Chapter 48
Peony
It was not the first, or even the worst time, Peony woke up sore and wet. It was the first time she woke up with Atem still inside her though.
Usually, at some point in the night, one or both of them would move and his cock would pull out of her. That was why domini mattresses were made waterproof and they had to change their sheets every day – but that wasn't atypical for the species.
However, Peony and Atem remained so close, his arms so tight, that at no point did his cock slip free and, to her surprise, his knot remained in place. It wouldn't go down until he pulled out, until the pressure pushing on it was relieved.
When she moved a bit, the ache of holding him in her channel all night made her groan. Atem hissed in her ear, awakening to his own soreness.
She started laughing, which immediately caught on with him. Their bodies rocked together, making them both laugh-groan at the ache.
It took teamwork, no small amount of effort, and a large mess to get themselves to the cleansing room without her knees collapsing or him tripping over their legs as he tried, and mostly failed, to keep her in place so he could pull out of her in a location easier to clean.
It was messy and graceless and hilarious. They laughed and worked together and, when they did finally succeed in stepping under the flow of water, they kissed to celebrate their victory.
Afterwards, they dressed and very deliberately did not bring up her pregnancy. They both knew what they were dressing for, but, by unspoken agreement, their topics of conversations were completely inoffensive and far from what was about to happen.
The healing center was just opening when the two of them, Scarlet and Temnavi behind them, were walking out to the hover.
They still weren't really talking about what was happening, but they were walking hand in hand, her head leaning against his arm, slowly breathing his scent.
Scarlet was coming since she was half of Peony's medical team and Temnavi, excited when he heard about Peony's pregnancy, wanted to see his new not-sibling.
He might have chosen not to accept Atem as his father in name, but he behaved as though he were in practice and Peony was happy to have him along.
It was going to be okay. No matter what the scan showed, they would be fine. Their little family was growing today and that was all that really mattered.
Atem was just about to hand her into the hover when his combot began beeping. He frowned as he freed it from his pouch.
“Vi Dominani,” a voice Peony didn't recognize called to him with a serious tone. “Forgive me for comming you so early.”
“Second Scholar,” Atem greeted, frowning. “What is it?”
“It's about that thing you wanted me to research. I've got a hit. It's time sensitive.”
Peony cocked her head, confused, but when she checked Atem's expression, it had darkened. He knew what the Second Scholar was talking about without further elaboration. But indecision crossed his face as he looked between his floating combot and the hover.
Whatever it was, it was clearly important.
“Hey,” she smiled, reaching out to touch his arm. “I get it. Go.”
He grimaced. “Peony, I'm so sorry, but this is vital.”
“I know.” She didn't know exactly what the call was about, but she did know that Atem wouldn't look so conflicted if it wasn't important.
And the way he said 'vital' made her think it really might be life or death.
“It's okay. I'll go ahead of you. You can catch up if you have time.
If not, I'll head back to the room and wait for you there and you can come find me when you're done.”
Atem continued to look indecisive for only a moment more. He didn't turn to leave immediately, however. Instead, he took off his shirt – it was a mostly opaque silver today – and passed it to her with a solemn frown.
“Forgive me, vi Peony. I will act as quickly as I can and return to you the moment I'm finished.”
She nodded, eagerly gathering his shirt – his scent – to her chest and smiling at him. He caressed her cheek, delaying for only a second, before turning and jogging back towards the palace. He really did mean to finish this as quickly as possible.
Scarlet came to stand next to Peony and offered her an apologetic smile. “That's the problem with important people. They've always got something that needs their attention. Sorry.”
Peony shook her head, smiling at her. “No, I'm okay. Really,” she stressed when Scarlet searched her face for hidden pain.
“I'm proud of Atem and the work he puts into his job.
He's a good man-... er, male. And I can see how much he doesn't want to leave.
I know I'm important to him, so I know only something incredibly crucial could take him away right now.”
Temnavi made a sound of agreement, tapping at her hip in support. “Atem has to change plans with me sometimes, but he always makes it up to me.”
“I have no doubt,” Peony said, putting her hand on his head.
Scarlet chuckled, her expression softening. “Better you than me, Peony. I don't think I could handle being alone so often like that.”
