Shame on me for not updating, because being productive is for suckers and I don't want to clean the whole house that the boys messed up. Shame, shame, shame.

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Shay was sick of snow. She hated the heat more, of course, but spending a cold season in a stone house without modern conveniences, such as instant running hot water, central heating, electric blankets, microwaves, and hell, vacuum cleaners, was wearing sorely on her. Not to mention she craved fruit like no one's business and feared scurvy waited for her just around the corner; a salad sounded like heaven to the point she almost dug through the snow to eat grass; she'd kill multiple people just to get a brownie; math homework sounded amazing; and damn it, if she didn't miss the silky feeling of having shaved legs and pits.

"At this rate I'm just going to braid it," she told Neara, flat as Kansas, gesturing to said armpit hair. "Put in some feathers. Some glitter. Poof."

If the deep ache for modern conveniences wasn't enough, she missed Curtis. Ryan staved off the loneliness and she loved him to death, but that didn't make him the CEO thinking, sass talking snake with his dry view of the world barely concealing his deep passion. She missed that brain of his, that face, his long and straight as rain hair, his mouth---among other stuff that is none of the reader's business.

Also, she was getting tired of unwanted men. Parker she had come to adore like a cousin or brother and grew comfortable enough with him due to his love for children and his absolute lack of fear when it came to her babies. The only downside to this was that Ryan knew this and fought even harder against his remaining discomfort to be just as good with the babies, but the space between their abilities with kids was still too far, probably because they were still snakes. To their benefit, the baby snakes liked them equally: tolerable, and sometimes fun.

Joseph, however, tried to sneak in whenever she tried to get alone time and would surprise her with random projects around the house, like wooden shutters that could open and close and a new improved shortbird shelter that came with windows and a door so they wouldn't have to come inside during the next storm. He couldn't seem to understand that people didn't like feeling indebted and that gifts, even if the gifts themselves were something the receiver could appreciate, weren't wanted.

Harvey...Harvey was kind of like that unwanted gift. Something she enjoyed, but had no way of repaying or shouldn't be enjoyed at all. Even if she wasn't in love with him, his gender put her on edge. Constantly she found herself feeling guilty for just enjoying a conversation with him or thinking of what kind of person he would be in her modern world--or just thinking of him at all. She didn't want to give herself the temptation to hurt Curtis and Ryan and she wasn't stupid enough to think that she was strong enough to resist a temptation that was around her all the time, could satisfy her ache for deeply intelligent conversations, and with beautiful, jewel-like blue eyes.

Yet another reason why she missed Curtis. She hoped he'd be able to give her the same satisfaction in philosophical conversation that Harvey gave her. While not stupid in the least, Ryan was a highly emotion-based person who often settled for 'no-duh' conclusions rather than exploring outside the box. While complementary to Shay's often too logical and blunt approach and making her feel like a well-balanced person, it just wasn't the same.

And then there was the whole deal of filling multiple needs with multiple people and expecting herself to do the same for them and worrying that she wasn't and---

"And I thought it was stressful enough just listening to myself think," said Neara.

"Away from all first world problems, jobs, and schools and we're still finding ways to stress ourselves out," said Shay.

"It's because we don't have cinnamon rolls, books, or anime."

"Or stupid youtube videos."

"Or videogames. I'd kill for Kingdom Hearts... ok, maybe not kill, but I might tell Winston to do it."

"Or grocery stores full of apples and peaches."

"Gah! You just had to mention fruit again!" Neara cried, hands in her thickly curled hair. "We're gonna die."

Three days later, on a crisp morning promising warmth, a green, leaf-wrapped package was found on Shay's doorstep filled with plum-like apple fruit and hard little oranges.

Her crow of delight woke up her husband and peacefully sleeping snakes. On finding her squatting in the cold doorstep, hardly dressed, happily munching away like a savage, he scowled deeply.

"Who gave you that?"

"I don't know," she said with a smack of juice. The fruit wasn't as sweet as she remembered and a little watery, but her vitamin C starved body didn't care.

His scowl deepened. "The only place fruit would be is by the shore, two months travel away."

That did give her pause.

