Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 08:58:42 +0200
From: Amy Redek <adultreading@gmail.com>
Subject: Cronos. Part Thirteen.

        This story is for persons of eighteen years or over.  All comments,
good or bad, are welcome and all will be answered.

        Part Thirteen

     What followed was one of the most poignant memories for Audrey, when
she and Brendan sat on the leather couch in front of the fire that Ruben
had built. They'd been left alone and she curled her legs up and admitted
that the couch was the softest she had ever sat upon. So, curled up against
Brendan, the fire giving off not only heat but light, they looked through
the wedding photos that had been sent down to the ranch.

     It was an idyllic peace for Audrey to lay half across her husband's
lap as, by the firelights glow, they looked at the captured memories of
their wedding day.

     It was silent tears that ran down her face as she looked at them,
remembering exactly when they were taken and of how happy she had been when
they were taken, not that she wasn't happy now. They just were proof of
what she had felt then but no way did they inspire her to be any happier
than she was now, in the arms of the man she had married and loved to
distraction.

     No one, but no one, she felt could or would ever be as happy as she
was at that moment. A warm fire, a lovely home, a loving husband and the
whole world at her beck and call with their time machine.

     `Brendan,' she said dreamily when they had finished looking at the
photographs. `We keep calling our ship by many names. Space ship! Time
machine! The sphere! Ship! It! Why don't we give it a proper name?'

     `Do you have such a name in mind my sweet?' he asked drowsily.

     `Well I have had an idea or two and played around with them. I think
we've established that the first letter is equivalent to our letter C in
our alphabet, right?'

     `Yes,' he murmured.

     `Well the third and fifth symbol are the same, so I'm assuming that
they would be a vowel. Now if that vowel was to be an O, we would have C,
block block O block O block. So if we made the first block an R and the
next block an N and the last one an S, we would have the name of
Cronos. Which if you play the word around in your mind, you would come up
with chronology, the study of time, Cronos. Before you say anything, hear
me out. There are two versions in mythology of Cronus and the one I prefer
is that of what was called a golden age. The fruits of the earth were in
abundance, and men lived a carefree life like the gods and, the most
important part, lived without old age!

     I know that we can argue over the fact that we will age, but look at
the ages we will have covered! Tens of millions of years and age is
miniscule in comparisons to what we can see in those years. Our ship I
believe in my heart was named Cronos by the people who conceived and built
it. Therefore, I think we should henceforth call it by that name.'

     `Very well put darling though I think many people would be able to
pick holes in your assumption,' he said.

     `Darling!' Audrey came back at him. `Nobody else is going to be able
to pick holes in it as you said, for didn't you yourself say that nobody
else is to know of our find?'

     `Touché, and I am hoisted by my own petard. You're are perfectly right
my sweetheart and so it shall be named, Cronos it is.'

     Having failed to carry his wife across the threshold, he made amends
by taking her up into his arms and carrying her into their bedroom and to
the bed where not only him but his father had been conceived upon. Where
also were Christian, Marion, Clayton and Astra, though with some years
between which comes later in another episode.

                                                            *

     Audrey stood there feeling a fool out in the stable yard after
breakfast. She had not a stitch of clothing in the ranch house other than
what she had been wearing when they arrived and Brendan had helped her get
dressed in a pair of his jeans, rolled up at the bottom for his legs were
longer than hers. A belt was a definite requirement which bunched up the
front because of their waist difference. The shirt too had to have the
sleeves rolled up but the one saving grace was that they were able to find
a pair of boots that fitted.

     Feeling like a clown, she stood there in the yard as Sam introduced
her to Dancer. He made no comment on her attire for which she was grateful.

     `Let her smell you,' was the first lesson Sam was giving her as she
fed the filly with an apple that he had given her to give to the horse as a
token. `Stroke her and speak to her. Let her get used to your voice. Don't
be too soft in your speech but be firm. You've got to get her to know that
you are de boss.'

     Brendan held the bridle while Sam showed her how to mount the horse
properly, helping her to put her foot in the stirrup. Brendan then passed
the reins over to Sam for him to carry on with the lesson while he went and
sat down on the edge of the water trough to watch.

