Mistakes into Miracles

The Doctor let out a grunt of effort and a loud cry filled the room. The bundle in his arms squealed as a palpable sense of tension in the room began to vanish, replaced with tired exultation. A Kikimora nurse handed him a blanket, pausing momentarily to stare at him in surprise before glancing at the two other occupants in the room.

"H...how is she?" A tired looking Kitsune asked, breath ragged. "How's my baby?"

"You can hear her crying, right?" A man, her husband, said beside her. He tightened his grip on her hand, and her fingers squeezed weakly upon his in response. They turned exultant stare upon the Doctor who stood frozen before them, their child squalling in his arms.

He looked up at them and removed his mask with one hand before licking his lips and taking in a deep breath. He looked down at the child, swaddled in the blanket and sighed. With a monumental effort, he turned to the parents and said,

"Ma'am, it looks like you gave birth to a happy, healthy human girl. I'm sorry this happened to you."

The only sound in the room was the crying on the baby and the sound of an ECG suddenly counting faster. The Doctor put on his most stoic face as the two parents stared at him in horror. The mother's mouth moved soundlessly, unable to form words while the husband gulped and said in a shaking voice, "What... what do you mean, human?"

The Doctor looked to his nurse who nodded her head and reached over to begin drawing something up into a syringe. He took sighed out and walked over to the mother to hand her the child, which she took with shaking hand. Slowly, she pulled the cloth aside to see a perfectly smooth head with a small amount of blonde hair... and human ears.

She let out a mournful wail and brought the child to her breast, causing the baby to cry even more. The Doctor cursed softly and waved the nurse over so she could quickly give the pale liquid via the IV port as he tried to calm her down. Her husband stood there with a dumb expression, his eyes going unfocused as everything swirled on around him.

Soon enough, the medications began to take effect and the Kitsune's protestations turned into soft sobs. The nurse took the child and gently patted her head, whispering comforting words before exiting the room with the baby.

The father shook his head then, eyes going into focus. He held out a hand and said, "W... wait, where are you going with her?" He took a step forward but found the Doctor placing a gentle hand on his chest and shaking his head.

"Sir, she's just going to the nursery ward. I'm afraid the two of you need some time to process this fully before going forward."

The man dropped his hands and slowly nodded his head before slumping his shoulders. "I... but she..." He shook his head violently, a sudden fit of anger coming over him. "How did this happen?! This isn't supposed to be possible!"

"Sir, please, you need to calm down-"

"HOW CAN I BE CALM? HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO MY OTHER DAUGHTER? TO MY FAMILY?"

The Doctor slowly raised his hands and put them on the husband's and the man looked down to see that he had grabbed the Doctor's lapels. He took a shuddering breath and pulled away, looking down before whispering, "How can we fix this? There has to be a way, something, anything..."

"I'm sorry sir." The Doctor said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's... it's a rare condition that some Monsters have. The DNA provided by the egg doesn't completely express and the father's... well, needless to say, sometimes Monsters can give birth to human children."

"She'll be perfectly healthy though, and live a normal life, if that's any consolation."

"Yeah... normal." The father said, turning back to his wife, who lay in her bed, sobbing softly. He took a ragged breath and said, "Please, we... need to be alone for a moment."

"Of course." The Doctor said, nodding his head. "I'll send for the hospital psychiatrist, he can... give you some guidance."
"Yeah. Sure." The father said, sitting down on a stool next to the bed. The Doctor watched him for a moment before looking over the monitoring equipment and leaving the room.

The proud parents sat there in silence until the Kitsune mother said, voice barely above a whisper, "Why me?"
"Oh God, honey..." The Husband said, taking her hand in his. "It... it's fine, the Doctor said she's healthy and she'll live a... a normal life."

"What is normal though? He's a human, he can't understand what it would mean." The Kitsune's eyes began to well up. "God, they'll ridicule her. And what about Yuka? She won't be able to understand? What do we tell her?"

"We... we'll just..." The man said, hanging his head. "We'll figure it out when the time comes. For now, just rest. You did great."

"Yeah, I did great making a... a..." She sniffled and put her hands to her face, unable to stop her tears from pouring. Her husband sighed and slowly embraced he, his fingers slowly stroking her ears until she drifted into a fitful sleep.

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"But why can't I see my little sister?" The young Kitsune said, her ears flat and eyes wide.

"I... she's sleeping right now." Her father said, doing his best to put a brave face. "You don't want to wake her up, do you?"
"Awww, but I really wanted to meet her!" She said, sniffing. "I've been planning this since I was four!"

"Your birthday was last month." The father said, smiling softly. The little girl huffed and wagged her single in annoyance. He stood and looked to the side, sighing before a stern hand grasped his shoulder. He looked over to the rough looking man standing next to him and nodded slowly.