Neara's whoop of delight as she handed over the half she'd just stopped herself from eating helped her feel less guilty. They both babbled tuneless songs of "Fruit! Fruit! Vitamin C!" as they munched and danced on the muddy ground, watched by their bemused babies and the first sprigs of spring.

The snow melted, the river moved again, and green buds bubbled over the tree limbs, but spring didn't officially start for Shay until the morning that cool arms pulled her from her slumbering nest of baby snakes and hugged her tight.

Ever the heavy sleeper, it took her a full minute to process that she wasn't horizontal anymore. Then that she wasn't hugging a fuzzy panther or blanketed in satin smooth snake bodies.

"Curtis?"

He kissed her on the mouth, filling her with rosemary and thyme. Red hair slipped about her shoulders and arms.

"Good morning, my love."

Curtis had lost a lot of weight while sleeping, turning Shay's drowsy delight into a quite awake alarm. She pushed away, babbling about finding him food, but Curtis cut her off with a short 'No. I will hunt.' Another sound kiss on the mouth, and vanishing out the door in his snake form.

Ryan, doing his best to act like he hadn't woken up to a giant snake (though his puffed out tail betrayed him), licked his wrist before shifting into his human form. The baby snakes had only curled deeper into the nest, having grown to the point it was difficult for them all to fit under at the same time.

"Shall I cook you the last of the rice for breakfast?" he asked.

"What about the babies?"

"It's warm enough now they can probably start hunting for themselves. We'll give them some eggs and send them off when their father when he returns."

Shay didn't point out how excited Ryan sounded when he said that.

Her groggy heaviness turned out to be more than just her usual heavy sleeping when she went to the sandpit to have her morning pee and found blood spotting her underwear. She had mistaken the beginning ache of cramps to be having slept in a funny position.

Ryan just smiled on her return and handed her a freshly cleaned hide that worked more as a cup than an absorbent cloth. He'd probably known the moment she woke up. Beastmen and their freaking noses.

"That looks suspiciously like a leer," she said as she took it from him.

"And perhaps it is," he said.

Curtis returned around noon. The moment he did so, he scanned Shay from top to bottom before narrowing his eyes on Ryan, coiling his long snake tail beneath him.

"She's too skinny," he growled. "What, were you unable to hunt? Or are you just that negligent?"

"It was a hard winter," said Ryan with a frown, though he too glanced at Shay and his black ears flattened into his curls.

Curtis snorted derisively. "I found prey easy enough. Were there not fish in the river? You could have used that squatter rabbit to dig up roots or that doctor. Don't tell me you just let them hang around and ogle her. At least you could have killed the leopard guardian and eaten him."

Ryan clenched his hands so tight his tendons stuck out and bowed his head, though his tail flicked hard.

"Um, it wasn't that bad," said Shay. "Definitely not bad enough for cannibalism. I assume you snakes have no problem eating other people, but I find the suggestion to eat Parker very offensive, especially given how well he took care of your children while you were asleep."

Even speaking as casually and docile as she did, Curtis flinched and pulled back his hands from her. His mouth thinned.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"Good of you to finally ask." She sniffed. "They're in the nest in front of the fire keeping warm."

He swung forward on his long tail and yanked off the large fur blanket with a flick of his wrist. The pile of little snakes recoiled, hissing at the cold.

Curtis gave out a series of low hisses and the little snakes, quite reluctantly, untangled from each other and gathered before him, lifting their heads, though they wouldn't look directly at him. Lazy Boy only glanced at Curtis before moving to head towards Shay. Curtis smacked his tail down before him, stopping his path with a scolding hiss.

"The time for coddling is over," he said, both to the snakes and the room at large. "It is time you learned to hunt."

The baby snakes looked at their mother, giving out a few sad putters.

Shay did her best to give them an encouraging smile.

"This is good, babies," she said. "Don't worry, your Daddy will look after you."

The way their heads swung back and forth between her and him while their tails curled seemed to say that that was exactly why they were so worried.

Head high, Curtis marched his ten children out the door, or as best as snakes could march, Lazy Boy following up the rear. The largest of the litter gave Shay one last longing look before being swiped out the door by his father's impatient tail. Before he closed the door, he gave Ryan a hard look.

