//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: First Snow 
// Story: The Bug In The Basement 
// by Skijarama 
//------------------------------//

    2 Months Later.

    Beebee counted himself as lucky last night, as he had managed to fall asleep without his dreams being haunted by nightmares. He could never really remember what they were about, just that he woke up terrified and sad, and that his father would always, always be there to calm him down when he began screaming. Even with his own bedroom, Eventide was never late to come and comfort him when he awoke in the middle of the night in a screaming mess.

    This had been in large part thanks to what Eventide called a ‘baby monitor,’ which to Beebee just looked like a plastic rectangle with a black circle on it. But apparently, it allowed Eventide to hear Beebee whenever he cried out, no matter where he was in the house. It was a great comfort, to be sure.

    Now, as lucky as Beebee’s restful night of sleep had been, he found that his luck ran out very prematurely. He felt a hand on his back giving him a gentle shake, stirring him from his peaceful slumber. Groaning quietly, his wings flicked about at the intruding hand to try and make it leave him alone. “No…” he murmured drowsily when it persisted. “Five more mins…”

    “Come on, Bee, wake up,” Eventide’s voice cut through the quiet and what little of Beebee’s sleep remained. Rolling over, he finally opened his eyes just a sliver to look up at his father. He was mildly confused to see that he was wearing the new ‘winter clothes’ he had come home with yesterday, consisting of a thick dark red hoodie, a dark blue beanie, and fuzzy, thick, red gloves. The rest of his attire was pretty much the same as normal. 

“What…?” Beebee asked drowsily, finally surrendering to the fact that he wasn’t getting any more sleep at that moment.

    Eventide’s smile grew when he heard the question. Beebee had been getting a lot better at talking over the last two months, to the point that he could now communicate relatively well. His vocabulary was still rather small, and most of the time, if he spoke, it was to ask a question, but at least now it was possible to have a conversation with him. “There’s something outside; something amazing. You should see it,” Eventide answered Beebee’s inquiry with a sly smile.

    Beebee slowly sat up in the bed to yawn and stretch. His wings twitched a few times on his back before he looked up at Eventide again, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. “What is it?” he asked.

    Eventide shook his head and made his way for the stairs leading up from the basement. “It’s a surprise. Now come on, Bee! Buddha’s already waiting for us!” he said while beckoning for Beebee to follow him.

    Quietly chittering to himself in wordless disapproval, Beebee did as he was instructed and lifted out of bed to follow Eventide up the stairs and out of his room. When they got to the top, he immediately noticed that it was still dark outside. Why would his dad wake him up when it was still dark out? And why were all of the lights off? His muzzle twitched with confusion. His bewilderment only grew when he saw something white slowly drift down to the ground in front of the window, just illuminated by the street lamps. 

Eventide walked right up to the window and looked back at Beebee expectantly. Buddha was sitting next to the door, looking up at the knob with an impatient expression on her face. Beebee, now very curious, flew over. He eyed Eventide with curiosity, before looking out the window to see what all the fuss was about. 

    His jaw fell open, and his eyes widened. “Wooooaaah… what is that?!” he asked in wonder when he saw that the entirety of the front yard and everything else that he could see was covered in a thick layer of a white substance. If he really looked, he would have sworn it was sparkling at him. More of it was falling from the sky, each one drifting down slowly.

    Eventide gave Beebee a grin from the side, before nodding out at the yard again. “It’s snow…” he said quietly, kneeling down, so he was closer to Beebee’s eye level. “I remembered how much I loved the snow when I was a kid… so I stayed up, waiting for it. I knew you’d love to see it.” 

    Beebee pressed his hooves against the glass, his glowing blue eyes watching one flake slowly fall to earth. “It’s pretty…” he murmured out in awe.

    Eventide’s smile grew. “Yeah, it is… and I’ve been thinking…” he released Beebee’s hoof and walked over to the door. “That you’ve been inside my house your whole life…”

    Beebee watched him with wide eyes as he opened the door, allowing Buddha to run out into the snow and start bouncing around. Beebee looked between the door and his dad several times, the gears in his head slowly turning. “Daddy? Can I… can I go outside?” he asked hopefully.

    That hope was fulfilled when Eventide nodded and gestured with his hand. “Stay close to the house and don’t go out into the street. If you see anybody else, come back inside right away, but yes… you can go outside,” he explained slowly before stepping outside himself. Slowly and carefully, Beebee followed him to the door’s threshold. As he stood in front of it, he felt the cold air on his face and winced back. Beebee had never felt anything so cold before, but it only took him a moment to adjust. After a few seconds, he reached his hoof out into the world outside of his home for the first time in his life.

    Granted, he had only been alive for three months, but still!

    He spotted a particularly big snowflake drifting down and leaned over to catch it. As soon as it settled on his hoof, it melted, leaving a small spot of water on it. His eyes widened, and with his wings lifting him into the air, he got right in Eventide’s face to show him. “Look! Look! Snow turns into water!”

    Eventide just laughed while looking at the hoof. “It sure does, little guy,” he replied warmly. He reached up to hold Beebee’s hoof in his hand, pointing at the water with his finger. “That’s because snow is made of frozen water. It’s kinda like ice rain, but…” he gestured slowly at the world around them, and the layer of snow covering everything. “A lot slower, and a lot more beautiful.”

