Motherhood is not for me (Codey)

Healer In-Training Posts : 304

Tess considered herself to be a Jack-of-all-trades, at least when it came to her academics. She enjoyed the multi-subject tests that came her way because it tested her and her fluidity. But as soon as she began to feel used to the environment and her classes at Merlin, a curveball came her way. Two in fact. The first one was the fact that she had to take care of a baby egg. It seemed so simple, in theory, but the fact that a fierce and powerful dragon would hatch from that small egg. Because of that, something unexpected happened. She got attached. Knowing that the dragon egg came the dragon that she'd been enthralled by, made Tess become more attached to it. As she brought the egg to her flat, she heated her room at the appropriate temperature. She would rub a warm cloth over it, making sure it was shiny and clean. Motherhood came easily with it, and she admitted that when it hatched, she teared up a bit.

The first name that popped out of her mouth was "Sprinkles" from the shine that came from the tiny slimy wings of the dragon. It was a "she" like she had hoped. Tess had placed it on her lap and ignored how pathetic she looked as she teared up. The dragon chirped easily enough and it seemed like it was a bit too attached. At first it was little adorable things like attempting to follow her around even in private. But then it constantly asked for food. She knew the book stated every half hour, but Sprinkles whined for every fifteen to twenty.

Then it seemed it would be a jealous little dragon. It was obvious when her second curveball came her way: a practice baby. It was a little boy and somehow she wasn't as...lovable to it. Maybe it was because it was more helpless than Sprinkles, or the fact that it didn't let her sleep like Sprinkles did. Sprinkles was a good baby dragon, always curling up on the opposing pillow, while the charmed baby would wail and wake up both of them. In two instances the wailing from the baby boy had caused Sprinkles to go into a fit and try to gnaw her way into the "crib" and hurt the baby. It was for her grade, so as discipline, she lightly tapped the bottom of Sprinkles with a newspaper and put her in the playpen. It was clear to see that neither parties were happy.

Now it had been three days since the egg had hatched and that the baby boy (still unnamed) had been living with her and she was exhausted. The baby was kind of adorable, if she had the motherly attachment like she had with Sprinkles. It was always so pink, especially when it cried, and it would tremble and turn bright red when it wailed. The eyes were a mixture of blue/yellow, interesting signs of heterochromatic eyes, which interested her. It would only quiet down if she sang to it, like she did with Sprinkles.

This afternoon she had decided that she needed sleep, desperately. As she mixed the bucket of brandy mixed with chicken blood into large baby bottles, she heard Sprinkles chirping wanting to get some now.

"No Sprinkles you know it's another twenty minutes. We just need to visit Codey. Now be a good baby and get in your cage" that never worked.

Sighing, she put the dragon bottles in her satchel with the milk formula for both babies. Slipping it on her shoulder, she put Sprinkles it her carrier as she did the same with the baby. One look in the mirror and she realized how pathetic she looked. One loose yellow jumper with leggings, boots covering her feet and a beanie covering her growing hair. On each hand there was a baby and with one concentration, she landed in front of the home of her professor.

Putting the babies down, she knocked on the door tiredly.

Headmaster Posts : 208

Sunday was the one day Codey had claimed for his own, away from University and away from students and other Professors. It was quite honestly the only day he had to himself, and he spent it doing Merlin knows what - nobody truly knew what the man did, for he kept it secret. Some could speculate that it was illegal dealings, while others simply brushed it away. But whatever the case, he kept it private and secluded himself from the outside world.

It was odd, then, that one afternoon just as he had poured himself a glass of wine that there came a knock on his front door. For once not in his suit and tie, he instead had on shorts and a baggy t-shirt. Moving towards the door, Codey frowned a little to himself, hoping that it was not some idiot with a problem that they thought needed to be solved immediately - most of the time, they didn't.

Peering through the peep-hole, Codey caught sight of one of his better students, Tess, standing there and immediately threw open the door. She looked absolutely exhausted, and terrible, not at all like the Tess Holmes he knew from classes. Eyes travelling down towards her feet, he raised an eyebrow at the two species of babies there - one real and one not - and tried to hide an amused smile, failing to actually do so; his lips twitched upwards.

