Chapter 40
We arrive at the house/palace/mansion – whatever you want to call it – only a minute later. We are rushed straight into a medical room with a doctor. But Lenime yells at him when he tries to treat the infant in front of an open window.
It is clear the man doesn’t know anything about the child.
The windows are closed and the sunlight blocked.
“Check Amber over,” Dallas orders the doctor to get him out of the way and from under my mates feet.
“She is pregnant with her mates child.”
“Before I forget, how is Xuina?”
Kiy turns to me with a small, sad smile. “It is damaged. Ren said it may heal, but if not she would be able to live normally. Though she may need extra help during pregnancy.”
It isn’t good news, but not bad either. “I have confidence in her. Mother and Lenime are clever.”
Kiy smiles and nods, “You are right.”
Lenime came over to me and kisses me. “Do not worry, I will help them both,” He indicates to Marmite.
“Thank you, Len. I love you.”
“I love you too, Amber.”
The man escorts Phe and me into the neighbouring room without question. Bern, Reck, Lein, Tou, Aaron and his mate came too. While Kiy, Ty, Dallas and a couple of guards I don’t know the names of stayed with Lenime as he treats Marmite. My mate isn’t happy about not being with me but knows the baby needs urgent treatment and plus he wants the doctor out of the way.
“What can you tell me about your pregnancy so far?” The older man asks me politely.
“Hmm. It is my mates – Lenime and Phe’s – who are Poyun,” I indicate to my mate.
“Lenime’s in the other room. Hmm… Oh yeah, I have been taking supplements Lenime created and his mother has been looking after me.” My mind goes blank and I can’t think what to say.
“Do you know what are in the supplements? Or how far along you are?”
“No,” I shake my head. “But he can tell you afterward. As for length… Ren… My doctor, told me she wasn’t a hundred percent sure because it is a hybrid, but based on a regular Human’s gestation she thought around two weeks now.”
He nods thoughtfully, tapping on a panel on the wall. The screen lights up and he took a small handset from a side table. He indicated for me to lay on the bed.
“When was your last period?” He ask without looking at me.
“It was just before… So about-”
“Eight hundred years… Give or take a year or two.” I look to my brother amused and the doctor looks kind of annoyed. Or at least, he did until he looked at Aaron and his mate. A look of realization crosses his face.
“My lords…. You… You are… Were dead.”
“Nope, just in stasis. Long story. Right now I’d like you to see too my sister.”
Wow, everyone really is in love with my brother. Ha. Okay, maybe not in love but you get the idea.
“You have a sister?” Aaron looks like he is getting annoyed at the doctor’s questions.
“Yes. She is the original changed and has been in stasis on Earth from the beginning until her mates and their family rescued her. Now, make sure she and the child are alright.”
I glared at my brother, but he simply smiles at me innocently.
“If I can just place this on you and I’ll check your vitals, ma’am?”
Ma’am? I’m like twenty years younger than him.
I nod my head and he slips a rubber bracelet with metal discs inside around on wrist.
“Impressive…” He mumbles looking over the readings on the screen.
“Next a blood test,” He says indicating from me to hold my index finger out. “You’ll just feel a small prick.” The device pierces my skin and sucks a drop of blood inside. He says nothing this time but nods to himself. This is going a lot easier than I expected.
A bright light passes over my body before disappearing.
“Hmm… It appears the scanner will not pass through your clothing. You will need to pull it down.”
Without question, Phe helps me pull it down to my lower waist.
“Oh… I’ll get you some tissues and blanket,” The doctor says noticing my bare breasts.
“Your boobies are huge now… And dripping,” Aaron comments and I looks down to see he is right.
“What…? I thought it I was just hot,” I mumble in reply, looking down and sure enough, a milky liquid is seeping from my nipple. I’m honestly not bother about showing my naked form, not after our group shower.
“It is perfectly normal,” The doctor says passing me a tissue for me to dry myself and a blanket – I guess to cover my chest. I do just that.
“All women are different. Though…” There is a slight pause. “Women don’t normally start lactating quite so quickly.”
“Which means?” Aaron’s husband – Lance – asks. He is stood with his arm around Aaron and smiles at me when he sees me looking.
“Are you happy having all these people in with you?” The doctor finally asks a question he probably should have asked ages ago.
“It’s alright, they can stay. They are family.”
He simply nods and turns to Lance. “To answer your question, I would say the pregnancy is further along than first thought.”
“When you say lactating, does that mean that in theory I could start breastfeeding now?” I ask curiously.
“Hmm. Can I examine your breasts?”
I go to nod, but Aaron steps in.
