Newborn

Arthur woke up to a strange sensation upon his chest. It was a soft suckling feeling and in his hazy half-awake state he wondered if maybe Alfred was trying to wake him up by arousing him in a sexual manner. He groaned in slight annoyance and murmured, "Alfred, stop it. I don't want to mate right now. I'm trying to sleep…"

He heard a muttered, "I'm not doing anything," from his mate in response. Arthur's eyes snapped open at that and saw that Alfred really wasn't touching him in exception to the arm around his waist. Arthur's eyes dropped to his chest in alarm before he saw the little girl suckling on him. He turned bright red.

"N-nothing's going to come out!" He squeaked and pulled his child away from his chest. The baby sniffled once and then burst into tears, wailing. Alfred jumped and fell off of the bed in shock, having not expected it.

"Wha-what's going on?" He demanded and then saw his daughter crying. Arthur sat up and held the girl cradled in his arms.

"I think she's hungry." He held out Amelia to his mate, but Alfred just nodded and jumped off of the bed.

"Hold onto her and I'll go get her some milk. There should be some in the fridge."

"You're not going to let her feed naturally?" Arthur asked, startled.

Alfred looked at him in befuddlement. "Feed naturally? What? What the heck do you mean?" Arthur grew flustered and didn't answer him at first as Alfred brought out a bottle and handed it to Arthur. They sat together as Amelia fed from the bottle and she quieted. Alfred pestered Arthur until he had explained what he had meant and Alfred burst into laughter. "I can't breastfeed her!" He laughed, practically falling off of the bed in laughter. "I'm a guy, Artie!" Arthur glared at him, furious in his embarrassment. How was he supposed to know that a male could give birth but not breastfeed?

When Amelia was finished and Arthur was carefully burping her, Alfred walked away and came back carrying what looked like a green diaper with a flowery design on it. Arthur raised an eyebrow in question and Alfred said, "Well, you don't want her pooping or peeing on you, do you?" Arthur agreed and Alfred put the diaper on their child. Arthur's heart thudded happily at the thought. Their child. His and Alfred's. A live child.

Afterwards the new parents got up and decided to check out this new side of the birthing planet. Alfred carried Amelia and the three walked outside. Arthur saw those strange rocks that he had first noticed when they had first arrived on the planet and questioned Alfred about them. In response Alfred dragged Arthur over to one and called out Yao's name, which Arthur was surprised to hear. Yao looked up from his spot next to Ivan as Alfred and Arthur sat down next to them. Arthur then noticed that the 'rocks' were extremely soft –almost like a couch- yet firm enough to walk upon without sinking too much into it. Alfred placed Amelia onto the ground inside of the pit and turned to his friends.

"I didn't know you guys were here too!" He said.

"Дa, Yao and I had our first child just two days ago." Ivan answered.

"Oh really? Congratulations." Arthur asked. "We just had ours yesterday."

"Congratulations-aru." Yao responded.

"Which one is it?" Alfred asked and Yao pointed to a little boy with dark silver hair gnawing on what appeared to be a bunny toy. Arthur felt like cooing at the sight and noticed Amelia already wiggling over to another child. Amelia made a soft noise and the other child –they looked a couple days older than the newborn and appeared to have already learnt how to crawl at least a little bit. The little boy looked at her –he had brown eyes- and wiggled to share a little ring with her. Arthur then realized that all of the children were smarter and much more aware than human babies were at that age.

Arthur felt a little unnerved to just let Amelia travel around the little pit and play with all of the other children but Alfred appeared unworried and chatted easily with other families. Arthur was stuck and talked mostly with Yao and Ivan seeing as he still hadn't learnt too much Hetalian (although he knew some he couldn't remember how to use it correctly and was surprised that the doctor had understood him yesterday. Chances were that he had only inferred what Arthur had meant to say). Yao and Ivan were pleasant company, though. Ivan didn't try anything like he had back on Earth and they got along fine. After about three hours they took their child and left. Alfred settled back down next to Arthur and hugged him, nuzzling his face into his neck.

"I'm so happy, Artie!" He said.

"I am as well." Arthur responded but he kept glancing worriedly at Amelia. Alfred lifted his head with a confused frown.

"What's wrong?"

"She hasn't even opened her eyes yet." Arthur said. "Should we really let her go around like that? She might become injured. She's a girl, too. What if that hinders her?"

"Her eyes will open by tomorrow." Alfred promised. "The other parents said that their eyes open after about a day. And she's fine in here. Nothing can happen to her."

"But still…"

"If you're so worried, should we bring her back to the room? We haven't eaten, after all and I'm sure she'll be hungry soon." Arthur nodded and he scooped Amelia up into his arms and the three travelled back to the room. Arthur settled down onto the bed with Amelia and kissed the crown of her head. Her hair was extremely thin but very soft. Arthur sighed contently and Alfred came up behind him and spooned against him.

"I ordered our food."