"Good gods, Miss Tess, what's wrong?" he asked, just managing to keep the mirth out of his tone. This was truly amusing to him, but he was smart enough not to voice it out. "Come on in," he added a moment later, slipping out his wand and levitating the two carriers.

Ushering her into the living room, he motioned towards his spare bedroom. "You look like you need sleep, and you need it now. Go, I'll take care of these two for you," he said, tone slightly firmer, as though dealing with a meddlesome child, because he didn't want her to argue.

Healer In-Training Posts : 304

Tess hadn't even considered how appropriate or intrusive towards Codey's weekend. In her mind, all she wanted was a few hours of sleep, a few hours to stop the baby from wailing and Sprinkles to stop trying to eat the charmed baby. She was exhausted about having to give bottle to not one, but two babies and always having one cry because they were neglected. She was also tired of having to entertain both babies as well. She had started innocently enough with rocking and singing to the stupid doll, but once Sprinkles realized it was happening, it entertained her enough to chirp for it.

She blinked a few times trying to stay awake. Rubbing her eyes, hoping to stay awake, she was thankful that the door opened. Codey looked a lot more relaxed than she ever expected him to look. She smiled tiredly, even if he was going to make a joke out of her situation. She knew it was a joke, a punchline by the universe.

"Good gods, Miss Tess, what's wrong?"

"I'm not meant to be a mother" she said tiredly.

She was thankful that the carriers floated indoors and she followed behind him. Looking around, he looked so casual that she almost wanted to hit him. It wasn't fair. But she had to power through, after all she asked for this, she wanted to double major and this is what it forced her to do.

Before she could even explain her whole situation she was already being bossed around and ushered to a spare room. His tone was eerily similar to Mycroft's and she felt a bit guilty for not going to him to get some sleep. He'd probably make fun of her but would have helped her out. She made a note to go to him next time. But for now, she nodded, dropped the baby bottle carrier, and shuffled her feet to the spare room.

Throwing herself on the bed, she didn't even bother with the covers. Instead she closed her eyes and not even saying anything passed out cold. There was no dragon curling itself behind her, or the cold scales trying to wiggle itself into her shirt for warmth. There was no baby wailing to be fed. And it was glorious.

Headmaster Posts : 208

Codey simply couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at her words. "Not everyone is, my dear," he replied, using the term in a gentle, sibling-like manner versus anything else. Still, he couldn't help but find much amusement in the situation, especially when the baby began crying. He had half a mind to just let the dragon - Sprinkles, she had named her, if he remembered correctly - do what draglings did best: destroy. But, he knew it was important to Tess that the baby 'survived'. It was, after all, a project for one of her classes. Making a mental note to speak to Aria later, he watched Tess head off to the bedroom.

"Right, come on then," he muttered to himself, moving towards the baby first. Humans were always way more tricky than dragons. Picking it - him - up, he walked to the centre of his living room. "Now, let's set about getting you a crib," he continued, slipping out his wand. He wasn't exactly sure if it would work, but a few attempts later, and the table that sat before the couch turned itself into exactly what he needed. Placing the baby inside, he wrinkled his nose to himself, giving his wand another few flicks; the bottle of milk hovered itself over the mouth of the doll.

Having dealt with that, he turned his attention to the dragling. A real smile found its way to his face as he picked up the dragling and, cradling it carefully, summoned the formula of chicken blood and brandy. Giving it a sniff, he nodded, satisfied. "Perfect mixture. Well done, Miss Tess," he muttered, beginning to feed the dragon. At the last moment, he quickly summoned a bottle of potions from his cabinet and added a drop of that to the remaining liquid, letting the dragling clean the bottle. It was something one of his friends had developed, and was used to even out hormones, making the dragling much easier to handle.

Soon, both babies were asleep, and he turned his attention to Tess. She had not looked like she had enough rest for the past few days, and, in a rare show of emotion to anything other than dragons, Codey was quite concerned for the younger witch. Slipping into the room, he chuckled at the sight of her sprawled on the bed. Quietly, so as not to wake up the sleeping woman, he covered her with a blanket, and then slipped back out, closing the door behind him.

The next few hours was spent switching his time between baby human and baby dragon, with his focus being definitely more on the latter. The day wore on, and finally, both babies were fast asleep, and Codey was on his couch with a book and a glass on wine, waiting for Tess to wake up.

