Page 140 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
Lyric and Chaos brought over the small tub filled with warm water, and Nash brought over more clean towels and a few big blankets. Ace and I gave him a quick bath, making sure to keep him warm the entire time.
By the time that was finished, Win was back with the bottle, so I sat on the couch with my arm propped on the armrest, holding the hatchling like he was a human baby, and offered the bottle. He didn’t know what to do at first, but as soon as I rubbed a little of the formula over his lips and he licked it, he drank the bottle down quickly.
He fell asleep after that, and Aeson took a turn holding him.
Winter sat beside me and nudged me with his shoulder. “It’s like you have a real baby in the house.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, it really is. What am I going to do now? He can’t be left alone for like… months. Am I supposed to take him to work with me?”
Win grimaced. “I… don’t know, sweetheart, but we’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You really… you’re really okay with this? Like… this is going to change everything. At least for a little while.”
Wrapping his arm around me, he tugged me in. “Of course I’m okay with it. I want to help, sugar butt. I’m here. You’re not doing this alone.”
I stared into his ice-blue eyes for a long moment, taking in his expression, his sincerity, his passion, his affection for me, and my chest filled with more warmth than it ever had.
This man truly cared about me, and he was ready to take on anything with me.
It was a miracle, honestly.
Only… there was one more thing that might change his mind.
I stared at the kids, Lyric, Maggie, and Nash, who were all taking turns holding the baby dragon. The kids who didn’t have a home.
I turned to Win with a sigh. “Soooo… I have another question… another thing that might, you know, change things. Do you think…” I trailed off, biting my lip, unsure of what I was trying to ask.
“Do I think what?”
I sighed again and buried my face in my hands before glancing at the teens to make sure they couldn’t hear us. “Do you think we could get the kids to stay here?”
He stared at me for a few seconds before a slow smile spread over his face. “I… was wondering when you’d ask that.”
I blinked. “What? Really?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I kinda figured you’d want to foster them.”
I stared at him for a long time before slowly asking, “And you’re okay with that?”
His eyes widened in shock. “What? Why wouldn’t I… I mean, of course I’m okay with that. I want to help those kids too. I just… I’m not allowed to foster them.”
My brow furrowed. Huh? Why wouldn’t he be… oh. Shit. He was technically an ex-con. “Oh.”
He snorted. “Yeah, oh. Actually, if you’re going to officially foster them, you probably can’t tell them I’m here all the time.”
“You really think that would matter?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay, well, I still have my fostering license, and I even have the emergency foster certificate. So I should be able to take them in immediately without making them go to a home or something first.”
“I didn’t know you had your license. Don’t you have to renew it every year?”
“Yeah, I… after Laney, I just… kept renewing it.” I couldn’t even explain why exactly, but it had never felt like a big deal.
