Bearclaw Valley i don't know how many more da-da-dums i can take

Luckily Blondine filled the space between them as Laurel took a drink, saying that she wanted to come and check on her. Laurel figured she could use the checking-on, considering all that was going on, considering all the stress that went paired with her current predicament. Not just the being pregnant, but all that surrounded it, mostly. She didn't really feel like being touched but maybe it would be for the better.

She shrugged lightly as Blondine asked to come closer. "Okay," she said, then added quickly: "As long as you don't start touching things without asking." She wouldn't mind Blondine having a look but she would mind being touched suddenly. Laurel raised her head from the waterside and turned towards Blondine, waiting for her to come and check. She had fallen in love with her children already and could not bear to lose them, on top of all else she had lost recently. They were perhaps Xan's, but they were also hers and she bore them inside her womb.. to lose them, too, would be tragedy.