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The last thing Keith expected to find today was a guppy. She was tiny; he easily could have held her in just the palms of his hands, but instead he had picked up her and cradled her to his chest almost immediately. She had looked so vulnerable lying there in the sand, half-awake.
Not half-awake, he realized as he kept her flush against him, half-alive.
It wasn’t unheard of. Often, if an unmated mer had their eggs fertilized they left the eggs anywhere to be eaten by other sea dwellers. Sometimes a few members of each clutch hatched, like this one, but they died pretty quickly without anyone to fend for them.
It was the way of the sea. Keith knew this.
But he just couldn’t put her back down.
She needed food, first of all. Algae for guppies—he remembered that, at least. Lucky for them both there was a patch nearby and he hurried as fast as he could without jostling her.
When they arrived she gurgled out a little noise and rolled in his arms a little. He held her tighter for it.
Feeding her was easy; he pulled up some algae and held it against her mouth. She opened as wide as she could and basically swallowed it whole.
<Slow down> he clicked, happy to see she was alive enough to be hungry.
Eventually she started to wake up a bit more. Her eyes were wide; they were bright blue, two shades lighter than Lance’s, and the way she looked up to him was with complete trust; it stole his breath.
<It’s going to be okay> he pressed a kiss against her head.
She flapped her fin in contentment and snuggled against him.
When Keith arrived at the little cave he and Lance called home his only thought was on keeping the guppy as comfortable as possible and trying to figure out where she might sleep. Actually asking his mate if he was okay with an addition to their family had slipped his mind.
<Um, Keith, have you got something to tell me?> Lance asked as soon as Keith swam in, cooing and chirruping softly at the baby in his arms.
Keith looked up with those wide, wet eyes that Lance could never say no to.
<I found her abandoned.>
Lance swam closer to the two of them. Tentatively he stroked the guppies hair back and she opened her eyes to look at him. Just like Keith, Lance felt his heart melt when she looked at him. He chirruped happily.
<Alright you cuddled her all the way home. My turn.> Lance held his arms out.
Keith gently passed her over. <I’ll collect some kelp for a bed.>
He left the cave with a glance over his shoulder. He saw Lance with his nose nuzzled against her forehead and he was whispering happy words to her. He saw his family.