by Viola Grace
He squeezed her waist. “I know you were worried. Now you have seen that she is recovering.”
She smiled and blinked. “Don’t talk to me about it, or I will cry.”
He smiled. “Are you read to leave?”
She nodded. “I think I have had a pretty good day.”
He nodded and took her hand. He pressed a nodule on his belt. They walked to the exit and paused while images were taken. With the public appearance niceties taken care of, he helped her down the steps, and then, the flier lit the sky above them.
He swept her into his arms and jumped up, landing on the flier with a thud. The folks below went crazy with excitement as they turned and flew off.
Dekora looked up at him. “You have wanted to do that for a while.”
He grinned. “I have. I know they are necessary to keep folks informed, but I have always found it invasive to be recorded at every moment in public.”
They were flying over the city, and when they made it over the water, she sighed. “I now feel like we are almost home.”
He nodded and looked at her with hooded eyes. “As do I.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “What are you thinking?”
He lifted her to face him, his thighs wide under her. “I was thinking of how breathtaking you were this evening.”
She felt the tightly woven fabric under her thighs. “Um, thank you. If I have to show off my belly, I thought I should have fun with it.”
Khed leaned in while his hand bunched up her skirt. “I like the belly.”
She had a very good idea of what was going on in his mind. “Uh huh. I have been getting that idea.”
His hands were busy between them, and she soon felt the bar of his erection pressing against her belly.
He leaned in and kissed her, holding her easily while sliding two fingers into her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tangled her tongue with his.
He groaned when her hips flexed and she squeezed down on his fingers. He withdrew his digits and lifted her, easing her onto his cock with slow motions to lift and drop her until she was sitting in his lap and he was fully inside her.
She shivered and wrapped her hands around his neck, using it for leverage as she started the rising and falling with the soft, wet sounds being lost to the hum of the flier.
His voice and hers were whisked away by the wind as they flew and sought to reach a destination before the base.
It took them twenty minutes of sliding together to reach completion, and the rest of the half hour was spent with Dekora trying to get her thighs to close slightly decorously again.
Khed had her back on his lap, everything neat and both of them fully clothed at a glance. He had his arms around her and was licking and nibbling on her ear for the last half of the flight.
Dekora smiled and tried to think of a birthday that had been more wonderful. She just wanted to keep this feeling for a few more days.
She paused. “When is your birthday?”
He chuckled. “In thirty-four days. Why?”
“I have to figure out some kind of a present. I obviously can’t shop, so I am thinking of what to get you.”
He leaned toward her ear and told her what he wanted in great detail. She was shivering when she whispered, “But, that sounds like fun for me. What do you want me to get you?”
He laughed and squeezed her tight. “Knowing that I can look forward to that for a month will be a gift that you give every day.”
She blushed and muttered, “I am going to have a hard time looking you in the eye knowing that that is playing out in your mind.”
“And I will know you are thinking about it, so even more fun for me.”
She sighed. “Very cruel for a hero. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
His dark chuckle was answer enough. “I will repent... later.”
She blushed again.
When they finally landed, she was content to go inside and sit in the common area, but Khed picked her up, nodded to the team, and carried her up to his quarters. It was another few hours until her day was over, and he made every moment count.
Chapter Ten
“Why didn’t you seek a contract in programming? Gryphal is always in need of new programmers.”
She was lying against his chest, her belly nearing term. The baby’s growth had become hard to guess at. It was only the scans that were keeping her from being brought to the hospital for observation. She sighed. “Caregiver visa. I can’t get the security clearance to work at the level I usually do. I wouldn’t be allowed to program a vending machine.”
“What if you could become a citizen?”
She chuckled. “That is going to take a while, and I am pretty sure that Dr. Ock would block it. He is not fond of me.”
“What if he didn’t have a say? Would you stay?” He was stroking her abdomen with one hand and her hair with the other.
Dekora smiled. “I dream about holding this baby in my arms and staying with you. It’s a sweet dream, and then, I wake up with tears on my cheeks.”
“Is that what causes that? I thought you were scared about labour and delivery.”
She smacked his thigh. “No. That will be fine. Just because this little one is growing by leaps and bounds doesn’t mean that there aren’t other things to worry about.”
“You don’t need to worry about anything. I will be with you the whole time.”
She smiled. “That isn’t possible. You have a job to do.”
“And yet, all I want to do is you.”
She turned her head up, and he kissed her. “That was sweet. Thank you. I feel like a tank.”
