Note: Megamind's real name is Amlin, and Minion's is Niri.
It was a clear, cloudless night when the big event took place, and the streets were as they ever got, so when Roxanne texted Megamind out on patrol, he was more than ready to leave the city to its own devices for a time.
He turned the nose of the hoverbike toward their apartment at the top of Metro Tower.
Though he took a few moments to sic the brainbots on the drone that had been tailing him for most of the evening. These journalists, such a nuisance.
Megamind kissed Roxanne and their baby daughter Cassie hello, nodded distractedly at the vet, ichthyologist, and their two assistants, talking quietly together.
He deliberately did not look at the mobile operating station sitting next to the wall, and the bag of other things on the sheet-draped table.
Just a precaution, they'd assured him. Minion was vibrant and healthy and weathering pregnancy just fine.
As far as they could tell. What with Minion not actually being a true fish, but a hermaphroditic alien who'd never gone through this before and none of them had any experience of what to expect, other than a few hazy bits of information that Minion vaguely recalled from his childhood that might or might not be accurate...
But no, everything was going to be fine, Megamind told his spiraling thoughts firmly. It was destiny.
Megamind was going to make it fine, so destiny better not get any ideas.
He arranged his features into a suitably calm and reassuring expression before stepping into the darkened room that contained what Minion had dubbed the laying-in tank, a moniker that Megamind found amusingly Victorian, but Minion insisted. 'Spawning tank' was too icky, he'd said.
"Minion," he called gently, peering over the side. The top was fully open, with a depth of five feet. "I came as soon as I heard."
Minion swam out from behind one of the rocks, waved his fins excitedly. "Oh, Sir, you made it," he said, giving him a tired grin.
The next moment he winced and swam around in a circle.
"Does it hurt?" Megamind asked, taking off his gloves and lifting his arms for the brainbots to strip him of his cape and tunic.
"Yeah, a little. Sir, could you come into the tank with me?"
Megamind hesitated in the act of scrubbing sanitizer over his arms. They weren't big on touching, as a general rule, other than the occasional forehead press, but Megamind wanted to be ready for any eventuality, and if Minion needed physical reassurance or assistance, he wanted his hands and arms sanitized before plunging them into the water.
But...climbing in completely? Well, the tank was more than large enough.
His mind raced. He would have to strip, didn't want clothing fibers getting into the sterile water, and he'd need antibacterial soap. "Yes, all right, filet mignon. I'll just go get cleaned up, it won't be too..."
Minion's face twisted. "No! Amlin, don't go."
Megamind's heart was doing things in his chest not unlike when Roxanne had gone into labor. But at least there had been doctors and nurses who knew what they were doing at the hospital, here it was just a team of people that were cobbling together a plan of action almost on the fly.
"Minion, if you want me to join you in the tank, I need to clean up as much as possible," he said gently. "Is it all right if Roxanne stays with you while I get sanitized?"
Minion considered, then nodded.
It was the fastest shower of his life. He dragged a towel over himself and, still damp, wrapped up in one of the surgical gowns, and tore back across the apartment to the laying-in room.
Cassie was currently being held by one of the assistants in the living room, charming everyone to bits, which would normally have sent Megamind into paroxysms of paternal pride, but he was too worried to truly appreciate the sight, and he rushed on.
Roxanne glanced up with a smile. "See, Minion? There he is," she said soothingly. She leaned over the tank with her bare arm stuck into the water up to her armpit, letting Minion nibble on her hand.
"You need me anymore, Minion?" she asked. "I can stay or leave, it's up to you."
Minion was looking a little glassy-eyed. "I just want Amlin," he said, voice strained. It was a mark of his distress that he didn't even apologize for making a blatant preference known.
"Thank you, my love," Megamind said as Roxanne passed him, wishing he could hug her in gratitude, but didn't, of course.
Her smile was warm as she slipped out of the room. "Always."
He would never take that wonderful, understanding woman for granted, never.
Megamind shed the robe and climbed into the tank, using the stepstool that Roxanne had brought in for that purpose (he felt another pulse of gratitude; really, he ought to have thought of the stepstool himself, it was a good thing she was thinking clearly as he certainly wasn't), gingerly locating a place to sit that wasn't too rocky and wouldn't smush any snails.
Yes, there were snails. Minion liked them, and the real lakeweed (sourced sustainably) planted in the sandy bed, and the piece-de-resistance, a whimsical pirate ship, carved from sandstone and decorated with lead-free paint, complete with a little pirate skeleton holding a sword, tucked back in the corner.
Megamind sanitized the hell out of the ship before anchoring it into the bottom of the tank, and resolved to keep an eye on those snails just in case they turned out to be secretly egg-eaters. So far all they did was meander around the glass panes, waving their little eyestalks, but you never knew.