The man, his hair more grey than black, gave him a knowing look but kept up a happy expression as though he had years of practice. He turned to the little girl and said, "Yuka, why don't you go sit with your grandmother while I speak with your father?"

"Aww, okay papi. Can we see my sister soon?"

"Of course you can, but only if you're a good girl." She waggled her ears and put on the most innocent face she could muster before skipping over to an older woman and sitting next to her in the hospital waiting room.

As soon as she sat down, the grandfather wrapped his arm around his son's shoulder and led him down the hall, where the Kitsune's abnormally good hearing couldn't hear them. He turned to his son to find the man's brave face crumbling. Gritting his teeth, he asked, "What happened?"

"Oh, it's just as I said, the baby is healthy just... she just..." He took in a deep breath before exhaling and saying, "She's human."

The older man closed his eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

"Tell that to my wife..."

"No, I'm sorry for that baby."

The younger man blinked in surprise at his father and said, "What?"

"I know this is unexpected, but what would you have done if she was a Kitsune who had down syndrome?"

"I... well we would have raised her as best we could, I suppose." He paused a moment before shaking his head, "But that's not the same thing at all!"

"No, it isn't. You got yourself a perfectly healthy young girl who just happens to take more after her father than her mother."
"But it's not natural!" The son said, putting a hand to his head. "Monsters don't just... I can imagine the hardships she'll face already and I just... I can't..." He chuckled darkly, "Maybe we can just monsterize her? That'll fix it all, right?"

His father gripped his arm with a hand like a vice grip, and he went silent under his father's iron stare. Despite his expression, he said in a calm, collected voice, "Boy... I won't tell you how to raise your kids, but I can give you some advice from one who's done it before. Don't mess with what's not broken. Besides, if you're more concerned with her life than yours, maybe you should take responsibility and do your best to keep her from those hardships."

He slowly released his grip and the two stood there in silence for a minute before the older man sighed and pulled his son in for an embrace. His son accepted it mutely, too lost in thought to respond appropriately. His father gripped his shoulder and patted his back before pulling away and saying, "It's up to you now, though you do have one very impatient little fox waiting for your answer."

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The father took a deep breath and opened the door to his wife's room, his daughter's hand in his. Her light, airy steps were a sharp contrast to his leaden ones, and she practically had to drag him into the room behind her as she exclaimed in joy upon seeing her mother. She ran up to the bedraggled looking Kitsune who looked far calmer than before, though she held the bundle in her arms with a lack of reverence.

She gave Yuka a weak smile and talked with her in soft tones as the little girl bounced up and down. Her father looked to the side where the Hospital Psychiatrist sat and the man gave a slight nod. His suggestion was to introduce his daughter to her new sister with the whole family around. The father didn't think it was a good idea, but he didn't know what else to do. With a heavy heart, he walked over to the bed and put a hand on his older daughter's shoulder.

"Let me see her!" Yuka said, and her mother hesitated, a look of fear on her face. She looked to her husband for confirmation, and he slowly nodded his head. With trepidation, she handed the sleeping baby to her husband who knelt down and held her out to Yuka.

The young Kitsune's tail wagged furiously as she slowly revealed the form of her human sister. Her tail stopped wagging and her eyes went wide. She took in a sharp breath and her father's heart dropped like an anchor. He knew this would happen, why did he let that damn quack trick him into-

"Woaaaaaah, she's so pretty!" Yuka said, eyes twinkling.

Both parents snapped their attention to their older daughter, eyes going wide in astonishment. The young Kitsune's tail began to waggle quickly again as she said, "Ahhh she has blond hair and look at her cute little cheeks!" She cocks her head and asks, "Where's her ears and tail though?"

"She...she doesn't have those." Her father gulped. She blinked a few times before shrugging.

"Oh. Well, I guess that means I'll just be better that hide and go seek than her. When do you think she'll be big enough for us to- oh!"

She exclaimed as the baby's eyes flutter upon, two blue orbs looking at her sister. The little Kitsune's own eyes go wide as dinner plates and she slowly holds out a finger to the baby. The baby slowly wraps her tiny, chubby fingers around her sister's finger and Yuka giggles, a look of pure joy on her face.

"I love her."

Her father looked up to his wife, who looked down at her daughters with tears in her eyes. He knew what she was feeling because he felt the same thing: A sense of extreme guilt and foolishness. It took the wisdom of a child for them to see that they hadn't been dealt a curse, but a blessing. He looked over to the psychiatrist who smirked back at him, and then to his father who smiled softly and nodded his head.

He closed his eyes and nodded his head before returning his child to his wife, who took the baby with trembling hands. She pulled the little girl to her breast, and under the covers he could swear that her tail was wagging in joy.