“I'm a strong, independent housewife,” she said, sticking her nose dramatically in the air before haughtily climbing into the hover, Temnavi scrambling up after her, earning a chuckle.
Scarlet stepped aboard as well. “You’re really okay with this though? You can tell me if you’re not.”
Peony shrugged, unconcerned as she sat with a smile. “I’m fine. I'm enjoying the housewife life, actually. And I’m not mad or disappointed when he has to go do something important. Like Temnavi said, he’ll make it up to me.”
“To each their own,” Scarlet said deliberately, sitting beside her as the pilot – a servant they didn't recognize but that Atem must have asked to drive them today since they still didn't know how to fly – took off towards the healing center.
Peony clutched Atem's shirt close. Not because she needed his scent yet.
It was too early to affect her yet, but just because she needed some part of him close.
She was determined to get this scan, but that didn't mean her phobia was being cooperative and just conveniently going away for an hour or so. She was still internally freaking out.
But she bit her tongue – literally at times so the pain could focus her beyond her outrageous fear – and sat there quietly as they approached. Temnavi helped distract her by talking about all the things he was going to teach the new pup as the unofficial older sibling.
Scarlet had been talking to Donivi all night, telling him everything she knew about human pregnancies and what he would expect. She didn't get much from him about domini ones in return. He still didn't believe, and she wasn't going to push the topic until after the scan today.
The older male was ready and waiting for them, smiling eagerly at Peony and congratulating her on bravely facing her fear.
She wasn't sure if she should be insulted or not since they were a warrior culture and overcoming a stupid phobia was hardly a glorious battle, but he didn't seem patronizing and he was careful to slowly lower her back onto the bed.
Peony practiced Holly's breathing exercises as he started up the definitely-not-a-death ring. Since she wasn't combating her separation anxiety yet, it was much easier this time to remain calm as it immediately lowered to her abdomen and began scanning.
She kept her eyes on the ceiling, focused on counting her breaths, but she could still hear Scarlet and Donivi talking behind his console.
“Can you tell the correct gestational age at this point, Scarlet?”
“No. Not quite. I wish I had my textbooks. I might be able to make a better estimation as it gets clearer though. At the very most, she can't be more than eight weeks along. Ah, excuse me. That's almost six tendays.”
“Hm, I see. And how many tendays is a typical human pregnancy?”
“Forty weeks. So, seven... four... About twenty-eight tendays.”
“I see. Peony, do you have any congenital disorders in your family I should search for?”
“Er, no? I don't think so,” she mumbled. “I mean, I think heart disease runs in my family, but that's not really so much a birth defect kind of thing.”
“True. Hm... Your iron is exceptionally low. Did you not drink your blood this morning?”
“Er, Donivi,” Scarlet started slowly, “iron is toxic to humans. She should not drink blood.”
“She really should though. The fetus needs the iron.”
“Human fetuses don't need that much iron. It would be deadly to her and a human baby.” Scarlet was very deliberately identifying a human baby. Trying to make a point.
Donivi hummed thoughtfully. “Peony, do your people have tails? This fetus has quite a distinct tail bud. It almost looks like a domini tail bud.”
“Hey, Donivi,” Scarlet interjected innocently, “I read that domini gestate for about forty tendays, is that true?”
“Oh, yes.”
“So, your babies must develop slower than ours.”
“Indeed. Our pups fully develop through about thirty tendays and then experience a slow growth to full size through the next ten tendays until birth.”
“I see. So, if Peony was, say, carrying a domini baby, about how far along would she look right now?”
“Well, that's a completely pointless question, as you cannot compare the developing embryos. But I would say it looks to be about... Well, actually, about six tendays.”
“Hm. Interesting,” she said, completely deadpan, forcing Peony to smother a giggle. “Do you have a read out of the DNA yet?”
“The scans are here. We're about forty percent com... plete...” His voice trailed off and Peony could practically feel a change in the air.
“Oh, I read about this part of the scan. This program compares the baby's DNA to the DNA database to identify paternity so you can check family databases for known congenital disorders. Right?”
“Yes, but... No, that's impossible... It's probably just the incomplete scan causing the program to make matches where there isn't any...”