Healer In-Training Posts : 304

For a few hours, Tess was dead to the world. She needed sleep more than she cared to admit. And at the moment, she was curled up passed out on a teacher's bed. It seemed highly unprofessional, but she couldn't have gone to anyone else. Rhian had roommates and she couldn't go to her and bother the rest of her roommates (not to mention the other dragon that Rhian had).

A few hours later, Tess woke up with a groan. Opening her eyes tiredly, she stretched lazily and looked around. It was about time that she allowed herself to really take in the room. Everything was modern and highly stylized but little personal connection to many things. Shaking her head, she got up, trying to fix her fringes in order as she walked down the hall and back to the living room.

What first surprised her was that the whole house was quiet. Eerily so. For a moment she thought Codey could have hexed it, walking quicker, she stopped to see him calmly having wine and reading a book, and both babies out cold. Looking at him in confusion she leaned against the doorway.

"Tell me your secret" she said confused.

Headmaster Posts : 208

A noise alerted him to the fact that his house guest was awake, and he waited patiently till he could hear her footsteps at the entrance to the living room. Peering over the top of his book, Codey let out a tiny chuckle, folding down the corner of the page and placing it down beside him. "Did you have a good nap?" he asked calmly, motioning for her to sit beside him.

At the question, he gave a tiny shrug. "It's no secret, really," he started, nodding at the babies. "The doll has an off button." A few moments later, he smirked, then gave a short laugh. "I'm only teasing, don't worry. I harmed neither - although I was tempted to let Sprinkles have her way." He gave a genuine laugh, showing that he was, once again, joking.

Taking a causal sip of his wine and returning himself to serious mode, Codey gave Tess a slight smile. "Patience and a level head, Miss Tess. Do not let yourself be overwhelmed. Tackle one situation at a time, and one problem at a time. Use your wand - I am sure you are capable of figuring out the right spells on your own." He paused to smirk. "And, if all else fails, mix a drop of sleeping draught with five drops of water, and put one drop of the mixture into their respective foods. Don't worry, it doesn't harm either - I learnt this trick when I was working with a group of dragon trainers in a remote location. One of them had her baby with her, and we were rearing a bunch of orphaned Vipertooths. Works like a charm, but not if done too often. Once a day, at night, should do the trick."

Looking at the witch carefully, Codey raised his eyebrow. "You looked absolutely exhausted. Are you quite sure you are okay?"

Healer In-Training Posts : 304

Tess took Codey in in all his glory. He looked so relax just simply sipping his wine as the two babies looked out cold. Sprinkles looked adorable as she curled up on the makeshift carrier she had made for it. For someone that considered herself lacking a single maternal bone in her body, she sure found herself clinging more and more to the dragon, but she figured it was because it was attached to her the moment it hatched. Shrugging it off, she shook her head at his bad joke. She had to admit that for a fleeting moment she had actually thought there was an off button and she was an idiot, but as he laughed she couldn't help but crack a smile. She probably would have laughed, if she wasn't still very tired.

Walking closer she propped herself on the opposing couch and made herself at home, curling up and hugging a pillow to her chest. She smiled softly as he gave her a hint about how to get the babies to go to sleep. She briefly wondered if she was forced to keep them, how would she do as a mother. She frowned, for a fleeting second, about the failure she would have been. She was not meant to take care of living things.

"You looked absolutely exhausted. Are you quite sure you are okay?"

"Well thanks" she replied amused, "But I am, I just.....I doubt I meant to actually be maternal" she said frustrated, "When I play with one the other cries out, when one is sleeping the other one wakes it up. And sleep seems even rarer now that I think about it."

Running her fingers through her ever-growing hair she sighed. It was only her first year, and here she was almost burning out. She wished they would have consulted one another before doing it, but it wasn't happening.

"Miss Song and you seemed to have wanted to give us projects during the same time and it's slowly killing me" she said shrugging.

Headmaster Posts : 208

Codey was more amused that he had been in a long, long time, and it was quite an interesting position to be in. Normally he went along for the ride, bored and uninterested, merely going through the motions of teaching, or seeing students. But, today, Tess Holmes had arrived at his door step carrying two babies - why him, he still did not understand - and the entire situation was quite honestly entertaining to the man.