     Sam only had her up on the horse for an hour, which was enough for the
first day. The rest of the morning was learning how to curry comb the horse
and begin to learn the names of the tack used. Within a week she was able
to saddle the horse herself and find the right pieces of tack such as the
harness and reins and how to put them over the head of the animal. Though
Thomas would clean most of the gear at a later date after riding, she still
had to know how to do it herself to know if it had been cleaned
properly. She could also now canter out in the paddock for Dancer seemed to
like this tutorial as much as she did.

     They did cut one morning short for Brendan to drive her into Dallas
where they spent most of the day shopping for new clothes for her,
including a couple of riding outfits. At the same time, they collected
Cronos, Audrey taking it to one grid before the homestead and then waiting
for Brendan to pick her up in the car so that they both arrived at the
ranch house together. At least the machine was now closer and could be
moved at anytime now.

     This they did two weeks later, moving it close to a small copse by the
Sabine River where, now that Audrey could ride enough to be able to go out
with Brendan on their horses and tether them in the trees to browse while
they went off in Cronos.

     It took them a month to grid mark the ordinance survey maps according
to Cronos before they got down to the serious business of hunting the
Dinosaur of North America. It was amazing to be in the Jurassic period and
see the low lying jungles and swamps left by the retreating ice packs. The
lush vegetation that many species of Dinosaur lived on for most of them
were plant eaters.

     By flitting through the years they were able to see the development
and change of these animals, though they were really classified as
reptiles. The Apatosaurus, formerly called Brontosaurus was one of the
largest and it was the cross breeding that saw the beginning of the
carnivorous emergence such as the Allosaurus which was the forerunner of
the larger Tyrannosaurus.

     It was this latter that began the demise of the Dinosaur for he would
attack the plant eating ones until they were finally wiped out and then
without meat, they too died simply from starvation.

     It was in the middle of these jaunts that Audrey said that she wanted
to do some shopping in Dallas and so they took a day off and drove into the
city. It wasn't the shopping she wanted really, it was so that she could
visit a doctor and later, in a restaurant having lunch, she announced to
Brendan that she was pregnant.

     `Oh darling!' he exclaimed, almost dropping his fork as his eyes lit
up and he held her hand across the table. `You're sure?'

     `Yes,' she nodded, her face wreathed in a big smile. `I popped in to
see a doctor and he confirmed it.'

     `Wait until mom and dad hear this. They'll be thrilled to bits. So
will Sarah and the others at the ranch. Oh Audrey, it's wonderful
news. When?'

     `About seven months.'

     `That puts paid to your riding lessons then,' he said.

     `Nonsense! I asked him about that and he said I can still ride for
another three. Then I've got to start taking it easy,' she replied. `I've
got to be a Texan before it's born.' He laughed.

     `Oh darling I can't get over it,' he smiled. `You a mother and me a
father! Will time travel affect it?' he said suddenly alarmed.

     `I shouldn't think so,' she laughed, `though it will be well travelled
by the time it's born.'

     `We'll have to curtail our travelling now though.'

     `Again, nonsense. We will go on as planned and peg the site of a
fallen animal and then check it back,' she said. What this meant was that
when they found a Dinosaur that had either died from natural causes or had
been killed but not ravaged, they would note this on their map. They could
now work Cronos to jump ten years or so to check if the carcase is still
there and if so, keep jumping years until it eventually got buried under
earth or covered by some other mishap. At this point when they were certain
that it wouldn't be disturbed for a few million years, would take off their
helmets and peg out the site and record it on their modern map.

     It all took time for invariably the remains would be scavenged and
they would have to find another one. Two they followed in this way were
found to have been discovered as it were by a dig and the skeleton removed.

     In spite of this, they found and traced four and these would be
`found' by the two Professors to earn them the title of being The Fossil
Hunters. These sites produced the most complete remains ever found, the
best one being that of a Triceratops, a two horned Dinosaur.

                                                            *

     Audrey could now ride the horse Dancer, it being regarded as hers now,
at a mild gallop when Brendan insisted that the time was up for her riding
as she was now six months gone. Her mother and father-in-law paid a visit
to the ranch and spent a week with them, thrilled at the expectancy of
becoming Grandparents. Audrey couldn't stop her mother-in-law from
arranging to have two nurses move in when she would be due to see and help
with the delivery.

     After they had gone back to Boston, Brendan went off to get funding
from Universities and students to start digging for the fossils while
Audrey stayed at the ranch and wrote an in depth book on the
Tyrannosaurus. It was published to much acclaim by members of their
profession but panned again by sceptics, but this was later.

