I Am the Alpha and the Omega

Laughter is the Best Medicine

        "Aria, ever since the moment we became mates, I knew I was going to be the luckiest man in the world. The Moon Goddess destined us to be mates but when I am with you, I don't just love you because of the mate pull, I love you because you are kind, considerate, loving, understanding, you laugh at all my lame jokes and most importantly you love me as I am.  I will love and cherish you always my little dove, you are my life, my everything and I promise to love you with my entire being until my last breath. When someone asks me how much love you, words cannot express how much you mean to me Ari. I can only think of all the ways I want to spend the rest of my life showing you. I promise to protect you, to be a man worthy of you and be there by your side always....."

Ariadne could hear these sweet words being uttered to her, she was having a really sweet dream or so she thought.  These sweet words of love and promises of things to come filled her heart with joy. She recognised the voice and she knew who it was and smiled. As the voice become a little louder, she began to feel kisses on her head and could smell Arron.

    "This is a very real dream," she thought to herself. "Too real."

As she regained consciousness, her eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal the love of her life nuzzling against her and the bright summer's daylight shining through the window. She initially screwed her eyes shut again, the brightness was too much.  Then she tried to prop herself to get a look at where she was when she felt a jolt of pain slicing through her chest and abdomen area that caused her to cry out clutching her chest.

    "Ari! You're awake!" Arron exclaimed. "Be careful my sweet, you have stitches there, we don't want them to open."

Arron gently held Ari and propped her up after adjusting the bed for her. He just kept looking at her longingly until her eyes met his. She blushed and Arron leaned in gave her a gentle kiss.

    "I missed you," he cooed.

    "Aw baby I missed you too," she said in a rather husky voice, resting her forehead against his. "What happened? How did I end up here? Could I get some water, my throat is parched, I sound like a frog."

    "No, you sound like one of those operators on the chat lines," Arron remarked with a cheeky grin.

    "What chat lines?" Ariadne asked innocently.

    "You know what I'm talking about babe."

    "No I don't, please explain; and kindly explain how you have come to know so well, what they sound like!"

Ariadne was pretending to be angry while Arron fetched her some water; she laughed at him which began to hurt her chest. In response to this Arron delivered a flurry of kisses.  Arron then explained to her the series of events that led to her being in hospital and by the end of it she had tears in her eyes.

    "What were you thinking Ari? `Why couldn't you tell me what they were doing to you? I am so sorry you had to go through all that."

    "As your Luna I need to be strong and I wanted to handle it myself."

    "No little dove, as my Luna I need you alive, alive and kicking. How will I survive without you?"

    "There were blanks in the gun, it wouldn't have harmed me."

    "Yet here you are in a hospital bed."

    "You're right Arron, I messed up."

    "No, we messed up. It shouldn't have escalated this much, please let's promise each other from now on, no more secrets."

    "No more secrets," replied Ariadne hooking her baby finger around Arron's. "Since we aren't keeping secrets from each other I should tell you, a handsome man came in my dream just before I woke. He was proposing to me, sharing his marriage vows with me and wanted to marry me," she teased.

A deep growl came from Arron's chest.

    "Who was this man?" he growled.

    "Oh it's someone you know."

    "WHO IS IT? I SWEAR I'LL"

    "It was you," Ariadne giggled leaning in and kissed him. "I heard you telling me your marriage vows baby."

Arron let Ariadne sleep for the rest of the morning and informed their parents she was awake and to come and visit at lunchtime.  The two Lunas as expected, couldn't wait that long and came armed with food earlier, but did their best to not disturb Ariadne and decided to feed Arron in the kitchen attached to the suite. Arron hadn't eaten much over the past 24 hours and he literally 'wolfed' down the food if you pardon the expression.

    "I'm not pushing you Arron, but when will you be ready to speak with your brothers? They were asking about you all night and this morning.  They are truly ashamed of their actions, are they able to visit you and Ariadne?" asked Penny quietly.

Arron growled at this but realised he couldn't avoid his brothers forever.

    "I will speak to Ariadne first and let you know."

Penny nodded and went back to serving up plates for Freya and Ariadne, the latter needed to eat something so she heals quicker. She entered the room and saw Ariadne awake and chatting away to her mother, Penny placed the plates down in the tray and was about to walk out when Ariadne and Freya called out to her.

    "M-Mum, are you upset with me? Aren't you going to give me a hug?" Ariadne asked.

Penny turned around a looked at Ariadne both of them noticed their eyes were glistening. Penny stood by Ariadne's side and leaned in for a gentle hug. Both of them broke down in tears and Freya wrapped her arms around both of them. As they released each other from the embrace.

    "You're right Aria! I am upset with you!" Penny retorted, her face like thunder. "How dare you try to shoot yourself without my permission! Ask me next time!"

Ariadne looked at her mother-in-law in disbelief and confusion. While she was digesting what was said and about to protest, Penny burst into giggles and Ariadne blushed feeling very silly.

    "Oh the look on your face Ari," giggled Freya.

The peals of laughter coming from the room piqued the curiosities of Arron and Doctor Azalea, who both came in and gazed at the sight before them.

