Six months later, Brock was headed up to Orange County, New York. It was his problem this time, not the ladies', but maybe Lewis could help him. Because he was stuck and there were going to be problems if he fixed it in the city. It was a really pretty drive. Up closer to the mountains. A lot of woods.
It wasn't a long drive, it was within daily commute length for most of the city. But there was fresh air and Foster could probably easily see stars out here. He passed a lot of non-productive farms but that figured. A lot were probably here for generations. A lot of small towns that should be called quaint. And lots of trees.
The last time he'd driven through this many trees he'd been in Estonia to take down something huge going on. He found the house, which did look kind of like Aria's picture of it. She had done a good job on the color and the fact it had a front porch. He stopped and got out, looking at the woman reading on the porch. "Hey."
She smiled. "The security system you suggested I get said you were coming ten minutes ago." She looked at Aria, getting up to go help her. A quick boost and she was on the big cupped area near the bottom of the tree in the front yard.
"How do I get down?" Aria asked.
"Flip underneath like a sloth, let your feet go, then drop. It's only a little taller than you are, Aria," she said. She went back to walking over to Brock. Aria ran inside and came out with the stepstool, making Darcy roll her eyes. "What happened at SHIELD or Stark this time?" she asked quietly.
He cleared his throat. "The unaligned have become war bands almost."
"I can smell you're in rut," she agreed with a nod.
He nodded more quickly. "And if I did hit it with anyone they'd take offense. Someone would no matter who it was."
"I..." She looked at Aria then at him. "I can help but I'm not into going to dragon form for it, Brock," she said quietly.
"I get that some people prefer..."
She held up a hand. "I'm one person, not two forms. Maybe I'm more like twins in one body but anyone with me has to be able to handle *all* of me." She stared at him. "The woman is just as important as the dragon female."
"I get that," he agreed. "Please?"
"Yeah, I could use it too." She moved closer to kiss him, making Aria giggle. "When you're hungry, go remind your aunt to eat lunch." Aria giggled some more but she was happy in her tree. "All of us have climbed that tree for ages."
"It's good that it's lasted." She walked him back up to the porch. "The city's just become a mess of power struggle. Two of the older male dragons died in the last year and their people are fighting."
"I'm hoping they're keeping it between themselves?"
"Usually. Most of us suggested some sort of fight ring system to work it out." She smirked at that. "But if you step outside your group to fix things like ruts, they'll complain you're stealing or poaching from their dens."
"It figures. Many men are possessive." She looked at him. "Are the women and kids okay?"
"Yeah, they've been fine." He ran a hand over his hair. "I..." He kissed her.
She moaned and leaned into him. "I could use it too, Brock. Relax." She ran a hand over his arm. "Heats happen to all of us." He nodded, kissing her again. She led him inside, through the living room and up the hallway to her bedroom. It was a large master bedroom with an en suite bathroom. It had a lot of windows that looked out on the acres they had. She smiled at him staring out there. "We had almost a hundred acres originally but we've sold off here and there so we're down to twenty-five."
"It's pretty and quiet," he said, looking at her. She nodded. "Aren't you bored?"
"No more than I was with Jane. We're an hour away from a few places that have zoos and museums. Aria gets to climb and play and explore while Jane works in the garage. The other day she found a new nesting cave."
"Your family's?"
"No idea," she admitted with a grin. "Some of the past matriarch's may have used them that way. Could've been Native American. There's no drawings she found so we can't really date it. We did find a necklace but it was a pretty European design from the mid 1800's."
"That's interesting. There's historians."
"I can dig out the family records. I've been meaning to do that to see if I can find where Aunt Emmaline buried her jewelry box. She had some truly ugly enameled things that Aria might like because they're bright."
He snickered. "Kids grow into better taste." He kissed her. "Are you sure you can help? I might need you to go fully over," he said, staring at her.
"I'm in heat even with the suppressants. It's annoying me and I was about to text you to see if Eric the wrestler would come out here."
"He's in Mexico right now." He pulled her closer by the hand on her cheek, kissing her again. "I can handle this for us."
"Please do." He smirked and kissed her again, then pulled her shirt off her. He closed the curtains because he heard Aria dancing around near them. She didn't need to see this. He picked Darcy up and took her to the bed, putting her down to take her clothes off her. He stripped himself more slowly, showing off. Male dragons could be a bit vain about their bodies. She smiled, spreading her thighs for him to get a good view, making him lick his lips. He kissed her as he laid on top of her carefully, shifting to tease her until she was breathless. Then he could do what they both needed.
***
Aria danced into Jane's garage/lab. "Auntie Jane, Mommy told me to remind you to eat lunch when I got hungry."
"Your mom didn't feed you?"
"Mr. Brock showed up and he was all panty and happy to see Mom." Jane stared at her. She grinned. "He was happy to see Mom and they kissed."
"Oh, great. Sure, I can feed you lunch then come back to finish projecting my newest attempt." She took her upstairs to feed her lunch. It did mean that Jane remembered to eat today. Aria was almost as good as her mom at reminding her to eat and do normal people things. "What did you do today?"
"Mom taught me how to get up into the tree out front. I got a stepstool so she didn't have to keep helping until I'm big enough but it's nice. I can read there. Mom said all the cousins used to climb that one too."
"That's a great thing," Jane said with a grin. "Want to go for a walk after lunch?"
"Yes!" She squealed. "Is it warm enough to uncover the pool?"
"Not sure if your mom checked it yet or not. We'll have to check it when she comes out for dinner tonight."
Aria giggled. "If, Auntie Jane. She was all giggly."
"Oh, that sort of visit."
"Yup, he smelled like warm honey on toast."
"Ah." She nodded. "We can go for a walk to see if we can find anything else your mom has to note on the family records." Aria nodded, humming as she ate her sandwich. Jane smiled, eating her own. Afterwards Aria went to the bathroom and they went to wander in the woods together. Aria showed her the nest cave she had found recently. Jane took pictures and they went on again.
Jane found a moss covered lump and frowned, tipping her head. "What's that? Stay here, let me look in case it's dangerous." She went to look closer, finding a door. "Is that a bunker or a sweat lodge?" She scraped at some of the moss. "That's a metal door." She scraped some off the door and frowned. "Oh, fuck." She called Darcy. "It's us, I think we found a weapons bunker." She hung up.
Brock came out shirtless, making Aria's eyes go wide. He looked at himself and sighed. "It's fine, Aria. I ripped my shirt trying to put it on."
"Were you in the bathroom?" she asked.
He blushed. "Yup." Aria grinned at him. Darcy came out with a few things like a shovel and a book. She took coordinates from a program on her phone and wrote a description while Brock got the door free. He frowned at the writing in Russian. "That's weird."
"We might've taken the door," Darcy admitted. "Some of the Uncles were in the war and a few aunts as nurses."
"The door might be a replacement," he agreed. "It doesn't look like it's a tight fit." He checked it before opening the lock and taking the flashlight to check around it for wires. No wires so he carefully opened the squealing hinges. Aria put her hands over her ears. "Foster, take her back a few more feet please. If there's stuff in here it's probably old and unstable." Jane took her to look at that new cave again. Brock flashed the light in there and frowned. "That's not ammunition boxes."
Darcy squatted down to look and moaned. "Oh, that's Emmaline's stuff." She climbed in there and looked at the back. "Nope, a few older rifles and what looks like soaking wet grenades." He got her out of his way to go look, pushing things out. Darcy moved them out of the direct way. One box Brock wasn't going to touch and the box of soaking wet grenades he didn't want to move either. "What's up?" she asked when he motioned her closer. "What's that box?"
"It's listed as Matriarch records."
She moved it out of the cave area, looking inside it. "Oooh, former diaries." She put them aside. "Why are the grenades wet?"
"It's glycerine oil. There's a rubber sack inside the wooden case." He carefully moved them and Darcy went to check out the back corners of the cave with the flashlight. She made a moaning noise and he looked. "Something more bad?" She held up a necklace and he sighed. "Family?"
"Not that I've heard or seen around." She dug out the rest of that group of jewelry. The whole bottom level got scraped to see if they had something buried in there, and there was. That got put into Darcy's outer shirt when Jane came back. They could get that inside while Brock called someone about the antique weapons.
Brock nodded at the military officer who showed up. "This is a matriarch's family home," he noted as he walked over. "Her daughter was exploring and found a bunker with some stored stuff. Including some world war one or two weapons. A lot of old grenades in glycerine too."
The military person frowned. "Why would they do that?"
"Aunt Emmaline was a pacifist but she was in the Korean war as a nurse," Darcy said from the porch. "I tried to call but she's in the Bahamas."
"Are you the clan's matriarch?"
She nodded. "I took the vows not even four months ago. Aunt Emmaline's response was 'finally, I can retire to find cute beach guys'." Brock snickered. "There's some not real fond of me members of the family since I stopped some bullshit but oh well, they were in-laws anyway."
"That's fine, ma'am. Can we clean this up?"
"I have a four-year-old daughter. We wouldn't have called if we didn't want you to handle it." She smiled slightly.
"Agreed." He looked at the weapons. "Those're pretty."
"If you can sell them to a collector for me, that's great," Darcy quipped. "I'll take forty percent of the price."
The officer smiled. "I'll see if that's allowed, ma'am." He looked in the other box and groaned. "Those probably won't fire but that's probably also dangerous. Glycerine can light on fire." Brock nodded, helping him lift that case onto the SUV's back gate so they could drain the grenades off.
"Don't let it go near the tree," Darcy said. "There's been generations of us climbing that thing."
"We'll try," the officer agreed. He got a bucket for the glycerine oil, though a bit did get onto the grass and go down the driveway toward the road. Darcy went inside to answer the phone and came back out talking to someone. "Is that her?"
"Yeah. She said her grandmother put that in there after world war two, they stole the door from somewhere on the way home. She said that necklace I found was her mom's stuff that she decided to bury and I could let Aria have it if she wanted. And those could definitely be taken and disposed of properly. Or sold." She listened, smiling as she chatted with her aunt. She told her about the nesting cave Aria had found, frowning at what she heard.
"Really? That's weird. Okay, what do you want me to do?" She sat down, nodding. "Okay, I can ask that of them. Any other areas that we might find?" She stiffened. "This is where she hid that? No, mine's here in a closet now. I'm still pissed at my mother for sticking up for that evil shit." She listened. "Yeah, I can teach her how to do that. Not a problem, Aunt Emmaline."
