New Normal

A normal life had been what Johnathan had wanted. A normal life, with a normal family. He admitted to himself that it sounded boring, especially during the wild decades he'd grown up in, but he knew that wanting a normal life meant there would be no crushed dreams, no stinging regrets, no remorseful deathbeds. For the most part, he had succeeded. He had a beautiful wife, two beautiful children, in-laws to disagree with, and a great 9-to-5 job.

Unfortunately, life likes to throw curve-balls, and he had ended up marrying into a family of magical lizards. Something he had never expected, not in his wildest dreams. You couldn't make this stuff up. As far as he knew, there weren't even any kind of fantasy books or movies or bad TV shows with this premise. But he didn't begrudge this oddity.

He hadn't had time to really think about what had really happened to his worldview when he had found out that secret. It was hard to think of your personal view of the world when your children were in danger. And the world had been in danger at that time, too.

Now that he wasn't protecting his kids, Johnathan had time to think about some of the ramifications of having married into an entirely new world. There had been a lot of late-night talks with Susan, after the kids had gone to bed, where she had answered a lot of his questions and explained some of the ground rules of the magical world to him. He had been amazed at how many rules were actually explained in children's fairy tales. An old History teacher of his had been rather fond of European fairy tales and had often gone on short tangents about them. The only thing Johnathan had remembered of those was "Don't eat fairy food" which turned out to be one of the rules.

"You probably won't need these rules," his wife had said almost apologetically. "You aren't exactly going to go looking for the magical underworld. But you never know. And if push comes to shove, you can tell whatever is giving you trouble that you know the American Dragon," she added. "If you think that would help you."

"Who?"

"Jake. He was picked to be the first ever American Dragon."

"Picked by who?" Who would give an important-sounding title to his son? His son who didn't exactly shine with responsibility.

Susan raised an eyebrow as she sensed his doubt. "The World Dragon Council picked him. They don't pick lightly. Many things are considered when they choose, like temperament, potential and role models."

She paused to let the last one sink into Johnathan's brain. The World Dragon Council thought he was a good role-model? Johnathan Long, who had never aimed to do anything other than find a comfortable rung on the corporate ladder? Johnathan Long, who was so oblivious he hadn't even noticed he was fighting vampires? "Are we talking about the same Johnathan Long?"

"Of course we are," Susan replied in her no-nonsense tone. "You are a wonderful, hardworking, kind, courageous role-model for our children."

"If I'm so courageous, why didn't you tell me I had married into a family of dragons?"

"Sweetie, you are practical. Incredibly so. You knew a long time ago that you weren't going to waste time trying to form a band. You have a wonderful head for finances, and real-world stuff. You look at your picture, and you can make the most of it. But if something isn't in your picture, you have a hard time coping. John, you don't even like fantasy."

"I know Susan, but-"

"But nothing. I had nothing to show you. I have no dragon powers, Dad didn't really want to tell you, and it was only this last year and a half that Jake and Haley have gotten their dragon powers, and quite frankly, I did not feel like using our children in such a demonstration. I didn't want to put them through that. I didn't want to use them to force your world on its side. You deserve better than that, and so do they. But if I hadn't had any proof, you wouldn't have accepted what I was saying."

He heard the unspoken worry of 'And you would have left me'. He tried not to think about the fact that had that happened, he would have sued for custody and probably would have won. He tried not to think about the fact that his children would have had to go through the rest of their childhoods hiding who they were from him. He failed, but he felt a lot better about not being told.

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The first time he turned a corner to see Jake in his dragon form had been... something of a shock.

A month had passed since they had finished their vacation to Hong Kong, and Johnathan hadn't seen any dragons since that fateful , that wasn't true. He had seen dragons every day, but Jake and Haley had remained human (as far as he knew) since the battle.

In the intervening time, he had managed to- not forget, but push the fact that his children turned into large scaly beasts into the back corners of his mind. So when Johnathan Long turned the corner in his house and saw a large red dragon he was... startled.

Johnathan knew he had a strong response to being startled. He'd never really been ashamed of that fact, since there wasn't much he could do about it. But when his son who had been innocently stretching guiltily shifted back into human form, looking crestfallen and not a little nervous, Jonathan immediately felt ashamed of himself. His relationship with his son wasn't the best. Jake was almost a complete mystery to Johnathan, but that was most likely because Jake was a teenager, and trying to spend time with the boy was like pulling teeth. But Johnathan Long would be damned if he was going to let his son think his other form changed his father's feelings for him.

Quickly, he wrapped his son in a hug. He felt his boy stiffen in shock, but fortunately he didn't pull away. "I wanted you to know that I'm proud of you, son," Johnathan said. "More proud than I could ever say."

Jake let out the breath he had been holding as he relaxed into the hug, letting his head fall against his Dad. "Even though I kept this huge secret from you, and-"

"Your Mother explained that to me, I understand. And I want you to know that I'm proud of you, even if you're sometimes around a corner I didn't expect you to be."

There was a muffled chuckle and Jake finally hugged his Dad back.

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Johnathan was taking his coat off, wandering into the living room after the night out with his wife when he saw...

"Susan, honey, when did we get a pink ca-" Johnathan cut himself off as he realized the curled up creature on the couch wasn't a large cat, but his daughter. He wrapped his coat around Haley, who had apparently tried to wait up for them despite what she had been told, before picking her up.

The balance of a normal human child and the balance of a dragon child were different things, but Johnathan Long was learning to cope. It was somewhere between holding a kid, and holding some kind of large cat, he thought as he rested Haley's jaw on his shoulder while one arm supported her haunches and the other found a spot that didn't rest on her drooping wings.

Both his children had assured him that their wings were stronger and more sturdy than they looked, but all Johnathan could see was delicate membranes stretched between equally delicate bones. He winced every time he saw Haley and Jake pull on each other's wings. Surprisingly, Susan shared his anxiety. Though it did make sense once you realized that because her family was from the east, the dragons in her family didn't generally have wings.

He supposed, as he carried his dragon daughter up the stairs to her room, that they were all learning. He was learning about living with dragons, Susan was learning about living with wings, and his children were learning how to live without hiding in their own home. He fervently hoped that they would all be able to spend many years learning from each other.

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It's always fun for me to look through the eyes of characters who aren't insiders of the magical world, and Johnathan is an interesting character. He loves his family and is very protective of them, and had the series kept going after Hong Kong Longs, we would have definately had an episode where Johnathan's protectiveness got in the way of his kids' dragon duties.

I think I'm going to start a series of one-shots with Spud recording his observations of dragons and the magical world. Anyone interested?