First Demonic Dragon

The older she got, the more Seras learned to appreciate mornings.

That was probably because she could feel them.

The entire world was still dozing. Sluggish like a car that needed a moment to warm up in the winter.

In her younger days, Seras thrived on getting up ahead of the noise. She was different from Lillian who woke up naturally.

Seras forced herself to wake up so that she could start training.

She wanted to take advantage of the world's sluggishness. Be up and roaring before everyone else had so much as yawned.

But maybe marriage had done it's job in mellowing Seras out.

After thirteen kids and thousands of lifetimes of being married, she had learned to appreciate the little things.

Like the soft, marvelous glow of the dim light peeking in from the curtains- coming to rest across the heavenly bodies of her loved ones.

This moment of perfection was more than worth sacrificing the time it would have taken her to train.

Granted, Bekka had one of her nights where she slept horizontally again… but it hadn't bothered her when she started doing it a few million years ago, and she wouldn't let it bother her now.

…Not much anyway.

Seras looked around and saw that her bed was noticeably empty.

A necessary body that she usually took her time to ogle was not present.

This was out of the ordinary because the sun was barely even up yet. No one she married got up this early.

Seras took her time to get out of bed.

Lailah and Erica were practically glued underneath her arms and escaping them without disturbing their rest was a hard to accomplish task.

She ended up having to frame the two of them against each other so that they could be the subject of each other's warmth.

Seras stretched awkwardly. The sight of her beautiful muscles rippling through her frame was almost too enticing for words.

She glanced at her bed and the dragons in it, and immediately noticed something distressing.

Lisa and Eris were resting up against the headboard; one of them slumped over the other.

They looked like they had fallen asleep reading.

Seras helped both of the girls lie down gently.

After planting two longing kisses on their lips, she tucked them in snugly and drew the curtains fully closed.

If she had any say in it, everyone was going to be sleeping in today.

Seras peeked inside of her dresser and pulled out a simple bathrobe.

She tied it closed over herself so that she at least wouldn't be walking around naked in their home.

Seras walked through the dark corridors of their home without bothering to turn on a single light.

She could have teleported to her destination sooner, but this was also becoming a bit of a nice routine for her. Taking her time to live step by step and ground herself along the way.

Perhaps when you get old, you start attaching little sentiments like that to everything you do.

Seras left her wing of the palace and ventured to the opposing side.

Her destination was a bedroom in the children's wing.

She stopped at the door closest to the stairs and phased through the wall without trying to open the door.

Inside, she found a children's room that looked like it belonged to a little girl.

There were cute little plushies strewn across the floor and an adorable rug in the shape of a happy little sun.

A white crib sat by the window looking unused and empty.

It's usual inhabitant was lying on the floor, resting atop the body of the very man she had come to find.

A scrapbook sat open near them. It was open to a very primitive cave drawing that she knew quite well.

Seras lie on the floor beside her husband.

His chest rose and fell steadily while their youngest child slept atop it.

She affectionately played in Odessa's soft, curly hair before turning to her husband.

Seras lay on her side and stared at him- a fond, but helpless smile on her lips.

'You are in so much trouble.' She thought to herself.

As if Abaddon could sense his impending demise, his eyes flashed open to illuminate the dark room.

He rubbed his eyes groggily before he noticed that he and Seras were in Odessa's room.

"My love..? When did you come in?"

"Just now." She smiled as she forced her way underneath his arm.

"I must've dozed off… what time is it?"

"Five a.m." she whispered back.

"Shit."

"Uh-huh."

As a way to voice her displeasure, Seras bit her husband's ear hard enough to draw blood.

He made no attempt to pull away from her, and merely accepted his punishment.

"Lisa and Eris stayed up waiting for you, you know?" She chided as she bit harder.

Abaddon grimaced. Those were the two he wanted to disappoint the very least.

"I'm sorry… Time just got away from me I guess." He sighed.

Seras finally took her teeth out of his flesh and rested her head on his chest.

She wasn't oblivious and knew what the source of her husband's melancholy was, because it was something that they all shared right now.

