Mei didn't consider herself a vain woman.

She liked to look good. She knew she looked good. She was hot, if she did say so herself.

But she wasn't obsessed with her own looks, or her own body. She didn't feel any need to apply half a dozen filters or edit her photos before she posted them on her social media - barring blurring out bystanders' faces or removing a bit of graffiti in the background, of course. She wasn't the type of woman who fretted over a new zit appearing, save for a huff of annoyance.

But…

As she stood in front of the bathroom mirror after her bath, taking note of her reflection, she couldn't help but notice that she looked… different.

"This is normal," Jingyi and Iron Fan had both told her, on two separate occasions. "It's going to take at least a few months for your body to go back to the way it was, if it ever does completely."

And okay, these weren't drastic changes, but. They were noticeable.

Mei turned to one side, regarding herself. Yeah, her breasts were still bigger. That was to be expected, at least. But it wasn't just her chest, she noted, eyes trailing over her figure. Her hips and her thighs were bigger, too. Not dramatically, and most people probably wouldn't have batted an eye.

But to her, it was plain as day and she couldn't not think about it.

She didn't look bad, she just looked. Different.

And it'd take a bit of getting used to.

That wasn't the only thing, either, she mused, lifting a lock of her hair and inspecting the ends. While pregnant, her hair had been growing thicker. Now it had stopped doing that, and was very slowly returning to normal - which meant that she was losing strands of hair every time she brushed it out or washed.

To say nothing of what her emotions were still doing…

…her throat did have a conspicuous lump in it now, as she dwelled more on it…

Her vision blurred and her eyes stung, and she quickly palmed at her eyes, trying to regain control of herself. This was dumb. This was so dumb, she wasn't– she shouldn't–

There was a quiet knock on the bathroom door, which then slowly creaked open. "Dragon Girl?" Mei?" Red Son called in softly.

"I'll be out," Mei said, her voice muffled by her hands. "Just. Just gimme a minute."

She felt warmth, a sign that he'd stepped closer, and then a second later she felt a hand on her upper back. "Is something wrong?" he asked, uncharacteristically soft.

"It's nothing. Just dumb things–"

"My Princess." That nickname rarely came out, and it actually gave Mei pause. The warm hands both went to her shoulders. "Come on…" she heard Red Son say, steering her out of the bathroom and to the bed. "Over here."

"It's nothing," Mei insisted, even as she collapsed onto the side of the bed. She lowered her hands, wiping at the tears before they could properly start. "It's- It's dumb hormones," she continued weakly, feeling her throat tighten just by saying it. Hormones, honestly, she shouldn't be knocked down by something as dumb as that.

"That doesn't make what you're feeling lesser, My Princess."

"Oh wow, two 'Princesses,'" Mei forced herself to joke. "Tonight's special."

"Mei."

"I mean, I guess it is special. Chenguang's finally gonna meet everyone tomorrow, this is a really big–" In her eagerness to not meet Red's eyes, Mei looked instead towards the closet. Not deliberately; she'd been trying to look anywhere else, and unfortunately the closet was the first thing she saw.

Or rather, her favorite jacket, hanging on the door handle, was the first thing she saw.

Her jacket, which had gotten too snug midway into her pregnancy. Which was still too snug, as she hadn't lost all of her extra weight yet. But still waiting for her, waiting for when she could put it on again and–

Her vision started to blur again, and she just barely choked on another sob before Red Son was pulling her in. "Okay, okay," he sighed, chin on top of her head. "It's okay."

Mei kept her crying quiet, so as not to wake Chenguang. She felt ridiculous, honestly. Crying and getting emotional over something like this. But that thought only seemed to make it worse, and she had to press her face into Red Son's pajama top to muffle her hiccups and sobs. Red Son, for his part, just allowed her to cry, quietly stroking her hair like she had done for him months prior.

"It's just a jacket," Mei whimpered at last, her voice wet. "Just dumb clothes and a dumb body and…" She sniffled, wiping her nose on her wrist. "I know it's only hormones, I know I'm not normally like this and that makes it worse–"

"It's fine, Mei," Red said, stern but gentle. "We both knew this would happen."

"But I didn't actually think I'd be upset because I look weird!"

"I don't think you look weird."

"Fine, I look different, whatever."

