Poppy patted Behyr on the arm as she went to see where Rodin and Tamin were. Checking the exam rooms, she noticed that everything was empty even though the machines had been booted up. She heard footsteps behind her. Behyr had followed her as she’d searched for the doctors.
“Maybe they were called down to the training centers.” Behyr was already moving to check the computer for messages. “Well…it doesn’t say where they are but it does say here that we are to expect four brides today for checkups. At least, that is what the schedule has recorded.”
“Really?” Poppy practically skipped to the message center, she was so excited to meet the other brides who were on the ship.
“Yes, it says here that they are to arrive this morning after Valerie has a scan.” Pausing to glance around the center again, he shot Poppy a questioning gaze. “Is she sick?”
“Ummm…I think she wants to get a baseline in the system. You know, since she’s stuck here and everything.”
Not wanting to tell another’s secrets, Poppy tried to make herself busy by gathering the welcome bags she’d prepped for the brides last week. They weren’t much but she figured that any human female would appreciate a bottle of lotion and familiar soap along with some other female products they may have forgotten to bring or run out of by now. Poppy smiled, remembering Tamin’s look of disbelief when she’d asked if they had ribbon for her to make bows. He’d ended up shaking his head but provided her with some blue medical string from the supply closet. She was happy she was going to be able to give these out and meet some of the other ladies.
“Poppy?” Behry’s deep voice penetrated her thoughts.
“Oh, sorry. I’ve just been anxious to meet these women. It seemed like it was never going to happen.” Smiling at him reassuringly, she put the bags back down. “Come to think of it, I should become friends with as many as I can, right?”
Behyr nodded, peering at the bags she had set down.
“What are these?” Picking one up, he read the bottle that showed clear through the cellophane wrapping. “Peaches and cream?”
“It’s lotion.” Taking up a basket that had the loose extras for more bags, she flipped open the top of a similar tube. “For some reason, when Earth sent supplies for the brides, they put in a large shipment of scented lotions for the women.” Holding the tube up to his face, she puffed some air out and a glob popped out the opening to hit the tip of his nose.
“Aaack!” He jerked back with such a reaction of disgust Poppy couldn’t help but laugh hysterically.
“It’s only lotion, you goofball, not acid.” Reaching for a tissue to help him clean off his face, she found he’d already done so with his hands and was sniffing them.
“This smell is…pleasant.” As if he didn’t know how to describe it, he kept sniffing his hands. “Could I have one of these packs for Hannah?”
Smiling at how sweet he was toward Hannah, she held out the basket. “Of course you can. There are different scents, though. Do you want to smell them all to see which one you like more?” Reaching for another bottle, she giggled when he snatched it from her.
“I’ll do that. You seemed to laugh so much before that I think you may have done that to me on purpose.”
After going through the bottles, he settled on one that was a vanilla-sugar blend. Noting his pick, Poppy figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let Hannah know he preferred that scent over the other ones that were available.
Behyr stuck around long enough to help Poppy prepare everything, since the docs still hadn’t arrived. He seemed to ask about everything human-related and Poppy got a kick out of pointing out the different things human women might like or need. Behyr became obsessed with a shower pouf and kept rubbing his thumb over a foot pumice stone, but when Poppy pulled out a box of tampons, he dropped the items and quickly found something to do in another room. If he did end up taking Hannah for a bride he would need to get over the squeamishness of the female cycle. Remembering she’d had to explain it to Wheaton and what had happened made her smile to herself. Wheaton had been curious when he had found her empty birth control packet and asked if they were vitamins. When she explained it regulated her cycle and prevented pregnancy, he had been full of questions. Apparently the warriors had been given information on human anatomy and how the body worked but he hadn’t fully understood all that it entailed.
Stacking boxes of tampons and pads hadn’t been on Poppy’s to-do list for the morning but she was so excited to meet the other brides she decided it was a good idea to stay busy so she didn’t get too nervous. Hearing the tone at the med center door, she almost jumped out of her skin and couldn’t help the disappointment that came over her face when she realized it was just Tamin and Rodin.
“Thanks, Poppy. I can see you are thrilled to see us.” Rodin smiled at her and rolled his eyes. A habit he had picked up from watching her do it so often.
Feeling bad that she had let her emotions show so clearly, she went up and gave him a hug.
“Where is mine?” Tamin spoke from behind Rodin.
“Well, I can’t forget one of my favorite doctors, now can I?” she teased back.
Both men seemed to have their hands full so she took a box, only to have it snatched from her hands quickly by a scowling Behyr.
“You are not supposed to lift anything heavy.” Setting the box down on a table close by, he mumbled, “Wheaton will kill us if he finds out you did that.”
“Oh c’mon now, guys, he’s not that bad.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she pouted for a second. “Plus, that wasn’t even heavy.”
The men all paused and stared at her in disbelief.
“He’s not that bad?” Rodin said, almost choking over the words.
The men glanced at each other and burst into laughter in unison.
“What’s so funny?” Poppy thought to herself for a moment and couldn’t come up with a time when Wheaton had tried to restrict her since the baby news.
