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 Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:10 pm
Well, at least we know there are no serious medical problems.
I took Amyla to the doctor. Okay, it was more like I dragged her there. She was not pleased, but the doctor was happy to report that she was doing well. She gets enough exercise, her diet meets all of her nutritional needs with a little help from vitamin supplements, and the shaking is just how she is. I hope that stops when the baby is born. It scares me horribly. I keep thinking that there is something wrong, even if it's just me imagining things.
The good news is that the OB/GYN cut down the number of hours that she is allowed to work per week. That means she is going to be home and resting more which will hopefully help her sleep at night. The false contractions are far less frequent. I'm hoping this is a permanent change.
I painted the baby's room today. Since Erin and Kari share a room, Nieva and the baby will have the other. Nieva will be sleeping with the older girls until the paint fumes air out. The walls are now a very pale blue, and we've got the windows open and fans on high in order to get those fumes out. I wouldn't let Amyla in there for fear the fumes hurt her or the baby. We argued about that for ages, but she gave in when I told her it would get done faster if she just let me handle it. Now she is working with a scaled diagram of the room on paper to decide where to put all of the furniture. I'll be doing the lifting, of course.
Erin seems to understand that something significant is happening. She understands 'baby', but I wasn't sure until today if she really understood that a baby was on the way. She said she did before. It wasn't until she was bossing me around on how to make the room right for the baby that I realized she really does get it. She comprehends what having a younger sibling means. Ah well... to her, it means one more person to torment. To us, it means one more helpless thing to keep out of her reach. Don't get me wrong; I adore that kid. She just drives me nuts.
Gah.... speaking of kids, I think Kari and Erin are at it again. I swear, Amyla's and my fights are mild compared to those two. Since Amyla should be napping, I think I'll go break up this fight.
~Aiodhan
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2005 4:11 pm
I've gone from having one mother to having three. One visit to the doctor, and suddenly I am the most fussed-over being in this household. Not that I mind, of course, but it is quite.... different!
Kari is taking care of Nieva and Erin quite a bit. I'm home from work more, but I sleep so much more too. Erin is just as whiny and trouble-making as ever, though she was the one sleeping with me on the couch today when I felt ill. It felt rather nice to have my sadistic little one calm down for a bit. Normally she spends her time bugging Kari.
Nieva is still calling for me when she wants something, but Kari has started taking over that responsibility as well. I was so dead tired last night that I didn't hear Nieva crying in her sleep. Aiod and Kari took care of her and put her back to bed. I'm feeling very useless now. Everyone seems to be taking over everything for me, and while I don't mind the break, I hate not being able to keep busy. Less work at the hospital, less work at home.... what do I fill the time with?
Aiod has been writing a lot more lately. He was a writer before and during his isolation period, and he stopped for awhile when we first were together. He is finally getting back into it now, so my entertainment is in reading and proofreading it. We have a good laugh over some of it. His most recent story was based upon our tale. I suppose neither of us has ever written the story of that. Maybe once the baby's born, I'll take the time to put it to paper for our child's sake so that he or she can know the whole dramatic episode behind his or her existence.
Have I ever mentioned that I adore Celtic music? I've got "Lord of the Dance" on now, and I feel a lot better than when I first turned it on. Apparently the baby likes it too. I'm feeling a lot more kicks, but they aren't quite as painful as before. And speaking of the baby, I don't think they could get much bigger. I can't see my feet anymore, and I've about given up on ever seeing them again. I feel... bloated. Even the maternity clothes are starting to feel restrictive. Aiodhan has been giving me grief about my new maternal look, and while I don't mind the teasing, it does bother me that I feel so large.
Oh, drat, I hear Erin screaming in the kitchen. Not another cat fight... I'd better go break it up!
~Amyla
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Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 8:08 pm
Small Things Become Big "Remind me to never watch this movie again."
Amyla's tone of resigned frustration made Aiodhan chuckle, and he snuck his arm around the woman's shoulders, pulling her close for a quick hug. Seated comfortably side by side on the couch, the two were watching Erin's choice of movie for the evening, which happened to be The Lion King. It would not have been quite so bad were the toddler not trying to imitate all of the "kitty noises" on the show. Amyla was nearing the end of her patience, and Aiodhan pitied her, reaching over with his free hand to give her belly a gentle rub.
"How're you feeling.... minus the Erin issue?" he asked quietly, noting with pleasure that Erin was ignoring them. Good... a few minutes of uninterrupted discussion would do his nerves a world of good. Amyla seemed to be constantly growing larger and more uncomfortable, and that frayed not only her nerves but those of the entire family. Amyla did not seem too worried about the changes, but Aiodhan was definitely concerned. Was she supposed to look as though she'd swallowed a whole pumpkin? He had lost track of the time, but he still thought she was growing awfully large in a strangely short amount of time. Maybe his dragon DNA mixed with the tiger's had made the gestation period shorter; he wasn't sure.
Amyla was either telepathic or was thinking the same thing for she merely smiled and put her hand atop his. "I'm okay, less tired now that I'm not working so much. And this isn't the most comfortable position to be in, by the way."
For a fleeting moment, Aiodhan thought the way that she was sitting on the couch was paining her, but her faintly mischevious smile told him she meant the pregnancy, not her sitting position. He returned her smile, leaning in closer to press a kiss to her cheek. "Still, May, you're getting awful fat," he said, cringing as he was rewarded by an elbow to the ribs. He tried to backpedal as quickly as he could. "No, no, no! I meant that the baby is just growing so big so fast that maybe-"
A hand over his mouth silenced him immediately. "I know what you meant, and yes, I know I'm getting fat. I should know, but we need to continue this later," Amyla said pointedly, nodding her head in the direction of the sleepy Erin and finished movie.
Aiodhan nodded and released his hold on Amyla, standing up to eject the movie from the DVD player. He had just put it away when he heard a faint purring sound behind him. He turned around to see Amyla cradling the sleeping toddler in her arms and immediately rushed over to relieve her of her burden.
She refused. "Shhh! You're going to wake her up! And it's fine; she barely weighs anything at all. You just make sure Kari is getting ready for bed and Nieva is still asleep," the woman whispered as she made her way upstairs to put the toddler to bed, the little girl's fluffy tail waving lightly as she slumbered on.
Aiodhan was less than pleased by Amyla carrying the toddler up the spiralling flight of stairs, but he did not see how fussing would make the situation any better. He turned off the lights and made his way upstairs, wandering into Nieva's room first.
The brown and black Monoceros was sprawled out on her stomach and breathing quietly, her hands clutching at her stuffed strawberry. She snuffled softly in her sleep, and Aiodhan gently covered her up with her blanket, smiling as the little thing simply sighed contentedly and turned her head to the other side. Patting the infant once on the back, he tiptoed out and into the other bedroom, peeking in to see a scene of unusual calm.
Erin was now sprawled across her bed and covered in her favorite kitty blanket. The toddler's tail could still be seen twitching beneath the blanket, and Aiodhan chuckled softly as he strolled quietly over to kiss the girl's forehead. "Night, Catty," he whispered before making his way over to the other bed where Amyla was tucking Kari in.
"Mum, I'm not a little kid anymore!" Kari grumbled softly as her mother pulled the blankets up to her chin and kissed her lightly.
"We know. We just like bugging you," Aiodhan grumbled back in a faintly mocking tone, tousling the Ancient child's hair. "G'night, Kari."
Amyla gave him an exasperated look and then said her own good night. She walked toward the door, flicking off the light as she did.
Ignoring the look Kari gave him, Aiodhan winked at her and followed his mate out the door, quietly closing it behind him. "Nieva's fine- oh, well, okay...." he muttered as the woman went into the other room to check on the infant. He snuck an arm around her waist as she re-emerged, trying to hide a yawn. "Tired, are we? Bedtime for us too?" he suggested, leading her toward their bedroom.
It was fairly dark in the hallway, but he could still see a very Amyla-ish gleam in her eyes at the mention of bedtime. "Of course, dearie. Just let me get changed into more appropriate attire," she said sweetly.
Aiodhan's ears twitched at the endearment, but he perked up instantly at the thought of a bit of private time. Ah, how he was going to miss these days of peace...
***
Amyla wasn't sure if it was the scream or the abrupt movements of the bed that woke her up, but whichever of the two it was, it did the trick quite well. She awoke with a start, squealing with shock as she opened her eyes to find Erin's big eyes staring at her on her level. "Erin!" she cried, sitting upright a bit too quickly. She instantly felt dizzy and had to lie back down on her side, clutching at her head and stomach where her unborn child was violently protesting all of the disturbances. It's okay, baby. No big deal... Mummy just nearly had a heart attack... she thought, trying to placate the kicking child.
"Kari scawred," Erin said very tactlessly, reaching a hand up to pat Amyla's shoulder. The little toddler did not seem too fazed by the frantic activity that Amyla could hear going on elsewhere in the house. In fact, the girl seemed to be enjoying it, much to Amyla's chagrin.
"Mmmm.... really?" Amyla grunted softly, easing herself back up into a sitting position. This time, she managed to stay upright, and after a moment, she swung her legs off the bed and got her feet into her slippers to stand up. "And why's Kari so scared?"
The little toddler shrugged and took hold of her mother's hand. "Dunno... I not pull herw tail, Mommy. I pwomise," Erin said earnestly, her brown eyes looking innocently up at Amyla.
Amyla sighed and made her way toward the door, feeling a nervous flutter in her stomach as the yelling and movement downstairs came to a halt. Aiodhan's voice drifted up a moment later.
"May?"
Oh, this was not good. She could tell. Aiodhan sounded shocked, and to surprise Aiodhan took a great deal of effort. "Coming!" she called, her voice cutting off at the end as her child gave another vicious kick. "All right, all right, calm down..." she muttered, arching her back lightly to stretch as she headed down the stairs, still holding Erin's hand as the toddler walked along beside her.
"Kari is scaredy-kitty," Erin fairly purred as the two made their way downstairs.
So it had been Kari that screamed. Amyla frowned. "Where are you?" she called.
"In the kitchen!" Kari's voice squeaked in response, and Amyla was more than a little concerned as she led Erin into the kitchen to see what was going on. She was not expecting the sight that greeted her as she walked through the doorway.
Kari was sitting on the window seat, legs drawn up to her body and yellow eyes wide with... surprise? fear? Amyla could not tell. Aiodhan was standing in the middle of the kitchen, facing a creature that looked both strangely familiar and completely foreign.
The mysterious 'guest' was equine... and yet humanoid in some strange way. A little under four feet tall, she (and it was a she as the creature was naked and showing anatomical parts known only to females) was nearly covered in short dark brown hair. The hair darkened to a deep brown, almost black, around her hands and hooved feet. Her tail was long and thin and of the same deep brown as her feet, tipped with a tuft of dark hair. Her hair was deep brown as well and fell in waves down her back. Two bright blue eyes shone out of her equine-shaped face, and a blue horn protruded from the middle of her forehead.
Somewhere deep inside, Amyla knew who it was that she was facing, but she couldn't bring herself to realize it until the creature spoke.
"Mum? It's me... it's Nieva. Don't you know me?" the Monoceros asked quietly. She took a few steps towards her mother, leaving an astounded Aiodhan behind her. "Mum?"
Amyla just gaped for a moment, trying to comprehend how her little infant that she had cared for since... well, for a very long time... had managed to grow up overnight. How was it possible? How was-
"I know you don't understand it, and I don't either. I had a dream that someone like me appeared in my sleep and told me that I was needed as an adult, that the sacrifice of time that I made would be compensated by knowledge. And then I woke up, and I felt... I don't know. Wiser? More experienced?" Nieva said tentatively, finally coming to stand before Amyla. "I hope you're not mad, Mum. I didn't know that this would happen!" she said earnestly as she saw the shocked expression on her mother's face. She spread her dark hands wide in a helpless gesture, apparently at a loss for words.
She had just grown? Just like that?! Amyla shook her head in disbelief. Whatever it was that Nieva was needed for as an adult, it must have been important. This was quite an unexpected change, and it was going to cause more than a few problems. Still, the worried expression on Nieva's now not-so-young face needed to be addressed before things got out of hand. "It's all right. I'm not mad at all. Just a little shocked, that's all. I wasn't expecting you to grow up this quickly," she confessed, still trying to sort things out in her mind.