"No reproducing until she's healthy again, or I kill you." With that, he snapped the door closed.

Ryan slumped and sighed.

Giggling, Shay slapped his shoulder lightly.

"Horny panther."

"Yeah yeah. Where are those seeds? If we're moving soon I should get packing. Though first," he gave a fanged smile. "Food. What do you want?"

Shay frowned. "But I just finished breakfast."

"Not second breakfast. You heard the snake. We need to fatten you up." He cracked his knuckles. "Where's the leopard? I'm sure I can find you another boar around here."

The leopard in question was found sunbathing on the lawn, stretched out on his back. He looked particularly shaggy in his shedding winter coat and the bottom of his rib cage poking out. Seems Curtis and Shay weren't the only ones skinnier for the winter, though she was sure Ryan had lost some weight too.

"Oy, Parker," Ryan kicked him in the side. "Guard Shay. I need to hunt."

In a flicker of color there was a naked man stretched out in the sun where the cat had been.

Shay looked away without even having to think about it. Not like she cared anymore, but damn it if she was going to lose her civility now.

"I can hunt for her. I smell Curtis around here, did he just leave?"

"Yeah, with the babies to teach them. Can you get dressed already? Dangling your manhood in front of my mate is rude."

"Yeah yeah, I'm moving. Jeez, you're just sour because the snake said you can't mate--OW!"

"Where's the rabbit?"

"Off somewhere. You seriously think I'd be this relaxed with that midget around? Even Harvey's gone; out to pick medicines, I bet."

"Good. I'll be off then."

And with just the hint of the feel of making a statement, Ryan kissed Shay soundly on the mouth before shifting, handing her his kilt with his mouth, and dashing off into the woods.

Parker yawned and scratched his scalp.

"The sun feels amazing," he said. "Why not lay down with me? I found this perfectly dry patch here."

"That actually doesn't sound too bad." She took off her fur shawl, revealing her shoulders and arms to the light. "It's even warm enough to change back into my snake skin."

And as she stretched out, she found another reason to want the warmth as her cramps started picking up in intensity. Still, it wasn't heating pad grade heat, just spring sunshine, leaving her with lost hope.

"It's a good day for rugby," said Parker.

"Yeah."

"What's wrong? Wait, don't you hurt while in heat?"

"Unfortunately."

Parker rolled onto his side, resting his head on his palm. "Is there any medicine you can take? Wait, those white pills, there's still some in your backpack, right?"

"I gave them all to Neara after she had her lambs. It's okay, they only dulled the pain anyway."

Groaning, she turned away from him to curl up on her side, wondering if she had the will to head back inside and try to get the fire going again. But, on the thought of being back in the stone box she'd been trapped in all winter, she just cramped harder. So, rather, she focused on happy thoughts, like heating pads and apples.

Parker's hand hovered over her.

"Shay? Parker, is she okay?"

"Harvey, do you know anything for painful Estrous Cycles?"

Embarrassed for reasons she couldn't really grasp, Shay gingerly sat up, trying to look tougher than she felt.

"I'm okay," she said.

Harvey stood in the shade of the trees, a large basket slung to his back. He set it down as he drew close and knelt in front of her, his beautiful face soft with concern. He didn't speak right away, his eyes jumping over her face and figure. His eyebrows puckered higher.

"You poor thing," he reached out as though to touch her head, stopped, and pulled back. "Parker, bring out some furs for her to lay on."

Parker dashed away and Harvey stood, taking up his basket.

"It's okay to be in pain," he told her, ever gentle. "I've got just the thing. Consider it our lesson for today, though females with painful estrous cycles are uncommon."

Shay internally cursed the females of this world for such luck as she watched Harvey go to the hut. Parker returned before he did, laying out the large bear fur Shay and Ryan used for their nest. He offered his hands to her, but she wasn't about to be that much of an invalid.

"There's no need to look like that," she said. "I've dealt with this since I was twelve."

Parker blanched. "Twelve? You've had your estrous cycle since you were twelve?" He blinked. "Wait, did you also say you...have them more than once a year?"

