Race for the Throne

First topic message reminder :

Jasmine laughs at Brandon. "Serena you have my permission to tease him when I get pregnant." She opens the door. "I suppose you guys are hungry. I just want Sakura."

"Baby snatcher!" Vincent crys out. "Brandon, better be careful you may never see your kids."

Serena goes to take a quick shower. She comes back after drying off and puts her nightgown on. She has her hands on her lower back and looks at Vincent. "I am so sore...do you think maybe you could massage my lower back a little?" She asked. She bit her lip. She hated having to ask him. She felt as if she was being such a burden.

Vincent has her sit on the bed. "Of course I can. Your back must be sore from sitting in the carriage." He begins to massage her back. He can feel the tight muscles. He works on them gently so he does not hurt her. "How does that feel, my love?"

Serena sits there and arches her back slightly as Vincent hits a sore spot. She winces as he gently works the muscles out. She sighs as he works and looks at the mirror. She can see Vincent working on her back. "That feels better, but it is sore. Maybe now I can get some rest." She said looking at him. She turned and took his hand and put it on her stomach. "They are kicking pretty hard right now. I don't know why they choose to be so rough." She said gently chuckling.

Vincent rubs her stomach. "They are our rough and tumble boys. I think they just want to say hi to us." He kisses her stomach and is greeted by a body part to his mouth. "Not so hard little man. I think Reginald better be careful." Vincent winks at her. "Now lie down and I will sing them a lullaby to get them to sleep."

Serena lies on her side as Vincent rubs her stomach. "If you could get them to stop being so rough like this, that would be nice. It has been like this all day as if they were fighting." She said. She tries to get comfortable as best she can and blinks her eyes. She is so tired.

Vincent continues to sing and rub to sooth both momma and babies. He notices her eyes finally closing. He rubs a little longer before snuggling up to her. "I love you my princess."

Serena’s eyes begin to close as Vincent sings to her and the babies. She is so tired and soon sleep over comes her tired body.

~~

Brandon collapses beside of Jasmine as he pants. “You are amazing.” He said as he kissed her. He sees that she is crying and wipes her tears away. “Why the tears baby?” He asked. “I am now able to love you with nothing holding back that love. I am so happy and proud to be your husband.” He said.

Jasmine nods. "For the first time, we are able to express our love and not be afraid." She laughs. "We better get cleaned up. We both have paint on ourselves. Unless you have a better idea."

Brandon yawns as he smiles. "How about we wait till morning to clean up? Tonight we can bask in the glory of our marriage and I can hold you in it." He said winking at her.

Jasmine smiles and snuggles on Brandon's chest. "That sounds good to me. Ww no more sneaking around or having to go back to another room. This is going to be great." She lies herr head on his chest. "Goodnight my angel."

"Goodnight my love." Brandon said as he pulled the blankets up around them. He wraps his arms around her and smiles as he watched Jasmine fall asleep. He too then falls asleep thanking the goddess for his blessings.

~~

Serena wakes up during the night, rather uncomfortable. She wiggles away from Vincent and paces the room for a while. She finally takes a seat on the chase and falls asleep.

Jasmine wakes up to the sunlight still in Brandon's arms. She looks down and sees the face print on his chest. She can only imagine how her face and hair looks. She slowly gets up and sneaks off to the bathroom to clean up.

~~~~~

Vincent is not surprised that Serena is not in bed with him. He sees her on the chaise and decides to let her sleep as long as possible. He gets himself ready and packs their bags. He leaves out an outfit and her toiletries. Then he goes over to the chaise and rubs her stomach.

Brandon wakes up hearing the shower running. He smiles as he sits up in bed. He looks down and sees the smudges all over his body. He puts his hand over his heart as he sees what used to be her initials. He then sees the book on the table. He opens it up and realizeed it was a sex book. His face reddens and he becomes more interested in it as he begins to flip through it.

~~

Serena opens up her eyes to Vincent rubbing her stomach. She sighs gently and then rubs her eyes. "Morning already?" She asked. She closes her eyes again. "Five more minutes please." She asked as she took a deep breath.

Once Jasmine is cleaned up she returns to the bedroom. There she sees Brandon with a book. "Good morning my Angel, the shower is open if you want to clean up. What are you reading?" She looks at the cover and blushes. "Would you believe me if I told you Mom got me...us that. Find anything you, uh like?"

