While the birthing staff and Beal helped me settle in, the midwife called to ensure Raiel could remain with Mum and Neal while I had the baby.
“We haven’t thought of a name!” I sobbed as Beal held me as tightly as he could. “We don’t even have a name for the baby because I kept putting it off! How am I supposed to raise a baby when I can’t even name them!”
“Shhh…. The baby will have a name. They will have the best name a baby has ever had,” Beal cooed to me. “It will be a name that all of your friends will be envious of because they didn’t think of it.”
“No they won’t,” I cried.
“Ducky, what’s with all the tears?” my mum’s voice carried in from the corridor. “People change their minds all the time about baby names! Of course, the baby will be fine! They don’t know that you don’t have something to call them yet.”
“Mum?” I croaked as she made her way into the birthing room. “Am I imagining stuff too now?”
“Ducky, did you really think I’d miss this? I just needed a little nap!” she said, and Beal moved away so that she could hug me.
Things progressed and halted on and off all day. EdnFya assured us that was the way with first time carriers but once things revved up, they didn’t slow down again. I cussed and hollered and at one point threatened to burn down all of London if someone didn’t get my kitten out of me right then and there.
“I’ll start with Moonscale Manor and then Clarence will never chase after my family again! Then I’ll burn down that –”
“Push, love!” Edna said, ignoring all my threats. “You can’t burn down the city and be a medieval dragon with this baby part of the way out. It won’t be good for his posture. So, grab ahold of your big cat and push.”
I roared and fire shot out of my mouth. Mum’s hand flew between me and Beal, catching the fire so that it extinguished on her hand scales. I opened my mouth to apologize but another fiery scream came out instead. No one complained that labor had morphed me into an undeniable asshole.
“One more, Nic. One more.”
“I’ll one more you!” I roared.
“Well, get on with it. One more me,” Edna said.
A nurse laughed and was immediately sent from the room. This wasn’t a laughing matter. Moonscale London would never be the same when I was finished with it. Edna knew I wasn’t playing around. So, I gave her one more and then one more – one more for the last time and my baby’s mews filled the air. I tried to turn and snatch up my baby, but she was clamping the cord.
“We’ll wait the cord out like we talked about?” Edna asked and I nodded, resting my forehead against the pillow and focused on not burning it down. My baby was a kitten, and they weren’t supposed to breathe smoke. I breathed in and out andBeal rubbed my back with the hand I wasn’t clutching to my chest for dear life.
“Ready to cut the cord, Beal?” Edna asked and I let go of him.
I needed him to stay with me but the baby needed him more. It hadn’t stopped mewing yet. I watched it between my legs as I took big, deep breaths trying to come to terms with the reality that my baby who hadn’t only known my womb as a home was no longer safe within the confines of my body. Beal cut the cord, and the kitten was whisked away to be cleaned up and vaccinated against all the cooties that might try to harm his little immune system.
“His,” I whispered.
He smelled like a boy at least.
“His,” Edna agreed and carried the kitten to the bedside.
I turned to lay on my side. Our kitten was a tiny little guy like a domestic cat would have. He was nearly as large as a full-grown domestic tom cat and even furrier. He was still damp from his bath and already nosing around for milk. His little eyes weren’t open yet. I cried again. He was beautiful and precious, and his grandma was here to see him.
“Antonio,” I whispered to him as if someone from the great beyond had whispered his name to me.
“He’s beautiful, ducky. You did so good,” Mum yawned and curled up in the armchair in the corner of the room. I didn’t know it then but she’d fallen back into her dragon sleep and Beal would have to carry her out to the car when we went home.
I murmured my thanks and stroked the soft fur on my baby’s head.
“She’s right. You kicked ass, mate,” Beal whispered and kissed my sweaty forehead. “And even found his name.”
“I’m not going to burn down London until after I have a nap.”
The room didn’t fall quiet as I dozed off with my baby. Nurses came and went, cleaning me and the bed up. I’d be able to go home in a few hours after my draconic genetics healed me up a bit. When everything was clean and Edna gave him the all clear, Beal climbed into bed behind me and spooned me so gently.
“I love you so much, Nic,” he whispered in my ear.
“Love you,” I whispered back and finally slept well and hard, believing that the world was on its way back to normal or at least a new and better normal.
