Topic: Consequences

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:21 EST
The journey back to Maple Grove from the city was always just that little bit too short for Fliss' liking. Just when Lucas began to relax into having her cuddled that close, he'd begin his descent, and no amount of bribery could make him stay in the air and relaxed after that moment. Of course, she didn't really want to prolong it today. She had visions of the house on fire, and her mother and baby sister trapped inside, all because she'd somehow acquired a dragon egg a few weeks ago.

Thankfully, there were no billowing flames issuing from Willow Manor, or even wisps of smoke. Everything seemed to be exactly as it usually was, even down to the sound of the vacuum as they landed. Liv was vacuuming the living room, Bess balanced on her hip, taking advantage of the opportunity to clean without having at least two small people and a dog following her around and messing everything up again.

"Hey, Mom!" Fliss called to her as they entered the house, undoing her coat as she made for the stairs to take them two at a time. "Be in my room!"

Liv blinked, looking up a little too late to see her eldest whisking out of sight. Bess cooed, waving her pudgy hands toward the hallway. "Oh ....all right, love!"

Lucas followed at her heels, with a quick wave to Liv as he passed by. "Hello, Mrs. Storm!" he called, though he had been told multiple times to call her by her first name. It was something of a relief to find nothing on fire, but then he wasn't sure what baby dragons were capable of, exactly - if, indeed, the egg had hatched, as they suspected.

"Hello, Luc!" was called after him as he followed Fliss to her bedroom.

The teenagers stopped outside the door, with Fliss hesitating a moment before inching it open to peer inside. Nothing looked out of place, although yet again it seemed as though her mother had been in here and tidying again. "Huh." It was a succinct, if slightly disappointed, comment on the state of the room as she entered it, taking off her coat to throw it over the nearest chair. "I spy with my little eye ....no dragon." Something squelched beneath her foot as she came up beside her bed. She looked down, frowning to see water seeping from the saturated carpet around the tread of her boot. "What the ..."

Lucas pushed into the room behind her, once again finding everything as neat as a pin. As tidy as Fliss was, no one was that tidy. Someone had obviously been cleaning in there. And then, there was the question of the egg, hidden somewhere in plain sight, no doubt. "What's the matter?" he asked from the doorway, hearing the squish.

She was still frowning at the floor. "There's ....there's water soaked into my carpet," she told him, more curious than worried. "At least I hope it's water. Bella knows not to pee in the house." She glanced at him uncertainly. "I can clean it up, anyway," she shrugged, moving to kneel in the soggy carpet and reach under the bed for the egg. What her hand encountered, however, was not the smooth rounded surface she was expecting. "Uh ....Luc?" She turned her head to look up at her boyfriend worriedly. "Could you grab a flashlight and take a look under here for me" There's something wrapped around my hand."

"What?" Lucas said, blinking in confusion a moment. "Uh, yeah ....Where ..." He trailed off, unsure where to find a flashlight and wondering why she didn't just flicker a fire on her fingertips to see what was going on beneath her bed. He looked around for a flashlight, wondering where she might keep one.

"It's really wet down here," she mentioned, almost conversationally, but he knew her well enough to be able to spot that she was trying desperately not to freak out. Not until she knew exactly what was currently gnawing on her thumb with toothless gums, anyway. "Bedside table, top drawer," she directed Lucas toward her flashlight, trying her best to stay still.

He stepped into the room finally, closing the door quietly behind him to prevent any nosebags, otherwise known as Alex and Maria, from butting in and tattling to their mother. She was right about the water, as evidenced by the fact that his sneakers were squishing on the carpet as he tiptoed across the room to fetch her flashlight. He hesitated a moment, before getting down on his hands and knees to flash the beam of light beneath Fliss' bed. "What is it?"

Tilting her head to get a look, Fliss almost laughed at what she saw. Her arm and hand were resting in the most sodden part of the carpet, almost a pool of water, in which the shards of the egg were visible. But what was most striking was the fact that a very small dragon was clinging to her fingers, both forelimbs holding to her thumb as it chewed harmlessly on the digit in its grasp. "Ohh ....aren't you adorable?"

Lucas was quiet a moment, as he got a grasp of what was going on here. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked. Well, why wouldn't it be? What else would have hatched from a dragon's egg but a baby dragon' So, the Divining Shoreline had been cryptic in its answer, but right.

"It must be," Fliss breathed, very slowly beginning to ease her arm out from underneath the bed to get a good look at the tiny little creature. It really was remarkably small, although she wasn't sure why she had been expecting it to be bigger. As it was, the little dragon was no more than seven inches from nose to tail, its scales still a little wet from the egg and glistening. It clung to her hand tightly as she drew it into the light, big opalescent eyes blinking as it looked back and forth from Fliss to Lucas. "It's blue," she said wonderingly. "I would have expected it to be red."

"There are all different kinds of dragons, Fliss," Lucas pointed out, though he was no expert by any means. He'd have thought the dragon would have matched the egg, but there was no real logic to that either. "He's cute," he said, turning the flashlight off and holding out a finger to gently caress the tiny head and scaled back. He wasn't actually sure if the little thing was male or female and had no way of knowing how to tell. "You're gonna have to tell your parents," he said with a frown, unsure what they'd say about having a baby dragon for a pet. A baby dragon that would logically grow into an adult someday.

The approach of a different finger was not viewed with any particular fear. If anything, the little dragon seemed quite interested. It removed its mouth from around Fliss' thumb, raising its head to push into the offered caress. Utterly charming, but nonetheless there were things to be considered here.

"Okay, so Dad's gonna kill me," Fliss said softly. "But nothing's on fire and everything's wet. Does that mean it's a water dragon?" As she spoke, the tiny dragon started dribbling in pleasure, trickling pure water from its muzzle that ran down inside the sleeve of her top. She snorted with laughter. "I think that answers that question."

"Oh, great," Lucas said with a chuckle as the tiny dragon wet Fliss' sleeve. "Well, at least, you don't have to worry about it burning the house down!" he said, in hopes of pointing out the bright side. The possibility of drowning them all was a different matter, though, and they both knew how fond her father was of water. "Maybe we should take him back," Lucas suggested further, though the thought of returning him to the Imps wouldn't have been his first choice of actions.

Fliss sat back on her heels, a little at a loss. "Uh ..." The thought of taking the little creature back to the Imps was not even worth considering in her mind. "Are you serious" They don't even know we had an egg, for a start," she pointed out. "No, I'm not gonna take him back to them. And he's not a fire breather, obviously, so it's not a dangerous thing here really. We should find something to keep him in and find out what he eats."

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:23 EST
"An aquarium, maybe," Lucas suggested, at least, for starters. That would solve the problem of what to do about the water, at least for a while. Once he got bigger, it would be more of a challenge, but he assumed the dragon would learn how to control his abilities as he got older ....and bigger. "You could probably put him in a bucket for now," he said, for lack of a better idea. Anything that held water would do really, but they weren't going to be able to keep this a secret for long. And just as that thought crossed his mind, the door slowly opened, and two familiar blond heads were seen peeking around the door to see what was going on inside their big sister's room.

