Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
D aniel woke up Christmas morning hurling his stomach up from his toes, Hayden thought.
He was so sick that he just sat in the bathroom on the floor with his head on the toilet lid for probably a half an hour. Hayden sat with him, rubbing his back, trying not to be intrusive but wanting to help any way he could.
It seemed icy cold, so Hayden did his best to keep his temperature regulated—not hot-- but not freezing either.
When Daniel finally seemed to get over that, he raised his head and said, “I need to brush my teeth.”
“Of course, baby.” Hayden lifted him to his feet and got him situated in front of the sink, propping him up.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel groaned. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I hope… I didn’t feel bad. That was awful.”
Hayden didn’t bring up the pregnancy thing again. He didn’t figure right now was the appropriate time.
“I think you’re going to be fine.” He found Daniel a smile. “Seriously, this is going to be fine and you just?—”
“Don’t. Don’t just say, I’m just anything.” Daniel poked him in the chest. “At best I have a bug. At worst, I have something like stomach cancer, and then there’s the option of being pregnant. All in all, this is not a ‘just’. Don’t ever say that.”
Okay. “Absolutely. You’re right. Would you like a glass of milk, maybe some toast?”
Daniel blinked at him. “That actually sounds really good—just a piece of toast and a big glass of milk, please?”
Thank the Goddess. “I can totally do that.”
He ran downstairs like his ass was on fire, finding Rita standing there in the kitchen making coffee.
“Before he sits up next time, give him the toast. It will help, remember?”
He nodded, sucking in a centering breath.
She waited for him to calm, then nodded. “It’s normal. It will be done in a minute. Hopefully the cinnamon rolls will smell good to him, not awful.”
“I hope so, too. He thinks he has stomach cancer or something.” Hayden sighed. “You know, he flip-flops back and forth between being fine with everything and freaking out.”
She waved a hand, obviously unconcerned. “Of course he does. As far as he knows, men don’t get pregnant. That’s how he grew up, so it’s weird to him. You’re just going to have to be patient.”
She made toast for him, and he poured a big glass of milk. “I really need to get a mini-fridge up there in the big bedroom. If he’s going to crave milk for another month or two, then it would be great to have easy access to it.”
She nodded. “I’ll put it on the list of provisions. They can deliver it. Nice thing is that a mini fridge just big enough for milk and cheese maybe will fit on the snowmobile if it gets bad.”
“Thanks.” The toast popped up, making him jump, and he decided not to butter it.
“This doesn’t last forever. He’ll eat this, he’ll feel better, then you’ll come have Christmas.”
“Perfect. Thank you for your help, I appreciate it.”
She beamed at him and sipped her coffee. “That’s what I’m here for.”
He gathered the food, then looked back over his shoulder. “Do you think Jacks will eat a new baby?”
It was a terrible thing to have to ask, but he did have to ask.
Rita shrugged. “It’s a possibility, but it’s unlikely. This way he has a friend.”
Oh, that was an excellent point. “True. He’ll be the oldest, be able to lord it over a new baby. I like it.”
He headed upstairs with his bounty, feeling more than a bit like a hero as Daniel nibbled on the toast and sucked down the milk.
It seemed like it was going to work out just fine, because it didn’t take but five minutes for Daniel to perk up.
“Thanks,” he said. “I really was just madly queasy.”
He nodded. “Morning sickness will do that to you, but at least there’s a definite length of time, right? It’s early in the pregnancy.”
Daniel gave him a nervous smile. “You think so, huh? You think it’s real?”
“I do.” Of course he did.
“Wow, Merry Christmas to me!”
“That’s what I was thinking. Merry Christmas to us. And I think Jacks would be so tickled to have somebody to be a big brother to.”
Daniel snorted. “Right, he’s going to be an evil overlord.”
“Oh my gosh, you’re probably right.” He winked, sounding deliberately horrified. He really wasn’t. He thought Rita knew what she was talking about. He trusted her judgment.
