I'm sorry this is kinda short, but big surprise here. Betcha can guess what it is.
Oh, and another thing. If you haven't read laughs4life's story 'A Ragtag Bunch' you're seriously missing out. Go do yourself a favor and read it.
Enjoy!
And I don't own Ice age
Christmas came and went. The kids grew closer (although Squint still didn't like Shira), and waited anxiously to meet Silas' new baby brother or sister. But they were disappointed every day for about two weeks.
One day, while his parents were out to get more nesting material, as the chick was to hatch any day now and would need extra padding, they left Silas to babysit. Or… eggsit, he supposed.
He watched the little sphere boredly. It just sat there, like a rock. While he was very excited to have a baby sibling, waiting was boring and agitating. What bothered him most, though, was that his parents had waited till the day before to tell him. The egg had, apparently, been forming in his mother for some time. They figured it would make a nice Christmas surprise, and it was. But it was also very unexpected. The least they could have done was tell him a little in advance, he reasoned.
As he gazed out across the valley, watching his playing friends wistfully, a slight thumping sound distracted him from his thoughts. At first he ignored it, figuring it was one of those hummingbirds accidentally hitting a branch because of their speed (it wouldn't be the first time), but then, it came again, followed by a cracking sound. He simply brushed that off as the cracking of branches; it was winter and the tree twigs were brittle, they broke all the time.
But suddenly, it came a lot louder and seemingly… below him. He turned and found, to his utter shock, fear, and joy, a large crack in the whitish pearl nestled in some leaves and cotton.
It was jumping around slightly, quivering and trembling, little hairline fractures spreading out from the large, half inch crack. He stood stock still, stunned. Could this really be happening? Or was he dreaming? It seemed too real, however, to be a dream, so he simply stood and watched.
After a little more bumping and cracking, the first piece fell. A tiny, itty bitty wailing, chirping cry rang from inside, and more pieces began to fall, until it all just fell apart in a puzzle of pieces.
It revealed a teeny little white and black chick, just opening the biggest, bluest eyes he had ever seen. They blinked sleepily once, twice… then began to well up and spill over with tears, frightened at the large, seemingly empty space.
He slowly padded over and bent over to nudge his new sibling comfortingly. It gave a curious coo and sniffled slightly, and the tears soon stopped flowing. He watched in awe as it managed to hoist up to it's tiny, webbed aquamarine feet and flap it's tiny wings a few times, ruffling it's downy feathers before managing to wobble two steps closer, and he reflexively stuck out his foot to catch it as it fell forward. It's feathers were already drying, fluffing and puffing out so it looked like a big ball of fluff with eyes.
He watched in amazement as the tiny child, barely an inch long, snuggled up against his ankle, yawning and sighing happily, settling in for what he could only assume to be sleep, folding it's wing. He smiled softly after a moment and settled down beside the chick, putting a protective wing over it. It rubbed lovingly against him, chirping feebly.
"Aw…" he couldn't help but admit, this little thing was adorable.
It was then he realized he didn't know what it was, but decided to let his parents figure it out, all though he had a sneaking suspicion it was a girl. "I'm gonna call you Zaida. Do you like that?"
'She' gurgled, as if in agreement, before letting out a tiny yawn and snuggling closer, practically disappeared in his feathers. He hugged 'her' closer, laying his head under his wing and placing it over his new sibling.
-Later-
He didn't remember falling asleep, but he definitely wouldn't be able to forget waking up. Both his parents had screamed in terror, making him jerk awake and 'Zaida' cheep fearfully as she was awoken.
"The- The baby!" Denisha still hadn't noticed the tiny ball off fluffy, albeit slightly squished, feathers. "Where- where's the baby?!"
"Right here." He opened his wings to allow them to catch sight of the quieting chick as she noticed the two larger birds, warbling curiously. She had her mothers blue eyes, her fathers snowy feathers, and her own unique feet color.
"Oh my goodness…" Denisha crept closer and caressed her newest baby.
Her husband nodded in dazed agreement. "What a beautiful little…"
Also realizing this, Denisha picked up the little one and quickly determined that it was, indeed, a baby girl. Silas was happy; he rather liked the name he'd chosen.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Can… Can we call her Zaida?"
"Zaida…" she tried it out, it did sound lovely, beautiful and pure. "Zaida." She said a bit more firmly. "I rather like that name. What about you dear." Andre was too entranced by his beautiful new daughter to speak, only nodded dazedly as he laid a wing on her head, causing her to giggle.
Then she yawned again and decided to continue her interrupted nap in her mother's hold.
Silas hurried off after that to find his friends and alert his friends. They and their families were ecstatic to meet the new little one, and most in fact spent the rest of the day cooing at her cuteness and holding her. But whenever she felt too crowded, she'd toddle to her brother, and he'd pick her up and cuddle her. Never her mother or father, but her brother. She was truly going to grow up a 'big brothers girl'.
Silas smiled as he watched the sunset from his nest and carefully wrapped a dull eyes Zaida in a leaf blanket, who was sitting before him and gazing at the pretty sky.
He picked her up and laid her in her personal area; a boxed in area made by extra sticks and filled with cushy cotton. "Goodnight Zaida." He said as she snuggled into her blankets. "Love you."
He sighed happily again and turned back to the sky. This truly had been the best holiday, and Christmas, ever.
I'm sad to say this is the end, but I'm thinking I may do some more holiday stories. Or, maybe, a one shot about someone's first lose tooth. Sorry, just a thought. Tell me what you think, I'll do any holiday, as long as it has enough, you know, traditions or legends or something to go off of. So… any ideas?
Did you like this one? Did you like the new baby? Should I continue on with her and the others? You don't think I took this too fast, do you? Anyway, please review.