The last two weeks had been the longest of Vees and Masha's life. When the egg had suddenly began its final transformation in the middle of the night Vee had been so excited, she'd screamed and woken Masha up. Which embarrassingly caused them to fumble out of bed only to blind themselves when they'd activated a light glyph by accident.
Upon regaining their sight, they saw Vee rapidly moving around the egg saying "it's rainbow! Only one more week and then we can hold her!"
Of course, they'd been amazed and wanted to encourage their wife's adorable antics, but at three in the morning all they wanted to do was sleep.
The next day of course was when excitement turned into parental panic.
"Are we ready for this Masha?"
"Of course, we are. We got all the clothing, right?"
"Yeah, Hunter made enough for both human and basilisk form." They hadn't stoped thanking Hunter for that. Not that he wanted or needed it, after all for him this was just him perfectly playing the role of "big brother."
"Great, have we finished all the babyproofing?"
"Vee relax I personally double checked everything yesterday. There's nothing she'll be able to crawl to that could possibly hurt her. Besides Barnabus is always on lookout in his new bat house I made." Hearing his name Barnabus poked his head from the wooden house Masha had mounted near the ceiling. With a gentle flap he landed on Masha's head and gave Vee a winged salute.
"That will never not be adorable." she admited giving him a gentle pat on the head.
He gave a happy chirp before flying back to his home. For the rest of the week, they simply spent watching the egg and planning for their new lives as a family. They even got a surprise visit from some of the other basilisks. Apparently, they'd been contact by an excited Lilith and hac come to see the miracle as they called it.
The questions they could understand and handle. After all, finding out how to reproduce to continue the species was fine and all. They could even handle the intense gazes each one seemed to have as they stared at the egg.
Masha's breaking point was when one of the other female basilisks albeit politely asked if in the future Vee would have another egg with another basilisk.
In all honesty, she'd phrased it better and Masha did hear the truly hypothetical tone in her voice. But even remembering it made their blood boil!
"Would you be willing in the future mind you and please feel free to say no buuuuttt would you be willing and again please say no to have a child with one of us? Just in case it turns out only you can reproduce." Now Masha was extremely open minded and accepting, after all they were a nonbinary human witch who was married to a shapeshifting basilisk for goddess sake. It had taken all of their willpower to not throw the basilisk from their home and tell them not to come back.
Vee response was both restrained and vocal. She'd calmly asked the purple basilisk to speak with her outside. A mere moment later a resounding slap was heard before she calmly came back inside with the other following holding her face.
"While I appreciate the offer the only future children I will have will be with Masha." If Masha was being honest in that moment, she'd wanted to take Vee to bed and get to work on a second right then and there.
That had been a week ago and right now they were just getting done calling everyone as they were sure the egg was about to hatch. Vee had been the first to notice, call it natural instinct or motherly instinct but she'd suddenly turned to the egg and seen the shaking and light crack forming on the side.
Never in both of their lives had they made so many phone calls in under an hour. Luz, Amity and Camila were the first to arrive. Luz and Camila especially were out of breath having run there the moment the call ended.
Camila rushed to Vee hugging her before bringing out the video camera not wanting to miss a single moment. Luz thankfully contained herself to the couch but kept muttering "Tia Luz! Aunty Amity!" while Amity eyed the egg her eyes screaming "I want one." Masha didn't need to use their cards to know Belinda would get a cousin soon. Lilith arrived next, unfortunately with Hooty.
She saw their look and after setting Hooty down said in her series regal tone. "Now Hoostifer what did you promise me if I brought you here?"
He extended himself enough to look down on the egg. "No loud noises."
"And?"
"No moving from my spot." Lilith smiled before patting his head. "Very good hoostifer." As much as Masha and Vee didn't want him here, he was technically family. Even being labeled as Belinda's honorary thrice removed distant cousin. Lilith had begged them to give him something after she and Eda were both made the godmothers.
"Fine just be good and we'll talk about you being in the family photo." he contained his cheerful shriek just as Willow and Hunter came in.
Willow saw the rainbow egg and let out a girly shriek before creating a circle of multicolored flowers around it. She then sat down next to Luz and kept eying the rocking egg while clutching Hunter's arm.
