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Steel winced and dropped his hands in defeat. He’d been at it for nearly an hour and his face bore the evidence. It just wasn’t right. Everything was so hard this way.
“Steel, are you all right?” Sapphire asked from the doorway. “Are you ill?”
“No, I was trying to shave.” There were many things that They didn’t tell him about being human. Shaving was one of them. His face was nicked in half a dozen spots.
“Why?”
“You commented last night that my face was as abrasive as sandpaper. I was attempting to remedy that.”
“I was actually referring to your mood, but this is good, too. Oh, Steel, look at the mess.”
Cleaning was something else They didn’t pre-warn them about and with Astra around, it seemed a constant battle to keep their chambers tidy.
“Sapphire, do you miss being an Elemental?” He rinsed off the razor and set it aside. At least he got most of his whiskers off.
She dropped a soiled paper towel in the trash. “Daily. At times, hourly. There is more to my worth than picking up after you.” She turned and retreated back into the bedroom.
Steel clamped his mouth shut. Sapphire had been on edge as of late and he didn’t know why. All he knew was that it was a good thing to not annoy her further. At least Astra was still asleep. Things tended to go from crazy to full bore insanity when their child entered the mix.
Steel still wondered what They were playing at, removing their powers and trapping them in their human form. Granted Astra was promising to be a powerful Element when she came of age, but surely there were other ways of going about it. He didn’t mind the baby making process, not at all. However, the consequences were slowly driving him from his mind.
He wiped his face off with a towel and remembered to hang it up. He scanned the area to make sure everything was as it was supposed to be and then followed Sapphire into the bedroom.
After having their child, Sapphire seemed to be in a state of flux. She was happy one minute, ready to rip the head off of anyone who happened to be nearby with the next. Worse, there was never any warning.
He picked up his shirt and started to dress. Sapphire was standing in front of a mirror, staring at her reflection.
“Steel, does this dress make me look fat?”
“Yes,” he answered before realizing that one syllable had slipped from his lips.
She turned to him. “You think I’m fat?”
“No, merely that the dress does not flatter your form.” He pulled on his pants quickly.
“What’s wrong with my form?”
“Nothing.”
“You want me to be fat?”
“I want you to be happy.”
“Don’t you mean you want you to be happy and if I drop dead because of excessive weight, then you could return to Jet?”
“I don’t want Jet.”
“What do you want?”
“What I want is for you to shut up,” he said it, then closed his eyes in defeat. “I really said that out loud, didn’t I? I didn’t mean it, Sapphire.”
Sapphire stared daggers at him, then started to cry. He took a step towards her, but she fled into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
Just when Steel thought it couldn’t get worse, Astra started to cry. He finished buttoning his shirt and went to the baby’s room. She was standing up, holding onto the railing with both hands. She saw him and her cries intensified.
“Yes, Astra, I understand that you are upset.” He lifted her out of the crib and tended to her dirty diaper. That accomplished, he carried her to their small kitchen and retrieved a bottle from the refrigerator. He warmed it up carefully, then lowered himself into a chair. It had rails on the bottom and he could rock. He would never tell anyone how much he enjoyed this.
It took no encouragement from him for Astra to latch onto the nipple and begin to suck. All the while, Steel talked to her, explaining about Time and their battle with it, the other Elementals, which ones were her allies and which ones to avoid.
She finished the bottle, he placed a clean cloth over his shoulder and began to pat her back. The belch she let out was worth of someone three times her size and Steel smiled at her.
“I know that there is a short reprieve now for both of us.” He rocked her gently, humming some half-remembered song. He suddenly felt gentle fingers combing his hair and he looked up and over his shoulder at Sapphire.
“That song was made popular by a group called the Monkees in 1966. It was written by Neil Diamond and sung by Mickey Dolenz.”
“You… you have your powers back?” Steel was amazed and just a bit hopeful.
“No, I just like the song.” She leaned down and kissed the dozing Astra’s head. Softly she sang,
And then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace, of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried.
“Steel, I am sorry about earlier.” She hugged him and he nodded.
“No, Sapphire, it was my fault. I seem to be suffering from foot in mouth disease.”
She laughed quietly. “I believe you mean, foot and mouth disease.”
“No, foot in mouth. I open mine and put my foot in firmly. Sapphire, there is no one else I would share this experience with. Your looks are only a small portion of what endears you to me and makes me appreciate our journey together.”
“Thank you.” She sighed. “I wish someone had explained hormones to me earlier.”
“When they were explaining about shaving…” He looked down at Astra. “And babies.”
“I suspect if we had known beforehand, we never would have agreed.” Sapphire bent over to lift the sleeping baby out of his arms and carried her back to her crib.
“I didn’t know we ever agreed to this. It just happened.”
“Quite probably for a good reason.” She pulled the soft blanket up and Astra’s eyes opened sleepily. “Who would go through this voluntarily?”
“Ma-ma.”
“That’s right, Astra.” She pulled Steel forward. “And Da-da.”
“Teal.” Her eyes drifted shut again.
“Teal” Steel repeated and smiled slightly. “I can live with that.” He slipped an arm around Sapphire’s waist. “Now, I will make us breakfast.”
“You? You can’t cook.”
“I can make toast,” Steel said proudly. “For now, that will do.”
And it did.