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Chapter Selection
Zelgadiss stretched out as the sunlight shone in through the room's windows, only to get his legs tangled with those of his lover. He smiled as he opened his eyes and looked down as the mass of silken, purple hair that spread across his chest. Xellos always seemed to wrap himself around the chimera's body after they fell asleep. Not that Zelgadiss minded, but it did mean he couldn't get out of bed without waking the mazoku up.
"Xellos." He said, nudging his lover as he tried to get himself untangled. "It's morning, wake up."
Xellos mumbled something and snuggled closer, effectively thwarting Zelgadiss' attempts to get free.
"Come on love, its time to get up."
Xellos' eyes finally opened and he yawned, letting Zelgadiss go before falling back on top of the plush pillows. With a quick kiss, Zelgadiss slipped out of bed and began to get dressed. He was sitting down to pull his boots on when he felt Xellos' arms slip around his waist as the mazoku's chin rested on his shoulder.
"Why do you always call me that in the mornings?" he asked softly in Zelgadiss' ear.
The chimera held his breath for a moment, he hadn't thought Xellos had noticed the nickname, but apparently he just hadn't chosen to mention it. Oh well, he supposed now was as good a time as any to confess his feelings.
"Because it's true. I'd say it more often if I didn't think it would scare you."
Silence, "Really?" the tone in his voice was ambiguous so Zelgadiss turned to look him in the eyes.
"Really." He stroked Xellos' cheek gently, "I love you Xellos, I have for a very long time." He held his breath as he waited for a response, then let it out in a 'whoosh' as Xellos lunged forward, knocking him back on the bed in an enthusiastic hug.
"Good." He said smugly, kissing him soundly, "Because I love you too."
Zelgadiss stared at him in shock, he hadn't really expected to hear those words from Xellos for a long time.
"It's true, I've known it since we made up. 'Making love' you said, remember?"
Zelgadiss laughed, he'd forgotten the phrase he'd used while trying to get Xellos to open up. He'd hoped that the mazoku would take the meaning literally, but he'd never really expected it to work. "So, I guess we have a date in four years, don't we?" He said with a grin.
"Exactly," Xellos replied in a possessive tone, "There's no way I'm going to let Amelia tie you to a tree and take my place." The light hearted mood lead to cuddling, which altered the mood slightly, which lead to them both being very happy, but late for breakfast.
Not that it mattered, their friends welcomed any excuse to extend a meal and so they didn't have to eat alone even though they weren't downstairs on time. When they were finally finished they set off on the road, enjoying the sunshine and the rarity of a peaceful day. It was about noon when Gourry asked of any of the others had noticed the bird.
Now, Gourry wasn't really very smart, but he was a good warrior, so the fact that anything, even a bird, was following them was the type of thing he noticed. It only took him until noon to mention it because he kept forgetting that it was there. Still, once he pointed out everyone began to focus on the unlikely tag-along.
"It looks pretty big." Amelia said, shielding her eyes from the sun.
"How far away do you think it is?" Lina asked.
"About five miles." Zelgadiss replied, calculating in his head. "It's moving fairly quickly, it should catch up to us soon."
"So what's the game plan?"
"We should wait for it." Gourry said, "It's better to face it than to have something come up behind us." The rest of the group agreed and they sat down on the side of the road and watched the bird's progress. When it finally landed they looked at it in stunned confusion.
It was a stork.
A stork with a white bundle hanging from its beak.
"Hello there." It said cheerfully, setting the bundle down and pulling out a clipboard. "Boy you people move around a lot, I've been trying to catch up to you for a month now."
"Um, Stork-san?" Amelia said politely, "Are you sure you have the right group?"
"Well, if two of you are Zelgadiss Greyweirs and Xellos Metallium then I do."
Everyone turned to look at the stunned pair.
"Excuse me?" Xellos asked finally.
"Are you them?" The stork countered.
"Well, yes, but--"
"Good, sign here." It held out the clipboard.
"Now wait just a second, what is this all about?" Zelgadiss interrupted, pushing the clipboard away.
The stork sighed, "One of you is a faery, right?"
"Yes, half." Zelgadiss answered, ignoring the confused looks he got from his friends.
"And you mated at the Time of Joining, right?"
He blushed and nodded.
"And you are aware that the whole point of the Time of Joining is procreation, right?"
"Yes, but--"
"Well, obviously there's provisions set in place to handle the possible occurrence of a same-sex mating such as yours."
They both went pale.
"Storks really do deliver babies?" Gourry asked.
The stork nodded, "In certain cases we do deliver them to faeries, yes. I have to admit though, this one was pretty interesting. Human, faery, mazoku, you don't get that combination everyday, nor do you get such impressive lineages. Now, enough chit chat, sign here please." It held out the clipboard again but both of the too-be parents were still in shock.