The tank covered quite a lot of square feet of floor space so there was still plenty of room for Minion to swim around, hell, there was enough room for the entire medical team to fit in, but the little ichthyoid stopped circling to squeeze in against Megamind's side.
"Hold me?" Minion pleaded.
"Of course."
Minion budged up against his side, and he gently clamped his arm to hold him against his ribs.
Minion wiggled back and forth a bit to get comfortable, then stilled, only his fins waving occasionally.
"You all right down there under my armpit?" Megamind said after a minute.
Minion huffed out a stream of water. "Ain't the Ritz, but it'll do."
Megamind adjusted a little, propping the back of his head on the edge of the tank, and let the rest of him float under the surface, holding onto his wrist to keep Minion firmly yet gently in the curve of his right arm.
Minion nibbled distractedly at his forearm, though not enough to hurt, as if he was teething.
It had been a long two months. The only sound was the bubbling of the water filters.
The softly moving water currents that moved past him as the filters did their job, Minion snuggled by his side, and Megamind's exhaustion soon led his eyelids to droop.
He jerked awake guiltily as Minion wriggled out from under his arm.
He sat up straighter watching Minion swim back and forth, little face intent as if on some inner vision only he could see.
Then he darted behind the pirate ship. The ship was next to a wedge of rock which formed a deep shadow, and it was into this void that Minion disappeared.
Not anywhere near the little cave that had been so meticulously constructed for Minion, with a nice layer of sand that was perfect for the eggs. Or so their on-staff experts maintained.
Maybe the cave wasn't dark enough? Or too many people knew about it or something? That had been at the back of Megamind's thoughts, that Minion's protective instincts might kick in, big time.
Megamind held his breath but he didn't hear anything. He was afraid to break the spell, and certainly didn't want to disturb Minion if he was actually...
"Oh," Minion yelped, sounding rather inordinately surprised.
Megamind clenched his fists. Do not disturb, do not disturb, do not...
He couldn't stand it any longer. "Everything okay?" he asked, trying not to sound, oh, panicky or anything.
There was a long silence. He began making a very not-panicking plan to leap out of the tank and shout at them to wheel in the operating table, when Minion floated out of the darkness, eyes wide.
"Sir, I-I did it," he whispered.
"You did it?" Megamind whispered back.
Minion's face slowly spread into a wide, toothy smile. "I did it."
Megamind leaped to his feet with a whoop and a fist pump, splashing water over the edge. "Yes!"
He crouched, chin dipping beneath the surface, holding his hands out for Minion to rub his cheeks against. "How do you feel, Niri?" he asked tenderly, speaking in their native tongue, Ahrini.
"I feel all right, I think," Minion replied.
Aware of Minion's dignity, Megamind took a quick glance at Minion's backside without being too obvious about it.
A little line of reddish brown trailed from under his tail. "Um, you have a little...you know..." Megamind quickly wiped away the little smear of mucus and blood.
Minion was blushing bright green. "How embarrassing."
"Don't worry about it, filet mignon. Lot less messy than Roxanne's c-section, let me tell you. Can I take a look?"
Minion nodded. "Okay, but just a peek."
Megamind sank beneath the water and peered into the wedge of darkness between the rock and the ship, and could just make out a little mound of glistening pearly-grey eggs.
At top and center, one egg contained a tiny little comma. It twitched a bit and Minion floated closer, crooning, blowing a gentle stream of water toward it, and it stilled.
Megamind was never so happy to see a tiny little comma in his life. If he hadn't been underwater he would have cheered.
He went up to the surface, gasping, heart racing as if he'd been running. "My God, Minion," he said, breathlessly. "You're a parent."
Minion blushed again, this time with pride. "She's beautiful, isn't she, Sir?"
"Absolutely, filet mignon."
Megamind had the presence of mind to wrap up in the surgical gown again before calling everyone in with the big news.
After check-up by both vet and ichthyologist, Minion was declared healthy and sound. They asked some carefully worded questions about the viable egg. Was Minion sure there was only one? Was the fry inside wiggling? Was it the same color as the nonviable eggs?
Roxanne hovered nearby, jiggling Cassie gently, so she could also hear the diagnosis of the medical staff.
Minion agreed to let them send an underwater camera (closed-circuit) down to take photos, but he wasn't happy about it. He looked like he wanted to attack the camera. Megamind slipped his hand into the water and Minion swam around, occasionally gripping Megamind's fingers in his enormous teeth.
"Be over soon, Niri," he murmured in Ahrini, their native tongue. "Then you can rest."
Finally the medical staff were done studying the photos onscreen, finally done talking, and Megamind guiltily realized he hadn't heard a word about their advice for taking care of Minion.
