The egg would be well protected by the nest, but I piled more blankets beneath him. “Gods, it’s huge. How does the universe expect me to push that out?”
“I’m right here, and we are going to meet our egg very soon.”
Humans were fortunate in that they got to meet the baby immediately, whereas we had to coddle the egg until the baby decided to hatch.
Poor Percy. There was no color in his knuckles as he gripped the blankets. His head drooped while I whispered encouragement. With my heated hands on him, he pushed, and I waited, expecting the egg to be here. Another push, and a groan followed by more pushing. He shuddered and moaned and sobbed that he didn’t know where the egg was.
One more push and the egg appeared, nestled in the blankets. Percy had joked about watermelons and basketballs, but the egg was huge. It radiated heat and had silver veins across the blue-gray surface.
Percy collapsed, and I pulled a blanket around his shoulders. We stared at our egg. Our baby was curled inside, and my dragon was impatient to meet our little one.
“The egg isn’t cracked, is it?”
“It’s just as it’s supposed to be, beautiful, and the shell is strong.”
Percy was crying and so was I. My beast was sobbing, making my shoulders shake and giving me indigestion.
Percy reached out and touched the shell. “Oh, our egg is warm, so the baby is healthy.”
We nudged the egg to the center of the nest and curved our bodies around it. Percy was on one side and me on the other so our combined heat wrapped the shell in warmth.
“My dragon is singing. I hope the baby can hear it so they know it’s safe to hatch.”
“Mine too. Maybe they can form a choir.”
My mate patted my hand. “Leave the jokes to me, love.”
I’d hatched after five days, Percy after three, but it could take as long as a week.
“A week of lying in a nest.” He closed his eyes. “I’ve had worse assignments.”
We took turns. One of us was always with the egg while the other ate or showered. My parents called every day, and my mother cried when I described the egg. Percy's dads came over and admired their grand-egg.
On the third day, a tiny crack appeared.
Percy sat up, and his hand hovered over the shell. “Larkin, come here now.”
I dropped the coffee I was making and ran. The crack was thin and ran from the top of the shell in a jagged line. More cracks branched out from the first.
A tiny piece of shell fell onto the blankets. Through the gap, there was movement. More pieces broke off, and the egg rocked. Percy and I were holding hands, and my beast was telling the baby to hurry.
A tiny hand pushed through.
“Our baby,” we said in unison.” Our little one was working hard to meet us.
I peeled back the loosened shell, and our tiny daughter blinked and kicked her legs. She cried, and my dragon covered his ears with his wings. I lifted her up and placed her on Percy's chest. Her crying became whimpers until she quieted.
Like my daughter, I blinked to rid my eyes of tears as she opened her fist and grabbed Percy’s finger.
“Look what we did.” Percy kissed our little one. “Hello, Enya.”
I curled my body around them both as our daughter opened her eyes and yawned.
How is she tired? She’s been sleeping for months.
“I love you.” I kissed Enya. “And I love you too, Percy.” The words were easy, but they masked the huge emotions I didn’t know how to name. For now, love was enough.
“Love you right back.” My mate kissed our daughter's head, then mine. “But you're on diaper duty. I just did the hard part.”