~~~~~~~

"I let you sleep as long as I could, but if you don't want to take a shower, then you can have some more time." Vincent informs her. "You can sleep in the carriage as well."

“Your mom got us this book???” Brandon said looking up at Jasmine. He then laughed. “Why does that not surprise me.” He asked. He stands up and hands the book to Jasmine. “I did see a few things I liked and maybe somethings we can try, but right now I am a dirty boy that needs to be cleaned up.” He said. He leaned forward and kissed Jasmine’s forehead. He then goes to take a shower.

~~

Serena scrunches her nose. “I will sleep in the carriage then… I am just tired. It is hard to get comfortable on my side at night. It is so much easier to sleep sitting up.” Serena said. She opens her eyes and stands up. “I am going to shower and be ready in a moment.” She said.

She heads to take a shower and puts on the outfit that Vincent had left out for her. She walks out of the bathroom as the guards come to get their things. “Are we eating on the go or are we eating here?” She asked.

Jasmine shakes her head as Brandon leaves the room. She knows what is in the book and wonders which ones he is interested in. She takes off the blanket and sheets. She waits for Brandon to go down for breakfast.

~~~~~~~~

Vincent does not get a chance to answer as there is a knock on the door. He opens it and Reginald crawls in. "I think we have a runaway kid. Good morning Kalista."

"Good morning. I want him to get all the crawling he can now before we got into the carriage. Are you guys hungry or do you want to get some traveling in first? It is up to how you are feeling Serena."

Brandon takes a shower and relishes in the hot water. He takes a deep breath and finishes up. He gets out and dries off with a towel. He then wraps the towel around him and heads into the bedroom. “I figured you would be in the kitchen by now. Did you wait for me?” he asked as he walked over to get his clothes. He notices that the bed has been stripped down and smiles as he gets dressed in front of Jasmine.

~~

Serena was just finishing up her hair as Reginald crawled over to her. She picks him up and puts him on the chaise with her and smiles. “I am just tired after another hard night of little sleep. We can eat here and then get on the ball. I want to be able to go back to sleep and rest for as much of the trip as I can.” She said looking up at her mother.

"Well appears it is a good thing I waited. I got a show." Jasmine smiles at him. "I figured it would be better if they didn't know what we did last night." She waits until he is dressed before going downstairs . "So what plans do you have today? I would love to go on the horse ride."

~~~~~~~~

"Perfect, Reginald can crawl around a little longer and fall asleep in the carriage as well. How does it feel to have a sleep schedule like a baby?" Kalista goes over and rubs Serena's stomach. "I cannot believe I am a grandma, and in a few short months I will be one again."

Brandon walks with Jasmine down stairs and chuckled. “I’m certain it doesn’t matter what we did last night. They all know we made love last night together. That’s what you do on wedding nights, right?” he asked as he winked at her. He pulled her seat out for her after they walked into the kitchen.

Alana was putting out pancakes with fresh fruit toppings as they took their seats. “Good morning, I pray you are both well. I made a picnic lunch for you. I will have it finished after breakfast. I didn’t know what your plans today included.” She said.

“Perfect. Jasmine, how about a horseback ride and a picnic?” Brandon asked as he pushed her under. He took a seat across from her and smiled.

~~

“I wish they would come now.” Serena grumbled. “It feels horrible. I don’t know how I did it as a child and I don’t know how Reginald is doing it now.” She said. She puts Reginald back on the floor and he begins to crawl towards Vincent.

“Personally I miss sleeping like a real person.” Serena said as Iverson walked into the room.

“I had breakfast delivered up so that Reginald could play.” Iverson said. “That way he can sleep and Serena can get some rest. I could hear you pacing last night.” He said.

"That sounds perfect. I haven't been on a horse in almost a year." Jasmine sighs. "I cannot believe so much has happened in such a short period of time."