Who will give Belinda a cousin first? Knowing our gang it will be both. Not that I'm complaining, more family means more love.
Eda and King were the last to arrive with King having to be restrained by Camila when he tried to hug the egg.
"Release me! My niece must feel my love."
Camila simply picked him up and whispered something in Spanish into his ear before gently placing him on the couch her firm but kind smile never leaving her face. Masha didn't know what she'd told him but when one of their cards floated toward them and portrayed "the wrathful chancla" they knew she meant business.
Nobody knew if it was fate or simply good timing but with all the family there the egg started to shake violently as more and more cracks started to appear.
Vee and Masha were the only ones in the nest just in case of any kind of imprinting. Minutes went by slowly as the egg began glowing brighter and brighter, the colors giving off a faint aurora that filled the room.
Only three sounds could be heard as the light died down, the cracking of the egg, the excited heartbeats of the onlookers and of course Vee's tail excitedly swishing.
Vee and Masha in preperation for this had watched every type of animal both normal and magical emerging from it's egg. They'd mentally prepared for gooey limbs breaking free from it's egg. What they hadn't expected was when the cracks to release a mist that engulfed the nest.
Lilith, however, stopped their family from intruding as she brought out the journal.
"Don't worry it's all part of the process."
Unfortunately, the mist was too thick to see even for Masha and Vee who could only listen as the cracking became intense become coming to a stop.
Their heart in their chest Masha very hesitantly began to feel about feeling as their hand came into contact with broken egg pieces.
Vee was doing the same until her instincts kicked in and she began absorbing the mist. When the mist had nearly gone, she heard an emotional "Vee..." What she saw when the mist was gone made her burst into tears.
Masha holding their baby girl in their arms. Vee moved closer to get a better look at their tiny baby basilisk.
Unlike Vee who had pale, swamp-green scales with cream-colored spots on her head, tail, underbelly, and the bottom half of her face. Belinda, however, had forest green scales covering her body with a completely white underbelly that ran from the tip of her adorable tail to her neck. She also had white spots on both shoulders and back of her hands. But what really captivated Masha were Belinda's bright orange eyes that reminded them of amber crystals, well that and her black patch of hair on her head and tip of ears.
"She's so adorable."
Vee couldn't agree more. Seeing Masha holding their daughter was by far the second greatest moment of her life. She moved closer coiling around Masha and gently reaching for Belinda's tiny hand. She let out a tiny hiss and latched on, in that moment Vee was sure her heart stopped.
I'm a mommy! I'm not going to let a single bad thing ever happen to her!
From just beyond the nest the rest of their family waited anxiously for the new parents to have their moment. Vee without looking away held out her hand for a blanket before bundling their daughter to show her off.
"Everyone we'd like you to meet our daughter. Belinda Morgan Noceda, the first of hopefully many young basilisks to come."
Masha was quick enough to cover Belinda's ears before the room filled with excited cheers.
Once they were close enough Camila hugged them both before wiping away her tears and hugging and kissing Vee and Masha on the cheek.
"I'm so proud of both of you. I can't believe I'm an abuela! Oh, I can't wait to have her call me that." And I can't wait for her to call me mommy. Or maybe momma? Mom sounds good to...
Luz was next and kept looking from Belinda to Vee her eyes giving a silent plea. Vee simply smiled at her sister's restrained desire before placing her daughter in Luz's arms.
Luz let out a sound Amity and Vee would later label a happy squeal while not moving and simply grinning. Willow and Hunter weren't much better as Willow held her while Hunter felt his mind go blank at the sight of her with a child.
Lilith was to engrossed in sketching to hold her and Eda gave a friendly but firm "even with my pillow hand I'm not risking it." King, however, gave her nose a little boop and giggled.
The nest was taken apart and in its place was a circular crib, all custom made by their family of course. After hours of congratulations the new family of three were finally left alone both physically and emotionally drained atop their bed.
"We're parents."
"I'm a mommy and you're my precious noddy." Turning their heads, they gazed down at their sleeping daughter. "As much as I love you, you do realize we're in for sleepless nights, right?"
"Yeah, and we're going to love every minute. So, Masha let's get some sleep while we can."
"I love you Vee."
"And I love you Masha."