the_lioness | (no subject)

(no subject)

It's early yet when Adam and Alanna leave the bar behind and make their way through the palace, boots striking the cool marble with a sound that seems to hover in the air as they pass. They are both dressed casually, and Adam has a pack slung over one shoulder. He starts to turn for the council rooms out of habit, and Alanna shakes her head, steering him instead towards Jon's apartments.

After a quick whispered conversation with one of the guards, she knocks lightly.

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Adam turns and grins at her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Thayet had risen early that day, but Jon had been up late struggling with a land settlement between two nobles, so he is still tangled in the sheets when he hears the knock on the door.

He grunts at it, hoping they will go away. When there is a second knock, more insistant that the first, he groans and lifts his head slightly. "Whoisit," he slurs.

The noise is faint and not readily recognizable as words through the thick wood of the door, but Alanna stifles a laugh, very much aware that they just caught Jon abed. With a wink for Adam and a reassuring smile for the guard, she hands over her sword and pushes open the door, sprinting for the bedroom.

She stops just short of leaping on Jon, and instead sort of... sits on him.

It's all very irreverent.

"Lazy bones," she scolds. "Don't you have a country to run?"

The sitting, well.

gets a muchly raised eyebrow from Adam. (not sympathy for Jon, of course not.)

"Oof!" Sitting directly on his source of air is not good for the king. He is now, at least, awake.

"You know I could have you hanged for this," Jon growls at her. He would knock her off the bed, but even in his foggy brain he remembers that that may not be such a good idea. "Adam, a hand with your evil wife please?"

Wrinkling her nose, Alanna does nothing but shift to keep her balance.

"Evil? Perhaps you have me confused with someone else."

She grins at Adam and relents, turning to give Jon a full court bow once she's on her feet.

"Good morning, your Majesty. We are but humble servants in need of an audience.

"Do you need pants?"

Adam does his part by wrapping his arms around her waist.

So that she can't get free and attack Jon again, of course.

"We can leave the room for a moment, I'm sure."

He glares at both of them as he sits up. "I happen to be wearing pants, thank you." They are the ones from yesterday, he was too tired to take them off before crawling into bed.

He runs a hand through his hair, trying to keep it from sticking straight up, then giving it up for lost. He stands and gestures towards the front sitting room. "Go sit in there while I find a shirt."

"Yes, your Highness," Alanna says, trying and failing at meek. "Have you been training...?"

That hand at her back is suddenly a lot more insistent, and Alanna snickers, duly directed to the other room.

More insistant, tighter, whatever you'd have it. Adam's laughing, though, and whispers something in Alanna's ear as they swing the door shut behind them.

Jon grumbles as he finds a shirt on the floor and pulls it over his head as he pushes through to the sitting room. He walks over to the couch in front of the fire place and puts his hands on his hips, eyeballing them.

"Now, what exactly is so important that it required you to sit on me this early in the morning?"

Alanna is now practically sitting on Adam, looking quite pleased with herself, but she slowly stands and mimics Jon's posture.

Sweetly, "we thought you might miss us! You mean you didn't want a visit from your favorite Champion and subject? Goddess. I must have read the stars wrong."

Meanwhile, Adam's just doing his hardest not to look amused.

Or at least not to look too amused.

"She didn't even bring any frogs this time."

Jon doesn't say a word. He just crosses his arms and gives them a Look.

Alanna returns the Look.

They would be there all day if she wasn't so eager to impart their news.

"Perhaps you should sit down." She doesn't want him to hit his head when he falls, after all. "We went to see a healer in Adam's world."

Aww, but Adam was so looking forward to that part.

"A doctor, they're called."

Jon's Look turns into a look of concern. "Is everything alright? Why did you need to see someone else?" This not-quite-awake state is causing his imagination to go slightly more crazy than is good for him.

Smiling, Alanna shakes her head and pats his arm, noticing that he has not chosen to sit down. She surreptitiously kicks a cushion closer with her foot, just in case.

"Everything is fine," she assures him. "It's just... there are three."

Jon stares, not sure if he's heard her properly. "There's...what?"

"Three."

Adam beams.

"One, two, three," Alanna counts, looking at Jon as if he woke up a bit slow. "Triplets."

Jon just gapes for a moment. The thought she's too small to have three keeps tumbling through his head, before he looks at the two of them.

He stares at them, then a huge smile starts growing on his face. This quickly turns into laughter, such hard laughs he almost doubles over.

"I take it you're okay with that, then?"

Alanna thoughtfully whacks Jon on the back.

"It's not as if he can do anything about it if he's not," she points out. "Remember to breathe, my king."

The smile seems permanently affixed to her face.

Jon tries to get himself under control, then looks at the two of them and breaks out into laughter again.

After a few minutes, he manages to get himself mostly under control, a few laughs still hiccuping out now and then. He wipes his eyes.

"I have to say, I can't wait to see the two of you a couple of months after the birth. If you are still standing, that is."

"What, no offer to babysit?"

Alanna grabs the aforementioned cushion and throws it at Jon.

"Aye, just you wait. Besides, we can handle it. As I told George, it's not as if I didn't learn how to do without sleep when I was at page."

He grins at both of them. "I expect you to bring all three here to spend time with us, but I am not changing diapers!"

He looks at Alanna with a raised eyebrow. "I don't doubt that, Lioness, but I have a feeling this is going to be a completely different challenge than any we faced as pages."

"One would hope, anyway."

"I'd like to hear you say that with Thayet nearby," she tells him with a sly smile. "It will be, I'm sure. But I remain confident."

She has no choice at this point.

"We wanted to tell you together, hence the early morning visit."

He laughs at Adam. "Indeed. That was one worry we never had."

He gives Alanna a smile. "I have full confidence in the both of you. And I'm sorry Thayet wasn't here - she wanted to get in some early training with a new horse."

He gives them both another grin. "I am looking forward to see you attempting to get around in a few months. Perhaps we'll need to make you your own cart?"

"Any more jokes like that, and I will make you carry me."

Alanna makes a face and moves to pull several scrolls and rolled up maps from the pack. She has been busy.

Unbeknownst to her, however, a certain map she never intended him to see made its way into the pile before they left.

Smiling, she dumps them into his arms.

"Gary and I spent some time going over figures yesterday. You might find the results interesting. In the meantime, Adam and I are going for a ride before Moonlight can no longer stand my weight."

Jon makes a face as he leafs through the papers. "Thanks for your diligence, Lioness," he says drily.

He spots the map with strange markings on it and makes a note to see what that's all about, then looks back up at the two of them. "Enjoy yourselves, especially the fresh air for me. With this lot I won't be escaping my study for a week."

"We will," she tells him with a note of promise, hugging him swiftly while Adam says farewell. "I'll send a servant up with food for you, never fear. And perhaps when you have a spare evening, you and Thayet might consider escaping to the bar for a night."

Winking, she catches Adam's hand in hers, and they leave almost as noisily as they arrived.

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