She considered. "Are you sure? Some's probably antiques. Yeah, I can do that and let you see. We'll call in a few days. Thanks, Auntie." She took a picture of the military guy and Brock, sending them to her. "Dealing with the grenades." She hung up on her aunt's happy giggling. She walked over. "My aunt thinks you have a nice car. She said it's fine if we deal with those. She mentioned another cave around here somewhere that my Grandma Rosie used once to hide in."
"That's cool," Brock agreed. He looked at the military officer, who was staring at Darcy. "I'm SHIELD," he said quietly. "We pay attention to this."
"We heard," he admitted. "Ma'am, are you doing okay out here?"
"I played here for years when I was younger." She smiled. "It's just my turn to be the matriarch of the clan."
He nodded. "That can happen. Your aunt?"
"Emmaline's in St. Croix at the moment, flirting with her dive instructor."
"Emmaline was almost a legend around here."
Darcy grinned. "I know. She was to us too. She told my mother to blow it out her ass more than once. I'm definitely more like her than my own mother."
"I heard you mention Rosie?"
"My paternal grandmother. She did a lot of my raising too." She grinned. "She was most amused when I told my mother to suck my dick about a few things. Grandma tried to tell me I couldn't manifest one but I told her they made devices for that so my mother could still do that. They even made ones that fit dragon forms so she walked off giggling about that because I was about my daughter's age."
He just nodded. "That's a good thing sometimes." He finished draining the oil and they got the weapons packed so she could calm down. Emmaline had been said to be weird, Rosie had been said to be mean, and it was generally agreed that those two had been old dragon dames who had iron fists of beating young idiots. So this one being like them? They didn't want to mess with her. They might really regret it.
"Let me fill out a few forms so you can sign off on us taking them legally." He got them from the front and filled them out then let Darcy sign it. He got in and drove off, not wondering about why they were finding new nesting caves. If she was weird like Emmaline, she might need it. She did have a shirtless alpha dragon near her.
***
Brock stared at Darcy that night, after dinner and putting the kid down. Thankfully his rut had been slightly solved but he was getting needy again and Darcy was puttering in the kitchen with breakfast stuff. The casserole dish went into the fridge and she cleaned her hands before coming out and sliding into his lap. He grinned at her knowing what he needed. He sniffed her throat and moaned. "Oh, you're in heat."
"I told you that earlier."
"I was wondering how you had such good timing."
"I'm fantastic at it, Brock." She smirked at him as she leaned in to nip his throat. He shivered, his scales going back by force when they popped up. She grinned. "Nice." She kissed him again and let him manhandle her into a better position for him. They both paused when they heard a car, Darcy getting up to see who it was. "Hey, Elaine." She came out to hug her. The girl burst out crying. "Hey!" She cuddled her. "What's going on?"
"My mother's a cunt," she sobbed. "She yelled at me about getting molested and having to take care of things and she said I had to leave everything there."
"Um, no, and I'll send Annabeth to get your things." She cuddled her until she calmed down. "Even if you didn't need the protection I would've kept you in the clan, Elaine. Your mom and dad are fucking morons." She smoothed her hair down. "C'mon, there's the barn apartments and you're more than welcome to use one. Though you may get woken up by a four-year-old little dragon."
"Aria's cute, Darcy." She wiped off her face. "Sorry," she told Brock when she noticed him. "I needed sanctuary."
"Her mother's a bitch of the highest order who wanted her daughter to suffer. We're going to the barn apartment and I'll be right back."
"That's fine. That's what matriarchs do, Darcy." She nodded, letting Elaine get her bag and go out there. Darcy got her settled in and went to send a nasty email, and one to Annabeth. Who sent back that she had already packed everything but two pieces of Elaine's hoard that she couldn't get. Darcy ordered her mother to send them to Elaine or else she'd take her out of the family and take back all the family's hoard items that she had claimed.
Which would devastate their family's finances as they sold a few things recently that she wasn't allowed to. She sent out a family wide FYI about not supporting torturing victims and if they kept it up, she'd end the clan itself and keep all the family shit for herself and her daughter. At least Aria was a proper, good dragon youngling who didn't expect or want their children to suffer.
Brock came over to hug her from behind. "She got attacked too?"
"High school dance and her mother demanded she keep it," she said quietly. "I told Elaine to do what she felt she had to do. That it was her body, her choice, and if that's what she wanted, then it was up to her. They were going to force her to marry the asshole. Who is in jail for good."
"For good?" he asked quietly.
"Yup." She turned to look at him. "He was into them being under fifteen. He thought Elaine was and he was in his forties." He winced. "So he's in jail for good. And his wife beside him."
"Oooh, that would've been messy."
"Yup." She nodded. "Be damned if they're going to hurt her for daring to go to something that hundreds of other kids were at."
"No, it's not her fault and I agree, her parents need a tail upside the head."
"Don't tempt me." She smirked. "I kicked them out of the clan and kept Elaine."
"That's good! A good matriarch handles her family in the way they need. Including getting rid of the bad wood." He cuddled her, letting he calm back down. She was still having a heat reaction, he could smell it. He was still about to pounce. She bit him hard on the chest, making him yelp. "Hey!"
She grinned, strolling off. "Aria has a white noise generator and she's upstairs and over the kitchen. She liked the view of the pool and garden area."
"That's good to know." He picked her up to carry her back to the bedroom to handle their needs. He stripped off his pants again, staring at her. "I'm about to scale up."
"Then I'd suggest you make sure I need to get that hard too." She smirked, taking off her shirt. "Can you do that?"
"Yeah, baby, I can do that." He pushed off her pants and lifted her up to push her against the wall, leaning down to lick and nibble all over her breasts. He could smell her getting warmer and lifted her higher so he could taste that too, making her squeal in pleasure. "That's what we need." He kept going until she got off and began to moan about being too much.
He put her on the bed, moving closer to mount her, making her yelp in pleasure. "That's a good start." He made sure she got happy, her being happy would encourage her heat to make her shift, and he could need that right now. He was fighting his own scales coming out when she finally flipped onto her stomach and changed to her smaller form. He growled, changing to his to take her again, pulling her closer by her shoulders.
Her tail moved nicely out of the way for him and he was in full rut. He lost control of everything but his need, growling and hissing at her wiggling. He finally roared as he came and moaned against her throat. She wiggled and he made sure she came one last time before changing back. She'd be stuck until she did. She went limp and changed back underneath him, letting him feel better as he shifted. "Oh, gods." She smiled, moving some sweaty hair.
"Well, yes, I could be one I guess." He cuddled her back against his chest, just breathing her scent for now. She wiggled, moving his arm to a better place. "Thanks, needed to breathe."
"Not a problem. Thank you." He kissed the back of her neck, making her sigh in pleasure. He fell asleep against her back, letting her drift off while listening to the grounds. Of course, that lasted about two hours before he woke up thanks to a heavier engine sound. He got up, leaving her there, sneaking over to put on clothes then heading out to figure out who it was this time. He stopped the looters and tied them up, then looked at Darcy since she was coming out with a shotgun. "Family or otherwise?"
She came over to look at what they had dug up. "That wasn't in that shelter area. That wasn't ours as far as I know." She stared at them. "So who the fuck are you?"
"This is our land!" one of them complained.
"Shut up. We've held this land since the late seventeen hundreds." She stared. "Sorry but Aunt Emmaline is not going to be a happy camper if I have to have her identify your remains." One tried to get free by changing to a wolf and Darcy went to her dragon form, staring at him. He shrank back, going back to human.
She stared at the lone female, who was sobbing. "I have no idea who the fuck you think you are, but this is a matriarch's house. It has been since the late seventeen hundreds. And you're trespassing on family lands." She heard a footstep. "Hey, Jane. Check on Elaine in the barn please?" She went to do that, coming back with her. "Elaine, do you recognize these people?"
"One's the wife of the asshole who assaulted me." She pointed at the woman. "The other two aren't. No idea who they are."
"Oh, great." She let Brock call in to get someone to come get them and arrest them. Darcy settled in on her haunches, staring at them. He came back to wait with them. Jane went back to her garage and apartment above it to make sure no one touched her things.
A state officer showed up. He got out and stared at them. "You don't look like Emmaline," he said in greeting.
"She's in St. Croix hitting on her diving instructor." Darcy grinned. "I'm Darcy Lewis, the new family matriarch. I'd shake but that one tried to change to rush us so they could try to loot the lands and hurt Elaine again."
"Okay, that figures about Emmaline. She's been talking about moving to the islands forever now." He stared at her. "Can you change back?" She did and stared at him. "I knew that name and I was right."
She shrugged. "It's why I finally took over my duties as the family matriarch."
"Good. Some families need a few new holes chewed." He looked at the tied up ones. "So, who're they?"
"She's the wife of the asshole who assaulted me at a school event," Elaine said with a point. "And why my parents got kicked out of the family."
The officer stared at her. "You okay?"
"Now," she snorted.
"I told her to make her own choices and I'd support whatever," Darcy said. "Her mother wanted her to marry the asshole apparently." The woman snickered. Darcy kicked her in the face. "Don't fuck with my family, lady. I'm a matriarch from the *original* meaning." The woman shrank away from her, crying.
Elaine got something on her phone to let the officer see it. "Her husband's in jail permanently."
He looked it up and nodded slowly as he read. "That looks reasonable to me. And that you claimed their hoards." He looked up. "Is that what they tried to steal back?"
"No, they were going after something we found buried earlier," Darcy said with a nod at that pile. "I didn't know we had that. Somehow they did and they tried to claim this was their land."
The officer looked at them. "Lady, I remember the two days that Emmaline didn't have control of the land in the last seventy years she was here. The judge who tried that ended up killing himself when it drove her a tiny bit nuts."
"Losing an important family heirloom can," Brock agreed. "This is a family line home so it would snap them that way."
Darcy nodded. "Aunt Emmaline nearly lost it in a divorce but the judge realized he had made a major mistake on behalf of his golfing buddy," she explained. "Pity about the bigoted ass since he hated on her for the family's lineage." She looked at the officer. "I'm more like Rosie. She helped raise me for my first few years." She grinned.
The officer took a step back but nodded with a smile. "I had her hit me more than once."
"I don't usually hit. I taze." She grinned. "So much easier on my hands." Brock snickered but nodded. "So can you have them and drop them in a river or something?"
"Yeah, I can definitely do that, ma'am."
"Darcy's fine. Myself and my daughter are both here probably for good."
"Excellent. The area needs a few new firm matriarchs. Emmaline kept letting some mothers be idiots with their kids."
