Chapter 1: A Missed Date
Two lobsters ran through the room, carrying a large pipe past Dr. Blowhole, who was looking over a large blueprint sheet. He glanced over at them as they placed the pipe into position. "A little more to the left."
"Doc." Red One skittered up to him, holding his clipboard.
"Yeah?"
The lobster lifted the page. "You remember that today's your anniversary, right?"
He froze and slowly turned towards him, providing his full attention. "Come again?"
"Your marriage anniversary?"
The dolphin quickly turned and looked over at the clock. "Crabcakes!" He dropped his pencil, rolling up the blueprints. "Put these away, I have to go. Kowalski was expecting me hours ago, I completely forgot." He dropped the plans on his number one minion and rolled off.
"Boss, boss!" Red One skittered after him. "Shouldn't you get him some flowers first?"
"No time, I'm already late!"
"Exactly! You can't show up empty-flippered late to your anniversary. He'll think you forgot the anniversary entirely and you do not want that. Trust me."
Blowhole glanced down at him. "So you think it'll be better being even later? I'm just going to the other side of the lair, Red One. There isn't a florist between here and there. I've got it under control. I'll make it up to him."
The lobster looked uncertain but nodded. "Yes, sir."
The dolphin nodded and sped on through his lair, already planning how to dig himself out of this hole he was about to jump into. As he got to the door, he paused before pressing for the door to open.
"Jan…?" He poked his head in, looking for him.
Kowalski glanced at the door as he laid a small black and white dolphin in a kiddy pool. "Evening, Francis."
"I'm late, I know. I missed our reservations."
"Indeed. I already called Private and cancelled his babysitting for us." He sighed, shaking his head.
The dolphin rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. "The others are already in bed?"
"Eris is awake, but yes the boys and Lyris are all down to sleep." Kowalski gently scooped water from the pool onto the baby dolphin with a small smile.
Blowhole watched him, rolling closer to check the baby too. "She seems damp enough. We can probably start using the deep moisturizers on her, too."
"I trust your judgement with her." He smiled slightly at him. "I think she'll enjoy finally getting to slide around after the others."
"Oh yeah." He chuckled, stroking Kowalski's back with a sigh. "I'm sorry, I lost track of time."
Kowalski sighed and reached up for his flipper. "Francis, I'm not mad. I know you're busy. You have that big villainous invention convention coming up and you're prepping for new clients. Yes, I was a little perturbed, but I'm over it." He gently stroked his flipper. "It's just a day."
"It's an important date to you, to us, though, Jan." He paused for a moment. "Why don't we go on a family vacation for the weekend to celebrate it?"
"What?" The penguin twisted around to get a better look at him. "No, Francis, what about your convention prep? No, no, it's okay. We can go out another night."
"Eh, I'll leave the notes with Red One and let the lobsters handle it. I'm sure they'd enjoy being able to work without my micromanagement." He chuckled tiredly. "Maybe we can go to the beach?"
Kowalski smiled at this. "Then I think a family vacation would be a great idea. I'd love family bonding time far more than a fancy dinner."
"Then that's what we'll do. We'll go in the morning. I'll go ahead and have the lobsters prepare the SUV." He leaned down and kissed the top of Kowalski's head.
"Before you do, can you check on Eris and get her to go to bed?"
"She's not listening to you?"
"Does she ever listen to me?" He sighed. "But I know you dolphins sleep differently with just half a brain at a time...But she does not need to stay up all night on the phone." He furrowed his brow. "I don't even know who she's on the phone with."
Blowhole patted his shoulder with a nod. "I'll talk with her and then I'll have the lobsters prepare for tomorrow."
"Great. I'll wait for you in bed. Edmond's bathtime avoidance maneuvers earlier were exhausting."
"Alright, I'll be back soon." He gave him one last pat before rolling out of the room and down the hall to his eldest's room. Reaching her door, he knocked. "Eris, it's me."
"Yeah?"
Blowhole opened the door and rolled into the room and looked down at his daughter in her small in-ground pool. "Now Eris, you know it's past curfew."
The young bottlenose side glanced at him from scrolling on her phone. "I'm home, aren't I?"
"You know what I mean. Phone up, lights out. Bed time."
"But Dad, that's so boring. You know we only sleep half a mind at a time. I am resting a half at a time like this!"
"Are you really?" He gave her a look and crossed his flippers. "Because I seem to recall in all my years of sleeping it is possible to sleep with only that other half awake to keep you breathing. Plus both your eyes are open."
Eris scowled and set her phone aside. "Fine, I'll go to bed."
"Thanks." He nodded. "And another thing, you've got to start listening to Kowalski, too."
The smaller dolphin glanced up at him.
"I know, he can be a little strange at times, and a helicopter parent, but he means well." He sighed. "Try to work with him, alright? Maybe even talk with him...Respectfully."
"It's just still so weird." She shook her head. "Mama was a dolphin. You're a dolphin...But you married a penguin? He doesn't understand us. How am I supposed to listen to that?"
Blowhole narrowed his eye. "He's not a that. He's your step-parent, and the other parent of your half siblings, regardless of his species. We've been over this before. You know he loves you and he tries his best. He tries to understand and adjust. He knows dolphins have different needs than penguins. Please, jus try to help him out if it's needed. Help him with Lyris especially. I know you're ready to go off and join Aunt Doris and her pod, but until that is figured out, I need you to at least try to bond with him. An honest effort."
Eris sighed deeply and nodded. "I'll...I'll think about it. Sorry."
"It's not me who you should be apologizing to." He reached down and patted her. "But tomorrow we're going on a family vacation. Maybe you two can try to bond more there."
She nodded with a small smile. "How was the anniversary date?"
Blowhole grimaced and shook his head. "Didn't happen, I forgot...Hence why we're going on vacation this weekend. We all need some time together."
"Oh. No wonder he seemed…"
"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But it's fine, we talked it out. Just get some sleep, we'll be getting up pretty early tomorrow, alright?"
Eris nodded and settled into her pool. "Night, Dad."
"Goodnight, Eris." He clicked off the light and rolled out, closing the door behind himself.
