birds

As it was, no one noticed when one evening, Big Daddy's bellowing was accompanied by a higher pitched roar, nor that it lasted longer then normal. They just waited until it stopped and resumed their conversations.

Little did anyone know, but romance was in the air that night.

"OUCH!"

Heather glared at the offending plant as she stuck her finger in her mouth. Pulling it out, she looked it over. Nothing by a small scratch but there was a large chip in her nail now. Heather turned her attention to the Snapvine plant infront of her. "Behave yourself." The plant shivered, shaking it's small barb tipped vines at her. Sighing, Heather tried to calm the small plant, "It's ok. You'll feel a lot better without it." After a few more minutes of sweet talk, the Snapvine reluctantly gave in. With a snip and a tug, the cluster of dead leaves came away cleanly. After tossing it into a bucket, destined for the compost heap, Heather gave the Snapvine a couple fresh, juicy flies as a treat.

With a sigh, Heather left the back of the greenhouse, where she stored her collection of magical plants, and tended to the non-magical (and less moody) plants that took up the rest of the space. She was checking on the miniature roses when the bell at the front door rang. "Lady Heather?"

"I'm back here Sam." Heather finished watering the roses and sat the sprayer down. Slowly but surely, she was starting to recognize the sutel differences in the voice of each Kai clone. Around a corner came SamuraiKai. Sam nodded slightly at her, a faint hint of a smile on his face, "I hope I am not disturbing you."

"Nope. What's up?"

"It's Lady," he frowned slightly, "She is... not herself."

"Is she sick." Heather asked, her concern visible.

"I do not thing so." Sam said thoughtfully, "But she is not acting as she normally does."

"I better go have a look at her." Together, she and SamuraiKai walked to the moat. Several grindylows were basking along the shore. At their approach, the grindys would quickly slide back into the moat. All but one. Lady lay, stretched out on one side, soaking up the sunlight. She opened one eye and watched them come near. Grunting once, she closed her eye and sighed. Kneeling next to her, Heather ran her hands over the big beast. "What have you noticed?"

Sam crouched down infront of Lady, scratching her just above the eye. Lady started to growl/purr with pleasure. "She has been getting less active. She has been sleeping more."

"Hmmm." Heather bite her lower lip, she ran her hands over lady's tail, "She's still eating, her tail is still thick." She ran her hand over Lady's belly, "In fact, she's gained weight." She sat back a moment, thinking. Lady grunted, stretching her forearms out. A splash of color caught Heather's eye.

"Ah, sh*t!" Heather grabbed Lady's forearm, lifting it up. Lady opened one eye a crack but didn't protest. There, under it, on her chest, was a small spot of red, standing out brightly against her blackish green skin. Letting go of Lady's arm, Heather sat back.

"What is it?" asked Sam calmly. Heather ran one hand over her face, letting the truth of the situation sink in. Sighing, she looked up at Sam.

"Lady's pregnant."

*****
"What do you mean pregnant???"

Heather dropped another book down to Kai13. "She's pregnant, as is having a baby. Or babies." Heather climbed up the ladder a few more steps before checking the note in her hand. Grabbing the last book, she dropped it down to Kai13 and climbed back down. It had taken almost an hour to find all the books she wanted in the APEC library.

"What do you mean, or babies?"

"Well," Heather jumped the last foot and took the book from his hands, "The literature is divided. Some books say they have only one baby, others say they have several." Heather sat down in a large mahogany chair next to a table covered in open books. "Ivan Ignoramus says that grindylows have three hundred babies at a time," Heather picked up a copy of Ivan's Animals, "Of course, he also says that the giant panda, mountain gorilla and Chihuahua don't exist." Heather tossed the book into a nearby trashcan.

"But I thought the grindylows were sterile?" Kai13 leaned against the table, not sure he should be happy about this or start panicking.

"They were. When I ordered them, I had the choice of sterile males or females. Sterile males lose their aggressiveness. Sterile females don't. So I opted for the females." Heather flipped a few pages in one of the open books, "Apparently, they screwed up my order. At least we don't have to worry about the other females getting pregnant."

"Why?"

"Only the alpha male and female are allowed breed." Heather smiles slightly, "Which means Big Daddy keeps the lesser males in line..."

"And Lady keeps Big Daddy away from the other girls," nodded Kai13, "So now what?"