"I don't usually mess in other families but if they're rude around my daughter they're going to hear about it."
"Even better." He grinned and got Brock's help to drag them off. Anything on them that wasn't marked as theirs got left for the young woman to handle. Brock did hand over a pistol but that was nice of the young alpha. "Hers?" he asked.
"Heat partner. I'm in the city."
"Oh, that's a mess. Don't blame you at all. She seems sweet."
"She can be." He grinned at Darcy then at him. "Her daughter's a cute kid too."
"Even better. All kids should be." He got the last one buckled in and looked at Darcy, filling out the forms he'd need and letting her sign them. "We heard a military guy came out earlier. Was it a threat?"
"We found world war two weapons," Darcy quipped. "Including some very old grenades in glycerine oil. My daughter didn't need to see them going off."
"Nope. Makes sense to me." He took the forms back. "You guys have a better night. If we hear problems coming, we'll call." Darcy wrote her email address and phone number on the form for him. "Thanks, Miss Lewis. Have a better night." He got in to drive them back to the county jail.
Brock looked at Elaine. "You okay, kid?"
"I'm okay. I don't want to get violent." She sighed, looking at Darcy, who hugged her. "Thanks. Did you call my mother?"
"Chewed her a new one by email for being an idiot and an asshole." She grinned. "What I needed to do. Before there's a third of us." Elaine nodded, looking down. Darcy tipped her face up. "Your mother needs her ass handed to her. The same way my mother needed her ass handed to her, and got it from Aunt Emmaline. She and Russie were the only ones who stood up for me and I'll be damned if I'm not going to be a matriarch like mine and Grandma Rosie. Even if you are from the other side of the family. You're mine now." She smirked. "We're the best of the bloodline and all I expect is for you to live up to that. And not taking up the damsel ideology. I'd hate to have to cut your hair on you."
Elaine burst out giggling and hugged her. "Thanks, Cousin Darcy. It means a lot to me." She smiled at Brock. "You're a lucky guy to spend time with her." She went back to her apartment feeling better. The things that got left were brought out to her to deal with in the morning.
Brock followed Darcy back into the house, letting her run up to check on Aria then come back down. He was feeling very settled, so his rut was done with. "Need to worry about her parents showing up?" he asked quietly.
"This isn't their natal family home. Elaine's from my mother's second marriage. The in-laws are notoriously assholes."
"I remember a few from when you were in the cave." He moved closer, letting her kiss him. He smirked at her. "I can help you up the security. If only so no one breaks in on Foster."
"The security system is pretty okay, Brock. You don't have to worry. And I'm sorry New York's council imploding did that the local changers."
"It was always like that, Darcy." She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, it was already like that. They just brought it out more into public. Most of us told the ones being assholes to stop it before we took them out too." He pulled her back to cuddle him, making her relax. He sniffed and she was still in heat. "We'll fix that tomorrow." She looked up at him. "I've got all weekend." He smirked. "Ruts never end that fast so you're magical." He took a kiss. "Check the system to make sure there's no one else then we'll go rest?"
"I can do that." She went to a computer in the corner to look things over, zapping one guy in the woods. He shrieked loud enough to wake Jane, who went to beat him to death with her baseball bat. "Looks like you brought an agent."
He looked over her shoulder. "I know him, he's an idiot." He did a video capture and sent it to that guy's senior agent, who apparently saw it and called his agent to swear at him and tell him to let her beat him to death. Jane wasn't going to be that merciful so the guy got locked in a closet in the garage and the other one on the lands was a hunter so Jane swore at him too, making him flee for his life for being on their land. She yelled after him that any deers here would be taken down by the changers who lived here, they didn't need the help. He ran faster. So that was helpful. Darcy looked up at him. Brock grinned back. "I'll drag him when I go."
"Thanks. I'm wondering if my aunt had this problem or not."
"Probably not." He walked her back to bed after checking to make sure the door was locked. Darcy was more than happy to cuddle tonight. In the morning he'd fix her heat and it'd be good. Of course, his SUV was disabled by the idiots the night before. He went to check on the agent. "Did you destroy SHIELD property?" he demanded. The guy shook his head. "Go fix the SUV so I can bring you back with me."
The guy ran to do that and Jane came out to handcuff him to the car. Brock grinned at that, going to help Darcy with the stuff she needed around the house. Darcy decided they needed to dig up that stash and hide it in the house. The agent wasn't allowed to see, but he got to watch Aria run off to hunt for more interesting areas, and drag her aunt with her. Jane apparently found things easier than Darcy. She finished hauling up the things he dug up for her. Aria ran back to tell them they found another nesting burrow so they went to check that.
Brock sniffed as he got closer. "This is a den, not a nest, Aria. That dusty smell, that's from a wolf changer."
Darcy inhaled and nodded. "That smells like Aunt Emmaline's sister's quilt. So probably her husband." Brock looked at her. "Her third husband was a wolf changer. Her first one died from pneumonia, her second in Vietnam. He was a late life spouse that made sure she had fun. We appreciated him but I can't remember his name for the life of me."
"Your aunt was okay with that?"
"Aunt Emmaline? Yeah, she was 'whatever makes you happy' about spouses. The same as I am. Their other sister? Stupidly, rabidly, bigoted." She shrugged. "Every family has at least one. My mother's borderline that way sometimes. I blame her second husband for ruining my mother and if I had a way I'd make them divorce."
"As the matriarch...." he started then grinned.
"Yeah but her Council would be behind her. It'd be a battle and I'm not up for that. I'll just keep her harm down." She grinned. "She didn't realize I joined both families by taking both sets of vows."
"Was Emmaline your mom's family?"
"Yeah. But she and Grandma Rosie were trouble buddies. They used to go drinking at college bars in the eighties."
He grinned. "College grannies?" She nodded with a grin. "That's sweet. Let's go see if we can find any more, Aria." She nodded, bounding off with him. He paused Darcy. "That little nameplate, I'm pretty sure it's a memorial."
"According to family legends he is buried somewhere around here. We supposedly have a cemetery somewhere around here." They followed the kid to look at the other nests. Elaine came out to join them, finding one that made her sigh in pleasure. Darcy looked at her. "If you need one, go for it."
"No. I don't yet. But maybe if I need one when I get pregnant for real."
Darcy patted her on the back. "It is family land and I adopted you into the clan, Elaine. My favorite one is still the Green one." Elaine looked at her oddly. "It is. It has pretty drawings, it has a good water source. I can hide there for weeks." She smirked. "There's none of the family near there. If I had been in a better state of mind I would've went there last time."
"I've only heard of that one." Darcy pulled out her phone to show her pictures. "Wow, that's a real living cave."
"Yeah." She nodded. "Which means the older kid has a bed area of her own. She hates it when I curl up in larger form around her."
"Yes I do. I'm not a treasure," Aria called.
"Well, kids are priceless," she shot back with a smirk. "I was showing Elaine about the green cave."
Aria waited on them to catch up to her so she could see. "Oooh, that's pretty. Can we visit there, Mom?"
"Maybe if I need a nesting cave. You'll have your own area too, so you can do homework." She ruffled her hair. "Show us the next one." She ran off again, making Brock smirk at the ladies before catching up to her. Darcy grinned at Elaine. "I don't regret my spawn," she said quietly. "Even if I was pressured not to handle it by his family. And my mother. I didn't talk to my mother for two years because of that. Grandma Russie yelled at her the day before she died about that shit."
"Grandma Russie was one iron lady." Darcy nodded. "You make a good heir for her, Darcy." They shared a smile. "My boyfriend is weird."
"Mine was about a month from doing a mating ritual and he left because he couldn't handle it. A lot of guys can't. If yours can't, then we'll help you until you can find a better one who's great to you." She stared at her. "Because I will flame an asshole boyfriend."
"I scared off one of those myself." They caught up with the kid at the new nesting burrow, letting Elaine go first. "Aww, this one has a nest. Um, we have some sort of animal."
Darcy looked and shrugged. "If we need it, we can figure that out. Maybe they're the type to coexist." Jane gave her an odd look. "Many will. They consider us bigger, protective animals. Though, raccoons can be a problem. They tend to get possessive and hateful."
"My grandmother said that her original home was invaded by squirrels and she has a theoretical hatred of them because they stole things," Brock said. Elaine giggled but they went back toward the house because Aria was looking tired and hungry.
"Mom, is the pool fixed?" Aria asked.
"Not yet. It needs a bit of patchwork and filled."
"Shoot."
"By next summer."
"Okay. I guess." They got back and found an officer waiting. "Hi, Officer," she said with a grin and a wave. "I'm Aria."
"Hi, Aria, I'm Captain Overton." He shook her hand and looked at Darcy. "Emmaline?"
"St. Croix. Flirting hard."
He sighed but nodded. "That figures. Are you her stand in?"
"No, I fully took the vows to be the matriarch of the family. On both sides." He shivered. "A lot of our family was warped by the bad influences my mother married into for her second marriage."
"Oh."
"I'm Darcy Lewis." She held out a hand with a smile. His eyes went wide. "Emmaline was my mother's aunt. Rosie was my paternal grandmother. They told people they met at my christening even though they met at a disco in the late seventies." He shook it with a nod. "This is Brock, he's just visiting. And my cousin Elaine, who I added into the family den when I kicked her parents out."
"Hi," Elaine said.
Jane smiled and waved. "I'm Dr. Jane Foster."
"I've heard about some of your work, Dr. Foster." He looked at Darcy. "The ones last night?"
Elaine pulled up her file to show him. "The female was his wife."
He read it and winced. He looked at her. "We're not all that uptight locally, Elaine. We're nosy but not uptight."
She grinned. "I'm going to start college next year, I'm hoping up here somewhere." She took her phone back.
"That's a great thing." He looked at Darcy. "They said something about a piece of the land was theirs due to a wolf changer leaving it to them."
"The only wolf changer in the family for the last eighty years was Aunt Emmaline's sister, Matty's, third husband. If I remember right, he was without a pack, he had outlasted most of them."
"I vaguely remember her."
"She died back in the early eighties. I only knew her by family stories by Aunt Emmaline. But this is the matriarch's family line home. Including a few nesting burrows."
"One did smell like a wolf changer but there was a memorial plaque," Brock said. "I know they weren't supposed to be here and I doubt the young woman needed to deal with that heaving bitch."
"No, I don't want to see that happen either. Do you have a family list of wills? I know some do."