Red's arms tightened around her. "Do you want to vent, or do you want affirmation?"

Ah. He'd been listening to Sandy. "...affirmation."

"I think you're beautiful," Red Son's words came immediately. Mei felt him nosing at her hair as he continued, "Before, during, and after all of this. Anything different you see in yourself is just a sign that you carried and birthed our child, Mei."

Mei sniffed, slowly calming down.

"You're incredibly brave. You're strong. One of the strongest people I've had the privilege to know." The entire time he was speaking, Red Son was still holding and nuzzling at her. "Fierce. Powerful." She leaned into him and he adjusted his hold so he could press his face into her shoulder. "Incredibly fierce…"

Mei felt the two of them getting warmer and laughed, still a bit wetly but much lighter. "H-Hey, careful, Red," she chided gently, pulling away - albeit reluctantly. "This is how we got Chenguang in the first place, remember?"

"And I meant every word then, too." But even so, he pulled back, letting Mei wipe her face and take a few breaths. "But you feel better now, don't you?"

"Yeah… Yeah. Thank you. I'm sorry I got so weird on you–"

"Don't apologize. There's nothing to apologize for."

Mei nodded, finally feeling like her usual self again.

"...but also since you mentioned it, if you're feeling better–"

Mei barked out a laugh and threw a pillow at his face.


"Monkie Kid's friend!"

"We've finally cornered you, and there is no escape!"

"And now that we have you where we want you, you've no choice but to…"

The brothers abruptly stopped posturing, instead lowering themselves slightly and staring at Mei with their hands clasped in front of their mouths, and identical puppy eyes. "Let us see the baby?" Jin finished. "Pleeeaaase?"

"We brought presents and everything!" Yin added, thrusting out a small, haphazardly-wrapped box.

Mei, wearing a red and gold qipao with green shoes and a jade necklace, regarded the twins with a raised brow and a wry smile. "You know," she began, one hand on her hip, "if you wanted to be invited to see her, you only had to ask."

"Oh gods, it's a girl?!" the pair squeed.

Mei snorted a laugh and began to turn around. "C'mon in," she said over her shoulder. "But behave."

"Of course, of course! Best behavior!" Jin said, scrambling after Mei.

"We'll be model guests!" Yin added.

Mei believed it. The pair hadn't done anything even remotely mischievous once since the day they saw her in the market. True to their word, they'd been keeping their noses clean.

Wanting to see the baby was a bit of a surprise, but not a huge one.

She led them to the sitting room, where most of the furniture had been rearranged to better accommodate everyone. The tables had been dragged against one of the walls and were laden with snacks, another table held gifts divided into two piles (marked with placards reading "Baby" and "Mother"), red and gold decorated everything, and sitting in a place of honor was a small calligraphy brush made with a lock of Chenguang's hair. The more solemn parts of the day had been done in the morning, and now it was just time for the party and for showing Chenguang off.

Mei wasn't the only one who was dressed up, either. Everyone was dressed nicely, clothing ranging from modern takes of traditional clothing to Western sets. MK was one of those in the latter category, the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up as he sat on the couch holding Chenguang and tried, unsuccessfully, not to cry.

"She's so liiiittlllle…" he sniffled loudly, holding one of her fists and lightly moving it. Chenguang stared back, wide-eyed. "It's illegal to be that small."

"You were that small once," Tang pointed out.

"And it was illegal then, too."

"Alright, alright, Noodle Boy, you've held her for ten minutes, let someone else have a turn," Red Son muttered, striding forward. MK protested and fake-whined as Chenguang was taken from him, but he settled quickly. "Who hasn't had a turn yet–"

"Oh, us, please!" the twins cried.

"Wha- absolutely not!"

"Pleeeaase, you can supervise us!"

"We'll sit on the couch and lean way back, if you're scared we'll drop her!"

"Yeah, we can just hold her on our laps!"

"Pleeeaaaa–"

"Alright, alright, just stop!" Red snapped, taking a few deep breaths to keep his hair from sparking. "Just find an empty seat - and you get her for one minute, no more."

"Sure, sure, mate!"

"We'll savor every second!"

Red Son huffed, but said nothing further as he moved forward and set Chenguang on Jin's lap, as he was closest. There was a brief, whispered argument between the brothers over whether or not Yin should have a turn, but it ended quickly - whether to keep the baby from being snatched away from them, or out of fear of getting carried away and hurting her, Red wasn't sure.