"I could try keeping him in the bath, I guess," Fliss mused, glancing up as the door opened. She didn't dare move too quickly, for fear of frightening the tiny thing holding onto her hand, but she did make the effort to hide him behind herself as she met her siblings' eyes. "Didn't Mom tell you guys to knock?"

"We did knock!" Alex insisted, as he and Maria barged right into the room. So, maybe it had been too quiet a knock for the pair of teenagers to make out above their own voices, but it was the thought that counted! "Is that a dragon?" Alex exclaimed, a little too loudly as he stepped into the room, making a face as his feet went squish on the rug. "Your rug is soaked. Mom is gonna kill you!"

Lucas moved to yank both the little squealers into the room and close the door behind them. "Shh! Do you want your mom to hear you?"

Alex shrugged. "It's not my dragon that peed all over the rug!" he pointed out helpfully.

Maria was staring down at the floor, watching the water soak into her tights as she wriggled her feet even as Alex very nearly gave the game away completely.

"Besides, you don't want to frighten him, do you?" Fliss pointed out. "And he didn't pee ....we think he's a water dragon, and he's only maybe a couple of hours old. He just doesn't know how not to make things wet yet."

Maria looked up, her eyes wide above a slightly mischievous smile. "Daddy is going to kill you," she signed almost gleefully. To be fair, Fliss wasn't often on the receiving end of anyone's ire, but she was definitely heading in the right direction for a bollocking today.

Lucas sighed as he crouched down beside Fliss and the baby dragon she was hiding behind her back. "Okay, what?s it gonna cost us" Homework for a month' Cookies" Candybars?" he asked, knowing there was going to be a price to be paid for their silence, and the other pair were known to be as tough at bargaining as the Imps.

Maria giggled her silent giggle, tugging on Alex's hand to get his attention as she looked him in the eye. Fliss sighed, knowing they weren't going to get out of this one without some serious conditions, but if they were very lucky, her brother and sister weren't going to blab immediately. The tiny dragon crawled around on her hand, working its way up along her sleeve to her shoulder, leaving a damp trail behind it.

Alex looked at his sister, not really needing to read her sign language to know what she was trying to tell him. If he opened his mind to her, her thoughts would come to him with very little effort. The pair were silent a moment as they communicated in silence without the use of fingers or lips, and at last, Alex nodded and turned back to the other pair. "You let us have him every other week, and we won't tell Mom or Dad."

Fliss couldn't help but be impressed with this, despite knowing she was up against a wall. "That's blackmail, you know," she told her siblings, one brow raised. The effect was somewhat dampened by the fact that the tiny dragon had made it to her shoulder, and was now navigating the curve of her ear to try and climb up on top of her head.

"It also won't work."

Liv opened the door, leaning there with Bess on her hip and a wry look on her face. She scanned the group - the two children who weren't really culpable; Lucas, who could look guilty even when he wasn't responsible; and Fliss, who would have looked absolutely innocent were it not for the tiny dragon hanging off her ear. "Who's your new friend?"

Lucas very nearly jumped out of his skin when the door opened again and Liv stood there with Bess on her hip. Thankfully, she didn't look angry, but that didn't make Lucas look or feel any less guilty. "It just hatched today. We didn't do it on purpose! We didn't know it was gonna hatch. We didn't even know it was real!" he told her in a rush of words that only partially explained the situation.

"Mom!" Alex exclaimed, looking far less worried about being blamed than the other two. "It's a baby dragon. Isn't it cool?"

"Alex, Maria ....could you take Bess downstairs and start your homework, please?" Liv told them. She wasn't stern, or even angry, but she was very matter-of-fact. "Her playmat is already on the living room floor. I need to talk to Fliss and Lucas in private. And if your father comes in, do not mention the dragon." She eyed her children warningly, moving to hand Bess into Alex's arms.

Fliss looked an awful lot like a deer caught in headlights, genuinely worried now. She'd never been in a situation where Liv had segregated the children just to talk to them.

"Da, Mama," Alex replied, falling into his native Russian, as he did from time to time, especially when he was nervous or scared. "You should feed him, Fliss. He's hungry," he said, as he took Bess in his arms and turned to Maria, the look on his face betraying the fact that they were talking to each other in their silent language again. Whether Alex was just making a suggestion or could actually communicate somehow with the dragon was uncertain, but it was a logical assumption that the little thing would need to eat sooner or later.

Swallowing, Fliss glanced at her little brother. "Thanks, Alex, I will," she promised him. She'd never been in trouble with Liv before - not serious, wet-your-pants-because-Mom's-caught-you-trouble. It was playing merry hell with her nerves.

Liv smiled at the two little ones, stroking her hand over Alex's hair as he slipped by. "We won't be long, sweethearts," she promised, knowing that Maria would be able to reassure Alex anyway. Liv wasn't angry; if anything, she was more amused than upset.

"They're telling the truth, Mama. They didn't know," Alex added before heading out of the room and doing as he was told. He really didn't mean to blackmail Fliss and Lucas. He didn't even know what blackmail was, but it was a normal reaction to want to share in his big sister and her boyfriend's adventure.

As the door closed behind them, Liv eyed the two teens. "So ....how did we end up with a dragon in the house?"

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:24 EST
Lucas exchanged looks with Fliss, his face flushed with worry and embarrassment. He'd already blabbed an excuse and thought it was Fliss' turn to explain.

Fliss gulped, unaware of just how comical she looked with a tiny dragon scaling her head and utter terror in her eyes. "I, uh, we ..." She swallowed, glancing at Lucas. "We, I didn't steal it," she blurted out. "When we came home from Imp's, the egg, it was in my bag, and I never put it there, I swear! And it seemed really cool, so I hid it under my bed, and ....and it hatched while we were out today."

Liv nodded slowly, her glance taking in both teens. "That's a fairly logical turn of events," she conceded. "I have two questions. Why didn't you tell me you had brought a dragon egg home, and why didn't you take it back when you realized you had it?"

Both of them good questions, which left Lucas a little stumped for an answer. He could only speak for himself, though, and honest to a fault, he hoped Liv would believe his answer. "We were afraid to," he said. "We thought they'd accuse of us stealing, and ..." He exchanged glances with Fliss a moment before continuing. "We didn't think it was real. We were talking about buying an egg for Alex, 'cause he's always talking about how he wants a pet, but we decided a dragon was probably too dangerous, so we put it back, but when we got home, there it was! Honest!"

"Well, as it happens, I know you didn't steal it," Liv told them. "What concerns me is that you - both of you - chose to hide it. You had no idea if it would hatch, or what kind of dragon it would hatch into, and you chose to hide it rather than tell your parents about it. What if it had been a fire breather" What if it had hatched when you were at school, and Dad was at work" You might not have had a home to come back to. Bess and I, and Bella, we might have been badly hurt." She considered them for a long moment. "I know you're not thieves. But lying by omission is still lying, and this lie put our family in danger. That is unacceptable, from both of you."

Fliss felt herself beginning to tear up, deeply upset by the fact that she had disappointed her mother so much. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't ....I didn't think it would be a big deal. I didn't ..."

"You didn't think," Liv told her, gentle but serious. "And now you are responsible for a living creature that you know nothing about."

From the look on Lucas' face, he felt as ashamed as Fliss, if not more. He was the eldest, after all, and he should have known better. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Storm. It's my fault. I was worried you and Mr. Storm would make us get rid of it, and we wanted it to be a surprise."

