Chapter 43 #2
“It’s a girl. That makes two of each between the four of us.”
“A girl.” Hattie laughed. “I’m pregnant with a girl?”
“A girl…” Tuvo breathed, shuddering.
“You’re early. Super early,” Scarlet said, tilting her head as she looked at something that Hattie couldn’t identify. “I’ll have to do a thorough study, but the initial scan shows a steady genome and normal blastocyst implantation along the uterine wall.”
“I’m just going to assume that’s a good thing. Tuvo! It’s a girl!”
He let out a long breath. But he didn’t seem relieved.
Hattie’s smile faded and Scarlet went quiet as she set the ring to begin healing Hattie’s wounds and clearing her – gross – intestinal infection. While it was doing that, she had Tuvo lay out on one of the other beds and, without leaving her console, she started scanning him as well.
Both her brows went up again at the bullets inside him, as well as the abundance of scar tissue and damage from being shot.
It involved having Tuvo roll over onto his belly so she could push the bullets up through and past his skin.
It was a weird process to watch – kind of nasty in a weird way.
Like a pimple filled with lead. But the process was, at least, bloodless and painless.
It took much longer for his healing to finish compared to her. Even considering that Scarlet took the time to add her growing fetus to their very small database of hybrids, Hattie was still done before all the residual damage to his body was fully fixed.
The bullets were pulled out and collected – put in a bag like he really intended to make her jewelry with them. Scarlet healed all the internal scarring and muscle damage done by the bullets, but she left the scars on his skin.
While that process was ongoing, Scarlet was looking at Hattie’s pregnancy. Hattie came to peer over her shoulder at it. She didn’t know why she bothered. Even zoomed in to the microscopic level, it was just a circle. With some other circles. It was nothing. And it was everything.
“That’s mine?” She asked as Scarlet’s eyes ran down lines of data that made no sense to her.
“That’s yours,” Scarlet smiled. “This here is the endometrium. This circle here is the blastocyst. The trophoblast, the syncytiotrophoblast-”
“I have no idea what you’re saying.”
She laughed. “This is baby. This is where baby is implanting.”
“Aw, she’s so cute!” Hattie declared, practically feeling the hearts in her eyes as she stared at the unrecognizable blob. “You’re sure it’s a girl. How can you tell?”
“DNA doesn’t lie. I’m a bit surprised though.”
“Oh?” Hattie twisted nervously. Was this when the questioning about Tuvo would begin? She didn’t mind, but she would rather Tuvo have some time to get used to the pregnancy news before they revisited the relationship question with others. “Why?”
“I just scanned you. I know you weren’t pregnant before we went to Earth. And I’m rather certain this didn’t happen before you left Geneva.”
Scarlet’s gaze cut to her as though waiting for Hattie to correct her. She only smiled softly. Scarlet continued.
“And judging by the growth pattern compared to the other hybrids, this just happened. Like, within a few weeks.”
“Is there a question?”
“An observation.” Scarlet looked over the embryo curiously.
“You had to have gotten pregnant immediately. All of us got pregnant immediately. Like, on the very first try. Just statistically, that’s highly unusual.
For the domini? It’s ridiculously unlikely, but even for humans to that easily get pregnant is strange. ”
“Is it bad?”
Scarlet shook her head, giving her an encouraging smile. “Just an interesting thing to note. I can’t wait for the research experiments from the treaty to begin. When we have a proper sample size and the proper equipment, we can answer all these questions.”
“I didn’t even hear a question.”
“It’s all right.” Scarlet swiped her scan away and re-checked Tuvo’s ongoing healing.
Hattie looked over at him and shared a look. It was impossible to read his blank face and, even when she offered him a soft smile, his expression didn’t change. She had no idea what he was thinking but his silence was making her uneasy.
As Scarlet was finishing, Hattie took up her offer to go to the clinic shower and finally wash off the last few weeks.
Domini soap was amazing. It made her skin and hair silky and smooth.
Scarlet had one of her outfits fetched from her room and, by the time she was stepping out, her hair and body dried from the technology in the shower, one of her dresses was waiting.
