Dinosaur Train: Pieces
#3 of Dinosaur Train: Catastrophe
With Gilbert recovering and things calm for the moment, a small prank leaves Mr. Conductor facing his own demons.
Chapter 3 of the Dinosaur train story.
It had been three weeks since the cataclysm closed off the cretaceous period. Mr. C had just been woken up by Mrs. P having the same nightmare two weeks in a row. He had hugged her and let her lay back down to get more sleep, but Mr. C just sat in the ground nest and rubbed his hand through his head feathers as he looked up at the still night time ridge.
"At least Tiny and Don have grown used to it." he mumbled to himself. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep as every time she woke up like that, it sent his heart racing and no amount of relaxing would quell it. He grabbed his vest that he had been using as a pillow, and pulled out his watch, his darkness attuned eyes seeing that it would still be another hour or two before dawn, making him sigh. He put the watch back into the pocked and hugged his knees as he looked up at the sky as he lost himself in his thoughts.
He'd set in motion the able Troodon at the station to do the best repairs that they could on the train, to at least let it get back to the beginning of the line, even if it needed to be pushed. Because of the potential of said pushing being a reality, he asked Laura if she would want to keep her job, even if she couldn't be a proper lookout due to the loss of her binocular vision. She was rather ecstatic. Mr. C smiled, remembering that she quite literally jumped for joy before regaining her composure. He also recalled the Troodon going to work on the train as best as they could with who they had on hand, and the good news is that they would be able to get the train running, but it'd take time. Time that he wasn't sure they had.
The more he thought on what had happened, the more he wondered if there was even anything left on the other side of the tunnels. Was the planet blown apart? Was the atmosphere burned away? Even if the impact was more local in it's effects, how long would the survivors last in such a changed ecosystem? He knew it removed entire forests, leveled entire mountains; just those two factors alone would turn areas onto deserts that were once lush and plentiful. The stress of these thoughts made him rub his head.
There was a soft noise as Mrs. P rolled over in her sleep, making Mr. C look at her before he looked back up. Stress was indeed a killer and he didn't know how he was going to keep handling his own, much less Mrs. P's. He recalled what he did two weeks back with her and was extremely regretful that he had done so. He noticed she was more calm for a day or two, but that changed as every night since then had her with a repeating nightmare. Worst of all, it didn't effect just her, but Mr. C as well. She still wanted the comfort his company provided, but every night resulted in her having the dream about Buddy. She slowly told him more and more every time it happened, but seemed to outright refuse to elaborate on a specific detail, namely Buddy's eyes. Was he blind? Did he have something nightmarish replacing them? It was a dream and the mind can do horrible things.
Horrible things... his mind went back to the night he had "relieved her stress" and just hated himself even more. He was true to his promise since then and never touched her past the belly when they lay together. Every time he held her, he thought of it and every time he thought of it, he hated himself. He didn't know why she still trusted him or even why she sought his comfort anymore. Soon the train would be running, he'd go get more Troodon to excavate the tunnels and they would go and get Mr. P and Buddy and they could forget the whole thing.
At least, that was what he tried to reason, but his chest ached when he thought of it like that. He knew there was no guarantee either were still alive. Still, he envisioned Mrs. P finding a slightly beat up and soot covered Mr. P and Buddy and smiled at the image, yet... He looked down to find his hand clasped on his chest, reacting to an ache he felt. He knew that when things got to normal for them, he'd no longer live here, it just wouldn't be right. He also wouldn't be able to fess up to Mr. P as to what he did. He hung his head as he knew he'd no longer be here and would need to find living space elsewhere. A twisted amusing thought as he realized he spent all this time taking care of this family, but not spending hardly any time taking care of himself. He ran a hand along his head, feeling his feathers and being amazed he wasn't bald from all the stress he was under.
As he drifted in his thoughts, eventually he felt a warmth on him and a rising light. Turning to glance at the horizon, he could see the sun rising. Taking a deep, steady breath, he put his watch back into his pocket and slipped on his vest before grabbing his cap, fluffing his feathers before putting it on over them. He thought about waking Mrs. P, but knew she needed the rest. Silently, he left the nest and made for the station for his daily visit of Shiny and Gilbert.
The walk was a bit uneventful; a few nocturnal folks going to sleep while diurnal ones woke up, but nothing worth noting. He gave a few cheerful hellos and waves before he made it to the station.
Laura was standing outside next to the train as she conversed rather quietly with the Troodon working on it, the scarred left side of her face turned towards Mr. C, her now damaged-beyond-repair eye having a patch over it, and thus rendering her blind to his presence. This was well and good since he wanted to talk with her, just not at the moment. He needed to see Shiny and Gilbert first.
