A/N: Jade said she hates ducks in 'The Wood' so I decided to play with that a little bit.
"This is stupid and will never work."
Tori looked up to Jade with a frown. "It's not stupid. It'll work."
She looked back down to the cardboard box. Inside was an egg wrapped up in a towel, nestled together under the grow light Tori had bought on the way back from the park. She and Jade had found an abandoned nest next to the lake, and Tori had collected the single egg to bring back home and try to hatch. Jade had, naturally, been against the idea in case the egg turned out to be from ducks, but Tori had finally persuaded her to let her do it. Now, back at home, Tori kneeled by the homemade incubator and hoped that the egg she'd rescued could be saved. She had no idea how to tell if there were still signs of life in the egg, but could only hope that there was.
"Well, maybe you should give it some space now," Jade said, putting a hand on Tori's shoulder. "You did what you can so now we just have to wait."
Tori nodded. She stood up and looked into the box once more. She held her breath; had the egg moved or was it her imagination? She watched it a moment longer, but decided that it was probably her mind playing tricks on her, so she took Jade's advice and let the egg be.
The next week would be long, but worth it. Tori checked on the egg occasionally, turning it like the articles on the internet said she should do every few hours, and waited. Jade had told her to give it up numerous times, but as the week dragged on and she saw how hopeful Tori had been about there being life in the egg, a little part of her began to hope, as well.
Finally a tiny sign of life came the next Saturday, a week after Tori had brought the egg home. It began as a tiny crack in the shell, and soon both Tori and Jade were gathered around the box to watch the progress. Hours passed, and the hole in the egg shell grew bigger and bigger. The pauses between new progress grew longer as the baby bird exhausted itself with its hard work.
"Should we help it?" Tori asked after one of the longer pauses, growing concerned.
"I think you're supposed to just let them do it," Jade replied. She crazily found herself growing worried for the baby's well being as well. The girls just continued waiting quietly, growing hopeful when the baby made progress, holding their breaths when it took breaks. The first little peep once the baby had poked its beak through the hole it had made both Tori and Jade give collective sighs of relief.
Finally around the evening, after what seemed like the longest day ever, it happened.
One final push brought the tiny baby bird out of its egg and into the world.
Jade gasped as the girls laid eyes on the newborn baby bird. "It's a duck."
Tori gave an awkward laugh. "Maybe this'll help you like ducks better?"
Jade would never have admitted it, but playing parents to a baby duck with Tori did help her get over her hatred for ducks. At least a little bit.
A/N: Thanks for reading!