"They will come back when he's ready, husband. We just have to… be patient and wait for that moment to come to us."

Abaddon looked down at Odessa who was still sleeping without any idea of what was going on.

"…I wonder if he feels abandoned by me. As if I have turned away from him."

"You know that's not the case." Seras squeezed his arm. "But you informed him of a very hard truth yesterday. Our son has lived so much of his life never thinking about what he wanted for himself. We owe it to him to give him the space to do that now."

Abaddon said nothing.

Seras sat up and stared at him- speaking to her husband just as much as herself.

"This is not permanent. Apophis and the girls will be back soon and we will be as we have always been. Something as insignificant as this will not tear our family apart. I would sooner burn down everything we have before I allowed such a thing."

'Gu.'

Odessa was now wide awake- clearly alerted by the sound of Seras' concerning monologue.

"…" Abaddon tried to get her to rest her head back down so that she could get more sleep, but she just popped it right back up.

She was awake for good.

The infant sniffled a bit and her eyes began to water unprompted.

Before her shadow could start wailing, Seras quickly removed one of her breasts from her robe and stole Odessa from her husband's grasp.

Once the baby latched on, she let out a true sigh of relief that only a parent could understand.

She flashed her husband a proud smile and a thumbs up that he promptly returned.

She found herself stroking Odessa's hair softly again, and her smile became soft, yet sad.

"Eventually this one might feel the need to leave on her own little journey of self discovery too, you know? And it won't mean that we haven't done our job, or that she resents us… it might just be apart of her journey in life. And we have to encourage her in whatever she decides."

Seras reached inside the pocket of Abaddon's sweatpants and pulled out his phone.

"So for now… just send our son a text. Let him know that you love and miss him, and that you want to have a drink with him when he comes back home."

Abaddon could only stare at his phone. Seras made it all sound so simple.

But then again… maybe it was and he was just overthinking it. Because he was afraid of what he would feel if his son didn't respond or even worse, if he decided not to come home at all.

And yet even though he was aware of the apprehension he felt… it somehow felt easier with Seras sitting right here, pushing him forward.

Just like she had always done.

He took his phone from her, but he made sure to grasp her hand and stare into her eyes as he did so.

He said something to her in draconian that meant roughly the same thing as I love you.

Seras' face practically went from scarlet red to burgundy as she tried to look anywhere but where her husband sat.

"Don't think you're off the hook… you still made us go to bed alone last night, remember..?"

"I intend to start making up for it right now."

Seras' scarlet blush only deepened as Abaddon leaned into her.

In an odd twist of fate, she felt that the closer he got to her, the harder it was to remember exactly why she was mad in the first place.

Whatever it was must've been bad because judging by the look in his eyes, he was highly motivated to get back on her good side.

…Seras liked her husband when he was extra motivated.

-

A full belly of milk and a burping later and Odessa was sleeping in her own crib once again.

Her parents left her bedroom a giggling mess- both of their minds focused on the potential of a baby #15.

But it just so happened at that moment that baby #11 was awake and leaving her room.

"Oh? What are you guys doing up so early?" Courtney rubbed her eyes.

Abaddon and Seras froze. They prayed silently that their daughter hadn't heard the dirty whispers they were exchanging seconds before this.

""B-Baby stuff."" They said in unison.

Technically, this was not a lie.

"Oh, okay." Courtney yawned. "Well are you guys still coming to my meet today?"

"Everyone is coming, sweetheart." Seras smiled. "You don't even have to ask."

Courtney looked a bit pale. "That's actually kind of what I was afraid of… There's something I need you guys to know about before you show up today. And I need it guys to be super, super cooperative, okay?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"We're good at being cooperative." Abaddon nodded.

"Yeah, I was about to do whatever your father told me to do like two minutes ago." Seras agreed.

"Babe."

"Shit, that just slipped out." Seras covered her face in shame.

Ignoring the urge to vomit, Courtney decided to divulge her request so that she could get out of here just that much quicker.

"Well, about today… s-some friends of mine are going to be there and I just want you to make sure that no one is… weird."