Upon entering the station, it was a lot different compared to three weeks ago; there were no beds being taken up beyond some of the employees taking naps, save for one in the back. Upon reaching it, he could hear some soft giggling and hushed voices. Smiling as they had to be up but keeping it quiet so as not to wake the employees, he pulled the curtain.
"Why hello-" his greeting was met with a brief shriek, along with Shiny and Gilbert flailing in the bed for a few moments before they settled down, laying and staring up at Mr. C. Mr. C himself was clutching his chest as that sudden outburst startled him fiercely. He calmed down as he looked back at the two; both blushing fiercely but with a gap between them as they tried not to make eye contact.
"H-hey uncle." Gilbert finally spoke up, swallowing and giving a brief cough before he spoke in a normal tone. "You're here early. Have trouble sleeping?" he asked. Gilbert was laying on his side, his leg having the remains of a slight sore look to it, but the splint had come off. His tail was still bandaged, but Mr. C would be removing it today to check on the progress of that.
"Y-yeah, hi. You sleep okay?" Shiny slightly echoed. She was laying on her back and looked the same as always, though her shine was a little soiled as she didn't wash up as frequently when her mother wasn't with her every night. That might explain the smell coming from them.
"Hoo, not really." Mr. C said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Your mom has still been having those bad dreams about Buddy and every time they wake her up, it wakes me up, only I can't get back to sleep." he said, shaking his head before he looked at Gilbert. "So Gilbert, what's say we remove those bandages and see how you're doing?" he said as he stepped away from the two to go and grab the medical tray of supplies, holding some tools and new bandages. Upon coming back, Shiny and Gilbert were more relaxed and had closed the distance between them again, once more hugging each other. The sight always made him chuckle and he really had to admit it was cute. Pulling up the stool, he sat down and tapped Gilbert, who moved closer to Mr. C with practiced ease since they had done this each day. Mr. C snipped off the bandages, tossing them on the tray before he gently handled the stump of Gilbert's tail, looking around it. "Hmm, Shiny... come here." he said.
"What is it?" she asked with simple curiosity as she slipped from Gilbert's grasp and moved next to Mr. C. She certainly smelled "ripe" today. A bath was in short order as the smell coming off of her was enough to make Mr. C's nose burn. Still, he kept his stoic expression as he lifted up Gilbert's tail to show to Shiny; it had been healing quite nicely and looked to be completely sealed up. Mr. C grabbed the bottle of alcohol and the wash rag, pouring the strong liquid into it. Shiny quickly plugged her nose, as did Gilbert, but Gilbert also sunk his teeth into his pillow (which had to be changed out several times due to him biting holes in it). Mr. C first rubbed the cloth in his hands before he started dabbing Gilbert's tail Both Mr.C and Shiny expected to hear him yell into the pillow, or at least voice some displeasure, but he didn't make a sound, and in fact, he looked over his shoulder.
"Hey... that doesn't hurt." he said. Mr. C tried rubbing the cloth carefully over his stitches and Gilbert's expression got rather puzzled before returning to normal. "That feels weird... but it doesn't burn." Mr. C didn't restrain himself from grinning earhole to earhole.
"Congratulations, Gilbert; your tail has healed up enough that you don't need bandages anymore." he said as he gave the tail stub a little rubdown before he set the rag down. "And since your leg healed as well, I'd say you're free to go." he said as he stroked Gilbert's head. Shiny practically hit the ceiling as she jumped before she hugged Gilbert.
"Yay! You get to go home! You're all better!" she said as Gilbert hugged her back, but didn't speak. She stopped hugging him when she didn't feel him hugging her back. She pulled back and looked at Gilbert's face, seeing his expression being rather downcast. "What's wrong?" she asked, though Mr. C knew the answer.
"Shiny, Gilbert and I CAN'T go home. Not in troodon town in the cretaceous... just like you can't go home." he said. Shiny deflated as she hung her head.
"Oh yeah... I forgot..." she said, very mournful as she flushed from embarrassment.
"But, there is an answer." Mr. C said. Both youngsters looked at him. "You have a home, Shiny, and I know Gilbert would be welcomed there, at least until I find a new place to live where he can stay with me." he said as he rubbed both of their heads. "Now come on, let me take you there. Gilbert needs his daily leg stretches and you need to be there to help." The two hopped up as Mr. C stood up, assisting Gilbert to the floor as Shiny jumped down next to him, being there as a brace in case Gilbert needed it. To compensate for the lack of a tail, Gilbert had been standing vastly more upright to center his body. The stance made his neck ache slightly, but he was growing used to it as it at least allowed him to walk without falling on his face. Mr. C walked behind them as they started slow, Gilbert's healed leg originally having a limp, but it was hardly noticeable after the splint was removed.