"I'll sign for them!" Lina cried, the stork gratefully handed over the board and a pen. "I always wanted to be an auntie."
"Lina!" Both Zelgadiss and Xellos snapped back to reality at the same time, "What are you doing?"
It was too late though. "Thank you." The stork took the board and handed Xellos a copy of the paper that was on it which was a record of successful delivery. "Well, that's everything then. Good luck." And with that it took off, leaving the bundle behind.
They stared at it for a moment, then Zelgadiss and Xellos approached cautiously as it began to squirm.
"Well, open it." Lina said.
"I wonder if I'll have a niece or a nephew." Amelia mused a little starry eyed.
"Storks really do deliver babies." Gourry said reflectively, still watching the bird fly off.
Zelgadiss and Xellos looked at each other over the top of the bundle, then shrugged and began to untie the knot in the top of the blanket. The fabric fell away to reveal a chubby little baby with pale skin and a head full of soft purple hair. It was sucking contentedly on its thumb and watching them all with big blue eyes.
"So, is it a boy or a girl?" Lina asked as they all crowded around. Xellos pulled the diaper away briefly then let it go.
"Girl." He reported much to the delight of both sorceresses.
"This is going to be so much fun." They said, looking at each other with big grins. "Just think of everything we can teach her!"
Zelgadiss sent an alarmed glance towards Xellos, but the mazoku seemed as thrilled by that idea as the girls did. The chimera sent a worried glance towards the unsuspecting baby and groaned, "We're doomed."
Thirteen miles and a few dirty diapers later, Zelgadiss sat in a chair watching as Xellos walked around their inn room trying to soothe the crying baby.
"Come on." The chimera said finally, standing up to take the screaming bundle from the frazzled mazoku, "She's clean, fed, changed, and being held, what's the problem?"
"I don't know." Xellos conceded, sinking down into the chair. "That's everything I can think of."
"It's too soon for her to be teething, right?"
"I think so, but who knows, she was brought by a stork, remember?"
"No kidding. You know, Lina signed for her, maybe we should get Lina to take care of her."
The baby began to cry louder.
"Say Zel-chan, you don't think she understands us, do you?"
"I wasn't that aware as a baby, were you?"
"I wasn't even a baby."
"Mazoku, right. Well, for the sake of argument let's assume she does understand, will that help us any?"
"Well, if we guess what she wants she can let us know by being quiet."
"So guess."
"Um," he smiled, "I can't think of anything."
"Are you enjoying this?"
"Well, you do look pretty cute with a baby in your arms Zel-chan."
Zelgadiss sighed and gave Xellos a mock glare as he continued to bounce the baby, but the mazoku seemed perfectly serious. He stood up and walked over, putting his arms around Zelgadiss, managing to snuggle both him and the baby at the same time. The extra connection seemed to mollify her somewhat and she exchanged sneezing for sniffling. "Well, that helped." Zelgadiss said, contentedly leaning into the embrace.
"Hmm." Xellos agreed softly and they stood there and enjoyed the moment of relative quiet.
"You know," Zelgadiss said after a random thought, "I think she needs a name."
The sniffling stopped and the baby started making happy gurgling sounds instead. The both looked down at her with surprise.
"That's it?" Zelgadiss said with a laugh. "She's been trying to get us to name her."
"Well, I suppose it makes sense." Xellos said, taking the baby back and sitting down on the bed. "It's one way for her to feel that we're going to keep her." The baby reached up and started playing with the hair that hung down by the sides of his cheeks.
"So, any ideas?" Zelgadiss asked.
"How about Buttercup?"
The baby looked like she was going to start crying again. Her parents looked at each other then laughed and said in unison, "No."
They began to list off names, but nothing seemed to fit. Finally an unlikely name occurred to Xellos, but it seemed right. "How about Yume?" he asked quietly. Both thought it over.
"I like it." Zelgadiss said, sitting beside them on the bed and letting the baby grab his finger, "Yume, who's it for?"
"It was the dragon's name." Xellos said reflectively, "The gold that my friend loved." Zelgadiss put his other arm around Xellos' shoulder and let the mazoku lean against him. They sat like that for a long time before they realised that Yume was now soundly asleep. They moved carefully, placing her gently in the cradle her over-zealous aunts had bought upon arriving in town, and managed to accomplish the transfer without waking her up.
"This changes things." Zelgadiss said quietly, looking down at her.
"Yes, but if things don't change they get boring." Xellos replied with a grin.
Zelgadiss laughed softly then took Xellos' hand as they both collapsed together on the bed. With one more look over at the cradle beside the bed they cuddled up together and fell into a light sleep.
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