*Chapter 14*
Through groggy footsteps, Tessa's fuzzy grey socks held no grip with the glossy tiles undertow. She shivered, tugged her zip-up hoodie tighter around her cold body, and once she was fully into the dark kitchen, she lazily groped the wall near the fridge. With silver circuits that had a hard time coming to life, due to Tessa only just waking up, she sparked a few grid-buttons that finally appeared on the wall. She panned through the small screen that grew dimly present, as well, and adjusted their home's thermostat. She furrowed her eyebrows in tired confusion, peered around the still, empty kitchen and living room and wondered why the sudden dip in temperature. She raised her eyebrows, rubbed her eyes free of sleep and stumbled on towards the fridge. As she began to prepare herself a delicious, steamy cup of creamy coffee, for a morning pick-me-up, she felt the hairs on her neck raise, as if to intelligently warn Tessa that she was soon going to be joined by another being; Tessa smiled a sneaky smile into her hot coffee and let said individual ease into her reclusive bubble.
"What're you doing up?" Zed grumbled, his deep voice crackled with its first use of the day. He rubbed his face, grimaced a noise and finally let his arms and hands reach for Tessa's waist. Once he had her in his tired grip, he sleepily slumped into her and held solid, "Not even Ace is up, yet."
"I couldn't go back to sleep," Tessa stated softly as she let Zed lean against her; she gently stirred her coffee, though she snuck a warm smooch onto the bridge of Zed's nose; his head was slumped to her shoulder and upper chest, "I'm just anxious, I guess."
"'Cause of Lickity?" Zed questioned quietly, "I've been keeping her orb up and open, by our bedside, all night."
"I know, but I just... I feel so bad," Tessa urged quietly, her eyes finally grew to a wider spectrum of distance. The still, coolly lit house was only barely illuminated by the raw peak of the sunrise, which hadn't yet broken free from the jungle tree-ridden mountains.
"Bad?" Zed uttered curiously, he kept his eyes closed in tight sleepiness.
"Yeah... This is just such a sticky situation," Tessa stated tenderly as Zed's hug, around her waist, grew more confidence and strength, "Yeah, she can talk, and yeah, she's my best friend, but... Bottom line is, she's an animal. When animals prepare to have a baby, they typically hull away and want anyone and everyone away from the vicinity."
"I'm sure she'd let you, of all people, in," Zed grumbled quietly as he regained his footing and kept Tessa in his grip. He finally rested his chin atop Tessa's head and lulled his eyes closed, "You mean you want to go out there and help her?"
"We're going to have to anyways, aren't we?" Tessa wondered.
"Technically, no," Zed assured, "Animals give birth, in the game, all the time, without the help of, well... Me, or the code room."
"I guess that's a good point," Tessa eased under her breath, her eyes lightly scanned across their dim, still home, "You... You think she'd want our help?"
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Zed sighed, "She is, after all, without a mate for support..."
"...You think that bothers her?" Tessa worried as she began to feel the itch underneath her skin, one of wanting to throw on normal clothes and head out to Lickity's enclosure, just behind the main building of their home.
"I don't think so," Zed assured softly, he gave Tessa's waist a small squeeze and jostled her about a little. Once he got a small giggle out of her, he warmly leaned down to kiss the skin on her neck and shoulder, "Ease up, everything will be fine. Ace will have a buddy to play with, Lickity will finally be at ease, it'll be great."
"I never thought of that," Tessa stated in soft wonder as Zed loosened his grip and finally took a step back, so to gain eye contact with Tessa's sleepy figure; her auburn hair was wrought with tight curls of bed-head he was certain he'd never get tired of seeing each morning. Tessa carried on, though her stare of enchantment quickly dwindled to growing nervousness, "Oh boy... We're going to have to brace ourselves for when Lickity's baby starts learning how to fly and a certain blue-haired wrecker is itching to get into the sky..."
"Let's... Cross that bridge when we get to it," Zed stammered through a nervous, tired chuckle as he rubbed his hand all through his crazy, hot blue bed-head as well.
"Better brace ourselves now," Tessa eased into Zed's strong arms and finally let her arms slink around his neck.
Through a gentle nuzzle of their noses and a warmer, deeper embrace, the two shared a few short 'good morning' smooches. Before they could potentially begin to mull over the nice idea of slinking back to their bedroom, Finn's teleportation pad, from near the entrance of the sky room, buzzed in a soft, knowing way. Finn's blue pixels materialized into collection, brought Finn into the room and sparked him into existence, though before he could step off of the pad, he jolted and put his hand up in a gentle draw of surprise.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry... I didn't think anyone would be up, right now," Finn stammered.