"It's not your fault, it's my fault," Fliss objected. "It was in my bag, it's my responsibility!"

Liv held a hand up to prevent them from falling into an argument over who was to blame. "You are both responsible," she told them. "And you are not children anymore. Therefore, you are going to accept responsibility for this. Lucas, I will be telling your mother about this, and she will punish you if she feels the need. Fliss, you're grounded for a month, and you're going to put at least half of your allowance toward buying whatever equipment we will need to house and feed your new friend there. Agreed?"

Fliss bit her lip, looking down at the sodden carpet. "Yes, Mom."

"Yes, ma'am," Lucas replied, averting his gaze to stare at the floor, face flushed with shame. He was a good boy and rarely got into any trouble, but he was more worried about the ribbing he was going to get from his brother than the punishment he'd receive from his mother. He winced when Fliss was told she was grounded, wondering if they'd be allowed to spend any time with each other, other than school, but her mother was right - they should have come clean as soon as they'd discovered the egg, in the first place. He didn't want to argue with Fliss, but he knew it was as much his fault as hers. "We'll clean up the mess, too," he volunteered, though he wasn't quite sure how.

"You won't need to," Liv told him. She hated having to discipline her children - and despite everything, she had started to think of Lucas as one of her children - but she knew this lesson was very necessary. Everyone did things without thinking when they were young, but some things had to be learned. "As it happens, you brought something else home from Imp's, as well." She let herself smile, unsurprised by the look of utter horror on Fliss' face as her daughter looked up.

They hadn't meant to bring anything home, other than the few innocuous items they're purchased. In fact, they had decided not to buy the dragon's egg, not only because it had been too expensive, but because they didn't have permission to do so. It might not have been their fault that the egg had somehow stowed away in Fliss' bag, but it had been their fault they hadn't spoken up about it. And now, her mother seemed to be saying they'd inadvertently brought something else home with them besides, but what? Lucas jerked his head up, all the color now draining from his face, as a dozen worst-case-scenarios flooded his brain.

Smiling at the horror on both their faces, Liv checked to make sure the door was closed before coming further into the room. "Donnan?" she said quietly. "Would you come out and show yourself to them, please?"

Fliss stared at her mother as though she had lost her mind. "Who's Donnan?" she asked, finally remembering to reach up and remove the little dragon from her hair. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, honestly, Fliss," Liv chuckled. "Did you really think I have the time to suddenly straighten up your room so much' Donnan's been doing it. Look." She nodded to one of the shelves, where an ugly little man with a long nose and long ears bent outward by his bowler hat was sitting comfortably, watching them. "Donnan there is a brownie," she told the teenagers. "And he jumped into your backpack when you were at Imp's."

The brownie saluted the pair cheerfully. "Got you that there dragon egg, too," he added in a gruff little voice.

"Don't say thank you to him," Liv said quickly. "Ever."

Lucas' expression went from one of horror to confusion to curiosity. He had obviously never met a brownie before and didn't really know much about them. Never in a million years would he have expected one to stowaway in Fliss' bag. Thank you most certainly wasn't the first time that came to his lips, though he wasn't sure why he wasn't supposed to thank the ugly, little man. "Why?" he asked, that one word inquiring not only as to why he had come home with them, but why he'd got them the dragon egg, too.

"Did y'see that shop?" Donnan said, still cheerful. "Filthy! And they liked it that way! No, I was biding my time. Waitin' for a decent family t'come along, so's I can do what I'm meant t'do and be appreciated for it." He nodded to Liv, who chuckled.

"Brownies are household sprites," she told the teenagers. "They clean and tidy, and mend, but they consider being thanked for it to be a terrible insult. He obviously liked you when he saw you in the shop, and decided he was going to make our house his home."

"But ....why the egg?" Lucas asked further, accepting the brownie's explanation for wanting to come along, as crazy as it sounded to someone whose homeworld wasn't Rhy'Din. He felt somewhat relieved that their stowaway was at least beneficial and not harmful in any way, but that didn't excuse their indiscretion.

"Y'wanted it," Donnan shrugged.

"Wait, wait, hang on ..." Fliss raised her non-dragon hand as she tried to get her head around this. "You're saying I brought a little man home with me and he's been here, in my room?" she asked. "Watching me sleep and wash and stuff?"

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:24 EST
Liv rolled her eyes. "Fliss, he doesn't care what you look like, and it's hardly a violation of your privacy. I knew you had a dragon egg, because when I suspected we had a brownie, I bribed him with honey porridge and he told me. He told me everything he had done, but he wouldn't say a word about what you get up to in here."

Donnan nodded emphatically. "Not my place."

Lucas flushed further, knowing the little brownie had probably witnessed them smooching a time or two, but thankfully, they hadn't gotten much farther than that. "Is-is he ....Are you ..." Lucas stammered, unsure if he should be addressing Fliss' mother or the brownie directly. "Are you going to live in Fliss' room?" he asked, curiously.

The little brownie stretched thoughtfully. "Well, her knickers make a nice bed," he commented. "But the missus there says I can have the cupboard by the cooker, dog blanket and all. Sounds like a good deal t'me."

Fliss gaped. "My knickers""

As shocked and ashamed as Lucas was, he couldn't help but snicker a little at the thought that the little brownie had been snuggling up in Fliss' "knickers" at night. He didn't bother to mention that the brownie had got there before he had, but the thought of it only made him laugh all the more.

"Stop laughing!" Fliss protested, poking at Lucas. "It's not funny!"

"It is a little funny," Liv smiled, though she was not actually laughing at the idea of a brownie sleeping in her daughter's intimates. Donnan was simply grinning to himself, kicking his feet where he sat.

"I'm home!" a very recognizable, if slightly muffled, voice was heard somewhere downstairs, announcing the arrival of the man of the house, home from a day's work.

"Oh, crap," Lucas murmured, wondering what Johnny was going to say about all this.

If Fliss had looked worried when they'd been caught by her mother, she looked terrified now. Liv looked at the two young people, and sighed. "All right," she said matter-of-factly. "Donnan, could you clean all the water up, please" Fliss, Lucas, put your new friend somewhere he isn't going to cause water damage for now, and go online to find out what he eats. I will talk to Johnny."

The relief that cascaded off Fliss at this announcement was palpable. "Absolutely, Mom," she nodded in agreement. Anything not to have to tell Johnny herself what she'd done.

"Mrs. Storm," Lucas started, not feeling comfortable calling her Liv now that he had disappointed her. "Is it okay if I ....I mean ....Now that Fliss is grounded ..." He stammered again, unsure how to ask if he was still allowed to visit or not. It was likely his mother might enforce the same punishment and, to a teenager, a month seemed like forever.

"Fliss can't leave the house without permission except for school," Liv clarified for them. "You're welcome to visit still, Lucas, so long as your mother allows." With a nod, she turned to slip from the room, moving to head Johnny off before he caught sight of the tiny dragon without being forewarned.

Lucas frowned, but wasn't about to argue. If his mother enforced the same punishment, they wouldn't be seeing much of each other for the next month or so, except for school, but there wasn't much he could do about it. "Yes, ma'am," he replied quietly, as the door closed behind her.