It didn't take long for the three of them to leave the station, but upon stepping outside, he saw Laura standing in the Observation car, and a crew in the train. They looked to be prepping to move the train.
"Mister Conductor!" came Laura's voice. He looked up to see the giganotosaurus quite literally hop out of the observation car and walk over to him.
"Well hello Laura, what's going on?" he asked.
"The crew has fixed the train!" she said, excitement in her voice as she clapped her small hands together. "They needed to get the train properly back on the track and remove some debris from the engine, but now we are ready to take it to the beginning of the line!" Mr. C's eyes lit up as he smiled. "The train is prepped to leave now. Will you be conducting with us?" she asked. Mr. C almost reflexively agreed, but remembered his two little charges. Shiny didn't know the location of her new home and he couldn't risk the idea of something happening to Gilbert if he wasn't with them.
"Gee... I really want to, Laura, but..." he waved a hand at the two kids. Laura looked down at them before looking back at Mr. C. "I need to take them home, they finally get to go to a home and I don't want to leave them on a pathway they aren't familiar with."
"Are you sure? I'm certain I could take them." Laura offered as Mr. C shook his head.
"No, if anything happens to the train, you're the giganotosaurus for the job." he said, to which Laura thought a moment before nodding her head.
"This is true..." she said with a chuckle. "Well, we depart immediately." she said as she jumped into the observation car. "Be safe in your home, Mr. C! You too, kids!"
"Bye Laura!" the trio waved as the train blew it's whistle before the old steam locomotive slowly hissed to life, the wheels squealing as they started up and the train huffing to life as the engine began pulling and soon, the old Dinosaur train was rolling down the tracks once more. Mr. C watched it continue down the line, the view from this station letting him see it travel for several minutes before it finally rounded a corner and he lost sight of it. The sight of the train moving coaxed him to shed a few tears. Soon they would get more help and could dig this tunnel out, and if all was safe on the other side, they could go back... if not, this station would most likely be turned into a new turntable station. As it was, he knew they would need two engines on the train, one on either end, to get it from station to station.
With a brief wiping of his face, he smiled at the kids.
"All right, lets get going!" he said as he pointed in a direction, to which Shiny and Gilbert turned and began walking.
The walk had some simple questions and modest talk, but a lot of the talking was not heard by Mr. C. His mind was focused on telling Mrs. P the good news and how the train was moving.
Upon snapping out of his thoughts for a moment to ensure they were still on the right pathway, he looked at Shiny and Gilbert, who'd taken to whispering things to each other and giggling again, similar to what had happened in the morning. He chuckled to himself as he recalled that he startled them, but his sharp eyes had caught a flash of how they were laying before he surprised them. There was something familiar about it.
An idle breath in let him sample the wind, but he also picked up Shiny and Gilbert's unwashed bodies. Yeah, that was still the first order of business. Still, the smell was familiar.
Mr. C finally put it all together and his walking pace made him stagger as he bumbled over to a tree, spooking Shiny and Gilbert. He rest his forearm on the tree and bowed his head slightly, blinking several times.
"Mr. Conductor, are you okay?" Shiny asked. Mr. C looked pale as his mind raced. The combination of the smell while he was thinking on the image of the two laying together suddenly made it clear up and the image had his heart pounding hard.
"I... I'm fine kids... just a bit tired is all..." he said, swallowing his dry throat as he looked up, doing his best (and failing) at putting on a brave face as he stepped away from the tree. "It's not too much farther." he said as he pointed and resumed walking.
He found himself rubbing his arms as he put it all together; mainly that they were doing to each other what he had been doing with Mrs. P two weeks back. The same position and everything, but the smell coming from the two of them was so strong that it was sour, and so he easily could tell that they had been doing it rather frequently, possibly any time they were alone.
The idea of them being intimate like that didn't bother him, other than the fact that he wanted to tell Gilbert about a few things, but... it made the reality of him having done what he did to Mrs. P that much more real and recent in his mind.
The more he thought on it, the more he knew that he couldn't live with the pteranodon family. He was the train conductor and a friend and teacher. He wasn't family, nor Mrs. P's mate.
The last thought there made him hang his head and clench his eyes shut as he mentally slapped himself.
"MOM!" was the word Shiny exclaimed that broke Mr. C out of his depressing thoughts and look up, finding he had voided a large potion of the walk as his mind wandered, finding himself and the kids standing at the lake with Mrs. P jumping from the ridge and gliding down to see her other daughter.
He made a mental note of how dangerous it was to daydream like that.
