Moonlit

The moon was bright and high in the sky before Sirius got a chance to sneak away from his packs den. Carefully he inched past his father and Silver, checking every other step that they were still asleep. It only took a few minutes for him to finally escape the den, but even those few seconds felt like a lifetime. Soon Sirius was running across the forest, following a path he knew by heart as he made his way to their meeting place.

Breaking free from the cover of the forest, he saw her. Her monochrome color scheme both hid and revealed her in the dark night, even where she was half hidden in the shadow of a cliffside. Letting out a soft warbling sound, Sirius caught her attention before approaching carefully. After a moment, Merlin stepped out of the shadows. Quickly the two ran to meet, Sirius nuzzling his snout into the soft fuzz of her feathers. “I missed you.” he breathed softly, reeling back to meet her eyes.

Merlin smiled softly. “Missed you, too.” She returned, shaking her feathers out softly and letting out a soft puff of air. “Shall we?” she gestured towards the path through the cliffs they used every time they met up. Sirius let out a churr of agreement, before leading the way into the moonlit canyon. Together they walked side by side across the narrow canyon, occasionally brushing their flanks together and doing nothing to stop the contact from happening. Occasionally, Sirius would shoot looks of adoration at Merlin, which were often returned bashfully. She was just. So pretty. Sirius had never been interested in courtship with another of his kind before- most of the cryolophosaurus he knew were his back, which just consisted of his father and Silver. 

Sirius had met Merlin when he had ventured out of his pack temporarily to hunt on his own, stealing a dinosaur egg from the nest of the irate mother. While running, he had smacked right into Merlin, shattering the egg all over her and losing his meal. However, they had no time to argue about it as soon they were both running side by side from the angry mother Dacentrurus. Together they had narrowly escaped, and managed to form a friendship through the events. Soon, that friendship blossomed into something more. Every full moon for the past few months they would meet, spending the night together before returning to their own lives. While part of Sirius longed to have Merlin join his pack, she was very much against the idea. She much preferred to be sticking it out on her own, and Sirius respected that- no matter how much he longed to tell his father. 

Sirius was nudged out of his musing by their emergence into a small clearing in the canyon, where healthy albeit sparse foliage grew. A small amount of flowers speckles the blue tinged grass, giving the hollow the sweet scene of flowers. In the middle was a small stream, small enough even a chick could step over it but full of fresh water. This was their meeting space, the area where they have been spending long nights together. 

Making his way over to the smooth stone they often rested on, Sirius laid himself down on it with a weary sigh. The journey over had not been terribly long, but he had been moving fast in order to make it before night ended. Merlin joined him on it, resting against his side and keeping him warm from the cool night air. He rested his head over her shoulder, closing his eyes and just letting himself enjoy the movement.

However, a shifting movement caught his attention. Lazily opening his eyes, Sirius grew concerned as he caught a flash of… something in Merlin's body posture. Tension, maybe? Hesitance? Raising his head, Sirius stepped back. “Merlin? What's wrong? I can tell somethings up.”

Merlin sighed, craning her head to the side for a moment before looking up at the night sky. She seemed to be steeling herself for something. The monochrome cryolophosaurus took a deep breath before meeting Sirius’s eyes. “I’m sorry for not telling you as soon as we met… I wanted to enjoy our night tonight. But you need to know.” She looked away again, digging her claws into the dirt momentarily. Sirius anxiously lashed his tail, mind screaming hundreds of bad ways this could go to him.

“I'm pregnant.” Merlin finally broke her silence, with two words that practically short circuited Sirius’s brain. For a minute, the male just stood there uselessly, mouth partly open before shaking it off. This was. Big news. 

Sirius took a deep breath before starting. “When…what. What do you want to do?” His mouth felt dry and his heart was racing. Eggs. His eggs. Her eggs. Their eggs.

Merlin sat down, sagging down. “Im not sure.” She spoke truthfully, with a deeply sad tone behind her words. Sirius pressed against her side, wishing he could help with her worries. “I can’t raise them on my own- I don't. I don't want to raise them.” She shook her head sorrowfully. “I know what you're going to say. I know you want me to come with you, to join your pack, to meet your father. But I don’t…” 

Sirius already knew what he was going to say before he did so. “I can take them.” Merlin looked at him, eyes hopefully yet so very sad. “My father raised me without my mother around- she also wasn’t interested in young. He’s mentioned before how much he would like for me to have my own kids- our kids, how.” He pressed a snout to Merlin's side. “You don’t have to be involved. I certainly wouldn't mind you visiting occasionally, I won’t pressure you into anything you don't want.” 

Merlin was silent for a moment, before sighing in a mix of relief and sadness. “Ok.” She agreed. And that was simply it. “Just. One request. Stay with me, until dawn.” And so Sirius did.