She tensed and put a finger to her lips, looking to Harvey who had just stepped out of the hut with a mortar, pestle, and pouch. Parker flinched and slapped a hand to his mouth.

"Don't ever say that out loud, you hear?" she hissed.

He lowered his hand, caramel eyes wide.

Harvey didn't seem to have overheard, or at least he didn't act like he had. He simply sat beside the fur and got to work mushing peeled ginger with peppers. Parker kneeled at her feet and watched avidly.

"If I had known you knew a way to treat this..." Parker tucked his chin down, eyes to his palms. "I regret so much of what I did back then. If I--if I had only treated you better--if I hadn't been so..."

At his flattened ears, Shay scooted closer, cringing at the slimy feel slipping out into her poor hide pad. She reached for his ears, ruffling his hair in the process.

At her touch, Parker looked up in surprise. She met it with what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

"You're a lot more enjoyable to be around now. That's what matters."

And he was. Parker had taken to his role of guardian very seriously. Whatever he had experienced in the time he'd spent away from her had allowed him to accept her boundaries and he no longer pushed to be her mate. Though his eyes still softened with affection, he had, perhaps, become her first real friend of the beastman world. And, having a set place in the family as a sort of uncle/brother, she found herself more comfortable with him than with Harvey.

What mattered most to her, though, was that Parker seemed happier and healthier than before, and his answering smile as he leaned into her palm verified that.

"Alright, if you'll lay down on your stomach."

"Isn't her womb in her stomach, though?" asked Parker.

"It's actually more in her hips. When there's a baby the womb stretches upward."

"Ho...females are amazing."

"Yeah, can we stop with the--" His hands on her lower back, right above the rim of her skirt, made her pause. "Uh, Harvey?"

"I'm just putting some warming balm here and then I'll be rubbing your hips. Is that okay? If it makes you uncomfortable I'll stop immediately."

"Yeah, if he tries anything I'll kill him."

"Parker..." said Harvey with a sigh.

Shay curled her lips between her teeth, every part of her tensing at the thought of anyone other than Curtis or Ryan touching her hips, then lost focus in her vision as another contraction pulled every muscle from her knees to her mid-back into the fiery black hole which was her uterus.

"Okay."

Harvey's hand, unlike the other beastmen's she had felt, was soft, though equally warm. The mush he spread on her lower back went on cold, then instantly heated up, almost to the point of burning. It was as close to a heating pad as she'd ever get. Then, his hands left just long enough for her to wonder what he was doing before he set the ball of his palms right above where her thigh joint ran into her hips, on her butt more than her hips really, and pressed in, moving in circles.

The resulting explosion of relief and pleasure forced her to moan. A blush rushed to her face even as she turned to jelly and decided she didn't care, because the horrible pain was going away.

"Is it working?" asked Parker, sounding way too eager.

"Yeah. Oh gosh, wow, yeah."

Harvey paused, then quickly went back to the massage.

"Parker, do remember the pressure you used when you massaged her ankle?"

"It isn't hard to figure out. What can I do?"

Oh lanta, there was more?

"You can do her lower back. Here, I'll show you."

She almost cried when Harvey left her hips.

"It's right where I put the balm."

Then his thumb and palm traced down the spine in her lower back to spread out against her hip bones and she sighed again. Not as good as the bum rub, but this was pretty fine too. She'd spent years fighting for any amount of relief from her painful cramps. This alone made coming to the beastman world worth it.

Parker sidled up to her, as close as he could without straddling her, and put his palms down as Harvey instructed.

"Like this? Shay, is this too hard?"

"You can be harder--uck--yeah. Ooo, I need to shut my mouth now guys."

They chuckled. Then Harvey returned to the spots over her hip joints and Shay lost her mind completely. She wasn't even aware when drool left her mouth or when Harvey straddled her knees to get better access. It took the entirety of what was left of her brain just to keep herself from making all sorts of pleased groans and moans.

The spring sunshine was so nice. Their hands were so warm. The pain was going away, along with tension she hadn't realized had been gathering all winter.

She drifted. A petal on a steady stream.

"Harvey...do you know of anything that stops an estrous cycle from