“Poppy, the first thing Wheaton did when he found out that you were pregnant was give us a list of what was acceptable and not,” Tamin said while moving more boxes out of her reach.
“And this was after we explained that working here wouldn’t harm you at all. At first, he wanted to keep you in the apartment all day until I explained that it made more sense for you to be here in case there was an issue and you needed medical attention.” Rodin was smiling now as he explained. Pointing at her stomach, he smiled and went on, “Don’t even ask me how many questions he had regarding sexual intercourse and your baby. He was sure that he was going to poke the baby while he was enjoying your—” Obviously embarrassed, Rodin had to search for the right word before he settled on, “attentions.”
Poppy was full-on laughing by now at how Wheaton must have been freaking out a bit. She had to give him props though. He had never let on that he was scared something would go wrong since their original scan…or that he had been worried if sex was okay. Deciding to give him a little extra attention tonight for being so darn cute, she held up her hands.
“Okay, guys, boxes are off-limits. I’ll just go over here and make sure these gift packs are ready for the millionth time.” Sarcasm was apparently lost on the warriors because they nodded like that was a good idea and went back to sorting through the boxes.
“What’s in there, anyway?” Casting a glance back at her favorite supply closet, she tried to peek into one of the boxes that Rodin had opened and was digging through.
“We received some more supplies from a shuttle mission today. Phaeton Two is close enough for a shuttle to send supplies back and forth and since we have brides aboard and they do not, then we received some of their excess.”
“But I thought we were in deep space?” Poppy asked, confused.
Rodin nodded and handed her a couple more bottles of lotion out of his box. “We are. Phaeton Two is heading to Earth and we are heading to our planet. While we are passing the other ship it will be within shuttle distance for a couple of hours.�
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“Wait, why are they going to Earth?”
“Part of our agreement is to always have a presence near Earth.” Seeing that he had confused her even more, he tried to explain, “Part of it is for protection.”
Behyr interrupted Rodin, watching Poppy with one of the more serious expressions that she had ever seen him have. “We are not the only ones that exist in space, Poppy. There are dangers that even Earth is unaware of.”
“Earth is safe, right?” Concern for her sister was the first thing that popped into her head.
“Yes, most other life forms will not openly attack Phaeton warships or anything that we consider ours…and Earth is something that we consider ours.” Behyr had never seemed more like a warrior than he did now as he was speaking. “Many of the other life forms are peaceful and not as technologically advanced. That or they are in trade.”
Poppy winced when she remembered how Wheaton had had to explain the Pleasure Sector to her. That had been an uncomfortable conversation all around. Wheaton had become embarrassed explaining about the life forms that worked in the “skin trade”. Realizing he was talking about visiting space prostitutes hadn’t sat well with Poppy either. And then Wheaton had suggested that she might even like going to the Pleasure Sector when they had a chance. Even going as far as to say that he had enough credits for her to pay for anything she wanted.
Her immediate reaction had been to jump to the conclusion he was suggesting a threesome. Her face had showed her disgust and he had laughed at her assumption. At her expression of disbelief, he had quickly told her that the port also dealt in spices, jewelry and craft items that they sold in the marketplace. He explained that it would be a nice place for her to pick out a gift for her sister if she wanted to find something unique. Grateful he hadn’t been suggesting an alien orgy, she agreed that Pixie would flip out if she got a gift from space.
Remembering that conversation, she could admit now that it had made sense that these men, who lacked any physical outlet, would visit the equivalent of a space whorehouse. She understood it, but she didn’t have to like it. Wheaton had explained that when ships were close enough, they would have shuttles going back and forth for the men to take advantage of what was available for purchase…and that included sex. When she had asked why they simply didn’t use these women as brides, Wheaton had said they were not a compatible match for reproduction with most of the species available. A majority of the female species were sterilized as a work precaution. When she had cast him a glare of disgust, he had tried to reassure her that they were not similar to human women at all. The races that sold themselves were born and bred for prostitution. Many of them were engineered to be as physically attractive to as many alien races as possible. That had actually made her even more grossed out.
Unable to stop herself, she’d thought of the Total Recall chick with her three boobs. Poppy had held out her palms in a “don’t say anything else” pose and told him that what was in the past was forgotten, but if he ever even thought about visiting the Pleasure Sector again, for anything other than items in the marketplace, she would neuter him. That had pretty much ended that conversation. Realizing that the men were staring at her while she had her mini-flashback, she smiled at them.
“I get it, guys. Wheaton had given me a run-down on some of the other species that you encounter when traveling. As long as my sister is safe on Earth then you don’t need to say anything else.”
The men, realizing that she had been made aware of what “trade” was, busied themselves with the boxes and spent the next hour organizing the new supplies they’d received.
Something had been in the back of her mind and she took the quiet time to ask. “Has anyone seen Dathrow lately?”
He had not been around the last couple of days and Poppy missed her friend. At first she had assumed he had been called to the Council meetings but Wheaton had not mentioned him recently.
“Did Wheaton not tell you?” Rodin asked, surprise on his face.
“Tell me what?
Behyr held out his hand to stop the other two men from talking. His movement quieted them almost immediately.
“I will tell her. Why don’t you two make sure the regen beds are up and running? The brides should be here any minute.”
