Author's note: Hello everyone! This is the first of a series of one-shots I am planning to write, just so you can get familiar with Galin as well as me. =D There will be no actual order -otherwise I'll point it out- and I hope you will enjoy reading them. Oh and since I'm writing, here's the usual disclaimer: I don't own Atlantis: The Lost Empire or any of its characters. The 'only' things I own are the plots of the stories and my original characters, including Kemelan! ^^

"TAHBTOAP!!!"

Galin's scream tore the silent and peaceful depths of the night. The six years old Prince of Atlantis woke up with a jump, his deep blue eyes wide and fearful. His body was soaked with sweat and racked by spasms of terror. When he felt a warm draught caress his forehead, Galin looked up through the current of his tears and saw Kemelan, his little parrot-lizard, rolling his eyes out of worry and chirping pitifully whilst flying around his young master's head. Galin had always thought Kemelan's skin, whose countless shades of blue were very different from the other flying reptiles of his kind, was a wonder to look at. And there was another great difference: Kemelan was the only parrot-lizard known in Atlantis who had four paws instead of only two. Eventually the little blue reptile closed his wings on his flanks and landed gracefully on the Prince's bare shoulder, careful not to scratch it with his sharp claws. Galin lifted his hand, almost in an instinctive manner, and began to gently stroke Kemelan's neck. The parrot-lizard soon gave little cooing under the nimble touch of his master's fingers, and then decided to snuggle up to him. The Prince, whose body was still trembling, could not help but dare to show a small smile through his sobs. Kemelan did not need much to be happy. He, on the contrary, could not just forget the terrifying nightmare he had just had, and he heaved again as the bloody pictures replayed in his mind. Kemelan stopped to coo and brushed his rough, yet amazingly soft head against Galin's cheeks and the salty furrows that kept rushing down them, wanting nothing but to comfort his master. The Prince of Atlantis waited. He knew he had to wait a little.

When his son's shrill cry of panic reached his ears, Milo abruptly broke the passionate kiss –to say the very least- Kida and he had been sharing for more than a minute. The Queen's hands stopped roaming along his back and gently rested on the bulging muscles of his shoulder blades. The both of them looked at each other, still a bit breathless, and there was a moment of silence before Kida cocked her head, lifted one inquiring eyebrow and gave her husband a questioning, yet amused look, a radiant spark of mischief flickering in her eyes.

"Well? You are going to see what is wrong, are you not?"

Milo sighed heavily, and regretfully rolled off of her. While groping for his glasses on the bedside table, he made the Shepherd's Journal fall from it and decided he would pick it up later. He then seized and readjusted the upper-part of his toga Kida had released his chest from a dozen of minutes ago. He humorously thought he was lucky he only had that part of his clothes to put back on. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Milo stretched his arms and rubbed his neck; his bare feet brushed against the cold rocky ground, and just when he was about to stand up, he felt Kida's arms embrace around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulder and put her lips close to his ear. He shuddered, and she smiled wistfully, though he could not see it.

"Try to be quick."

"If you're in such a hurry, why don't you go yourself?"

"First of all, I never said I was in a hurry, and secondly, he called for 'Tahbtoap', did he not?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure 'Mahtihm' would do a fine job as well!"

"And deprive our son from seeing his wonderful, caring and loving father?"

"That's flattery."

"What if it is?"

Milo shook his head slightly, grinning sheepishly. This woman had her hold on him, and there was nothing he could do to change that. Not that he wanted to. He blushed when she put her lips on the corner of his mouth, somehow not recalling the reason why he was ready to leave her momentarily. But as a second "Tahbtoap!!" echoed through this part of the palace, he suddenly remembered Galin and quickly snapped out of it.

"Gotta go!"

And he dashed away, leaving Kida behind him. She stared at his back for a couple of seconds, still smiling, and made herself comfortable on their bed, taking advantage of Milo's absence to take a large amount of his part of the blanket with her.

When Milo gently opened the door of his son's bedroom, he was almost immediately assailed with a chorus of angry shrieks. Kemelan flew rapidly around him, obviously reproachful.

"Easy, Kemelan, easy!!" Milo waved the reptile off.

"Tahbtoap!!" Galin cried, relief streaming through his voice. The Prince jumped out of his bed and ran into his father's arms. Milo swoopped him up and immediately noticed the beads of sweat that stood out on the child's forehead. He looked tenderly down at his son while the parrot-lizard perched himself again on the Prince's shoulder. The little boy looked indeed very agitated.