The reception of Shiny and Gilbert showing up at the nest made everyone quite happy. Mrs. P picked up and hugged her daughter while Tiny and Don ran up to an unsteady Gilbert, looking him over and having a hard time believing that he lost half his tail. The kids wanted to play, but Mrs. P evidently smelled Shiny and Gilbert and soon told them to play in the lake shallows for a while before they played elsewhere.
Mr. C took the time that the kids were splashing in the water to sit next to Mrs. P in the shade while watching the kids.
"Shiny is a pretty brave kid you have there. Really didn't expect her to be able to do what she did back in the station." Mr. C said. "Still, I'm most pleased that her caring for Gilbert is genuine and not fleeting... Three weeks of being by his side, quite literally, and she still showed tears any time he was in pain." he mused. Mrs. P smiled and nodded.
"She always had a crush on him, but I'm glad to see it's not a fleeting type of affection." she said. "I just wonder about the long term relationship." she said, a little quieter so the kids couldn't overhear. Mr. C turned to look at her and Mrs. P knew that he was asking her to elaborate. "They love each other but they... can't exactly have kids..." she said. There was a silence between them before she asked him, "Do you happen to know of any families where they had... umm... interspecies mingling?" she said, trying to be as broad as possible.
"Indeed I do." he said. "You aren't the first family to adopt a different species, and those kids who are adopted often get fond of the species they live with. This means they like to play with them, they like to spend most of their time with them. Sure they will like to mingle with their own species but..." he trailed off, clearing his throat. "The adopted kids tend to look for aspects in potential partners that they saw in their parents. Adopted daughters will look for protective traits that their fathers gave them and sons will look towards aspects of maternal caring that their mother gave." he said before he chuckled a little. "At least Gilbert and Shiny won't grow to be too far apart in terms of body size. I mean, they will be around our sizes when they grow up so they should be plenty compatible." he said, giving a small chuckle. Mrs. P chuckled with him but was soon quiet. Mr. C soon stopped as well and there was a long silence between them before Mr. C spoke up. "Mrs. P..." he took off his hat. "I don't ever expect you to forgive me... and I don't think I ever want you to. I'm only going to be around here until we find a place for the troodon to properly live and get that cretaceous time tunnel open and get your husband and son back." he said. Mrs. P looked up at him and looked him right in the eyes. He stopped and stared back into her soft blue eyes. There was a silent pain in her eyes, and he knew he had to be sharing in that expression; there was so much to say but no words would work for them. A whole conversation was shared in an instant with just their expressions; they knew it was a slim chance of getting Buddy and Mr. P back, they knew there would be no guarantee that the troodon would be anything more than nomads, but what hurt most of all was that their friendship wasn't the same, and despite what either one of them wanted to believe, they knew it wasn't just due to that single night's events.
They pulled their gazes apart and rubbed their eyes, looking back at the kids who were now moving some rocks around. Mr. C smiled as they played; even with bad things happening, they could find time for simple happiness. As the rocks were moved around, Mr. C and Mrs. P soon found out what the kids were playing, which was their pretend dinosaur train. He had to smile as Gilbert took the role of conductor, with Shiny still by his side as he punched the leaves that Don and Tiny had to pretend they had tickets. Mr. C couldn't stand it and soon slipped his hat back on, walking up to the kids.
"Well it seems this train is in tip top order, Mr. Conductor Gilbert and Miss conductor's assistant." he said and the kids lit up, happy to have an adult joining the fun.
"We sure are!" Gilbert exclaimed. "But we always have room for one more!" he said as Tiny and Don shouted "All aboard!" Mr. C. took a seat on one of the rocks, though he soon felt a tapping from Tiny sitting behind him who was trying to "secretly" sneak him a "ticket".
"Oh, why thanks, Tiny." he said as Gilbert stepped up to the new passenger and Mr. C held out his "ticket" to be punched. Gilbert lifted his foot and was soon off balanced, but Shiny, being quite literally right next to him, just grasped him and prevented him from toppling over. He punched the "ticket" and wandered back to the front of the "train". There was a slight commotion behind Tiny as Don spoke up.
"And suddenly we have a surprise guest on the train!" he said before there was a rather distinctive "BLUUUUUOOHHH". Mr. C jumped a foot, flailing in the air before he stopped, standing up.
"MOTHER?!" he called out, only to be responded to by laughing from the kids. He spun around and saw only Don and Tiny behind him with Don again making the same shrill sound Mr. C's mother often made. Normally Mr. C would laugh at the occasion, but instead, he felt a sinking coldness in his chest. He tried to put on a brave face, but found his energy was sapped and despite how cheerful the kids were, he had a heavy weight on his chest now that he had tried to push away these past few weeks, but was now in the forefront of his mind. He slowly walked away from the group, his "ticket" slipping from his hand and fluttering to the ground as the kids watched, puzzled that Mr. C was leaving. Gilbert showed the first somber expression and Shiny caught on. Tiny was next to understand it and frowned at Don.
