Chapter Text
Dottore was relieved.
The first part of this experiment was almost over.
It had taken nine months to get to this point. The amount of blood, sweat, and tears that he’d put into it was finally going to pay off.
A few more hours and he’d have the result in his hands.
More accurately, in his arms.
The only problem is that for this next step in the process, he had to enlist…the help of others. Apparently, according to Pierro and Rosalyne, his segments didn’t count as ‘proper help.’
“It’s not every day that you’re the patient in this scenario, hmm?” Crucabena smiled at him with an almost mocking gleam in her eye, “You know, if you had wanted a child, I could’ve just given you one of my own~”
“That would defeat the purpose of this experiment.” He shot back. At this point in the procedure, Dottore was already lying on his back with the spinal block in place. His lower half was completely numb.
“Of course, of course.” Crucabena put up the sheet, hiding everything from his view. He wasn’t particularly pleased about it, but at this point, he was beyond arguing with any of them about it.
“Can we get this over with now?” Scaramouche huffed from the other side of the sheet.
“Yes, yes.” Rosalyne peered over the sheet, “We’re going to start now. Everything feels fine so far?”
“Yes. Proceed.”
The whole procedure took remarkably less time than he thought it would.
Dottore could not feel any pain from being sliced open. He felt the tugging and pressure but that was about it. The next thing he knew the pressure was released.
Then the sound of a baby’s cry filled the air.
“Congrats doc, it’s a boy.” Scaramouche dryly reported.
“Oh don’t be like that, you brat.” Rosalyne stepped to his side, a squirming and crying bundle in her arms, “He’s a perfectly healthy little boy.”
“Good…” He let out a long breath, “Give him to me.” She set the baby down on his chest. The skin to skin contact settled the little one almost immediately.
Dottore got his first proper look at his son. He was a tiny thing at that point with wisps of pure white hair on the top of his head. His pink skin looked like it would likely fade to a medium tan color. With the back of one of his fingers, he brushed his cheek. The baby made a sound and then opened his eyes. He was met with the same crimson color of his own.
“Does he have a name?” Rosalyne asked.
“Yes.” He’d picked it out once he figured he was having a boy,
“His name is Cyno.”
----
Contrary to everything Crucabena said about children, Cyno was a very easy baby to take care of.
He slept about 90% of the time anyway. When he was awake, he was more often than not silently observing everything around him with wide, curious eyes. Even his crying was quiet and it sometimes took Dottore a few moments to register his son was upset about something and not just making baby fussing sounds.
Honestly it was the others that were annoying.
Crucabena liked to send him materials on parenting and give unsolicited advice like he hadn’t been spending the past year preparing for this experiment.
Rosalyne would constantly be dropping by and trying to goad him into letting her babysit him.
Every time he crossed paths with Sandrone she would demand he keep Cyno far away from her creations. That wouldn’t be a problem as he also wanted his son away from her machines until he was at least ten.
Scaramouche actively avoided being in the same area as the baby. (Or Dottore in general but he didn’t care much about that.)
Pucinella was trying to act like a doting grandparent. Something neither Dottore nor Cyno had much interest in entertaining.
Really the only ones who weren’t annoying him about the baby were Capitano, Pantalone, Columbina, and Pierro.
Both Pierro and Pantalone couldn’t have cared less about what he did and that was more than fine.
Capitano would interact with Cyno every once in a while. He clearly enjoyed being around the baby but he wasn’t overbearing about it. Unlike some people.
And Columbina just liked to sing to him on the rare occasions where Cyno was more fussy than usual.
“I’m curious, Doctor…” The moon goddess mused as she rocked Cyno to sleep. It was just the two of them in the lab now, with her watching over the baby while he sorted through the files of several past experiments, “What made you wish to carry him yourself and not one of your segments?”
“The experiment would be pointless if I did that.” Dottore shook his head, “This was always going to be something I would have to do myself.”
“And your experiment, would you say it was a success?”
“Hmm.” He turned back toward her. Softly, he walked over to her. Columbina smiled and handed his son back to him. He brushed the back of his knuckle against his cheek. Cyno’s crimson eyes blinked open sleepily. A tiny, chubby hand grasped his finger and didn’t let go.
“Yes. I would say it was.”