"I have not gotten into them. Give me a minute to get them from the library." She jogged up to the house to grab those boxes to bring out. They got put on his hood since the ground was wet and they were in cardboard boxes. "Here we go. And Aunt Matty's, with her husbands, all three of them," she said, finding that file. She let the captain have it.
He looked it over, shaking his head. "Not listed that he left anyone anything. That he was without family except one son who was disgracing the family by being against his love life." He scratched his forehead. "Doesn't list any property they owned. Hers lists everything going to her husband, and if he's gone it went to Emmaline and Harriet?"
"Their missing sister, who was a bigoted ass about Aunt Matty's third husband," Darcy said. "She died in, I want to say, seventy-nine maybe? She was one of those uptight women by the family stories. The one I remember about her was she was against the ERA and helped work with the orange juice lady."
"That woman was disastrous for women's rights," the captain agreed, handing it back. "Emmaline's still alive. What does hers say?"
"It's matriarch's vow, not by inheritance. The land's put into the family trust, which lists the matriarch's name and the youngest kid in the den's name together. Right now, we have a six-month-old cousin named Devon who's on it and now mine. We just got the paperwork last month."
"That's reasonable, so it can't disappear." Darcy nodded, putting the file back and the lid on the box. "Do you have someone listed?" She pointed at Aria with a grin then at Jane. "She's her nanny?"
"My best friend and if I fall, Jane's to take custody." Jane nodded.
"That's reasonable I guess when you don't have family for that."
"Oh, I have family but I'm really not happy with them. When I took over I had to take nineteen people from the family's lists due to assholeness to me, my daughter, and a few others."
"I got kept," Elaine said with a shrug.
"Her and five other kids."
"That's a sensible thing. I heard about you and the New York council. We don't have one around here."
"I'm not against the confederation councils that are doing what they're supposed to be doing. They were meant to be our UN, our mediators, and to stop things like forced matings. Then they became the evil they were meant to end." She shrugged. "If the ones around here aren't like that I have no problem with that. If they are, I don't usually associate anymore so I don't get blamed for having to protect ourselves."
"That's reasonable. Do you have someone to follow you?"
"I'm still trying to decide on that. A few of the younger girls are strong enough to stand up to stupid things. I have time. They can't remove the vows and if they want away from the family that much they've been notified they can leave it." He winced. "I don't play with the stupid my family broke down into. They tried to harm my little girl and me. Fuck 'em."
"Good!" He smiled. "We like it when we have strong residents instead of wimpy girls."
"Oh, I'm not one of those."
"Around SHIELD, her name is usually the Tazer Queen," Brock quipped. "She tazed Thor once. And a number of agents over the last few years."
The officer chuckled but nodded. "Strong women become matriarchs. I know a few of the local changers have hidden in some of the caves," he said with a point.
"Our lands cover twenty-five acres but that edge, I think they end near the pond. As long as they're respectful I don't mind if they have to nest out there for a heat."
"I'll let them know. Thank you, Miss Lewis."
"Not a problem. I'm all about being helpful and decent as a being." She smiled. "Until someone makes me change."
"That's usually the best way to be. Treat 'em as they treat you." He shook their hands and drove back to town to tell the others.
Darcy took the boxes back inside. Aria followed to beg for mac'n cheese. Brock looked at Elaine and Jane, who both shrugged. "She's a strong matriarch," Jane said. "She's why Aria's mostly normal." She walked off. "Let me check my observatory download of data points."
Elaine looked confused so Brock nudged her. "She's trying to rebuild the Bifrost bridge. She's an astrophysicist."
"Wow."
"Yeah. We're kind of scared of what her brain will come up with some day." They went inside to help Darcy make lunch. Aria was dancing around happily since her mother had given in, as long as she ate some vegetables with it.
***
Brock walked into SHIELD's office, handing the waiting agent his minion. "He fixed the car someone tried to break and has spent the nights in a closet." He walked past them to file a report that Foster was safely in her own lab in the woods. Lewis was safely in the family house. Aria was just fine and learning a lot. It was a good thing. If someone tried her about the family home, Darcy would probably pull up something and sell a family heirloom to cover it up. Or fly in and stomp on someone in person then go back home.
The senior agent stared at his minion. "What was your plan?"
"You wanted me to get information on what Foster was doing. I was going to sneak in and video tape her work area."
His boss rolled his eyes. "I said to get a report." He walked him off to talk to him about his idea problems.
***
Darcy sighed as she started to feel that weird feeling. Again. It'd been six months and it was happening again. Her suppressant was clearly not enough anymore. She called her new personal physician about getting a stronger version. He hated that idea and suggested her body wanted a second child. She pointed out she was single, dildos couldn't knock her up, and she wasn't into a new kid right now. Her present one wasn't school aged yet.
He gave in at that reminder and sent her a better one. She drove in to hit the pharmacy and the grocery store then went back home to put on the new patch. She ignored any looks she got from the more native people. They were still getting used to her not being as mean as Aunt Emmaline.
She got back and found Brock waiting. He looked upset. "What happened?" she asked as she got out. "Let me put up groceries."
He came to come help her lift stuff into the house. "Have you seen the news today?"
"I got the morning update about that stupid bill. They'll have a war if he tries it."
"He signed it earlier."
"And the appeal was already done and Congress overturned it." She looked at him. "They pointed out most hoards aren't gold anymore and they didn't need to tax hoards because that would make us move everything out of the US. Two very loud, politically sound, very rich changers spearheaded that."
"Fury wanted to follow it."
"He can bite my shiny ass." She looked at him. "Did he send you?"
"No. Hill sent me to warn you."
"If Nick Fury tries to claim anything in my hoard all he's going to get is some art I found in college." She smirked. "Any family heirloom things he can't prove outside the one thing I sold. And if he wants half that money it went to maintenance of the roof."
He shivered at the evil look she had. "He'll harp on you being single."
"Which means I don't have any leverage that can be applied outside my daughter, and I'll send her to Asgard or something. Jane wants to go visit their observatories."
"She'd work and forget her."
"Possibly." She put up the frozen stuff. "So you're here to warn me?"
"I am." He stared at her. "Fury thinks that you're going to be influential."
"I put my weight behind certain things but I don't do it loudly." She looked at him, closing the freezer. "And I can't do that to Aria."
"You could find a mate for a while."
She shook her head. "I can't work that way, Brock."
"He thinks your family's got impressive heirlooms. And he's probably not far behind me."
She grinned. "Well, I did find Uncle Morty's paranoid arsenal. I mean, I can meet him with that since that law was overturned."
"The World Security Council oversees us, we're not fully bound by US laws, Lewis."
Darcy grinned, looking over his shoulder as a few SUV's and an officer showed up. "Go get Aria out of the tree?" He went to do that. She got something and went to the porch. "Morning, Officer Bart."
"Miss Lewis, these agents think that they can go with an overturned law."
"I heard that. Help someone guard my little girl please? I don't need a war with SHIELD. Even if they start it." Nick Fury got out smirking. "What do you think we own that'll help you, Fury?"
"I think you've got Foster here."
"And I think Jane's going to use the guns I found to shoot you." He scowled. She stared back. "She's told you repeatedly she won't work for SHIELD. Anything else you wanted? Or did you just show up to prove you're an ignorant, pushy bastard? Because you're trespassing."
"We have a warrant." He held it up.
"That law was overturned." The officer took the warrant to look at, shaking his head. "Legal?"
"Nope. Based on that overturned law." He looked at her. "And he wanted to claim your daughter."
Darcy smirked. "That would start a war." She looked at Fury, who stepped back. "I think we know how that'll go when I let Jane evacuate Aria." She shifted her stance then sighed. "You know what, let's end this now, Fury. I took the hint from Loki when he showed up that time. All changers do still have some magic.
"I learned how to do a few tiny things. And then I ran into an uncle's things." She pulled it out and blew up the SUV's. "Now you can walk the fuck home, asshole. You're trespassing without a legal warrant to search for things. And you have no right to claim my daughter."
"I can throw you in jail for that. We're a government agency."
"SHIELD is an international agency and you're still trespassing." She grinned. "And notice what did it." She put that on the ground. He stared then shuddered. "Yeah, Uncle Archie and Uncle Morty... I think you know them by another name though."
Brock stared at her. "Weren't they AIM?"
"Um, they founded AIM, then dropped it when they realized how stupid it was becoming. Grandma Russie kicked their asses at every single holiday event for decades about that. Hell, it came up at Uncle Morty's funeral." She looked at Fury. "Then again, that's not a good reason either. Aren't you glad I went poli-sci instead of chemistry?" She smirked.
"We can confiscate their things."
"This is the family home, not theirs. Uncle Morty's home was in Delaware and it got sold to a geek he liked before he died. I'm told the geek did find the hidden lab space and he's having fun working on his thesis there." She shrugged. "Uncle Archie's family home burned when his wife got mad he was cheating. Which is how he died actually. I only have the family archives and he left this little baby in a closet."
She smirked. "If I had known that before, I would've used it last time I went to war." She stared at Fury then looked at the agent coming closer. "Back the hell down." He ran back to the others. "I'm actually the only one keeping Brandy and Rebecca from following their dad's footsteps. So you might want to quit before I give them permission to do their own things. Uncle Archie would be *so* proud of his little girls." Fury shuddered. "So anything else this pretty fall day, Director Fury?"
"Get the kid," he ordered. And suddenly there was a very large red dragon in his way. And she was already smoking. "You wouldn't."
"I'm pretty sure I've proven I'll protect my little girl to the ends of others. Don't test me. I've had a whole lot of time to think up new ideas. Not much else to do out here but read." Her tail whapped one agent on the head, making him quit trying to get near the house. Jane came out with a shotgun and the agent ran to hide behind Fury.
"Foster, you don't like guns."
"Bullshit. I know how to hunt." She smiled. "Had to do it a few times in my life, Fury. And you forgot that Darcy adopted a puppy." The big wolf came out and sniffed at Darcy, who petted him. Then he sniffed at the agents. They all backed away slowly.
Brock looked over. "Is that a real wolf?"
"Yeah," Darcy said with a grin. "Asgardian wolf to guard my spawn." She petted him. "Go guard the baby, Fennel." He loped over to climb up to cuddle the baby, completely covering her. She complained about inhaling the fur but she was fully protected.
She grinned at Fury. "Plot denied, and thank you for coming today." He sneered. She stared back. "I mean, I can stomp you if you want. I'm in heat, I'm not against a bit of violence." The agents ran for the road. Nick Fury was still glaring. "What were you even hoping to do, Fury? I mean, Aria would destroy you."