    Beebee looked around some more, then looked up at the sky. For a good few minutes, he was just looking before Buddha went running by again. Beebee watched as the excited dog pounced on the snow wherever it was higher, ran through where it was thick, and bit at falling flakes as if they were balls thrown for her to catch. Beebee noticed the snow clinging to her long fur, and his muzzle scrunched. “How come Buddha isn’t cold?” he asked curiously, shifting a little closer to Eventide for warmth.

    “Oh, she has a thick coat of fur to keep the cold out,” Eventide answered with a nod. He pointed at the dog as she went speeding by again. “And it keeps the warm in. Kinda like the clothes I’m wearing right now, and the clothes we should get you someday.”

    Beebee blinked. “But Buddha never takes her fur off…”

    Eventide chuckled in amusement. “Well, no, that’s because it’s a part of her. I mean,” Eventide took off his beanie and ruffled his hair. “My hair is a lot like her fur.”

    Beebee got the idea and nodded before watching Buddha run around a little more. He then poked Eventide’s shoulder. “Can I go play with Buddha?”

    Eventide slowly nodded, reaching out to give Beebee a few pets. “Yes, but take it easy and don’t get too excited. We don’t want you to fall down because you were playing too hard. And If you start feeling cold, come back to me, and I’ll warm you right up. Remember not to go out of the yard and hide if you see someone you don’t know, okay?”

    Beebee nodded happily with an adorable “uh-huh!” He then looked up into the pitch black night sky again,  watching the falling snow as it was illuminated by the bright white street lamps. He then looked down at the snow on the ground and lowered himself down. His hooves brushed through the topmost layer, and he felt how cold it was. But after a few seconds, he touched down fully. The snow crunched under his hooves, and his forelegs felt frightfully cold for a moment.

    He took a few steps, then looked up at Buddha, who was bounding up to him. She slid to a stop and began sniffing him all over, wagging her tail and shoving her muzzle all over him. Beebee giggled and tried to pet Buddha's nose, and then squeaked in surprise when she shoved her entire face under his legs and lifted him up. After a brief moment of confusion, he found that he was riding on Buddha’s head.

    Eventide chuckled. “Buddha’s giving you a piggyback ride, Beebee. Guess she didn’t want you getting cold,” he commented before walking up to their side and giving the dog a few pets behind the ears. “Good girl.”

    Buddha leaned into his hand, then licked it a few times. Then, with Beebee still on her back, she began to start running around the yard again, albeit slower this time to keep him from falling off. Beebee winced every so often when a falling flake of snow hit him in the face, but he was otherwise having the time of his life, giggling and laughing all the while. He lifted one of his hooves and pointed it forward. “Let’s go, Buddha!” he declared, and the dog barked her agreement.

They were at this for a long while, with Buddha exploring the yard and taking Beebee along for the grand tour. They stopped to look at everything, and Buddha sniffed at all of it. They went all around the outside of the house, and Beebee got to see things he had never seen before. It was just wonderful, he thought.

    After almost half an hour, Buddha finally began to run out of steam. She came to a stop by one of the trees in the yard while panting for breath, her tongue hanging out. After a few seconds, she sniffed at the base of the tree. She let out a small bark-like noise of recognition, then lay down next to it, not at all caring about the snow she was letting hit her belly. Beebee’s face twisted with confusion, and he began to lightly bat Buddha on top of the head with a hoof, making her face scrunch with mild annoyance. “Hey! Why we stop?” he asked disappointedly.

    Eventide came forward, eyeing the tree up and down for a few seconds. Once he reached the two, he crouched down by their sides, a nostalgic smile slowly beginning to grow on his face. He reached out and ran his hand over the bark before giving Beebee a warm smile. “Hey, Beebee. Look at this,” he suggested in a quiet voice.

    Beebee turned and looked at it, curious as to why his father would make such a big deal of an ordinary tree. Granted, he had never seen a tree up close before. “It’s a tree,” he stated the obvious, tapping his own hoof against it. “It’s pretty in the snow.”

    “Yes, it is, but it's not just any tree,” Eventide said while reached out and gently plucking Beebee from Buddha’s back. He set Beebee on his knee and nodded towards the base of the tree. “That spot? Right there? That’s where I found your egg. This tree, Beebee, is where you came from,” he explained in a whisper.

    Beebee blinked, then reached out to touch the tree more gently with his hoof. “So babies come from trees? Like apples?” he asked innocently, and Eventide barely managed to hold in his laugh.

    “Uh, no, not quite,” he replied slowly. “Most babies come from… ah, somewhere else…” he pulled Beebee a little closer. “But you aren’t most babies. You’re Beebee, my basement bug, and my son.”

    Beebee giggled quietly at the use of ‘basement bug.’ He wasn’t sure why, but he found the little nickname to be funny. Once his tiny laughs died down, he reached out his hoof to the tree again. “Thank you, tree,” he said quietly, making Eventide tilt his head.

    “Why are you thanking the tree, Bee?” he asked, genuinely curious.

    Beebee smiled back up at him. “Because it gave me to you, daddy.”

    “Oh, there goes the heart,” Eventide thought, his smile growing. He looked up at the tree himself and put his hand on it next to Beebee’s hoof. “Yeah… I guess you’re right… thank you, tree.”

    Buddha looked at them for a moment, then rested her chin on one of the roots that managed to avoid being smothered in snow so far. The father and his son might be here for a little while, she felt. No need to rush them.