The shallow ocean blue gown was short, pinched at the hips, and held up her boobs like they were on display.
She eagerly put it on, excited for Tuvo to see her in it.
But when she stepped out, he was already in the second shower. Scarlet was putting the medscanner back on idle mode.
“Atem messaged,” Scarlet said, pointing to a near table where Hattie and Tuvo’s combot were waiting, on standby.
Hattie summoned hers and smiled as it came to flit around her head. She was sure she had a lot of messages from her friends back on Turv, but she could get to them later.
“What did he stay?”
“He’s waiting for you and Tuvo’s debrief. Are you too tired?”
“No. We can still talk.”
“Okay. I’ll go on ahead. The room location is included in the message. Later.”
Hattie waved her off. She wasn’t concerned about Scarlet telling anyone about the baby. Unlike domini healers, Scarlet still kept with human medical privacy laws. No one was going to find out through her until Hattie and Tuvo were ready to talk.
She waited for him to come out, answering her messages and trying not to pace nervously.
It didn’t take long for Tuvo to emerge. She nearly swallowed her tongue.
He was still wearing the jaguar pelt, but the kilt had been traded for a pair of dark brown pants that were wonderfully tight around his muscular legs, leading to thick, golden bangles around his ankles just over a pair of sturdy sandals.
His chest was still bare, but he now had a leather necklace around his neck.
And on that necklace, there was a gleaming gold ring.
Was that…?
“Where did Scarlet go?” He asked, running his hand over his head. He had shaved it back into his military style haircut, highlighting the strong lines of his face and the harsh scars on his cheek. It made him look even better.
He stared at her, and she realized he asked a question and she had no idea what it was.
“Huh?”
“Scarlet. Where did she go?”
“Oh. Yeah. Atem is ready to hear what happened. He’s waiting for us.”
“Shall we go then?”
She nodded, distracted by that ring again. Where did he get that? He hadn’t had that with him, so it had to have been brought with his clothes. It sparkled. Were those diamonds? Why did he have a gold and diamond ring?
Before she could think of a way to ask, he grabbed her hand and led her out. Her hand! That was something only close domini couples did. And they were among domini again who would know what that meant.
Hattie was biting her lip, smiling, as she clung to his arm. He slowed his pace to accommodate her much shorter stride, but he didn’t seem upset about it. His steps were big, calm, and confident as he took her to the room the others were waiting in.
Hattie would have called it a living room if it were in a house.
The primary purpose seemed to be to relax, listen to music, watch some vids, or read.
It was big enough to allow a group to gather, but the seating – low, soft cushions – could be spread out to allow those inside to have a semblance of solitude if they liked.
The simulated window in this room currently showed a moving image of the green ocean shore from somewhere on Turv.
The moment they stepped in, everyone’s eyes immediately locked onto the way Hattie was clinging to Tuvo.
Atem started growling.
He wasn’t really angry. He couldn’t help it. As far as he was concerned, Hattie was unclaimed. Tuvo had yet to prove his worthiness to protect her to Atem, and therefore he didn’t have the right to hold her hand. Or knock her up. It was an instinctive reaction.
One that Tuvo ignored as he looked over the others who were staring, shocked. Peony, sitting there with baby Viktor asleep on her chest, his little tail curled around her wrist, had the biggest, knowing grin on her face.
“I’m glad to see everyone is safe,” Tuvo said, breaking the silence as though he didn’t notice Atem’s claws digging into the cushion he and Peony were sharing. “I’ve already got in contact with my security team here on the ship and they debriefed me on what happened. Everyone did good work.”
“Tuvo,” Atem snarled, his eyes locked on the way Hattie’s hand was lost in his grip.
She smiled and started to pull away – not wanting to push him.
But Tuvo’s grip tightened, keeping her there. A small interaction that Atem didn’t miss as he leaned forward as though ready to leap at them and attack.
Again, Tuvo ignored him as he launched into a quick summary of everything that happened once they left Geneva. He spoke in the clear, precise way of a military man giving report with no embellishment or fluff.
