Disclaimer:All characters, except Albany/Ali, Kelly, Kevin, and Dr. Wolfe, are not mine.
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August 1998. I stepped out into the warm summer sun.and walked down the street heading for Athens Incorporated. I was going to give Aladdin his daytime humanity back. Mozenrath’s potion, I realized, wasn’t any different from Hagger’s potion. So, therefore the spell would work on Aladdin, too.
I entered Athens and approached the receptionist’s desk. “I wish to see Aladdin,” I told her. The receptionist nodded and buzzed me in. I walked into the elevator and pushed the button that would take me to the floor where Aladdin and Gemini lived. The doors closed and the elevator took me up to the floor I indicated. A chime sounded that I had arrived on floor 6, I got off and walked right into Aladdin’s waiting arms.
“Jasmine ! You’re human!” Aladdin exclaimed. Then he frowned. “Didn’t you say the spell was permanent?”
“Yes, it was. But Puck and Alex did me a favor to make me human during the day, if I choose to.”
“Could they do it for me?”
“Actually, I can do it.”
“You learned magic?”
“You could say that.”
“Then do it.”
I stood in front of the light-blue gargoyle and chanted the same spell that had been done three times in the past few events(May ’97, Jan. ’98, and June ’98.). After I finished, I explained the spell’s workings. That was when Aladdin noticed my middle.
“You’re pregnant!” he gasped.
“It’s going to be a human/gargoyle hybrid.”
“Wow.”
I spent the day and night with Aladdin, planning his first day back with humanity. I even sprung the news of telling him that Maggie the Cat was pregnant as well and that we were both in our fifth month.
At dawn, Aladdin and I became human, then we got Gemini to come with us and we took off for a day of shopping, touring, and eating. We even ran into a few friends that either Gemini or I knew.
Four Months Later
Maggie and I were in our final month of pregnancy. I noticed that Maggie’s stomach was a little bigger than mine. Both of us didn’t know why, but we would soon learn.
When I had reached my sixth, Elisa and I told the clan that I had reached the stage where I should rest a lot. At month seven, I barely had the strength to change to my human form. At month eight, I had no strength to go to human form, so I used my pendent. Fox helped me while the clan slept. Sometimes, a clan member would stay awake to help me so Fox could take care of Alex. I didn’t have any magic lessons since I told Puck about my pregnancy. I still remembered the day Talon had Maggie take a pregnancy test and brought her to the castle:
I stood on the outside of the castle, waiting for Talon and Maggie to come. I saw, in the distance, two figures against the cloudy daylight sky. They circled the castle a couple of times before touching down.
“Hi Talon. Hi Maggie,” I greeted.
“Hello Jasmine,” Talon answered as he looked around the castle. I could tell he was looking for Xanatos. I knew they were enemies, but I never had met Xanatos until the night of the Hunter’s Moon. But, he was an enemy of the clan, so I hated him also. But now, Xanatos and I were on more friendly terms than the others were.
Maggie waved and we walked ahead to the doctor’s office. Talon caught with us after five minutes. Dr. Wolfe did the test on Maggie and came back after ten minutes of examining the results. Maggie was indeed, pregnant. The two mutates were surprised that they could produce offspring. I congratulated the two of them and they accepted it. Maggie and I were excited about giving birth in the same month.
Now it was Dec.24th, nighttime. Brooklyn took it upon himself to carry me sometimes. I walked just fine, but Brooklyn is a little stubborn, so I allowed him to do as he saw fit. Tonight was no different.
He woke up from stone sleep and immediately scooped me up when he saw me. I wanted to protest, but I wasn’t feeling up to it. I was taken to the TV room and placed on the couch. Elisa and Angela occasionally placed their hands on my stomach to feel the baby kick. All the attention I was getting was embarrassing, but it felt good.
It wasn’t long before I felt wetness in the maternity pants Fox gave me. My eyes widened. The water had just broken. I took a deep breath.
“G-guys? My water broke,” I said shakily.
