User blog:Redknight910/WWYD Salamander Tiralis

Prompt:  You are a mercenary married to a salamander wife. Recently she has become pregnant and her protective instincts have come in full. She has decided to stop travelling with you on jobs and even stopped light training in an effort to not hurt the baby. One day you were asked to take on a new job that is more dangerous than usual, especially since your wife won't be there to help you. As you are about to leave your wife stops you  on the verge of tears, begging you not to go on the job.

Answer:

I look at my wife, then at her belly. I know this job will have us set for at least a few months, even after the little one's born, but I was already questioning how well it would go without her, and now I'm certain it's more risk than I can afford.

I go back to the tavern, where the contact for the job is waiting for me. He raises an eyebrow when he spots me. I tell him I can afford to take on a job like this on my own.

"Look, if you want to bring in friends, be my guest, just don't expect a bigger payment." I give him a dead look, shrugging. If I need to split the pay of this job with enough people to do it safely, then it won't be worth it anyway.

I let him know that I won't be taking the job, and turn to leave. He starts yelling, calling me a coward and a two timer. A knife quickly ends up next to his throat. I give him a simple glare, and advise him to keep a good grip on that tongue of his, or else I'll be taking it. He goes ghostly white, and I lift the knife, looking around at all the other patrons.

A few friends lift a mug to me, and I smile, heading back to the local work board. I take on a few less demanding jobs, some of which are simply doing work around town. When I get back home my wife bursts out the door, wrapping her arms around me.

"What happened? Did you tell him? Where were you?" I chuckle and hug her back, telling her I was doing odd jobs around town. She visibly relaxes when she hears it. "Good. Good." She starts rubbing my back and nuzzling into my chest.

<span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I tell her I'm only taking local contract's from here on out, until she says otherwise. She looks up at me, eyes wide, before practically jumping on me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She kisses me repeatedly. "You have no idea how much that means to me." I look into her eyes, and smile, rubbing her belly. We wouldn't want our little one to grow up without a father. I feel her arms wrap even tighter around me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Don't even joke." She whispers in my ear. I nod, still rubbing her belly. When this kid's born, the three of us are going to be together for a long time yet.