The Second Dream

by totallynotabrony

Make Your Mark: Have You Seen This Dragon?

With someone breaking into the Brighthouse, while Hitch and I were kind of busy with the new kid, we hereby deputized Zipp to take care of the whodunits while we were indisposed.

Zipp rushed out, on her way to the Brighthouse. The others went with her, either as some kind of improvised posse or just because they wanted to watch. At the same time, a few nurses rolled Misty in her bed out of the room.

That left the hospital room quiet, finally. Which meant there was now nothing to prevent my undivided attention from the fact that I had just given birth. To a goat.

Weird day.

I glanced around, just to be sure we were truly alone in the room, and said, “So all that really happened, huh?”

“Yeah,” Hitch said. “I can hardly believe it, but I’m pretty sure it did.”

“How is this going to work with maternity leave? Can we split it, since you carried the baby too?”

“There’s no provision under Maretime Bay law for split maternity,” Hitch recited. “But fortunately, there’s paternity leave.”

“Can we split that one?”

“Uh-” Hitch paused abruptly in thought. “Speaking of, I always felt like the kind of guy who would make dad jokes, but knowing you, Sentra, I think we’re definitely going to have to split that duty, so as to avoid being overwhelming.”

He was totally right. “Good idea. We can add it to the chore calendar?”

Hitch winked. “Chore thing.”

“Great, I’ll take tomorrow.”

We laughed together a little, and kissed. It came so naturally that I didn’t even have conscious thought about it, and maybe Hitch didn’t either. To be fair, both of us were thinking about other things.

Such as the elephant in the room.

Boy, I was sure glad I hadn’t had to push out an elephant, but a goat was bad enough.

I looked down at the kid I was holding, and Hitch’s gaze followed mine.

“So yeah,” I said by way of no other method of steering the conversation back on topic. “Did you happen to have any goat in your family?”

“No, and I’m pretty sure the genetics aren’t even compatible with numbers of chromosomes and whatnot.”

I had no idea what my own body’s genetic history might have been, but doubted there was any goat there. The shape of the pupils was even off by ninety degrees.

“No chromo,” I muttered. Maybe that one was funnier in my head. I had to practice if my dad joke day was tomorrow.

So, with that ahead of me, I’d better get to know this kid.

Billy, the goat, met my eyes and baa’d. Wait, that was a sheep noise. Bleat? I’m not good with animal sounds, but considering I was raising a kid now I had better get on that. It was part of the basic curriculum, right? Dog says bark, cow says moo, pony says ligma, and so on.

Billy seemed bright-eyed enough. I vaguely recalled something about quadrupeds being generally more ready to go than human babies. Now that he’d been bundled and swaddled by the nurses, his coat had dried off. He was blotched black, white, and brown, which was confusing to me. I mean, that didn’t match the colors of Hitch or me at all. Frankly, Billy being black and red or something would have made more sense. He looked like…a goat.

“I have so many questions,” Hitch said, echoing my thoughts after we’d both had a long moment to take it in. “And I’m worried. I don’t know how to, like, teach him stuff. I don’t have cloven hooves. I don’t have horns. I don’t even know where to start.”

A circumcised father not knowing how to deal with a son’s uncutness. Weird example to pop into my head just then, but illustrative.

Hitch’s phone rang just then. He glanced at it, but seeing it was Zipp, decided to pick up. He put it on speaker.

“The magic lantern is gone,” Zipp said, summarizing what the Brighthouse security system had told us. “We also found evidence that Sparky had been here.”

Hitch and I traded a sudden panicked glance. Where was Sparky?

I didn’t even know where we had last seen him. Maybe when an errant spark of magic from him had swapped Hitch and my cutie marks, and who was pregnant.

Speaking of, looking at Hitch’s hip, I noticed we were back now. Maybe it happened after the birth.

“Hello?” Zipp prompted. “I’m still here.”

