Angela watched as Drae made her little girl happy. Even when Iva was trying to  not drift off into sleep it felt amazing. Iva had never had a father before Drae. It warmed the Goddess’s heart that he was so close to her.

Iva was out before the two left the room. Smiling and snuggling into Drae, Angela nodded. “It is heart warming to watch our child grow… Soon you will have to read to both of them. I hope she will always love your stories even when she is old enough to avoid them.” She spoke low as she moved one of his hands over the fussing child in her womb.

“I’ve been working on his nursery by us… Do you want to see what I have so far? I had a friend in Endopano make a crib for him.” She smirked as she avoided saying Rohan in Iva’s presence. She led Drae out of the room and took him down to the room by theirs. Opening the door, the night’s light filled the hallway. There was a forest of many colors, Rohan’s crib was in the back and there seemed to be walls you could no see in the room.

“This is what I have so far for our little bard. When Iva was little I had her crib in a room with the ocean. She slept so well with the waves.”

Drae walked into the nursery with Angela and felt his jaw fall open slightly. She had truly done fantastic work. He felt as though he had wandered into an enchanted forest of some sort. Rohan's crib looked to be made out of twisting vines and was truly of the finest craftsmanship. Drae moved up to the cradle and ran his hands over the the finely carved wood. It was all becoming so real, and he felt the twinges of fear deep in his gut, more so than before. He felt his hands begin to shake and he gripped the cradle tightly. 

"It's all so different now…" he said softly as he looked about the room, nearly forgetting that he was still in the shrine. He moved a hand to his arm, gripping the mark that marred him as a warlock. He didn't want to bring any sort of evil upon his children, and he knew that the pact he had made could put them at risk. 

He sighed and looked back at Angela. 
"Not only shall our boy be a bard…" he said softly. "But he will be one with places like this…" he mused softly. "He will move with the animals… he will be one with the woods and nature…"

Angela put her hands onto her very pregnant belly and watched her love walk around. She could tell he was in pain and it was only getting worse. “You better not be thinking of leaving,” it was a sad tone that left her lips as she reached to touch his warlock mark as well. “I know what’s there. You are worried about the baby.” She put her head on his shoulder and watched him softly. “You know I’m capable of protecting him, you don’t have to worry about any demon…” She wanted to reassure him.

A laugh left her lips. “Hopefully we don’t end up with another little mud golem like Iva. I foresee the two of them getting into a lot of trouble together.” She took his hands gently and put them on her baby belly. “You know your son and I love you deeply. The girls love you too. He’ll be here in a short three months and then what will you do.”

Her eyes looked at him and craved that attention from him. “I need to tell you something. My domain has grown. I am not longer just Fertility but Life. My job is going to get more tough but I am going to raise this baby well damn it. I don’t care how many people come through those doors if Rohan needs me I will be there. We will be there and we will teach him how to survive in a cold world because we know it best.”

Drae sighed as Angela's hand found his as he gripped the mark on his upper arm. "No. No of course not," he replied softly. "I won't do that anymore. I am done running," he promised. He leaned his head back onto her as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I know… Love you can level a city with a sneeze if you wanted… with you I know I don't have to sorry about any sort of demon or whatever I may have on my back… but I am also afraid that I won't be able to protect them. Is it not a father's job to protect his children?" he asked softly. He shook his head, turned to face her. He smiled at her laughing. 

"I don't think he will be a mud golem out of the way that boys normally are," he chuckled. "But I do think that he and Iva will be inseparable. Even if we wanted to separate them, I don't think we could," he chuckled. "And when he finally gets here, I will devote my time to you, him, and Iva and the other girls far more than I have," he chuckled.  

He placed his hands on her face and caressed her. "And I'll be there with you every step of the way, no matter what my fears are. I can't let my fears get in the way here. Not when you need me. I can't falter. Not when I know that you, Rohan, Iva and the other girls need me," he promised. He took her hands and kissed her knuckles. 

A soft smile came to her lips as she moved them to kiss his black hair. “Good, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She was glad he was done running, that they could raise their rather large family. A laugh came from her lips as she tilted her head. “I don’t make it a habit to sneeze entire cultures out of existence but I will put it on my to-do list.” She teased him softly. “You will be able to protect him just fine. You are strong and you’ve done a great job protecting Iva, even when she ran off, you brought her home.”

A laugh left her lips. “You won’t have any free time if you do anymore.” She kissed his forehead and looked over the crib. She was excited to have the baby soon and now they had everything mostly set up. 

His words brought her comfort as she felt his lips against her knuckles. “I know, and I appreciate everything you do for us.” She put her forehead to his head and smiled. “I want you to still have time for yourself but I know that it might be stressful with the baby about. He will need us a lot and my duties might keep me away from him.” There was hurt in her voice. “But I want to make the world a better place for him. I want him to have allies. More allies than he has enemies.”

"A noble quest indeed, my love. But as long as you and I live, we will have enemies, and through us, he will have enemies," Drae sighed. "Opposition in all things. The more you push for the good, unfortunate as it is, more ill will rise as well. The best thing we can do it teach him and train him to face the world around him." 