    "Ahem, they do say laughter is the best medicine, but mind your stitches!," chuckled Azalea, as she came in to check Ariadne's charts.

Arron sat by Ariadne and began to feed her some soup and bread. Ariadne protest at first, insisting she was more than capable of feeding herself but Arron ignored her and patiently smiled as he fed her. The rest of the day passed pleasantly enough with Arron doting on her, her family and friends coming to visit and before long Ariadne had fallen asleep again.

Azalea confirmed that with a couple more days rest, if Ariadne's condition improved, she would be happy to discharge her. Ariadne did as she was told and was due to be discharged the following morning.  That afternoon, as she was more mobile, Arron led her to the kitchen so they could eat lunch together. As she ate, Ariadne could see Arron was fidgeting and playing with his food which was unusual.

    "Arron what's on your mind? I can't even recognise the items on your plate any more," she chuckled.

Arron looked down at his plate and smiled.

    "You know me so well," he replied, planting kiss on her forehead tenderly.

    "So, out with it Arro," Ariadne replied placing her on his, squeezing it.

Arron hesitated before he spoke.

    "It's about Alex and Alastair," he said quietly. "They want to come and see you. Mum and Dad want me to speak to them."

There was a brief silence between them.

    "So what's bothering you about that?" Ariadne asked, taking a piece of cucumber and biting into it.

    "I don't want to hurt you, or upset you Ari."

    "Aw baby, don't think like that. They are your family and I would never want to come in between you and them. Despite how everything happened I'm also at fault, I'm not completely the victim here and take responsibility for my actions. It is important for us to deal with this together.  Remember no more secrets. Why don't you ask them to come over this evening?"

    "So soon? Are you ready? I don't want your health to suffer."

    "I'm as ready as I'll ever be Arro. Besides, wouldn't it be nice that when we leave the hospital, we can start afresh. Enter that pack house knowing everything is resolved? We can start our life together afresh."

This entire conversation was heard by Pierce who was standing behind the door. He was touched by Ariadne's words and decided to leave the two lovebirds alone for the time being. However, as he left the hospital he received a mind-link from Arron asking the six of them to visit the hospital later, to have dinner together.

Arron put a sleepy Ariadne to bed after they finished lunch and began to ponder how to even begin the conversation that would happen that evening. 

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Around late afternoon, Penny and Freya came by the ward to cook something fresh for dinner that evening, and as both ladies worked away in the kitchen, a delicious smell wafted through the suite. Freya came into the room and saw Ariadne and Arron were fast asleep snuggling together and she didn't have the heart to wake them. Instead as mothers do, she pottered around tidying up the room, packing up all of Ariadne's belongings so there wouldn't be much to do tomorrow. Between re-organising the wedding and the hospital visits she didn't have time to even think about what Esme had told her and now they had four weeks to til the next full moon. She reminded herself to ask Esme to start training Kiona from tomorrow.

As evening fell, Felix, Pierce, Alex and Alastair stepped into the hospital suite and made their way to Ariadne's room. Ariadne was looking much better, but still wearing her hospital gown as it was still easier to change the dressings that way and she was propped up sitting in her bed.  She met their eyes as they entered and they quickly dropped their gazes to the floor in response. There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

    "How are you finding it Alex and Alastair, spending time in our pack?" Ariadne asked, they had been there for a full week almost.

Alex and Alastair looked at each other and then at Ariadne.

    "Th-the time has been p-p-pleasant Ariadne, we have been s-spending time with the w-warriors, the pp-patrol, the children and other f-families.  They have been really w-welcoming and k-k-kind to us," Alex replied stammering, each word was painful to get out.

    "Y-yes we wen-went boating and f-fishing  the other day for the f-first time on the Io-Ionides," Alastair said having a conversation with the floor.

Ariadne sighed.

    "I'm sorry for using a gun to prove my point, and putting everyone in a difficult position. I take -" Ariadne started, before she was interrupted.

Alex and Alastair ran to the foot of the bed and kneeling, they touched her feet, heads bowed.

    "No don't apologise Ariadne, it is we who should apologise. We behaved very badly and shouldn't have treated you the way we did. We beg you for your forgiveness," Alastair interrupted first.

    "I forgive -" Ariadne tried again, before she got interrupted.

    "No don't Ariadne we don't deserve your forgiveness, Alastair and I will earn it.  We didn't really understand and appreciate how lucky our brother is to have you. That we are lucky to have you.  Perhaps being mateless we cannot full appreciate what you and Arron have.  We need to learn to appreciate what we have and learn to respect, to love and care. We just request that you give us a chance to show you how wrong we were and how important you are to us and that we are truly family," Alex added.

The both them kept their heads bowed until they eventually dared to look up. They saw Ariadne with tears streaming down her cheeks and she nodded at them. Alex rushed to her side and began wiping away her tears.

    "Oh no, please don't cry Ariadne. It means we've already failed before we have even started," he said, looking at her sadly.

Ariadne pulled him into an embrace and signalled Alastair to join them. Nothing fixes a problem quite like a brutally honest confession, a heart-felt apology and good old hug.