“Yeah. If he knows there’s a potion to make barbs shift away, he knows about condoms. I bet cats are big on safe sex.”
“Fuck! Frost on a toasted cracker! Do you think he can ever use a condom with the barbs?”I asked, my mind drifting back to the first time I saw him naked in the lake in the Other World.
“I bet they can. He said they were fleshy. Maybe the cats have special condoms or something or that’s why they make the potions! Hey! This doesn’t answer the question. I vote that it’s time for us to have a baby. What do you vote?”
“Uh…. I didn’t know my head was a democracy.”
“It’s not. There’re only two of us. We can have a stalemate, though. Even if we count Beal and his cat…”his words trailed off.
Could we have a kid? That was the real question. I had no doubts that genetically it was possible but I wasn’t sure about logistically. What happened when I needed to go into work at weird hours or at the drop of a hat for an emergency?
“Beal happens,”my dragon said.
“What if he has a job? Just because he hasn’t mentioned it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a job.”
“Then we ask him. Don’t make it so complicated. I vote that it’s time for us to have a baby. Go stick your butt up in the air.”
I rolled my eyes. If only it was that simple.
“Mate?” Beal called through the bathroom door.
I turned crimson, hoping that he hadn’t somehow heard my thoughts even though we hadn’t exchanged our claiming vows. It wasn’t until after that ritual was complete that we’d be bound at the souls. Then we could pick up each other’s thoughts and emotions and our inner beasts could connect within the bounds of us without shifting out to see each other.
“Yes?” I called but tried not to think too hard about barbs, babies, or anything else that started with a B.
“Just stick your butt up in the air. He’ll know what to do! You’ve done this before!”my dragon said, settling down on his stomach inside his inner sanctum.
“You… Smell stressed out? Are you okay?” he asked.
“I… Do you have a job?”
“I have money, if that’s the question,” Beal called back. “I have access to resources. If we get the whole big party thing, I’ll sign the little piece of paper that says I don’t get any of your money if things don’t work. Though, if things don’t work out it means I’m in the grave and as far as I know dead men don’t need money.”
“UH… What?” I asked, pausing and squeezing my eyes shut as the soapy water ran down my face.
“I’m not Jon, mate. I’m nothing like him.”
“Oh! No! I know that! I don’t care about the money thing. Well, I do, but I don’t care if you don’t work. Can you come in here? I think I’m going to have an ocular chemical peel if we keep shouting through the door.”
“As you wish,” he said, swinging the door open and stepping inside.
“Don’t let the steam out,” I said and he shut the door.
I rinsed my hair before speaking again.
“What happens if we have a baby and I have to dart off to work for an emergency?”
“The baby and I will come along?” he said, his voice rising up like it was a pop quiz question.
“That is one answer.”
“If you’re still chest feeding and you haven’t pumped, it may be the only solution. I know how to take care of kittens. I don’t think dragon hatchlings would be that much different either. Not really. Babies are babies. They all try to climb the furniture and swing from the lights.”
“Which babies have you taken care of?”
“There are plenty of kittens in the village and common sense says if you’re around and a kid needs help, you help them. I haven’t raised a kid. I think that’s more work but it’s not like we don’t know what we’re doing.”
“I only sort of know what I’m doing,” I admitted.