"It's okay, Finn," Tessa eased as the two just barely relaxed their cuddly embrace.
"You couldn't go back to sleep either?" Zed wondered as Finn finally strolled up to the kitchen island, from which Tessa and Zed were on the opposite side of.
"I'm always up at this hour," Finn stated with quiet cheek, his smile read knowing delight. His dreads were down and lightly frayed with flyaway hairs, and as his comfortably clothed figure approached the island, he waggled the digital pad, in his hand, about in a light gesture, "I was coming to tell you guys that... I think Lickity is about to have her baby."
"What? Right now?" Tessa jolted, her whole figure now read of now total alertness.
"Well," Finn hissed through a sigh. He cued his digital pad, thumbed through a few options and brought up Lickity's stats, "Her heart rate is abnormally high... Her bar still reads loading, but the poor thing has been pacing her enclosure for the past half an hour. I think she's trying to find the best spot to settle down once and for all."
"We should head out there," Zed quietly urged, though Tessa immediately nodded and, with a gentle bounce, she eased out of Zed's arms and made a bee-line for their bedroom.
"Yay!" Tessa squeaked in a quiet, elated way as she hurried away.
"Alright, baby number two for Dead Zed's castle," Zed sighed, raised his eyebrows and let his eyes gloss the counter before him.
"We'll have to keep an eye on anything that could potentially, uh... Be flammable," Finn finished through a hard chuckle, which caused Zed's sleepy figure to shake a laugh as well.
"I'll keep an ear out for Ace, while you two are out there," Finn stated with a gentle nod in the direction Tessa left, "Hopefully this will be a quick process."
"We're all going into this blindly," Zed argued with a light smile as he began to head towards his and Tessa's bedroom as well, "If her baby talks and has Orion's wit, we're all done for."
"I guess I should be grateful that I've never met Orion," Finn called after Zed as the two shared a laugh.
"Keep up!" Tessa urged into the crisp, cool morning air; she gracefully glitch-hopped across the field, though she kept stopping so to let Zed catch up.
With a far more clumsier approach, his silver circuits riddled his body in growing chaos, as if he was uncertain where to direct his energy. With quick zips of a stammering glitch-hop, he finally caught up with Tessa, wobbled on his feet and gave her a sheepish smile. He hiccuped a small burp, caught his footing and was overcome by a burst of silver pixels. Tessa easily let out an annoyed laugh and gave him an incredulous smile.
"Remind me to give you more thorough glitch-jump lessons," Tessa mumbled, though Zed flinched as her quick agility took off without him, once more.
"I'm getting the hang of it," Zed argued to her quickly disappearing figure from across the gap, though he heaved an annoyed sigh and attempted to at least catch up with her, no matter how clumsy it may be, "Why is this so hard for me, now? When I would glitch, due to Radex's coding dug into mine... It was a breeze!"
"Well, you're saddled with a whole new set of coding, now," Tessa reminded as she pushed on, "It's like wearing a new pair of clothes... Not every strand of coding will fit the same."
As Tessa let the last of her silver wave carry her to the entrance of Lickity's enclosure, she softly froze and let her surroundings soak into her senses. As she drowned out the sound of Zed's fumbling attempts to gracefully glitch-hop, she honed in on the rustling sounds inside Lickity's jungle tree-ridden enclosure. She squinted through the dim lighting and finally braved approaching the lioness's den.
"Lickity girl," Tessa called quietly, and though she was positive Lickity could hear her and Zed approaching from beyond the stretches of the field, she pushed on once more and moved in the direction of the anxious noise of pacing, "Lickityyy..."
"You find her?" Zed finally stammered as he jolted directly next to Tessa, which bumped her off her careful course. She jumped, gestured her hand out in gentle annoyance and scoffed a small laugh.
"Does it look like I found her?" Tessa chuckled, though Zed looked about nervously and fixed his blue hair.
After a few moments of easing in and out of low shrubbery, in Lickity's abode, they finally stumbled upon her. Pacing in a clearing, not from the entrance, her wings were held tight to her body, her head was hung low and her bat-like snout sniffed the ground in pure, anxious agitation. The morning sun peeked through the hanging foliage, and as Zed stopped to let Tessa further approach her companion, the two could tell Lickity was well on her way to preparing for a very important moment.
"Lickity," Tessa finally eased with all the gentleness in the world, though Lickity's head flew up as she froze with a stiff, nervous posture. Her ears finally sagged with relief at the mere sight of Tessa's figure. Tessa heaved a small giggle and took that as her cue to continue approaching, "You... You alright?"