Minion swam around Megamind's hand. "I don't want those photos going anywhere," he said, voice high and anxious.
"They won't, filet mignon. They can look at them here."
When he glanced at Roxanne she gave him a reassuring nod and he knew that she, at least, had heard the instructions. Honestly, sometimes she could read his mind, he thought gratefully.
Feeling a need to be more useful, he herded the medical staff back out to the living room. Roxanne had had a long evening, too, just as worried about Minion, taking care of Cassie, and having the medical staff standing by in their home. He would take care of the rest.
There was paperwork to be filled out. To cover all the bases, two birth certificates had been prepared by their lawyers, one to determine the date of the egg-laying, the second for when Minion's child hatched.
Minion was on the certificates as the primary, and sole, parent. Roxanne and Megamind were legal guardians, and provisions were being made in their wills for back-up guardians, with the warden on the top of the list.
Citizenship papers were being worked on, too, based on Minion's own, which declared him a sentient being in full control of his mental capacities and an independent person with all the rights and responsibilities of any other citizen therefore and forthwith, etc., Megamind couldn't recall all the legalese. The papers should be ready in a couple more weeks, maybe the child would have hatched by then.
"Have you guys thought of a name?" the vet asked.
"Oh." He blinked and stared. "I don't know. I'll have to ask Minion."
He returned to the room, carrying the certificates. Minion would need to sign them anyway, so he'd have to pop back into his robot suit for a bit.
Roxanne was holding Cassie up so that her little fists could grip the edge of the tank.
Megamind raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised she's not splashing all over the place," he said. Cassie loved water. Keeping her away from Minion's birthing tank had been a pain and a half.
"No, she's being very polite," Roxanne said affectionately.
"She's so good, Sir, just watching," Minion said. "I think she senses her meen-yahn."
Megamind and Roxanne exchanged a cautious glance. Well, they wouldn't discount it. They'd speculated about the bonding phenomenon surrounding Megamind and Minion's species, and wondered if it would be possible for Cassie, being half-earthling, to bond with Minion's child.
It was far too early to tell, but the fact that Cassie was so quietly alert and watchful, instead of wiggling all over and trying to grab everything was ...interesting.
"Got a couple of lines to fill in, Minion. I won't rush you, and we can always fill it in later, but have you decided on a name?"
Minion's smile was sleepy and content. "I think Emily sounds nice."
"Sounds perfect, Niri." Megamind smiled. He reached for Roxanne's hand to squeeze it.
Megamind stayed until Minion at last squeezed into his castle and fell asleep, then went out to the living room. It felt strangely empty without all the medical staff, who'd left over an hour ago.
He sat down on the couch next to Roxanne. Cassie lay on the cushions between them and was currently sucking on her own foot, showing no signs of being ready for bed.
"She's not going to sleep anytime soon, is she?" Megamind said.
Roxanne huffed out a breath and dragged a hand through her hair. "Nope. Too much excitement."
"Oh, I should call the warden. Have you seen my phone?" He craned his neck and snapped his fingers at a brainbot to locate the darn thing. "It's probably in Minion's room, so you sneak in quietly."
"Megs, it's 2:30 in the morning," Roxanne yawned.
He stared at her blankly. "Yeah, and?"
"He's probably sleeping. You know, normal people hours."
"Ah. Right."
She extended her hand so Cassie could grab onto her fingers and chew on them. "So I talked to Mindy and she's got a copy of the press release all set to go. I filled in the blanks, except for baby's weight, as I'm sure it's negligible, so the big news will hit the airwaves at 7:00 AM."
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I can't believe our publicist gets to hear the news first."
"That's life in the spotlife, sweetie."
"I'll call the warden at precisely 6:59." He leaned over to kiss her lovely lips, then pried their daughter's fingers and gums off her hand. "Here, I'll rescue you. You go to bed."
Roxanne kissed him back. "You're the best."
"I know you are, but what am I?" He paused. "That didn't make any sense, did it?"
"Nope," she said. She frowned. "Oh, wait. Maybe it did. Meh. I think proper banter's going to have to wait 'til we're both rested."
"Ah, so sometime next decade, then?"
She laughed and made good her escape.
Cassie yowled in protest as Roxanne went upstairs and Megamind hoisted her onto his shoulder and headed for the kitchen.
"Yes, yes, we're all very sad Mommy's leaving, but it's all part of my sinister plan to curry your favor and be the most beloved parent around here. You have a little sister, just think of that. Let's go see what fantastic junk foods we have to celebrate. Oh, look," he gasped, making his eyes wide as he opened a cupboard.
Cassie stopped screaming to stare at his discovery.
"Powdered rice cereal! Jackpot."