Seeing the glances of sympathy the two men cast her way as they were leaving made her stomach churn a bit. What the hell had happened to Dathrow?
“Is he okay?” Poppy’s worry increased when Behyr seemed more uncomfortable the longer he stood silently in front of her. “Spit it out. Is. He. Okay?”
Behyr obviously realized the more he stalled, the more anxious Poppy grew. “He is fine,” he started, only to stop when she waved her hands for him to keep going. “Quit flapping your hands at me. I will tell you what I know, but I need you to listen to all of it and not interrupt. Agreed?”
Poppy was instantly relieved to find out Dathrow was okay but now Behyr was making her more curious by the moment with the cloak-and-dagger treatment. Nodding her head, she waited for him to spill the beans.
“Wheaton was concerned when he found out that you were being shadowed so closely by Dathrow when you were initially separated.” Holding up his hands again to stop her from talking, he went on, “This was made even more of a situation when Dathrow approached the Council and explained that if Wheaton did choose Hannah over your own bridal agreement, then he would step forward to claim you as his bride.”
“What?” Poppy was stunned. Utterly stunned.
Dathrow had been so sweet and never let on he was interested in her, other than a couple comments such as, “I would be grateful for a bride like you” or “Wheaton is a lucky warrior”. Poppy had thought those moments were just him trying to cheer her up when she was bummed about what’d been happening. She never took it as a serious interest in her as his bride. Feeling awful for him possibly getting in trouble with Wheaton, she had to ask.
“Behyr, is this my fault? Should I stop hugging you guys or something?” And then a thought popped into her head. “Oh no, did Wheaton hurt him?”
“No, for the most part Wheaton was understanding. After all, Dathrow was your second warrior match.” Behyr shook his head as if trying to let her know she wasn’t to blame. He didn’t realize the bomb he’d just dropped.
“Wait—what? Dathrow was the match the Council mentioned when we had our meeting?” Holy smoke, she needed to sit down. Her mind was whirling around and around. No wonder she had felt so comfortable talking to him. According to the computer program, she and Dathrow should have been comfortable around each other. They could have possibly been mated, for crying out loud. Even though she had never felt the pull to him that she did for Wheaton, she took some of the blame on herself. For him, she would have been the ideal and everything he had said when they were sharing meals or laughing together now made sense.
“So where is he? Was he told to stay away?” Feeling upset about something out of her control had always grated on her nerves. This was one of those situations.
Behyr noticed her sad face and came close to pat her arm awkwardly. “He understood the Council’s standing and Wheaton’s feelings. Dathrow asked for a transfer to Phaeton Two until a decision regarding your match was made. I believe he was on one of the first shuttles this morning once we were within transfer distance. If the Council dissolves your union to Wheaton, you will have the option to join him there. If the Council abides by your decision to stay with Wheaton then Dathrow will be matched to another bride.”
Seeing that Poppy was still upset, he continued. “It is not your fault, Poppy. You are a beautiful, smart, friendly woman and all of us are slightly jealous of the luck Wheaton had when he was made your match.” Tipping her chin up, he continued, “You make all of us smile by just being with us. You are kind to everyone you meet and I cannot imagine a better friend to have. Dathrow was tempted to try to claim you for his own and he let Wheaton know before anything went further.”
Pausing, he gazed at her wit
h a completely serious face.
“He is a good man. I might have done the same thing if I knew that we had been matched—Wheaton or no.” Chucking her chin in a friendly way, he smiled, showing his fangs. “Plus, you are one of the first to not be frightened by my teeth.”
Realizing he was trying to joke to defuse the situation, she grinned back and asked, “Oh really? What did Hannah think about those awesome teeth of yours?”
Behyr laughed and turned back to the boxes. “You are a curious thing, aren’t you?”
“Why yes I am. It’s a fault, I know. Curiosity killed the cat and all that jazz.”
Hearing the tone indicating that someone was at the med door was the only thing that stopped her from trying to weasel any more out of Behyr regarding his time with Hannah. Jogging to the door, she bounced from one foot to the other as the men laughed at her antics.
“They’re here! They’re here!” Poppy was obviously acting like an idiot at the prospect of meeting some other women but she didn’t care. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then let it out on yet another disappointed sigh when the door opened and it was just Val and Thorne.
“Oh, it’s just you guys.”
“Well gee, best friend, thanks for the welcome,” Val said sarcastically, giving Poppy a little arm punch.
“Sorry. I was just hoping you were the other brides who were supposed to come by today. I have been waiting to meet them for what seems like for-e-vah.” She frowned, realizing she’d forgotten Val’s appointment was first, and that the brides would be a while longer.
“Just us…so sorry to disappoint you.” Sticking out her tongue at Poppy, Val held Thorne’s hand and grinned at the doctors. “We’re here to run the test on the regen bed, yes?”
Sensing why Val was asking to be scanned, they ushered her quickly back to the exam room.
Val grinned behind her and said to Poppy, “Want to come in and show me how this works?”
“Sure thing.” Poppy smiled back at Val. She could tell that Val was nervous. And by the look of Thorne, he was equally on pins and needles.
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