     She'd written the first draft for Brendan to add to when she went into
labour. The nurses had arrived ten days before, sharing one of the bedrooms
and dining with them, happy with this arrangement. The doctor had been put
on stand-by and as his fee would be high, was prepared to drop everything
when the time came.

     Well it did and he arrived at the ranch an hour before the birth to
see that all was going well. Brendan was hustled out of the room for the
doctor and nurses to take over and assist Audrey. Brendan paced the lounge
after phoning his parents to tell them that it was due any time and so they
stayed in their home to await the news. It was four and a half hours after
she began her pains that he heard the wailing cry of a new born child and
he was now hopping about, waiting for one of the nurses to come out and
tell him. It was the doctor who emerged from the bedroom into the lounge,
wiping his hands on a towel.

     `Well Brendan, you have a fine healthy son and the mother's doing
fine,' he beamed at a successful delivery. Brendan shook his hand, his face
alight with joy as he kept on shaking it.

     `Sarah!' he called out for he knew she was in the kitchen with the
others waiting to hear. `It's a boy,' he cried out as she came into the
lounge, followed by her husband, Sam and Rubens.

     `Open the champagne! Can I see them Doctor?'

     `In a minute,' he laughed. `Let the nurses get everything clean and
ship shape,' he said as he took the proffered glass from Sarah, Brendan
taking his and they clinked glasses.

     `To Christian Fowler!' Brendan declared and they all drank to the
toast.

     `You can go in now Mister Fowler,' a nurse said coming into the
lounge. He put his glass down and startled the nurse by grabbing her and
giving her a big kiss before hurrying off to the bedroom.

     There was Audrey sitting up in their big bed with an even bigger smile
on her face as he stepped into the room. She was holding a small bundle in
his arms.

     `Is he big enough to be a Texan?' she asked. `He weighs nine pound and
two ounces.' Brendan had moved over to the side of the bed as she had
spoken and looked down at the pink face all screwed up.

     `Of course he's a Texan, just as you are my sweet,' he replied as he
bent down and kissed her. `A kiss for a wonderful mother and a beautiful
wife,' he said as he kissed her again, oblivious to the smiling nurse
standing on the other side of the bed.

     `Christian,' she said to the bundle in her arms as her finger stroked
the small soft lips, `meet your father. Brendan, meet your son.' Tears were
running down her face as she said these words as Brendan lifted up with his
finger the small fist that grasped at it and held on tight.

     `Can the others come in and see the heir?' he asked Audrey who looked
at the nurse.

     `Just for a few minutes. Mrs. Fowler is tired and needs some rest,'
she smiled. He quickly went to the door and called out for those waiting to
see the new baby. They came in and stood and all cooed over the baby,
Audrey getting a kiss from Sarah. The nurse only just gave them the few
minutes before shooing them all out, Brendan included.

     The nurse took the baby from Audrey and placed it in the cot beside
the bed and settled her down to rest and get some sleep. The nurse stayed
in the room while Audrey slept, though the nurses did change places once,
having a drink of champagne with Brendan in the lounge. The doctor, after a
couple of glasses had left and Sarah was busy getting dinner ready while
the other men drifted off to their chores.

     Brendan had his dinner on a tray sitting on the edge of the bed as
Audrey ate hers, though she only really pecked at it but drank two glasses
of champagne. He then sat and watched as she breast fed the baby and also
watched the nurse clean him up afterwards before settling him down for the
night in his cot before saying goodnight herself and going off to her room.

     Brendan quickly got undressed and got into bed and held Audrey in his
arms, kissing her and telling her how much he loved her. Tired as she was,
the birthing pains almost forgotten, she was thrilled and exhilarated at
being able to give her loving husband a son, and still in his arms, they
both fell asleep.

     It was still dark in the early hours of the morning when the baby woke
up with a cry and Brendan was out of bed in a flash and hurried round and
picked it up and was rocking it in his arms when the bedroom door opened
and a nurse stood there framed in the light from the hall.

    `I heard the baby cry,' she began. `Oh, Mr. Fowler!'

      He realised instantly that he was naked, for he always slept like
that, and here he was with just the small bundle in his arms showing all
that he'd got. But with him being in the middle of an erotic dream, he'd
had a massive erection when he jumped out of bed. It was starting to
subside when the nurse had walked in but even though it was now drooping,
it looked, well to her, that he was more of a horse than a man with a cock
like that.

