Within The Dimenscape And Beyond

Chapter 6: Criminal Minds

No One's POV:

Both Tabitha and Cole comfortably lay in bed, resting after a long day of ruling their vast kingdom with the sun in the sky. Tabitha flips over to her side to find her husband happily staring at her with fond eyes as he too lay on his side.

Placing a comforting hand on her cheek, Cole sighs. "Good morning, my love. How did you sleep after our little late-night session?" He chuckles at the thought.

"Perfectly fine." She responds with a small yawn that followed afterward. A small pain is inflicted in her stomach in which causes her to wince in pain. "Ouch."

"Are you okay?" Cole questions her.

She tells him that she was fine and the two of them finally get out of bed to prepare themselves for another day. They enter their restroom to freshen themselves up before dressing in their formal attires. Yet when the queen attempted to put on her dress, she realized it felt a little tight which was unusual, but she managed. Once they finished, both Cole and Tabitha made their way to the throne room where they greeted by Varian and Artemis.

"Hello!" The still squeaky voice of the monarchs' niece exclaims, hurrying over to them. "Hello there!" By her side was her pet griffin, Gruffy, who now fully grown, towering over the little girl.

Tabitha grabs her niece, pulling her into a bear hug. "Hello baby! How are you?"

"Fine!" Artemis giggles ecstatically once she was put down. She inspects her aunt's body as if something was different. "Auntie, you look like you ate too much cake." The small child says in a spunky tone.

This catches all the adults off guard in which Varian quickly covers the girl's mouth and tell her to apologize. She does and is sent to play in the palace gardens with Gruffy.

"I'm sorry Tab, I don't know what came over her to say that." Varian confesses yet Tabitha only laughs it off. However, after getting a good look at his twin, the advisor couldn't help but admit that his daughter was correct. The Queen's belly was little bit rounder then how it normally was, yet he didn't want to say anything about it. It wasn't his business about how her body appeared.

"What's on the agenda today, V?" Cole asks his brother with a cheery voice. "Anything important?"

The hair striped adult checks the tablet in his hands that had the rulers' schedules on it and nods his head slowly. Although he seemed very uncomfortable before speaking.

"The two of you are supposed to go to the Penitentiary, so you can interrogate Hawkmoth about the break in that happened last week." Varian says softly so no one other than the King and Queen could hear him. "Are you really sure that you want to go along with this? I could do it for you if you'd like."

Both Tabitha and Cole shake their heads in disagreement. This was something they needed to do on their own. No matter how scary it seemed.

"Don't worry about us." Cole assures him. "We'll be okay. Now we should get going." He tells the two, taking a step back towards the front door. "Come on, Tab."

"Are we not going to eat anything before we go?" She asks her husband.

Cole nods his head. "We'll eat something on the way there." He says while magically teleporting the keys to his cruiser in his hands. "Let's hit the road."

The two of them said farewell to Varian and made their way to the courtyard, where a servant had their cruiser prepared for them. They hop into the car, put their seatbelts on and drive away from their castle home towards a place of misery and despair.

As they did, Tabitha couldn't help but think about what Artemis had previously said. Was she really gaining weight? It didn't aid her at all that she was craving pickles with hot sauce or watermelon with honey either. Cole notices her discomfort and places a hand on her thigh, rubbing his thumb lightly along the trim of her dress. He states that they'll get donuts and coffee before arriving at Penitentiary which seemed to calm her troubling thoughts.