about the twelve hundreds. The myths are known to generate back farther, some of the earliest forms are said to be born one thousand B.C. based on older. All that is known for sure is vampires are very old collectively, perhaps going so far back as to be with humans before they were human." Xander and Mia nod.

"Constance and I have been talking on it, we both think that the first vampire wasn't human instead a serpent or other animal that bit a human, or before human and the line has spread since." Sam says getting an excited huddle from Xander and Mia.

"Perhaps that is the reason for the story in the bible of Adam and Eve." Xander says finally.

"Perhaps, Constance is going to let them do testing on her saliva and other things. It would explain their fangs being hollow like a snakes." I say as Liz comes over.

"I never knew my husband liked horses. It is close to dinner time, we have taken to eating early so these two can be fed to be food when it gets dark. Consuela will have your vitamins ready for you with dinner Nia. You three are welcome to stay, Consuela has a tendency of making enough for everyone in the neighborhood." Xander laughs and stands up to give Liz a kiss on the hand.

"We would be honored but alas we can not. I must return to my wife, Mia needs to return to her husband and I believe Franklin has a date."

I shake hands with Xander before he goes after Franklin. Mia comes over and takes my hand then gets lower.

"You did not ask the other question on mating. We like to do it as often as we can, I am nearing heat and my husband enjoys practicing so." I giggle as Mia straightens and trots away.

We watch them leave then head up for the dining room. Crescenzo joins us looking very happy, Liz looks at him and groans.

"If only you had said you liked horses we could have kept the stable." Crescenzo chuckles and shakes his head.

"Franklin has a date with a human woman, he wanted advice. Mia is a centaur Xander has a centaur wife he couldn't ask either. We made it look like frolic as he called it so Xander would leave us alone." Sam sighs and rolls her eyes.

Dinner is a lovely affair with shrimp scampi, Chicken Gordon Blue, and pasta, all of it drenched in garlic. Constance had talked to Consuela and gotten her to add extra garlic. It was funny when we found out but really good food so there was no complaining. We are finishing up the light gone when Consuela screams, she always screams when Constance and Ben come out of the cellar. She's a little afraid of vampires, she'll talk to Constance but won't let her feed. Ben she barely even acknowledges, as it turns out Consuela is lesbian.

"I hope you had a good day." Ben tells me as he sits down leans over and gives me a kiss.

"Very good day, we got the official notice today, you are a father." Constance squeaks and comes over to give me a hug followed by Ben doing the same.

"Nia went and bought vitamins and a lot of OJ. There is a pamphlet around here somewhere that the doctor gave her." Liz says smiling big with her eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, still no telling if Sam can be knocked up with me from Ben. Oh that reminds me the doctor mentioned they are trying to get vampire sperm from various ages to test the potency and see what makes it hard to get pregnant. They want help because the vampires aren't helping I guess." Constance sighs and sits down.

"We are a little afraid of doctors, they always know we are dead and it tends to lead to problems. I'll stop at one of the houses on my way to the testing I'm doing and tell them to not worry and just go donate. Maybe they can test me see if I do produce eggs, I likely am too old but the younger might have a chance. Course we may not birth human either, perhaps it is better if we stay infertile."

"You're still going to be Aunt Constance." I say getting a smile out of Constance.

"That would be better, I can not do diapers and simply give presents that annoy you two." Sam giggles, I shake my head.

"You are not getting off that easily, you are the baby sitter if Ben and I go on a date. Trips we would need to hire a nanny but dates you're babysitting." Constance giggles and nods.

"I am looking forward to that, I was the oldest child so did help with diapers as often as I felt like. It was nice I wish I could have had my own child, with you pregnant and Sam trying I can get all of the joy and none of the pain. My youngest brother I was nine and heard the screams." Liz shudders and shakes her head.

"Constance no sharing the horror stories, supposed to let the younger women find out for themselves. They have gotten better on pain killers, if you yell a couple times they shoot you full and you can just lie there feeling nothing but a little pressure. I have a younger sister gave birth five years ago now."

"We want a natural birth." Ben says getting me to look at him then hit him on the head.

"No we don't, you might I do not. If I could I would go into labor and drink until I pass out and let the doctor get our baby out." Constance and Liz laugh.

"Good answer, I remember birthing Sam I went two hours with nothing before they gave me a shot. It was the longest two hours I have ever done, I would like to have given Crescenzo a second child. If I could skip being there for birth I would have done anything to give him a big family." Sam is staring at Liz her mouth open.

"You told me it was a hard birth and you could not have any more kids." Liz giggles and looks down.

"It was painful, this was before the doctors would just give you a shot when you ask. I didn't want to go through that again so I had the doctors tie my tubes. Your father knew and didn't have a problem with it, I told you when you were five and wanting a little brother. I decided to tell you that one, easier to understand for a five year old." Sam sighs and looks at me.

"Maybe you should be the only one getting pregnant." I giggle and shake my head.

"Nope, if we need to we will tie you down and let a guy come in and do you, perhaps more than one. I'm so not going to be the only one pregnant." Constance giggles, Sam sighs and shakes her head.

"You're terrible, I admit I do want to try at least once, your glowing and well damn I want to glow. We should go Constance has the appointment for testing and we have a game to get to."

Liz and Crescenzo wave happily at us as we go, Ben left our game supplies by the front door. In the limo I sit next to Constance getting a hurt look from Ben, I stick my tongue out at him. Ben chuckles and pulls Sam into his lap, I recline into Constance who grabs me up and moves me around.

"Constance, am I your food tonight?" I look up at her she looks back and shakes her head.

"Ben and I talked it over, you're his fiance I'm just borrowing Sam for the time being. We are thinking we can find a man for me to feed on and still split Sam in Phoenix. Would put us at one night out to feed a week, four is a good number." I sigh and look at Ben.

"I don't have to be yours only you know I do have sex with Constance when you're with Sam." Ben sighs and nods.

"I know, it's a block I have, you're my fiance and call it screwy I don't want to share your blood."

"Sometimes I wonder about you Ben. Sam when is your fertile time?" Sam looks at me then up at Ben.