    The nurse's face was quite red, her mouth open and her eyes even wider
seeing him like that and tried to stammer out her apologies for barging in.

     `Well now you've seen the son's and the father's,' he said, hastily
passing the baby to her as he dived back under the bed covers for the nurse
to carry the baby round to Audrey who was just sitting up.

     `Let's hope he grows up to be like his father,' she laughed to the
nurse, `for to him, everything is big in Texas.' The nurse laughed though
she was still blushing as she handed over the baby and quickly left the
room.

     `Did you have to parade yourself like that?' she asked though it was
spoken with a smile as she pulled one breast out of her nightgown for the
baby to feed.

     `I didn't know she was going to come in the room,' he replied.

     `She'll tell the other nurse and they'll probably have a good laugh
about it,' she chuckled. `I just hope it wasn't erect with you not having
had sex for a month.'

     `Well it wasn't and I don't see what she would have to laugh about,'
he said in a somewhat petulant voice.

     `Oh lighten up. I can see the funny side of it even if you can't,' she
said as she transferred the baby to the other breast.

     The nurse had the decency to blush when they met later at breakfast
though nothing was said about the incident and the two nurses only stayed
for another few days before they said farewell, taking home a nice pay
packet each, Ruben driving them back to the city. The doctor dropped in two
days later just to check both mother and son and left pleased that both
were doing fine.

     Cablegrams, cards and flowers were coming in from the time Brendan
phoned his parents with the news of them having a Grandson, the first cable
being from them naturally.

                                                            *

     Audrey knew of Brendan's dreams at night in bed for she would often
feel his erection pressing up against her back and knew that it was time
she helped him. He had not pressed her for sex since the baby had been born
and she had seen the desire in his eyes and now it was time, for she felt
that she could now accept him back into her body.

     She turned over in their big bed and went down under the covers and
gently lifted up his erection and though she couldn't see it, knew from her
touch that it was really throbbing. She licked her lips and took the head
of his cock into her mouth. He gave out a groan and rolled over onto his
back as she sucked and tongued him, bringing him to wakefulness.

     `Audrey darling. That's not where I want it,' he said, his voice thick
with sleep. She released him and moved up and kissed him.

     `Now darling,' she said and moved over onto her back. He rose up and
rolled on top of her, keeping his upper torso up, not wanting to squash her
over full breasts. His prick was really hurting him and it needed what she
was offering and as her legs opened, he slid himself inside her and gave
out a big sigh as his shaft was gripped tight inside the warmth of her
body.

     `Oh Brendan,' she gasped as his pulsating cock filled her once again,
having him back there again. `I've missed having you.'

     `I've missed this too darling,' he cried as he stiffened and came
inside her, much too quickly such as been his need. She clung to him as she
felt his seed and pulled him down onto her breasts and held him tight.

                                                            *

     A big party was held at the ranch two months later for the
christening. Mother and father, uncles and aunt stayed at the ranch while
friends, who'd been ferried down by their private jet, were put up in
hotels in Dallas where limousines ferried them back and forth to the ranch.

     Outside caterers were brought in for they had nearly as many people
for the christening as they had for their wedding. The baby was duly
christened as Christian Ulysses Fredrick Fowler and later became known
affectionately as Cuffy.

                                                            *

     Brendan had raised half of the money required for this first dig of
his on American soil from the University, himself putting up the other
half. This meant that whatever was found, it would be split two ways, not
the fossil itself but the monies it would be sold for. Though Audrey had
been with him to find these sites that they later excavated, she stayed
back on the ranch with Christian. Though she did visit the dig quite often
by using Cronos and keeping her helmet on and thereby, could sometimes
snatch an hour or two of loving with her husband in his tent without anyone
else knowing that she had ever been there.

     It only took them ten days to uncover the first bones and the crew of
students were ecstatic at finding them so quickly. So much so, that they
worked longer hours than they should. They were amazed that the leader of
the dig, one Professor Brendan Fowler, could tell at a glance of the few
bones that they uncovered, that it was belonging to a Tyrannosaurus. It was
proven two weeks later when they had removed the top soil to reveal the
fact that it was.

     With this now being an established fact, he went back to the
University for more money to begin another dig while the others finished
off this first one. He got three quarter funding this time. Though he made
the news with the Tyrannosaurus, it was even bigger news of the finding of
a complete skeleton of a Triceratops with a new group of students.

