Anything for Her - Complete

Chapter 4

"I'd like to change the way you do handover with the Guardians," Lissa said when they'd retired to their suite after dinner sometime in her twenty-second week. "It's too risky me being so close to the Guardians. One of them could see something. There's a school bus shelter near where we currently do handover. It's still inside the wards. How about the incoming team drops the feeder there at 5.30 am and then go on shift? We'll arrive at the shelter at 5.35 am, leave at 5.45 am, and the outgoing Guardians can collect the feeder on their way off shift at 5.50?"

"But then I'd never get to see the other Guardians, either," Rose argued, seeing no reason to change the current arrangement. "I'm their boss, Lissa – I need to see them sometimes."

"Not if I say you don't," Lissa said pointedly, her eyes narrowing, indicating she was going to insist.

"And how am I meant to justify this change?" Rose asked in exasperation.

"Tell them you're worried about our meetings being observed. Say someone at the house is asking questions."

It was as good an excuse as any, Rose supposed. But honestly – why change something that was working?

"Fine," she grumbled, whipping out her phone and ringing the leader of the Guardian team currently on shift, explaining the new protocol and the purported reasons behind it.

If Rose felt sorry for the feeder, sitting alone in the first light in a chilly bus shelter on the side of the road, she knew better than to mention it to her Majesty. As Lissa's stomach grew, so did her temper. It took nothing at all to send her into a melt-down of majestic proportions. Since Lissa could hardly exercise her frustrations on their generous hosts, more often than not Rose was on the receiving end of Lissa's sharp tongue and vitriol.

"That's better," Lissa smiled, a rosy tint in her skin after she'd fed from the hapless human. Rose carefully secured Lissa in the vehicle as she helped the dazed feeder over the uneven, snowy ground back to the bus shelter. Little more than four pieces of corrugated iron tacked to a wooden frame, the shelter offered precious little in the way of protection from the elements. The feeder sunk onto the timber bench to wait for the Guardians coming off shift to collect her, and Rose made a note to ask the team to pick up extra warm jackets, beanies, and gloves for each feeder. It was inhumane to leave them sitting out in the open in such weather – especially when they were weak from blood loss and too out of it on Moroi venom to notice if they were getting frostbitten.

Back in the car, Rose drove Lissa back to the lodge.

"I'm sorry I've been so grumpy," Lissa volunteered, sneaking a look at Rose. "I'm just so uncomfortable all the time. I honestly just want this whole thing over and done with," she groaned, gesturing toward her belly. "And I know it's going to get worse before it's over," she moaned.

"Maybe you should try and enjoy it?" Rose suggested. "I know it's not the way you'd hoped it would happen, but it is your first pregnancy. Surely that makes it at least a little special?"

"I guess," Lissa replied, her hand dropping to rest on top of her baby bump.

The weeks passed slowly, their occasional visits to the next town to see Dr. Kataria the only variation in their routine. Professor Blundell was thrilled with their progress on his research – indeed he was starting to hint that the project might conclude earlier than initially anticipated.

"We can't finish early," Lissa hissed to Rose one night in her thirtieth week. "I can't return to Court, but there are only two weeks of material left to work on. Three at most! Once that's done we'll have no reason to stay on. What am I going to do?!"