"People want her back where she belongs."
"She is where she belongs. She's my daughter and she's with me. That's where she belongs. Her father and she call all the time and this isn't coming from him." She looked at him. "Brock, he's got something on his throat." He came over to look and got a knife out to remove it, even though Fury fought him to make him quit. Brock managed to trap him and use the knife to flip it off. Fury went into a seizure but calmed down after a minute. "Is that why he had the bad ideas?"
"Probably," he admitted, picking it up to look at. "That's clearly a control chip." He held it up. "Any of you have one?" he called. They checked each other, shaking their heads. "Great, so you were just following bad orders. Hike back to town before I call STRIKE." They ran. "The other way!" They ran that way instead. He looked at the officer, shrugging. "Sorry about them but they're the sort that don't question orders and are really horrible agents."
Darcy giggled as she changed back. "There's so few of those in SHIELD."
He sniffed her. "Why are you in heat?"
"They had me on low dose suppressants. I got higher dose ones earlier."
"Oh." He nodded. "They wanted you to have another kid?"
"Yes, but I pointed out I was single and a dildo couldn't do that job." She looked at Jane, who was rolling her eyes. "But anyway." She smiled at the officer, who was staring at her. "What? Matriarch's go to war over our kids." She looked at the groaning man. "So, who put the control chip on you?" Nick Fury glared at her. "I can burn you to death for that if you want. I mean, you did try to hurt my little girl."
Nick Fury sat up, rubbing his head. "I..." Brock held up the device. "Shit."
"Yup." He looked at Darcy. "Can I get you a guard or six?"
"If you want to hang around shirtless," she quipped with a grin. "Don't bring harmful people near my kid. You know she'll try to talk to them."
"Hey," Aria complained. "I like meeting people."
"Bodyguards can only talk to you off duty," Brock called. He looked at the wolf then at her. "That's an Asgardian wolf?"
"He's only eight months old." She grinned. "He's a very good boy." He hopped down and came over to get petted like any good puppy did.
"Yay, I can breathe more than fur. He needs brushed, Mom. You hid the brush from me."
"It's in the kitchen in the messy drawer." Aria hopped down and went to get it, coming back to brush her furry friend. He enjoyed that a lot, laying across her lap to let her do whatever she wanted. Darcy grinned at Brock. "It was a gift of respect from Lady Sif."
"He's clearly very protective of Aria." He looked at Nick Fury again. "He's probably got another year of growth left too."
"Probably," Darcy agreed, going to help her daughter. Jane was helping brush the wolf too. It had a bad habit of shedding when it came to visit her and wolf fur screwed up her machines.
Nick Fury stood up, staring at Rumlow. "They want that lineage to end."
"Yeah, denied," Brock said dryly. "Who wanted it to end?"
"AIM. They make those, Rumlow."
"I can talk to my uncle's former helper," Darcy quipped. "I'm sure he'll be amused."
"No evil thoughts or I have to take the kid and hide," Jane complained.
"Mom, no going evil. Evil people are mean and Moms shouldn't be mean."
"Fine." She looked at Brock. "Have fun with them since I'm told I'm not allowed? I've got to call the judge about the in-laws trying to sue me for things later anyway."
"We can stop them too," Brock offered with a smirk.
"It's a formality. They only married in and weren't part of the den originally. The fact that I kept a few of the kids included means that they can't really complain, especially about why they were so bitchy." She grinned. "But if you want to yell at them you can."
"You need real protection," Fury ordered. He quit staring at the wolf, looking at his senior dragon again. "You have my permission to bring your team up here to guard her until whatever AIM's got going on is stopped. I have no idea what they did." He rubbed his forehead. "And get that weapon from Lewis so we can use it on them."
Brock grinned. "I'll see if I can sweet talk her out of it."
"Nope. Family heirloom," she quipped. "Just keep me from using it on the idiot who tried to make that law."
Nick Fury winced. "Damn it."
"Got overturned by Congress," Jane called. "They reminded him they mostly weren't gold anymore and the ones who did have gold would move it out of the US immediately. The stock market lost three hundred points already over that."
Brock shook his head with a sigh. "We'll handle that. If she has to, she can take in a supposed mate for a bit." Darcy stared at him. "Just to protect you both?"
"Am I that bad at it?"
"No," he said. "But it gives you a lot of nightmares, Lewis." She rolled her eyes but he looked at Fury. "I can bring STRIKE alpha up here, sir."
"Do so. The idiots I brought?" He looked at the mess of former car.
"Town," Brock said with a smirk and a point.
The officer laughed, calling the office to tell them what had happened. "I can give you a lift back so they can pick you all up, Director Fury. Miss Lewis, it was noted you were wandering around while in heat."
"I was picking up a higher dose of suppressant. The new doctor had me on a low dose one and I went into heat again, twice in six months."
He grimaced. "That sucks."
"The higher one went on as soon as I got home. Sorry if I confused anyone with my scent."
"One young one thought you would be happy to meet him but his mother chewed on him. I'll let her know you were picking up new meds." He sent that in too. His boss would go talk to her to make sure the young one didn't try anything. He looked at Rumlow. "Are you staying for a bit? I know you were here for a heat before and I'm worried someone else will try the kid." He looked at the wolf. "I'd hate to clean up his mess."
"Yup. Apparently." He looked at Darcy, who shrugged. He looked at Fury, who huffed but nodded, heading for the police car. "Can I ask about your uncles who founded AIM with April Devine?"
"April was Uncle Morty's first wife. They were ex's." She went back to brushing.
"Why did they form AIM?" He came over to sit with them.
"They were tired of the idiots pushing things like wars for no reason. The uncles restarted it actually, someone had a similar idea earlier on. Uncle Archie lost his only son to Korea and hated that we got into wars to play out the cold war without nukes. So they started it to get all that stopped. Then April apparently decided she liked being evil. Her new husband overthrew them, she overthrew him, then the current admin there overthrew her and kept hold of it. I'm not even sure if they knew the uncles."
"Huh." He nodded, taking the brush from Aria since she was so limp wristed. "Can I brush you, Fennel?" The wolf barked so he brushed him to help. "You do shed a lot."
"He's getting a winter coat." Darcy grinned at him. "He's a great cuddle on the couch too. He sleeps with Aria, uses her as a pillow most nights."
"That's good because it's protective of her." He looked at Jane. "How is your science?"
"It's going well. I'm ready to present soon." She looked at Aria, who was curling up on her furry buddy. "You can nap inside." She nodded, wandering that way. Fennel got up to go with her. "She named him."
"I was teaching her about other veggies and she liked fried fennel fronds," Darcy explained with a grin.
"It's a very girlish name but it suits him." Brock stared at her. "That weapon?"
She looked at it then at him. She grinned. "They were tinkering at home." He nodded and sighed. "If you're bringing more guys up here, they need tents. If they're in the house, Aria will visit. I'll let them use a nesting burrow if they want." She pointed at the nearest one. "That's pretty spacious for a few people."
He went to look and took pictures then came back calling them. "Bring Alpha team up to Lewis' family home. Fury was under control, people wanted Aria Lewis, and we've probably got more coming. Bring a tablet too to look up someone and amend files. I found out who helped remake AIM way back when." He hung up and sat down again, looking at Darcy. "We'll make sure you're both all right."
"Thanks." She punched him on the arm. "Let me go start on lunch. Hungry, Jane?"
"Probably." She looked at Brock. "Hang out on the porch. The blue wicker couch thing is the most comfortable but the red chair is Darcy's." She followed Darcy inside.
Brock got up to check that couch, sitting on it with a nod. It was nicely padded. When the other team got there, they looked at the mess of former vehicle. "Lewis blew them up. The agents had to run back to town." He got handed the tablet with a smirk from Rollins. "Did you know about Morty and Archie refounding AIM?"
"Nope." Brock looked them up and fixed the files then handed the tablet back with a smirk. "Well, fuck."
"No swearing around the kid," Darcy called. "It's bad enough I do it. And watch out for Fennel. He's super protective."
"Fennel is an eight-month-old Asgardian wolf who was a sign of respect from Lady Sif to guard the kid."
Jack Rollins stared at him. "Okay," he said. Then he spotted the staring dog creature. "It's big."
"It is and sheds." He smirked. "Burrow's there," he said with a point. "I told Aria she can't talk to anyone who's on duty. Set up and we'll go talk to the ladies. Doctor Foster is in an old garage."
That got a nod and he went to set everyone up. Brock was having a bad day apparently. "Boys, set up. Lewis is letting us use a nest burrow. Don't mess it up." It got pointed at. They set up camping gear around and in it. They had a field generator to set up. Within twenty minutes they were set up and the agents were waiting on Brock to brief them about what was going on this time.
He came down to talk to them quietly, including warning about Aria being curious. A few of them had kids so they understood that. One of them flinched at the wolf coming out. Brock let the wolf come sniff everyone, and pee on one guy, then go back into the house. Brock shook his head with a sigh. Then he looked at the team again, going over what had happened and why.
They moved the remains of the cars down to the trash pick up area. Rollins called the local recycler to come get it for them. The kid ran out to climb up in the tree, letting them all grin at her. And the wolf that came out to hop up with her to nap on her. They could handle this for a few days.
Even if they could tell Lewis was in heat. They wouldn't talk about Rumlow maybe solving that for her.
***
Darcy came out to talk to the guy they had captured the next night, tipping his face up. "You'd think you would be nicer to the family of the ones who restarted AIM originally." The guy flinched, shaking his head. "Yeah, Uncle Archie and Morty restarted it before April took it from them." She grinned. "She was an ex-wife though so...."
She let his chin go. "I mean, if it wasn't for my uncles, you wouldn't have a job. And now you came to upset me and my little girl. Is that *really* what you wanted to do today?" He shook his head with a whine. She smiled. "Good. Then let's talk about what you wanted."
"We were going to take in your daughter so she was protected from the evil ones who wanted to end all original lines."
"They're going to be lucky if I don't have a son who makes more original lines," she said dryly. "I'm not against that." He moaned, staring at her. She grinned. "And if they come near my baby girl, I'm going to destroy what my uncles built. I'm not the damsel that a lot of dragons are." She smirked a tiny bit. "Can you pass that back and tell them to protect the other ones? I mean, I'm not against her being protected but you're not removing her from me or going near Jane."
He moaned, slumping. "I'll pass that back. Who are you?"
"Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster's assistant for years." She winked at him. He wet himself. "I'm not actually mean."
