Status Updates From To Fight A Fate (Southern S...

How are you feeling?”
“Fat.  Useless.  Annoyed.”
“You add cranky, bitchy, petulant and sulky and we can re-invent the dwarves for the post-feminist age.”
“Not funny.”  Hadleigh threw a cheese doodle at Riya’s head.
“Oh, and I think you forgot humourless.”

No, she wasn’t dreaming, she was definitely pregnant.  The question remained though… how?  Or should that be, who? 
You’d think she’d recall an alien probing. No, she was ninety-eight percent certain aliens didn’t exist. Which only left one option open - magic.  And if that were the case, if magic could appear a baby… then magic was going to damn well disappear the thing. She was so not ready to be a single mother

"She was quite the mercurial cow back in the day. One moment love is kind, love is sunshine and baby bunnies. The next, love is sex, love is control, blind devotion. You and she would have gotten on extremely well, Fluffer Nutter."
"Excuse me?" Marcus wasn't taking umbrage at the silly nickname, he was used to those. But telling him he and a Goddess with a split personality would have been BFFs was a step too far.

The Stalker backed up a little and Riya had no choice but to follow suit. "Stay where you are, or the bitch gets hurt."
"Hey." Riya protested. "I've been pretty darn helpful, all things considered, and you're calling me names? You totally have issues…besides being a skeevy, back stabbing asshole, that is." She hissed in pain as the whip cord line around her neck tightened ever so briefly.

"You know how annoying that is, don't you? Finishing each other's sentences."
They flashed her dimpled grins. "We know." Sing-songed in unison.
"Cut that shit out. Go. Mix. Mingle."
Riya smiled. The three tall gorgeous Warriors were attracting a lot of interest from the female contingent at the party. She was surprised it wasn't cooler up here, considering all the fluttering eyelash action going on around them.

Fuck. He settled for patting her on the head. Pat. Pat. And he should say something. "There." Pat. "There." Pat.
Riya walked into Marcus's office expecting to find him hard at work, instead she was witness to one of the most awkward physical encounters between a man and a woman, ever. Marcus awkwardly patting Melinda Forrest's head like an unhappy puppy. And Belinda, leaning damsel in distress like against Marcus.

"And you had to go in there naked?" Riya had to know
"Yes, it was the only way to get close enough. I lost the toss that day."
"But you did meet that really nice park ranger." Flynn reminded.
"Yeah. I had to convince her I was a harmless naturalist."
"You're lucky she didn't throw your ass in jail." Mused Nate.
"You mean my sunburnt ass? Nah, I took her to dinner and she brought a bottle of aloe vera, we had fun."

The Demon roared again. Marcus straightened the best he could. He'd run out of time.
"Hey. Why don't you pick on someone your own temperature?" Riya winced. Okay, she could use a little work on her trash talk. She was out of practise.
"Riya! No."
Riya moved out of the shadows. Stepping between Marcus and the Demon. "You had your chance, Charming. You're forgetting I have eleven brothers. I know how to play rough."

"My comms are dead. And last I saw my team, they were one floor below us. Any thoughts on how we get out of here?"
Riya held up the sheet of paper. "How do you feel about playing detective?"
Marcus issued a sigh between clenched teeth. "Do I have a choice?"
"That's the spirit, Charming. Always looking at the glass like it's half filled with poison."
Marcus couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, so what do we do first?"

Really, the only question was, how did one go about seducing one's own husband? She was lousy at girlie stuff.
Hadleigh couldn't simper to save her life. And her attempts at flirtation were beyond atrocious and bordering on being against the terms of the Geneva convention when it came to applications of torture.
Her come hither smile was known to make lesser men turn pale and run away at depressingly fast speeds.

Riya made one last little snip and stepped back to survey her work. She was good. And damn, if possible, Charming looked even hotter. He was totally rocking the sleek short executive look she'd given him. There was no barrier now to hide those stunning dark ocean blue eyes. Or detract from that strong jaw or those sensual lips. Crap, she should have left well enough alone.

Marcus's attention was on matching the door numbers to the address he had in his hand. And…he was here… Here? Seriously? He'd find the dreaded monster slayer in this overpriced, snooty boutique? He'd say Hadleigh was playing a joke on him but she'd lost her sense of humour about the same time her belly button had popped out.

There wasn't even a general guideline as to how long this pregnancy was expected to last, and it was beyond frustrating.
"Okay, Hadleigh, I'll just leave this snack out here for when you're ready." Vaughn's voice was low and reassuring. "There's fruit and a-"
"If you say a glass of milk I will come out there and…let's just say things will get messy and blood and milk will be spilt."
"No…no milk. The milk is gone."

"You're the big, tough, time-travel cop, can't you do something about it?"
"This is a first." Jules laughed, silvery blue eyes sparkling. "And to my knowledge they don't make handcuffs small enough to fit a foetus, or come with instructions on how I'd go about putting them on, even if they did."
Riya thumped her brother hard on the arm. "I hate you right now."
"Nah, you love me."