Stirring from her slumber Vee slithered from her bed and into the kitchen barely registering the destruction as she filled a bowl with food.
From her right she heard movement and turned to see her mother looking both relieved and nervous. "Vee! I'm so glad you woke up I was starting to worry about you."
"Mom? What are you doing here? And why is the house a mess?" the look Camila gave her was a bit terrifying as she said something along the lines of "oh god how do I say this" in rapid Spanish. Something that made Vee even more worried.
Eventually she sat down and grabbed Vee's hand asking slowly. "Vee what do you remember?"
Thinking about it Vee could only remember bits. "Well, I was feeling a bit off before Masha went to work and then..." she couldn't remember much after that, well except for one thing which was so outrageous it made her laugh.
"Ha, I remember the crazy dream I had."
"Dream?"
"Yeah, I actually thought I laid an egg. I mean really me laying an egg?" Camila took a deep breath as she prepared for what was to come.
"Vee sweetie I need you to listen to me carefully. That was not a dream, you really did lay an egg."
"What?" she asked hoping/believing that this was just one long prank that Mascha had set up. Seeing her confusion, she let her back to the bedroom where a massive yellow egg sat.
"I...no...I couldn't..." but as much as she wanted to deny it there It was sitting atop her bed.
"I laid an egg."
"Yes"
"No mom you don't understand I... LAID... A... EGG!" she screamed emphasizing each word as she kept looking at the egg. Which only seemed to make things worse as with each passing moment she felt the urge to wrap around it for protection.
Seeing her daughter on the verge of a mental breakdown she gently hugged her. "Vee, I know this is strange and scary."
"Scary? No, my recurring nightmares are scary, this is horrifying!"
"Well, is it possible that it's not fertilized? After all some animals do occasionally do that." of course that was mainly chickens, but Vee was technically a magical creature and Camila had seen weirder creatures do stranger things here.
"Yeah...Yeah! That's probably it." Vee said more out of desperation than certainty. She moved over to the egg gently placing her hand on it and immediately regretted it.
For the moment she touched it she was hit with the overwhelming combined scent of her and Masha.
It's alive...I... We're gonna be parents. Oh god we're going to be parents! We're not ready!
Camila didn't need to ask to get her answer as Vee began nibbling on the tip of her tail which was her go to nervous habit. "Vee-" she was cut off by Vee's scroll coming to life.
But as Vee was too involved in her nervous habit Camila picked up. "Hello?"
"Oh, hey Camila, I didn't know you were stopping by." hearing her partner's voice Vee's ears perked up but she didn't stop.
"Yes, Vee just wanted me to stop by and check her out. Poor thing wasn't feeling well."
"And how is she doing?" she could practically feel the worry through the scroll.
Okay Camila, how do you say this? Before she could answer Masha spoke up. "Wait a minute my cards are trying to tell me something... let's see... the nervous basilisk... the midwife... and the dragon's treasure again?"
"The nervous basilisk?" She'd seen Masha's cards many times before but each time she surprised her. "Oh, that's one of my favorites, mainly because it's one of Vees, just imagine her chewing on her tail and there you have it. Now as for the midwife, well that usually means a delivery of some kind. Let me guess she ordered our favorite pizza again and can't wait for it to be delivered?" This Camila burst out laughing knowing Vee's love of pizza and how she would pace in front of the door until it arrived.
"Which explains the dragon's treasure, please try to save me a slice or two."
"I'll try." After hanging up she saw Vee had calmed down. "You feeling better Vee?"
"Maybe, did I hear the magic words pizza?" Rolling her eyes, she ordered the food and after twenty minutes and six slices Vee seemed to have calmed down enough to talk about it.
"Okay so full recap, I Vee Noceda laid an egg that will sometime in the future hatch into what I know to be the first natural born basilisk in centuries." if you were merely listening to her you would have truly believed she was calm, but one look at her swishing tail and near labored breathing and you could see how freaked out she was.
"Vee how did this even happen?"
"I don't know! I've been a bit off all month going around eating and absorbing magic left and right. Then this morning my instincts kind of kicked in."
"Can you think of how or when this could have happened?"
Vee went silent thinking back to the last time she'd felt any kind of instincts before her face went scarlet. "...it might have been that time..."
"I take it that time was quite the romantic moment?" she teased seeing Vee squirm.
"Yeeeahhhh... We were in bed, and they'd just told me how special I was and how much they loved me. We talked about the future and... I kind of bit them."
"You bit them?"
"Yeah, Masha had been reading about creatures giving mating marks and they made it sound so romantic... they bit my shoulder and I bit there's... I felt something clink and...
