The breeding went well and Miss Daisy was soon carrying a colt. Vin was schooling our newest filly, Scheherazade or Sherry for short. Buck and I had taken a road trip to a breeder down in Arizona and our phone bill was more expensive than the drinks in the mini-bar. Buck had to talk with JD while I couldn't get to sleep until I'd heard Ezra's voice.

Odd, but we'd all become domesticated so fast.

I was story-starved too and could hardly wait to get home. Buck and I shared a beer the last night and we talked about our lives. He gave me the biggest compliment I think I've ever gotten when he told me I'd done good by letting Ezra love me. That could still make me blush for some reason and he teased me gently about it. We talked about Sarah and how this relationship was different from my love for her.

He said that love was good even if it was different and he was the luckiest man in the world that JD had fallen in love with him. I told him they'd been good for each other. Buck had given JD a solid base while JD had given Buck his enthusiasm to go along with his sense of adventure. We teased each other about who was more inventive and I told him a little bit of the fairy tale Ezra was spinning in our spare time.

I did *not* however tell him I was pregnant in the story. That was going to remain a kind of guilty pleasure. I wasn't sure why but it hit about twenty kink buttons of mine. Ezra just laughed and promised me a nice long part of our bedtime story when I returned. I was ready to be home, now. Buck agreed and we started at dawn and drove straight through.

He dropped me off at my front door and I left my bag in the foyer. "Ezra! Where are you?"

"Bedroom," the faint call came down.

I took the stairs two at a time and just about ran down the hall to our room. He met me in the doorway and I kissed him as hard as I could while trying to touch all of him - at once.

"Missed you." "I missed you." We said simultaneously when our lips parted.

"Don't like leaving you behind, Ez'. Damn it, I couldn't sleep without talking to you every night." I rested my forehead against his. "Missed you so much."

He chuckled and held me close. "I missed you also, Chris. It's happened before but it does not seem to get any easier. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I could eat." I leered at him. "Tell me you made some of your chicken and dumplings."

Dimpling, he took my hand and led me to the kitchen. "I did make some this morning. It's in the warming oven. Let's get you fed."

"Then I want to go to bed and take a nap." I rubbed my eyes. "I'm getting old, Ez'. I can't take these long drives like I used to."

He sat me down at the kitchen table and dropped a kiss on my hair before putting on oven mitts and taking a casserole dish out of the second oven he'd requested almost a year ago. "None of us are getting any younger, my love. We'll just have to make some concessions to our aging selves and schedule more rest stops or perhaps actually," a fake gasp, "fly rather than put 1000 miles on a vehicle."

I stuck out my tongue at him then took my first bite of his mouth-wateringly good dumplings. It was a small bite because it was smoking hot but even so, I could feel my taste buds go into ecstasy. Ezra is such a good cook, it's a wonder I don't weight 300 pounds. Luckily, my metabolism is fast and I get all the exercise a man could possibly want or need.

Ezra sat across from me and smilingly watched me eat. I swallowed a few bites then asked him to start the next part of the story. He chuckled and agreed.

Lord Standish was very protective of his Chris and so were their friends. Buck cooked every dish he requested or even expressed an interest in. Josiah began altering some of his clothes to fit his expanding figure. Vin gave the best back massages so when the aches of all the stretching and rearranging of his body got more frequent, he was always available to sooth away the pain. JD practiced his reading skills while reading aloud to him every morning while their lord received visitors who could no long see Chris' changing shape.

Nathan listened to Chris' hopes, his dreams, his fears about bearing these children. He researched the estate library and wrote to his grandmother for information. When the nausea got suddenly worse, he made herbal infusions until one of them worked and eased Chris' stomach. They became fast friends and Chris felt safe, knowing that his care and the care of his children were in such good hands.

"My love, come and walk with me." Lord Standish held out his hands and Chris took them gratefully. It was getting harder and harder to get out of the comfy chairs in the study. His belly had swollen three times larger in just the last two months. Once up, Ezra kissed the white linen covered mound before placing kisses in each of Chris' palms. "Chris, you grow more beautiful each day."