Elisa looked at me, scared. Most likely because we both knew what was coming next. Everyone else was confused.
“What do you mean, your water broke?” Zazu asked. I knew that he knew what I meant. He was hoping that I didn’t really mean it.
“That’s just what I said.”
“What does it mean?” Broadway asked.
“It means she’s going to go into labor soon. The baby’s going to be born,” Elisa cried. At that point, I gave a pained groan.
Brooklyn picked me up and rushed me out of the room. As we left the room, I heard the phone ring and Elisa saying “Hello?”
We burst into the infirmary and Brooklyn shouted, “Get Dr. Wolfe! Jasmine’s in labor!” to Xanatos and Owen who were there. They both left the room quickly and Brooklyn placed me on one of the beds.
Dr. Wolfe ran into the room three minutes later. “It’s time?” he asked.
I nodded, gritting my teeth. Dr. Wolfe immediately grabbed towels, and scissors, then shooed Brooklyn into the waiting room. Drawing a curtain around the bed, Dr. Wolfe said, “Now, let’s get on with the delivery.”
Just then, the doors of the infirmary flew open and Talon ran in carrying Maggie, who was groaning.
“Maggie’s in labor!” Talon called.
“We need nurse help,” Zazu added.
“Zazu?” I said weakly.
“Yes, Jasmine. I’m here. And I’m staying with you to make sure this delivery is successful.”
I smiled until another contraction hit me. I sank back against the pillows and pushed. I heard nurses come into the room, the sound of another curtain being drawn, and Maggie groaning and pushing.
Half an hour later, Maggie and I were pushing as hard as possible. I was groaning with pain, feeling like the baby was clawing it’s way out. I heard Dr. Wolfe say “I’ve got a head.”
“Keep pushing, Jasmine,” Zazu advised.
I did as told. I pushed harder and harder. Finally, I heard a baby gargoyle’s wail.
“Congratulations. It’s a boy,” Dr. Wolfe announced. Zazu and I sighed with relief.
He handed me a bundle wrapped in a white towel once he removed the cord. Zazu and I looked at the wailing gargoyle, while the doctor left to tell the clan the news. My son had dark blue-lavender skin with ash gray hair. I noticed that he had five claws on each hand as well as the usual wings and tail.
Suddenly, I heard another wail and I realized Maggie’s baby was born. Talon pushed aside both curtains, looked at Zazu and me and uttered one word. “Twins!”
I gasped. Maggie was having twins! That explained why her middle was bigger than mine, she had two babies.
“The first one’s a ,” Talon continued as he looked at my child. “You’ve had a boy! Congratulations!”
“Thanks, Talon. And the same to you on your first child.”
Talon grinned. “Yeah, well, I hope to be a good father.”
“Of course you will. Just look at Brooklyn.”
A groan from Maggie cut our conversation short. Talon turned back to his mate, drawing a curtain around them. Zazu and I looked at each other smiling. It’s always exciting to have a new family member. It makes the pain worth it.
“If you don’t mind,” Zazu said bringing out paper and a pen. “maybe you could give a list of friends to tell about the birth.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” I told him. “I want Aladdin, Gemini, the Voltron Force and Lotor, MacBeth, and Demona to know.”
“Demona?” Zazu looked at me curiously, pausing in his writing. “Are you sure? I mean, Brooklyn’s going to make most of the calls.”
I smiled. “Yes, I’m sure. Angela can make the call if Brooklyn doesn’t want to.”
“O-kay,” Zazu wrote Demona’s name down and left. A few minutes later Angela walked in.
“Jasmine, I wanted to be the first to see the new clan member. Not to mention, nephew.”
I smiled and motioned for her to come closer. We exclaimed quietly about his claws, his wings, and tiny tail. About five minutes later, Angela turned to leave. In the midst of Angela’s arrival, Maggie’s second baby came. As Angela pushed the double doors open I heard Brooklyn say, “Oh no. No! I’m not going to tell Demona about my son!” and Angela say, “Then I’ll call her. You can go look at your son.”
