Artificial Insemination

Epilogue

Newborn babies were synonymous with sleep deprivation.

Layla regretted all the nights that she had taken sleep for granted. 

Waking up every couple hours to feed a crying baby, or change a dirty nappy, or walk around the darkened room until Felix fell asleep, was a real energy sucker.

The early morning cuddles and sloppy, wet kisses made up for it though. Both from Felix and Dale. 

She was coming to recognise that Dale was truly one of a kind.

Pregnancy or no pregnancy, he took care of her.

Of them.

He was a good mate.

---

Jen came down from Rayners Creek to visit.

Layla wrapped her in a hug and wouldn't let her go until they had waddled into the living room and collapsed in a heap on the couch.

"You don't even understand how much I've missed you." She said, beaming at her friend.

"Ditto." Jen laughed. "Now that I'm not living at home, my mum couldn't stop me from visiting."

"I'm so glad you're here."

Jen finally caught a glimpse of Felix, who was asleep in his wicker basket, and covered her mouth to stop the high pitched squeal of excitement that was bursting to come out. 

"Oh. My. Gosh. How cute is he?" Jen was utterly enamoured. "Did you give birth to your twin, or what? I've never seen such a ginger baby in my life."

Layla rolled her eyes fondly.

Jen couldn't stop gushing over him and Layla knew that Felix would be in the girl's arms as soon as he gave the tiniest inkling of being awake.

"Hey, Layla?"

"Uh huh?"

"Are you still in contact with Edith?"

Layla grinned. "Yeah, I am."

In fact, Edith had already arranged to come and visit her the next week. She was really looking forward to it.

"Well," Jen drawled. "It turns out we go to the same uni and we're both studying public politics. Turns out she's not that bad after all."

---

The human body was amazing.

Layla would have never known that she was capable of producing so many tears.

She cried when Felix took his first steps.

She cried when he said his first intelligible word.

She cried when he shifted for the first time, like it was the most natural thing in the world, and chased his own tail around instead of blubbering and freaking out like she would have done.

Dale teased her about being a cry baby but she swore that she caught him shedding a few tears on those events too.

When she confronted him about it, he scoffed and said that it was only allergies.

She didn't even think shifters could get allergies.

---

She had the hands of about three different women on her back as she wailed outside the class, each of them speaking encouraging words to her. 

She was making a horrendous scene, only slightly glad that Dale wasn't there to witness it. 

Her beautiful, freckled boy was starting his first day of nursery and she couldn't figure out where all of the time had gone.

Five years of keeping him at home where she could coddle and kiss and play with him had evaporated away and now she had to deal with the fact that he would be able to survive without her constantly being there.

Felix turned around from the classroom door when he heard her give a particularly loud wail and rushed back over to her, running too fast for the human teacher to react in time.

He collided with his mother and tugged at the bottom of her shirt until she crouched down, giving her a gap toothed grin. "It's okay, mummy. I love you."

He leaned forward and placed a big kiss on her cheek, much like he had seen his father do many times in the past.

It only made Layla cry more.

She remembered the days when she'd been so scared that her baby wouldn't love her, or that he'd think of her as a stranger.

But he looked exactly like her, he smothered her with kisses and hugs, nuzzled her like a little puppy and loved to play with her in wolf form, oblivious to their differences.

Felix was the best thing that had ever happened to her and she had those stupid doctors in Rayners Creek to thank for it.

---

It happened when Felix was seven.

Layla was watching him and Dale playing as wolves, the two of them running around in the back garden. They had been at it for the last hour and still weren't showing any signs of slowing down.

She was just happy to watch them and observe the dynamic.

The two of them were inseparable these days. The best of friends. 

Layla wasn't mad.

Felix wanted his dad to teach him how to track things with his nose, and hunt animals, and walk quietly enough that Layla wouldn't be able to detect him when he tried to sneak chocolate out of the fridge.

Of course, Dale was happy to oblige, even if it meant Layla was constantly shouting up the stairs demanding to know who had finished off her chocolate for the third week in a row.

Her mobile started buzzing, interrupting the picture she had just been about to take.

Unknown number.

She scoffed and rejected the call. It wasn't a habit of her's to answer calls from numbers that she didn't recognise. 

In her mind, the owner of the unknown number would send her a text if they wanted to talk to her desperately enough.

But then it rang a second time.

She took a closer look at the string of numbers, cocking her head when she realised that the area code pointed to another place in the UK. 

She doubted it was an overseas telemarketer then.

The third time that it rang, the same number popping up on the screen, she became curious enough to answer it.

"Hello?" She swiped to accept the call, raising the device to her ear. 

There was a quiet sniff on the other end of the line and Layla's chest started to feel funny. 

"Hello?" She tried again, a bit more sheepishly this time.

The noise of Dale and Felix playing faded into the background.

"Hello, Layla."

And it was a voice she hadn't heard over seven years. It bought tears to her eyes and made her clutch at her chest.

"Mum?"

"Yes, Hun. It's me."

---

THE END.

We've reached the end of Artificial Insemination.

Blown away by all the support, especially the lovely comments on this story.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read. As always, I hope you all enjoyed it.

Goodbye from Layla, Dale and Felix.

Jade X