"No but you're scary!"
She patted him on the head. "Thank you! That's very sweet of you." She stepped back. "Do let them know that please?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Thanks!" She strolled off. "The kid's in bed. Don't wake her up. She'll ask questions all night." She went inside.
Rumlow looked at the AIM agent. "Yes, she's super scary. That's why we're protecting you from her." The guy nodded, looking down. "Call in to make sure they know that."
"I need my comm." He pointed. It was handed over and he did call that in. They set off his self destruct chip but that was blocked because that depended on cell signals and there were no towers nearby. The agents talked to him about AIM's current goings on and got him turned so he wanted to be SHIELD instead by the time the pick up team got there in the morning.
Natasha Romanoff got out of the SUV, staring at the waiting guys. "Did you have to make him messy, boys?"
"He got scared of Lewis," Rollins quipped with a grin and a wave. "He wants to change to SHIELD."
"They may enjoy that." She came over to get him into the back of the SUV then came back to get notes on his capture and reasons. She was not amused but that happened sometimes.
Darcy came out to the porch. "The diner in town won't be open yet, but the little bakery on the east edge of town, with the purple sign, is a *killer* bakery, Natasha." She grinned. "They make such good croissants. Stuffed ones too." She went back inside but Fennel came out to pee.
Natasha's hand went to her gun, staring at the creature peeing on the roses. "What is that?"
Brock looked then at her. "That's Fennel. Lady Sif gave it to Aria. He's eight-months-old." He grinned. "They cuddle."
"Awww," she said patiently but flatly. The wolf came over to sniff her so she let it sniff her free hand. It barked and ran back inside to bark at Darcy until she fed him. She blinked a few times. "Oh." She looked at the agents, who nodded they agreed. "It's a very nice companion animal for the child." She went to drive off, but did stop at that bakery. They were excellent stuffed croissants she could eat on the way back to the city.
Brock looked at the others. "Start morning shift." They did that and the ones on rest went to sleep in the burrow. It was nicely safe and warm in there. Very comforting for being a burrow. Brock went back to the porch to calm himself down. Darcy came out. "Why did you need science credits and take the internship if you like chemistry?"
"I got burned out on chem in high school. I didn't want to help the teacher make experimental things so I basically gave up for a bit." She shrugged. "Culver's chem teacher was an ethical nightmare who believed in human testing even if you had no idea what things did. So I needed science credits." She settled in. "You can go rest too."
He shook his head. "I'm good."
"You've been up since yesterday."
He nodded. "I'll rest tonight." She left it there, going to the garden area to check for anything ripe. She brought in a few zucchini. So that was probably dinner. He calmed down and watched things, falling asleep there. Fennel came out to nap on top of him when Aria came out to read on the porch. She was in easy reach and Brock was nicely stretched out. Aria grinned, getting her mother's phone to take a picture. Or six. Then she went back to her reading practice. The guys were doing weird things but she knew she shouldn't talk to them if they were doing SHIELD things. It was important like Aunt Jane doing science was.
***
Nick Fury showed back up a week later. "Peaceful intent," he called as he got out.
Aria looked over from her spot in the tree. "I doubt that," she called. "MOM!" Her mom, who had been flying around, landed with a ground shaking thump. Aria hopped down and ran for the safe room her mom had set up recently with the wolf puppy. She stopped to get some water and food for him then went to lock herself in there. Some people were mean and she didn't need to handle that.
Brock climbed out of the burrow, staring at him. Then at Darcy and her stunningly pale scales. "Still?" he demanded. She glared at him. He sighed but looked at Fury. "You needed some help, Director?"
"I noticed you got all set up," he said, looking at their camp then at Lewis. "Letting them use the bathrooms at least?"
"The barn has two spare apartments, they can use the one in there so they're not freaking my daughter out by being naked men in the house." She stared at him. "Problems, Fury?"
"Is Foster safe?"
"We hired her guards," one of the STRIKE guys called. "She's fine in Dallas at the conference."
"Good." He looked at Darcy. "There's a lot of worry that you're single and it's turning you evil."
"By who?" she demanded. She turned back with a few twitches of muscles, rubbing her shoulder. Brock stared at her. "I turn back easier when I can move. It stresses my shoulders and knees if I don't." She looked at Fury again. "By who?"
"Abelsome for one."
"Not like they can force me to mate."
"No," he agreed, staring at her. "But they can make it uncomfortable. You've become too loud according to some."
"I should see if I can call back either grandmother's ghost to talk to them," she quipped, making Fury step backwards. "I'll do that later since they'd probably nag me to take in the whole STRIKE team as a harem." She stared at him. "What's the crackhead plan this time?"
"They want to give you a few options of who to mate to so the family's more secure. They think your daughter will have too much of a duty some day to take your spot."
"It's not direct lineage, Fury. Even in your type of changer. The last matriarch of the family was my great-aunt on my mother's side."
Fury blinked a few times. "I thought it was always direct line for dragons."
"Depends on where your line started. Ours, it's not. It's the best suited and brought up to do it. I'm about to take in two young cousins to train with Aria so they can do it some day. Aria's really smart and I can see her doing the same things Jane does only in another field."
Fury stared at her. "I actually redid your background check." She shrugged. "You won two state high school chemistry awards."
"I was cheated out of the national comp once too. So? I got burnt out and went poli-sci to work with people who needed help."
He stared at her. "You could've done what Foster did yourself."
"I don't have the passion for science that way. I never really did. It's something I'm pretty good at but after a few hours I get totally bored with it and put it down."
"If someone like AIM got you now, they could use you to finish projects."
"And I'd use it on them." She shrugged but stared at him. "I'll talk to my former mentor later."
"He thinks you could be a unifier and maybe even solve some of the stress in New York that's going on."
"I'm not moving back. The matriarch has to stay in the house." She shifted her stance. "Otherwise, the last I heard the unattached ones wanted me to date Rumlow thanks to a seer." Brock nodded at that, crossing his arms over his chest. "Unless I take in all the top ones as my personal harem, that won't stop anything."
"He could fight for a top spot," Fury said, looking at him.
"Whole lot of work," he said dryly. "And that would be defeating the purpose of mating her with me since she's got to stay here to guard the family's nesting areas."
Fury grimaced. "We could set you up out here."
"There's literally nothing up here, Fury."
"It's an hour commute, Commander."
"And I have to be within twenty minutes for call in," he shot back. "Not that I don't think she's sexy but so far she's avoided doing anything like propositioning me." He looked at her again. "Though, with how pale you are...." She turned to glare at him. "Just sayin'," he defended. He backed up a step. Fury snorted in amusement. Brock looked at him. "My job and my mother would require me to be closer to the city. She can't leave without letting someone else take the vows. Two've tried I'm told."
"Three. Melissa tried again last night and I had to knock her out." She looked at Fury again. "Even if that plan went off, why would that stop the barely hidden fighting going on? That's been going on for decades, Fury."
"It's happening in other areas."
"Yeah, they probably need to clean up their own councils."
"I know nothing about any of that. My type of changer doesn't have that overseeing body."
"You do in most of the US and all of Europe but New York's and DC's are mostly do-it-by-pack ones," she corrected. Nick Fury glared at her. She stared back. "They do." She shrugged. "I was most amused at the one outside London who came in to party when I was at a club. They were really cute and polite and happy to dance with me without strings and without groping. Though I did take one home for a night."
Nick Fury sighed, staring at her. "A lot of other dragons hate that idea."
"I know. They're assholes and bigots. I'm not."
"Whatever. They wanted to let you talk to the various factions and maybe find a mate that way. Your former mentor is very concerned you're turning bitter."
"If I turn bitter and cold, that's their fault for making me. I may hate that I can defend us but I'll do it anyway and cry later."
"I think they want you to have a warrior to fix that."
"Yeah, one who'll want me to shut up," Darcy shot back. "There's probably a hope that it'll make me calm down and quit pointing out problems. There's also a push to get me to have a second kid, which is why they gave me fake suppressants this last time. I've already told my new doctor I knew that and I was going to kill him for it. He's sent me in a good prescription and Jane's picking them up for me on her way back since I'm too sour smelling to go into town myself."
Fury blinked at her. "They did what?"
"That explains a lot," Brock said, staring at her. She shrugged without looking. "One of you go pick up her prescription and make sure it's the real thing," he called. "And the kid's vitamins too." The team's medic went to do that for them. "Thank you."
"Thanks," Darcy called. "Get me my wallet from the living room and I'll give you my insurance and copay stuff." He went to grab those for her and she handed them over with a smile. "Thank you, Doug."
"Welcome, Darcy." He got into one of the team's SUV's to go handle that simple errand, and to get Rumlow more protein bars. He was nearly out and he'd get grumpy about that.
Darcy looked at Fury. "Anything else you wanted to propose about how to make me calm down?"
"They're apparently not ready to go back to the original ways," Fury said dryly.
"Yeah, that's why they started to steal maidens to impregnate. They wanted to be more like the Romans that were fawning over them. Thankfully there's still a few pure lines left."
"There are?" Fury and Rumlow demanded in unison. She nodded.
"Where?" Brock demanded.
She looked at him. "Like hell I'll tell anyone. They'd be hunted down by people like my mother and my former mentor." She looked at Nick Fury again. "They don't have that problem with women the way the weaker, younger ones did. Though a few have dabbled in maidens, always freely offered and given." She stared down Nick Fury, who was looking amused. "Won't work. Even if you had a telepath, Fury."
"Fine. We think it'd be a good idea if you did take in a warrior spouse. Even if they're not your consort or a mate, they could help you protect things."
"The idea that giving a woman a little dick makes her quiet down is really insulting." She shifted her stance. "You can tell them I said that and I'd still be louder than hell because I wouldn't have to worry about Aria being hurt." She smirked a tiny bit. "They'd probably hate that more."
"I would," Fury agreed. "You could take Rumlow. You're compatible."
"Not totally. We see our other forms in vastly different ways. We've talked a few times about that subject."
"He ended the heat after that battle."
"No he didn't."
"He..."
"Drove Jane down because letting her drive means watching a few accidents," Darcy interrupted. "No, I meditated that heat out. The same as I'm doing now. Mine'll be ended by tomorrow even without a new patch. Though he's good in bed, I need more than that in my life. I do have to think about what I do around my daughter."
"I'm not sure if I should be insulted or not," Brock quipped.
