"It's A Boy"
Note: I've had this in the back of my mind for a while, based on my own headcanon for TF. I thought it would work better as a separate story, rather than as a flashback in 'A Strange Bond', so here it is. There will be a lot of time jumps, but if anyone is curious about what happens in between, I might be able to work out a oneshot. I'm debating whether or not to have Alpha show up at some point, before she's actually Alpha, but that might be pushing it as far as coincidences go. XD Hope you like it!
"Chapter 1: A Little Surprise"
September 20th, 1510
Fergus thought he knew what was getting into when he married the Tooth Fairy. Or, as he called her in the privacy of their own home, Cori. He knew that when her mother passed away, she would take on her duties and this would greatly limit their time together. He knew that, but surely that was centuries into the future.
He knew that he would be in charge of caring for any children they might have if his mother-in-law met with a premature end, as sometimes happened when the weaker fliers had no choice but to brave bad weather. Still, the current Tooth Fairy was still going strong, and at eight hundred years old he and Cori were still young yet (though he was beginning to look middle-aged). There was plenty of time to expand their family.
He knew that their firstborn would be a daughter, and the reason why he knew this was because every child in the Tooth Fairy bloodline had been a female, and so, why would that trend ever change?
None of the races, magical or non-magical, were immune to complacency, and life derailed his plans as life often likes to do. Cori became pregnant when they had only been married for three years. Cori's mother, who insisted that she and her daughter be addressed as 'Tooth Fairy', as was proper, had fallen gravely ill when her magic went into an unusually bad case of flux. The reason why it got so bad in the first place was because it struck when she was alone, and Mother Nature was the one to discover her after she didn't start her rounds for the night. By that time, her fever was very high.
When she recovered, her health was permanently damaged and she couldn't fly as well as she did before. Her daughter wanted to take over, since she was the firstborn and it was her right, but the woman was nothing if not stubborn. There had to be plenty of time...right?
Now, as Fergus paced the yard and listened to his wife's agonized cries, he waited for his own daughter to be born. The midwives had barred him from their small dwelling, and, quite frankly, he had no desire to see his wife go through so much pain. Instead of insisting that he remain at her side, he had kissed her clammy forehead and gone out.
The mental image of her reaching out to him as he turned away wouldn't stop nagging at him, but he remained outside. It was expected of men to be outside when their wives gave birth. Men weren't meant to see that. Just as women weren't meant to know what men talked about when they got together without their wives. And yet...
She needs me. And I'm out here.
Fergus folded his arms across his barrel chest, and he halted his pacing and stared anxiously at the door when the screams suddenly stopped. There was a moment of complete silence, then a gurgling cry, and finally a healthy wail. Fergus fluttered his large red wings and waited to be let back inside. As the minutes ticked by and no one came out to give him a verbal update, he began to worry. His daughter sounded healthy, if those lusty cries were anything to go by, so what was the delay?
Finally the door opened, and one of the two Fairy women who had attended the birth came out to meet him. "You may go in now, Fergus, but there's-"
He slipped past her in a moment of unintentional rudeness; he was anxious to see his wife and child, and he pulled back the curtain that hung in their bedroom doorway in lieu of a door. Cori lay exhausted on the bed, the tips of her delicate pink wings peeking over her shoulders as she cradled the tiny bundle in her arms. The other midwife left the room with a basket that was filled with towels and he didn't want to know what else, and he frowned when she pushed past him.
"Fergus..." Cori smiled up at him, but there was something about her expression that he didn't quite like. Perhaps it was fatigue. Her dark hair was damp with perspiration, and she looked like she was ready to fall asleep.
Fergus came over and kissed her, placing a gentle hand on the bundle in her arms. "Is she all right?"
"Yes...but..." Cori trailed off as if she were confused.
"What? What's wrong?"
The swaddled baby squirmed and began to fuss, wanting to be fed.
Cori turned her eyes back to the baby, who was growing increasingly agitated. "Nothing is wrong, but...it's not a she. We have a son..."
