Chapter 55 #2
It was an unusual feeling, because he wasn’t sure what it was. Both longing, desire, unease, and worry. All of it was swirling unpredictably inside him. He both wanted to breed his mate, and was scared of the idea of actually being a father.
The nursery was nice though. The enclosed beds that doubled as incubators.
The chairs that could hover and rock so the females could sit there with their young.
The bright, colorful walls and the murals upon them.
The soft toys. Teething toys, clawing toys, pouncing toys.
They didn’t know exactly what they needed, so they had been buying whatever they wanted.
What would a domini youngling need? Definitely pouncing toys. Teething toys, for sure. He didn’t know beyond that. He didn’t know anything about younglings.
After inspecting the nursery, he and Tanin returned to the rec room so Tanin could once again claim his post in the corner by the door, just waiting.
Impatiently, painfully waiting.
Human females really took their time in this. What could possibly be taking so long? Why did it have to be endless like this.
Then, finally-
“She’s in the final stage of labor,” Alred announced from overhead, causing everyone in the rec room to freeze. “She’s pushing the youngling out now. It won’t be too much longer.”
He said that, but it still seemed entirely too long that they were then kept waiting. No one was trying to distract themselves anymore. They were all just still, tense, waiting.
Waiting…
Waiting…
“They’re ready for you, captain,” Alred finally said from overhead.
He had barely even finished when Tanin was up, running from the room. Trove and the others were slower in following. He didn’t know that he’d be welcome in the medbay yet, but he couldn’t help but be drawn in.
It was like there was something in him that needed to be close to this. That needed to be nearby. His sister, his family, his clan, was vulnerable now. He had to be close in order to protect her.
And yes, they were on their ship, traveling through subspace. There was no one and nothing here that could catch up to them. They were as safe and isolated as they could be.
But the instinct remained regardless.
Tanin was already inside the medbay when he arrived.
But Chee was also standing outside. She looked tired.
And the moment she saw him, she stumbled his way and practically fell into his arms. The door opened and the other females began emerging.
All but Goldie and Garnet. Grace and Haven went to their males, also appearing just as tired.
“She’s fine,” Chee announced to everyone, smiling despite her fatigue. “Honestly, that went incredibly smoothly. She didn’t have a hint of pain the whole time. It was amazing.”
She considered that horrible, long wait amazing? Smooth? Trove was terrified about what human births were like without help if that was considered a great one.
“It’s a girl,” Grace announced, leaning into Sway. She let out a long breath. “She’s such a cute baby girl. Garnet started crying when she was done. I’m glad Tanin got here fast. It was like she wanted him there and couldn’t stand him being there all at once. Crazy.”
Haven nodded along. “I think we need to be better preparing for what the alien hormones will be doing to us for our births.”
To Trove’s fear, Chee nodded along in agreement.
Like she also anticipated making him go through this long wait.
He wrapped his arms around his female and helped bear her away.
“Come on,” he said. “You need rest.”
“Goldie and Garnet need rest,” she corrected, but she let him take her away down the hall without a fight. “They were rockstars in there.”
Trove hummed in agreement, though he didn’t know exactly what that meant, he understood what she was saying.
Back in their room, he helped Chee to the bed.
Already, it was so different in here. The addition of his female made everything change.
The most obvious was that, clearly, she did not appreciate the windowless space. There was nothing they could do about that. He had volunteered to have an internal room so that the others could have windows. He didn’t really want one, so it wasn’t a sacrifice for him.
But his female was different. And she had marked on the wall beside the door and along the opposite wall where she wanted artificial windows.
They were false windows that were very popular on starships that essentially simulated windows.
They could show exterior views of the ship for full realism, but they could also be programmed to show specific world views, or planetary views, or whatever weather the occupant desired.
They were going to buy and install those windows when they reached Holotulle. But until then, she had marked out where she wanted them to go, and she had the brightness of the lights turned up. Not as bright as the rest of the ship, but enough that the entire room seemed softer, fuller.