“You look like a woman I want to spend my life with.”
She sighed. “Thank you.”
“Would you consider spending your life with me? I can easily provide for us both.”
Dekora floundered and huffed, turning around and facing him. “I am not a burden on anyone.”
“No, you are not. You are the woman I have fallen in love with. I did not think it was possible, but I want to spend the rest of my life... with you.”
She smiled. “If I could turn back time and enter Gryphal on a colonist visa, I would be yours in a heartbeat. I just can’t imagine by life without you, but I will hold out hope until they deport me.”
He threaded his hand in her hair. “It won’t come to that.”
“I hope not.” The baby protested the pressure, and she had to huff back into position, leaning against Khed.
“How is Sephal doing?”
Dekora smiled. “She is doing well. She has applied advanced child development skills and is already working for the hospital. She’s happy.”
“I have heard that she has applied to take care of our child.”
Dekora nodded. “Yes, she told me. I suppose that if anyone has to take the child, it should be her. At least it would learn about me as it grew.”
Khed hugged her. “It will be fine. The child will learn all about you... from you.”
She admired his optimism, but it wasn’t something that she had in her soul. All she wanted to do was protect her baby, and she was aware that it wasn’t something she was going to be able to do. In one of the consults with Dr. Kelway, Dr. Ock had burst in and told her flat out that her usefulness to Gryphal ended when she was no longer pregnant.
She fell asleep in Khed’s arms, and when she woke, he was gone. It showed a lot of strength in her sleeping skills that the alarm no longer woke her up.
She got up and took a shower before walking over to her own quarters for a change of clothes. The baby was quiet, and her back was sore. It must have been the way she slept the night before.
Dekora wandered down to the main floor and set about making her breakfast. She took her meal and broke the rules by eating in the common space while watching the news.
The southern continent had another building collapse, and Khed and the guys were lifting and evacuating. They had been at it for hours and were nearly finished. Then,
they would have interviews, perhaps a meal, and then travel home. The soonest that they would be home was four hours.
She put her feet up and watched them work while she sipped at her tea. Her back twinged again, and she grimace. Time to head to medical and do her scan.
A quick run of the dishes and she waddled her way to the med bay. The baby was really low today, but it still wasn’t moving, and she was getting worried.
Getting up on the med scanner required the steps that Khed had set up for her, for moments like these. She picked up the remote, lowered the scanner to just above the mountain of her occupant.
The scan began, and soon, there was an insistent chirp. She struggled and sat up, looking at the report and her eyes went wide. “No fucking way.”
The twinge in her back became a hard squeeze on her belly, and she wondered if she had summoned the labour by thinking about it.
She checked the report, and it seemed that when she was sleeping, the baby had made a big push to finish developing.
She exhaled, and the holo image of Dr. Kelway appeared, and she said, “Dekora, you are in labour.”
“I know. The team isn’t here, so I am going to have to wait it out.”
Dr. Kelway snorted. “You can’t wait it out. The baby is going to come whether you are with Khed or not.”
Dekora laughed. “You think I am waiting for that? No. There are no fliers or boats here that I am authorized to use, and if there was, I still can’t get out of the base. It is in secure lockdown. It would take a teammate to get me out of here, and they are all on the southern continent. I am far less important than their current assignment, and this baby won’t be here for a while.”
Dr. Kelway frowned. “I am going to consult with Dr. Ock on this. He might have some insight.”
Dekora was going to object, but her stomach was squeezed again. She dispersed the call, grabbed a med kit, and headed to the common space. If Yeleki hated it when folks ate in the common room, he was going to go nuts with what she was about to do.
She set up a few nesting spots, covered them with emergency blankets, and she started walking around. The vid kept showing the guys at work, and it calmed her.
She found a tablet and worked on creating a jailbreaking protocol so that she could leave if she needed to. She had gotten into the security of the base in her first week, and this gave her something to focus on while she grunted through another round of contractions.
When her water finally broke, she was standing in the kitchen. Cleaner bots rushed to her aid, and she headed to the sink to wash her hands before checking.
She swallowed and slowly and carefully walked to the common space, propping up pillows and holding onto the occasional table as her body was squeezed.
There was no more time to plan; this was it.
Dekora was exhausted. The team burst through the door, and Khed stopped in front of her. “Is it...”
She peeled back the robe that covered her. “It’s a boy.”
Their son was lying with his fist curled on her breast. She looked at Yeleki. “Sorry about the mess. I wasn’t able to hike up the steps.”