“HistillhereI’mdad,” Hitch blurted. He shook his head. “Sorry, sorry, I’m just-”

He looked at me, and I understood the choice we faced.

“Go,” I said. “We’re a team, so we can do two things at once.”

He kissed me and was out the door like a shot.

“Um…” said Zipp.

“Hitch, you forgot your phone!”

He dashed back in, grabbed it, and dashed back out.

I looked down at Billy, who was still staring at me, unconcerned with anything else.

His blankets were getting damp.

I had never changed a diaper in my life, and wasn’t about to do it while still a little bit on drugs, so I pressed the nurse call button.

Or on second thought, maybe I actually needed more drugs. Either way, calling the nurse would help.

---

Hitch returned hours later. They’d found Sparky.

He still looked worried, though, and when he had a moment he told me that with the lantern being stolen, there was evidence that someone might have also tried to kidnap Sparky. Whether he’d proven too much of a handful, or they’d simply wanted something else from him, there was no way to tell. Worrying, but at least he was safe now.

It felt weird to be taking it easy in time of crisis. I mean, it was past now, but still. Somebody had to be the mother, and I guess today it was my turn.

I was bursting with dad jokes. Literally vibrating. Could not wait.

They let us go from the hospital since everything seemed to be in order. Zipp was with Hitch and filled me in on everything she’d found as we walked. While I didn’t think she was interested in a permanent deputyship, I was glad she seemed to be good at it.

“It’s so strange,” she said. “I have no idea who would break into the Brighthouse. The lantern was the only thing taken. Have you checked out Sparky? We have no idea what might have happened to him.”

Sparky seemed fine. The hospital, as little dragon medicine as they knew, had agreed.

Zipp shook her head, and glanced around, eyes settling on Billy. “Weird day,” she said, echoing my constant thoughts. “I feel like nothing can surprise me anymore.

Just then, Izzy rolled up in an old tram. “Surprise!”

Sunny and Pipp were with her. Izzy honked the horn. “Check out my brand-new, old, broken-down, good-for-nothing, retired tram car! Great find, huh?! I got something super-cool up my mane. It’s gonna be tram-a-licious! Tram-a-blammo! Tram-tastic!”

Zipp pointed out, “Hey, and next time we’re searching for something, you guys can get around in that.”

That’s just what I was thinking!” Izzy agreed. “Friends that stick together can never be separated!”

Sparky picked just then to pull a vanishing act. I practically heard Hitch’s heartbeat go into overdrive, only for Sparky to appear at the controls of the tram, miming driving and making motor sounds with his mouth.

Everyone shared a relieved, but uneasy, laugh.

“Anyway,” Izzy went on, “Now that we’re all together, let’s have a baby shower for the new baby! I mean, traditionally it’s done before birth, but I guess it was a good thing we waited because we had no idea what you were having, Sentra.”

Me neither.

“I’ve already organized it,” Izzy said, pulling out her notes as we all boarded the tram. On the document, I saw that our old friend Dee had been contacted to provide catering. Izzy had scratched in “mixed nuts.”

My eyes lit up.

Hitch saw the maniac smile start to slide across my face and sighed, but didn’t say anything.

The tram rolled off into the sunset, party bound.

Comments

[Cyana Flame]

yesss

[artofwar77]

A good joke makes you smile when you hear it.

A really good joke makes you smile before it's even been told.

[Raiss Icewind]

Not to seem like I'm rushing anything here, but I am curious.
Is there intention to continue this but no good material to work off? Or perhaps a busy schedule? I ask because I enjoy the story quite a bit and was wondering how this story was looking.
Personally I feel it's lost a bit of steam with the last two chapters, not as much interesting things happening. Could just be me tho. Still, even if it's just slice of life, I'd read it.

[totallynotabrony]

11868934
I've kept a Google Docs tab open with the draft of the next chapter since I published this one
It's got 127 words on it at the moment
I wish I could tell you when it was going to be finished. I want it to be done, too, and I thank you for your continued support.