You Owe Me Two

Extra - Finch

××Zypher××

"Are you ready to go?" I asked, rushing over to my very very pregnant wife. She insisted on changing clothes and taking a shower before leaving for the Elder Tree again.

"I wish you had been asleep again," She grumbled, pushing me out of the way on her way to the kitchen, "I wasn't being rushed."

"There is no way you took this long before," I said, following behind her waddling form with our first child held in my arms. Stormy had turned one just a few months earlier.

"I'll take as long as I want," She barked, pouring herself a glass of water. I sighed loudly as she glared.

"We need to go now," I forced out, taking the water from her hand. It only intensified her glare.

"Fine."

She took my offered arm and together we trudged outside. This pregnancy was a little different. For one, I was awake this time and two, it was daytime. The sun was still high in the sky.

"Damask!" I called once I opened the front door. He trotted over to us and I helped Wild up before climbing on after her.

"Damask, take us to Ocean's house." Ocean had agreed to take Stormy for us during the process and now we had to cash in on the offer, only a little earlier than planned. Damask took off and with a single, short jump, we were at his front door.

Ocean's wife, Bryla, was in the garden, a large sunhat sat atop her head. With one look at Wild, she rushed towards us, dropping her water bucket to the ground. Her concerned blue eyes traveled over Wild, who tried to give the other woman a smile.

"Good luck sweetie," Bryla said, holding her hands up to take Stormy from my arms. Stormy fussed a little but Bryla assured us she would take care of everything.

We quickly directed Damask to the castle.

More fairies than the first time were milling around the outside of the castle. They parted to allow us access to the large entrance; once again two fairies who were stationed outside the doors met us. I helped Wild off of Damasks back, taking her into my arms, while one fairy led us into the castle.

We followed the same passages to an empty room with a bed. The fairy left us with the parting words to find a few healers. No one had been expecting our second child to arrive this soon.

A couple fairies entered the room moments later. One I recognized from the birth of Stormy. She smiled at us brighter than the others. The three quickly got to work preparing the room.

Then it was time for Wild to push. She already had my hand in a tight grip.

"Okay start pushing," One fairy said, taking Wild's other hand. I could see the magic running from her arm to Wilds. I assumed it was for the pain.

It was two hours in when Wild started shouting profanities at me. It caught me off guard, having not received any of this before. I'm not sure I had ever heard her utter a single colorful word before this moment.

I opened my mouth to respond to her yells but one of the fairies quickly shushed me. My eyes widened at her wildly waving hands. I shut my mouth tight and let the insults rain.

It was the third hour when she started blaming me.

And this continued for many hours after.

××××

It took much longer for Wild to deliver our second child and I was almost sure she had broken a few bones in my hand by the time the baby's cries were heard. The fairies wasted no time in cleaning our second child.

"It's a boy!" One of them announced as she swathed him in a light blue blanket we had brought with us. A large smile broke out on my face and I turned to find a soft smile on Wilds. She leaned back in the bed, her eyes closed as she took a much needed rest.

"Okay! Here he is." The fairy turned with our baby in her arms and I almost toppled over.

"What the hell is on his head?" I shouted, taking the baby from her arms. He was a lot smaller than Stormy. At least by a couple pounds. My yell caused the baby's cries to increase and Wild immediately scolded me.

"Zypher! Shush." She held out her hands, "Let me see him. What's wrong?"

I passed the baby to her. She cuddled him up close to her, soothing him before she began giggling softly. 

"He's a ginger," She said, smiling up at my blank stare.

"That's my issue. Where did that come from?" I asked, leaning down next to them while the fairy healers filed out of the room to give us some privacy.

"There's nothing like that in my bloodline. You must have a secret redhead in your family," Wild teased. He finally settled down and allowed us to get a good look at his peaceful face.

"That's preposterous."

"He's cute. Admit it," Wild said, looking up at my face with a goofy smile. She nudged me slightly, her smiling growing.

"Fine," I droned, "He is a little cute."

"So we picked out Finch for a boy," Wild said, scooting over to make room for me in the bed. I slid it next to her, running a finger across little face.

"I think it suits him very well."