"Hey there, squeaky-chip-monkey. What's wrong?"

'Squeaky-chip-monkey' was the nickname the King of Atlantis had given to his son when he was still only a baby. And when Kida had asked Milo why he called the little prince that way, he had argued that Galin often squealed, that he had the cheeks of a chipmunk –though that had changed since then- and that he liked to use his toes to grab things like a monkey.

"I had another nightmare!"

"Oh. Wanna talk about it?"

"There was this giant snake again. It bit you in your neck. And…and…"

Galin burst into tears once more. Milo sighed and ran his hand up and down his son's back to soothe him. The boy did not have nightmares often, but when he did, it was always about some sort of giant reptile, usually a snake, and it always ended with either his father or his mother being brutally killed. Both Milo and Kida found it rather odd and a bit disturbing, but took comfort in the fact that such nightmares were only rare occurrences.

"Shh, Galin, calm down. I'm here. I'm right here."

The King of Atlantis walked at a fast pace until he could sit on the edge of his son's bed. Meanwhile Kemelan was still trying to comfort his master by licking his face. Maybe telepathic wasn't the word, but anyone who went around the Prince and Kemelan knew the little parrot-lizard had shown abilities to perceive the emotions of others and to make his own understood. And although no one could tell what it was exactly, the bond the Prince and his blue parrot-lizard shared was considered perfectly obvious.

Milo affectionately ran his hand through Galin's golden hair and gently stretched him out on his bed and under the light blanket, handing him his fluffy white cat. The Prince stared into his father's eyes, an unspoken wish playing silently on his lips. Milo chuckled. Galin had Kida's eyes and the same facial expressions. The scholar glanced at the bedside table and picked up the book that had been put there, waiting to be read. Milo tapped on the book's front cover.

"So, do you want me to read the next chapter?"

Galin's eyes, whose bottom were still brimming with tears, instantly lit up with wonder and pleasure. Kemelan flapped his wings, cooed several times, at last satisfied, and coiled his tail around his young master's neck.

"Yes, please!!"

"Okay. Then make room for me, young man!"

The Prince of Atlantis obeyed instantly and snuggled up to his father. Milo smiled and, after having used his shard of crystal to light the lamp on the bedside table, carefully opened the precious book.

"Where were we, squeaky-chip-monkey?"

"Chapter twenty-two!"

"Okay…Chapter twenty…twenty-one…Ah, there it is. Chapter twenty-two: How My Sea Adventure Began. There was no return of the mutineers--not so much as another shot out of the woods. They had "got their rations for that day," as the captain put it, and we had the place to ourselves and a quiet time to overhaul the wounded and get dinner. Squire and I cooked outside in spite of the danger, and even outside we could hardly tell what we were at, for horror of the loud groans that reached us from the doctor's patients. Out of the eight men…"

Kida picked up and gently, almost reverently, closed the Shepherd's Journal that had fallen when Milo had rushed out of their bedroom. She looked at it for a couple of seconds, and then set it down on her husband's bedside table where a pile of numerous scrolls that were heaping up, irregular and fragile pyramid of knowledge. Kida shook her head and could not help but smile broadly; however much exceptional Milo was as a scholar, the strange ability he had to find whatever he was looking for in the mess he created himself when he was working was beyond her. It was almost a product of pure miracle. Kida had long ago abandoned all hope of ever seeing Milo tidy up the room he considered as his office! This was all the more strange since he was normally extremely adamant regarding the fact that things always had to be in their proper place. The Library, in particular, was Milo's private kingdom and –Great Kings!- woe betide him who did not put a scroll or a book where it belonged!

Kida quickly glanced at the magnificent water-clock Preston Whitmore had given Milo and herself as a marriage gift. It had been a long time since her husband had left to check on Galin. Longer than she had expected, even if she knew Milo had more than probably decided to read a story to their son. Still, it was odd he had not returned yet. The Queen stretched her long, thin and muscular legs under the thin blanket, forcing every fibre of her body to emerge from the comfortable torpor in which sleep had made them fall straight into. Giving a resigned sigh, Kida slipped on the silky blue nightgown Milo had made slip down her shoulders before Galin had called him and exited the room. When she asked them, several guards confirmed Milo had not left the Prince's bedroom yet. Kida thanked them, wished them a good night –as good as can be, since they were expected to remain awake- and finally arrived at her destination.