All the while, Hattie just stood there beside him. Holding his arm. Enjoying the strength of his grip and the clench of his bicep under her head.
“Thank goodness you’re both all right,” Holly said when he finished his explanation. She had her hand resting nervously on her pregnant belly as she listened. She was also having a girl. Which made Hattie excited.
They got to be friends and their daughters would get to be friends! It was going to be the best.
She was just missing a big, rough, and tough girl dad to complete the picture.
And she was honestly terrified. Because if she wasn’t Tuvo’s mate, he wouldn’t consider their daughter to actually be his child.
He would take care of her, he would provide for her, but he wouldn’t actually be her father.
And the moment Hattie was mated, that assistance would stop since her baby’s ‘real’ father was now caring for her.
That was just the domini way. And she wasn’t sure what she was going to do if she had to raise her child like that.
But that ring around his neck…
“Any questions?” Tuvo asked once he finished.
“I can think of a couple,” Peony snickered, grinning wickedly.
“Peony, don’t tease,” Alanna said, her own knowing smile stretched wide across her face.
If Hattie wasn’t so happy standing right where she was, she might be rankled by their obvious, practically smug gratification at her closeness with Tuvo.
But how could she be mad when it was everything she wanted?
Atem wasn’t grinning though. The other males were all looking at him expectantly. The tension was heavy as they waited to see how he reacted.
Tuvo stared back. Calm and steady.
“No questions?” He asked, specifically to him.
Atem’s eyes narrowed.
Tuvo pulled his arm from Hattie’s grasp. The second he moved, Atem was up, a deep, threatening growl building in his chest.
“Then, I challenge you.”
That was his only warning. Tuvo jumped forward, striking forward with his fist, aiming right for the side of Atem’s head.
Instead of moving, Atem caught it. Allowing him to knock him aside and away from Peony.
Tuvo followed him, pushing Atem out of the way, deeper into the room.
The moment they were clear of the others, Atem threw a hard punch.
It landed with a deep, painful thud against Tuvo’s chest. It was followed by a second immediately after.
Tuvo caught the third and twisted, throwing Atem. He stumbled against the wall, back colliding with a grunt. He moved immediately, avoiding the fist that Tuvo drove up towards his gut.
Atem was up and around, stepping on his thigh like a stool to swing onto his back, one arm locking around his neck, the other punching down against his face. Tuvo turned, slamming Atem against the wall. Once. Twice.
The second time, Atem’s grip loosened. Just enough that Tuvo could reach back, grab him by the hair, then yank him up and over. He threw Atem bodily into the room. He landed with a crunch against a small table, breaking the wood and upsetting a plate of food.
He landed close enough to Holly that Romival scooped her into his arms and took a few quick steps to the side, getting her out of range of the fight.
Hattie frowned, but she didn’t try to stop them. The domini fought all the time – over literally anything – she was used to seeing it. The aim wasn’t to kill or even seriously injure their opponent, it was just to determine who was stronger.
And it wasn’t traditional, but she kept hoping that when Tuvo challenged Atem, he meant it as a mating challenge.
Usually there was a little more ceremony to it than this, but the mating challenge was instinctual, not ritual.
Tuvo didn’t need to go through with all the preparations and the traditional words for it to work.
He just had to defeat Atem, her guardian, then defeat her, feed her, and fuck her.
So long as he did that, Tuvo would be her mate.
The domini males had started offering rings to their females as well. Thanks to Hattie. Because she always dreamed of the ring and the proposal. So that ring he was wearing…
The others, also used to domini fighting, just made room for them as the two exchanged shockingly hard-hitting blows.
Both males were punching. Throwing their entire bodies into each blow. Hard enough that the sound of fist pounding flesh made such a deep, aching thud it made her wince.
They were the greatest warriors on Turv. And they weren’t holding back. Their only concession to safety was the fact that they used their fists, not their claws. But that didn’t mean there was no injury, just that it was blunt damage instead.
Watching, anxious but hopeful, Hattie remained quiet as they fought it out.