THE WATERS :: ZAYN

creatures

—

"Are you okay?"

Solana looked away from the airplane window to meet Zayn's stare. "Um, yes? Flying is scary."

"You'll be fine, babe," he smiled and rested his hand on the inside of her thigh, "I mean, it's not totally stress free for me either."

"I can tell," she muttered quietly, turning back to the window and watching the plane move. She took a deep breath and gulped as they were now in the air and the altitude was getting higher and the ground was no longer in sight.

"Calm down, babe," Zayn shushed, kissing the side of her face repeatedly until she smiled, "you were fine on the way, and it's the same coming back."

"I'm calm now," she replied, staring at his nose and smiling, "so what's your mom like?"

"She's so cool," at that, Zayn went on a whole life story of how great and loving his mom was. It was really really cute, making Solána nostalgic in a way. It had been over one hundred and forty years since she knew what a family was. She missed it.

They were to finally meet Trisha after all this time, but bad communication made it so Trisha was now in San Francisco and they had flown to England. Now, Solána and Zayn were flying back home. Solána liked the small space of their home, and flying wasn't her thing.

"...but then I was grounded, so," he shrugged nonchalantly, "she knew I used to drink, but yeah..."

Solána giggled, shaking her head at him. "You were a troublemaker, huh?"

"I bent the rules, yes," he chuckled and grabbed her hand, "she'll love you, baby. Believe me, I wasn't that one who wanted y'all to meet yet, but then...all this came up," his large hand rested on their sleeping baby's head, "and she definitely wanted to meet you."

Oh, yeah, Solána had a baby.

And it was only because they had sex while she was very fertile. It was always at the end of winter or beginning or spring, for just a month or so, and she forgot to mention that.  Contraceptives were never needed, but the timing was everything if a mermaid didn't want to bear children. But it was totally fine. They were fine.

She blushed, looking at their son and smiling. "Habibah is supposed to be at the house later, some ritual to finally see his tail and break in his gills."

"Is that going to hurt?" Zayn asked, leaning back and looking at her.

"Apparently not that bad, but I'm still scared for him."

—

"Mom, hey."

"Hey, honey,"

Solána was upstairs, listening to Zayn interact with his mother. It was so cute, Zayn always went soft when he talked to her, either on the phone or whatever that thing FaceTime was. She sort of longed for something like that.

She was changing her baby's diaper, wiping him clean. His name was Kareem, and he was adorable as ever. A quiet yet shy little two month old, but he was really fun and as beautiful as his father.

"Is that better?" she asked as if he would respond, "aw, you're so cute, come here," she picked him up and kissed his cheeks, "such a big boy and so handsome."

"Babe," Zayn stood at the door and smiled, "are you ready?"

"Do I look okay?" she turned to him and bit her lip.