Downstairs, Johnny was busily chatting with Alex and Maria while they shared some milk and cookies. Left on her playmat in full view, Bess was under Bella's supervision, baby and dog napping side by side in the living room.

Liv smiled as she reached the kitchen, bending to kiss Alex and Maria hello and reassure them affectionately before moving to greet her husband, too. "And how are we all doing down here?" she asked warmly.

"Quiet day today," Johnny replied with a smile, leaning close to touch a quick kiss to her lips that tasted like chocolate chip cookies. He seemed to be in a good mood, at least, which might bode well for Fliss and Lucas. "How was your day?"

"Oh, eventful," she chuckled, glancing at the children with a teasing twinkle in her eyes. "You and I need to talk about your eldest." It wasn't said in any way that might make him alarmed or even concerned; just a comment that maybe they needed to talk about Fliss at some point soon.

Maria waved her hands to get their attention. "Can we go in the treehouse?"

Johnny arched a curious brow. There was never a dull moment in the Storm household, especially now that they shared it with four children, a lively dog, a brownie, not to mention the dragon he didn't yet know about, and the visits from her boyfriend and his family. At least, she seemed in a good mood, too - that was always a good sign. He blinked as Maria waved for their attention and turned her way. "Is all your homework done?" he asked the pair to which Alex nodded his head, not daring to tattle on his big sister and her boyfriend. "Okay, then," Johnny replied. "Just until dinner."

Maria nodded along with Alex, her eyes bright with mischief but as determined as her brother not to tattle on Fliss. Besides, it looked like Mommy had it all in hand, anyway. Delighted with the permission to go in the treehouse, the silent little girl leaped down from her seat to thump into Johnny and squeeze, dropping kisses on his shoulder and chin before whirling away.

"Remember your shoes and coats, it's still chilly outside!" Liv called after them in amusement.

"Spasibo, Papa!" Alex exclaimed, joining in on the hug fest before dashing toward the door to don his shoes and coat before heading out to play for a while, now that their homework was done. No doubt he and Maria had a lot to talk about, and were probably hoping to help in some way, though, like most children, he was relieved it wasn't him who was in trouble this time.

Liv chuckled. "They love their Papa," she grinned to Johnny, leaning over to kiss his cheek. A glance into the living room proved that Bess was still asleep, with Bella curled up at her side, and by the sounds of things, whatever was being rigged up for the dragon was being made with enthusiasm, if not love.

Johnny had already checked on their youngest and greeted her with a tender kiss, as well as greeting Bella with a fond ruffling of her fur. No one was left out when it came to Johnny; he adored each and every member of their household and wanted to make sure they all knew it. Now that they had a moment alone, Johnny slid his arms around his wife's waist to pull her close, even as he furrowed his brows and glanced upwards at the racket going on upstairs. "What are the heck are they doing up there?"

Curling her arms about his shoulders, Liv smiled at him. "They're trying to make something to keep a very small dragon in," she told him calmly, laying a gentle finger against his lips before he could explode. "It is very small, it only hatched today, and it isn't a fire breather. And I've already grounded Fliss for not telling us she had a dragon egg under the bed, despite the fact that Donnan told us last week."

"It hatched?" Johnny echoed, brows arching curiously, about to ask a dozen questions before she pressed a finger to his lips to silence him. "If it's not a fire breather, what is it?" he asked. He had wanted to confront the teens as soon as Liv had told him they were hiding the egg, but she had asked him not to, giving them a chance to come forward on their own. It seemed that point was now moot.

"It seems to be a water dragon," she told him gently. "The carpet was soaked, and it would appear that, when it is happy, it dribbles pure water, too." She chuckled at the memory of finding Fliss soggy and guilty with a dragon hanging off her ear. "So Fliss is also going to put at least half of her allowance toward paying for some kind of terrarium to keep it in, if only to limit the water damage for a while."

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:25 EST
"A water dragon?" Johnny echoed again, not looking too terribly thrilled with the idea of adding a dragon to their household. "Uh, Liv ....It might be a baby now, but babies grow into adults, and we don't have room for a full-grown dragon. Where are we supposed to keep it' In the pool?" he asked, his voice audibly rising. A fire dragon would have been bad enough, but what the hell were they going to do with a water dragon' Let it drown them"

"Calm ....calm down, love." She stroked her fingers against his cheek, aware that the noise from above had abruptly stopped as his voice had risen. "Fliss is terrified that you're never going to forgive her for this," she told him, cutting straight to the most important point as it related to their family. "She had no idea it would actually hatch, and she's aware of how stupid that assumption was. But she knows you dislike dragons, and she knows you hate water, and she is genuinely frightened that you will never forgive her for making a mistake. That's what?s important here. She'll do her time, and she'll resent it, but she feels bad for causing it in the first place. They'll look up what to feed it, and I'll take it along to the Bestiary tomorrow while everyone's at school and work, and find out how fast it'll grow and how to look after it. But we need to keep it, at least until it's old enough to fend for itself, or there's no point in this lesson. If the consequences are taken away, then the lesson isn't learned."

"Forgive her?" Johnny echoed, his voice a little too loud again. "It's the Imps I blame, not her! We should never have visited that stupid shop." Though he wasn't complaining about the brownie, as it made Liv's life a lot easier. Johnny sighed. He wasn't too sure what he thought about having a dragon for a pet, but how much trouble could a baby dragon be? At this point, he didn't think it would be much more trouble than a pet lizard, so long as they took care of it properly. "Okay, fine, but if it gets big, it's got to go. Am I playing good cop or bad cop today?"

"Deal," she agreed, and she was pretty sure that Fliss and Lucas would have come to that agreement between themselves by this point, anyway. "How about just being Dad?" she suggested with a fond smile, kissing the tip of his nose. "Grounded for a month, remember. That means no going out, apart from school, without prior permission, and if Lucas gets grounded by Jessica, they won't see much of each other for that period. Don't weaken." Liv winked at Johnny fondly. "Oh, and Alex and Maria have already seen the bloody thing, so they're going to want to be involved in looking after it."

Johnny winced. "That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" he asked, knowing a month seemed like forever when you were that age. "Yeah, they were talking about buying one for Alex's birthday, but decided against it." Apparently Johnny had heard more than he'd let on during their little field trip. "Why's it gotta be a dragon, of all things?"

"No, they engaged in a lie that could potentially have put our entire family at risk," Liv pointed out to him. "I think a month is pretty lenient, actually." She snorted with laughter as he let slip what he'd overheard the teenagers talking about. "You kept that to yourself," she pointed out in amusement. "And why not a dragon' To be honest, I'm actually relieved it's a dragon, and not something like a manticore, or a gryphon. At least we vaguely know what to expect from a dragon, and this one is very small right now. He's rather adorable, really."

"Well, they decided not to. How was I supposed to know a brownie was going to hitchhike home with us and bring a dragon egg along as a homecoming gift?" he asked, wondering just how much of the fault was his, rather than theirs. "Everything's adorable when it's a baby, Liv. That doesn't mean it will still be adorable when it's grown up. How long do you think it will take for a baby dragon to become full grown" I mean, they're pretty long-lived, aren't they?"

"Sweetheart, no one is really to blame about the egg finding its way here," she told him. "But the punishment is for the lying. And stop panicking about things that are completely out of your control. I told you, I will talk to Ms. Longfoot at the Bestiary tomorrow and find out all we need to know."

