It was the light peck of something solid on the window that made Raven wake up. First, she had thought it was something in her dreams but then, when the noise had happened to continue, it appeared to be something outside of her misty world of slumber. Was someone throwing rocks at their window again? It would not be the first time a guy did that to get to talk to Apple.
Raven angrily pulled her covers to the side, rose from the bed, put on her furry black bat slippers and made her way to the window. Whoever was below the window might have wanted to talk to Apple but now they had to deal with Raven… and the daughter of the Evil Queen was surely not in a great mood this morning.
"What is it?!" Raven yelled fiercely as she opened the window in one powerful movement. What she had not realized was that someone had been right on the other side and that she bashed the heavy glass window right into its head.
"Argh, what the spell?!" yelled an unfamiliar voice, obviously belonging to a nonhuman creature. It had a posh Camelotian accent for some reason, which seemed very exotic to Raven. Then she remembered that she and Apple lived in a high tower and that no one should be able to climb all this way up. Neither she nor Apple had hair long enough for that.
However, a white-feathered animal quickly came into Raven's view and she realized that it was a large, long-legged, long-necked bird. It was a stork. It had something in its beak, seemingly a towel or something, and it desperately flapped its wings to keep in mid-air.
"Come inside," Raven heard herself say and amiably stepped to the side. She did not really consider the consequences of bringing the large bird indoors but in the absurdity of the moment, she had just thought acting politely would be the best option.
"That's much better!" declared the stork in a quacking voice and landed safely on the wooden floor in the small room. Raven managed to look beyond the bird's large back and saw that Apple was wide-awake and lying in her bed observing them. When they made eye contact, Raven begged her for help.
"What is going on?" Raven frantically asked the great bird while Apple put on her rose-coloured dressing gown. "Are you lost?"
"Oh dear, I hope not," the stork replied. "That would be hextremely embarrassing. This is Ever After High, right?" It jumped around from one leg to another while still holding the towel in its mouth. It only managed to talk because its beak was so long. Then suddenly, the towel began making a wailing noise like a small child crying and Raven quickly derived a conclusion.
"Is that a baby in that towel?!" Raven asked ghastly "I …- I didn't know babies were actually brought by storks!"
Apple raised her eyebrow at her from the other side of the room. "Then where did you think babies came from then, silly?" she asked as if was the most obvious thing. Raven had had some lascivious ideas but she had never actually been able to talk to anyone about the subject. It seemed all girls her age at been coached by their mothers on this strange matter. However, since Raven's mother had never really been a gold star parent, Raven was pretty much high and dry.
"I take it that you are Miss Apple White and that you are Miss Raven Queen?" the stork asked Apple while Raven was busy contemplating the phenomenon of procreation. This was not possible. She and Apple were both girls. Girls could not have children together. That much she knew.
"This isn't possible. Apple and I are both girls," Raven began sceptically.
"Oh, it's possible. Too aggressive hand-holding will often lead to cases like this one. Do you hold hands often? Did you forget to wear gloves?" the stork wanted to know.
"I… – I mean, yeah, well, I guess we do sometimes but that shouldn't - - "
"Raven, that's where little princes and princesses come from," Apple told her knowingly. "Didn't you know?"
Raven did not have time to answer before the stork had put a board with a piece of paper on it in her hands. It had a lot of text written all over it, something about accepting terms and agreements, but Raven could hardly read the tiny letters. Everything was spinning around and she couldn't concentrate on anything. Was she becoming a parent right now?! Was she and Apple having a child?! What the hex was happening?!
"You just need to sign here, here, here, here and here," the stork said while violently pecking the invoice with its red beak. Raven looked desperately at Apple who was already holding the screaming babe in her arms, seemingly confident in handling a small child.
"I… – I don't - - "
"No refunds!" the stork squawked. Raven felt herself signing her name on the paper while never taking her gaze from the babe in Apple's embrace. This was unreal. When she was finished signing, the stork said something gibberish, which Raven never heard and it must have flown out of the window. Raven was far too busy looking at the little soft face that curiously looked back up at her. It had stopped whining.
"Do you want to hold him?" Apple asked and gently handed Raven the child who was apparently a boy before Raven could say no. As Raven received the babe, she was surprised by its weight but easily got a hold of it. She swept the towel closer around its figure in an attempt to bring it as much warmth and comfort as possible.
"He has your eyes," Apple said and Raven felt her head on her shoulder. As they were sitting there on Apple's bed, Raven stared harder into the eyeholes of the small creature that had started making strange bubble-noises with its mouth. Yes, this was undeniably her child. The questions were endless. How was this possible? What were they supposed to do with it? How should they feed it? Where was it supposed to sleep? What about school and their classes? What about Dexter?
"We better give him a name, don't you think?" Apple said and leaned down to nurse the boy that had started wailing again thanks to Raven's inactiveness.
"Yeah, uhm, yeah, we do. Apple, listen, if I had known - - "
"Shh," Apple hushed and put a finger on Raven's lips. She smiled so oddly calmly at her. "There is no need for that right now. Let's just enjoy this moment, ok?"
Raven only nodded. Apple and their son's body warmth seemed to have a soothing effect on her. She soon found herself rocking the babe gently back and forward and it soon stopped its wailing. This was probably all just a dream and she would wake up any minute now. Any minute now.