“I will examine them.” I look sceptical. “I got a doctorate in medicine during my time on the ship to find a new home planet.”
The doctor nods and takes a step back so my brother can take his place.
“Impressive. I’m proud of you.” He was always clever and had lots of qualifications and doctorates in biochemistry and suchlike. I had the same as him – other than the medical part. We always did, all the same courses.
Pulling down my blanket, he begins palming and professionally examining my breast… Surprisingly. Phe stands protectively at my side but never stops him.
“Why are all veiny?” I mumble with a frown only just noticing.
“Don’t worry, Snow,” Aaron reassures me. “It is perfectly normal. Lula’s are the same when she was lactating. Though, yours are very full for so early. Normally they only produce a few drops at this term. But yours…” He gave one of my breasts a slight squeeze and a stream of milk shot out and onto his clothes. He just laughs.
“Hey!” I slap his hand away.
“Ha, sorry, I couldn’t resist it,” He laughs. “But yes, you could easily start feeding. I would advise you to put some maternity pads in your top or you’ll be soaked all the time.”
“We have some, I will get you some after the scan,” The doctor says tapping on the screen again.
Aaron steps back and I cover my breasts as again the light appears.
“Is this blanket okay?” I ask unsurely.
“Yes. The scanner can pass through it if need be. It just cannot pass through your previous clothing,” He explains.
I guess the material isn’t just UV protective.
“What can you tell me about hmm…? Your mates species pregnancies?”
“They are Poyun.” Phe is stroking my arm. “The fetus spends a month of gestation in the womb before the mother gives birth to the fetus in the amnion shell. After that, it is transferred to the incubator where it stays and is cared for the next five months until it is fully developed and ready to be taken out.” The doctor, Aaron, and his mate all look surprised.
“That is pretty cool,” My brother mumbles. “But I suspect it won’t help much in this case.” I thought the same. But always best to tell them just to be sure.
The light/scan thing lasts barely ten seconds. “It will just take a moment.”
A few seconds later a holographic image of what I recognize as the womb appear. I watch in awe as the walls of the womb disappear and zoom in to see a watery bubble with a tiny, but a long pink thing. It is slightly curled up.
“What is that?” Phe asks and the doctor looks unsure. “Oh,” I remember he doesn’t have the translator. “He asked what it is?”
I know what it is, but it can’t help to double check.
“That is your baby.”
“Baby? We can look inside and see?” Phe is staring at the image adoringly.
“Yes. Well, it scans and projects the image. Don’t you have something like that?” I ask surprised.
“We do…” There is a pause. “But it is used to check for internal injuries… But I am sure when Lenime learns of this we can adapt it,” Tou explains. From what I have learned about him, he is an engineer and a pretty good one. I guess it runs in the family.
I wish Len were here to see this.
As though reading my mind, a half-naked Lenime holding an equally naked Marmite, now completely covered in a white cream, even his tuft of hair. His eyes are still red, but whatever that cream is it is helping him heal and really fast.
“Only the outer layer of skin is healing quickly, the lower and his eyes will take longer,” He answer again as though reading my mind. One of the guys closes the curtains and the rest of the guys file in.
“Is that…?” Lenime asks, now beside me and looking at the hologram.
“That is our baby,” I tell him, picking the infant from his arms and laying him on me before taking both my mates hands in mine
“In normal Human gestational terms, I would say you are about five weeks pregnant.”
I look to the doctor then to Aaron for confirmation.
“Yes and he/she is perfectly healthy.”
“I have been pregnant five days. No wonder Len and Ren had to dope me up.”
“Dope?” Kiy asks moving closer.
“Medicated,” I correct myself.
He smiles and reaches, brushing his fingers over the baby’s head.
“That is especially fast. But I would not be surprised if it either slows down or continues at this rate. You are magnificent.”
Okay, I am not sure whether to be freaked out by the doctor or not. But my mates and the other Poyun seem strangely happy at the prospect of the baby being born so soon.
“You will be a great mother.”
“Thank you, father.” I don’t fail to notice Aaron’s raised brow.
“Where are the boy’s parents?” Tou asks looking down at the now sleeping infant on my belly.
“His father was part of the Trenks crew which came.”
“So they were here pretty recently?” Dallas nods in reply to my question.
“They had a rudimental translator of sorts so they could speak basic English. Bane’s…” I can’t stop myself glaring, I hate him calling Marmite that. “Marmite,” I correct. I hear a chuckle from Aaron and his mate, but Dallas just nods and continues.
“The baby’s mother was a Human. She found out she was the mate of the captain. They were pleasant in the beginning, so we thought nothing of her mating him.”
“They are mercenaries, an angry fighter race,” Ty corrects.