Nieva looked a little less apprehensive, but she still looked less than comfortable with the situation.
Aiodhan, meanwhile, strolled up behind the Monoceros and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Well, you sure know how to cause some chaos, don't you?" he chuckled, giving her a broad grin and wink.
Shocked by Aiodhan's apparent insensitivity, Amyla opened her mouth to tell him off when she was shocked to see Nieva smiling right back. Apparently she had grown into a sense of humor as well.
"I guess so," Nieva replied, giving her foster father a helpless shrug. She looked back and forth between the two adults, unsure now as to how to proceed. "This changes a lot doesn't it?"
Amyla and Aiodhan exchanged glances. Yes, it was certainly going to be a change. There would be some room and babysitting re-arrangements to be made, and Amyla was certainly going to have to take the Monoceros to meet some of her own kind again.
Ah well... at least I won't lose her completely. Amyla thought, giving her daughter a broad smile. "Yeah, this does change a lot around, but we'll manage. As long as you're happy, Nieva. That's what's important," she said, extending a hand to brush some of the Monoceros' wavy hair from her face.
The now-grown creature seemed to glow with happiness, and Aiodhan couldn't resist having the final word.
"I think the first order of business to be addressed is that you won't sleep in the crib anymore."
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 9:55 pm
To say the house has been turned upside down in the last few weeks would be putting it mildly.
Nieva growing up really shook up everyone, me most of all. I've cared for her, fed her, bathed her, rocked her to sleep, jumped up at all hours of the night to comfort her during nightmares... I was expecting more time with her as she grew. And then she just.... sprouted overnight. I did a little research on her kind, and there was not a lot of information available. The only thing I understood was that there are some cases where growth will occur quite suddenly, and the only explicable reason is that a higher power stepped in and made the change. Frankly, I don't care how it happened so much as why.
Well, Aiod came up with an explanation, but I'm not so sure I like it. He had a (as he put it) "really creepily real" dream the night after Nieva grew. A spirit-thing appeared to him and told him that Nieva grew in order to better protect our yet-unborn child. I thought I found more plausible the explanation that she and her kind need to multiply here in Gaia, so all of them had to grow up in order to reproduce. Either way, we have one very grown-up child that has changed the entire set of dynamics in the household. It has been interesting trying to deal with this. We did a bit of rearranging in the upstairs, and the playroom has been turned into Nieva's new room. We moved a lot of the toys into the closet and a few into Erin and Kari's room. Nieva didn't seem to mind the rearranging at all. In fact, she did most of the moving and adjusting while Aiod was at work and I supervised. It is sort of nice to have an adult in the house.
Erin and Kari haven't taken to it too well. Kari was enjoying being 'second-in-command' to Aiod and I, and she has now been demoted as Nieva outranks her in age, experience, wisdom, etc. Nieva hasn't been holding it over Kari's head at all, but Kari does not like listening to a creature she was previously caring for. I can't say that I really blame her; it has been difficult adjusting. Erin was not initially too put-off by Nieva's "metamorphosis", but she does not like being cheated out of someone to pick on. Nieva is no longer available for her to torture, and Erin is not pleased. Kari has been taking the brunt of the annoyance from her, though Nieva and I both step in and stop it as much as we can. Still, we can only do so much.
It doesn't help that I've been feeling more and more like a slug. I'm not as tired, and the kicking, though more frequent, is not painful, just uncomfortable. I just feel so heavy and graceless. As Aiod puts it, I look like I swallowed an entire pumpkin, and I really feel like it too. Zambarau has been wonderful. She will often come curl up against my stomach when I'm on the couch and Erin isn't around. For a lion, she is remarkably like a housecat except when provoked by Erin. That toddler just barely avoided getting a bitten arm the other day. Zam has a lot of patience, but she can only tolerate so much.
All right... nap time. That afternoon snack did me in.
~Amyla
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:24 pm
The Letter "Honey, I'm home!"
Amyla smirked as Aiodhan's falsely high-pitched voice echoed into the kitchen. She had known he was coming minutes before. Zambarau, watching from the playroom windows, had alerted her of her mate's arrival home. He always took awhile extracting himself (particularly his wings) from the car, so she had not been especially concerned when ten minutes had passed before he walked in the door. And to hear him give his usual greeting... well, that meant that work could not have been exceptionally bad.
"Welcome home, dearie. Did you have a nice day at work?" Amyla asked sugar-sweetly, turning a pair of innocent and adoring blue eyes up toward the dragon-man as he padded into the kitchen.
That elicited a growling laugh from him, and he came close for a quick kiss, giving her a gentle one-armed hug before moving off toward the table. "Oh, it was wonderful, honey. A couple of teenagers decided to get drunk, row their canoe out to the middle of the lake, and drop their paddles. I had to fly out and drag them back in," he drawled in his normal sarcastic tone, the usual "welcome home" act now completed. He gave a lazy stretch and reached over to ruffle Kari's hair where the Ancient was bent over her work at the table, yellow eyes narrowed in concentration.
Kari was only mildly annoyed by the interruption, it seemed, for she only looked up at her foster father and gave him a mild sigh of rebuke. "Are you going to help me with multiplication?" she asked patiently, green feet swinging a few inches above the floor.
"Nuh uh... wrong parent, kiddo," Aiodhan laughed, throwing his hands up in a gesture of complete uselessness.
Amyla watched the scene unfold as she continued to slice up the apples for their afternoon snack, nervously biting at the inside of her lip. Should she tell him? She did not want to ruin what seemed to be a very good day, but the issue had to be addressed sooner or later. She warred with herself as she finished slicing up the apples, finally managed to locate some peanut butter in the pantry, and ambled toward the table with food in hand. Should she? Shouldn't she?
Kari seemed to decide that for her as the Ancient packed up her multiplication lesson and scooted away from the table. "I'm going to go work in my room while Erin isn't there," she announced, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek and her father a mock glare which was graciously returned. She grabbed one piece of apple from the plate and executed her odd version of a run out the kitchen and toward the stairs.
Aiodhan raised one eyebrow and gave Amyla a suspicious look. "Did you tell her to head upstairs once I got home?" he asked, munching on the apple slice as he did. "'Cause usually when you do that, there is something serious going on."
He was right, of course. Normally when Kari pulled her famous disappearing acts, it was because Amyla needed a private moment with Aiodhan. Today, however, no such request had been made to the green Ancient child. "I didn't say anything to her, but she must have guessed," Amyla sighed, loathe to ruin his happy day. When he gave her a questioning look, she offered up the less-than-joyful news, "We got a letter from your parents today. Or should I say, you did."
The dragon-man nearly gagged on his apple piece, and he coughed several times before managing to get the piece down and turn a shocked gaze to his mate. "M-m-my parents?! But... but... they... I thought they thought I was dead! I wrote them a note and everything..." he stuttered uselessly, making vague flailing gestures with both hands.
"I know; you told me about that. But a letter arrived from them to you today. I didn't open it since... well, since it is for you," Amyla admitted, intercepting one of his hands and squeezing it gently. She felt horribly guilty for adding another worry to his head, but he would have to find out sooner or later. Better now than tomorrow, when...
"Where is it?" he asked suddenly, looking expectantly at her other hand as if to see it.
Amyla moved to retrieve it from the counter, but Aiodhan had already spotted it lying next to the telephone. He was up and out of his chair before she could protest, snatching up the envelope and ripping it open almost before he got back to his seat. "Impossible... I left them a note..." he muttered, unfolding the letter to start reading aloud:
"Dearest Son,
We are so glad to have finally found you again. We had almost given up hope of finding you after we found the note and the empty cabin. We were worried that something had happened to you, but your employer assured us that you are alive and well. We mentioned your deformity that you wanted fixed, and he reacted with surprise, saying that you had no deformity that he could see. If you finally found a way to rid yourself of that problem, then congratulations are in order. Without a doubt, you've gone back to being yourself again and started being the Aiodhan we missed in those difficult years."
Amyla was out of her seat and had her back pressed flat against the counter on the opposite side of the kitchen by the time he finished reading the first paragraph. She felt a few vicious kicks from inside her abdomen and gently pressed a hand there to soothe the child, herself more than a little disturbed by the expression on Aiodhan's face. She had seen him angry before, but he was past angry now. He was furious. His face had at first flushed with anger, but now it was a white, sold white, with rage.
He did not seem to notice her discomfort, for he kept reading:
"Your mother cried for days after we found that note that you left for us. At first, we thought the worst. She wanted to come searching the area with me, but I told her to stay home so that she wouldn't have to see you had in fact. We dragged the lake and searched the forest, everywhere within a ten-mile radius, and found nothing. We thought you had just vanished into thin air until we met the head of the waterway patrols at a charity dinner a few weeks ago. He mentioned your name in passing, and we explained to him the situation. He told us that you are indeed still alive, and he gave us your address and phone number. We are very much looking forward to seeing you."
Aiodhan paused in his reading, his tail swishing madly around the back of his chair. He looked dangerous for the first time in... a long time, and Amyla was almost afraid of him. She did not move, though, and simply watched him watch the letter until he kept on reading:
"We hope you don't mind that we went so far as to set up a meeting time. We would like to stop by your house on Monday afternoon, around 3 PM. Your employer told us that you have the day off, so that should give us plenty of time to discuss the past and what you plan to do with the future. It is your future, of course, but we would like to know how you've been these past few years and what you plan to do in the future.
Love, Mom and Dad
P.S. We found some old pictures of you and Caleb that we thought you might want. We'll bring those along too."
Aiodhan let the letter fall to the table and silently stood, turning and exiting the room before Amyla could react. The back door creaked open and then slammed shut, and Amyla had a good idea where he was headed. He often went out onto the covered porch to ponder in silence, though she had a feeling that he was more in the mood to rant than to mull over things. After taking a moment to steel herself and try to calm her viciously kicking offspring, Amyla eased herself away from the counter and moved toward the back door. She slipped outside and shut the door behind herself, one hand resting on her belly as she glanced about for her mate.
He was standing on the opposite edge of the deck, hands resting several feet apart on the railing and head bowed in thought. He heard her approach and flicked one ear but said nothing.
"Aiod?" she said tentatively, stepping up beside him to rest one hand on his bare back. His leathery dragon hide felt warm beneath her hand, and she very gently rubbed his dark dorsal 'stripe' of dragonskin, smiling faintly as she felt him relax a bit beneath her hand.
"Remember how I told you when we met.... that I didn't want to be saved?" he asked rather suddenly, surprising her a bit.
"How could I forget?" Amyla asked resting the side of her face against the back of his shoulder. It was not evening yet by any means, but it was still chilly enough that she was graceful for the warmth.
He turned his head to look at her, and Amyla was shocked and appalled to see the torturous guilt in his eyes. "I wasn't lying then. I wanted to die, to stop living," he said, his voice coming out rather harsh and strained.
"Yes, but that was then. You don't have a death wish now, do you?" Amyla asked, again rubbing the patch of tougher hide on his back. She was worried now, nearly to the point of terrified. Aiodhan was normally... the emotional consistency in the family. Yes, he got worried, fussy, depressed, or snappish on occasion, but he was never so... despondent.
The child must have sensed her growing unhappiness for it immediately began kicking with a fury. A few minutes later, a fierce spasm passed across her belly and nearly doubled her over. She pressed a hand to the side of her swollen abdomen, grunting quietly as the child kicked out again.
Instantly, a pair of hands splayed across her belly, and a massive pair of wings engulfed her in an embrace. Aiodhan rested his forehead against hers, and she felt his hands begin to move gently on her belly. She wondered silently what he was up to and then gave an unbidden sigh of relief as the kicking slowed and came to a halt, the child relaxing beneath his hands.
"Sorry, May... didn't mean to upset you," he murmured quietly before pressing a kiss to her forehead. The tortured look still haunted his eyes, and he seemed to know it for he looked away and sighed. "Even after I made a home here with you, I still wanted to be dead... not to you, but to the rest of the world. I wanted the world to leave me alone, to leave us alone. I guess I'd just hoped that my parents would give me up for dead and leave me be."