"At least, it's not a fire-breather," he admitted. As much as he didn't like water or dragons, for that matter, he was taking this pretty well in stride, but then, it could be a lot worse. "I still think they would have come clean eventually," he remarked, though the egg had hatched before they'd had a chance. "Makes you wonder where the Imps got it, though, doesn't it?"

"Which is another reason to go to the Bestiary," Liv pointed out with a soft sigh. "I daresay she'll want to know that at least some of the dragon eggs being sold by the Imps are actually fertilized and growing." She smiled at Johnny, pressing a kiss to his lips. "I'm proud of you. You aren't nearly as freaked out about this as I thought you might be."

"Oh, I'm freaked out all right, but it's basically just a flying lizard at this point. What harm can it do?" he asked, besides water damage. An adult dragon - now that was a very different story. Somehow he was getting images in his head of Pete's Dragon and couldn't help chuckling at the thought. "It's actually kinda funny."

"It's very cute," she warned him. "When I caught them, it was in the process of climbing from Fliss' shoulder to the top of her head. I had a very difficult time keeping a straight face when presented with a guilty teenager who had a tiny dragon hanging off her ear."

"Shall I go say hello?" he asked with a grin. If this was the worst his teenage daughter was capable of, he thought he could live with it.

"Oh, I think that's a marvelous idea," Liv grinned back at him, glad he was taking all this in his stride. "I should probably start making dinner, unless we're getting takeout tonight. What do you think?"

"You realize they're going to try and schmooze me," he said, with a smirk. "But don't worry! I'll put up a united front! Promise!" he said, lifting a hand to make the Scout's Honor sign. Neither of them were very strict disciplinarians, but so far they'd been lucky and hadn't needed to be.

"Oh, I don't know," she chuckled, rising to let him go. "You might be surprised. They're dreadfully upset over having disappointed me, I can't imagine how they're feeling about worrying you." She winked at him, waving him away with a teasing flicker of her fingers as she moved to investigate the contents of the larder.

"They're good kids, Liv, but they're not perfect," Johnny remarked, thankful this was the worst they'd experienced so far. She was right, though - it could have been a lot worse, and someone could have gotten hurt. It was a hard lesson that needed to be learned. Hopefully, this time around nothing was damaged but their pride. He touched another kiss to her lips, patting her rear fondly. At least, no one living under their roof could ever complain of boredom.

"I know," she assured him, giggling as he patted her rear end. "Go on, go and be Dad. Fliss might be so wound up she'll wet herself if you frown at her by now."

Johnny made a face at the thought of that. "I'd rather she didn't." He'd been peed on enough by Baby Bess. He didn't really want a teenager doing the same, much less a baby dragon. "Want me to take Bess with me?" he asked, glancing toward the sleeping baby, beside the sleeping dog, both of whom seemed perfectly content as they were.

"That's up to you," Liv laughed. "Do you want to be holding a baby when you meet a dragon?" She had a feeling she knew what Fliss was going to do when confronted with her father, but it was up to Johnny as to whether he wanted to end up holding two daughters at once.

"No, I'll probably end up getting wet enough," he said with a frown, not bothering to mention his heat could probably dry up any water from the carpet in record time, if the house brownie hadn't taken care of it already. "Wish me luck!" he said, as he started toward the stairs.

"You don't need it!" she called back to him, turning her attention to dinner.

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:26 EST
Upstairs, Fliss and Lucas had removed one of the drawers from her dresser and lined it with a couple of trash bags, putting it into a washing basket for extra protection. It wasn't the most attractive of solutions, but it would do, for now. The tiny dragon was hanging off Lucas' hand, peering down at it but so far refusing to let go and get in.

Though he wasn't thumping, Johnny's footsteps could be heard on the stairs, a light rap at the door to give them warning before he opened it and peered inside. "Um, you realize dragons can fly, right?" he asked, as he stepped into the room.

Fliss looked up, her expression wracked with guilt and worry. "Um ....we don't think he can, yet," she offered in a tiny voice. "He just, kinda, climbs everywhere. And dribbles."

"How do you know it's a he?" Johnny asked as he pulled out the chair by Liv's desk and took a seat.

Lucas shook his hand gently in an attempt to dislodge the little dragon, who seemed in no hurry to let go anytime soon.

"Um, we, um ..." Normally so good with words, Fliss seemed to be struggling today. "We don't, we just ....Can't just call him "it"." She looked over at Lucas, hoping neither of them could tell how close she was to tears still for having made such a huge mistake that might have hurt her family, and reached out to try and help peel the little creature from his hand. The dragon held on for a moment longer, and launched itself from Lucas' hand to hers, forelimbs hugging her thumb as its tail wrapped about her wrist. She sighed in defeat.

Johnny frowned as he looked from one to the other. "Lucas, it's almost dinner time. Why don't you go home and check in with your mother. We can talk about this later."

Lucas looked somewhat relieved to have been dismissed, though his gaze darted back to Fliss with a worried frown before returning to Johnny, a question unspoken on his lips.

Johnny waved a hand at the boy, as if he could almost read his mind. "Don't worry. You're still welcome in our home. I just need a few minutes with Fliss, okay?"

Lucas nodded his head, still looking ashamed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Storm. We didn't mean any harm."

Fliss' gaze flickered to Lucas as he looked back at her, nodding to him. She didn't really want him to see her being properly told off for the second time that day; it had been humiliating enough the first time, especially since it was so very deserved.

Lucas was dreading what his mother was going to say, but he knew he had to face the music sometime. It was Matt he was really dreading, but maybe the fact that their neighbors had a real live dragon for a pet would help smooth things over.

"It's okay, Lucas. Lesson learned, I hope," Johnny assured the boy, offering a warm smile. "Go on home. A month isn't that long. Trust me."

Lucas nodded, turning back to Fliss. "See you tomorrow," he told her mournfully, shuffling off like he was going to his last meal.

"See you," Fliss mumbled in his wake, looking down at the tiny dragon on her hand. It had resumed gnawing on her thumb, blinking those big opalescent eyes up at Johnny with charming innocence, completely unaware that there were discipline issues going on here.

Johnny reached down to touch the carpet, turning up his internal temperature to dry up any moisture that remained. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" Johnny asked, as his fingers played with the fibers of the carpet, until he was satisfied with his own handiwork.

"M'sorry." It was such a soft word, almost not a word at all. More of a prelude to the explosion of tears that suddenly erupted as Fliss gave vent to the shame and guilt she was feeling in the form of tears that were definitely not designed to prettily seduce anyone into feeling sorry for her. They were wet and heartfelt, and there was a lot of unattractive gurning involved. "I'm so sorry, and I didn't mean to cause trouble, and I don't have any excuses, and now you're mad and Mom's mad, and I have to look after this thing, and it won't stop dripping on me!"

Johnny sighed, feeling a well of sympathy and compassion for his daughter. He wasn't mad at her, but Liv was right - she and Lucas needed to learn this lesson or something worse than a wet carpet might happen next time. "Oh, sweetheart," he started. "I'm not mad at you."