“Yeah. We found that out the hard way. Once he had mated her, he passed her to his men and allowed them to rape her, repeatedly.” All the men wore the same angry expression. “They must not have been watching her because she escaped and came to us. The crew was only small – several men – and so we – with surprise able to take them down and destroy the ship – in case they had a tracker. But that wasn’t before we found out they had raped and murdered several other men and women. God only knows what they were planning. It might seem a little bit extreme to you, but we couldn’t risk it.”
“No. I agree, you made the correct choice,” Kiy agrees. “They are not known to leave survivors.”
“Shortly after she found out she was pregnant. She was in a medical facility for mental problems for what happened. In truth, after her mate was killed we expected her to die. But she held on until her son was born. But she killed herself afterward. None of her family wanted anything to do with the baby. But when I approached Tyme – she is an unmated nurse – she agreed and has been caring for him for the last couple of months. She even named him.”
“Yes, Bane. Do you ever wonder why?” Dallas looks confused and I look to Aaron. “He definitely is your grandson, clever, but a total airhead when it comes to common sense.”
“Hey!” They both exclaim at the same time.
“She is an abusive, xenophobic bitch. And if she touches or looks at him again I will kill her myself.”
“She is a good woman,” The doctor interrupts.
“Did you not see him when he came in?! She held him up to the window in the sun knowing it hurt him and watched him burn and cry. She did nothing, but laugh and spit abuse at him! He is a fucking baby! He did not choose to be born nor for his father to be a murdering fuck up! He is innocent!” I yell at him, now sat up and holding the still sleeping infant to my chest.
“From now on his name is Marmite and he is coming with me.”
Aaron nods. “I will personally adopt him. We will be coming with you anyway. That way you can see him as much as you want, but you’ll be able to care for your own baby too.”
“You’re coming with us?” I ask with tears in my eyes.
“I thought I had already made that clear. I didn’t fake my death and have myself frozen just to lose you again.”
“You had yourself frozen to wait for me?”
Aaron chuckles watching my mates lick my tears away. “I love you, Snow. Do you think I wanted to leave you there? I was forced. I spent my whole life making sure the right people would know about you and save you when it was safe enough to return and we had the transport. I always had – since the moment that ship took off from Earth – planned on putting myself and my family into stasis but a lot of things went down and I was forced to wait.
“I didn’t realize until many years later that because my genes and higher dose my aging slowed down dramatically. My mates would have aged faster, but once you mate, your mates get that something from you and their aging slowed down too, thankfully.” Lance kisses his cheek. “Our children didn’t want to be frozen but didn’t want to stop us.”
“You agreed to go into stasis with him?”
“Uhm,” Lance nods. “From the moment, Lula and I met him you are all he spoke of. You and sex,” He said but then quickly added almost embarrassed, “Obviously not together. Separate… Or with us…” He rambles. It is kind of cute to see an alpha looking male so nervous.
Both Aaron and I share a look and both smirk. He draws an arm behind his taller husband and rubs his back, whispering something that sounds like, “Relax.”
“I believe what he is trying to say is that they want to meet you,” Dallas suggests. Lance takes a deep breath and smiles, nodding his head.
“Well, I’m happy to meet you. My brother deserves someone or two to love.”
“They – Lance and Lula – are great. You’ll love them too. I know it.”
Tiredness and hunger hit me like a wave.
“I’m hungry,” I say yawning.
“Dinner should be just about ready,” Dallas answers quickly.
Both my mates help me sit up and Lenime picks Marmite from my chest. But almost as soon as his skin left mine the baby began wailing. My mate return him to my belly and he stops.
Again Lenime tries to move him and the same happens. Even Phe and Aaron try with the same result. “I think he wants to stay there. But if what you said is true, he severely lacks skin to skin contact in a positive manner. This would be good for him.”
“I like holding him, but I am not wandering around with no top on when Monet is around. Not to mention I’m sure the rest of the community aren’t quite as liberal when it comes to nakedness.”
The doctor chuckles but replies, “He seems to like you. He probably enjoys being close to your chest, hearing your heart. It will be soothing and remind him of being in the womb. Just him in your arms should be enough.”
“I’ll hold him, you get dressed.” Aaron picks him up again. Dallas and the doctor are the only ones to respectfully turn around as I pull my suit back up – not that I expected the Poyun to. As for Lance, he is too busy drooling over my brother holding the baby to notice anything.
“The pads…” The doctor disappears from the room for only seconds, returning with a couple of circular pad type things.
“Oh, thank you.” I take them from his hand as he avoids looking at my chest.
“What are those?” My younger mate asks.