When she was sure she couldn't hear a single sound filter through the door, she delicately pushed its right-hand door and peeked through the interstice. Seeing nothing at first, despite the fireflies-globe's dim light, Kida stepped in silently and softly called Milo's name. There was no answer. The Queen made her way towards Galin's bed and eventually could make out two distinct forms laying in it, and what she saw when she got even closer made her smile grow wider on her face, so much so that she was conscious of it. But how in the world could she have prevented her heart from melting in front of such a sight?

Galin was curled up against his father's flank, clasping his fluffy cat to his chest, and his head nestled in the crook of Milo's shoulder, improvised pillow. As for Milo himself, he was lying on his back, one of his arms protectively wrapped around the Prince's waist, the other sprawled out on his own torso, and the hand of which was still holding the book he had been reading to Galin. Their shards of crystal were almost touching each other. Moreover, Milo was still wearing his glasses, indisputable proof of the fact both father and son had fallen asleep while reading.

Kida gently took the precious spectacles and put them down on the bedside table, where they would be safe. She then devoted herself to trying to retrieve the book from Milo's grasp without waking him up; a task that proved to be much more difficult than she had ever thought it would be, all the more so that Kemelan, who had woke up when the Queen had entered the room, decided to chirp enthusiastically as a welcome and a way to encourage her. The little blue reptile opened his wings, and, seeing that Kida was having trouble freeing the book from the stubborn vice of Milo's fingers, fluttered about around the King's sleeping face, pointing his little split-ended tongue towards the man's earlobe. Immediately, in a manner that was as instinctive as subconscious, Milo lifted his hand to get rid of that unknown, unpleasant nuisance. Kida seized the golden opportunity as well as the book itself. Kemelan landed carefully on Galin's pillow, looking very proud. The Queen of Atlantis brushed her fingertips against the book's first cover, and she smiled as she read its title. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Kida stood up and put the novel back on one of the Prince's shelves. She also took the time to open the small bowl in which she knew Galin kept bits of dried meat for Kemelan. She took one and made her way back to the bed. The reptile smelled the meat and, when Kida handed it to him, wolfed it down gluttonously in less time than she needed to say 'Atlantis.' She giggled as the blue parrot-lizard gave a satisfied hiccup and curled up in a ball on the pillow again. She winked at him and bent over Milo to give a small peck on her son's cheek. The young prince did not move a muscle, not even when his mother's hand brushed the stray golden bangs that fell on his large forehead.

"Good night, sweetheart."

Kida adjusted the linen blanket so it covered both Galin's and Milo's bodies and then turned to her husband, her Milo who was fast asleep, lightly snoring, his features more relaxed than they ever were during the day. Kida smiled, and leaned over to give him a soft, tender kiss on his lips, while running her slender fingers through his silky dirty-blonde hair. Milo gave a small, unconscious smile.

"Kida…"

The Queen blushed and Milo's snoring slowed to relaxed quiet breaths. Kida shook her head.

"Sweet dreams, love."

Kemelan cooed softly, and Kida placed an imperious finger on her lips to silence him. The blue reptile obeyed and she gently scratched his throat to reward him.

"I entrust them into your care, Kemelan. Watch over them, will you?"

Kida closed the door behind her. Just when she was about to go back to her room and to sleep, she heard someone call her name. She tightened her nightgown-tails and turned round. There stood Akhilesh, one of the warriors who were assigned to hers and Milo's protection inside the palace. Akhilesh was a tall and handsome man He had married Almaribekh, one of Kida's childhood friends and Atlantis' Master Weaver, about a century ago. Though he had never been the same again since he had lost his son in an accident, Akhilesh had tried his best to retain the jovial and positive attitude that made him as endearing as a child. Kida waited for him to come closer before she asked him what he wanted. He grinned.

"It seems, my Queen, that you are in for one long solitary night."

Kida laughed.

"That I am. Would you believe it? My own son stole my husband from me!"

"Would you like me to replace him?"

She raised her eyes heavenwards but couldn't help but laugh again.

"It is very kind of you, but no, thank you very much."

"Oh. That is a shame."

"Besides, I am not sure your wife would appreciate such a thing."

"Probably not!" Akhilesh conceded, grinning sheepishly.

"Then have a good night, Akhilesh, my friend."

"You too, Queen Kidagakash. May the Spirits of Atlantis watch over you."

And Kida soon went to bed again, and drifted back to sleep, making a mental note to wake up early the following morning so she would be able to see Milo's embarrassed face when he would try to come back into their bedroom silently and find out she already knew where he had slept.