The Park, Saturday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla had danced this dance before. After spending the last few days dreaming about her parents, she knew to pack up Kayla and Warren and head to the island this weekend. She'd also invited Cora and Nyles to come along, but neither had seen the appeal of visiting her insane island to meet more adults. Well, that wasn't entirely true; Cora was

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[not_a_parakeet]

Warren was only the slightest bit antsy today, but he at least managed to hide that well. He'd met Karla's parents before, after all, and that had gone...

Well, it had gone. But maybe this time would be different. He could certainly hope. After all, if nothing else, he had a fair bit more backbone than he had when he'd seen them last. And hey, if he was really lucky, they'd get lost on the way.

What? He could think these things, just so long as he wasn't thinking them aloud.

"It really is a nice day, huh?"

[glacial_queen]

It probably helped that this time they weren't completely naked? And Warren's hands were not inching anywhere they wouldn't want her parents to see?

"Gorgeous," she agreed, patting a spot on the blanket for him. "A nice change of pace from how hot and sticky everything is back home."

August humidity in Glacia was not a thing to be trifled with.

"What do you say we stick around the island a bit, hmm? Appreciate their spring and early summer without you having to molt through it."

[not_a_parakeet]

Warren chuckled as he took a seat.

"You know, that's probably one of the best ideas I've heard in a while. All I really want to do when the snow melts is fly, and instead I spend the whole time itching."

And bleeding. Thanks again, evil alien mutagen disease. Those claws continued to make life a joy.

"And I think most of the really weird stuff is probably out of the way until summer properly hits, now."

Really weird. As opposed to waiting in the park for some dead people to stop by.

[glacial_queen]

Pffft, that barely rated an eyebrow raise around here.

"The next time the island is scheduled to go super-crazy is the end of summer, really," Karla pointed out, prying a twig out of Kayla's chubby fist before she could put it in her mouth. Where'd she even get that thing? "That gives us plenty of time to enjoy the weather before we have to clear out."

[not_a_parakeet]

"So you want to just stick around here until just before the end of summer?" Warren sounded wistful at that, before he laughed. "I'm certain Julian and Mallory would be thrilled with us."

They'd come to the island to throttle them, more like.

[glacial_queen]

"Well, we'd have to go home to get Nyles and Cora, of course," Karla AS IT ALWAYS SAID said, because she was absolutely not abandoning their older children just for some gorgeous weather. "Maybe we can...leave a note or something. 'Gone to Fandom for their summer. BIAB AS IT ALSO ALWAYS SAID?' They can't come and murder us if we leave a note, right?"

Her smile faltered and she tilted her head a bit to the side. "They're almost here," she said. "I can sense them."

[not_a_parakeet]

"Yeah?" Warren frowned faintly, and then, after a few seconds, recovered with a chuckle and a little nudge to her ribs with one of his wings. "If we didn't have Kayla here, I'd say now was the perfect time to vanish our clothes and get into some kind of compromising position again."

Because he was a shameless little shit, these days.

[glacial_queen]

"...How fast do you think we could get Jono down here to take her?" Karla asked, grinning.

She loved her shameless little shit of a fiance, dammit.

"But you hold onto that idea, okay?" she asked, giving him a look from underneath her lashes. A phantom hand stroked up his arm. "It has potential, even if the timing doesn't work out right now."

[not_a_parakeet]

"I'll keep it in mind for the next time," Warren chuckled, leaning a little against that phantom hand. "We'll be sure to find a babysitter, next time."

So that they could be horrible, horrible people.

[glacial_queen]

"I meant for later," Karla said, smirking at him. "Kayla's got to sleep sometime, doesn't she?"

And then, with an almost imperceptible tensing, she said, "Hello, Mother, Father."

[glacial_family]

"Karla," Ilyse said, sounding warm. "And...Warren, hello." Slightly less warm there, but still pleasant. "And--who is this?"

Ilyse spotted Kayla, looking at the little girl sitting up by herself with a surprise that couldn't decide whether to be thrilled or horrified.

[not_a_parakeet]

Warren gave a nod in greeting to Ilyse and Audric both. But his reply wasn't a greeting, it was an introduction.

"This is Kayla," he said, simply but with no small amount of pride. "Our daughter."

[glacial_family]

"She's--she's lovely," Ilyse said, reaching out to clutch Audric's hand. "A little Queen, I see."

"And yet very unexpected," Audric replied. They'd apparently agreed that she'd take the gleefully surprised and him the horrified. "Weren't we just here a few years ago? I remember you both being very clear then about not having children any time soon."

IT WAS TOO SOON.

[glacial_queen]

Karla sighed, picking Kayla up and holding her close. "And award for shortest visit before we begin fighting goes to this one, 2015. Applause all around for this accomplishment."

[not_a_parakeet]

"I was expecting it would start sooner," Warren admitted, smiling wryly. "But I think we've earned the right to bring our daughter to the park without being lectured for it. If you want to give us a long, angry chat about her existence, it can wait until we're somewhere not right in front of her."

She was tiny, and not likely to pick up on much of it, or even remember. But she was smart, and she'd been communicating with people even in the womb, thanks to Jono. Warren wasn't about to take any chances, and he was going to say as much with a low growl that accompanied that smile neatly.

[glacial_family]

"She's just an infant--" Ilyse started, while Audric sputtered.