Amyla nodded mutely and leaned into him, smiling faintly as his arms worked their way around her back. She felt a twinge in her belly and ignored it, trying to relax in his embrace. "Well, if they are your parents and are anything like you, they had to find you sooner or later," she murmured. When she saw him look down at her with an expression of utter confusion, she elaborated. "You're not brainless, Aiodhan, and if intelligence is at all genetic, your parents are smart enough to have figured out what happened to you. I don't think there is anywhere you can hide from them."
She could not help feeling a bit miffed, though. He wanted to hide her, hide their family, from his own parents. Why? Was he ashamed of them all and of what he had become? Were they not good enough to meet his parents' standards?
"I know, May, but I sure tried. They patronized me something awful after the transplant and after Caleb died. I think that made everything so much worse, which is why I was so driven to die," he said quietly, burying his face in her hair.
They stood that way in silence for a few moments until Amyla shivered from a chill, tucking herself in closer to Aiodhan's warm body. She was rewarded with a tighter embrace and a kiss to the temple. She was warm now physically, but she still had a rather chilly feeling in her heart, that Aiodhan was trying to hide himself and her and their family from his parents. Was there something wrong with them that he was so averse to the idea of his parents finding him here? "I suppose they still plan on coming over on Monday," she said, trying to sound offhanded about it and failing miserably even to her own ears.
Aiodhan pulled away and gazed down at her face, one eyebrow raised. "Yes, I suppose," he said cautiously, eyes narrowing a bit. "You don't seem too thrilled."
"Neither do you," Amyla replied, shivering again and stepping closer to him out of reflex. She was trying to look nonchalant about the situation and was not succeeding if the look on Aiodhan's face was anything to go by. That was confirmed in his next words.
"Nice try, May, but I know you a little too well for that. You're not bugged about meeting my parents so much as you're upset that I didn't want them to find me here," he said rather bluntly, his face unreadable.
Amyla's jaw dropped. Was he telepathic, or did she say something outloud? She recovered her composure and moved to speak, but he covered her mouth with one hand.
"No, just listen. I don't want them to come here because I don't want them to be controlling on our family like they were on theirs. I want them to meet you and the rest of our happy little family-"
Amyla had to grin at that. Happy? Yes. Little? Definitely not.
"-so that I can show them how I made my own life without their help. I don't need their advice or their approval. I want them to stay out of my business," he finished, frowning as he noticed her grin. "What's so funny?"
"You. Can we go inside before I freeze? And I need to clean the house up before they come by tomorrow," Amyla said, shivering again despite Aiodhan's close proximity.
That made him gape. "What? You mean you're actually going to let them in the house?!" he asked, following her inside.
"Yep, and I'm going to feed Erin a bunch of sugar ahead of time."
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:26 pm
Meet the Parents It should have been a normal Monday afternoon at the Raikes-Layden household. Now on maternity leave, Amyla should have been relaxing or finishing up some minor housework before going to take her afternoon nap. Aiodhan always had Mondays off, so he should have been relaxing as well, probably doing a bit more housework than relaxing but that was to be expected. Kari should have been doing lessons, Erin bugging Zambarau, Zambarau sleeping next to Amyla on the couch, and Nieva working on perfecting her watery talents. As it was, nobody was doing what they should have been.
The house was normally in fairly good order. That is not to say that it was always perfectly clean. Far from it. The place was normally cluttered with homework, reminders of doctor's appointments, toys, and various other things. But there was always an order to the chaos. Today, however, the place was absolutely immaculate. It had to be. Mommy and Daddy Layden were coming over to visit.
"May, where did I put my shirt?" Aiodhan yelled down the stairs, currently dressed only in casual black slacks. He had decided to leave off the shoes as usual, but he did feel the need to wear a shirt when his parents came over. He did not want to look too casual.
"Daddy look funny," Erin said rather pointedly, watching her father with big brown eyes. She cocked her head to one side and then leaned in closer to Nieva's body, fastening her arms around the Monoceros' neck. "Why need shirt?"
"Grandpa and Grandma are coming over, remember?" Nieva pointed out, shifting the toddler on her hip. She carefully pulled her hair from the child's grip, giving the little girl a stern look. "Ah ah... no pulling hair!"
"Oh, yippee.... more people to meet," Kari said glumly as she made her way down the stairs. The Ancient was nude, as usual, but as she was still physically genderless, she had nothing to cover up. She saw that as an advantage. Clothes were so restrictive!
"Come on, guys. These are my parents we're talking about. They really want to meet you all, I'm sure," Aiodhan said pleadingly, watching Nieva head downstairs with Erin still on her hip.
Kari grumbled something beneath her breath, and Amyla appeared at the bottom of the stairs to give the Ancient child a stern look. "I heard that, Kari, and you had best not say that while they're here. Just because they don't know about us doesn't mean that they don't want to meet us," she replied, looking more than a little uncomfortable.
Aiodhan frowned at his mate, gray eyes narrowed with concern. "May, you all right?" he asked, noticing the distinctly strained expression on her face. The last time she had worn that look, he had had to put her to bed after a bad bout of false contractions. He did not want a repeat of that.
She smiled up at him, trying to look a bit better than she felt. "A little tired and sore... everywhere. I'll be fine. And your shirt is on the bed, by the way," she added, gesturing with her head in the general direction of their bedroom.
He smiled down at her, rustling his massive black wings. "If you say so, Fatso. But the minute you get dizzy or start feeling ill, you had better sit down, or I'll put you straight to bed, regardless of the time," he replied, waggling a finger at her and looking as stern as he could manage. His reward was a mock-glare and a stuck-out tongue, and he scampered off to put on his shirt before she could lodge a protest.
Amyla growled beneath her breath and turned to spot Nieva, Kari, and Erin making themselves comfortable in the living room, apparently anticipating an imminent arrival. The woman raised one eyebrow. "Ahhh... it is still only quarter to three, you know."
Nieva flicked one ear. "Yes, but there is a new car in the driveway."
Amyla's jaw dropped, but the ringing of the doorbell interrupted whatever she was about to say. She shut her mouth and gave her children a peculiar look before moving to answer the door, an odd sinking feeling in her stomach. She unlocked both deadbolts, swallowed nervously, and opened up the door.
Mr. and Mrs. Layden were standing there, and both looked incredibly like Aiodhan. Both were tall, the man nearly Aiodhan's height and the woman topping Amyla by a good seven or eight inches. Both had Aiodhan's brown hair, and the man seemed to have the same sharp gray eyes. Their facial features were exceedingly like his too, and Amyla had to take a moment to compose herself before smiling and inclining her head politely to the two.
They merely gaped at her as she stared at them, and then before she could give them a proper welcome, Mrs. Layden protested in a very shrill voice. "I was given no notice that my son had gotten married! What is this?! He got married and didn't tell us?"
That stunned Amyla to no end. "Errr... well, we're not married. Aiodhan and I-"
That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, for the woman shrieked and then stepped back with an expression of utmost loathing on her face. "Vile witch. Seduced him and then got pregnant to keep him around, did you?"
"Excuse me?" Amyla asked incredulously, not believing what this woman was saying to her. This woman showed up on her doorstep to scold Amyla about her life? What business was it of hers?!
"Where is my son?" Mr. Layden demanded, looking as enraged as his wife was disgusted. He towered over the petite Amyla by quite a bit, and he took a step forward towards the door, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate her.
Ha! I faced down Aiodhan in a rage, and he's bigger and more dangerous than this guy. What is wrong with these people?! Amyla silently wondered, glancing back and forth between the two irate people on her doorstep.
"Well? Answer me!" the man demanded, taking another step forward and putting one hand on the door as if to shove it open.
Amyla opened her mouth to protest but was silenced by a dangerous growl from behind her. An instant later, Aiodhan had opened the door all the way and was standing next to her. He was fully dressed, but Amyla was fairly sure that if it weren't for the obstinate shirt, he would have been by her side earlier. Now he was here, and he looked very displeased.
"So this is the way you decide to introduce yourselves?" the dragon-man growled, and Amyla held back a smirk as both parents took a step back, Mrs. Layden practically cowering behind her husband. "You come here to our home, uninvited, and then verbally harass her. Splendid... remind me how I'm related to you again?"
That seemed to silence them for a moment, but Mr. Layden fired right back a moment later. "Don't you dare give us that sort of attitude after all that we did for you! We.... we took care of you after the accident and after Ca-"
"You drove me insane with your fussing and only looked after me because you felt obligated to, not because you actually cared. Mom was too afraid to look at me for years after the transplant," Aiodhan growled, flaring out his wings and then resettling them on his back.
Mrs. Layden looked ready to protest to that, but Amyla stepped in. "Look, I know you all have a lot to talk about ri-- don't interrupt me!" she interjected as Mrs. Layden tried to cut her off. She glanced back and forth between her mate and his parents, giving Aiodhan a look of pleading and his parents one of reproach. "But can't the arguing about the past wait until later? My feet and back hurt, and I'm sick of listening to you fight over things that happened years ago."
None of the three had a suitable respond to that, though Aiodhan did slip an arm around her waist. Heartened by this, Amyla continued, directing her attention at Mr. and Mrs. Layden. "You came here to discuss what Aiodhan has been doing since he disappeared and to see what he plans to do with his future. The answers to that are here-" She placed one hand on her swollen abdomen. "-and sitting in the living room."
Aiodhan sighed heavily and stepped back to let his parents come inside. He gave her a look half of gratitude and half of exasperation, nudging her lightly with his tail. "Well, come on in, Mom and Dad. The rest of the family is ready to meet you."
Mrs. Layden looked ready to faint at that announcement, but her husband dragged her inside and over to the living room. She fell rather heavily onto an unoccupied couch, staring with barely-disguised dislike at the three gathered 'offspring.'
"By all rights, Dad should have punched you the minute you opened your mouth. He doesn't like women talking back to him. Did you see his face?" Aiodhan sniggered quietly in Amyla's ear before locking the door and leading her into the living room.
"What is going on?" Mr. Layden demanded, glancing at Aiodhan and Amyla and then at the three rather odd beings on the other couch.
Aiodhan settled Amyla on the loveseat first and relaxed beside her before answering that question. "You wanted to see what I've been up to, and here's the family. Mom, Dad, meet Amyla," he said, gently squeezing Amyla's full waistline.
Amyla gave Mrs. Layden a wry smile, noting how the woman's gaze rested on her stomach. Yeah, I'm pregnant with his kid. You don't like it... too bad! she thought, settling more comfortably against Aiodhan's warm side. It felt odd to rest her head on a clothed shoulder, but she had a feeling his parents would have thrown an even worse tantrum were he without 'proper' clothing.
"Yes, Mom, that is my kid she is carrying. And Erin is ours as well, though how that came to be I have no idea," Aiodhan remarked, raising one eyebrow at the blond toddler who sat giggling on Nieva's lap. "She's sitting on Nieva, and the green fuzzhead is Kari."
"I'm not their biological child, and neither is Nieva, just so you know," Kari said casually, ignoring the look Amyla sent in her direction.
"I can see that," Mrs. Layden remarked, curling her lip. She glanced at Aiodhan. "Two biological children... and where are the wedding bands?" she asked, lifting one eyebrow.
"Missing, naturally. Such a sweet-looking thing, but she has obviously been a bad influence on you, son," Mr. Layden said with a sigh, shaking his head in Amyla's direction. "Don't you remember any of the morals we taught you?"
Aiodhan's expression turned into a glower. "Excuse me, but I don't see how that is any of your business," he said, his voice sounding rather cold even to Amyla.
Mrs. Layden gasped. "Aiodhan Qui-"
"Don't, Mom. This is my life, and I'm living it the way that is best for me. If you don't like it, you don't have to see me and this family anymore. Our children don't need grandparents who are going to spend all of their time criticizing," the dragon-man interrupted, shifting his wings again.
Amyla put a hand on his shoulder to hold him back. He was going to launch at his parents, she just knew it. She could feel his body shaking with rage. She supposed if she weren't so tired, she would have been angry too. As it was, though, being mad at the two nothing-more-than rude people before her was just too taxing on her already low energy supply.
"How dare you speak to us that way after all we did for you!" Mr. Layden snapped, rising to his feet.
