Authors: April Zyon
“
You may want to close your eyes,
Adira
.
Same with you, General.
It
lights up pretty brightly at the beginning and can be hard on the one inside of
the full-body scanner, and any
Craegin
. Once you hear
the hum, though, you can open your eyes again.”
Adira
nodded and once more placed her
hand protectively over her belly. “And you are certain that this won’t harm my
child?” When the doctor told her no, she took a breath, gave
Fintan
another hug,
then
stepped
into the scanner. She closed her eyes. “It’s going to be okay, my little man.
Mommy will never let anyone hurt you, I promise,” she assured her child. “I
love you, my little man. Now, be good?”
“
Starting up the scanner,” the
assistant called out in warning. Through her eyelids,
Adira
could see the bright lights as they clicked on. A few moments later a hum
started, and the lights died down to a much lower level.
“
Okay, there’s his head,” the
doctor muttered. “And look at that, he’s got himself a little button nose.
Nice to finally see you, Little General.”
“
Doctor, you seeing this?” the
assistant said.
“
By the stars,” the doctor said
softly, her voice filled with wonder. Then she began to laugh.
“
Can I see him?”
Adira
didn’t open her eyes, she simply asked that question.
“I want to see my little man, please?” She was anxious and desperate to see her
child. “Doc, please?”
“
In a moment.
Let us finish the scan and then you can step out and see him.” The doctor and
assistant held another whispered conversation. A few minutes later the scanner
shut down. “All right, Lady Daykin, you can come out. If you’ll have a seat
I’ll show you the images we managed to capture despite your son’s best efforts
to avoid getting his image captured.”
She looked to Fin and saw that he
was slightly pale. “Fin?” she asked with a frown. “What’s wrong?” She moved to
settle onto one of the beds that he offered her, his arm tightly around her
middle and his breathing coming in small gasps. “Please, talk to me? What did
you see?”
The doctor chuckled and handed
over the data pad. “He saw the reason your son’s been so adamant about avoiding
giving us a frontal. Have a look,” she offered. When
Adira
took the pad, the doctor stepped back with a huge smile on her face.
Adira
looked at the scan and dropped
it. She couldn’t help it. “Wait, no. That’s not possible.” She was looking now
at
Fintan
. “Two? By the heavens and stars, Fin, we
are having twins? That’s not possible. My people haven’t birthed twins in
thousands of years. Multiple births aren’t something that
occur
with my people. Are they with yours?” She was panting now, a fat tear falling
from her eyes. “Are they okay?” She now looked at the doctors. “The babies,
both, are they okay?”
“
They are both perfectly healthy,”
she said. “Your son has been hiding your daughter from us. A protective
instinct obviously he’s already got ingrained. She’s a little smaller, as tends
to happen with multiples, but is equally healthy. Your husband, though, may
need a chair.” She waved her assistant to wheel a chair over. “Multiples don’t
usually happen in
Imarian
births, or
Craegin
. It seems however when you put an
Imarian
with a
Craegin
, or vice
versa, it happens. Since they don’t live in your culture, you’d have likely
never known about it. The
Imarians
tend to be a
little less than welcoming with a
Craegin
around.”
“
Oh
my.
No we had
always been told that
Craegin
and
Imarians
couldn’t procreate and that we weren’t even genetically and physiologically
compatible,” she whispered and put her hand to her belly once again.
“My poor
Craegin
husband.”
She
looked to Fin and smiled. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured and reached out for him.
“I never once would have dreamed that our having a child would have ended in a
multiple birth.” She brought his hand to her lips and kissed the back of his
hand lightly. “What do we need to do?” she asked the doctor without looking up.
“To ensure that our children are well cared for?”
“
What you are doing right now. Eat
when you’re hungry, take in plenty of fluids, and sleep as much as you can. The
vitamins you’ve been on are still good for multiples. But now at least we know
for sure why the additional
weight gain
. Your son is
big, but he wasn’t responsible for everything, and now we know the balance is
on your daughter’s little shoulders. I will have you come back in a week.
Hopefully by then your boy isn’t being quite so protective and we don’t have to
start up the full scanner again. I somehow doubt anyone would be happy with
that.” The doctor waved a hand in front of
Fintan’s
face. “Do you want a hand with him back to your quarters? I’m afraid he’s in
shock at the moment.”
She shook her head and looked to
the doctors. “Could I get a moment alone with him, please?” she asked softly.
When they left she looked over at
Fintan
.
“Fin, honey, talk to me?
You are seriously terrifying me
right now. I’m scared enough as it is because of having two babies but you are
really freaking me out right now. Please, please talk to me?”
“
Two,” he whispered. “There are
two.” He finally blinked, and lifted his head to look at her. Getting to his
feet, he moved to stand in front of her, his hands on her legs where he squeezed
her thighs gently. “I swear I didn’t know,
Adira
. If
I’d known I’d have warned you of the possibility.”
“
I never would have dreamed that
we would have two.” She put her hands onto his cheeks and pulled him closer.
“Believe me. Multiple births have never occurred in my race, not in thousands
of years.” She was shaking, weak, and she was scared shitless. “I’m terrified,”
she told him bluntly.
Instantly he wrapped his arms
around her, stepping in closer to hold her. “Damn it, that’s my line to use,
Adira
. Now what am I going to say?”
Fintan
rubbed her back gently, and squeezed. “We’ll be okay, little wife. We can do
anything as long as we stick together. But I think we may need to get a few
more items before our children make an appearance. Sadly I fear we won’t have
enough of anything at this moment.”
