Conserving the Species

Part 26

The last month seemed to be forever till the laying date. Everyone was anxious, but the expectant parents were the most anxious.

Angela was watching Akemi as she was wanting to know all that she could possibly go through when it was her time to get pregnant. She had been watching and asking questions all during the pregnancy.

Akemi had been monitored monthly by their human scientist doctors. Brooklyn was with her at every appointment. He always wanted to know how his third child could possibly be doing. The egg was looking good.

Nathan, Preston, and Vanessa were now coming by every week to just monitor how the egg was doing in its final weeks in the womb. These things just needed to come to the light on gargoyle breeding cycles.

From what they had found so far, a female gargoyle's reproductive system was more like a reptile's, having two working ovaries and fallopian tubes, then down to a shell-making uterus where the egg would stay for the six months. There were special vessels that attached to the egg to feed and nourish it while in the mother. It was also a little like a mammalian womb, from the few mammals of Australia that laid eggs too.

As for the baby itself, it was still very small inside the eggshell. It had formed, but the egg yolk was still forming. It would be formed after the egg was laid. The egg would be laid in the rookery and only Mother Nature could take over from there. Of course, the adults would go to every measure to protect it.

Preston and his associates wanted to get some samples off the egg before it would harden to just study more about the egg. But later, they wanted to study the embryo and when it became a fetus too. They wanted to be there all during the incubation to just bring gargoyle facts to life. It would be a LONG decade of waiting before the hatchling would grace the world with its presence.

Brooklyn and Akemi were wary of their friends doing this stuff, but they wanted to know more about gargoyle hatchlings too while they developed inside their egg. The humans were their friends, so far that they had proven and were willing to be careful of everything they did. They would also let them know if anything was wrong with the baby. But most gargoyle babies went through development just fine and turned out fine too.

...............

A few weeks later, the Equinox finally came. It was the first night of spring. It had been a long winter, but winter weather was still going to stick around a while longer.

Tonight was the due date of Akemi and Brooklyn's egg to be laid. The clan was staying in tonight to keep an eye on Akemi. There was nothing like the arrival of a new egg about to come into the world, but it would be even better when it was hatching in ten years' time.

The trio of scientists came tonight too. They were going to be here all night to monitor Akemi and her egg. Brooklyn was not going to leave her side.

Most of the time, the fathers-to-be stayed outside the rookery while their mates were attended by other females as they laid the eggs.

"I don't want you to leave my side tonight, Brooklyn-San." Akemi pleaded. She was scared about tonight.

"I don't want to leave you, my Love," he replied, kissing her hand.

"Brooklyn, it would be best if you stayed outside the rookery." Goliath said.

"I can't leave her, Goliath. She needs me." Brooklyn retorted fiercely. "I know what she would be going through, well, the fear of the delivery going wrong or something."

"Male gargoyles have always waited for the eggs to be laid outside the rookery." Hudson declared. "It would be better if Angela went in with her."

"Angela can still come in, but I'm NOT leaving her side!" Brooklyn said firmly.