Chris blushed and leaned over to kiss his lord's lips, relishing the taste of after lunch brandy since he'd been forbidden to drink once the babies were discovered. "I grow fatter every day - that is for certain."

"Nonsense, my dear," Ezra slid an arm around his ever-expanding waist and led him from the manor into the bright sunshine. "The children are growing so quickly, your poor stretched body can't quite keep up. Is the pain better or should I call Vin for a back rub?"

"It's not bad today, Ezra." Chris nuzzled a tempting ear. "But part of me is feeling very neglected and it really needs to be stretched."

He chuckled and led him into the maze while Chris tried to get him to walk faster. Making love outdoors was so much fun but the heart of the maze was one of the only places safe enough to indulge in naked play. Their friends were already there, sporting in love's labors and they greeted their lord and his mate with smiles and laughter. Taking their time, Ezra and Chris undressed each other.

Kisses and caresses made Chris feel beautiful and Josiah and Vin made sure they kissed each piece of skin on his expanding belly when they were helping him. This afternoon was no different and while Ezra stretched the tight hole of his love, each of the others stroked his stomach and nipples. They scattered love over his entire front until he was hard and aching.

Then Nathan knelt in front of him and braced him against his chest since it was now too dangerous for him to be on all fours. His big warm hands stroked him soothingly while Ezra slowly eased his cock through the well-stretched hole. Chris sighed in contentment while being spitted on his lord's shaft.

He had an odd thought at that moment. "Nathan, do the babies feel their father's shaft?"

The healer kept on stroking. "They don't know it's his shaft but they can feel the love both of you feel for each other and for them. In another month, you may have to give up this lovemaking. Too vigorous movement could stimulate them into going into premature labor."

"No," Chris said with a tear in his voice. "I will miss this so much."

Ezra kissed his neck in the hot spot under his ear. "I will miss it too, my love but not enough to hurt you or our children. Perhaps the cat will not be such a risk, Nathan?"

The big man hesitated. "I would need to see your mating to judge the vigor used."

Chris blushed. "He is very gentle with me, Nathan. His shaft is not so thick or long, now that he no longer expands during our lovemaking."

Nathan nodded and judging by the panting that Chris was starting, he reached for his cock and began the tender stroking that would bring him to climax. When it hit, Ezra came too and they shuddered through their release together. Chris became sleepy almost immediately and his lord tenderly pulled from him and cleaned away the trickles before helping him into his nest of soft cushions for a nap.

When Chris woke up, he saw Josiah slowly preparing Vin for his big cock. He always liked watching that, remembering back to the first night in this enchanted castle he now called home. The love and tenderness between them was so beautiful it brought tears to his eyes. He wiped them on the corner of his shirt, laying next to him. Vin was on his back, almost bent double by the butler who sank into his depths with a sigh. They could kiss in that position and Chris mourned the loss of that.

Stroking his bulging belly, he thought about being slim again. Able to kiss Ezra from the front instead of the side; able to be in that position while the lord or the cat took him from between his legs; able to just turn over without needing help; he mourned quietly until the most amazing thing happened. Beneath his hands, he felt movement. Pressing a little, he held his breath and waited.

A little flutter repeated and he burst into tears again.

"My love, what's wrong?" Ezra had returned with a plate of savories. "Is there pain?"

Chris shook his head and took one of his hands, laying it over the spot. The flutter came again and yet again and his lord's eyes widened.

"One of the children is moving." He said reverently. "Our son or daughter is moving."

Nathan joined them and felt it, too. "That's strong for almost five months old. May I do another reading, Master Chris? I think they may be ready to tell us how many you carry."

"Yes please, Nathan." Chris said eagerly and Ezra agreed.

Laying his big hands over the mound, he murmured soft words before the stretched skin began to glow. It was the familiar yellow they'd seen every week on Chris' check up but slowly the colors began to change a little. Nathan moved his hands to about an inch above the skin.

"See the glint of silver on the top right and left?" He said quietly and they nodded. "Then can you see the gold at the bottom on either side?" They nodded again. "Congratulations, masters, you are having two girls and two boys."