Nieva seemed to sense danger and picked up Erin, grabbed Kari by the hand, and quickly exited the room.
Aiodhan was off the couch and in his father's face before Amyla could protest. "You and Mom drove me to kill myself with your act. You lost Caleb, and you blamed me because I should have been able to save him. If it weren't for this transplant, I could have saved him. And you hated me for it, and you hate me now because I'm not letting you run my life. I was perfectly happy here until you decided to show up!" he snarled, his wings flaring dangerously out to either side.
Mrs. Layden stood to back up her husband. "Aiodhan, we're your parents! We know what is best for you, and that witch does not deserve any the attention you bestow on her!" she said, glaring fiercely up at her son.
"That witch is my lover and the reason I'm alive... the only reason," Aiodhan said quietly, eyes narrowed to slits.
Amyla rose to her feet and slipped beneath one of Aiodhan's wings, moving to stand beside him with one hand on his shoulder. She felt a twinge in her stomach and silently shushed the child. Such a sensitive thing, this child of theirs was.
Her approach turned the standoff into a silent one, both sides glaring at the other until Mr. and Mrs. Layden looked away.
"We're through here," Aiodhan's father said abruptly, heading for the door with his wife clinging to his arm. "Goodbye, son."
Aiodhan and Amyla followed after them, Aiodhan opening the door to let them leave. "Goodbye, Mom and Dad," he said formally, bowing them out the door.
Both parents stepped out onto the walkway, and then suddenly, Aiodhan called out to them. They turned, and the dragon-man bared his teeth at them in a vicious smile. "By the way, I breathe fire now too," he said gleefully.
Mrs. Layden shrieked and swooned, and they left in such a haste that Aiodhan had barely shut the door before their car was down the driveway and gone.
"That went well," Kari sighed from her seat on the spiralling stairwell, watching her parents. "Do they have to visit again?"
Amyla shook her head. The Layden's words still bugged her, and the child inside her was rapidly picking up on her discomfort and beginning to squirm about uncomfortably.
"No, they're not coming back, Kari. Why don't you guys go watch TV for awhile while your mother and I talk," Aiodhan said, gesturing them out with his chin.
Nieva nodded wisely and led her two siblings into the other room amidst shouts of "Lion King!!" from Nieva and "The Black Cauldron!" from Kari.
"I don't want them back here, Aiodhan. I don't like they way they treated us," Amyla said as soon as the younger ones had left the room. She looked up into her mate's face, shocked to see how sad he looked. "Aiodhan?"
He smiled gently down at her and gave her a quick hug. "I was hoping we could have reconciled... now that some time has elapsed, you know? Oh well. Wasn't meant to be. Anyway, does my darling want her afternoon nap now?" he asked, changing the topic before she could protest.
Amyla glared up at him for just a moment and then nodded. "Sure. Lead on, o ferocious defender of our family and way of life," she said with a wide yawn.
Aiodhan chuckled and led her toward the family room where the sounds of "The Lion King" were already coming from the television. "They aren't coming back, May. I promise."
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:08 pm
The Storm: Part III Little, if any, light was streaming through the windows though it was only midafternoon. The sun was blocked out by dark clouds, and every few minutes, the flashes of lightning preceded massive booms of thunder by only a few seconds. Therain was falling in torrents, drumming interesting tunes on the (thankfully) no longer leaky roof.
Mmmm... I'll have to thank Aiodhan again for that at some point. Amyla mused silently, sighing and trying to relax into a more comfortable position on the couch. Thunderstorms, while very exciting and always producing interesting situations in the Raikes-Layden household, were quite a drag in the last stages of pregnancy. The entire house was dark and gloomy, despite the fact that the lights were-
Click.
Great.... Amyla groaned silently just an instant before she heard a wail from the kitchen. Heaving herself up on to her feet, the woman lumbered her way towards the source of the crying, nearly toppling over when Erin met her at a halfway point and abruptly got a chokehold on her leg.
"Mommynolights! Nolights nolights!" the little toddler gibbered, clawing frantically at Amyla's leg.
"Yes, I know, Erin. It's okay. We'll just play games in the dark, all right?" she suggested soothingly, trying to bend down and dislodge the girl from her leg. She was dismayed to find that she could not reach, and, sensing that she could not be immediately comforted, Erin's whimpering turned into full-blown wailing sobs.
"May! You okay? I hea- oh, nevermind," Aiodhan chuckled softly as he came in from the garage, shutting the door between it and kitchen. Within a few seconds, he had scooped Erin up off the floor and was shushing her, trying to steady Amyla with his free arm. "Easy, May.... no falling over," he said warningly.
Amyla gave a wry grin and leaned on him a bit more, glad to get some of the weight off her feet. She felt lazy, unbalanced, and fat.... rather like a slug with legs. It was not a pleasant feeling.
"Mom, did someone hit the circuit breaker, or was that the power going out?" Kari grumbled from the stairs.
"That was the power going, Kari. I'm grabbing flashlights from the closet up here!" Nieva called, her voice rather faint to Amyla's ears.
Erin took her head away from Aiodhan's chest, her face streaked with tears. "Lights?" she asked hopefully, tail perking up along with the rest of her.
"Yeah, lights. We'll just play down here until the power comes back," Aiodhan told the toddler as he lead Amyla back to the couch. As soon as they got there, he raised one eyebrow at his mate. "Sit?"
She sat rather heavily on the couch, sighing as she readjusted her position to a more comfortable one. "Was that a command or request?" she couldn't help but ask as she again resituated herself. Ye gads, this was uncomfortable. Her back hurt, her breasts ached something awful, and no position she tried was any easier on her body. Ugh....
Aiodhan gave her a look of concern but seemed to settle for leaning over and kissing her forehead. "Whichever you prefer, angel. I'm going to get these guys situated," he said before marching toward the stairs that Amyla could just barely make out in the darkness. She supposed Aiodhan had a little easier time with finding things in the dark. The dragon eyes surely did not hurt.
She leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes and trying to relax. It was rather difficult, though, especially with as tense as her back was. Her stomach felt similarly stretched and strained, and she absentmindedly rubbed one sore spot near her navel, stifling a yawn. Sleep had been elusive as of late, but she attributed that to the lack of comfort she was able to attain. People generally do not sleep when in serious discomfort, and Amyla was no exception. Stress made for less sleep too, but Amyla's life had been very calm lately, minus the incident with Aiodhan's parents, of course.
Parents...
Ah yes, that reminded her of something else she had neglected to think much about: baby names. They would be parents soon. The thought made her shiver just a bit. Her... a parent, and not just a foster parent or guardian either. A real parent... a re-
"May?"
Amyla gave an undignified squeal and nearly jumped out of her skin, her eyes flying open and her head shooting upright with such speed that she instantly felt a wave of dizziness. Groaning quietly, she closed her eyes again and tried to ease herself back into a comfortable position, feeling the infant inside her kicking about angrily. She had scarcely settled when she felt two warm hands stroking her abdomen and heard Aiodhan's voice:
"Sorry, angel. I didn't think you were asleep," he said contritely, and Amyla had to smile at the guilt in his voice, opening her eyes just a bit to look him in the eye. "You okay, or is the baby still acting up?"
Seemingly comforted by its father's presence, the child was gradually quieting, though Amyla did get one spectacular kick in the side that made her snort. "I'm fine, and your child is really a handful," she grumbled, letting him fuss over her for a few moments. She took the opportunity to examine the now well-lit family room and concluded she must have slept for awhile if the condition of the room was anything to go by.
Aiodhan had brought blankets and pillows down from their bedroom to sleep Amyla on the couch and him on the floor. Sleeping bags were tossed in a haphazard pile off to one side, accompanied by Erin's favorite blankie and Kari's treasured beanbag pillow. There were two bright lanterns (battery-powered, of course, with Erin's love of fire) that lit up most of the room barring the one corner that Kari sat in. Squinting, Amyla could just make out the Ancient's form where she sat bent over her Legos.
Kari must have sensed the gaze on her for she turned her face toward her mother, and Amyla was shocked to see her yellow eyes glowing through the darkness. "I never realized how easy it is to see without light," the Ancient said gleefully, and Amyla could hear the click-clacking of Legos being snapped together and pulled apart.
"You okay, Mum?" Nieva asked quietly, and Amyla spotted the Monoceros sitting in the pool of light with Erin, apparently trying to teach the toddler colors with the aid of building blocks for the little catgirl kept chanting "greengreengreengreengreengreen!" The Monoceros absentmindedly patted her sister on the head, still watching her mother with concerned blue eyes.
Amyla could not help but grin at Erin's chants and nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. Your father was just trying to give me a heart attack," she said with an exaggerated sigh that turned into a massive snort as she got another kick from the inside. "Yow... d'you mind?" she grumbled down at her abdomen as Aiodhan settled on the couch beside her.
A warm chuckle echoed in her ear. "I'm sure my wonderfully annoying little child does not mind giving you grief. I bet they enjoy it," the dragon-man murmured for her ears only, slipping an arm around her and drawing her in close.
Amyla glanced to make sure her children where occupied and then promptly elbowed Aiodhan in the groin, smirking as he gave a massive, albeit quiet, exhale. "Humph! I'll make you get pregnant next time, wise a-"
She just barely managed to stifle her groan this time as she felt an invisible hand squeeze her abdomen. The pressure lasted for just a moment, but it was long enough that she exhaled with a loud 'whoosh!'
"Ow?" Aiodhan whispered softly in her ear, rubbing a gentle hand over her belly. His other hand began to knead her lower back, and Amyla had to bite her lip to keep back another groan, this one of relief. "Hey.... keep it down, angel," the dragon-man whispered in her ear, nuzzling at her cheek. When she opened her eyes to give him a glare, he nodded his head in the direction of the three playing offspring.
Amyla swallowed and nodded. "Okay.... and yes.... ow," she whispered back, smiling back at him when his face split into a grin at her humor. If they wanted to make it up to and through the baby's birth, they needed to keep their sense of hu-
This time, Aiodhan's hand was on the band of muscle as it contracted, and he gave it a gentle rub, trying to ease the discomfort as best he could. He didn't stop until Amyla's exhale signalled a cessation of the pain, and she gave him a grateful smile.
"Damn things are trying to trick me again. Not falling for it this time," she grumbled quietly, sounding far more confident than she felt.
The dragon-man did not look convinced, but he refrained from commenting. They sat in comfortable (or in Amyla's case, uncomfortable) silence for awhile, watching and listening to Erin's lesson in colors. So far the toddler had mastered "green" and was pleased to just know that. The chanting of "greengreengreengreengreen" was growing louder, despite Nieva's attempts to introduce new colors.
Amyla was grateful for the loud chanting as it drowned out the massive groan she uttered when another contraction hit, this one as discomforting as the first. Yuuuuuuurgh! she growled silently, trying to shift about into a more comfortable position to stop the false contractions. They should have stopped already by all rights.
"May, do we need to get on the phone with the hospital?" Aiodhan asked quietly, his words emphasized by a massive boom of thunder from outside.
Amyla shook her head. "No, it's just another false alarm. I'm fine, really," she argued. It had to be another false alarm. All of the other contractions were, and her child would not be so inconsiderate so as to pick the middle of a thunderstorm for its dramatic entrance.
Not convinced, Aiodhan leaned over Amyla to pluck the phone from its cradle. Amyla saw his face shift suddenly as he put it to his ear and then fairly threw it back in its place. "Phone lines are out," he said rather tersely.
Patting his hand where it rested on her abdomen, Amyla leaned over and plopped the wettest, sloppiest kiss possible on his cheek. "Thanks for the concern, Fuzz, but I'm fine. It's just another false alaaaaaaaaarm...oh, that doesn't feel right," she grunted, pressing an arm against her abdomen. Suddenly worried that she might have alerted the children, she glanced up only to find that they were still busy at their games (or attempted teaching). Good... they didn't need to know that Mommy was-
"Amyla, we need to get you the hospital now!" Aiodhan hissed quietly in her ear, and were it not for the urgent look in his eyes, Amyla would almost have been offended by his tone. As it was, she just managed a smile at him for reassurance.
"I'm fine, Aiod. Really, it's just a bit uncomfortable," she murmured, sighing happily as the discomfort passed. Ahhh, that felt better.
