When I woke, I was in a white room. It wasn't that bright, only lit by the moon coming in through the window. It was high in the sky, telling me it was close to midnight, maybe a quarter past. My vest and fatigues were gone, replaced by bandages and stitching. I was laying in one of those beds that were made for dragons and I had all kinds of wires attached to me. It reminded me of my final moments as a human at Charlie. I hoped that wasn't what was happening again. I was attempting together who had rescued me when Adelind and Tyson walked in. They both looked tired.
“I'd thought I'd lost you”, Adelind said through her tears.
I turned away, tears running down my face. I was ashamed of myself for nearly failing her and my kids.
“Excuse me Adelind”, A doctor said walking up, “so I can take the hose out.”
The doctor pulled the hose out of my throat and I coughed and gagged before looking my mate straight in her eyes.
“I thought you'd be furious with me”, I said through my tears.
“Why?”, Adelind asked kissing me on the forehead, “you said you'd come back, and you did.'
“Dad?”, Tyson asked laying beside me.
“Yes son?”, I asked in reply.
“Please...don't leave me.”
I smiled and pulled Tyson close to me, “I won't, I promise.”
“You know I'm going to beat your ass senseless after that shit right?”, Hudson asked with a crack in his voice as he, Issac and Wyatt walked in.
“You said you weren't gonna die again asshole”, Issac said.
“I look dead to you?”, I asked.
“Maybe a little bit”, Wyatt said smiling.
I turned to Adelind, “help me up?”
Adelind allowed me to use her as a crutch as we walked back to the room she'd been sleeping in. The kids were piled on top of each other and instantly woke up and piled on me when I walked in. I hugged them all as tightly as I could. I wasn't sure who was happier to see who.
“Dad your okay!”, Ace screamed.
I smiled and hugged them all tighter, “yeah, I am, I told you I'd be back.”
Dusk was crying, “please don't leave us.”
“I won't Dusk”, I said, “I promise you all.”
I lay down with the kids and they quickly buried themselves underneath me and fell back to sleep. I was close to sleep myself when I felt someone kick me.
“Who just kicked me?”, I asked.
“Tyro”, Adelind said, “the baby...she's coming.”
Ace's POV
Dad rushed us all out of the room as two of the Resistance doctors came running down the hall and entered our room. The four of us entered the room across from ours, which belonged to Mom's friend Taro. Taro was a high ranking Resistance fighter, Major or something I think he said. He was mostly black like Dusk with red underbelly scales like Helix. He didn't have any wings, which was a first for me. He claims he never had any to begin with, but Dusk says otherwise. He had four horns jutting out of the back of his head that were extremely sharp and slightly longer and wider than mine. When we walked in, he was laying on his bed reading.
“I didn't know we had a little sibling coming”, Dusk said.
“I'm gonna be a big sister!”, Helix shouted.
“So your Mom is finally having the baby huh?”, Taro asked looking up from his book.
“I guess”, I said, “I didn't even know we had a sibling coming.”
“You didn't know?”, Taro asked, “how did you not know?”
“Clueless?”, I asked.
“I can see that coming from you”, Taro said to me, but you?”
He looked at Dusk, who just shrugged. Taro shook his head and laughed.
“God”, Taro said looking us over, “I remember when your Dad was your sizes.”
“You knew Daddy?”, Helix asked.
“Knew him?”, Taro asked, “his old man was Talon's Sapper for a long time, nearly fourteen years if I remember right, I was there when your Dad was born and helped raise him 'till he was 4 or so and then I got called back to service.”
We all lay in the corner as Taro rolled over in his bed.
“I remember when my son hatched”, Taro said, “it was the best day of my life.”
“Hatched?”, Tyson asked, “what does that mean?”
“Most dragons birth eggs Tyse”, Taro said, “your guys breed is one of a few who don't, only other ones I can think off are Arctic and Oceanic....god, I was 15 and it was that long ago?”
“15?”, I asked, “that's young.”
“Yeah”, Taro laughed lightly, “considering I was human like your Dad, it kinda was, but I didn't care...and neither did she.”
“Who was your mate?”, Helix asked.
Taro laughed, “a pretty dragoness named Faline, that's her on the wall with me and Shadow.”
I looked up at the wall. There was a 8x10 like what Dad had on his wall back at Charlie. It had Taro, a blue and white female and Dad's friend Shadow.
“Your Shadow's Dad?”, Dusk asked.
“Yeah”, Taro said, “I've seen the way your Dad takes care of you...and sometimes I wish I had done things differently.”
“Why?”, I asked.
“Well sometimes I feel like I forced the military life on him”, Taro said, “I acted more like a drill Sarge than a Dad. If I had acted more like your Dad...maybe Shadow would have gotten to be a kid like you guys.”
“I don't get it Taro”, I said.
“You don't have to”, Taro said, “I just needed to get that off my chest. You and your siblings will get it when your parents.”
“Some of us claim not to want mates”, Dusk said looking at me.
“I don't”, I said.
Taro smirked and laughed at me, “trust me Ace, when the right female comes along, you'll be jelly to her.”
“I don't want a mate”, I said.
Taro smiled, “what ever you say Ace.”
There was a knock on the door.
“It's open”, Taro said.
The door clicked open and Ator walked in, warped in gauze. Ator had been messed up by a wooden beam which from what Taro told Mom was longer than he was. It had damaged his heart, stomach, fire bladder and lungs. He had been through so many surgeries in the past ten weeks I had lost count. He had problems walking lately and you couldn't even breathe on his side without him collapsing from pain. Something to do with nerves, I didn't pay all that good attention. Ator looked at us, his smile was contagious.
