Joy  I think recent events in our Real Life DS circle prompted
this...many thanks to Shinz Wong, who fleshed out my initial sketch with
the wonderful Dumas reference. (This will serve as a warning--y'all will
be subjected to another Wong-Higgins collaboration before the month's
out...heheheheheh.) 
 *********************************************************** "Joy" It
would still be several hours until dawn, a dawn that has to battle its way
through the city's perpetually gray skies. He fingered the hard covered
book on the nightstand next to his bed and let a smile creep to his lips.
It was a contented, totally satisfied smile. The book was Alexander Dumas'
"Twenty Years After" which described the lives of the four musketeers two
decades after the events in "The Three Musketeers". He had read "The Three
Musketeers" when he was twelve and had ravenously sought out "Twenty Years
After" immediately after he wolfed down the last page of the first book.
He had been very disappointed by the second. 

 He didn't understand "Twenty Years After" at that age but now he did. It
dealt with men who had gone through more than half their lives, the
responsibilities they faced, the loves they have lost, and the future they
can expect. He never reread "Twenty Years After" but throughout his life
"The Three Musketeers" was a constant companion. As a youth, he had often
aspired to be a musketeer in the snowbound Northwest Territories. This was
the second time he was reading "Twenty Years After" and this time, he
understood it because he was at that exact point in his life too. And yet,
while the book was ultimately sad and an exhibit of the turmoil of human
emotions, he was at peace with himself and very happy with his life. He
possessed a profound happiness that overwhelmed the minor worries of daily
life. And she was one of the reasons for his inexplicable joy. 

 Benton Fraser propped his body up on one elbow to give himself a better
angle. Even asleep, her face always looked as though she were
concentrating on something fascinating. With difficulty, he resisted the
impulse to touch her, to twine her tumbled hair around his fingers, to lay
a curious hand over hers where it rested on her stomach. She needed her
rest, after all. Instead, he let his gaze drift. 

 She looked somehow smaller sleeping next to him. During the day, when she
was working, laughing, arguing with him, she was too capable, too full of
energy to seem...fragile. Now, in the quiet darkness, without her alert
eyes picking up on his facial expressions, he allowed himself to worry
just a little bit. So soon. Maybe they should have been more cautious,
thought a bit further ahead. 

 She would laugh at his concern for her, of course. And she was probably
right. 

 Besides, doubt and worry were feeble shadows next to overwhelming joy and
pride. He settled himself lightly back on the pillow beside her. He really
needed some sleep as well, if only his dancing thoughts would allow it.
They'd spent the early evening hours explaining the situation to the other
interested parties--or rather, the parties that should have been
interested. Party number One had merely gazed back with an air of
long-suffering amusement before turning his attention back to Party number
Two, who was wholly preoccupied with the wondrous toys of Wolf Whiskers
and Wolf Ears. 

 So they'd given up and saved their own celebrating for later, after the
indifferent ones were asleep. He'd meant to call Ray, but had lost track
of the time until it was far too late an hour. Tomorrow--no, later this
morning, he corrected--he could tell Ray in person. 

 She stirred almost before he heard the plaintive whimper from the next
room. They waited together, silent, listening for the verdict. When the
whimper became an irritated wail, she started to grope for her robe, but
he stopped her, settling his hand gently on her belly. Of course, nothing
yet...he hadn't really expected to feel anything yet...he smiled at his
own foolishness and dropped a kiss on his wife's lips as he sat up. 

 "I'll take care of him." 

He enjoyed the grateful, sleepy smile she gave him before she closed her
eyes again. She really did need her sleep...and besides, he mused as he
went to his son, perhaps the whole topic of brothers and sisters would be
more successfully broached one-on-one. Man to man. 

The End