     By finding a capable nanny for Christian, Audrey was able to help out
at the beginning of this dig, Brendan giving her the credit for finding
this one and so that was when they became the Fossil Hunters. It was
remarkable that nobody picked up the fact that though these two digs were
nearly a thousand miles apart, Brendan had time to visit the other to
supervise what was being done. It was naturally assumed that he had taken
time off from one to go to the other, not that he could whiz between the
two in a matter of seconds.

     It was of constant amusement to Audrey and Brendan over this but they
still took precautions by not overdoing this form of transportation. Though
they still had two more sites pegged, they went out to find more but with
the provisio that they would only reveal them one at a time after each dig
had been brought to a successful conclusion.

     It was during the second dig that she fell pregnant again. With the
help of Cronos, she was almost able to be in two places at once. It was
also idyllic that he would announce he was going into whatever was the
nearest town for a few days, only to be picked up by Audrey in Cronos to
spend those days at the ranch. They were getting the best of two worlds and
were the happier for it which was how they came to be together when they
conceived their daughter Marion.

     Audrey was by now a competent enough a horsewoman to be able to
saddle, bridle up and mount Dancer to go out over the ranch and even do
small jumps. Though she still left the currying of the horse and the
cleaning of the stable to Thomas.

     When she was six months gone she then took the time out to start their
book on the Triceratops. Its mating habits, life, eating and defence. Their
nanny at this time, a feisty young Scot's lass by the name of Maggie, took
care of Christian at this time to leave her free to concentrate on her
writing.

     Though unknown to either Audrey or Brendan, Thomas, who was half white
and half Negro, had started paying court to Maggie, using the quaint old
way of saying it. Maggie had come to love little Christian and she simply
adored the strong looking master of the house as much as she did
Audrey. With Audrey now being pregnant again which would mean another child
to look after, decided to accept the attentions of Thomas for she wanted to
stay and become a member of this tight knit and loving family.

     When Audrey learned of this one evening through a personal tête-à-tête
with Maggie, decided to act quickly, for she really would need Maggie when
her own child was born. She had the two of them into the lounge one evening
and asked point blank if Thomas loved Maggie enough to get married? He had
said yes. Maggie said yes too to the same question put to her if she wanted
to marry Thomas.

     Before they knew it, they were married and Audrey had them flown by
their family jet to Florida where they had a fortnight's cruise as their
wedding gift for the honeymoon. Audrey, having had an austere upbringing
where money was concerned had learnt since being married to Brendan than it
was there to be spent in good causes such as this. It wasn't the money but
the thought and consideration that was behind it that lent itself to
winning the heart and the affection of those to whom it had been given.

     Audrey didn't begrudge the fact that she had Christian all to herself
for those two weeks, to feed, clean and play with. She just hoped that he
would take to his new brother or sister as he had to Maggie.

     Again, Brendan's parents were delighted with the news and made another
trip down to the ranch, bringing expensive and somewhat unpractical
presents for their Grandson. Audrey was delighted at their visit but was
also glad when they left for Boston again.

     The same two nurses were again employed at her lying in and assisted
the doctor in bringing Marion into the world. Brendan was over the moon,
dancing around in the lounge as they all drank champagne again, this time
with Maggie being there.

     It was almost as if planned that on the first night with the new baby
crying, Brendan was up in a flash to be caught this time by the other nurse
stark naked in the hall light holding the crying baby. Again he'd leaped
out of bed with an erection and it had just begun to wilt when he was
caught in the light. His half erect and swollen prick hanging there between
his legs for this other nurse to see and agree that the man was really a
horse. It became a standing joke that he flashed himself to every nurse the
night after a baby was born, which later proved to be a fact for he was
caught out on the next two occasions a few years hence.

     Again the christening was well attended at the ranch much the same as
for Christian, only it was now his sister to have the baptismal water
poured over her forehead as she was christened, Marion Ursula Francis
Fowler, to later be called much like Christian, as Muffy.

                                                            *

     I think it is here that we should close the first chapter of Cronos
with Brendan and Audrey now having a family. They still moved on to `find'
two more palaeontology sites which added to their esteem as the Fossil
Hunters. As for Cronos, well, he was a time machine of the first order, and
as he had survived on earth for over a hundred million years, who can say
how much longer he would remain?

                                                      *    *    *

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