Book IV: Avi Dragon

Meet the Parents... Again

"See, honey? You didn't need to help him avenge anyone."
   Angel yelped and buried her head firmly in the blanket to the side of the baby. She was a frightful mess, and she knew it.
   "Mom! Dad! Why didn't you tell me you guys were coming?"
   "Because you'd have told us not to."
   :He's not wrong...:
   :Yeah, but a little warning would've been nice,: he grumbled where they wouldn't hear. She heartily agreed. He tied the gown behind her neck, hoping the solid food would hold Menolly until his parents left.
   :Thanks. No help for the rest, though.:
   And so the elder Kaplans' first impression of Angel as a human was greasy hair, clumsily rebraided this morning; a thin film of pea puree on her face, splotches of it on her nice, clean gown, and a baby patting more on her hands in a silent demand for more.
   Shelly heartily approved.
   Afraid to speak, lest she expose her missing teeth, Angel focused on her daughter as much as she could. She heard the hugs, his parents telling him not to worry if baby food got on their clothes. She felt their approach toward the bed, and her shoulders hunched. She had to concentrate very hard to keep her wings tucked in, because her instinct was to mantle over the baby. She had nothing to fear from these lovely people, and yet her eyes took on a nervous ochre tint.
   Shelly subtly put a hand on her husband's arm to stop him from getting too close. She hadn't forgotten that this was still a dragon. She knew that posture from personal experience, what it meant. She couldn't see the yellow glow because of the sunlight, but it wouldn't have surprised her to see it.
   "Hello," she said, projecting a calm aura to soothe the frazzled dragoness on the bed. "I don't think we've properly met."
   The younger blonde looked up, her face puzzled. "Have we not?" She looked to Avi for confirmation.
   "It was after you hit your head, yes."
   She visibly shuddered, and the skin on her back rippled briefly. She kept her wings in, which raised Shelly's respect another notch.
   "I'm sorry you had to see me like that," she said to the spoon in her hand. She dipped it in the jar, only to find it empty of excuses to avoid eye contact. "I've heard what she was like... what I was like." She set the jar and spoon on the tray, and got to work cleaning her daughter's face as best she could.
   Into the heavy silence, Mike quietly observed "I see you two are getting along better."
   The bony shoulders drooped another notch, but she didn't say anything. Without conscious thought, Avi rubbed her back. She felt crowded, though his parents were a good two paces away. He could feel her shoulderblades shifting restlessly.
   The old urge to fly away was still there, it seemed.
   He gripped the shoulder nearest to him. "It'll be a long road, but yes. We're getting to know each other better, now that she's got... well, most of her memories back."
   "Not all of them?" Shelly asked. She remembered how those lost memories had bothered her son before.
   "The human mind has finite capacity for knowledge," Angel intoned in an odd, hollow voice that also seemed to echo from far away. It wasn't Gabriel's voice, he knew that. "Periodic memory wipes will be necessary over the centuries. You wouldn't like what would happen without them."
   He ducked down to look at her eyes for clues, but they weren't any help. It was... disconcerting to look into those emotionless orbs. They weren't precisely Spellcasting Grey, or Angel Blue, as he thought of them. They were mirrored, like a cat's eyes in a flash of light. They were every color in the spectrum, and no color at all.
   It hurt his head to try to pierce through the mirror, so he turned away. He shrugged at his parents, as confused by this new facet of his dragon as they were. His mother shrugged back.
   "Remember for me, Avriel."
   She went as limp as a doll, so quickly he almost didn't keep her from falling on the baby.
   He'd just laid her head on the pillows when her eyes blinked open. Her brow crinkled. "How did I... What happened?"
   "Whatever it was, the baby doesn't seem concerned," Shelly said.
   They looked at Menolly, and sure enough, she was sitting in her car seat, calm as you please. Maybe more calm than normal, but they couldn't be sure what that meant.
   "Is anyone going to tell me what happened?" She asked the room in general, but she was looking at her Bonded for answers.
   He took his time working it out. "I don't know exactly what it was, but something was talking through you. It said I was supposed to remember everything you forget, I think."
   "It also said you have to forget things, over the centuries. Don't suppose anyone's going to explain that part to us?" Mike asked.
   "I don't think we can, no." Her eyes flicked to Avi's for courage. "But you already know that dragons live for a long time. I wasn't born a dragon, so I don't have the right... brain? Humans weren't meant to live much beyond a hundred years old." Her gaze dropped to her lap. "Besides, my brain was already damaged before I got turned into a dragon. You take a brain that can't remember what it had for lunch yesterday, make it work beyond the normal operating parameters of a healthy brain... Things were bound to slip through the cracks." She blew out a breath, almost a laugh. "Maybe it's like turning a device off, and back on--except it's a brain."
   "Well, at least this time, it only lasted a couple of seconds." He forgot, for a moment, who was in the room with them. Long enough to press a firm kiss to her temple.
   While he'd forgotten, Angel had not.
   Neither of them had noticed that Shelly was sneaking photos of the three of them surreptitiously. She angled the phone so the baby couldn't be seen beyond the car seat. She was creating false memories, in a way. The way it was shot, this could have been the day the baby was born. People were bound to ask to see photos, later in Menolly's life. She may want to see them, herself.
   The way her son doted over the girl lent credence to the images. She just wished Angel would look a little happier. Oh well, maybe they'll see an exhausted new mother, she thought. When he kissed her temple, Shelly was quick on the draw. Anything they could put in an album later would be useful.
   Mike cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "There is something that will last longer than a few seconds, son. Something we spoke about before you went on tour?"
   Avi's shoulders tensed. He straightened, reluctantly faced his father. "I still haven't told her, you know. I don't know how."
   Angel thought he meant her. Her shoulders tightened, as though a weight was about to land on them.
   "You said I had until I got home. What happened to that, anyway? Not that I mind, but why are you guys here?"
   His parents exchanged a look that meant something to them, but left the younger pair in the dark.
   "You didn't think I'd do the right thing, did you?" he asked, hurt in his voice. Angel's hand, oxygen monitor and all, snaked out and gripped his, in mute support.
   "It's not that," his dad said, a bit too quickly.
   "We just thought you might need a little help to do it, that's all," his mom soothed.
   Angel squeezed his hand, offering what aid she could. He squeezed back.
   "We talked about it, your father and I. We could only think of one way to solve the problem."
   The Bonded pair braced for the worst, though neither of them could think of a worst case scenario.
   "You said you were going to try to make this work, which meant letting your girlfriend down easily," Mike began.
   "But she didn't know that a dragon could turn into a human," Shelly continued.
   "Mom, no! You didn't!"
   She ducked her head. "I did."