"Amyla, you're in labor! You need to be in a hospital!" Aiodhan growled, moving as if to haul her off the couch and into the car.
Panic set in for a moment, and Amyla was a dead weight on the couch. In labor? Now? Go to the hospital ...now?! In a thunderstorm?! "Aiodhan, the roads are probably a mess with this kind of storm. Trees down... probably power lines too. It's fine; it's just a false alarm. It..."
"You're shaking, angel.... you're shaking; it's not a false alarm!" Aiodhan fairly cried, and when he reached out to hug her tightly, Amyla noticed he was shaking as well. "We can't stay here! What if there's a problem?!"
Another contraction hit, and Amyla had to wait a short while to regain her breath before replying rather tartly, "I am a doctor, genius, and we can manage just fine. Just don't worry the kids!" She glanced at the kids, not minding now that Erin was fairly screaming "greengreengreengreengreen!!!" at the top of her cat lungs. She looked back and saw the agony on Aiodhan's face and leaned over to plant another purposely wet and sloppy kiss on him, this one on his lips. "Now shut up and distract me," she said with more strength than she felt.
Aiodhan sighed and wiped off his face. This was bad.... very bad. Still, he leaned over and plucked a deck of cards off the coffee table, raising an eyebrow at his mate. "Up for 'Go Fish'?"
To be continued...
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:23 pm
The Saga Continues... "Easy, angel.... easy..."
Aiodhan's soft voice in her ear kept her mind as peaceful as it could be, but Amyla still could not help the vaguely panicky feelings that flitted through her on occasion, especially when a particularly hard contraction decided to seize her. The one currently keeping her occupied was not the worst one yet, but it was still far from the least troublesome. This one felt strange, a weird rippling, squeezing feeling that passed over her belly in waves.
Beside her on the couch, Aiodhan moved gentle fingers over her swollen abdomen, trying to ease the discomfort the contracting muscles were causing. They had set the deck of cards aside twenty minutes before when Amyla had lost the ability to concentrate. Still, they had gotten at least six good hours of 'Go Fish', 'War', and their newly-invented 'Double-player Solitaire' (in between snacks and teaching Erin a new color) before Amyla finally could not think clearly enough to play.
A series of purring breaths echoed from over by the TV. Erin had fallen asleep several hours before, still clutching a blue block in one hand and a green one in the other. She had been ever so proud to learn these colors, and Amyla and Aiodhan decided to let her sleep with the blocks this time. She would soon forget the blocks for something else. Her attention span was short enough.
"Mmmmmmuuuuuuuuuunh..." Amyla groaned through tightly sealed jaws as another contraction seized her belly. This one felt much more like a squeeze than the one before, and she turned to bury her face in Aiodhan's shoulder, trying to breathe through it. This one was finished quickly, but Amyla felt sweat forming more across her forehead and the back of her neck. She was quivering too, and all of Aiodhan's warm embrace could not stop that.
"May... we could still get you to the hospital," Aiodhan whispered softly, rubbing her back and belly in an attempt to comfort her. He pressed a kiss to her sweaty forehead and wrapped one massive wing about her.
"Mum?" came a sleepy voice from one of the sleeping bags.
Aiodhan glanced over to see Nieva peering owlishly over the edge of her makeshift bed on the other couch. Kari had fallen asleep in the corner, and Aiodhan had propped her up with pillows and wrapped her in blankets. She was still happily asleep and oblivious.... thankfully. Nieva, however, seemed to know what was going on, for her eyes widened with worry. "Dad.... Mum's in labor, isn't she?"
When the dragon-man simply nodded, the Monoceros moved as if to get up, but Aiodhan held up a hand to stop her and shook his head. "We've got it. You just make sure those two miscreants are okay and try to get some sleep. If we need help, we'll call you," he said quietly.
Nieva looked distinctly nervous until Amyla batted Aiodhan's wing aside to smile wanly at her unicorn daughter. "S'okay... we've got it under control," she said tiredly, relaxing against Aiodhan's side.
The adult nodded her understanding and put her head back down. Within ten seconds, Amyla heard the sounds of peaceful, rhythmic breathing and knew the Monoceros was asleep again. She was grateful for it too, for not a minute later, her body was seized by another contraction, and a whimper escaped her before she could close her mouth.
Aiodhan soothed her gently with hands and voice, and she tried her best to relax for him. It was exceedingly difficult to do so, especially with the thunder crashing outside every few minutes. Apparently, the rest of the household, humanoid and beast alike, had no problems sleeping through it. Only Amyla and Aiodhan remained awake.
Ten minutes later, her body squeezed inwardly again, and Amyla could not help but cry out softly, screwing her eyes shut and pressing her head back into the couch. It hurt! Was it supposed to hurt like this, or did she just have a low threshold for pain? Or maybe there was something wrong... with her or with the baby. Or with both. She did not know, but the worries kept her mind occupied to the point where she was frantic.
"May... May, it's okay.... shhhh..." Aiodhan whispered soothingly, letting her grip one of his massive hands in her tiny, graceful one. He rocked her gently and pressed gentle kisses to her lips to silence her quietly frantic babbling. "May... May, you're yammering again. It's okay, angel... you're fine, both of you. Just calm down, all right?"
Amyla bit her lip and nodded slowly, trying to return her breathing to normal. She felt... awkward, and that made it all that much worse. She felt restricted, uncomfortable. Turning her face up to her mate, she nudged him lightly with an elbow to get his attention. "Hey... can we take this somewhere more comfortable than the couch? I really need to just.... I don't know. I can't sit anymore! I need to be up and moving and-"
Aiodhan put a finger to her lips and nodded. "Want me to set the stuff up in the kitchen?" he asked quietly, gently brushing sweaty strands of hair off her forehead. When she nodded her assent, he gently released her and moved to stand. Halfway up, he paused and looked fearfully at her. "You'll be all right until I get back?"
Feeling another contraction coming on, Amyla nodded tersely and then growled through gritted teeth, "Just don't take your time!"
By the speed with which he moved, she guessed he did not intend to dilly-dally about. He bustled in and out of the kitchen with so many things in his arms that Amyla could not make out in the darkness. She heard the 'flap!' of a mat as it was dropped on the floor and then heard the rustling and snapping of fabric. Right in the middle of another contraction, she heard water running in the sink, and for some reason, it made her giggle. She giggled the entire way through that particular episode, not particularly knowing why but liking the tickling feeling it provided that made the squeezing all that much better.
She was still giggling a bit three contractions later (she judged time by them alone now) by the time Aiodhan was finished fussing about and was ready to drag her into the kitchen. She managed a shaky grin up at him and grabbed his upper arms with both hands, using her grip and the upward momentum provided by his supportive arms to get on her feet. A contraction chose that moment to hit and nearly made her fall over. She clung to Aiodhan, trembling and trying to breathe properly until it was done. "Damn!" she swore quietly, swearing that she must have left bruises in his arms with as hard as she was squeezing them.
"I was thinking a little more explicitly, but yes, that's the basic idea," Aiodhan chuckled softly, his voice taking on a curious quality that she had not heard in.... well, a good long while. He lead her slowly toward the kitchen, letting her stop to rest as often as she needed despite the fact that the kitchen was not more than thirty or forty feet from the couch, indirect route as it was to get there.
Amyla stepped into the kitchen and stared in wonder at the scene, her mind a little too fogged over and otherwise occupied to really sort it all out. The mat they had bought for her in the case of an emergency birth (which this probably qualified as) was on the floor, covered in pads and old sheets. The kitchen was also dimly lit by candles which gave it an eerily comforting sort of feel, the glow of the candles making for an almost romantic air that made her giggle again. "Good thing we had stuff at home in case of an emergency," she giggled, her voice sounding high-pitched and quivery even to her own ears. She marvelled at how she had turned into a giggling, girly wreck in just a few hours. Amazing... she was so never doing this again.
"No kidding. Just don't pull a stunt like this again, okay?" Aiodhan pleaded as he helped her down onto the mat.
"No prob. I'll just tell the baby to wait next time," Amyla snorted with quiet laughter, unable to contain her ridiculous and inexplicable entertainment at her situation. She was obviously scaring Aiodhan for he raised one eyebrow and gave her an odd sort of look.
She was about to reply, but she felt her muscles contracting in again and forget to come up with a coherent response. Kneeling like this on the mat was far more comfortable than the couch, and she found it much more bearable this way. As soon as the contraction stopped, she immediately started shedding clothes already drenched with sweat. She managed an awkward sitting position while Aiodhan helped her get rid of her slacks, kicking her feet rather childishly to get them off and away. No sooner had she managed that when another contraction hit, and she was up on her knees and breathing through it again. She felt encouraging hands on her belly and looked up to see Aiodhan's normally feral gray eyes focused on her face, his expression one that he normally wore only when they were alone and together, generally tangled up in a pile of sheets and pillows.
A digital clock sat on one side of Aiodhan, right next to a pile of clean towels that Amyla supposed were for the baby. She was a bit too busy with her body to ponder about the candles or the towels or the unique tone to Aiodhan's voice as he urged her through the contractions. The clock, though, she understood. By its numbers, she marked an hour spent either kneeling on the mat or walking around around the kitchen. Then something changed as she was kneeling and panting through one contraction. Something moved...
Aiodhan, his hands on her belly, looked up at her with wide eyes. "I felt that," he said, looking rather dazed and confused. "What was that?"
Amyla swallowed as she felt the mass move downward inside her, shuddering lightly as it settled in the very pit of her abdomen. "Ummm.... that was the baby dropping," she said in an oddly cheery voice, feeling another contraction starting. This one felt much different, though. It started lower down and really pushed instead of just squeezing. Amyla panted heavily through it and then exhaled heavily when it was done, giving Aiodhan a surly look. "That one hurt..." she grumbled.
The dragon-man paled noticeably and tried to soothe her, but Amyla had gone past giddy to grumpy and past grumpy to angry, something akin to panic resurfacing in her mind.
"Aiodhan, I want this baby out!" she said hoarsely as soon as another contraction was over, that one feeling as though it were trying to expel all of her innards from her body. She got a deathgrip on Aiodhan's upper arms again, squeezing them as soon as another contraction seized her.
By the time that one had finished, Aiodhan looked like he was regretting letting her hold onto his arms. He was still talking to her in that same quiet voice and trying to support her as best he could, but while his manner could take away the panic, Amyla was no less cranky about her current position.
"...so I'm kneeling nude on the kitchen floor, pushing away until I feel like my guts are coming out, and you're just there trying to tell me it's all okay... why am I finding that hard to believe?" Amyla ranted quietly after one particularly bad contraction.
Much to her fury, Aiodhan simply leaned forward and kissed her lips as tenderly and as long as he dared before drawing back again to smile into her flushed, sweaty, and furious face. "Use the energy for more productive things than being angry," he replied, rustling his wings against his back.
Amyla opened her mouth to tell him off but was cut off by another contraction, this one feeling similarly odd in that the baby seemed to be moving about. She glanced at the clock. Another hour gone since the baby had dropped... it was coming, no doubt about it.
As if to confirm that, Amyla felt something that she instinctively knew to be her baby on its way out. "Ah.... dear, the baby is coming," she whistled through her teeth with false cheerfulness.
Aiodhan gave her a wry smile. "As if I haven't figured that one out, angel..." he replied, gently rubbing at her distended belly.
Furious, cranky, and still panting from the last contraction, Amyla growled at her mate. "Don't you be sarcastic with me, or I'll make you be the pregnant one next time! We'll see how you like it, Fuzzhead!"
"That the best you can do?" Aiodhan asked, one eyebrow lifted and a grin on his face. "Fatso."
"Spinebutt!"
"Watermelon."
"Leatherbrain!"
"Rotunda."
"Dragon man!"
His grin widened even further as he responded, "Human girl."
Amyla squealed with anger and then started breathing in attempted rhythm again as another contraction tried to force the baby out. She felt something moving inside and squirmed. "Aiodhan, honey... the baby ... is... coming.... now!" she spat out, trembling just a bit. "I can feel its head, and it is moving, and it is on the way out... now!"