For the first time in a long time, flames were flickering over Fliss' hair as she sobbed, sniffling and rubbing her dripping nose while the dragon in her hand raised its head to watch the pretty display of fire nearby. When a crackling flame came a little bit too close, it spat a mouthful of water at it, extinguishing the danger easily.

Johnny had to bite back a chuckle at the little dragon's attempt to stifle the flames. The little thing really was kind of cute, but he had more important things to worry about right now. He moved over to sit beside her on the bed, one arm going around her shoulders to pull her close. "Mom isn't mad at you either, but you and Lucas should have told us. Why didn't you?" Were they really that scary as parents that their daughter was afraid to come to them with something like this"

"I don't know," she wailed quietly, part of her upset now because she knew she was never going to be able to wear this t-shirt again. There were already singed holes in it. At least Johnny could hug her safely when she was this upset. "I-I didn't really think it w-was real, you know" And-and if it was real, it was kind of th-thrilling to have that s-secret, a-and I didn't think, and what if he hadn't been a soggy thing" I-I might have h-hurt Mom and Bess and Bella, and that's awful!" There was another sizzling splat from her lap, where the tiny dragon was experimenting with spitting little balls of water onto the individual flames that were flickering over her hair.

Fliss' t-shirt was the least of Johnny's worries at the moment. Well, at least the little dragon was coming in useful for something. He was like a living, breathing fire extinguisher. Not exactly an unhandy thing to have around when two of the people living there had a little problem with fire.

"But you didn't," Johnny pointed out helpfully, hugging her close. "You made a mistake and you learned from that mistake. That's part of growing up, Fliss. Liv and I have made plenty of mistakes in our lives, believe me, but I won't lie to you. It only takes one really stupid mistake to ruin your life or someone else's life. There are consequences for everything you choose to do or not do, for better or worse, and taking responsibility for those choices is part of being an adult. Your mom and I aren't mad at you. We love you, and we're always gonna love you, no matter what. We don't want you to be afraid to tell us stuff, no matter how bad you think it might be. And this was something you should have told us. That's all."

"I wasn't scared to tell you," she admitted reluctantly, finally beginning to calm down as his words got through to her. She sniffled, raising the wrong hand to wipe her nose, and yelped when the little dragon grabbed hold of her hair with his talons, releasing her hand to hang there, at a loss as to what to do next. Despite herself, Fliss giggled, cross-eyed as she tried to look at the perplexed little thing that was eyeing Johnny as though asking for help.

Johnny took pity on both his daughter and her new pet, and reached over to very carefully untangle the little thing from his precarious position, opening his free hand to let it climb onto his hand if he wanted to. He wasn't sure what the hatchling might think of his heat, but if seemed he was some sort of water or sea dragon, not one that emitted cold. "Why didn't you then?" Johnny asked further, though she'd already given him her answer.

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:27 EST
"Because it was fun," she confessed, thoroughly ashamed of herself. She didn't even look to see what happened to the dragon when it was untangled from her hair, unable to enjoy the sight of a tiny reptile rolling around on her father's warm hand, apparently thoroughly enjoying the heat he emanated. "Because it was a secret, and I didn't think it would do any harm. Because I'm an idiot."

"That's all?" he asked, frowning a little at her reasoning. So, it wasn't a trust issue at all. She and Lucas had simply reveled in sharing a secret no one else knew, despite the fact that it could have ended in tragedy. "The next time you and Lucas want to keep a secret, you should think about who else it might affect besides yourselves," he said, his heart aching to have to scold her again. "And ....You're not an idiot. You're just young. We all make mistakes, Fliss. We just don't want you or anyone else getting hurt. You understand?" he asked, lifting a hand to run his fingers through her hair, while the dragon curled up in his other hand.

The scolding was enough to make the tears flow again, but she nodded, understanding everything he was telling her. No one would be able to tell her off even half as viciously as she was telling herself off, though. "I'm so sorry, Daddy," she sniffed. "I really am."

"It's okay. Lesson learned," he told her, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead. "I love you, you know," he told her quietly, hoping she understood that all of this was for her own good, as well as that of her siblings. And in the end, it was hurting him far more than it was hurting her. He didn't want to scold her or be mad at her, but she needed to understand the gravity of her action or inaction. "Now, I have two more things to say and we'll forget all this ever happened, okay?"

Sniffing hard, she nodded, making a real effort to pull herself together as she dared to raise her eyes and look at her father. She hated this; the fact that she had screwed up so much, and the fact that it had been completely avoidable. It was her fault, but she was big enough to accept that. "Okay."

"First, if you're going to keep it - him - you're going to have to take full responsibility for it. We'll have to get it a terrarium or something for it to live in and figure out what it eats. And you're gonna have to name ....him or her." He eyed the little thing suspiciously, wondering if you determined a dragon's gender the same way you determined most anything else. "And uh ....This is partly my fault, too. I heard you and Lucas talking about the egg in the shop, and I said nothing about it."

Even with the tiny creature lying on its back, legs splayed and dribbling happily, it was impossible for them to tell if it was a he or a she. Wiping her nose on her t-shirt, since it was destined for the bin anyway, Fliss glanced up at her father. "It's my fault," she said, very nearly calm again. "I'm the one who didn't notice there was a brownie in my bag, and if he hadn't been in my bag, we wouldn't have ended up with a dragon egg. It's my fault, Dad, and I'm a big girl. I can handle being the one in the wrong. I just hope I didn't get Lucas into too much trouble as well."

"No, it's not just your fault. I should have been watching you better, instead of looking for something to buy your mom. If I'd been watching you better, I'd have noticed the brownie sneaking the egg into your bag," he insisted, and would continue to insist even if the brownie argued otherwise. "Your mother and I have known about the egg for a while. We just didn't say anything because we wanted you to tell us. There's enough blame to go around, Fliss, and I know you're gonna be a lot harder on yourself than anyone else, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. Just take a lesson in it and make sure it never happens again. That's all you can do."

The teenager nodded once again, despondent now her tears had stopped. "I really messed up, didn't I?" she asked quietly, reaching out to stroke a fingertip over the little dragon's belly. It quivered, almost as though it was ticklish, and sprang up onto its feet, blinking those huge eyes once again.

"No, no harm, no foul," Johnny replied with a soft smile as he hugged her close again, turning his gaze to the silly-looking thing on his hand. "It's kind of cute, isn't it?" he asked, changing the subject.

She managed a wan sort of smile. "It really is," she admitted. "It won't go in the box, though. It just hangs onto your hand and stays there."

"Well, would you want to sleep in a box if you were used to a nice, warm, cozy egg?" he asked, lifting the dragon to peer a little more closely at it, though not closely enough that he'd get squirted in the face. "Poor thing has no mother. I should go have a word with those Imps about this. Stealing dragon eggs has to be illegal or, at least, immoral."

"I guess I'm gonna have a wet bed for a while then," Fliss sighed, but at least she was resigned to her fate. "There's gotta be a mattress protector somewhere around here, right?"

The little dragon arched its long neck up as Johnny peered at it, nose to nose for a long moment. Then, slowly and with a great deal of thought, it opened its little mouth and bit the end of Johnny's nose, sucking with those toothless gums as though comparing his nose to Fliss' thumb.

