The rest of the evening was a huge success, if he said so himself. He even got a goodnight kiss out of it that would have left a lesser man gasping for air. Drake flopped back first onto his bed, brandishing an exhausted, happy smile to the star filled sky he could not see. They had sat at his kitchen table and talked for hours over their wine glasses, hands brushing repeatedly, leaving trace blushes up on their cheeks. He could have talked with her all night, and probably would have had Morgana not heartbreakingly said she still had to go into work in the morning. Of course, like any gentleman, he saw her to the door where she once again lowered those dancing emerald eyes, beckoning him, her delicate lips parting. Crawling under his covers, he felt lighter than air, curling into his pillow and into the memory of their parting.

Only the memory didn’t end there, for it had started to rain, and the roads too treacherous. Being the gentleman he was, it was only natural he insist she stay the night. He led her then, upturned hand gently grasping hers, up the stairs. The light tock of the clock in the den the only sound besides their breaths mingling in the air, chiming as the hour struck.

“Brwwwk, brwwk, brwwwk.” Drake blinked. Heck of a thing for a clock to sound like.

“Brwwk.” He blinked again, rubbing his eye for good measure.

The clock on his night stand surprised him by reading one thirty. He had fallen asleep without realising it. Groaning, he drug himself from the comforts of his nest to plod ungracefully down the hall, curiosity once again getting the better of him.

This is the second night in a row I’ve heard strange noises coming from Gosalyn’s room. He immediately shuddered at a stray thought of the years to come, and what else might turn up in his daughter’s bedroom. Over my dead body, I rather find she’s somehow turned into one of those lizard monsters from her horror films. And what is that? It doesn’t sound a thing like a baby. He pushed open Gosalyn’s door and- Chicken. There is a chicken in my daughter’s room.

For a moment, he simply stood there breathing, his face was completely neutral as if his mind had yet to catch up with his eyes. Which in truth, it hadn’t, or rather, his mind was too busy processing the natural conclusion that the day in its entirety had been one elaborate dream, lending him the look of a petrified tree.

“Uh-oh, look Dad, it’s not what you think!”

Drake’s eyes bolted from the poultry to his nine year old, who was sitting on her bed in a bright green ensemble featuring Godzilla. Some how he registered the fact that she was moving towards him, eyes wide and hair a mess, but it didn’t last as his whole world went black, and then wet. He had fainted. Again. And Gosalyn had just poured water on his head.

Opening his eyes, Drake smiled dreamily up at the worried red-head. “Hm, I had strange dream just now that you were a baby, Negaduck knew where we lived-.”

“But Negaduck does know where we live, he just doesn’t care, remember?”

“Don’t interrupt! Now, where was I? Oh yes, you were a baby, Negs was there, as was Binkie, and Morgana. Then it all got switched around and you were yourself again, only this time you had a chicken in your room.”

Gosalyn kicked at the ground. “Heh heh, about the chicken, Dad . . .”

“Burwak.”

Drake pursed his lips. “Gosalyn, oh darling daughter of mine, did I just hear a chicken?”

“Uh, no.”

“Burwak- brak.”

“I mean, yes.”

Bringing himself to stand, he turned to his unusually demure daughter, calmly asking, “and why is there a chicken in your room?”

“.”

“Come again? Slowly.”

Gosalyn sighed. “ I got him to ward off the lizard men of planet x.”

“She.”

“Huh?”

“Chickens aren’t boys, they’re girls.”

“So? Can I keep her?”

“No.”

“Oh, why not?”

“Gosalyn, it’s a chicken! Chickens belong on farms and on dinner tables, not in the bedroom of a little girl!”

Gos frowned angrily. “Fine, whatever.”

Drake sighed. “Look, I’m tired, you’re tired, I’ll put the chicken in the garage until tomorrow and we take it back to where you got it. Ok?”

“Ok.” Drake caught the fowl, and as an after thought Gosalyn called out after him as he headed downstairs. “Does this mean I’m grounded?”

“What do you think?”

“Aw, man!”

Chicken in garage, check. Must check. Water, check. Sanity depends on it. Aspirin, triple check. Must reassure self of natural order. Phone, check. The mental check of list continued in his head as he waited for the phone to stop ringing on the other end via answering machine, or the person. Eventually a click was heard, and a gravelly voice barked, “what!”

Throwing pleasantries out with the trash, Drake blurted out with, “Bushroot isn’t gay, and you’re not living with him are you?”

Silence reigned supreme on the other end, and for a moment he was afraid he dialed the wrong number, before a very calm and collected voice answered him. “Drug bust?”

Drake frowned. “Drug bust?”

“Yes, because if you just called me at two o’clock in the morning to ask if Bushroot and I are gay and you are not higher than shit, I am going to cut off your balls and feed them to you!”

Drake paled, the voice on the other end took in the silence and growled out, “well?”

“Ah, nope, no drug bust.”

“Then what the fuck do you think you’re doing!”

“Actually, that question was it,” Drake supplied with an awkward laugh.

“Darkwing.”

“Yeah?”

“Enjoy them while you have them.”

“Uhhhh.”

“Fucking lunatic,” the voice drifted off, growing fainter. Drake could just make out “we’re not that different” before a loud click, and the dial tone filled his ear.

After swallowing a couple of aspirin tablets, Drake was once again nestled nice and snug in his bed, half awake and laughing madly. A dream. The whole thing had been one long dream, and not a half bad one either. Gosalyn as a baby, now more than ever he wished he had been able to see her for himself at that age. Sure, he had all her biological family’s pictures in a box for her to go through when she was older, but he didn’t think a picture could compare to the real thing. Another quiet laugh escaped him, a chicken, oy vey, followed by one abrupt realization that froze his blood.: Negs was always good on his word.

Yeah, so not twenty-four hours later, but I made myself sit down to finish it and I did, even threw in an extra scene. :) Thanks for sticking with me, Guys.