She saw realization dawn in his eyes, and he quickly moved to check on that, giving her belly a gentle pat to compensate for the discomfort. She saw his eyes widen nearly to the size of saucers, and then his expression changed to one of utter confusion.... then to one of worry.
"Uh... May," he said, swallowing nervously. "The baby is on its way out, but I don't think that's a head..."
To be continued...
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:14 pm
It's the May-oh! Aiodhan's announcement made Amyla look up from where she had focused on a spot on the floor, her blue eyes searching his face for some explanation. Not a head? Why? "What do you mean?" she panted, flexing her fingers where they gripped his upper arms.
"I mean, that didn't feel like a head. Heads are firm and have hair. That felt squishy," the dragon-man said rather honestly, looking and feeling rather dazed. He swallowed and put on a brave face for Amyla, inching just a bit closer to her. "Your water hasn't broken yet."
That logical explanation momentarily made her feel rather stupid for panicking, and she managed a growl for him. "Thanks for letting me fret there. I appreciate it greatly," she said with as much dignity as she could manage, resting her forehead against his strong chest as another contraction hit.
Just as the contraction was easing off, Amyla felt a relieving loss of pressure and then a gush of warm liquid, giving her first happy sigh in awhile at the momentary respite. "You were saying?" she asked a bit hoarsely, shaking her head and grunting as sweaty hair promptly clung to her face.
Aiodhan used one hand to brush the irritating locks of hair away, his hand shaking just a bit as he did. He felt a certain thrill. This was it.... this was it! He indulged in a few mental (and very feminine) squeals, shuddering with excitement at the prospect of-
"Yuuuuuuuurgh, I'm so never doing this again!" Amyla whimpered against Aiodhan's chest, panting heavily through yet another contraction. As soon as it was done, she straightened up a bit, tipping her head back to gaze about for a distraction.
"Is it just my imagination, or are those getting closer together?" Aiodhan asked curiously, still rubbing at her belly. His hands instinctively went to her hips, gently massaging in circles there.
"Oh, they are," Amyla breathed, settling her head back against his chest for comfort. She heaved out a massive sigh and shifted a bit on her knees, now very glad for the mat and pads beneath her. Besides a dull ache in her back, she actually was not that sore from kneeling for more than ten minutes.
The next contraction hit with a fury and reduced her to a whimpering wreck for a full minute before it eased, her fingers leaving easily-seen bruises on Aiodhan's arms. "Sorry..." she bit out, almost in tears as she nestled her face more firmly against his chest. She still felt fluid leaking out of her and supposed her water had decided to not all come out in a rush. That was fine; no hurry was necessary.
A sudden thought struck her, and she pulled back so suddenly that Aiodhan nearly yelped. "My scissors! We're going to ne-"
"Got them and sterilized them all, angel. I did remember," the dragon-man chuckled, nodding his head towards the open set of surgical tools. Most of the tools were now wrapped separately in well-boiled cloths, a precaution Amyla had insisted weeks ago they take in case something.... well, like this... occurred. "You just worry about getting that baby out, and I'll take care of the details."
Amyla barely had time to nod before another contraction hit and made her shiver, still clinging desparately to his arms. She felt him applying a bit of pressure at her hips and moaned in encouragement as that seemed to encourage the force of the contraction. Yes... yes, force was good. Getting the baby out was definitely good, and getting the entire ordeal over with was better than good. It was... probably as close to perfect as Amyla could think of at the moment.
"I'm gonna check you again, May. Just relax for me, okay?" Aiodhan whispered soothingly in her ear before reaching down to check on her progress. He was now expecting to feel the crown of the baby's head and perhaps a bit of hair. He was not expecting to feel something smaller and much less firm than a head, something that made even his hot draconic blood run ice cold. "Uhhhh..."
"What is it?" Amyla asked anxiously. "My water broke, what is it this time?!"
Aiodhan did not have the mental capacity or the time to reply as another contraction arrived not long afterward that slid the infant closer to the outside world. He swallowed and checked again, wishing desparately that he could have been wrong the first time.
He wasn't. That was not the baby's head.
Impatient to see (or rather, feel) for herself, Amyla awkwardly guided a hand down to join Aiodhan's and found that instead of caressing a wet, fuzzy baby head, she was tickling the bottoms of two little feet that twitched beneath her ministrations. She froze. "Oh no..."
Aiodhan moved to reassure her, but she was already in the midst of a panic. "No! It isn't supposed to happen this way! Not breech... no! The amount of complications involved with a breech birth far excee-"
Her panicky speech was cut off by another contraction that made her cry, one long note of pain and panic that resounded throughout the kitchen. She felt stretched, and it burned like nothing she had ever experienced. The baby seemed to move with agonizing slowness, and then, rather abruptly, it fairly shot out into Aiodhan's waiting hands.
Head bowed and eyes closed, Amyla panted and cried alternately, shakily trying to stay upright. A strong pair of hands beneath her arms helped her relax backwards to sit on the mat, legs stretched out before her and back propped up by what must have been half a dozen pillows. She blearily opened her eyes to see Nieva standing there, a smile on her face and in her blue eyes as she stroked her mother's sweaty forehead.
"It's okay, Mum... the baby's fine. Dad's got him," the Monoceros whispered softly.
Too tired to reply, the woman nodded and simply tried to relax, still panting heavily and dripping sweat.
Aiodhan stared down at the child in his arms, too stunned to do anything else for a brief instant. A long, wet tail protruded from the child's backside, hanging limply beneath him. And it was a him, for sure. Aiodhan was not stupid enough to miss that. His ears were distinctly feline and white-and-black tiger-striped, and his face bore tiger markings as well. Little black wings were folded tightly against his back. And, much to Aiodhan's horror, his umbilical cord was wrapped loosely about his neck.
It took the new father only an instant to shift the child's weight to one arm and untangle the infant from the cord, trembling all the while as he stared down at his son. His son... that looked just like him with his tousled brown hair. His eyes, now closed, were likely the same cloudy blue-gray of all babies, but he had a feeling the child would be blue-eyed just like Amyla. Somehow, he just knew.
The child in his arms suddenly stirred and opened its currently sightless eyes. It made frantic motions with arms, legs, and tail for a minute or so before a massive sneeze expelled mucus and amniotic fluid from its nose all over Aiodhan's chest. Not that the dragon-man minded in the least. In fact, he was rather heartened by the boy's display of strength for an instant later, the infant started squalling at the top of his tiny lungs.
"Guess his lungs are okay, then," a female giggle from Amyla's direction interrupted him.
He looked up in a panic to see Nieva there, kneeling beside Amyla who was relaxing back on a pile of pillows and looking paler and more exhausted than he had ever seen her. Still attached to her son by the cord, she seemed unaware of much around her, and Aiodhan felt incredibly guilty for having 'abandoned' her for his son.
Moving closer to her, he leaned over to kiss her face, tears forming in his eyes. "May? May.... look at this," he whispered, unable to say much else.
With a curious Nieva staring over his shoulder, he held the infant closer to his mother, and Amyla's head came up. She opened tired-looking eyes to stare in wonder down at her squalling child. "H-h-he.... he's... he's beautiful," she whispered, moving to take the boy from Aiodhan's arms. She held him against her chest, still breathing rather heavily as she tenderly fingered the boy from head to toe with the curious and loving hands of a new mother.
The expression on her face, one that he knew his own face was mirroring, made Aiodhan's eyes fill with tears even more, and he had to use his bruised shoulder to wipe them away. Logic slowly re-entered his mind, and he snatched up a towel to wrap around the baby, hands still trembling.
Nieva, thankfully, still possessed a functioning brain and had already begun cleaning up the dirty sheets. She draped another towel about Amyla's shoulders before she left to carry some of the soiled linens off to the laundry room and leave her parents in peace for just a moment with her new sibling.
"Caleb."
Aiodhan tore his gaze away from the still-squalling boy to look at Amyla's tired face, comprehension dawning on his face. "You... you wanna name him..."
"Looking this much like you? How could we name him anything else?" she groused affectionately, a brilliant smile lighting up her face. She fidgeted a bit, settling the child against her chest for a first feeding. Her expresson flinched a moment later. "For not having any teeth, he bites very well."
At that, Aiodhan couldn't help but bare his teeth in amusement. "It's a guy thing," he chuckled wickedly before regaining enough sense to start cleaning up his mate and new son.
The mother-father-son bonding went on for an hour until the placenta was delivered, and then between the two of them, Nieva and Aiodhan managed to lift, carry, and otherwise drag Amyla into a shower. Nieva was the one gently cleaning Caleb by the time Amyla was carried out of the bathroom and into the living room, fully dressed and now very cranky at Aiodhan for having spoiled her.
"What're you trying to do, make me lazy?" she growled as he set her down on the couch, though the ferocity behind it dwindled as soon as Nieva put a clean, dressed, and sleepy Caleb in her arms. The expression softened then, and she gently traced his mixed facial features with one finger, delighting in the quiet snuffling sounds he made to himself.
"Stephen Caleb.... like your brother?" Nieva whispered in query to her foster father. She was not surprised when she got only a nod in response before Aiodhan went to kneel next to the couch, still too besotten with his mate and son to be aware of much.
The adults may have been oblivious, but Kari had sensed something and was waking up rather rapidly, her yellow eyes glowing curiously in the early-morning dark. She carefully got to her feet and picked her way over to stand by Nieva, scratching her horned head and gazing in utter confusion at the child in Amyla's arms.
"Kitty?" a childish voice asked in confusion, startling them all to no end. Erin toddled her way over to the couch, blocks long forgotten as she spotted an unfamiliar figure. She was intercepted by Aiodhan just before she got within arm's reach of the couch.
"Yes.... sort of. Remember the baby, Erin?" he asked, lifting her up to let her see her younger brother more easily. He glanced back at Nieva and Kari and, grinning from ear to ear like a giddy schoolboy, made a nod with his head for them to come closer.
Nieva, having already seen Caleb, simply grinned and fidgeted happily. Kari stared open-mouthed at the infant, obviously trying to figure out how she had slept through the entire arrival of the little boy.
Erin, however, did not seem bothered by this new turn of events. "Yah... dat's baby?" she asked, pointing at the nearly-asleep infant that was ignoring all of his visitors and trying to bury himself in his mother's arms.
Taking in her odd-looking family with one look and a great deal of tears in her eyes, Amyla nodded, her smile continuing to grow. "Yep, Erin.... dat's baby."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 5:08 pm
Hormones.... what would I do without them?
Anyway, Stephen Caleb Layden was born yesterday morning. We put all the proper paperwork in for his birth, so he is now an official citizen of Gaia. Well.... really, Aiodhan did most of the paperwork for me. I was a bit out of it all day yesterday, and I'm still feeling a bit woozy today. Caleb is well worth every contraction, every sleepless night, every doctor's appointment, and every single kick he gave me.
My hormones are all out of whack, so I've had some interesting mood swings. Caleb and the rest of the family keep me very occupied, though, so I don't really have time to dwell on it. Erin is sort of indifferent about him. She cares more about her blocks and chanting her colors, so we always have to tell her to quiet down while he's taking a nap. He doesn't sleep very much, though, which bothers me. We've got an appointment scheduled for tomorrow at the hospital to check on him, make sure everything is okay. Yes, I am paranoid, but being born with an umbilical cord around your neck can present a few problems. He is not showing any of the classical signs of brain damage, and believe me, I checked him over thoroughly. He was still a good healthy color when born and had a yell loud enough to wake up Nieva in the other room. Still, I'd rather him get looked at by an unbiased doctor to make sure he's all okay.
Speaking of my little boy, he just bit down again! First feeding I gave him, he clamped down before he really started eating, and he still does that. Somehow I think he does it to be irritating even though he really can't be conscious of all that much. He does like being close to me, though. He likes cuddling his face against me. I wore a low-cut shirt (one of the few I own) so he could rest his face against my skin, and Aiodhan good-naturedly pretended to be jealous that I wasn't wearing the shirt for him. Caleb knows me already, and he knows Aiodhan too. He wants Daddy to pick him up if he is woken from sleeping, but if he wants to go to sleep or be fed, he seems to calm down much better for me.