But they quieted quickly, staring at Chenguang in her little red and gold dress with awe.

Chenguang, for her part, was perfectly quiet and calm. She stared around at her guests with big, curious eyes, carefully regarding all of them. It had been a bit of a surprise that she didn't cry from the numerous strangers around her, and only really fussed when she couldn't see either her mother or her father. But if she could see one or both of them nearby, she seemed to be perfectly happy.

Red Son and Mei just took it as a sign that she'd be curious and observant.

"Brother, look, she's got little hoofies…"

"They're so small…"

Pigsy nodded towards the baby as she gurgled and looked back and forth between the brothers. "You'll need special shoes for those," he commented. "'til she learns to use a humanoid form like Red Boy there."

"If she's anything like Red Boy, Iron Mama and Bull Daddy think she'll figure it out in about five months."

"Well, until then," Sandy began, dropping his voice to a whisper and winking as he inclined his head towards the gifts, "that's what my present is."

"Awww, Sandy, thank you~"

From her place on one of the opposite couches, Iron Fan frowned. "I did not agree to that nickname," she intoned coolly.

"It's fine, I'm still workshopping." Mei smiled as she reached out and smoothed Chenguang's hair a bit. In certain lighting, she could see some of the locks looking more dark blue than black. Likely reflecting the color of her fire, she figured. It'd probably grow brighter as time passed, until it had the same blue raspberry color as the little flame had.

Her smile became a smirk as she looked up at the in-laws. "What do you want Chenguang to call you? Iron Grandma?"

"Most definitely not."

"...I would not mind being Bull Grandpa."

The rest of the party went, all things considered… very smoothly. It got a little cramped in the sitting room when Wukong finally made it in, carrying entirely too many boxes and cheerfully pretending he wasn't late, but it was still manageable. Chenguang continued to be passed around from person to person like a party parcel, but she took it in stride. Or at least, as much as a baby could.

The one hiccup occurred when it was Wukong's turn to try holding her and he nearly teared up then and there, and started looking towards the window. Red Son had to quickly draw the heavy curtains with a snarl of "Don't even think about it."

"Wasn't going to!"

Chenguang took that moment to yawn, eyes steadily drifting shut. As Red Son moved back to take her, Bai He frowned slightly. "She doesn't do much," she commented. "I thought she'd be, I dunno, laughing and playing with everyone?"

"Nah, not at her age, kiddo," Wukong huffed, letting Red Son leave with the baby. "They don't do much at that age except sleep and eat."

"And cry," Mei added. "But Chenguang's been so good about that so far!"

"Oh, yeah, Monkey King, she didn't cry once while we were here!"

"Probably because Macaque's not here to put a curse on her–"

"Monkey King!"


The party had been full of guests, nearly every member of their odd family. And now, Chenguang's family as well.

Nearly every member.

Hours later, when the last of their loved ones had gone home (MK had held all of them in a tight hug, making them promise to come by the next day and bring the baby), and the entire home had gone still, something unseen stirred.

Its presence shifted near a window, then flitted to the next, then vanished.

In the darkened master bedroom, something shifted and rippled against one of the walls, just over the cradle. Little Chenguang, as if sensing something amiss in her warm and safe home, sleepily opened her eyes.

There were shadows on the wall above her cradle, mostly in the shapes of the architecture outside. Not that she knew what those were just yet.

But then they shifted slightly, slipped further down and closer to her face.

One of the shadows was growing longer, shifting slightly. Then, it appeared to peel itself off the wall, as if leaning out and down to peek at her.

Chenguang stared.

The dark shape was still, as if staring back. Then glittering dark appeared where a face should be, forming a smile.

"Hey there," the shadow said in a low voice. "No Fire, I see."

Chenguang made a tiny noise, staring, now wide-awake.

"Sorry I couldn't make the party today," the shadow continued softly. It continued to regard her, slowly tilting its head. Then the smile reappeared. "I do have a gift for you, though. Do you like ducklings?"

Chenguang didn't know if she liked ducks yet. She didn't know much of anything, not yet.

But nonetheless, when the shadow slipped back against the wall, and the images of ducklings appeared over her head, she gurgled happily.