"I know. I got the same speech from Lady Meg that you did," he said glumly. "But it doesn't matter anymore. It all got fixed."

"It all got fixed, and I love you," Dierdre told him, snuggling closer. "There's no reason to be glum. I'm fine. Babies, remember?"

"Exactly." He extracted himself from her, touched her hair, fondly, and shook his head. "That's all that really matters."

"Are you leaving me for now?" Dierdre asked, rearranging her covers. "Mister-I-Spend-My-Daytimes-Awake?"

"Do you want me to stick my big filthy boots in your nice clean sheets?" he asked. "You snuggle back down, go back to sleep. I'll be there in a moment. You can drool on me to wake me up in time."

Dierdre sighed, and smiled resignedly at him, stretched her arms out and settled back down against the pillow. "Give me a kiss," she said. "And then sleep."