Kari is very curious about him, but she does not seem to be overly enthusiastic. Maybe she will be once he gets older, but for now, she just regards him as something interesting to be watched. She has been a big help with keeping an eye on Erin and changing Caleb's diapers if I'm asleep and Aiodhan's busy, but other than being helpful, it doesn't seem as though she really likes him.
Of all of the members of this household (myself and Aiodhan excluded), Nieva seems to be the most attached to him. He tolerates her holding him, but she seems to like him very much. She doesn't fuss over him nearly as much as I do, but she is always keeping an eye out for him, for which I am very grateful.
It feels like he's finished eating (finally!), so I'd better go burp him before he gets too fussy. I'm sure Aiodhan is going to steal this later to write. He has been so overjoyed at this, but I'll leave that for him to tell.
~Amyla
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:03 pm
Well.... now I know what it's like when Amyla and I reproduce. I have a son who is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen in my life, second only to Amyla by a little. I told her that this morning as she as feeding him, and she pretended to be upset that our son almost outdid her in the looks department. I don't think she was really all that mad, though. She told me later how Caleb inherited my good looks, and then she insisted upon making lunch instead of me cooking again.
Anyway, Caleb is just.... I don't know how to say it. He is driving me crazy already with his squalling, his pickiness, and his obnoxious diapers, but at the same time, I already can't imagine life without him. He fell asleep in my arms last night before bed, and Amyla hasn't stopped giving me grief about the paternal expression I was wearing. I just growled at her, and she growled right back. Erin was amused.
I have to say, though, that we have gotten a lot less sleep lately. He just doesn't like to sleep much, so he is nearly always awake and snuffling about something. When we took him to the hospital to make sure he was all right, the pediatrician snickered as we told him how little Caleb likes to sleep. He replied that while most babies sleep quite a bit, occasionally one has an overly active brain that does not require rest periods to susstain himself. When he noted the dragon DNA, he said that was probably the problem. Some species of dragon, apparently, only require rest periods every few days. That must be why I have trouble sleeping on occasion, besides stress and being awakened by a hungry baby. He suggested we do some research to figure out exactly what kind of dragon DNA myself and Caleb share to better know how to deal with this sleeping issue.
That is why I'm writing now and Kari has her face buried in the computer. She has been doing Internet-based research, and Nieva is looking through the reference books on dragons that Amyla and I picked up on our outing.
Oh yes, we also turned the doctor's appointment into a shopping trips. After the hospital, we got a few more baby clothes in Caleb's size and some books on different species of dragon and on Bengal Tigers to do some more homework. Maybe if we can figure out some natural draconic behavior, we can figure out why he and I are the way we are. I don't know.... my last research attempt was largely unsuccessful, but now that we have a young 'dragon' to study, maybe we'll be able to figure out what the heck we both are. I'm kind of eager to know, and I'm sure once he is old enough, he will want to know too.
Ugh.... sounds like Erin is being a brat again. Intervention....
Aiodhan
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 8:49 pm
Caleb's First Clinic Visit Shariea Shariea slowly pushed open the doors of Farland clinic and stepped inside. This was one of the last places she had planned on visiting today, But the sign outside had peaked her interest. Her tail brushed the floor as she entered her long silver hair cascading over her shoulder. Slowly she presssed her batted draconic wings against her back. Bright blue eyes scanned the waiting rooms and she flashed a small smile to those around her. Suddenly she felt a little..nautious about entering and asking questions. She rand her lithe fingers through her hair and coughed a little bit before finding an out of the way seat. Amyla Edana "I am on the record as saying that you should have stayed home and rested."
Amyla just barely refrained from rolling her eyes at the dragon-man who held the clinic door open for her. Tucking one loose strand of hair behind her ear, she shifted Caleb's position against her chest, the boy snuffling mildly against her shoulder as he slumbered on peacefully. His tendency to be oblivious always made Amyla smile. The kid could sleep through a bomb when he actually did sleep. Not that she minded. A sleeping Caleb was a peaceful Caleb, and she wanted him to stay asleep.
"I saw that," Aiodhan grumbled, shaking his head as he strode silently into the clinic on his mate's heels. Obstinate little.... yep, that was his Amyla all right. He had to admire her stubbornness. He just wish she wouldn't have passed that particular trait on to their offspring who was quite the hardheaded little tiger-boy when he felt like it.
Upon realizing her mate was not going to be very good company at the moment, Amyla made her way toward one of the couches to sit down and relax for a bit. Halfway there, she spotted an unfamiliar face and promptly turned to make a beeline for the newcomer. Well, as long as Aiodhan was being a sourpuss, she might as well make a new acquaintance. "First time in here?" she asked the woman curiously, wincing a bit as Caleb started to stir into wakefulness. So much for a peaceful trip. Shariea Shariea smiled at the family that entered and quietly eyed the strange baby in the womans arms. The elder male of the troup was like her it seemed, a Dragon. Only he was much darker in color than she. She smiled and wiggled her fingers in greeting to the family and flushed softly as the woman seemed to pick out her nervousness. "Yes. The sign outside interested me." She leaned over softly to look over the sleeping child. "Is he a result of this clinic?" she asked quizzically. She slowly smiled and ran her fingers through her hair, a habbit and nervous twitch of her own. Her ram like horns appearing through her mane of flaxen hair. "I'm Shariea" she said at last and smiled up at the happy mother. Amyla Edana Ignoring the quiet growl of frustration she heard from Aiodhan's direction, Amyla settled herself down in a comfortable chair, setting her diaper bag on the floor and them removing her shirt collar from Caleb's mouth. Even in his sleep, the boy had a curious fascination with biting. Ugh... he was going to be a nightmare as a toddler. "Well, this is the result of the clinic," Amyla chuckled, gesturing at Caleb's fluffy tiger-tiger tail. "The tail, ears, and facial markings he got from here. The rest is a combination of two very strange beings," she added with a broad grin.
"Humph. At least you're admitting that you're as strange as me," Aiodhan grumbled, though he did not sound exceedingly displeased. He came to a halt behind Amyla's chair, folding his arms on the back of it and leaning over to regard Caleb's slowly-waking form. "Waking up, is he? Your kid," he chuckled, baring sharp teeth in a mischevious smile.
"Nice to meet you, Shariea. I'm Amyla," the woman replied, tactfully ignoring Aiodhan's remarks. "The ray of sunshine leaning on the back of my chair is Aiodhan, and this-" She shifted Caleb's weight again, sighing as the boy opened his eyes and gave a mighty yawn. "-is Caleb." Shariea A small chuckle escaped Shariea and she lightly shook her head. Such an Odd pairing, this couple but they seemed to tolerate eachother well. She grined and nodded her head at the male, when he was introduced. However he didnt seem in the best of moods right now so she kept mostly quiet. Her long silver white tail have a small flick, the scales imbeaded within the hide giving off a prismatic or irridecent look. Her blue eyes fell again to the form of the sleeping child and she gave a little laugh. "He is a special mix, and a darling baby boy. Looks like they do very good work here. Not that I think im ready for a child just yet." she wrung her hands lightly together. "I was jusy curious about...how it happens. Ive never heard of such a thing as they do here." Her eyes flicked to the reseptionists window and the back to the woman, whom addressed herself as Amyla. "Is he much of a Handful then?" she tilted her head softly to the right and smiled slowly again as the child stirred. He was a little darling. Amyla Edana Aiodhan inclined his head politely at Shariea, gray eyes narrowed to slits as he gave her a curious stare. Wings? Scales? A tail? She looked like dragonkind to him. Not that he was really like her. She seemed to be that way by heredity, not accident. Knowing he would likely end up saying something rather caustic, he decided to keep his mouth shut and let Amyla socialize for now. He was entertained by watching Caleb, anyway, who was busily trying to chew on his mother's shirt collar again.
Amyla's face flushed, and her smile broadened at the compliment. "Thank you. I think he's adorable, but since I am a bit biased, I don't think my opinion counts for quite as much," she said modestly, trying to pry her collar from the boy's mouth. Watching the woman wring her hands, she raised one eyebrow. "Nervous about having kids? Nothing wrong with that. You're never really ready until you are a parent, I think, and even then, it's all a learning experience."
Caleb, now thoroughly peeved that he was deprived of things to chew on, glanced about for something to entertain himself with. The infant's gaze fell on his mother's simple pendant necklace (a gift from Aiodhan after one of their more spectacular fights), and he promptly reached up with a little fist to grab it, inordinately pleased when his mother let him hold on to it. His chubby face split into a wide-eyed grin.
Amyla sighed. "A handful? Oh, he is a double handful. He doesn't sleep very much," she said with a wry smile. The woman saw Shariea's gaze dart towards the receptionist's window. "Curious about how it works? Well, in our case, we just let nature take its course, and then after I'd been pregnant a few weeks, I received an injection with the animal DNA to anchor the pregnancy and prevent miscarriage. And it worked, to our great delight."
A chuckle from Aiodhan made her glance up momentarily, but the dragon-man simply shook his head. Shariea A bright smile crosses Shariea face as she watched the little child try to find things to gum. Her wings flexed against the back of her chair as she shifted in her seat to better see the baby. He was a handsome child. "We'll I suppose hearing a complament about your child from a stranger does elate ones heart. He is a Darling and I stick to that, although now that he is more awake, I think I see a streak of rebeliousness in this one." she gave a small chuckle as Caleb found his mothers necklace to much glee. Her blue eyes washed over the child, whos dna had mixed with that of a white tiger. A Noble animal at that. "Can you tell me why they chose to use animal DNA instead of a generic blank DNA profile that can adapt?" her eyes reflected her curious nature, and she bit her bottom lip with a small inward side. She had come in here on a whim and now within the clinics doors almost found herself longing for a child of her own. She wasnt ageless after all, nor was she that old compared to her clan, but that didnt stop her internal clock from ticking away. The very tip of her tail gave another small flick as she cooed softly at the child. "Such a Happy family." she mummbled softly to herself more than anyone else. Amyla Edana "Just a streak of it?" Amyla asked rhetorically, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "I think the proper word to describe him is 'headstrong,' though 'strong-willed' could do the honors as well. He likes doing what he wants, specifically gnawing on things with those toothless gums of his."
Hearing the woman coo at him, Caleb turned his head toward her, blinking giant blue eyes. Who was this stranger? She couldn't be all bad, shiny-white as she was. Yes, she seemed acceptable. He gave an incomprehensible gurgle and waved his free hand about, his long tail waving about beneath him.
"I think he likes you." That was definitely stating the obvious, but Amyla was a bit too enamored with her son to really care, adorable little thing that he was. This was only the second person outside his family that Caleb had met. The doctor he had treated with indifference, but this woman he actually seemed to like. Perhaps he was going to be a social creature after all.
After a moment of reflection, it dawned on Amyla that the woman had asked a question, and she fidgeted abashedly. "Oh... sorry about zoning out like that. Ummm... oh, the tiger DNA? Well, Farland did some research on the different DNA, and from what I understand, animal DNA better helps with conception and prevents miscarriage. Don't ask me why; my specialty is orthopedics and emergency room accidents, not genetics. And for us, the tiger DNA also helped us cancel out some of Aiodhan's draconic half which can be.... well, problematic."
"That's putting it a little mildly," the dragon-man muttered, rustling his massive black wings against his back. Shariea Shariea giggled and wiggled her finger at the child. "He's also quite the charmer. You'll have to watch that as he gets older im sure." She chuckled softly and shook her head from side to side, her mane of silver white hair falling over her shoulders in amsll ripples. Her blue eyed looked up at the draconic male, and she pursed her lips nodding slowly. "I have heard that Inter species mating between draconics and humans can be....problematic. Im glad to see that with a little help it can be over come." She smiled brightly and watched the child, for some reason watching this little bundle of joy was only cementing her desire for a child. She turned away and cleared her throat slowly. "Does the DNA also quicken the term inside the womb?" Amyla Edana Caleb made a happy burbling noise and waved a hand indiscriminately at the unfamiliar woman. Then he was promptly distracted by his mother's shirt collar getting within biting range, and before Amyla could move it away, his gums had closed down firmly around it.
Aiodhan could not help but snicker at the little boy. "Oooh yes, quite the charmer. Quite the troublemaker as well. I just hope Kari has long passed teen years before he gets there," he muttered with a roll of his slit-pupilled eyes. Having one adolescent in the house was bad enough. Two would be disastrous.