“Besides that, it could be a girl, and then he would have to be the evil overlord who is madly in love with his little sister.”
“You have a point; I do like that too. Madly in love with his little sister—that very much works for me.”
Daniel smiled at him, the expression a little tentative, and then he launched himself into Hayden’s arms. “I don’t believe this is happening to us. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Tell me that there’s a part of you that’s happy,” Hayden said, his voice shaking.
“There’s a big part of me that’s happy. There’s also a part of me that’s scared,” Daniel replied.
He understood that emotion with everything inside him. “There’s a part of me that’s scared too.”
“Really?”
Of course he was scared. “I’ve never had a pregnant mate before. I couldn’t even handle Jacks on my own—I had to find someone to do it for me. And now there’ll be two. What if I’m not good enough of a dragon to teach them how to be one? Or to show you how to be one?”
Daniel cuddled up next to him, holding him tight. “Oh, love. Thank you for being honest, for being vulnerable, for being you. It’s nice to know that you don’t think I’m an idiot. It’s all right to be worried—it’s more than all right. You’re doing an amazing job.”
“So are you, and you’ve just started. We have six more months?—”
Daniel blinked at him. “Only six months! That means June. At least the snows will be gone, and we’ll be able to prepare a little bit, right?”
“Don’t worry, the timeline is perfectly normal for dragons.
We have Rita and Denise, the new cat and groundskeeper, and we’re not alone by any means.
” Hayden stroked his neck and just stared into Daniel’s eyes, wanting him to understand, willing him to understand that Hayden was going to be there no matter what.
“True. True, and you’re going to make everything amazing.” Daniel stopped, then stared at him. “What about a doctor? Is that a thing?”
Hayden had no idea, but dragons weren’t particularly…social. “I think we’re going to have to just make do with the three of us and you. We’ll manage.”
“Yeah, I guess it would be hard to explain.”
“A little bit.” Hayden kind of gave Daniel the dramatic eyes. “I’m not sure it would be possible to explain dragon magic to normal, human doctors. Maybe it’s just me.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Highly unlikely that it’s just you. Maybe I should talk to the agency. Maybe they know.”
“Maybe. Maybe they have some sort of dragon pregnancy manual or something. What to expect when you’re expecting a dragon baby.” Hayden winked at Daniel, feeling a little more even-keeled. “But first, we have to get through Jacks’s first Christmas.”
“Oh my God, that’s right, it’s Christmas morning!” Daniel kissed Hayden’s nose. “I can’t believe I forgot. It’s because I woke up so urpy.”
“It’s all right, Jacks will make it work for us, I’m sure.”
Like the baby had heard himself being spoken about, a soft cry filled the air. “Da-da, da-da.”
Daniel grinned at him. “Your son is calling you.”
“How do you know your son’s not calling you?” he teased.
“Because my son calls me Dan-Dan, not Da-Da.” Daniel looked altogether too pleased with himself.
“Hey! Okay, I hear you son.” Hayden got up with a smile and went to his little dragon boy, who made grabby hands at him. “Let’s get you changed, and then we’ll go sit with Dan Dan for a minute. Did I tell you that Dan Dan is going to have a baby?”
Jacks frowned. “Babbie?”
He nodded and smiled. “Mmhmm. A wee babbie. You’re going to be a big brother. It’s going to be so much fun, and I’m going to need you so much to help me.”
“Brud-der.”
All of a sudden, Jacks was using words, and he got it. Not only was it a biological imperative for Jacks to grow up faster than a human baby, it was also really important now that he was going to have a sibling to be able to protect that sibling.
Magic really was fucking amazing.
He handed Jacks off to Dan, who put him on his lap and bent down to kiss his forehead. “Hello, my love! Merry Christmas!”
Jacks squealed, reaching up to pat Daniel’s cheeks.
“The ladies say we’re going to have cinnamon rolls, sausage, and yummy stuff this morning for breakfast, and then there’s going to be presents.” Daniel was just babbling, and Jacks was babbling back at him, not really using words, just kind of mimicking Daniel’s tone.