Chris fainted. Ezra simply looked stunned. "Four, Nathan? Good God."

"The cat lord will think it a most appropriate litter, my lord." Nathan tried in vain to hold back his smile.

Ezra just glared at him before turning to press soft kisses over his mate's beautiful face.

"Jesus, Ezra, *four*?" I asked him while we settled into bed.

"Five or six would be more like it if he were a true cat." Ezra told me with a sly grin.

"God, I can not imagine how big I'm going to get with four kits inside of me." I settled down with a sigh onto our comfortable mattress. "It is so good to be home, Ezra. Even if you are keeping me barefoot and pregnant."

"I like you bare, love." He told me with a kiss and I pulled him on top of me so I could feel his solid weight holding me down.

"Me too, I like both of us bare. I'd miss this a lot if we couldn't make love face to face." I ran my hands down his back to grasp his beautiful ass. "I love it when you take me this way."

"I love it too, sweetheart." He reached over my head to the shelf where we keep the lotion. "Taking or giving, love?"

"I want to receive this time." I told him with a wiggle. "I want to just lay here and let you have your way with me."

"Your wish is my command, Master Chris."

I'd only been half hard at that point but something in his Lord Standish voice turned me on like crazy and none too soon, I was enjoying being impaled on his wonderful cock. I came pretty quickly really. Tired means no stamina and just a little juice. We napped for about an hour before I headed out to check on the horses and he finished up his business for the day.

Then I talked him into a picnic down at the pond in the lower pasture. I wanted to hear more of the story in an outdoor setting. He agreed and we made sandwiches while he caught me back up on some neighborhood doings. We took towels with us since skinny dipping was definitely on *my* picnic wish-list.

Master Chris just kept getting bigger and bigger in front. Pretty soon he needed help for everything but going to the bathroom, although sometimes he missed the chamber pot because he could no longer see his privates at all. But all six men of the estate were there for him and his naturally sweet nature made them want to help him all the more. He was pretty sure he waddled when he walked but none of them would confirm that when he asked.

Pretty much the only place he felt comfortable at the end of his sixth month was the natural springs in the little grotto beneath the castle. There he could float at his leisure and for a while feel less like one of those whales that had eaten two of his ships. He only indulged during the day because the night belonged to the cat lord, who hated getting his fur wet.

He was there, floating when Nathan brought a visitor to see him. He stood up and blushed all over when the blacksmith introduced his grandmother to him. She chuckled and walked down the steps into the pool holding out both arms to him. "Come here, little one, you have a heavy burden to carry. Let's see what I can do to make you more comfortable."

Chris embraced her shyly. "Thank you for coming, Mistress. I will take all the help I can get. Do you know how they will be delivered?"

For that was his greatest fear, that he would die during the birth and kill his babies.

"Ah, four healthy . . . strong . . . babies." Her hands sent out a green glow over his skin. "Beautiful babies and not much longer for them to come out." She murmured the soft words of their language and Chris thought about how magical they sounded. And he was not far wrong for Mistress Vodan was a healer-mage of great power and her grandson had inherited some of her talent.

Ezra joined them then, shedding his clothes unselfconsciously and joining Chris in the pool. "Mistress Vodan, welcome to our home. We are very glad you are here."

"Good it is to be here, my lord. Your magic is strong within you." She gazed into his eyes and finally smiled. "The witch's curse petered out almost sixty years ago. This is of your doing, my lord and the wish of this sacred spot. It was no accident that your ancestor fled *here* to live out his life. The land chose him and continues to fare well in your keeping."

"But how could the land change Chris' body and seed into what I need to have children?" Ezra's voice sounded a little frightened for the first time since Chris had met him.

Fiercely, he hugged him tight. "I do not care how it did it. I am glad that I can do this for us. Except for being fat and ungainly, I want these children. I want to hold your babies in my arms and care for them and watch them grow."

Mistress Vodan nodded approvingly. "A fierce mate is just what you need, Lord Standish. A strong mother for your children, who will protect them as completely as the cat lord will. Only one of them carries the change within him. He will be a handful, Sirs."

