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“A baby? Is it a baby? Oh. My. God.” It was tiny, River’s hand cupped most of the tiny wiggling body. “River! It's too small! We have to get it to the hospital. Right now!” Darci was jumping up and down in agitation.
River grinned at her. “It is a baby. And she's fine, as far as I can tell.”
“Lemme see! She's too small. Are you sure it's a girl?”
River gave her a look. The same infuriating look she remembered from middle school when they had a spat.
“River!” Darci stamped her foot. Just like in middle school. He raised his eyebrow.
“Can I hold her?” She asked in a much smaller voice.
“Well, I don't know. She's part demon. I don't want you doing anything crazy. Humans tend to get crazy around Others.”
“I Would Not Hurt A Baby!” Darci bellowed. “Really?' She asked in a softer voice. “Part demon? Is she cute?”
“She's very cute, aren't you, sweetheart? Here, I'll let you hold her if you promise to be careful.”
“River!” He raised his eyebrow again.
“Ok. I promise.”
River placed the baby into her arms.
She was tiny, not even a foot long, and had a ruffled flap of skin behind each ear. Her eyes were big and alert, nose a snub, round face, round button of a mouth. Tiny webbed feet and hands waved vigorously. Her skin tone was pale porcelain in the moonlight, and soft pale hair grew upwards, creating a curl along the top of her head.
“She looks exactly like my Kewpie doll.” Darci breathed, stroking the baby's soft hair. “She has dimples.”
“Weren't those dolls before your time?”
“It was my grandmother's.”
River skinned off his shirt and handed it to her. He was wearing a gray wife beater underneath. Darci carefully wrapped the baby in it.
She tried to ignore the biceps.
“My car is a ways away. Your’s is closer.” River led her back to the diner parking lot, his arm draped protectively around her shoulders.
His touch felt good. Right. The week of the Incident, they’d just started touching, holding hands, arms around waists, a hug, a warmer-than-friendship kiss. They’d never had the chance to move beyond that.
When they got to her car, Darci insisted he drive so she could hold the baby.
“Where to?” River asked.
“Maybe we should go ask someone what she is? Maybe find an Other pediatrician? Cause we have no idea what she eats.”
“Right.” He grabbed his cell and made a quick call. “We’ll go to the Professor’s place. You’ve met him, right? He taught a seminar on church related demon resources.”
“Oh, yes. He used to be a priest. He came to our training and did a couple lectures.” Darci made River put her seat belt on for her, since her hands were full. His hands brushing her hip and thigh made her heart ratchet up.
It was about a quarter hour drive. The tiny baby snuggled against Darci and went to sleep. Darci marveled at her tiny size and pointed ears.
“I had no idea such beings existed until I started training and even then it didn’t seem real. But now I’m holding a—an elf? In my arms.”
River grinned. “I doubt she’s an elf. They live in a different dimension and are as large as humans.”
River pulled into the driveway of a gracious two story Spanish style home and made a call. They went to the double front door, which opened immediately. Gabriel Di Russi’s long hair was messy, and he was wearing loose knit exercise pants and a baggy T-shirt.
“River! And Darci, right?” Gabriel spoke softly. “We’ll need to keep our voices down, the girls are asleep finally and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Hello, Professor.”
“Please, call me Gabriel.” They followed him through a lovely living room with a ceiling high Christmas tree covered in ornaments near a blue tiled fireplace, through the dining room to a sunroom off the large kitchen. “We just added this onto the house. With triplets we felt the need to make a room we could baby proof for a play area easier than the living room with the stairs and fireplace.”
“You have triplets?” Darci asked.
“Yes.” He pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture of a beautiful young woman holding three babies in her arms. “Trudy and the girls, just a couple days ago. They are not crawling yet, but we wanted to be proactive.”
Gabriel’s wife joined them, dressed in baby blue snowflake pajamas, looking young and sweet. She sank down on the floral loveseat next to Darci. Gabriel introduced them to her.
“You found this precious baby in the trash? That is so sad. I’m glad she is safe now.” Trudy held the tiny babe for a moment then gave her back to Darci.
“You’ll need things for her. Let me get a package together.” She returned a short while later with diapers and delicately embroidered T-shirts, some edged in homemade lace. “The tiny baby clothes the girls wore were so plain, I decorated them a little.”
Darci dressed the baby, feeling a little clumsy. The T-shirt and diaper were too large, but they were better than a River’s shirt. Trudy pulled out a camera and insisted on photos to mark the happy event.
“I'm drowning in estrogen,” River said. Gabriel poured them both a drink.
“So, what is she?” River finally stopped the lovefest.
“Well, she has gills so I'd say she's a Pixie or Nixie. Perhaps half human since she looks large for a Nixie baby, but I’ve seen too few to know for sure. Very rare in this area, but the water fey have colonies in South America. There are records of human-pixie hybrids. Not so much in this century, of course,” Gabriel said.
“How can we find out what to feed her?” Darci asked. “She's too pwecios to expewiment on, isn't she.” The baby was awake now, kicking her feet and cooing. Darci rained tiny kisses on the baby. Then she let Trudy hold her, who did the same.
“Uh, I'll do a little research, shall I?”
“Isn't Anita in the contractor’s office a pixie? You know, little Anita Pearl?” Trudy asked.
“Oh. Yes. Well, I thought she was a Brownie.” Gabriel said. He went to a laptop on the kitchen counter. “I actually have her listed in my directory.” He looked at River. “I have a personal directory that I have not released to EPCOH because many want to keep their Othernatural status confidential. ”
Gabriel made a call and gave them Anita Pearl's address. "Anita wants to see the baby to know for sure what she is." He and Trudy saw Darci and River to the door.
“Well, Merry Christmas. And thanks,” Darci called. Gabriel’s arm slid around his wife’s waist as they waved them off.
“I suspect they aren’t going to bed right away. Or maybe to bed, but not right to sleep,” River said. “They gave off that vibe.”
“River! Not in front of the baby!” Darci gave him a scolding look.
“Right.” He grinned as they drove off.