Book IV: Avi Dragon

Logistics

Dan couldn't stay long. He got a call, and Angel's face fell. She knew he had to leave, which was one of the reasons they'd never dated seriously. His job was just about 24 hours a day, which didn't leave much time for her.
   Sometime during the braiding, the baby fell asleep. Before Dan left, he convinced her to put her in the car seat. She resisted the persuasion of both men, until her best friend pointed out the logic of it.
   "If you use up all your energy holding her when she's asleep, you won't have any when she's awake."
   She hung her head, nodded at the tiny feet in her lap. She saw the sense of it even more clearly when she couldn't lift Menolly into the car seat. Dan gave her an "I told you so" look on his way out the door. He knew Avi would help her, and he did.
   "Is that how to get you to do something you don't want to?" he asked, surprised and abashed at not thinking of it himself. "Tell you why it needs to be done?"
   She reclined against the pillows with a heavy sigh. "I don't know whether to thank or throttle him for giving away the secret," she chuckled ruefully. "Yes, logic will usually work on me. More often than not, my reactions are in direct correlation to how much information I have to work with." She snorted. "That's the thing about me: I never outgrew the 'why' phase."
   Angel dropped off to sleep shortly after. She'd done exactly what Dan warned her about, and used all of her energy.
   Avi clutched her hand, worried she might not wake this time. The steady rise and fall of her chest, the blips on the monitors, kept the fear at bay. He watched their daughter for any signs of distress, but she slept peacefully.
   He spent the rest of the time alone thinking. Thinking, and texting. It was nighttime in Portugal, but it was afternoon on this side of the pond. He texted his parents, who were understandably confused and concerned. Not so confused that his father didn't ask what he was going to do about his girlfriend, however.

I did tell you this might happen, his dad pointed out. The text blurred on the screen for a moment.

   He looked at his sleeping angel dragons, as he saw them. Didn't he owe it to Menolly to at least try to make things work with her mother? Angel didn't know they'd shared a bed until she'd grown too large to fit. She didn't know about the monsters she'd fought to keep him alive. There was no Geas forcing her to tolerate him (that he knew of), to spend every moment of every day in his presence. In a way, it was a fresh start. Odd, that they should only truly meet after having fourteen children together...
   He scrubbed his face, torn between laughing and crying.

I'll tell my gf when we return to CA.
Tell her what? His dad asked.
That I'm going to try to make this work.
How? This was from his mother, in the group text. She thinks Angel is a dragon.

   He thought for a while, but no answers came to mind.

I'll ask the kids if there's anything they can think of. Maybe there's some dragon mind trick to make her forget that part?
THAT is an angel trick. He could almost hear the ice in his mother's text.
Well, I can't think of anything, can you? I'm not going to pick a fight with her just to break up. It's not her fault.
   His dad suggested they table the issue for now. You have until you return home to think of something. Ask your sister for ideas.
That's not a lot of time, but I'll try. Thanks for... I don't know, being yourselves. I love you guys.

   His eyes were burning when he put his phone away. He'd shed too many tears today. He blinked at the ceiling, absently stroking the leathery hand he still held. A cafeteria lady came in to get the tray, though it wasn't Sue. He nodded a greeting, lost in thought as he was. He barely acknowledged the nurse that came to take her vitals, though he kept the man in his periphery. Without Angel's dragon form, they were equally vulnerable. Every person that entered her room while she was there was subjected to discreet scrutiny.
   Good, boy. Don't drop your guard for a moment, Samandriel thought. We can only watch over you for so long. Soon, you'll have to fend for yourselves.
   He typed the numbers into the computer, walked from the room, and left his temporary host sitting in the break room.