Fergus's face went blank as his wife began to nurse their child. Their son. The Tooth Fairy was supposed to be a female! It was a woman's job, and that line had always birthed girls!
But in that day and age, no one knew that it was really the father who determined the sex of the child, and that the unbroken line of girls had merely been the result of random chance.
He shook his head. "This can't be right..."
Cori frowned at him, on the verge of tears. "What a thing to say...Our baby is healthy. Isn't that what matters?"
"Of course it matters..." He realized his error and looked down at his son. The boy really did favor him in terms of looks, so...perhaps it was just as well that he wasn't born a girl. "I just didn't expect the baby to be a boy. He's a good size, too."
Cori gave a mirthless chuckle, startling the baby, but he immediately relaxed and went back to what he was doing. "I honestly wouldn't have minded if he were a bit smaller."
Fergus colored a little and cleared his throat.
She sighed as she prepared to deliver the second piece of news. Fairies were not born with fully developed wings. If they were, childbirth would be quite impossible. Until a Fairy child was old enough to walk, their wings remained undersized and attached to their backs, but the difference between male and female wings was still there. Males had larger wings than females. Smaller wings on a boy was considered a deformity, one that showed up from time to time, and since this wasn't a desirable trait to pass on they often had little success in finding a wife.
Cori and Fergus wouldn't know how large their son's wings would be until they detached and expanded to their full size, but she had seen the almost tattoo-like purple design on her baby's back, and she knew. If it wasn't for the obvious proof that he was male, she would think that this baby was a girl. How would Fergus react?
"What is it?" he asked.
"His wings are smaller than they should be...He'll be teased..." She stroked the baby's wispy brown curls with her thumb. He'd been born with a lot of hair. Even the midwives had commented on it.
Fergus took this in with a thoughtful look on his face, and eventually he nodded. "Then I'll have to show him how to take care of himself. And what about a name?"
"You know what his name is," Cori reminded him, "I can't change the rules, husband."
"Yes, but what will we call him? Your name isn't really 'Cori'. It's just what I call you." Fergus replied.
Cori adjusted her nightgown when the baby decided he was full, and she propped him up with his chin on her shoulder to rub and pat his back. "I like the name 'Roy'."
"That's a good one."
"Ahhhp!"
Cori and Fergus both chuckled at the volume of their son's burp, and Fergus nodded, "I think he likes it, too."
"He doesn't just look like you; he sounds like you!" Cori teased. "Would you like to hold him?"
Fergus nodded, but he'd never held a baby before. He'd never had any desire to, really, mostly because he had seen how boneless they looked when they were new, and he was afraid of losing his grip and, Heaven forbid, dropping them. When Cori passed baby Roy over to him his grip was unsure, and the infant's eyes popped open as soon as he sensed he was being held by someone other than his mother. More to the point, he sensed that whoever was holding him didn't know what he was doing.
Fergus looked at Roy. Roy looked at Fergus. Definitely not 'Mama'. "Waaaaaa!"
The loudness of the cry hurt Fergus's ears, and his heart sank as he quickly handed the baby back to Cori. "He hates me..."
"No, he doesn't," Cori took her son back, and the baby settled immediately. "I think it's because you weren't supporting his bottom correctly. Babies like to feel secure. It'll get easier."
The midwives came back in to give Cori some last minute advice, and Fergus made himself scarce for a little while as they talked. He went back in when they were gone, and saw that Cori was almost asleep again. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," she sighed, trying to force her eyes to stay open. "It's been a very long day. And when I've recovered, Mother Nature will want to see him. The Council needs to know..."
Fergus nodded, wondering what they would say when they found out the next Tooth Fairy after Cori would be a man. He saw how tired his wife was, and he held out his arms. "Let me try again. You look tired."
Cori nodded and carefully passed Roy to his father once more, and this time Fergus supported him properly and he didn't get upset. As he grew less tentative and more sure of what he was doing, Fergus fluttered his wings and smiled.
This is my son.