Love swelled in Hayden’s chest, and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have this. It amazed him every day that he had Daniel and Jacks and a baby on the way. And he couldn’t imagine life being any better.
And that was only until they got downstairs, where Rita and Denise were waiting for them in matching Christmas pajamas with cinnamon rolls as promised and coffee. Thank god there was coffee. Daniel had another glass of milk and then some tea with honey.
Jacks had his bottle and he was dolled up in a onesie that went with everybody’s Christmas jammies. The lights were twinkling on the tree, the music was on, and he realized why humans had come up with these traditions because they brought in some of the magic that they’d lost, some of the wonder.
It was pretty damn wondrous to him. Jacks shredded the paper on his gifts like the little carnivore monster he was, and he positively wallowed in soft toys and little books and onesies and two-piece sets of clothes that would maybe stay with him as he grew some.
Daniel had done an amazing job finding things that Jacks would love, including a fire dragon stuffed toy.
And of course, that was what Jacks latched on to, holding it to his little chest and cooing to it as if it was his own baby.
They had books and puzzles and fluffy robes and more for Denise and Rita, and he had gotten Daniel all sorts of warm, cold weather gear along with a new iPad so that he could make his lessons for Jacks and surf the web.
And he’d gotten them a new gaming system, so they could play video games together, which he’d never really cared too much about until Daniel had come.
Daniel hugged his neck. “That’s amazing. Thank you, love.”
“You’re welcome, love.” He’d gotten Daniel a ring, but he thought it was too early to give it to him. Maybe for Valentine’s Day. Maybe for New Year’s, depending on how it went.
Hayden had presents as well. A new fountain pen from Denise and Rita.
A new padfolio from the gardener. Daniel had gotten him a bunch of silly and fun things for his desk, and also socks with bananas printed on them and underwear with chocolate-covered cherries printed on them.
It was hilarious and wonderful. But then Daniel had also made him a scarf.
And that was gorgeous. The yarn was such an amazing variation of red, orange, and black.
Sort of like him.
Hayden walked over to kiss Daniel on the mouth. “Thank you, mate. I love it.”
Daniel gave him a shy sort of glance. “You mean it?”
“I think it’s stunning. Thank you so much.” He leaned close to murmur. “I have a couple of other things for you in the room, too. Oh, and I almost forgot. I got you some shoes for the sand pit.”
“Oh, okay.” Daniel hooted, Jacks echoing the sound. “That’ll be nice. That way I don’t have to try to make my feet cold so that when I step on the sand, I don’t burn myself.”
“Exactly.” He was really hoping to convince Daniel to spend a little more time with him down at the sand pit because he wanted Daniel to shift. But maybe it wasn’t heat that he needed to do that. Maybe if he was an ice dragon, he needed the cold.
Hell, maybe that was why Daniel spent so much time outside with Jacks.
What he’d gotten that was still in the room was a few personal items just for him and Daniel, but also some super heavy-duty cold weather gear so he could take Daniel flying even if he had to hold him in a claw.
He just didn’t want Denise and Rita to see that really because they would scold him about taking a pregnant dragon flying.
Hayden got up not too long after that, put away a bunch of the trash and to grab another plate full of cinnamon rolls and sausage because he was starving. “Anyone else want anything?”
“More milk?” Daniel asked, hopefully. Rita and Denise had put some in the Crock Pot so it would be warm, and that way he could have either kind he wanted.
“Warm or cold?”
“Oh, warm please. I think that goes best with the cinnamon rolls.”
He grinned because Jacks was already dozing off, curled up against his kitty’s belly, and just the tip of the cat’s tail was moving.
He couldn’t wait until Jacks was just a little bit older and able to really participate in Christmas.
But he thought this morning had gone exceptionally well.
He was so in love with his family that all he could do was smile as he went to fill his plate and get Daniel his milk. Everything was just as it should be.