"Don't be. You're really pretty," Darcy said with a smirk for him. "But you barely put up with us." She looked at Fury again. "Also, I talked to that seer before we came up here. She gave me advice that said I'd have a few more kids. Including mystical poles." Fury slumped. "Me having a mate won't make that any less likely to happen and they would be trained to be like me, Fury. After all, their alternate caretaker if I'm incapacitated is Jane."
"She'd make the kid weird."
"All kids are weird. She'd make sure they got a real education and a real loving home. And probably make sure at least one went into science instead."
Fury coughed. "What about the Loki thing?"
"He suggested I learn magic. Real, old line magic. Which isn't really my thing. Whole lotta work for a little bit of power and some headaches. All changers have some magic." She smiled. "But thanks for wondering."
"Are you going to Asgard with Foster when she goes?"
"She'd only go to see the observatories, Fury. She and Thor broke up after we got back from hiding."
Fury slumped, staring at her. "He doesn't say that."
"And yet he hasn't even called in weeks. The last time he called it was to talk to the kid about her wolf."
"Oh." Fury huffed. "They'd still like you to be mated soon to calm you down."
"Yeah, that won't do anything but make me louder. You can tell them I said that." He groaned but got into the SUV to head off. She huffed. "The nerve of some people." She went to check her daughter. Brock stopped her. She blinked at him. "What?"
"You need to fix that heat," he said patiently. "You're too pale and your temper's high."
"I've been fixing it."
"You're still pale." She nodded, waving a hand around. "Fine. I think we should talk about a few definitions. I saw a book in the library that showed not all of us came from handed over maidens to get strong warriors."
"No. Some of them were taken because they wanted a mate. Why?"
"Also some of the early changers were taken back by full dragons."
"Yeah." She nodded. "That happens still." She grinned. "Why?"
"Unless I forgot basic math, a whole and a half make three-quarters."
"They do." She nodded. "And those ones can breed together to get a standard level of three-quarters mostly."
"Was your father one of those type?"
"No." She smiled.
"He was saying he was second generation dragon the other day when he was promoting his ideology."
"Yeah, I heard and sent him a note about how that wasn't true and why historically. And I sent it to the same people he was bragging to." She shrugged but walked off. "No, he wasn't a second gen."
"Was he a third generation?"
"Nope."
"How far down was he, Lewis?"
She grinned. "I'm not going to answer that. I'm not a bloodline bigot." She strolled into the house.
He sighed, looking at the others, who were shaking their heads. "Figure it out." Their tech person went to look that up to see if he could figure out what was going on. One seer being batty was one thing. Everyone wanting her to have more kids meant there was something bigger going on. Their tech person waved him over so he looked at the file. "Fuck!"
"Not in front of the kid," Darcy called.
He stomped in there. "You're a second generation," he said firmly.
"Met my grandfather once. He was not amused with my father and that's how he knew who I was. He asked what I wanted from the visit and I said I only wanted to meet him. To learn about the old ways. He's how I know what old line matriarchs are like." She winked. "Grandma there, who wasn't the Grandma he usually admits to, but she gave her son up to him. She only wanted the boons he could give her."
"What boons?"
"She asked for a few things. Including a few pretty things from the hoard to start her future family up right. Promised to bear him a proper heir." She went back to slicing bread. "She's been stricken from the family line but we knew that already."
"So Grandma Rosie slept with a real dragon?"
"They were consorts until they broke apart a few years before I was born. He didn't want to watch her age."
Brock slumped into a seat, staring at her. "So you can ultimately tell them all to shut up."
"You bet I can." She grinned. "Andrew's lines are a bit muddied but Aria's pretty strong. In the analogy you used earlier she's a bit more than half." She cut another slice and moved to make sandwiches. "Put the bread up for me please?" He did that. "Thanks."
"You could show up and note that lineage and shut a lot of problems up."
"Which would be using that for gain. Go ask Garrett. He's into that stuff." She glanced up. "Even if I was first gen they wouldn't listen to a woman. They're too ingrained against us being strong for that. Ask Garrett, he'll handle it most likely."
"Is he related to you?"
"Nope."
"But he's the same..." He waved a hand at her. She nodded, glancing up and going back to laying sandwich meat in neat folds. "Where is he?"
"Usually found on tv talking about history of changers with some supposedly fantastic things that are mostly cover for a few facts being shown and enforced."
"He's one of those wacky history idiots."
"Yup." She grinned. "He's got a point to do that though."
"I'll have someone talk to him. Would he admit that?"
"Probably. He has in a book."
He slumped but stared at her. "How many others are your level or first gen ones?"
"I don't do the census, Brock." She stared at him. "Why would it mater?"
"It could matter a lot to a lot of people."
"It would get us hunted, which is why we don't," she corrected. "Some of those warlord wannabes would definitely hunt them down to end the threat of stronger first gen ones. It'd get their power base taken."
He nodded. "Good point." He watched her make Aria's lunch. "Was Russeline like that?"
"Nope." She grinned. "She didn't take a mate after one got forced on her." She went back to making lunch. "Go let them out of the safe room?" He did that, muttering most of the way. "I made a ham and a turkey," she said, smiling at her daughter. "Which one do you want?"
"Bologna?" she asked, looking at the sandwiches. "That's thick bread, Mom."
"Thick bread only matters if you're feeding it to Fennel, which you know you shouldn't." She stared at her. "Turkey or ham? And no feeding it to the furry one!"
Aria pouted. "Did you already put stuffs on it?"
"No, I haven't put anything but meat and cheese on it. You're a picky kid and I know not to do that," she said patiently. Aria leaned up to look then at her. "Turkey or ham for lunch?"
"No mayonnaise?"
"We don't even have that in the house. How did you find out about that?"
"Cooking show I was watching last night." She ducked her head. "But it looked gross."
"It kinda is. That's why there's none in the house. Turkey or ham?"
"Turkey I guess."
"What stuff do you want on it?" Aria went to the fridge to stare at the shelf with salad dressings and sandwich things. She brought back the raspberry italian so Darcy let her taste that. She got the regular italian and brought it back. Darcy doctored her sandwich and handed it over with a smile. "Fennel, stay. She has to eat on her own, not feed it to you." The wolf whined and looked pitiful. "You're getting fed in a minute. You do not eat people food." She fixed her own sandwich and put everything back then got Fennel some of his fresh food from the fridge. The wolf dug in and munched happily while Darcy sat at the table with her little girl.
"Auntie Celeste said to ask you if I've ever seen a real dragon, one that doesn't change."
"You have, two of them, but she doesn't need to know anything about that. Why did she want to know?" She ate a bite of her sandwich.
"I had your phone and she asked."
"I told you to grab the spare phone to bring with you so I expected that and I'm glad you remembered." She smiled. "Aunt Celeste doesn't need to know anything about that topic. It's not her business and she's the sort that would put you in danger by telling others." She got the spare phone to text that 'aunt'. That got a sigh and a 'fine' from the in-law.
The phone got put back into the grabable spot Aria kept it so she could find it. "People don't need to know private details of your life," she said patiently. "Like the online stuff I complain about? A lot of that shouldn't be shared but people do and it puts them in danger of bad people showing up in their lives."
"I guess. When did I meet them?"
"You were a tiny little baby. That was before we went to live with Jane in New Mexico." She stared at her. "They were highly amused that you were sleeping through it."
"So I was a tiny baby?"
"Yup. Very tiny baby."
"Where?"
She stared at her. "No comment until you're old enough to make that trip on your own, and whoever asked you to ask that, tell them to bite you. They don't need to know because they'd be dangerous to them. People like that would hurt real, true dragons because that meant they weren't the special ones anymore."
"Oh." She nodded, pulling apart her sandwich to eat it, still hating the thicker bread. It wasn't refined bread, it was homemade bread. "Am I starting school next year?"
"You are starting school this fall, young lady." She grinned. "In a nice normal, average town school. There's a few other changers there, mostly a few wolf changers."
"Oh, okay." She went back to nibbling on her pieces of sandwich, then looked at her mother. "That means we have to shop?"
"Yup. Probably. And you have to wear shoes."
Aria grimaced. "That blows." She ate a bigger bite, looking at her wolf friend. He was napping in front of his bowl. "He might need to see someone."
Darcy turned to look at him, noticing her daughter stole her sandwich and replaced it with the bits and pieces. "I think he's just ate himself into a nap today." She looked at her plate then her daughter's. "That's why I asked, Aria." Aria pouted held up the sandwich. "No, you can eat that. Just eat it all." Aria nodded, tearing it apart to eat more of it. Her daughter was so weird sometimes. Fennel got up to go to the door and woofed at someone. Darcy looked. "Let him in, Fennel." The STRIKE team medic came in with the bag, handing Darcy the change with a smile. "Thank you, Doug."
"Welcome, Darcy. Aria, I'm free this afternoon if you wanted to talk to me." She beamed and nodded, eating two last bites before going out with him.
"Get an apple at least," Darcy called. Her daughter grabbed one to nibble on while she talked to her new friend. Darcy finished up both sandwiches with a sigh and cleaned up the lunch mess. Fennel had went with the kid. So she was alone in the house again. She pulled out her new patches and went to call her doctor's office to chew on him a bit. She held up the box when the nurse accepted the video call. "Not the right type since these are the low dose ones that kept me going back into heat."
"He said you didn't really need the higher dosage. You have a mate there now."
"Just because there's guys here to guard my daughter doesn't mean I'm boning them or want to bone them. Frankly, I don't go for that during heats." She stared at her. "And I'm on the higher dosage due to break through heats and the bone issues they cause. Do I need arthritis at thirty? They've already found it starting in one knee at twenty-five, that's why they put me on the higher dosage."
"The doctor thinks you may be ready for a second child."
"Which would cause a lot of problems for my arthritis. And no I'm not. I have no intention of having a second child, probably ever even if I do end up with a consort." The nurse slumped. "Please have him fix it to the right prescription, the one I was on when I showed up, so I don't have to come to him for painkillers." She stared at her. "I'm too young to have the bone density changes I have." The nurse sighed and made that note. "Thanks! I'll bring this back to the pharmacy tonight."
"We'll have your insurance cover it," she said, making that note as well. "I'll have him send it over tonight, Miss Lewis."
"Thank you." She smiled. "Have a good day, Nurse Bethany. I know it's a long week ahead." She hung up and groaned, rubbing her face.
"Arthritis from changing or from the heats leeching the calcium out?" Brock asked.
Darcy flinched and yelped, glaring at him. "Don't sneak up on me!"
"Sorry." He stared at her. "From the heats?" She nodded. "Don't they say to end them sooner in that case?"
