Chapter Twenty-Eight

You’re being an absolute shit to your mate, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he left us. Simon was jolted from his doze by his gargoyle side.

Mates don’t leave each other. Simon hoped that if he kept his eyes shut, his other half would take the hint and shut up. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a decent night’s sleep, and while Simon had been used to working horrendously long shifts as a doctor, carrying his extra bulk made even the simple things ten times harder, in his opinion.

You’re hurting him emotionally. I can see his hound side looking so droopy every time you snap at him. He looks like you’ve kicked him. That’s not fair.

Eyes still closed, Simon winced. He didn’t like that imagery. Just cut me some slack, will you? Kolton’s not the one who’s body has been taken over by a lumpy alien. I’m the one doing all the hard work…

He’s trying to help you, but every time he so much as breathes in your direction you get angry at him.

Frowning, Simon didn’t think that was strictly true, although there had been a few times… He fusses. I don’t need him to fuss over me. I just need to get through this.

Carrying this miracle egg is not like running a fucking marathon! Simon winced again at his other side’s strident tones. It’s not just you going through this. It’s supposed to be a loving experience shared by both of you. Don’t you get it? It’s not just your baby, it’s Kolton’s as well.

Then maybe he should’ve been the one to get pregnant then. Simon regretted the words as soon as he thought them. It’s not for much longer, he added. Kolton loves us. He’ll forgive me when the egg’s delivered and I can think straight again.

You really don’t get it, do you? You’re shutting your mate out of the most amazing time of your shared life – bringing new life in the world – and all you can say is Kolton will forgive you? You’re justifying your asshole behavior to the point where you expect to keep doing it?

No! Stung, Simon tried to get more comfortable in his recliner – the chair that Kolton bought him as a surprise when he complained he couldn’t sleep lying flat in bed.

It was a thoughtful and lovely gift, and Simon had gotten a lot of use out of it in the past week. But as he thought about it, he wasn’t sure if he’d even said thank you for it. Kolton understands why I’ve been a bit short with him.

Does he? Did you talk to him about it at a time when you weren’t hurting him with your snappy tones and mean comments? Did he give you permission to treat him like a dirtbag just because you can’t enjoy the miracle you’ve been given? I don’t remember hearing him say that, and even if he had, I thought you were better than that.

Simon was. Well, he was sure he used to be a decent person who couldn’t stomach how some people talked to their significant others. He’d vowed many times to never do that himself, and yet now… You’ve got to admit this whole situation is unprecedented. I didn’t know how carrying this egg was going to affect me so much. I feel tied down, like someone else is controlling my body…

Simon couldn’t continue – he wouldn’t let his mind go back to his past, thinking along those lines. That time of his life was over, and he was a decent person. He was.

But his other side wasn’t about to be sympathetic. You’re pregnant, not tied down. You’re curled up and comfortable in the chair your mate bought for you - even though he misses being physically close to you at nights - not chained to the damn floor. Think about it, think about what you’re doing to yourself and your mate.

You’ve assisted in the births of thousands of babies over the centuries. Thousands of them. Do you think any of those mothers didn’t have the same hard time you believe you’re going through now? And for a damn sight longer than what you’re going through. For fuck’s sake, do you think you’re special because you’ve got balls?

I can’t shit! Simon couldn’t get comfortable either. Damn, he could do with an extra pillow. Fuck, all I wanted was to have a rest while Kolton was out. Is that too much to ask?

You can’t shit out your ass because the shit keeps coming out of your mouth every time you open it.

There was a pause, and then, just when Simon thought his other half had shut up, his gargoyle sighed. Our poor mate. He’s so sad.

What are you going on about now? He’s down in the Underworld having a run. He’ll be having a fun time, not even thinking about me stuck here.

His gargoyle half snorted. He’s talking to Warner. His hound is letting me tap into their conversation. The hound thought it would be important for me to hear it.

“Warner?” Simon was so shocked he spoke out loud, his words ringing around the empty and silent house. “He’s dead and there’s no way that poor innocent spirit would’ve ended up in the Underworld.”

Lord Hades arranged for Warner to see him. He thought Kolton needed a friend who wouldn’t judge him or make him feel worse about himself. There was a pause and then the gargoyle said that Warner is a really nice young man.

He is. But Simon felt a pang in his heart as he said it. It wasn’t that he was jealous. He was sensible enough to know Kolton would never stray, but he was sad that Kolton didn’t feel as though Simon was the one he could talk to.

Kolton feels as though he’s failed at being a mate. He thinks you don’t want him around anymore.

You know that’s not true. Should you even be eavesdropping on a private conversation?

But Simon’s heart ached because he knew what his gargoyle side was saying was true. He kept telling himself that things would improve once the egg arrived – that he, Simon, could go back to being the loving caring mate he knew he could be. But Kolton had been getting more and more despondent and in the silence of his now empty house, Simon was struck by how alone he felt. All because Kolton wasn’t home.

Can you… Simon was about to ask his gargoyle side to pass on the message that he’d really like to see his mate, but suddenly he doubled over, his guts feeling as though someone had stuck a knife through them. “What’s happening?” he yelled, clutching at his stomach. “Has the egg ruptured something in my insides. Oh, my gods, the pain…”

Neither eggs nor babies will wait until you’re ready. Your conversation with Kolton will have to wait as well. We have to shift into our stone form.