"Do-on! Why'd you do that?" she exclaimed, knowing that Don had just hurt Mr. C's feelings. Don shrugged, oblivious to what he'd done.
"Because it's funny to make him jump?" he said, obviously clueless to the situation, his mind set on playing. "Plus it's fun to make the sound of his mom. BLUUUU-" he was cut short by a series of quick angry footsteps and a loud smacking sound. All the kids flinched when they saw Mrs. P charge up to Don and deliver a harsh downwards slap to his beak. She almost never struck her kids unless they were doing something really out of line or dangerous. Don's beak clattered and his vision bobbled a moment before he held his beak and looked up at his mom, her eyes narrow with a furious fire in them. She was quiet while she glared at him and Don's eyes began to well up with tears as he didn't dare look away from her. She soon spoke, but in a calm, low volume, and all the kids recognized it as her being exceedingly more angry. She slowly pointed a single finger at Don.
"You will NOT make that sound again." she said as Don quivered, but he slowly nodded, not pulling his hands from his beak and barely daring to move at all. She glared at him a bit longer before she looked over at Tiny, then Shiny and Gilbert, all of them flinching when she looked at them, and while she would feel bad about it later, she felt her insides burning with fury right now. "Tiny, you make sure your brother doesn't go too far." Tiny quickly nodded as Mrs. P looked away from the kids and saw Mr. C wobbly walking towards a shaded area of the surrounding forest. "I need to comfort Mister Conductor." she said as she stepped away from the children.
The kids watched Mr. C and Mrs. P vanish into the shadows before they all looked at Don, who had his head hung, tears dripping down his beak. The slap jarred his mouth shut and stung a little bit, but the part that hurt the most was knowing he did something so bad that his mother was furious at him for. A loving, caring, very lenient mother that he had pushed to the point that she needed to force him back in line. Tiny spoke up.
"Don... are you okay?" Don sniffed before he nodded.
"I will be when I dig a hole..." he said as he climbed off the rock he was on and began digging right into the sand.
"A hole?" Shiny asked.
"Yeah, you dig lots of holes and even more holes than normal now that we are here. What is so special about holes?" Tiny asked.
"I put my bad feelings in them." he said. "I dig a hole, I sit in it, and I think about how I feel bad, then I crawl out and leave the bad feeling in the hole." he said as he continued to motor through his digging. "I've dug a lot of holes because I've had a lot of bad feelings." Tiny blinked at him. He seemed to almost show no worry or emotion over the events that had taken place, seeming to just fall into his routines, just in a new area. Once she looked up and around at the various spread out holes across the area, she suddenly understood how he was just as badly hurt as everyone else, he just dealt with the pain differently. She hopped off of her rock and gave Don a hug, which made him pause in his digging for a moment before he went to it again, though now Tiny was helping him dig. There was a noise and soon Shiny and Gilbert were helping to dig as well.
The shade of the nearby woods brought a calmness to Mr. C, but only a little. He staggered on, over a few rocks before he came to an old log. He stepped over it and sat down, bowing his head down into his hands, his hat spilling off of his head and onto the forest floor. For these past weeks, he'd been strong, he'd been sad at times, but he put on the smile, he forced himself to feel better for the sake of others, to be optimistic even when he shouldn't be. But he knew he could only do it for so long before he too would feel the pain in full. Don's remark was just the tree that broke the sauropod's back. He sniffled, still trying not to cry as he had his head in his hands, but his breathing was already unsteady and his eyes were flowing.
Mrs. P was not too far behind him, slowly walking up to his slightly shivering form, making the quietest, most pitiful sounds she'd heard since Shiny was crying over Gilbert. Her anger had subsided as she followed him and had been replaced with great concern. She clambered over the log and sat next to him, laying a single wing on his back. Mr. C spoke first through his uneasy breathing.
"I don't know where my mother is..." he said, taking several uneasy breaths before he spoke again. "I n-never told you, but we did have a casualty on the train." he said, at which Mrs. P tensed slightly. She was about to talk before Mr. C cut her off. "He hadn't been working with us for too long. Graduated into an engineer and soon joined the team for the dinosaur train. I had just gone into the engine when... IT happened..." he said, shivering. Mrs. P rubbed his back, but his breathing didn't get better. "The shockwave was so hot... the wind was so hard it burned the train... but the ROCKS..." he said, sucking in a hard breath and swallowing. "I turned to him and was about to tell him to speed the train up... I didn't even say a word when a rock flew in through the window and just..." he picked up a hand full of dry leaves from the forest floor before he crushed them in his hand. He then dropped the debris and grabbed the top of his head, trying so hard not to cry as tears streamed down his face. Mrs. P grabbed him in a firm hug from the side.
