Draft #104 - Complications
There are many who wish to have the perfect hatchling. Long since has the idea of having an obedient, strong hatchling grow into a successful adult existed. Of course, lately, most parents are placing happiness in front of success. I, too, hope I can do that.
No, I will do that. There is nothing that can stop me from loving my son.
***
Rulshkka slept for four days straight.
Well, perhaps not continuously; he caught snatches of consciousness in between longer stretches of unconsciousness, but when he fully woke for the first time, he was in his bed and it was the middle of the night.
He sat up, head aching. Though, instead of the ache being caused by the Need, it was caused by his slumber.
The Need. His hatchling!
Rulshkka jumped out of bed and promptly face-planted on the floor as his legs got tangled with the blankets. He heard a sleepy, questioning murmur and a loud, piercing wail.
"Shh, shh, my little dewdrop," he heard Thruul mutter as he got out of bed. Rulshkka sat up, rubbing some of the sleep out of his eyes. "What woke you, huh? Let's go outside so we don't bother Daddy- oh."
Rulshkka blearily looked up at Thruul, holding their little hatchling in a swaddle of blankets. "Hey," he said, voice scratchy.
"Hello," Thruul said, voice a little overpowered by the wailing hatchling. The little thing swiftly recaptured his attention. "Shh, it's okay."
"I... must have woken him," Rulshkka said. He got to his feet unsteadily. His vision swam. The hatchling's wailing didn't help his aching head. "I apologize."
Thruul let out a breathy little laugh, exasperated. "Don't apologize for waking up, Rulshkka." He bounced the hatchling in his arms, and Rulshkka's stomach lurched. He looked like he knew exactly what he was doing. How long had he been sleeping?
Rulshkka heard the fumbling footsteps before Kohgrash opened the door, looking just as bleary-eyed and tired as he felt. He immediately noticed Rulshkka on the floor, and his frown grew pronounced. Carefully, the human positioned himself in a way that allowed him a swift escape. Rulshkka knew how he did it - he had done the same when he had first adopted him.
"What's wrong?" Rulshkka asked him, the words falling out of his mouth before he could even think of keeping them in. And why would he? His friend was frightened of something. Surely, it couldn't be of the little hatchling?
Maybe he had a nightmare, Rulshkka realized. "Did you have-"
"No," Kohgrash interrupted, voice a bit toneless. Rulshkka was even more confused. "I heard the baby. I can take him if you want to explain, Thruul." Despite this, Kohgrash kept his eyes on Rulshkka, and even when Thruul agreed and carefully handed the hatchling off to Kohgrash, his gaze lingered.
Something akin to relief flickered across Kohgrash's face when he left the room, and Thruul and he were left in semi-silence, faintly able to hear their hatchling's cries taper off outside their bedroom.
Rulshkka rubbed his forehead, a bit grateful. "Thruul, what-"
"I know you have questions-" he said at the same time. Rulshkka returned his mate's sheepish smile and waved for him to continue. It would be best to get a general explanation than to interrogate his mate, anyway.
"Well," Thruul began gently, grabbing Rulshkka lightly around the wrist and tugging him back onto the bed. "I'll start at the beginning."
Thruul's next words hit him like a punch to the gut.
YOU ARE READING
The Autobiography Of An Alien
Science Fiction!! Sequel to In Search of Home. If you haven't read that, you'll be a little confused! !! After the humans invaded - somewhat; it was his fault, really - his planet, they left a gaping hole in his heart. It took the form of one Kohgrash. Rulshkka ha...