As bad as Johnny felt for the little thing, he didn't look too amused about having his nose sucked on as he very carefully pried it away. "I think it's hungry," Johnny remarked, frowning thoughtfully at the hatchling. Dragon or not, it was still just a baby, with a baby's instincts. "I wonder if it would like warm milk."

"Mom said to check online," Fliss offered, trying not to giggle at the little thing's behavior. "It keeps sucking my thumb." She wriggled said thumb, catching the dragon's attention. "Although ....Alex said he was hungry. Like he knew it was a boy." It was her turn to frown thoughtfully now. She glanced down at herself. "I guess I should change my top and take it downstairs."

"Did he?" Johnny mused aloud, pausing a moment in thought. "Dinner will be ready soon. Meet me downstairs, and we'll see if we can get him to eat something," he said, touching another kiss to her cheek, as he got to his feet with the newest addition to the Storm Zoo still cradled in his hand.

"Okay." She smiled a little as he kissed her cheek, barely even noticing that he was taking the little dragon with him. She needed to wash her face and change her top before she joined them downstairs. From the kitchen came the sound of Liv calling to Alex and Maria, urging them to wash their hands before dinner, and Bess' melodious cries that told everyone she thought it was dinnertime, too.

"Oh," Johnny said, almost absentmindedly, as he reached the door. "And remind me to take you to Miranda's for a fitting sometime this week. Your Aunt Sue finally sent some material from New York, and we're going to have you fitted for some fire-proof clothes."

"Really?" Fliss' eyes lit up. "Because, um ....I kinda have something to tell you and Mom, and it sort of involves that, in a roundabout way. But it's not a bad thing!" she rushed to add, waving her hands at him in case he thought she'd done something else incredibly stupid.

He chuckled, as she admitted to another secret of sorts, but one that didn't seem to be too terribly ominous. "Okay, we can talk about it later. Right now, I hear your mother calling," he said, wondering how they were going to juggle a baby daughter and a baby dragon, but thankfully, there were enough of them willing to help. "I can't wait to see what Lucy has to say about this," he muttered to himself with a chuckle as he started back downstairs.

By the time he arrived in the kitchen, everyone else was there, too. Liv was putting the finishing touches to dinner; Maria was feeding Bella; Alex was watching the bottle warmer with beady eyes, impatient to shut Bess up as the baby kicked and cried.

Liv glanced up as Johnny came into view. "All sorted?" she asked, doing a double-take when she realized he was holding the dragon.

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:28 EST
"Yeah, except for this," he replied, holding up his hand to indicate the hatchling that was trying to suckle his finger. "I was thinking maybe a little warm milk," he suggested, though he really didn't know. Who did you consult when you had a baby dragon emergency'

Liv considered the little thing, trying not to laugh at the sight of her husband being used as a kind of chew toy by something more than exotic that didn't seem to have any teeth. "No, that would make sense," she managed, having to break off before her grin became a full on laugh.

Maria looked up, already giggling because her mother's mirth was spilling over, and pointed in delight at the tiny dragon as she huffed her own silent laugh at the view.

"The question is how. I mean, I'm not sure a baby bottle will work, so what do we use to feed him with?" Johnny asked, unsure just how to go about this. "Here, Alex, would you take him so I can feed Little Miss Impatient?" he said, attempting to hand over the dragon to the one person who seemed most able to communicate with the little thing.

"Yes, Papa," Alex replied, nodding his head enthusiastically.

"Well, we don't have an eye dropper, but I can pick one up tomorrow," Liv mused, sharing her grin with Maria as the little girl took a handful of cutlery to the table. "We could use a straw, I suppose." She watched as the little dragon was convinced to crawl from Johnny's hand onto Alexei's, clinging onto the smaller fingers with pinprick talons before wrapping its tail around Alex's wrist.

"Ouch!" Alex exclaimed as the little talons dug into his fingers, with needlelike precision.

"Looks like this is gonna be harder than it seems," Johnny murmured. "Fliss!" he called as he scooped Bess up onto his shoulder, rubbing her back to calm her down while he fetched the bottle from the warmer. "Maria, find me a straw please, sweetheart?"

"Coming!" A moment later, Fliss appeared, clad in a fresh t-shirt, and made her way straight over to Liv, both of them wrapping each other up in a warm hug that said more than any apology and spoken forgiveness ever could. Maria beamed at the more settled feelings that were radiating from her family, half-an-eye on the dragon clinging to Alex's fingers as she set the table. Released from Liv's embrace with a kiss to her temple, Fliss managed a more normal smile as she turned to her father. "What do you need?"

"Would you find me a leather glove or something the little guy can't poke his talons through?" Johnny asked, cradling Bess in his arms as he offered her a bottle to stifle her frantic cries of hunger. "I have an idea," he said, as he waited for the straw and the glove.

"Uh, sure." Fliss looked toward Liv, who jerked her head toward the back door, where the basket of gardening bits and pieces lived.

As the teen headed in that direction to root out a glove, Maria produced a straw from the little pot where they lived, bringing it over to Alex, since he was the one holding the dragon.

Liv smiled at the sight of Johnny taking charge as she turned the heat down on their dinner to wait until the babies had been dealt with. "Want me to take Bess?" she offered.

"Nope, I'm good," Johnny replied, as he took a seat at the table near Alex, who was starting to wince at the hold the hatchling had on his finger. "Can you pour a little milk into a bowl?" he asked Liv. No need to warm it with Johnny around, though they were much more careful with the temperature of Baby Bess' bottles.

"Of course."

As Liv turned to do just that, Fliss returned from the back door, sitting down next to Alex. "Okay, hold out your hand, peanut," she told him, maneuvering the over-sized glove onto his left hand. "See if you can get him to hang on to that hand instead." She flashed her little brother a grin, absentmindedly reaching out to pull Maria up onto her lap as the tiny dragon swayed his way from one hand to another.

Liv chuckled, putting an egg cup half-full of milk down on the table for them.

Johnny propped Bess so that he could let go of the bottle, just long enough to warm the milk in the egg cup up with the touch of a finger, careful not to get it too hot. "Okay," he said, as he juggled Bess and the bottle again. "The idea is to siphon some milk into the straw and then feed it to the dragon," he instructed, hoping at least Fliss and Liv would understand what he was getting at, if Alex and Maria didn't.

Meanwhile, Alex looked relieved to have those tiny talons not sticking into his finger anymore. "I think I know what you mean, Papa!" he declared.

"Why don't you hold him, Alex, and Maria can offer him some milk with the straw?" Liv suggested, knowing Fliss was likely to end up having to do this at some ungodly hour of the night fairly soon anyway.

Maria looked up, startled. "Me?"

"Why not you?" Fliss pointed out to her little sister. "I'll seal the end of the straw, you do the steering."

Alex nodded his head, holding the tiny dragon in the palm of his gloved hand as gently as he could.

"You know, if we're gonna keep him, he's gonna need a name," Johnny pointed out while his little family worked on feeding the unexpected newest member of the Storm household.

Even Bella was curious, sitting down between Alex and Fliss to sniff curiously at the little creature as the girls worked together to offer it the dripping straw.

"Are you sure it's a boy, Alex?" Fliss asked her brother curiously, feeling Maria giggle in her arms as the dragon latched its mouth around the end of the straw and started to gnaw, swallowing the milk as it went down.