Drae squeezed her hands. "Even if duties pull you away, and business calls me away, Rohan will still have siblings who will love and dote upon him even when we cannot. Belle and Fern are still here in the shrine, and I doubt that they will have much issue helping care for a new baby, and I know that Sapphire and Iva, Iva especially, will want to help. And who is to say that Holly or Ash might not object to looking after him every once in a while," Drae offered. "Our son won't be raised by clergy, that I can promise. He has family, more than enough, to take very good care of him when it becomes difficult, or even impossible for you and I to do it, though I don't think that will happen often," he reassured her. 

"Besides… if he has all of nature to look after him… then there is little that could stand a chance against him."

Angela gave a sad smile. “I am not stranger to enemies. I have always known my children would have them because of me, that is why Iva and the others stayed here until they were strong enough to leave.” She reassured him. “Though I shouldn’t lock them up like prisoners, I don’t want to lose them.”

The goddess agreed with him that the clergy would not raise their child. “He has enough brothers, sisters, and aunts to raise him if we ever needed it. He will be loved by his family.. and I will try to be lenient with letting him out of the temple if he goes with them.”

The redhead put her hands onto her belly and smiled. “Someday, we’re going to take you out into the world and you will love all of the nature around you. That much I can promise you since nature runs deep in your blood.” She spoke to Rohan softly.

–
The rest of the time seemed to go by like a breeze. She spent time prepping for the birth of Rohan. She wanted him to come as naturally as possible without influence from her powers. She could feel her contractions and she began to pace the room back and forth. Her eyes were on Drae once in a while. “He’s testing my patience Drae and I have few left.” The words left her lips as she twitched at the pain once in a while. 

The clergy members were on stand by as the new prince slowly decided his day of birth. However, the goddess was testy and it could be seen as she snapped once in a while.  Her water had broke already but the baby was refusing to come. “Lady Angela, maybe it would be best to help him along?”

Angela shot a look at the clergy member before looking back at Drae. “Well? He can’t take all night Drae.” It had been a long time since she waited on a baby like that.

It took every ounce of Drae's self restraint to keep from pacing the floor with Angela. Between the contractions causing her pain, her water breaking, and Rohan refusing to cooperate, Angela was irrate and Drae was positively terrified. Terrifird, mostly, that there was something wrong with Rohan and that was why he was taking so long. He was slightly reassured though, especially since Angela would have known if something was wrong. 

Angela's look to him when the member of her clergy suggested she use her power to help Rohan along, he about laughed hysterically, from the anxiety.
"Don't look at me! I have absolutely no control here!" he laughed nervously. "If he's waiting for my invitation, then he needs to get his tiny ass going! Enough of this waiting game!"

Drae was losing it as much as she was. He told Rohan to get his tiny ass out of his mother, and she swore she could feel Rohan disobeying them. It must have been warm in there and comfortable, she supposed. “Here that you little shit get out here.” She might as well jump start the delivery, if only to give him a push. She could do that, he was technically ready.

It took an hour for Rohan to actually decide to make his entrance into the world. Even with his mother’s help the boy didn’t want to listen completely. With a full set of lungs on him Rohan screamed as soon as his lungs were clear to do so. Angela laid there with a glare on her face. “You should have listened.” She teased gently as the clergy members cleaned the baby up.

His head was full of Drae’s dark hair and it made her smile towards Drae. The boy’s voice began to quiet down as he was handed off to Drae. “You need to rest my lady. That was probably terribly exhausting.”

Angela laughed a bit. “It was more exhausting trying to get him to that point. I’m fine I promise.” They brought some food into the room for Angela and Drae, leaving the parents to enjoy their new baby. “I love him Drae.” She brought her hand over and moved some of the blanket he was wrapped up in, she could see her eyes peeking up at both Drae and herself. “He’s perfect.” She chuckled.

Drae sat with Angela the entire ordeal, and he was incredibly grateful that she had as much pain tolerance and self restraint that she did, or he was pretty certain she could have taken his hand off. His anxiety level shot through the roof for the next hour while Angela delivered the baby, though he was there to support her every moment of it. When finally Rohan came into the world with a scream, Drae felt his heart skip a beat, and he all but jumped up off the bed and moved over to where the clergyman took the newborn to be cleaned. He couldn't help but chuckle when Angela made the comment about how Rohan should have just listened. He watched as his son was cleaned up while another member of the clergy finished making sure that Angela was fine, and gently took the tiny crying infant in his arms as he was bundled up into a soft blanket. 

Drae exhaled slowly as he held his son for the first time. The tiny being thrashed and cried for a moment before he slowly settled down in his arms. The half-elf was almost afraid that just by holding the tiny baby he might break him. He held Rohan to his his chest and cradled the infant before he walked over and sat down with Rohan upon the bed beside Angela, and showed her their sun. For the briefest moment, the baby opened his eyes and looked at his parents, and Drae could see the central heterochromia that was prevalent in Angela's family line. 

"He's so tiny…" Drae breathed as he looked at their son's fingers. A wave of tears threatened to overtake Drae in that moment and he handed Rohan off to his mother and quickly wiped his eyes. "I can't believe it… I am a father…"