Chris glowed with happiness. "One of them will be a kitten and baby in one?"

"Yes, he will follow the pattern and grow more quickly than the others. He will be as valiant a protector of his siblings as his father is." She kept on stroking the babies and Chris felt calm and safe as he leaned back against Ezra's chest, letting the conversation flow over him like the water in which he stood.

Somehow he would birth these surprising children safely and then they would raise them with love, cherished and protected. He'd always felt at home on this estate and he thanked God he'd stopped here on his journey over a year before. Even then, the land had welcomed him in and made him feel at home.

"My love, come back to us." Ezra's voice sounded in his ear and he came back to the here and now with a start. "We need to get out of the water so Mistress Vodun can examine you more closely."

"Yes, of course." Chris blushed but let his lord help him out of the pool and into a warm robe that dried him and hid his body from view at the same time.

Nathan helped his grandmother dry off and redress in another brilliant robe of blue and green. Her turban was the same material and Chris found himself fascinated by the way the colors shifted and swirled on the edges of his vision. They were static when looked at directly but almost out of sight, they moved. He decided to ask her about them later since right now they were in the small birthing room they'd begun to prepare for when ever he went into labor.

Mistress Vodun had Nathan bring her the carpetbag she'd brought with her and she drew forth a miniature chair and bed setting them on the floor and casting her hands over them with a sharp command that reminded Chris of his lord when he was in decisive mood. He loved it when Ezra took him in that frame of mind. Alas, it had been much too long since he'd been allowed a forceful taking.

But his attention was drawn back to the furniture for they were growing bigger and bigger until they were full sized. Chris examined them closely and gulped a little when he saw some of the odd straps and stirrups attached to them.

"Not to fear, little one, examinations won't hurt." She said briskly. "Now, please lie down on the bed so I can see what my hands felt in the water."

Ezra helped him upon the bed and unfastened his robe. The healer-mage again ran her hands over his bulging belly while talking to Nathan in their own language. He was making notes with a quill on parchment while the colors on Chris' skin changed over and over. He bit his lip when she gently probed his upper chest.

"Nipples are getting more sensitive, yes?" She asked and he nodded. "They are getting ready to feed your babies. They will grow a bit more but don't worry about looking like a female, little one. The children and your lord will all enjoy suckling at your breast."

Chris blushed crimson but Ezra just laughed and kissed him sweetly.

But her hands had moved back down to his privates and he felt uncomfortable for the first time since she'd begun to examine him. She noticed and stroked him gently. "Nothing to fear, little one. I've seen this before and you are very pretty here. Now, the next part will be a little invasive but I must check between your legs and your cheeks. Will you allow me this great liberty?"

He wanted to say no but if it would help his babies come safely then he would endure any amount of indignity. "All right."

He whispered it but they all three heard him. Nathan stopped taking notes and helped Ezra position him at the end of the table before putting his feet in the odd looking stirrups he'd seen before. Ezra stayed with him, stroking his face and scattering kisses across his skin.

"Ah, this is good, little one, the magic is still working strongly. Do you feel my fingers here?" She asked him gently.

"Y-y-yes, ma'am." Chris stammered and held onto Ezra's hand when he felt her warm touch between his cheeks.

"The skin is turning a good healthy shade of blue. I'm going to cast a spell to show me what I need to know about the birth channel." She asked him calmly and he squeaked out a 'yes' before feeling something like he felt when the cat lord's cock would swell inside of him.

It felt so good he groaned and clutched Ezra's hand even more tightly.

"Excellent, the channel will be ready when the babies are." She covered him with a blanket to hide his nudity and came up to his head. "The babies will arrive through the same channel that began them. All is well, my lords, rest easy. I shall stay and see them safely into the world."

"Oooo-h, that's going to hurt big time." I said with a wince while on my hands and knees half in and half out of the water. "Tell me there's magic involved so there's no pain."

"No pain, no gain, my love." He teased me while stroking in and out of me.

"Oh-h-h!" I groaned and came.

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The end of part 6 of BatB