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John looked at the little bundle squirming in Nanaue’s arms, all his usual cool indifference gone.
“How?” he demanded. “How is this even possible?”
Nanaue glared at him. “Seems a little late for me to give you the birds and the bees talk now.”
“I just had no idea you were…” John trailed off with an inarticulate gesture at the tall, imposing figure before him.
“Pregnant,” Nanaue finished for him.
It wasn’t quite what John had meant, but it was close enough. “Yeah. Why didn't you tell me?”
“I wasn’t sure myself until a few weeks ago. Then I wasn’t sure what to say.”
“So that was the ‘family business’ you had to take care of back in Hawaii?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re sure it’s mine?” John asked, his eyes fixed on the sharp white and grey nose poking out of the tattered blue blanket.
“Yes, of course he is!” Nanaue shot back. “What sort of question is that?”
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just a lot to process.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he conceded, though his face was still thunderous.
Wanting to comfort him, John took a step forward, only to stop when Nanaue clutched the baby protectively. The movement broke John’s already scarred heart.
“Can I see him?” John asked gently. “Can I meet my son?”
Liquid black eyes full of fear and love met his eyes for a long moment, then softened. This time it was Nanaue who stepped forward and held out the baby. “Careful of his teeth,” he said fondly. “He’s a little bitey.”
“Takes after his dad that way,” John joked, as pushed the blanket back and brushed his fingertips against the baby’s skin. “In fact, he looks just like you.”
“I dunno,“ Nanaue replied. “I think he looks like you in the face.”
Looking down at the baby, his mouth open and drooling as he slept, John admitted, “Yeah, I can see that.”
“What are we going to do with him, John?” Nanaue asked. When John bristled at the question, he added more quietly, “I don’t want him to have the sort of childhood I did. I don’t want him to be feared and hated and attacked just for being different like I was.” Then, in a whisper, he said, “I don’t want him to turn out evil.”
With one hand still resting on the baby’s head, John brought his other hand up to press against Nanaue’s cheek, startled to find it damp with tears.
“I could send him away,” John offered, though the thought tore at him. “I could use my magic to find a universe where he’d be accepted and safe and we could send him there to grow up loved.”
“You could?” Nanaue asked, more tears streaming down his face. “Right now?”
Fighting his own emotions, John nodded. “Of course, sweetheart.”
It was surprisingly easy, John found a universe, different but similar to their own and Nanaue put the baby in a basket with his blanket and a stuffed shark toy to be sent off to a brighter future.
They also included a note that said simply, “This is Jeff: he is a land shark. Please take care of him.”