"You need to stop BLAMING yourself..." she said, her own eyes welling up from seeing the cheerful conductor falling apart. "You keep insisting everything is your fault, but none of it is. You have done so much more help than you want to admit." she said as she hopped off the log and stood in front of him, lifting his face out of his hands and looking into his blurry eyes. "Gilbert is alive because of you. The train made it because of YOU. You saved so many lives on that train... you can't keep beating yourself up for the ones you couldn't have saved." she said. Mr. C sniffled.
"But... I... My mother and... I..." he tried to speak, but the welling sorrow was growing too strong. Mrs. P face grew somber, but she pushed his arms apart and stepped in, hugging him close, her own body shivering as Mr. C slowly hugged her back. She then spoke, but with the soft tone of a whisper.
"It's okay to cry..."
Mr. C hugged her tighter, gritting his teeth as her words shattered the last resolve he had. His body shook as he started with a mere groaning before it spilled forward, his crying turning into an outright bawling, his hands grasping at Mrs. P's back again and again as he hugged his chin over her shoulder, warm tears making little rivers down her back. He didn't care if anyone saw him break. He didn't care if the whole forest knew he folded. He didn't care, because she let him not care. She was there to catch him. Despite his sorrow, he knew that she'd been there for him just as he'd been there for her and her kids. His body trembled and his eyes still ran before he could feel the collar of his vest growing moist as Mrs. P shared her sorrow with him, something he now knew must have been as hard for her to show him as it was for him to show her, yet she'd done it so much sooner. It was here where he knew how much she trusted him.
It was a while still as they remained embraced before the shivering passed and the hug, albeit slowly, gently parted.
"Thank you, Mrs. P..." he said, using the back of his hand to rub his eyes as she smiled at him. For no reason, he gently cupped her face and used his thumbs to clear her eyes, at which she smiled, cupping his hand and leaning into it before letting it go.
"You've been so concerned about me... my family... about everyone else. You've done so many great things and helped so much, it's no wonder this happened." she said as she walked back next to him and sat on the log. "You're going to tear yourself apart if you don't let yourself feel emotions." she said as she lifted a hand up to her beak and bit one of her fingers.
Mr. C didn't see her do that, his vision focused on forest ahead of him where his hat lay on the forest floor and the sunlight was peering through the small gaps in the canopy. Mr. C then felt something and his body froze as his eyes widened.
"I never hated you for it... I wanted to thank you for it... even if it was... weird..." she said as one hand rested on his back while the other had slowly slid along to the inside of his thigh, sliding up closer to his groin.
"M-Mrs. P..." he stuttered, not believing she was touching him in this way. He knew it was wrong. Wait, why was it wrong? Because Mr. P would be back. Would he be back? He didn't have an answer to that, and now he realized back then, neither did she. But he DID know this felt good.
"Just... I want to help you like you helped me..." she said, though her voice was unsteady. He glanced over at her, seeing her faced flushed, her expression a combination of being unsure but also excited, much like how he felt.
Mr. C could feel a warmth traveling down his loins and his mind raced. It feels good, but he shouldn't do this. He needs to do this, but it's bad. Why is it bad? It's just someone helping you. It'll make things awkward.
His hand suddenly reached down and grabbed her own, holding her still as he looked over at her face, now having her attention. His breathing and her breathing were faster than normal, but Mrs. P was starting to shy away, her head leaning back.
"Are... you... really sure about this?" Mr. C asked before he continued. "I mean... REALLY sure?" Mrs. P kept looking at him, her blush growing darker before her eyes slightly lidded and her expression drooped. "I thought so..." he said, gently pulling her hand up to his face, gently placing a kiss in her palm. "Mrs. P, you're a wonderful mother and had times been different, maybe we would be together. But you have a husband, and right now, I can just take the blame for taking advantage of you if things get too awkward. If we don't do any more, we can blame it on stress and me... well... just being a pervert." he said before Mrs. P's expression grew stressed.
"Stop that!" she said, louder than she wanted to. "Stop BLAMING yourself!" she said as she jumped off the log again, her back to him. "You keep doing that; anytime something goes wrong, you say it's your fault! If something is bad, broken, or even uncomfortable, it's your fault!" she spun around, her eyes red with frustration, anger, and tears. "Well it's NOT!" she said, screaming at him. "Not only is that foolish, it's also selfish! You can't take on all the pain. You're not the only one hurting so badly in here." she said, slapping a fist to her chest. "You think my pain is gone?" she said, her frustration having softened as sorrow replaced it. "Oh it's not gone. Every single night, you know for a fact that I wake up in terror. Do you want to know why?"