“Stone? No. I have to talk to Kolton first. I have to tell him he’s not a failure, he’s been so amazing, and I love him with everything I am.” But then another spasm of pain, more intense than before, flooded through Simon’s guts and he screamed as he fell forward out of his comfortable chair, his mouth twisted with it, as his stone form emerged.

/~/~/~/~/

“What on earth?” Kolton appeared in the living room, immediately looking toward Simon’s chair. But he wasn’t in it, and Kolton couldn’t even see the chair because there was a giant statue planted in front of it. “Simon, are you in there?” The expression on the gargoyle’s face didn’t look happy. In fact the stone mask looked like a beast in pain – his features twisted, his mouth wide open, fangs and tusks sprouting from his upper and lower jaw.

“What happened?” Kolton walked around the statue, his fingers trailing over the dark gray stone. He could get a sense, through his fingertips that the statue was Simon – the teeth were new, but the wide chest, thick legs, and wings were definitely from Simon’s second form. “What did I…what did you…?” Confused he tried a bit of levity. “You know if you didn’t want to talk to me anymore, you didn’t have to be so drastic about it.”

You have to find the egg. His hound broke through Kolton’s scattered thoughts. The gargoyle says… I think he’s sitting on it?

“This is a gargoyle giving birth?” Kolton scratched his head. “Is there any chance it’s just sitting on his lap?” But no, Kolton had a quick feel around Simon’s lap area and there was nothing there that shouldn’t be. “I’m not sure I should be doing that to my mate’s stone form. Where else could it be? Between the wings?”

He's sitting on it, his hound insisted.

“He can’t be sitting on it. I’m sure he weighs a ton. How would I… Oh.” Kolton had gone around to the back side of the gargoyle. The wings that had given him so much joy not so many months before were solid although they still swept down and across the floor. But there, between the wings, where the gargoyle form was crouching down was a very definite egg shape.

“Can I…” Kolton got down on his hands and knees, reaching through the wings. The way the wings were jutting out made Kolton wish he had longer arms. He could get his fingers on one end of the egg, but when he tried to flick it toward him, he didn’t have a solid enough grip.

“Did you ever wonder why it was gargoyles always crouch down when they roost?” Kolton lay down on the floor to give him a few extra inches in his reach. This time he went for the other, narrower end, thinking it would be easier to get hold of. “Imagine how much easier this would be if Simon was standing up.”

If our mate was standing when this happened, maybe the egg would crack when it fell to the ground? Perhaps that’s why gargoyles crouch. His hound was urging him on in his own way.

“I don’t think gargoyle births are very common.” Kolton grunted as he stretched. “I love my mate’s huge wings, but if they’d been just a wee bit wider apart, I could… I could…I’ve got it. I got the egg.”

Taking more care than he had with anything in his life, Kolton gently eased the egg between the gap in the wings, sitting up and cradling it in his lap. “You hatched an egg, babe.” He patted Simon’s stone wings. “Our beautiful, beautiful egg.”

Every time Kolton had convinced Simon to have another ultrasound – and yes, it had been a lot - he’d watched as the egg grew from a pale pebble on a screen to a bigger pale pebble on the screen. But seeing it now – there was nothing pale or pebbly about it.

Trailing his fingers over the marbled stone, Kolton was surprised to feel heat under his fingertips. There was also an awareness of life, much like he could feel emanating from Simon’s stone form. Kolton wasn’t sure if anyone else would be able to sense it, or if it was just him being attuned to his mate and child.

My child! The impact hit Kolton like a truck. Even in an unfamiliar form, Kolton was holding his child on his lap. Yes, for the moment it was a stone egg. It was gray with dark lines running through it, and in some places it was as if there were small seams of gold.

But no matter how little the egg looked like a child now, Kolton knew there was going to be a time, no more than six months, when the egg would hatch and a living, breathing mix of him and Simon. A baby who would grow, wanting to be fed, cuddled, and loved. A child who would call him “Dad.”

I’m going to be a dad.

He instinctively leaned into Simon’s solid stone form, hoping to the Fates that Simon could feel how happy he was and how much that realization meant to him. Simon had been carrying the egg for almost three months – he couldn’t forget he was pregnant. But for Kolton, holding the egg in his hands was tangible proof something so very positive had come out of their relationship, no matter how rocky it had been in the past two weeks.

Our gargoyle says Simon wanted to put off the birth so that he could tell you how loved you were and how you weren’t a failure. That you’d been amazing mate. But he was in so much pain, and our mate’s third form had to take over because the egg wouldn’t wait.

Kolton absorbed his hound’s words, his heart lifting for the first time in two weeks. He wasn’t surprised that his and Simon’s second spirits were better at communicating than the human forms were, but the words touched the hurt part of his soul and warmed his insides.

“Oh, Hades’ garden, the egg needs to be kept warm. I need the basket and the blanket.” He clicked them to his side, but he was reluctant to let go of his child.

Why don’t we shift? his hound suggested. We could curl around the egg and keep it warm that way, and our baby can get used to our energies. If we do that, then we can stay and keep Simon’s stone form company as well.

Kolton wasn’t sure if his hound had the right idea, but he did agree it sounded like something he’d like to do. He pulled the blanket out of the crib and set it on the rug, and then placed the egg carefully on top of it. Standing, he moved back a few feet so his hound could come through. Don’t step on our egg, he warned. We have no idea how strong that stone is.

Simon was sitting on it, and you said he weighed a ton, but Kolton felt a sense of pride as his hound carefully laid down, curled his big furry body around the egg, keeping it snug and warm between his paws and his belly. Nap time.