And busier, as her belongings were everywhere. She had her luggage in one corner because she had yet to finish reorganizing his drawers. He’d offered to do it for her, but she insisted on being the one to separate them out and putting everything where she wanted it.
He was also happy to let her do that. It was a pleasure to just watch her move about their room, setting it to right. Fixing it the way she wanted. She was making his den into a comfortable nest, and it was a privilege for him to witness.
The picture of herself and her family was on the desk.
She said she would get another frame in Holotulle that she would fill with pictures of the two of them, and her family as well as their crew and whatever friends they’d make.
She wanted pictures of all of them, she said.
She wanted proof of all of them being free, being happy, being together.
She had been in the middle of adding pillows and blankets to his bed when Garnet had gone into labor, so the task was only half done. Still, she looked relieved to fall back into the softness.
Chee smiled up at him before opening her arms. It was an invitation he couldn't resist.
Falling into his mate's embrace was a feeling unlike any other.
Trove couldn't quite describe it. He didn't have anything to compare it to.
It was freeing and exciting like the first time he left Rik-Vane.
But it was also soothing and warm, like sinking into a pool of heated water.
It warmed in his belly like a shot of high end liquor but stayed there, heavy and filling, like a hot meal.
He felt like he finally found something he had always unknowingly been longing for. Something he couldn’t imagine existed before knowing it personally.
It was the easiest thing in the cosmos.
Yet still more complicated than he could define.
He rested his head on her chest, arms around her. Her arms around him. She hummed contentedly as she ran her fingers up and down his back.
And that also was different. When she touched him, it was unlike anyone else. There was desire for him there, yes, but it was tempered and improved by her tenderness. Her joy. The pleasure she sought to give him, not just to take, as she ran her dull claws up and down his back.
“It was really beautiful,” she said suddenly.
“What was?”
“The birth. I mean, it was gross. Really gross. And yeah, the pain part was off entirely, so she just felt the baby moving down. Which – ew. Not sure how I feel about that. I don’t know why that seems weirder than not feeling it because of the pain.
It took forever. There was a lot of… let's call them fluids, because I just got my stomach to settle. Nasty. Super nasty.
“And yet… When the baby was born, I cried. Not a lot. But I teared up. When the baby started crying, Garnet was crying, and then we were all crying. It was this big moment. Like… I don't know how to describe it. But we were connected. All of us. To each other. To our mothers. And their mothers. An unbroken chain of life and we were part of it. We were joined in it. Like all our mothers before us. It was… I don’t know. Do you get it? Am I making sense at all?”
“I think I understand,” he said, not entirely sure that he did. But his species did revere their ancestors, so he could understand the feeling of attachment to those that came before. Even if he himself never felt that attachment, it was inherent in his culture.
“Beautiful and gross,” Chee laughed. “That’s what it was. And she’s a girl! She’s so cute. She’s like a perfect cross between Garnet and Tanin.”
“Do you want one?”
“Hm?”
Trove lifted his head, looking down at her with a serious expression.
“Do you want a youngling of your own now?”
Chee smiled, running her fingers through his hair. She took the time to pull it free of its tail so she could stroke the long locks freely.
“Yes,” she finally said. Then put a finger to his mouth, stopping him when he moved to cover her. To fulfill that request immediately. It wasn’t possible right now, since her ovulation was off, but he was more than happy to challenge that certainty.
But that finger was all it took to bring him up short. Like she controlled him that easily.
“But not right now,” she said, smiling. “I want a family with you. Definitely. I want to give them all the love I was given first. I want to give my parents all the grandchildren for all the kids they never got to have because of what happened. But not yet.”
“You want to wait?”
She nodded eagerly.
“For how long?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not really planning this.
I want kids, but I’m not in any hurry to have them.
I don’t know that I’d say I’m not ready.
If I found out I was pregnant tomorrow, I’d feel it was way too soon, but I also would love them a lot and do my best to be a good mom to them.
But if I have a choice, I think I want to wait for a while. ”
She ran her hand down his cheek. Stroking it gently. Smiling at him so warmly.