Page 40 of Mated in the Stars

“You smelled that, did you?” Nelum laughed.

“Gonna eat it all without baby,” Minter said, as if he could hurry up the baby by going through his belly.

The tiny fingers gripped Teddy’s big toe as well as they could and the little arm flexed as if the baby’s plan was to pull themselves straight out through the hole. The baby grunted and let out a little cry. Then their other arm came out of the hole too, cracking it open wider.

“Go baby! Go!” Minter cheered.

The baby managed to grab another of Teddy’s toes and grunted again. Another cry. A whimper. A roar of frustration. Then the distinct sound of a baby dragon head-butting the inside of their shell. Hatchlings were incredibly strong when it was time to break out of their egg. They lost some of that muscle mass and use as they aged those first few days but they put it to good use while they had it.

“Go! COME ON!” Minter cheered and sighed.

The baby headbutted the shell again, still keeping their death grip on Teddy’s toes. All the adults were laughing now as the baby’s head broke through the shell and they blinked at us as if they were surprised at how we looked.

“BABY!” Minter said, trying and failing to pull away from Fred.

The baby grunted again, and his little arms flexed as his scent turned determined. He tugged on Teddy’s toes and pulled himself free before rolling onto his back and wailing as if we’d all made him do the hard work for no reason. I snatched up ournewborn before Minter made his way to the baby. He wouldn’t hurt his little brother, but I wouldn’t put it past him to actually try to color him neon green.

The baby wailed as I cleaned him up and got him diapered and dressed in a little red outfit that matched his eggshell. His chest star was red like his sire’s. Perching on the ledge of the nest, I didn’t want to let him go. He was tiny and perfect and had Fred’s nose. I kissed his forehead and held him to my chest to soothe his cries.

“Baby get name?” Minter asked, hugging my leg.

“Yeah. He’ll get a name like you did.”

“Renter?” Minter asked.

“Huh?” I blinked.

“Red Minter. Renter!”

“No, baby,” I laughed. “That’s a word for something else on another world.”

“Redder?” he looked up at me with big eyes.

“Buddy,” Fred said, scooting over next to us. “We were thinking of calling the baby Amaranth. What do you think of that?”

“Am-a-rat?” he blinked. “Not a rat!”

“Amaranth,” Fred tried again.

“Am-a-rant,” Minter said, getting closer that time.

“Close enough,” Fred laughed and ruffled his hair.

“Amarant! Amarant!” Minter cheered.

Teddy stuck around long enough to hold the new baby for a few minutes before slipping out of the room. Fred and I shared a long look. He was worried about Teddy. I hated that he was in pain or distress at all, but Teddy had emotional intelligence that far surpassed his years. He’d work it out and probably gain something from the process.

We put off having a feast to welcome our hatchling into the world and opted for heating up one of the pizzas that came inone of the heat baskets instead. Nelum’s eyes sparkled when he looked at the baby but his mind kept drifting away. Was he worried about Teddy? Lotus would’ve been but Lotus wasn’t here anymore.

After our pizza, we all climbed into the nest with Baby Amaranth and Nelum rested his head on Fred’s shoulder. Fred told me what they had talked about outside and asked about how I’d feel if we took a trip to Earthside. I wanted to meet the rest of his kids and grandkids. I wanted to see all the places Fred grew into the man I loved.

“Will Teddy come?” Nelum asked.

“Probably not, to be honest. I don’t think he’s ready. I’m going to leave him to it and he’ll let me know if he needs me. Part of me thinks I need to follow him around but I don’t think I’m the right person to deal with his grief this time. He’s afraid of hurting my feelings or one of your guys’ feelings,” Fred sighed. “He’s not hurting mine but his worrying about it only makes it harder for him.”

“He’s with Sunny, huh?” I asked.

“If he’s not, he’ll be soon.”

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