"Yes, it was quite difficult for awhile. I think if Aiodhan's condition would have been a little more... natural, we would have had less problems. But... well, we're just glad we could solve that problem. Besides, Caleb looks cute with a fluffy tail," Amyla laughed, trying to extract her collar from Caleb's astonishingly strong jaws.
That elicited a growl from Aiodhan. "My son is not 'cute.' Good-looking, yes. Exceedingly handsome, yes. Cute... no. 'Cute' is for puppies, not Caleb," he grumbled, leaning over Amyla's head to watch his son stubbornly clench his jaws down on the collar. "Gee.... wonder where he got that stubborn streak fro- ow!" He leaned back and rubbed at his nose, Amyla having swatted him.
"If you're not going to help, don't make the situation worse," she said pointedly, finally managing to tickle the infant into letting go of her shirt. "That's better. And yes, I did experience a ... well, slightly accelerated pregnancy. I'm not sure if that was because of the tiger DNA, but I wasn't pregnant for nearly as long as a 'normal' human would be, thank goodness. Too much longer, and I think I would have exploded."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 10:10 pm
Dear whatever-higher-powers-there-are, I'm tired exhausted. I'm now sleeping on Caleb's schedule, which means that I get in a quick nap whenever he does. We weren't able to nail down a definitive dragon species, but we did get a generalized idea. Aiod and Caleb are some sort of Western Dragon, and many of those species required little sleep. These dragons are also rather possessive, breathe flames, like treasure (especially shiny objects) and tend to be quite snappish. So... I now have a perpetually awake child who likes to singe my clothes with his burps, yank at any jewelry that I wear (I stopped wearing my necklace out of desperation), and snarl at anyone who gets near me while I hold him, Aiodhan being the exception. For such a small thing, he has a remarkably vicious snarl. Arrogant, headstrong, territorial.... gee, I don't know anyone like that, do I?
Aiod is still working, more full-time than part-time now. I try to take care of Caleb most of the time so that Aiod doesn't have to get up at all hours of the night when he has work the next morning. It's rough. He usually takes care of Erin for me when he can, and Kari and Nieva deal with her the rest of the time. I'm just so tired that I don't feel like dealing with Erin's tantrums all of the time. I can't take it.
My temper has gotten a lot shorter too. I snap a lot more than I used to, and that is saying something. The rest of the household seems to be treading very lightly around me, which is fine. I feel so horrible right after I yell at Kari for something stupid.
The good news is that my body is returning to normal. My stomach felt very odd for a few days after Caleb was born. I know it happens, but you don't realize how strange it is to have all of those folds of extra, stretched-out skin on your belly. I did pick up an interesting set of maternal curves that Aiod has had a good laugh over. I feel rather... feminine? It's weird, but I kind of like it. I like being a mother, physically now and not just emotionally. I'm going crazy from sleep deprivation and from...
... Caleb biting down when I'm nursing him, which he just did again!
But it is a nice feeling, watching my son grow. I don't know; it's hard to explain. Maybe when I've slept and I don't have a clamp on my chest, I'll be able to express myself a little more clearly.
~Amyla
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:53 pm
Well, you may now mark me down as "brainless." I just did the stupidest thing that a man in a house nearly FULL of odd beings can possibly do. I applied to be a foster parent to a Fourth Wall child.
Yep, you can say it. I'm stupid.
Now I just have to wait and see how the people at the center like my application. If I do get custody of a baby, that's all good. If I don't, that's good too, because I don't know how much more chaos this house can handle. I applied for a wolverine baby, so.... well, that would add a certain element of difference to the house. Wolverines have really powerful jaws. Cool critters, but they're nasty little buggers too. They bite.
Not that Caleb doesn't, of course. Amyla is going crazy. He bites or chews on everything! I guess having a wolverine sibling would do him some good, then. They could bite and wrestle with each other.
I keep getting distracted from what I was supposed to be writing about. Something momentous occurred in the house today, and Amyla said that it needed to be recorded for posterity.
Kari voluntarily made contact with another living being!!
She is working on letter-writing, and Amyla suggested she write a letter to a friend. Kari was about to write a mean letter to Erin and then was inspired to write one to her dear friend, Evan. But I guess she told him that Amyla made her write it to cover up the fact that she really wanted to write the letter. She sent him a Christmas present too. And now she is glaring at me as she is reading over my shoulder. Whoops... she wasn't supposed to know that I was giving details. Anyway, I personally think that she is sweet on the kid, based on the fact that she has been bugging me incessantly for him to come over and play. And now I'm hearing growling from behind me, so I'd better go make sure my throat isn't about to be torn out.
~Aiodhan
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 11:14 pm
Nightmares "Aiod, would you stop feeding them sugar! They'll never sleep tonight!"
Amyla's scolding tone was completely wasted on the dragon-man and the various creatures gathered in the kitchen. Most of the various family members had long-since eaten themselves into sleepiness, and only Erin, Kari, and Aiodhan remained to munch away at the Christmas cookies and giggle over stupid stories. Erin and Kari did most of the giggling; Aiodhan handled the eating.
"And then... and then... and then....... I dunno," Erin hiccupped around a series of giggles, covering her mouth with both hands as more giggles kept erupting.
"All of that story preparation, and you forgot what you were going to say? How stupid!" Kari giggled back, too hyped up on the sugary frosting to be annoyed by her younger sibling. "At least if I take the time to tell a story, I finish it!"
"Speaking of finishing things, I am finishing this cookie-eating party. It is getting late, and you all need to get to bed. Too much sugar, and you'll all have nightmares!" Amyla scolded, though it sounded rather half-hearted. She could hardly begrudge them their excitement, especially considering how close it was to Christmas. Still, rules were there for a reason, and the two children had to sleep.
"But Moooooooooooooom!" both Kari and Erin moaned pleadingly, united in their struggles for once.
Aiodhan guiltily swallowed the remains of the cookie he had been eating and assumed his best parental look. "You know, your mother is right. And Christmas is coming in just a few days, and Santa doesn't visit little girls who don't get to bed on ti-"
He didn't even have to finish as the sounds of two little pairs of feet echoed back from the stairwell. He grinned up at Amyla. "See? I can lay down the law when I want to!" he insisted, trying his very hardest to look like a responsible parent.
Amyla snorted and brushed cookie crumbs off his face. "Uh huh... thanks for the back-up. They aren't the only ones that need to sleep. They'll be up early tomorrow, as usual, and we'll need to be up to make sure they don't ravage presents before they're allowed to," she said, gesturing with her head towards the family room.
Nodding, the dragon-man slunk out of his chair and toward the stairs. Amyla was right, as usual. He could only think of a handful of times (if that) when she had been wrong about something. And when the issue pertained to their family.... well... she was always right.
It took nearly half an hour to pin Kari and Erin into their beds and get them to fall asleep, and by that time, Aiodhan had gone past tired into the realm of Utterly Exhausted, assisted on his way by the vehicle of Sugar Low.
"Didn't I warn you about eating that much sugar?" Amyla asked, one eyebrow raised as she settled herself into bed. She watched as he crawled in next to her, trying to bury his face in the pillow. While it was sorely tempting to let him suffer the consequences of sugar overdose on hiw own, she took pity on him and rolled closer to snuggle up next to him. "Believe me next time when I tell you how bad sugar is for you," she muttered in his ear.
Aiodhan managed a grin into his pillow and relaxed just a bit as her arm looped over his back. That was about all the conscious thought he could muster before the dark oblivion of sleep stole his attention.
He awoke in a hospital bed in a strange room, just barely opening his eyes to see two teary-eyed adults at his bedside. His body felt strange, and he was appalled to note that while he was lying flat on his back, he could not feel his wings nor his tail crunched beneath him. The world somehow seemed darker and less defined as far as shapes went. Everything was out of focus and blurry, even his parents standing at his bedside.
His parents?
"Oh, Aiodhan, you're awake! The doctors kept telling us you would wake up right afterward, but you just didn't. They said the shock of the removal might have been too much for you," his mother gushed, picking up one of his tube-infested hands.
Removal?!
He squirmed a bit, biting back a cry as his back and legs radiated pain. They'd removed his draconic parts? Why?! And how did they-
"Ohhh, no, don't get up! The surgeons had to do major reconstruction and skin grafts on your legs! They were so horribly deformed after the transplant," his mother said, ineffectually waving her hands in an attempt to keep him lying down.
A heavy hand fell on his other shoulder, and he turned his bleary gaze up to his father. "Yes, just rest, son. You'll be back to normal soon."
Normal?!
His lips curled up into a snarl. Normal?! They called removing parts of his body normal?! And what did they do about- no, he wouldn't even think of how they had mutilated him. Oh, what was Amyla going to hink?! "Amyla?" he bit out, giving his parents a narrow-eyed look.
His mother sniffed disdainfully. "Oh, her. Don't worry. She won't ever corrupt you again, son."
That brought something more akin to a scream from him, and he fairly launched out of bed to strangle the haughty woman. He heard distant yells and felt a stinging sensation in his shoulder before the world mercifully went black.
He awoke again, but this time the hospital room was familiar. The boy seated next to his bed was oddly familiar too. His head was devoid of hair, and he looked exceedingly pale, sitting there rather forlornly in the chair.
"Hey. 'Bout time you woke up," the boy chuckled weakly, grinning at him.
He frowned. Everything still looked blurry. "What the hell?" he grumbled, his throat feeling rather dry.
"Mum and Dad left for a minute to get food. They said your count has gone up since the transplant, so you're getting better. They said you should be well enough for therapy again soon," the boy said, his smile oddly crooked and eerily familiar in a way that made Aiodhan's heart lurch.
"Caleb?" he croaked, just seeing the boy's face split into a true smile before the world went black again.
This time, he awoke on the floor. He recognized his room at the therapy clinic, and he recognized the pain, that odd, ever-present pain in his legs that made walking, sitting, sleeping, even just living, a chore. It felt like his legs were being bent backwards and sideways, his toes pulled to the point where they were stretching.
A fresh wave of pain surged through his shoulder blades, and he howled in misery, thrashing about on the carpeted floor. When the pain in his back subsided, he half-crawled, half-dragged himself over to the sink and hauled himself to his feet, gazing angrily at his reflection in the mirror.
Naked to the waist, he noted the odd disappearance of many of his 'battlescars.' That one on his shoulder, that was from falling out of a tree at six years old. The one on his side was where he broke a rib and it punched through his skin. Once bright and vivid on his pale skin, they were swiftly fading.
Another pain shot through his back, and this time, he snarled his frustration at the mirror, appalled at how sharp-toothed he was becoming. Sores on his lips attested to that. An itching feeling on his back got his attention, and he spun around to put his back to the mirror, trying to see what was itching so badly.
He promptly fainted at the sight of two stunted winglets fluttering against his back.
"And on this day, we commend..."
He snarled quietly as he tuned out the pastor's voice, silently watching Caleb's casket being lowered into the ground. In his formal suit, no one could see his malformed legs or the winglets on his back. But he knew they were there.
His parents did too.
His mother had refused to sit by him or even look at him. His father wouldn't touch him and spoke to him as if he wasn't there, as if he were some empty body in Aiodhan Quincy Layden's place. And it infuriated him to no end.
He went back to the clinic and promptly destroyed everything in his room, feeling his heart shrivel as he knew he had once had the power to save his brother.
He tipped back the last beer in the six-pack and stormed out the cabin door, throwing himself up into the air. He came to his senses as a bolt of lightning just barely missed him, the heat nearly singing his face. He howled as a powerful gust of wind knocked him into an endless spiral. The ground rushed up at him, and he screamed in fear, making a frantic attempt to stop himself before-
"Aiodhan!"
Amyla's frantic shaking jerked him back to reality, and he gave a muffled cry of relief. His entire body was drenched in a cold sweat, and he was shaking uncontrollably. As he turned over and caught sight of Amyla's face, he began to sob, too exhausted to even try to shield his face from her view.
For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, their positions were reversed, and Aiodhan found himself burying his face against Amyla's neck and quietly crying, held close by her arms as neither of them slept for the remainder of the night.
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