“
You are going to tell me that you
love me,” she told him with a nod. “And you are going to assure me that no
matter what, this is all going to work out.
Right?”
She needed for it to work out. She was desperate for it all to work out.
“Promise me that this will work? Oh God.
Your men.
Shoot. Markus is going to laugh his proverbial ass off, isn’t he?” He was
already giving
Fintan
a hard time because of just how
pregnant
Adira
was and how
virile
that Fin obviously was. Now this was going to add to it even
more.
Fintan
let out a low growl. “Woman,
there is no need to point out that obvious fact. Maybe I should send Markus to
work with Bracken for a time, would serve him right. By the stars, Bracken is
going to have a fit,” he muttered with a groan. “Let’s go get you a snack, and
then hide out in our quarters for a time. I’m not ready to face the hordes and
give them the news that we’re having two babies. I say we allow the rumor mill
to do its work on this one.”
She had to laugh. She couldn’t
help herself. “They won’t know yet, right? Please tell me that they won’t know
about the babies yet.” She wasn’t ready for them to all know and give her those
looks. “Already the guards that you have assigned to me look just a bit pale
each time that I might stumble.” She gulped.
“Oh heavens.
They are going to ask to get alternate duties now, aren’t they?”
Helping her off the table, Fin
wrapped his arm around her waist and took her hand in his other hand. “They
won’t ask. They happen to adore you,
Adira
.
As everyone on my crew adores you.
For you they’d likely
mutiny if you asked—don’t ask, by the by.” Walking out of medical, he rubbed
her knuckles with his thumb. “They’ll know soon enough. This is very good news
after all, so they’ll likely know before we get to the dining hall.”
“
Oh I’m sure.” She took a deep
breath and sighed. “I hope you’re right. The poor men sometimes look as if they
are terrified being there around me. They look as if they’re about to fall over
when I trip and may the heavens help them if I fall to my knees. I swear that I
steal years from their souls when I do that.” She didn’t try, it just happened.
“
They’ll be fine,” he assured her.
He sent a look back over his shoulder and sighed. “I may have been a little
harsh on my instructions, though. I was quite clear what would happen to them
if anything were to happen to you, even through no fault of their own. They
take such things very seriously.”
She was walking along with him
and laughed. “So maybe you should tell them that if it’s something that they
can’t stop you won’t skin them alive, please?” she wanted to know. “Keep them
happy?”
“
Perhaps I will,” he muttered.
Giving her a squeeze, he let out a breath. “I’ll speak with them tomorrow, and
revise my instructions slightly. Maybe they’ll stop looking so nervous all the
time at the very least.”
“
I could hope so,” she told him
with a nod. She
lay
her head on his chest as they
walked. “I love you, and we are having babies.” She was sad, though. “Have you
heard anything at all from Petr on the message that you sent to him? It’s been
months. He should have received it by now, right?”
In the lift he rubbed her back
slowly. “I’m always willing to change my mind on something.
Especially
when my little wife is the one asking me to do so.
And when she’s right,
she is right.
Which I freely admit.
Hold on,” he
muttered. He pressed his earpiece and listened for a moment. “We’ll meet you
there. Sorry,
Adira
, no snack for you right now. Your
surprise is early so we’re heading to go see it. Thank the stars,” he muttered.
Reaching out, he tapped the lift controls until they slowed, and again so they
changed direction.
“
Okay, but when my belly starts to
growl I’m so blaming you.” She was rubbing at the side of her belly as they
walked. “Two. Holy mother, I can’t believe that we are having two,” she
whispered softly. “Now, where are we going?” They weren’t going to the command
deck, so where?
“
I’ll have one of the guards run
to grab you a snack if it comes to that. I’m sure they’ll even argue about
whose turn it is to get out from under my attention.”
Fintan
stepped off the lift onto a part of the destroyer she didn’t recognize. Likely
one of the areas she wasn’t permitted to go to if she had to guess. “These are
the landing bays,” he said when she gave him a look. “We’re meeting a ship.
One that holds your surprise, actually.”
He led her to a
large door that slowly lifted to let them through.
She frowned and cocked her head
to the side. “The landing bays? I thought you said that I was never supposed to
come down here, that it was too dangerous?” She stepped into the landing bay
and, seeing the crawler, she jerked. “What is this?” She then saw him. She saw
Petr standing there in front of his men.
“Petr?”
She
moved away from
Fintan
and toward her brother. “Petr,
is it really you?” she asked and moved to the edge of where the
Craegin
men were lined. For a moment they refused to allow
her past until Petr’s guards stepped back as well. “Please, I need to touch
him.” She didn’t care that she was crying everywhere. Her brother was there, so
close to her, and she wanted to hug him.
Fin nodded, and with a hand on
her back he pushed her gently forward. “Let her through,” he ordered the men.
Once a path was cleared, he let his hand fall from her back. “You don’t have
long, little wife, so go to your brother.”
Petr stayed where he was, but he
opened his arms to her.
Adira
didn’t hesitate. She ran for her
brother and tossed herself into his arms. She hugged him tightly and cried
huge, soul-wracking sobs.
“Petr.”
She whispered his
name and simply clung to him. Finally, however, she pulled back and smiled.
“You’re here. How? I thought for sure that you hated me when you didn’t reply
to the communication that Fin sent.” She turned slightly and held out her hand.
“My husband,
Fintan
Daykin.
The father of my children.”
She introduced her husband to
her brother softly. “
Fintan
, this is my brother, Petr
van
Jahnsen
.”