Colonel Seeders' Mail Order Bride, Hank

30 Michelle

Michelle still could not believe Hank flopped to the ground like a skinny, corset-wearing damsel from the 1800s. His worries that morning had made her skin itch, so when the doctor gave them the good news that they would have four babies in less than a month instead of just one or two at the most, Hank dropped to the ground, knocked his head so hard that a lump the size of a golf ball grew on the back of his head, and stayed out through the rest of the examination.

The doctor confirmed that the drugs did not affect Michelle or the babies, since he treated her so quickly. However, shifting in her first trimester did not help her situations. Dragons do not generally carry their offspring for nine months. Like some birds on Earth, they copulate until they conceive, carry for a short term and then lay eggs that need to be kept warm until they hatch.

Michelle, having been in dragon form while trying to keep Hawk warm and then while training with him, reduced her own term by almost two months. Not that she minded much. It became more difficult to walk with each week that passed.

Other than that little hick-up, the four little devils decided that her bladder made a great pillow for their weary little heads, the reason she needed the bathroom more often than not.

At least Hank got the go ahead to ‘copulate’ as often as she would allow, as long as he did not put any strain on her stomach or did anything that would cause her bodily harm. She quickly reassured him that they never partook in anything that wild.

When he said, “You will be surprised what you enjoy when you experiment,” she could not hold back her laughter. Her belly shook so much that she had to waddle back to the bathroom after being there twice already.

She quickly squashed the conversation, not wanting to imagine all the things that Sebastian got up to, and asked about the doctor’s family, while they waited for Hank to wake up.

Hawk eventually dumped a glass of water on his face so that they could go home.

Unfortunately, a week later, Hank got a call from Sebastian, begging for his help. His father disappeared and the only lead he got was from an unreliable source. He’d been spotted on Sector seven with Simmons. If they could track his movements from there, they could possibly get the general and Simmons at the same time.

Michelle told him that the decision was his to make and laid out the options for him.

“If you find both of them, you can get rid of them for good and our lives will be easier, but if you decide to go, there might be the chance that I could give birth before you come back. There is always the chance that it is a set-up and you won’t come back to us. At the same time, Simmons and Sebastian’s father could be harming more women like me.”

“I will come back. No matter what shape I am in at the end of this, I will find a way to come back to you and the kids,” Hank said.

“If you can say with 100% surety, that you will come home, before or after the babies are born, then go, but if there is a smidgen of doubt about the validity of this source, then don’t go until it is confirmed.”

“I’m the only one that can confirm that. That is why he wants me to go with him. He asked me to tell you that Eddy will be there as well. And Bridgette.”

“Well you can tell Eddy that I said he better make sure both of you get home in one piece. They have five babies and she can’t look after them by herself. She’s dyslexic, so finding a job will not be easy for her.”

“I do not know this dislex-thing. Is it some kind of disease?” Hank asked.

“No. It means she has problems learning, reading and writing. That does not mean that she is an idiot. I used to read to her so that she could answer her tests verbally. She’s learned a lot over the last seven years and Eddy is still teaching her different subjects, depending on what interests her on the day.”