Mr. C was caught off guard as Mrs. P's emotions exploded out at him, his face having been wide eyed and pulled back. He wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.
"I'll tell you why. Every single night, I have a dream." she recounted. "In this dream, I'm flying over a path I've traveled countless times, but all alone. The trees, once lush and beautiful are smashed and burned. I then hurry home, seeing my nest, burned and built with broken branches with a little dinosaur sitting in the middle." she said, stepping closer to Mr. C. "I climb into the nest, knowing it's Buddy. Covered in soot, but it's him. I tell him I found him but he says I'm not his mother, that I didn't protect him." she stepped closer. "He finally makes me angry and I spin him around and look in his eyes. Do you know what's in his eyes?" Mr. C shook his head, his palms feeling abnormally clammy.
"What... is in his eyes?" he asked slowly.
"Hate." she said, simply. "Raw hate, the hate of betrayal. He hate of a family member no longer trusting you. Believing you. Hate that will last a lifetime and can never be healed." she said, every word coming cold and hard. "I have to see that every single night. I wake up to Buddy HATING me for the rest of his life." she said as her face started dripping tears. "So, Mr. C... Stop being so selfish." she said as the both of them opened their arms and hugged each other tightly, Mrs. P now taking her turn to start sobbing into his vest, wailing loudly as Mr. C held her firmly, weeping himself as she finally let out her own burden. They remained together in the hug for a while, taking solace in the comfort of each other before they both felt a shift in the atmosphere. They both looked to see the sky gently changing colors as night was approaching. The gently parted again, but this time they smiled at each other. They weren't sure why, but, they needed to.
"We should head back." Mrs. P said. "The kids will want dinner and I need to let Don know that I still love him." she said, sighing softly.
"Still love him?" Mr. C asked.
"Yeah... he went to make the uhh... sound your mother sometimes makes a second time... I slapped his beak for being so careless and upsetting you." she said, a bit regretful.
"I see..." he was quiet a moment before a soft smile came to his face. "Thank you... for standing up for me... been standing up for myself so long I... forgot how tired it can make you..." he said, getting metaphorical on her which made her laugh and cover her beak before they stood up. Mrs. P turned and grabbed his cap off the ground before turning back to him and dusting it off before offering it. Mr. C was blushing a bit and was loosening his collar as he did so before he took it from her. "Thank you. Lets head back and see those kids." he said, though Mrs. P was unsure as to why he was blushing as they turned and walked out of the forest.
Mr. C, on the other hand, wasn't completely out of the sexual mindset. He turned down her advances for decency, for making sure their relationship didn't get too weird, yet at the same time, he'd not catered to those desires in a long time. His hidden loins ached, and they ached moreso as aspects of Mrs. P's body appealed to him more and more. Her round belly, her wideset legs, it also helped that her personality was amazing. The killing blow was when she grabbed his hat. He didn't know if it was intentional or not, but he got a clear view of her underside when she bent to grab it. He shook his head as he knew it was his lust talking, but he made a note to appeal to his more primal desires at a later time.
Upon coming back to the nest site, they found that the rocks for the children's train had been moved and instead, there was a fairly big hole. None of the kids were seemingly around, so Mr. C and Mrs. P walked over to the hole, finding the four kids sitting and sniffling in it, Gilbert and Shiny holding each other while Tiny and Don wept gently.
"Kids?! What's wrong?!" Mrs. P exclaimed. The four kids looked up, their expression brightening a bit as they crawled out of the hole.
"Don showed us how we can put our sad feelings into a hole." Tiny said. "If you sit in a hole and think about bad things, then leave the hole, you can leave the bad things in the hole." she said. "We tried doing that but... I think it really only works for Don." she said as Don crawled out much more chipper than the rest, but he was still meek as he walked up to his mother.
"I'm sorry mom..." he said, looking down. "I didn't mean to make Mr. C upset, I was just playing." His mother just smiled at him and scooped him up.
"It's all right, Don. You didn't know, but you should have been more careful when you saw Mr. C walk away very sadly. When have you ever seen him sad like that?" she asked, hugging him but keeping a firm voice.
"... never?" he finally replied as his mother nodded.
"Right, so that must mean something made him sad, maybe something you said." she said, pointing at Mr. C, who was kneeling by Shiny and Gilbert. "Mister Conductor misses his mother too and doesn't know if she's all right. Just like how we don't know if dad or Buddy are all right. You don't see Gilbert making jokes about your dad, do you?" Don's eyes widened a bit.