"Da," Alex nodded vehemently, seemingly quite certain of that fact, though he wasn't consciously sure how. It was just a feeling he got really, as males and females felt as different to him as night and day. "He's hungry, but he's not afraid." Alex giggled a moment, careful not to jostle the dragon too much. "He thinks Fliss is his mama."

"Oh, great," Fliss muttered. "Haven't even had my top off yet, and I'm a mom."

"Felicity," Liv warned quietly. That wasn't a conversation that should be had in front of the littler ones.

"Sorry," the teen mumbled, focusing a little more on helping Maria reload the straw. "So what do you think we should call him, Alex?"

Fliss

Date: 2016-03-22 08:30 EST
Thankfully, the younger ones were too interested in their new pet to pay their older sister's remarks any heed. Alex frowned thoughtfully, brows furrowed in deep thought. "I don't know," he admitted, looking to his sisters for help.

"Well, he is a dragon," Fliss mused, jumping as somehow she and Maria managed to splash themselves in the face with the milk. "Nice ....Anyway, his name should be something, I don't know, majestic, maybe."

Without her hands free to sign, Maria couldn't offer much to the conversation, but she did look Alex straight in the eye for a moment to try and convey her first ideas on the subject.

Alex fell silent a moment to hear his sister's thoughts, giggling at her suggestion. "We can't name him that!" he scoffed, good-naturedly. "He's a dragon, not a bear!" The other name he wasn't too sure of. "She says we should name him Honeybear or Hercules," he interpreted for the rest of the family.

"Well, Hercules isn't bad. It's better than Smaug, anyway," Johnny remarked with a grin.

Fliss snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes. "He's not going to be very dignified when he's big if we're calling him Honeybear, is he?" she pointed out to their little sister.

Maria just grinned, aiming the straw toward the little open mouth once again.

"Hercules is a good place to start," Liv suggested from the stove. "Ancient hero names, things like that. That would work."

"What about Sinbad?" Johnny suggested, trying to come up with a water themed-name. "Or, uh ....Neptune," he suggested further.

"Poseidon," Liv offered thoughtfully, following Johnny's line of thought. "Lir. Sobek, Nereus, Triton ....all sea names. All god's names. Do any of those catch your fancy?"

Fliss glanced at her parents as they started to rattle off names. "I like Sinbad," she offered. "And Sobek. Lir's Irish, isn't it?"

Liv nodded. "I'm sure I could find the mythology for you, if you really wanted it."

Alex looked deep in concentration as he contemplated the names, his gaze fixed on the tiny dragon in his hand as if the hatchling might share his own thoughts on the matter. "What do you think, Maria?" he asked, turning his gaze suddenly to his little sister, who had yet to make a suggestion.

Still gripping the straw, Maria met her brother's eyes. She was perfectly content with whatever everyone else settled on, happy with her fish tank upstairs and with Bella. She cast her vote for Alex's peace of mind, though, blinking in surprise when Fliss drew the straw out of her hands.

"Look," the teen told them. "He's finished." She pointed at the little dragon, who was licking his muzzle as he looked around. Sleeping on Alex's hands might not be the best idea if the boy wanted to eat something.

As much as Alex adored Bella, he was obviously taken with the hatchling. He'd been wanting a pet of his own for a few months now, but he knew the baby dragon belonged to Fliss. He'd just have to wait until the time was right for him to get a pet of his own. "He belongs to you, Fliss. You should name him," he declared at last, as the dragon gave Alex's finger a fond lick.

Fliss smiled faintly. "I don't think he belongs to me," she said, hugging Maria affectionately. "I might do most of the looking after while he's tiny, but he's a wild thing. He might decide to leave, or he might decide to stay. Until then, he's just living with us. So what do you think we should call him?"

Liv glanced at Johnny, surprised and proud of Fliss for producing this opinion.

"But he thinks you're his Mama!" Alex pointed out. "And Donnan put his egg in your bag, and he hatched under your bed!" he argued further.

Johnny broke in, if only to keep the peace, as he pulled the bottle away from Bess and laid her against his shoulder to get a burp. "He belongs to all of us," he said. "Just like Bella belongs to all of us."

"Besides, he might decide he wants to belong to one of us later on," Liv said calmly. "But you're right, Alex - for now, he is Fliss' responsibility."

"But that doesn't mean that I can't ask someone else to give him a name," Fliss pointed out with a smile.

Maria reached out, tentatively stroking her little fingers against the dragon's long neck, and was delighted when he started to dribble happily, pushing into her touch.

Maria still hadn't said what she thought of a name, but Alex thought if he wanted to offer an opinion of his own, it was now or never. "I think we should name him Lir," he said with a shrug, though he wasn't sure why. He just liked the sound of the name, and for some reason it seemed to fit.

"That's one vote for Lir. How about you, sweetheart?" Johnny asked, looking to Maria as Bess gave up her first burp.

The little girl considered this for a long moment, taking her hand away from the dragon to wriggle her fingers in answer. "I like Lir. I like Sobek, too."

"Three votes for Lir, one for Sobek," Fliss said, casting her own vote as she looked up at their parents. "You guys gonna weigh in on this?"

Liv chuckled. "No, I'm serving dinner," was her sage reply.

"No fair, Liv. You have to vote like everyone else!" Johnny said, as he dabbed at Bess' mouth with a burp cloth before cradling her in his arms so she could finish her own dinner.

"You can't vote twice!" Alex told his sister, using his fingers to spell out the words this time.

The little dragon grabbed to keep his balance as Alex signed, spitting a tiny mouthful of water at the little boy's cheek in protest.

Maria snickered, genuinely entertained by the silly display.

"All right, I vote for Lir, then," Liv conceded. "Alex, give him to Fliss so you and Maria can settle at the table, please. Dinner is imminent."

"Lir it is, then!" Johnny declared with a grin.

Alex's eyes widened as he almost dropped the little dragon and got a mouthful of water shot at him for his insolence. "Sorry!" he told the hatchling, with a worried frown as he wiped the water from his cheek. "What's imm-i-nent mean, Papa?" he asked, struggling with the pronunciation of the word as he slid onto a chair at the table.

Releasing Maria, Fliss reached out to take the glove off Alex's hand, complete with yawning Lir, and this time, she wasn't even surprised when the little thing chose to crawl off the suede and up onto her shoulder. With his tail wrapped about the back of her neck, the little dragon curled up on her shoulder, sleepy eyes watching the family as they went about their evening routine finally.

Bella peered up at him, reassured when Fliss stroked her head. "You two can get acquainted later, Bells," she promised the dog fondly. "Got a feeling you're gonna sharing my bed for a while."

"It means right away," Johnny explained, turning to look at Fliss as the dragon curled up on her shoulder and she reassured Bella that she hadn't forgotten her. No matter that the evening had started with lectures and tears, the little family seemed to have settled back into their usual routine, comfortable and caring in their own way.

Johnny couldn't help but smile. As crazy as things were sometimes at the Storm house - dogs and kids and brownies and dragons alike - he wouldn't have traded his life here for anything. This was his life and his home and his family, and he couldn't be happier. Provided he didn't end up with a soggy dragon trying to share his bed.

((The Storm household just keeps getting bigger and bigger! Fun, though. :grin: ))