"Okay, love." Alfred's finger found Amelia's and the little girl gripped it. Alfred cooed and sat up a little to look at his daughter over Arthur's side. "Alfred, her eyelids are flickering!" Arthur alerted him and the little girl wiggled and squeezed her eyes shut tightly before beginning to open them. Arthur and Alfred held their breaths and finally the little girl opened her eyes for the first time to reveal Alfred's bright blue eyes.

"Aw, she has my eyes." Alfred said, although he sounded a bit disappointed. Amelia looked at him with wide eyes, appearing completely startled by this new world. Arthur glared at Alfred a little.

"So? Why do you sound so disappointed?" Amelia's eyes flicked to Arthur now and then down to the finger she was holding. She took in her surroundings swiftly.

"Because blue eyes are so common." Alfred pouted. "I wanted her to have your eyes." Arthur let out a scoff.

"You're ridiculous."

"Hey!" Amelia cooed a little and attracted the parents' attentions. Her fists waved frantically and Alfred laughed against Arthur's back. "She's so cute!"

"We'll have to be careful with her, Alfred. I don't think I could handle it if she…" He trailed off. Alfred sobered up.

"Yeah, I know."

For the rest of the week Amelia became acquainted with various other children and Arthur and Alfred learnt the hassle of having to change diapers and wake up in the middle of the night. Amelia –quite the contrast to Akane- was a loud child and cried even when she really didn't need to. Arthur and Alfred always jumped to attention when she did, but they were beginning to differentiate the difference between a 'need cry' and a just a 'cry to cry'. Yao told Arthur that some babies did that. They were testing their lungs and also measuring the extent to which their parents would come running.

When the week was over, Arthur felt a strange mixture of fear and relief at leaving the planet. He would get to see his pack again but at the same time he was worried at how they would take to his daughter. Alfred told Arthur to hang onto Amelia the whole time and sat extremely close to them. Arthur sensed that Alfred was acting different, but it wasn't until they arrived back to where they lived with their pack did he see it in action. His friends wouldn't approach closer than three feet away but when the children did, Alfred growled softly and pulled Arthur and Amelia to him protectively.

"Alfred!" Arthur reprimanded, shocked that the child-loving Alfred would growl at his nephews.

"What?" Alfred asked, confused at Arthur's tone as the children were pulled back.

"No, it's alright Arthur." Matthew said. "He's just protecting you guys."

"That's no reason to be mean!" Arthur said and glared at Alfred a little. Alfred pouted, not understanding Arthur's annoyance still. He hadn't done anything wrong.

Even though they were back with their pack, Alfred wouldn't allow Arthur or Amelia to get very close to them. They sat a certain distance away so that they were close enough to talk and such, but not necessarily be part of the group. Arthur didn't understand why they were doing that. They were a pack, were they not? And Alfred was the leader. Why was he acting that way? After a few hours, Arthur grew annoyed of it and handed Amelia to Alfred and stood.

"Where are you going?" Alfred asked, alert.

"I'm going to sit with everyone." Arthur stated, glaring a little at Alfred. He was being stupid. Alfred stood to follow but as soon as Arthur got close to the pack he stopped and backed up a little before sitting. He whined softly and curled in on his daughter, looking distraught. Arthur firmly ignored him with some difficulty.

"What are you doing over here?" Nicole asked, shocked to see Arthur approach. The others were just as shocked.

"I can't come to see my friends?" Arthur demanded.

"But your daughter!" Matthew said. "What about her?"

"Nothing will happen to her while I'm near you lot. She's only a few feet away. Speaking of which, what is wrong with Alfred?"

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Are you slow in the head?" He asked. Arthur scowled at him. "Obviously he's being a good parent. Don't you remember how Kiku and Nicole acted when they came back with Akane?"

Arthur froze. "Is…is that what Alfred's doing?"

"Yes, Arthur. He's just going through that phase." Kiku confirmed.

"I guess that's another instinct that humans don't have that Hetalians do. They don't protect their newborns like that." Nicole mused. Arthur ignored her and looked over at Alfred. His mate was watching him with a pitiful look on his face, as if he had been rejected. Arthur's heart clenched painfully.

"You should hurry over, Arthur. I'm guessing Alfred's feeling like you prefer us right now over your new family." Matthew said.

"I'd feel that way if Matt did that." Gilbert agreed.

"Don't worry about us, Uncle Arthur." Zack said in perfect English. They had become more skilled in speaking it.

"We'll be fine." Nicole said. Arthur nodded and got up to go back over to Alfred and Amelia.

"Artie…" Alfred whimpered. He looked pathetic, but Arthur assumed they were left over hormones from the pregnancy. Arthur kissed him once.

"Sorry, love. I had forgotten that this is completely normal for you lot. Forgive me." He kissed him again and Alfred pressed back just as hard to show that he was forgiven. Arthur went along with Alfred's protectiveness for the rest of the week. During that time he realized that Alfred wasn't only being protective of Amelia but Arthur as well. Arthur sighed. He felt that he still had a lot to learn about Hetalians.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a little bit boring. I can't help but feel like it is…it's too slow…Oh well. Next chapter might be more interesting.