Brooklyn entered the room, just as Maggie and Talon began discussing names. Dr. Wolfe announced to the room that it was a boy. It had taken five minutes for the second child to be born.
“You know, we better pick a name, too,” Brooklyn suggested. “Right. I think we should name him after a place. I mean, Rose was named after a flower like myself.”
“Clever. Hmm…how about Albany, New York’s capital?"
“That’s perfect. It suits him.”
“Your son’s name is Albany?” Maggie’s voice asked.
“Sure. Why not?’ Brooklyn responded.
“I don’t see a reason why not,” Talon said, pushing Maggie’s curtain aside. “I want you two to meet our son and daughter, Kevin and Kelly.”
We saw two winged felines. One had dark skin like Talon’s and strands of brown hair, and feminine features, obviously Kelly. The other, Kevin, had Maggie’s flesh-colored skin, but no hair like his father.
“They’re so cute,” I exclaimed.
“Who’s so cute?” a voice spoke. The four of us looked at the doorway and saw a gargoyle with ebony skin, red eyes and red hair.
“Hi Gemini,” I said. “We were just talking about Talon and Maggie’s twins.”
“Maggie had twins?” the clone gasped as she dashed between the two beds. “Can I see?”
Maggie proudly displayed her children and Gemini cooed to them. I watched them, happy. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked to my other side.
“Aladdin,” I said, smiling.
“Hi, Jasmine,” he replied. Looking at my son, he said, “He’s handsome. What’s his name?”
“Albany.”
“After the capital?”
“We think it’s perfect.”
“I think so too.”
Aladdin and Gemini soon left. The Voltron Force along with Lotor, Nanny, and Coran arrived. They spent a long time talking with me and looking at my son and Maggie’s twins. After they left, the rest of the clan came and went. MacBeth was the next visitor. The tension was a little strained between him and Brooklyn but things worked out. MacBeth left, then Demona came. I felt a lot of tension between them. But, Brooklyn behaved himself. He refrained from wanting to tear Demona’s throat out. Needless to say, my gargoyle mother didn’t stay long.
Dawn arrived. Maggie, Talon, and the twins were asleep. Brooklyn and I stayed in our gargoyle forms, flesh. I wore my amulet. Looking at our son, who was also asleep, I gasped. “Brooklyn, look!” Our son was no longer a gargoyle, he was human!
“How did he become human?” my mate asked.
“I-I don’t know.”
“I do.” Brooklyn and I looked in the direction the voice had come from. We sighed dully.
“Puck.”
“Well, this is what I get from a happy couple on Christmas,” the fay pretended to be hurt.
“Where’s Alex?” Brooklyn asked.
“Hey, Oberon gave me the gift of using my powers on Christmas.”
Brooklyn and I exchanged an “Oh no.” look. I cleared my throat.
“You said you knew why Albany’s human.”
“I do. Well, it’s simply this: When Dr. Wolfe said hybrid he meant the child will be a gargoyle at night…,”
“…and human during the day,” I finished.
“We have a winner!” Puck cheered. Then he left.
“Well,” Brooklyn sighed. “If Albany’s going to walk around Manhattan years from now, he’s going to need a human name and I say that you pick one.”
“I’ve always liked the name Ali,” I began. “That was Aladdin’s prince name.”
“I like it.” We looked at Ali more closely this time. His skin was as white as Brooklyn’s humans skin would be. His eyes and hair were as black as night. He had Brooklyn’s eyes and my hair.
Hours later, I woke up, sensing someone looking at me. And it wasn't Brooklyn who was looking at me. I knew this because I sensed him next to me, also asleep. Blinking sleepily, I looked at the foot of my bed and saw, to my surprise, the Thundercats! Puck must have brought them here after telling them about Ali's birth.
"Hi, everyone," I said softly.
The Thundercats, likewise, said hello softly and gazed at my son. I explained Ali's hybrid qualities, which was still a shock to me. My son's ability was something the Brooklyn and I would need to tell the rest of the clan. As I looked at my son, I wondered what his future would hold for him