"I'm so scared," Lickity finally uttered in a rush, her eyes glanced to Zed's approaching figure and finally showed signs of wanting to begin to relax, once and for all.
"C'mon, let's take it easy," Tessa cooed quietly as she held her hands out, she gestured downwards, just barely, to insinuate potentially finding a soft spot to get comfortable, "No need to be scared... I'm here."
"Wh-What if I do this wrong?" Lickity's boyish voice trembled, she shook her head and, much to Tessa's surprise, she noticed Lickity's eyes well with tears, "I-I'm not geared to be a parent, this isn't something I ever thought would happen."
"I felt the same way, Lickity," Tessa's voice was glossed in a honey-warmth that was hard to resist relaxing from, she continued to carefully approach Lickity's stiff figure, "But, the moment that baby is place in your grasp... You will never want to look back."
Lickity held her teary eye contact to Tessa, in scared contemplation, though Tessa was thrilled to see Lickity's shoulder blades and the arms of her wings finally show signs of easing up. Tessa gently knelt down on one knee, swayed her hand over the soft grass under her bare feet and pat the ground once or twice. She peered up to Lickity in growing assurance and eased a soft chuckle as she continued.
"You won't be able to imagine life without him or her," Tessa stated quietly as Zed finally pushed into their bubble, albeit carefully.
"We'll be with you every step of the way," Zed assured softly, "The conditions have to be just right... We have to get your heart-rate to a lower level."
"Now, c'mon," Tessa prod with a snarky smile, though her demeanor still read all the patience in the world, "We got some work to do."
Lickity held her scared eye contact to Tessa's for a few long moments, though before she could complain and throw more excuses towards the two, she finally heaved a hot sigh through her nostrils, let her knees and wrists buckle and finally let her body come to rest with the soft ground underneath her. She hesitantly got comfortable and nervously wrapped her tail around herself, though as soon as Tessa and Zed knelt down in her bubble, she softened her posture and relaxed once and for all. Tessa kindly kept near Lickity's head and eagerly began to pet down Lickity's snout. Lickity huffed a breath of upset, as if to hiccup the beginnings of a complaintive, quiet cry. Her large eyes slid closed in growing nervousness as she rested her head in Tessa's lap, with a firm thud, though with Tessa's strong, loving strokes, she knew her warm, familiar touch would do the trick.
Zed carefully situated himself near Lickity's middle. He thumbed through the digital pad that Finn previously had, and he quickly brought up deeper options of Lickity's stats. He eyed her loading bar, on the inner curve of her belly, though he flinched once the bar finally blinked a gentle red of 'alert' and changed to 'finishing'. Zed widened his eyes, and to avoid bringing stress upon Lickity, he cocked an eyebrow, got Tessa's attention and nodded with a knowing smile and a thumbs-up. Tessa nodded once and continued to stroke Lickity's snout, though the two flinched once Lickity uttered a hard grimace of pain and flattened her ears. Her fangs showed through an agitated grumble, though Zed ducked and nervously held his hand out as Lickity's wings tensed outwards, slightly.
"C-Can... Can you please tell me this won't result in a game-over?" Lickity's voice shook, though Tessa heaved a gentle laugh and continued to stroke Lickity's head and snout.
"No, not at all," Tessa eased, though she furrowed her eyebrows, "I'm... I'm sorry to say, I really don't know what to tell you to expect. I don't remember a second of labor, with Ace."
"Boy I do," Zed grumbled, though he flinched once Lickity brought her wings back down to where they previously were.
"I guess we'll just have to have another baby, so I can finally, and properly, experience it for myself," Tessa said through a wistful sigh, though she beamed a cheeky, playful smile in the direction of Zed's dumbfounded, surprised demeanor.
"ANOTHER?" Zed urged, though he kept his tone quiet, for Lickity's peace of mind.
"For User's sake, let's birth one child at a time!" Lickity loudly griped through a hard grunt of growing pain.
"The game doesn't need another mini-me," Zed grumbled with a playful smile, though his face turned beet red as he eyed Tessa in a knowing way, "Let's... Let's save that for the fourth story, yeah?"
"Is it almost over?" Lickity's voice squeaked in a raspy, impatient way as she flattened her ears, grimaced and showed her fangs.
"Your body is going through the motions," Zed eased as he peered down to the pad in his grip, "Your baby's coding has to finish processing before we can fully download it to the game... This could take a few moments. You're almost at seventy percent processed."
"I'm just glad I can talk, or else this would be a million times more stressful," Lickity grunted and finished it with a forced exhale of pain.
"We're here for you," Tessa eased patiently as she lovingly stroked Lickity's snout, "You're almost there..."