…. Oh, titan I fed of them!"
"What?"
"I absorbed their lifeforce! Their blood and life-force mixed with mine and..."
She screamed into her hands as the memory came back. Coiling around their body and licking at their mark. Feeling a new sensation in her stomach, hearing the faint words "Luv you Vee" whispered in her ears.
"What am I going to do? How am I going to tell them this?!"
Camila simply walked over and kissed Vee's forehead, "None of that Vee, I know for a fact that you love Masha."
"Of course I do!"
"And I know they love you just as much if not more. Now have you two ever discussed having children?"
"We've giving it some thought but never agreed on how or when."
So many thoughts were filling her head.
What if they feel betrayed? No, knowing Masha they'd simply be amazed, they'd make a great parent. But what about me? I have no idea how to take care of a balalisk egg! For all I know there could be some special ritual to hatch it. What if I do something and it breaks!? Try as she might she couldn't resist thinking about accidentally breaking the egg and Masha looking at her with such hate filled eyes that they leave.
"No..."
"Vee look at me," when she didn't, she raised her voice just a bit. "Vee, look at me!" She nearly broke when she saw Vee starting to cry. After wiping her eyes, she picked her up and took her back to her room, placing her next to the massive egg.
"Now look I know you weren't expecting this but sometimes fate, or in this case instincts decide things for you. Somewhere deep inside you wanted a way to make a child with Mascha and know you have one."
At first, she didn't want to believe her mom, she wanted to tell herself that this was just an accident. But the more she stared at the egg the more she felt attracted to it.
This is mine and Masha's child, our baby, our future. Maybe... she wasn't sure what she was driving her, instincts possibly, but what she did know was she felt so right coiling around it and adding her warmth to it.
She let out a sound that was somewhere between a purr and a hiss which made Camila chuckle and take a picture.
"I think I'm going back to sleep for a while."
"Alright Vee you do that. I'll try to get the house cleaned up."
Gently closing the door, she thought about calling in the others but decided against it for now. "This is between Vee and Masha right now. The others can find out when their ready."
So, she went to work sewing up the ripped apart cushions and cleaning up the remains of food all the while smiling at the thought, she was going to be a grandmother.
"I'm going to be a abuela and Luz is going to be a tía. Oh, she is going to love that and spoil her niece or nephew when it hatches." she did wonder how long it would take to hatch.
"Most snakes hatch in around two months or so, but Vee is a basilisk so it could be much longer. Well at least she didn't have to go through months of discomfort while pregnant. Or countless hours of labor pains."
By the time she got the house into presentable shape she saw Masha landing and prepared for more awkwardness. Opening the door, she greeted Camila with a hug. "Hey Camila, is Vee doing better?"
"Yes and no, there's something you should probably know.
"Okay you're starting to scare me." Taking Camila's outstretched hand, she led her to the bedroom where she was about to open the door when Camila stopped her.
"Do you have an invisibility glyph?"
"Sure, why?"
"Activate it and follow me, also do not say anything." Her tone was calm and motherly which calmed Masha down enough to do as she asked. Once invisible she was led inside and had to use both hands to cover her mouth just to stop her from gasping at what she saw.
Vee, her adorable life partner was coiled around a massive egg and faintly whispering "our baby."
Camila once again motioned for her to stay silent as she gently woke Vee.
"Vee wake up sweetie Masha will be home soon."
Opening her eyes, she yawned and rubbed the egg. "Okay because I just thought about how I'm going to tell them. You've always told me I need to be open and honest so when they get home, I'm simply going to tell them that the reason I was off lately was because I was unknowingly pregnant and soon after they left, I gave birth to our future child."
Masha had to bite down on her lip hard enough to draw blood just to stop herself from speaking or moving as Vee got off the bed.
"I can do this, I can do this, just go up to them and tell them we're going to be parents." her bravado lasted for another ten seconds before she began freaking out again. "I can't do this; no, I can do this!" her tail shot to her mouth and she began chewing on it again. Camila felt a bit bad about what she was about to do, but sometimes you simply need a push.
"Vee, I don't think you'll have to worry about telling Masha."
"Why?" she asked desperately. A moment later two arms appeared around her neck as Mascha kissed her cheek no less than ten times, their eyes watering.
"Masha!?"
"Vee listen to me carefully." they said looking Vee straight in the eye. "I love you; I love everything about you. And you better believe that includes our egg. So, dry those tears and tell me everything. I don't want to miss a single detail."
"Well, I think it started when you had me try something in bed..." Camila decided to quickly leave after that. She might love Vee, but she didn't want to hear all the details on how her grandchild was conceived.