"OOooohhhhh, I get it... Oh I'm REALLY sorry, Mister The Conductor." Don said, to which Mr. C smiled.
"It's all right now, but just be careful. It's no fun being sad." he said as Mrs. P set Don down.
"Well, I think it's time for dinner. I'll got catch some fish. Why don't you kids play with Mister Conductor while you wait?" she asked, to which the kids chimed in and cheered as Mrs. P took off.
Mrs. P was especially hungry since she was fishing solo for 6 mouths, but the extra work helped her doze off easier.
Tiny and Don still rested up on the ridge and Mrs. P assisted Gilbert up there, to which Shiny remained practically glued to. Mr. C still slept in the ground nest and Mrs. P still joined him.
Mr. C had his hat and vest removed, balled into a pillow as he got comfy after Mrs. P made sure the kids were asleep and came down to the other nest. She crawled into the nest with him and had no issue pressing her back up to him. He reflexively grasped ahold of her belly and a low squawk left her beak as he felt her relax. Mr. C lay his head on the vest and sighed. He knew she finally vented the issue with the nightmare, but he wasn't sure if she'd still have it tonight. Still, he decided he'd get as much sleep as he could as he closed his eyes, feeling her steady breathing.
Mrs. P's dreamscape was flowing with colors and shapes, nonsense at the moment and giving her a feeling of weightlessness. Snippits of things were happening before her mind settled on something.
She suddenly was on the dinosaur train. It was night time and there she was with her husband. The kids weren't around, nor were the waiters. Just her and Mr. P. She grasped and hugged him, tears spilling from her eyes as she felt deep love in her heart that only the dreamscape can provide.
"Oh honey, it's been too long! I was so scared..." she said, sniffling briefly before pulling back as he gently brushed the side of her beak with his hand.
"Shhh... it's all right. Everything will be fine, but we don't have a lot of time." he said as he pointed at a clock that was floating in the middle of the air. There were abstract symbols on it, but she knew that it seemed that there was a limit to how long she could see her husband.
"Okay. But where is Buddy? Is Buddy all right?" she asked. Mr. P nodded slowly.
"Buddy is fine, I made sure of that, but you'll see him later." he said, stroking her face again. It was such a simple movement, but in the dream it was divine. The amount of love she felt was so vivid and strong, she couldn't help but touch him, every wrinkle, scale, every bit of him, so familiar to the touch. He smiled and grasped her hand. "Come with me..." he said as he lead her from one car of the train to another, but instead of the inside of a train car, it was the beach back at their home. Mrs. P was sitting, looking at her husband holding his guitar. He was backlit by the night sky, the ocean was rolling but made no noise as the stars and the full moon dotted the sky. She'd heard his serenades before and was eager to find what he would play for her now.
Only, there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere.
He began to play; a slow plucking of the strings as he whistled in a manner she'd never heard before. The tune was haunting and reflected the night, slow strings plucking while the whistling slowly gave an ever increasing eerie tune. The tempo never increased, a slow plucking that filled Mrs. P with the mindset that someone was slowly walking, exhausted with life and walking slowly towards death. As her husband continued playing, his expression grew sadder and sadder as tears fell off his face, turning into stardust as they flew up into the night sky. Mrs. P stood up and started walking towards him, but each step made her feel heavy. She reached out as he kept playing, but he was slowly starting to fade. She had closed about half the distance between them before his song finished and he held his guitar in one hand, slowly walking towards her with his own hand outstretched.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't wait for you..." he said, his heart sounding to be shattered as they grew closer and his body faded farther and farther. Mrs. P couldn't speak and just as she reached his hand, they passed through each other.
"At least I got to see you one more time..." he said, smiling through his tears before he swallowed. "Save our son... for me..." he said as he slowly vanished from sight, a lone shooting star flying though the night sky as his guitar finally fell, shattering to pieces on the ground.
Mrs. P woke as soon as the guitar shattered, but she didn't spring up out of her nest and she didn't scream. She lay there in shock. She glanced up at the night sky and saw the full moon, the sky full of stars, and just as she did, a lone shooting star flew through them.
At that point, she felt her chest grow cold and empty. She rolled over in the nest, the motion waking Mr. C as he looked down at her, expecting her to be terrified, but instead in tears. She buried her head into his chest and clung onto him, crying softly. He held her tightly and whispered.
"What happened?" he asked. She shuddered at his question as she knew the answer but didn't want to say it... but she was going to.
"My husband..." she said, shaking as she wept. "He's dead..." she said before she burst into tears.
End Chapter 3.