Watching the witch, he smiled slightly. She still looked rather exhausted, and he couldn't blame her - dragons were hard to take care off, and he definitely couldn't imagine what it must be like to have to watch over a baby human as well. Then again, Codey never wanted any children, so he was pretty safe in that aspect.

Chuckling at her statement, he nodded. "I cannot speak for the baby, because I do not have any experience in that area, but for Sprinkles.." Pausing a moment, he wordlessly summoned the bottle of potion he had used earlier and passed it to the witch. "This works wonders. A friend of mine created it. Mix one or two drops once a day with his meal; I do it with all my dragons. It isn't Ministry certified, so please keep it in the hush, but what it does is it regulates the hormones in the draglings, and they become easier to handle. Normally this happens by itself, but some draglings take longer than others, and it may seem Sprinkles is one of them."

This was an outright lie - the baby dragon that Tess had was perfectly normal and healthy, but there was never any harm in speeding up the process slightly to help one of his favourite students. Of course, if any of the others came to him for help, he would point them towards said potion - if the situation called for it.

At the comment, he frowned a little. "I must apologize for the mistake on my part. I didn't think to consult other Professors simply because double majors were rare, and your choices even rarer. I can only suggest you speak to Miss Aria and work out a schedule, and I will do so as well."

Turning his head towards the dragling, he smiled a little. "You need a firm hand with dragons. Do not be afraid to give it a sharp tap on the top of her head or on her bottom, much like you would a dog. It doesn't hurt them, but teaches them who is in charge. While it cannot be trained to obey like you could certain animals, they nevertheless respect those who show authority, until they reach maturity and leave their mothers side for good - this is shortly after they learn to control their fire abilities." A moment later, he added, "And if you ever need someone to babysit, Miss Tess, my door is always open."

Healer In-Training Posts : 304

Tess was still exhausted; it seemed that no mere nap would try to calm down the hours of sleep she had been missing over the time she was given the assignment. It seemed that her confidence slowly lowered each time she woke up in every morning. It was harder to get up each morning, each morning harder than the previous. Sometimes it would make her want to miss her classes and volunteer opportunities. Last week she was sent home when she was found passed out cold on the Healer Lounge at the hospital wing. It was a struggle to juggle everything. But she felt like it was worth it so long as Sprinkles and the stupid fake baby were healthy.

One thing that scared her were the words that came out of his mouth. The formula that he had given her dragonling was meant for dragons that were taking long to regulate hormones. Did that mean that she was raising him wrong. Her expression immediately shifted to one of disappointment in herself. A frown formed on her face, and her eyes sad as she stared at her baby dragon sleeping in the makeshift habitat. Merlin she knew she would be a terrible mother.

"So it's my fault she's not developing as she should?" she asked, voice small.

She wasn't the most sensitive person, but the fact that sleep had been lost over the days, it seemed that there were a few triggers. Frowning she wondered if now Miss Song would say that her fake baby was malnourished. The way they both ate it would surprise her. Both were getting fatter and fatter each day anyways. But at her complaint about not communicating with other professors, something popped out in her mind. Did he say-

"Did you say Miss Aria? So you know her?" she said eyes bright with curiosity, "pretty well if you call her Aria"

The mention of disciplining her dragon made her frown once more. She would never raise her hand on her dragon. She was raised in a home where each mistake was corrected with a swipe, slap, tug and she would be damned if she would do it to a baby dragon that couldn't communicate back. She ignored the obvious fact that it could definitely kill her soon if she wasn't careful. What made it clear to her was that she needed to be firmer in her tone. Tone she could do. She could tell that Sprinkles understood when she was frustrated at her, or when she wanted to discipline her for being a bad baby dragon and eating her curtains.

"I use my tone if that's alright with you" she replied, "I'd rather not lift my hand to discipline her if it's all the same to you. She seems to do okay with a firm talking to and a time out."

"And if you ever need someone to babysit, Miss Tess, my door is always open."

This was not something she was expecting and she smiled softly a bit embarrassed at his offer. It wasn't proper really, and it felt somewhat like cheating. She thought that this should be a one time thing, and next time she would go to her brother and a few crocodile tears would let him do all the work.

"Thank you for your offer" she replied sincerely.

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Motherhood is not for me (Codey)

Motherhood is not for me (Codey)

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