“So your Mom is finally having the baby huh?”, he asked looking at us.
“Yup!”,I shouted, unable to contain my excitement, “it's awesome!”
“What they gonna name her?”, he asked.
The color drained from my sister's scales, “It's a...SHE?!?”
“Yeah”, Ator said, “your Dad told me one day at the range that it was a girl.”
“How did they know?”, Helix asked.
“Sometimes the parents just know”, Ator said, “I remember when my little brother hatched that my Mom and Dad seemed to know he was a he long before he hatched.”
Taro looked at Ator.
“So do you know when Vez is due?”, he asked.
“The doc said sometime next month”, Ator said, “last time I talked with Val, he said the cubs sometimes kick him through Vez.”
Taro laughed, “I'm glad Faline didn't birth live young, sounds like Val's life sucks.”
My ears were standing straight up at their conversation.
“Val and Vez are having kids?”, I asked.
“Yeah”, Taro replied, “Vez has been pregnant a while now.”
“I told you not to tell you ass”, Val said walking in.
“I didn't tell”, Taro stated laughing, “I answered a question. Ator's the one that squealed.”
“No wait a minute”, Ator began.
“I know you didn't squeal”, Val told Ator, “Taro did.”
Val looked us over.
“You guys will act surprised for you parents right?”
We nodded as Vez walked in.
“Taro told the whole world I'm pregnant didn't he?”, she asked nuzzling Val.
“He screamed like a little girl”, Val said smiling.
“Your an ass”, Vez said staring at Taro.
“Tell me something new”, Taro laughed.
Night turned to day and back again as we waited for Mom to birth our little sister. I remembered when Dusk and Helix were born that I was with grandma and grandpa all day. Taro, Vez and Ator kept us company all day, taking us to the hot springs, the beach that was close by and even helped us play a few pranks on Hudson and Issac, both of which horribly backfired on us. We were all showered and Taro had said we could spend the night when the door clicked open.
“You know what the bad thing about you is Taro? You never change.”, Dad said waking in, “your the same dragon I remember from the war at Tacoma.”
“Damn you got big”, Taro said, “I remember the day you were born. My god has it really been 17 years since we last saw each other?”
“Yep”, Dad said, “and what happened to your wings?”
“Long story”, Taro said, “terrorist dudes.”
Dad turned to us, “kids, come see your little sister.”
Tyro's POV
The kids followed me back across the hall and into our room. Adelind was laying on her bed in the corner, exhausted, sweaty and panting, with our new born daughter curled against her.
“Guys”, I said, “this is Kayel, your little sister.”
Kayel was colored like me with a blue under belly. She had the makings of two,very small horns and spikes going down her back and tail. Her eyes were the most beautiful combination of green and blue and her tail had the black tip like mine did.
“Oh my god”, Ace said.
Dusk could only manage a “wow” and Tyson and Helix were completely speechless. It was adorable as Kayel tried to crawl around, but her paws couldn't get any traction on the metal floor of the room. She was slipping and sliding all over the place. Every time she fell, Tyson would slide his paw under her and catch her. As the kids played with Kayel, Adelind stumbled up.
“You need help?”, I asked quickly planting her against me.
“Yeah”, Adelind said weakly, “thanks.”
I helped my mate walk back to the bathroom and I returned to watch the kids while she showered off. When she came back I went in. When I was done I went and lay with her. I placed my wing over her back as we watched the kids play. It was sometime before Ator, Taro, Val and Vez walked in. Hudson and the others had been in a few hours before, but I guessed they just wanted to wait until the chaos had died down.
“Awe”, Taro said smiling, “she's adorable, well done guys.”
“I hope our kids are that cute”, Val said as Vez leaned against him.
“So that's what you too were up to”, I said smiling, “how long?”
“Soon”, Vez said, “they kick harder and harder every night.”
“I wish I had a mate”, Ator said.
“You'll find one”, Taro said yawning, “I'm going to bed.”
“Us to”, Vez said.
“Same for me”, Ator said.
They turned and left.
“What a day”, Adelind said.
“Yeah”, I sad laughing, I wake from a coma and find you in labor.”
Adelind laughed, “I'm just glad I've got you back and that you were here for her birth.”
I paused,looking into Adelind's blue eyes. They held the very fire of life within them. It reminded me of the reason I fell in love with her in the first place. That night,I was four. I had gotten lost in the woods while Dad was teaching us to fly. The same thing had happened to Adelind. We spent the night in the same cave that later became our den. The cold had crept in all night. I was shivering and Adelind had put her wing around me to keep me from freezing. We spent four weeks in that cave while our families searched for us. Learning to hunt, fly and use fire on our own. When we were finally found,we were already in love.
After that we were seeing each other as often as possible, during flight lessons, fire practice, hunting class, where and whenever we could. Sometimes, we would even sneak out after bed time and meet in the cave, we would then just talk to each other about what was going on in our lives. I left the nest at 16 and Adelind at 14, we were young,and our parents told us we were making a mistake. But we didn't care. By the time Ace was born when I was 26, Adelind and I had been allover the world. Seen a lot of different places and met a lot of different dragons. Made a lot of friends too, who wished us luck in where ever the road might have taken us. As I lay next to her with her head under mine and my wing over her back,a deep sleep over took me.