WHAT IS THE COMPLICATION?

…

Perry had moved his computer to the floor and was lying on his desk on his back with his fingers interlocked over his stomach. He couldn't focus on anything else so he was just doing that while vaguely listening to Pinky and Natasha chatting in the background. He didn't really know what they were chatting about; he had just invited them over to his office so that he didn't have to be alone. He didn't even have Nicky to keep him company.

When the cat agent came to his office to tell him that Apollo had finished the surgery, Perry literally fell off his desk and ran to the waiting room, where he found Apollo coming out of the hospital bay. He looked both tired and solemn, which scared Perry.

"Is it over?" he asked. "Did you operate?"

Apollo blinked tiredly. "Yes, Perry. We operated. Now there's the four hour period where she needs to rest."

"Was it successful?"

Apollo looked away. "She did not die."

"That doesn't necessarily mean it was successful," Perry said, before he realised what had just come out of his beak. "I mean…of course it's successful if she didn't die, but were there any side effects or anything?"

"You could say that."

"What were they?" demanded Perry, tired of having to ask Apollo lots of questions.

"During the surgery, Sylvia's lungs did not respond as they were supposed to," Apollo explained. "They were deflating rapidly. If we had left it for a minute longer, she would have suffocated."

Perry sucked in a breath. He had been so close to losing Sylvia too!

"We…we had to restore her lung condition to save her life," Apollo said quietly. "That means she won't be able to run or do any hard physical exercise for more than five minutes or she might suffer cardiac arrest."

"So she can't be an OWCA agent?" asked Perry sadly.

Apollo shook his head. "I'm afraid not. But I looked at her file just now, and she can get a job in linguistics."

Perry perked up. "Really?"

"It won't be field work of course, but she can still work for OWCA if she wishes to."

"Can I see-?" Perry began, before remembering that Apollo had told him that during the four hour period, he wouldn't be able to see her. "Thank you for telling me. When will she get better?"

"Well, I've told Major Monogram that she will have to stay in America for at least another week so she can properly recover from the surgery. She'll probably be out of hospital within a day or so, assuming there won't be any more problems or complications."

Perry brightened even more. He would get to spend another week with Sylvia and Nicky before they went back to the UK! Sure it was because Sylvia was ill, but she was hopefully going to recover in the next day, so that still left a whole week together more than they were expecting.

"Is Nicky still in there?" Perry asked.

Apollo nodded. "He's asleep. I'll get him for you."

He disappeared back into the hospital bay and reappeared a minute later, holding the small peach-coloured platypus in his hands. Sure enough, Nicky seemed to be sleeping. Apollo handed the baby to Perry, who then left the waiting room and went straight back to his office. Natasha and Pinky had gone. He sat down in his chair and rocked Nicky in his arms.

"Mommy's going to be okay," he whispered to his son. "Don't you worry."

"Daddy," muttered Nicky sleepily.

Perry froze. Nicky hadn't even said the word "daddy" since he had asked if Perry was his daddy on the day that Perry and Sylvia had become mates.

"Nick?" he said uncertainly.

Nicky's eyes opened halfway and he smiled dozily up at Perry. "Daddy," he stated sleepily. "You Daddy."

A beam spread onto Perry's face. "Oh, Nicky. I'm your daddy…and I will always be here for you."

"Daddy," yawned Nicky. "I tired."

Perry thought for a moment to see if he could remember all the words to the song. He had heard the demo and Sylvia singing it many times in the past.

A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain

Softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay

It fills the sails of boats that are waiting

Waiting to sail your worries away.

It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain

And your boat waits down by the quay

The winds of night so softly are sighing

Soon they will fly your troubles to sea.

Nicky was asleep before he had finished the first verse. He rocked his son gently before lying Nicky down in his lap. He retrieved his computer, set everything back up, and checked his emails. He found a very recent one:

TO: owcaperrytheplatypus

FROM: owcacarltheintern

SUBJECT: meeting

To Agent P

Please report to Major Monogram as soon as you get this email, unless it is after five pm, in which case it is too late.

From Carl

Perry glanced at the clock on his computer. It said 14:09. He sighed. He didn't really want to go in the mission but perhaps it would take four hours and he'd have something to do while Sylvia recovered.

After calling Natasha to come babysit Nicky, Perry headed to Major Monogram's office.

…

*le wink* MISSION TIME!