She takes a bite of her food. "Wow this is great Alana. Thank you so much."

~~~~~~

Vincent sits on the floor and Reginald crawls over to him. He crawls all over Vincent giggling as he does. "You are going to make a good father." Kalista smiles.

Vincent holds Reginald on his feet and his legs are like jelly. He bounces and falls on his butt.

There is a knock on the door. Kalista opens it. It is breakfast. She brings in the cart. "I hope you guys are hungry."

“You are more than welcome, Princess.” Alana said as she bowed. She cleans up the dishes that she dirtied and then dries her hands as the couple ate. “The basket you see here is for your picnic. I hope the two of you have a great time. I will be back to cook dinner and to finish cleaning.” She said as she then leaves the house.

Brandon finishes up his breakfast and looks at Jasmine. “She is a great cook, can we take her back to the castle?” he asked winking at Jasmine to let her know he was kidding. He reaches over and takes Jasmine’s hand. “So much has happened in such little time; however I am grateful that some of it happened. I never would have met you had I not been there to help you, and for that I am grateful that the goddess allowed me to be there at the right time and the right place.”

~~

Serena watches Vincent with a warm smile. He is so good with Reginald and she knows he will be just as good with their own children. She has her hands on her stomach when there is a knock on the door. Iverson hands her a plate and smiles. “I can see the happiness on your face, what are you thinking about?” He asked.

“What? Oh, I was just thinking what mom had said out loud. Vincent, you are so great with Reginald, I cannot wait to see you with our own children.” Serena said with a smile. She begins to eat from the plate. “This is good, but I already miss Nathaniel’s cooking.” She said.

Jasmine smiles at Brandon. "Like I said, you are my Angel." They finish breakfast and go outside to the stables. There are two beautiful horses there. "I don't know if I can put the saddle on the horse now, stupid arm." She grabs a brush and begins to brush one of the horses.

~~~~~~~~

Vincent flies Reginald to the table. "One can say that I had plenty of practice with my younger brothers. I know being a parent is different, but that doesn't mean I can't be a good big brother."

Vincent feeds Reginald a little of his applesauce which Reginald loves. They clean up after eating and go down to the carriage. Reginald goes to Kalista and falls asleep in her arms.

Brandon took the basket and they headed outside. He walks in and sets the basket down on the floor and walked over to Jasmine. “You don’t have to worry about saddling up, I can do that for you. That is what I am here for.” He said.

He kisses Jasmine on her forehead and hugged her. “Someday you will be able to do more, but you have to keep up with your physical therapy. I know you can do it.” He said. He then walks over and begins to saddle up the other horse. When he is finished he brings the saddle and cover over and begins to saddle the other horse. “Now, are you ready to go?”

~~

Serena had only eaten part of her breakfast. She heads downstairs and they load up in the carriage. She looks at Reginald and smiles at her mother. “I wish it was that easy to sleep. How did Aunt Madeline sleep when she got to this point?” She asked. She was holding Vincent’s hand and was leaning on his shoulder.

"She was taking cat naps consistently. You can ask Berenson." Kalista asks. "You are actually doing pretty well."

Vincent wraps his arm around her and places her head on the inside of his shoulder. "See, you should not feel bad for taking naps. You are growing not one but two babies in you. When we get home, I want you to take it easy."

~~~~~~~

Jasmine adjusts the tacks before getting on the horse. "I am ready whenever you are. I missed riding horse, but I understand why I couldn't Riding in the carriage was bad enough. So do you think we could camp out one night?"

Serena sighs. “That’s what I am afraid of. I want to feel useful.” She said. “Not just nap all the time.”

Iverson had been reading the paper and looked up over his reading glasses. “But you need to rest. Not resting could make things harder for your body and for the babies. They don’t need any added stress as well.” He explained.

~~

Brandon had fastened the basket to the horse. He gets up in the saddle and motions for his horse to go over to Jasmine’s. They then leave the barn and head out into the valley. “I don’t see why we can’t. It’s been far too long sense I have camped out. Which night would you like to camp out?”