My Little Bird | Blue Eyes (Under minor grammatical editing)

Chapter 33

The king and queen had impeccable timing. They came not long after all of us woke up from our early nap, and the twins were up and ready for more visitors. Blue Eyes and I had been talking and signing to them a lot, and while we knew they wouldn't be answering for a while yet, we decided it was good to get them used to communicating like this early on.

I had expected Cornelia to start gushing right away, but she didn't. She approached slowly beside Caesar, neither seemed to realize that there were two chimps in my arms yet. As far as I could tell, they only seen River, who blocked his sister mostly, especially since she hid her face in my chest, like she had done to Blue Eyes. It seemed my little girl was very shy.

Cornelia let out a few soft hoots when she made eye contact with her grandson for the first time. A smile pulled at her lips as she crouched beside our hammock, her hand going up to sign, "He has your eyes!"

I felt Blue Eyes' chest move when he let out an affirmative grunt and a puff of laughter. Sage shifted and followed River's gaze, letting out an inquisitive coo. Cornelia gasped and Caesar gave a surprised grunt at the sight of her.

"Twins?!" They gasped in unison.

The smile that overcame Cornelia was so strong she had to cover her mouth with her hands and giggle into Caesar's chest. Caesar looked taken by surprise, which we all were, but very soon he was smiling as well. When Queen Cornelia seemed to get ahold of herself, she was still smiling very widely. She got a closer look at Sage, and I swear I seen her eyes mist up.

"Oh, Rain. She has your eyes too." She signed.

"They're beautiful!" She breathed.

"Congratulations, my son. Good luck." He added humorously.

Sage and River both seemed absolutely captivated with Cornelia, and I understood completely. She was very beautiful, and even though I was used to it, it still stunned me anew to see just how pretty she was sometimes. River, who had expressed his curiosity easily before, seemed to be stricken bashful in the presence of his grandmother. Sage was shy as ever, but she as well was taken by the pretty chimp. They'd soon learn it wasn't only her looks that made her beautiful, and it made me smile knowing that they'd be coddled and spoiled long after Blue Eyes and I learned to stop treating them like children. But of course, that was long off. I was going to put in my fair share of coddling, and I knew from the moment Blue Eyes made eye contact with them that this was the same for him.

"I'll need it." Blue Eyes joked along with his father.

"You'll both need it." Cornelia snickered.

Her pale jade colored gaze fixated on my twins as they admired her from the sanctuary of my embrace. "Have you named them yet?"

I looked up at Blue Eyes, giving him the chance to introduce them to his side of the family. He turned to the new grandparents and recited their names. "Sage and River."

They perked up at that. "River?" Caesar repeated.

"Rain's idea." He rested his chin on my shoulder, and I could feel a soft smile against my jaw.

"I seen his eyes and I couldn't help it. It fits him, don't you think?" I smiled bashfully.

Cornelia took another glance at said child, and after only a few silent seconds of eye contact, she smiled softly and met my odd gaze again with a nod. "It does fit. I love it."

Sage gave a curious imp and tugged at me, drawing me to look down at her. When she found she had my attention, she gave a squeak and crawled up towards me more. I lifted an arm and hugged her, giving her forehead a kiss. Sage locked her hands around my neck and nuzzled into my throat. I hummed to her and stroked her small back.

River then decided to transition from me to Blue Eyes. The little boy kept peeking over his shoulder at Cornelia, but he still seemed too humbled in her presence to do much. I smiled and wondered if that could intel he'd be a ladies man when he grew.

My little heartbreaker, I thought fondly.

"How are you feeling, my daughter? Are you up for the celebration?" Caesar asked. Both had taken to calling me that, and honestly it made me want to giggle like a toddler.

I nodded with a smile. "I think so. They should be too." I indicated to my babies.

Cornelia gave a quietly happy hoot. "Wonderful! I can't wait to see the reactions to those eyes. Both's are so beautiful!"

I smiled brightly. "I can't wait to see Haze's reaction to them in general."

We all shared a knowing chuckle at the thought of the energetic child. But we were soon distracted when Caesar started signing. "We brought something for the baby."

He brought up his other hand, and opened his large fingers to reveal a small bone rattle. I don't know how he kept it from making noise throughout our previous conversation, but the toy came as a pleasant surprise. "If we had known about this, we would have made two." He said, handing it over to Blue Eyes.

"Don't worry, Sage's will be done by tonight or in the morning. Soon, though." Cornelia put in, grinning happily.

"Thank you, both of you. He likes it already." I added, noticing the way River beamed as he shook the little rattle. He bounced in Blue Eyes' arms, holding it above his head and shaking it as he panted. I giggled when Blue Eyes had to shift his head to the side to avoid being hit in the face by the gift.

"Well, we'll start on preparations. You'll know when it starts." Cornelia winked. "I'll see you all tonight, okay? 'Bye 'bye my little pretties." She added, tipping each of their chins upward before moving to kiss both of my cheeks.

She moved to Blue Eyes and took his face into her hands and gave him a big kiss to his forehead. "Look at you, having kids already."

"Thanks for the rattle." He signed, trying to get the attention off himself.

"Of course, I'll see you both later." With that, she briskly exited the hollow.

"She's excited, you know how she is." Caesar signed with a fond shake of his head. He took a long glance at the twins again before giving us all a smile on goodbye. He waved 'bye 'bye to the twins before disappearing behind the vine curtain.

Blue Eyes and I exchanged a smile before River let out a small hoot, drawing my attention to both of them. Both looked up at me with wide, curious owlet eyes.

"That was your grandma and grandpa." I smiled down at them.

Sage gave a small hoo and looked to Blue Eyes. She reached out to him and I handed her over. "I thank she's a daddy's girl." I grinned.

He tried to hide how big his smile got as he gave Sage's head a kiss. River played with his new rattle whilst Sage investigated Blue Eyes' scars. He had been so worried that they would be frightened by the marks, but now I was glad to see my reassurances had held true. Neither were bothered at all by them, in fact, they seemed intrigued by their father's scars. The bear's claws on his chest had healed well, and now they were pale pink, jagged streaks against his dark fur. Blue Eyes decided then to pull me flush against his side, and we leaned back with the twins on each of our chests.

I couldn't wait to see how this parenthood gig would go, and I couldn't help wishing my mother were here to meet them. I could definitely use some tips, but I wasn't too worried about that, especially with Cornelia around.