"No, they say not to have them at all to stop that and to take some calcium supplements. Which I do. Until I got up here." She stood up. "Actually giving in to a heat would make it worse. The sexual output tends to leach out the calcium faster so I have to take extra those nights I have sex in any way." She shrugged. "Sucks but it happens."
"Would you eating a better diet help?"
"No. I take in at least double the required calcium most days. Plus my supplements. The doc up here doesn't have to deal with too many dragons and he's the sort that think all women want to be broodmares. Repeatedly. I'll head back to the doc in town in a few weeks to check the arthritis. I don't really like him that much, and he's kinda grumpy, but at least he's honest about not liking females being strong enough to be able to decide what they want for dinner."
He held up the mail, letting her take it. "Liker isn't that great of a being but he's a good doctor."
"I know. I've seen a lot of those." She smirked as she read something. "Good, they accepted the contract." He made an inquisitive noise. She looked up. "One of the family properties has the best of all the nesting caves on it and they sold it on purpose to upset me. I talked to the guy who bought it for hunting land and we agreed on use rights and we'd pay the land taxes, but if he ever wanted to sell it I'd get first pick and if he gave up with the county I'd take it back."
"That's not a bad plan."
"The family trust does that with all the family lands. Just Aunt Celeste being an idiot cunt." She put the papers aside after signing them.
"No notary?"
"No, this is the formal copy of it. The original was already filed. The judge just sent us a copy so I've signed it and dated it as a formality."
"That's good." She grinned and nodded. "The power bill too."
She looked and sighed. "Jane needs to quit using so much power." He looked and moaned. "Yeah, her machines do that." She put it aside. She'd pay it later. Somehow. After she talked to Jane. "Too bad solar panels won't work year long up here." She walked off scowling. "Anything good coming this way?"
"Not yet. Your other script?"
"I can go get it. These will bring me out enough that I'm not a danger to others."
He looked, leaning over to accept the call. "Darcy, it's some guy." She came back to sit down. He got out of the way. "Let me find Aria to check on her."
"Thanks, Commander." She looked at the video image, smiling some. "Yes, Dr. Marlay?"
"Arthritis isn't noted in your file, young lady."
"Then you didn't read it. It's been noted since I was twenty-five. It's in the one from New Mexico, the two visits in London, and the speciality visits in New York." He looked and huffed. "Yeah, that's arthritis in us. See, heats do to us what a six-month pregnancy does to human women.
"They realized pretty quickly that the changing sets off flare ups and heats weaken us to the point that we should've never had kids at all originally. So they made suppressants when chemistry got good enough to stop that. I'm still taking extra calcium on top of a calcium heavy diet, with a lot of natural vitamin D and magnesium. And I'm still getting worse. Each heat is detrimental to us. That's why we take the suppressants."
"I have no idea about any of that."
"I realize that. But I have to be on the higher dose or I get break through heats. That's why they put me on them in New Mexico. Aria was old enough to go off nursing and my body had already compensated for the pregnancy. Frankly, I spent two weeks after labor with a fractured hip just from the labor itself. They thought it was the pregnancy but looking at it afterward I had been low on bone density before it."
"They make IV treatments."
"I go in a few weeks to get one from a specialist. And I'm still doing a lot more calcium than suggested and it's still not helping a ton." He grimaced but nodded. "Which is why I'm on the super high dosage."
He looked at the file from New Mexico, grimacing. "You were hospitalized."
"For two days. I fractured my wrist by leaning on it. Dropped Aria onto a countertop a few inches below her. Had a total panic attack about it and they found out about my wrist in the ER when I had her checked over. I think they admitted me so I'd have time to rest and calm down but then they did the special x-rays." She smirked a tiny bit. "Uni of New Mexico was really good about figuring out what was going on. Some women get extreme PMS and some dragons get extreme heats."
He nodded. "All right. I'll put you back on those. The local pharmacy doesn't like them. They refused to fill them once."
"Then send them to a mail in pharmacy please. I don't want to have to air my personal business when I scream at the pharmacist this time."
"This time?"
"Yeah, she refused to give me my calcium ones so I snapped at her last month. I did apologize to her when she realized she was going to kill me since calcium is important to heart strength. I'm hoping she grows up soon and realizes her job and her religion are at odds and she has to pick one."
"There is the conscience laws," he said firmly.
"She's a member of a cult-like religion that doesn't believe in *any* medicines. She's denied people their anti-anxiety meds too. She tried that with me but I glared until she filled it the last time." He slumped. "She can't not believe in medicines and be a pharmacist. That's a breach in ethics and not fixable. She needs to pick one. And I'd use the other pharmacy in the next town but my car's a piece of crap."
He sighed. "Fine. I'll make sure she knows you need this and all your other medicines, even if she does complain. Her father comes in on Saturdays."
"I know, there's a huge waiting time for him." She grinned. "If I wasn't already in heat...."
"Will that lower dose bring you out?"
"Mostly. For a few hours. My body will suck it dry within a day though."
"All right. I'll send those in, Miss Lewis." He looked at her. "Is that why you're adamant you're not having another child?"
"No, it's because I don't want another kid. I went through hell when I had Aria, not just because of the assault or my family being bitches about the assault." He slumped again. She stared at him. "Having a kid is a lot of hard work and I need that strength for other things, including protecting the first kid." She shrugged. "And I'm not married and I don't really want one right now. Maybe some day I'll be up to changing eight diapers a day and being up all night for weeks on end due to colic but it's not right now."
"No, I've seen that. Many women want more children."
"Women have the right to decide that for themselves and if they want more kids, yay them. Hopefully they raise good, healthy, mentally and emotionally strong children who do good things in the world. Plenty of us didn't want kids in the first place. I wasn't going to have any until I got married and probably not for years after that because I expected to need to do things first."
"Oh. I can understand why some women are that way." He looked at her. "You could adopt."
"I may. Especially some of my cousins to train them how to be the later matriarch of the family." She smiled. "It's part of the duty."
"I suppose it would be. I'll send them over now."
"Thank you." She smiled and hung up, then leaned back to tip her head back. She checked, Aria hadn't heard that. One of the guys waved so she waved back. "Aria out in the woods?"
"Asking Doug about why Fennel can't eat people food."
She grinned. "I didn't think he was a vet."
"He's looking things up." He grinned at her. "Need to run back there?"
"Yeah but I can go pick up some groceries." She stood up with a sigh. "Let me change into going out clothes." She went to do that and came back with her wallet and phone. "Aria, want to hit the grocery store and pharmacy to get the meds straightened out?" Doug winced. "Not your fault. He didn't realize dragon women in heat go through a ton of calcium and it wrecks our joints." He winced again but nodded. "Yeah, that's why I'm on the higher dosage. We just talked." She grinned. "And the lady at the pharmacy will probably sulk at me." Aria leaned out to stare at her. "Gotta go pick up meds and milk. C'mon."
"I can stay here."
"I can watch her, Darcy," Doug said. "Rumlow's in bed too."
"I guess that's fine. Fennel, stay with the kid." Fennel barked and leaned on Aria's leg. "Thanks, Doug." She got into her car and drove off, wincing at the roughness of the engine. "Some days I want to be one of the ones sitting on a mythical hoard so I don't have to deal with bad cars and stress." The car's engine spluttered so she gave it more gas. It sped up and quit making noises at her again. She wouldn't tell her car it was ancient and not working again, it apparently got hurt feelings. Darcy went to the pharmacy first, staring at the old guy behind the counter. "Hi, Doctor Mike. Did you get mine for the things I'm supposed to be on?"
"I did, Miss Lewis. Why are you on a high dosage like that?"
"Arthritis."
"Ooh. I heard that can be a problem for some of you girls." She nodded with a sigh. "I heard gossip that you have new boyfriend?"
"No, I have a few guards out there guarding the kiddo. Because someone tried something stupid yet again," she finished with a smirk. "So they're camping and putting up with Aria asking them all sorts of things."
"That's how kids learn," he said.
"Yup, and she's already super smart. Even if do have to keep reminding her not to feed Fennel people food."
"Fennel?"
She grinned. "Lady Sif brought a canine from Asgard to protect her. He's a big puppy, and eight-month-old. Vet Chalmers takes care of him." She smiled. "He likes to lay on top of Aria whenever she's still for a few minutes." He laughed but smiled back. She showed him a picture.
"That is a huge dog."
"He's part wolf we think." She grinned. "He's super protective of her though. He barked at Jane when she called from the conference the other night because she was keeping Aria up late."
"That's a good dog." He handed over the bag, letting her pay for it. "That's a six month supply."
"Good! I hate going into heat. I always end up with aches and pains." She got some aleeve and bought it too, putting it into the bag. "Let me go get milk too. Thanks, Doctor Mike."
"Welcome, kid." He smiled at her back. She was so much nicer than her aunt, who had been a battleaxe. Darcy was a lot more womanly and sweeter. He smiled at the next one coming in to pick things up. "I just saw pictures of Miss Lewis' dog from Asgard. Huge puppy she said. Very protective of the kid."
The officer nodded. "The thing's a wolf from Asgard, isn't even a year old yet, and it'll probably be bigger than Aria for a few years. He's going to pout when she goes to school this fall. Fennel likes to sit on the porch to watch the mailman and trash guys when they show up to make sure they don't get near the kid. But he's a sweet puppy. Sniffed me and let me pet him right away. Took to the SHIELD guys up there watching her out for her kid right away. Didn't bite anyone yet when they tried to break in. Fennel is a model protector for the kid."
The pharmacist smiled and nodded. "Sounds like it. Is that legal?"
"It's a diplomatic gift."
"Oh, so outside all those regulations."
"She'll have it see a local vet every six months. They agreed that was a good idea and she'd let us know if the thing went feral. So far it's a pouty little puppy. Aria was running through the hose and he was pouting that he didn't want to play in the water the last time I had to head up there to get someone from the SHIELD guys." Mike grinned at that, handing over his bag of meds. "No daughter today?"
"She's talking with her mother. A few people mentioned she was being...unhelpful with some of her choices."
"Yeah, she denied the Stephenson kid his meds and you know he's on some strong anti-anxiety meds and a light anti-psych."
"That poor kid," Mike agreed. "I came in to handle that myself that day when they called the house." He grinned. "Her mother is going to talk to her so I'm in for the next two days."
"Even better. Thanks, Mike." He left, going to spread that news. They'd have a run on refills today because Mike didn't fuss at them about what they were taking.
***
Changing Your Life.