He waved that away. “Are you all right?”
She shrugged. “Everything is out that should be out, but I think I need a scan. Dr. Kelway will be pulling her hair out.”
Khed carefully lifted them, and Yeleki folded up the blanket with all of the blood and superfluous tissue on it.
He followed them and put the placenta in one of the smaller tissue scanners.
Khed settled her on the scanner, took the baby from her, and activated the scan.
When the report came through, Dr. Kelway appeared in the hologram. “Dekora, how are you?” She checked her screen and looked back. “How are you doing that?”
Dekora sat up. “Doing what?”
“You are regenerating your tissue at an unprecedented rate.”
“You mean I am getting older?”
“No, just the parts of your body damaged by labour and delivery. You are already two weeks recovered. How are you doing that?”
The second screen opened, and Dekora took her baby from Khed as she glared at Dr. Ock.
“Ah, Ms. Mills. Congratulations. Now as your contract is completed, you can surrender the legacy, and you can be on your way.”
Khed stiffened next to her. “She won’t be leaving.”
Dekora tiredly said, “There is no contract.”
Dr. Ock froze. “What? I have your signature and print right here.” He held up a tablet.
“So, after I selected egg donation, I signed that contract?”
The team had filed in and was watching the exchange. Khed was staring at her.
“Yes, you were very happy about it.”
“There is one slight issue.”
Dr. Ock sneered. “What is that?”
“The skin of my hand, arm, and shoulder was burned and had to be regenerated. I had no fingerprint or ability to sign anything with my right hand and that is my righthanded signature. When I woke up, I was pregnant, so when did I have a chance to sign? That isn’t my name, that isn’t my signature, and that wasn’t my fingerprint. Also, I have learned that my medical costs from my burn were covered by Levell. I had no debt and therefore no reason to enter into this contract.”
“So?” His sneer was unshakable.
She smiled. “So, this is my baby. You have no claim to him, and he is going to be very powerful. The creche can go fuck itself.”
Dr. Kelway was staring with her eyes wide. “Is that true?”
“Check my medical records, and do it quick before he alters them. There was no contract, I went for treatment, and a contract appeared that I could not have signed for.”
Khed murmured, “I have originals as well. If she did not sign the contract, then what he did was experimentation without consent. He could lose his license.”
“I doubt that, but I wasn’t kidding when I told him that I read all contracts before signing. His contract stipulated that violation by either party would result in forfeit and treble the contract value damages. He violated the contract.” She smiled and stroked their son’s cheek, smoothing the black fluff of his hair.
Khed smiled. “But you still provided my legacy.”
“Correct. So, since I upheld my end of his negotiations but never agreed to them... he owes me. Sephal is safe.” She smiled. “The money has been paid to the hospital by the team project. It’s done. They have their legacy living and breathing. We just don’t have to give him up.”
Khed blinked. “You are serious?”
“Yes. You can find a nanny for him or have him raised by your parents. He doesn’t belong to the project. What the doctor did to me to generate him, that will have an effect that will manifest in time. There is no reason to worry. He’s yours.”
Khed frowned. “Why are you saying it like that?”
“Because right now, Dr. Ock is trying to get me deported.”
The team snickered.
“Why are they laughing?”
Khed pulled her against him carefully. “They can’t deport a citizen. I married you on your birthday, and the final records came in three days ago. You are now, officially, Dekora Mills Amur of Gryphal. Dr. Ock is going to blow a blood vessel when he learns of it.”
She blinked rapidly. “The one contract I never read. You guys knew about this?”
The team grinned, and they bowed without saying anything.
Dekora gestured them to approach. “Don’t you want to see the little guy you have been patting on the head for the last few weeks?”
She held the baby so they could see him, and she made the introductions. “This is Uncle Horro, this is Uncle Levell. This is Uncle Aber, and that is Uncle Yeleki.”
The uncles said their hellos and touched the little one’s hand. Khed cleared his throat. “He doesn’t have a name yet.”
She shook her head. “I was distracted at the time.”
“He needs a name.”
She snorted. “He also needs clothing.”
Khed asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Surprisingly good. Thirsty as hell though.”
“Come on, we will get you something less voluminous and get some wraps for the little guy, too.”
He helped her off the scanner, and she checked her belly. The expanse that had housed her child was retracting far quicker than normal. She might not look like walking gelatine in a few days.
They stood in front of the scanner, and he murmured, “You aren’t pregnant, so choose what you like.”
She blinked and then realised that since her time on the break team, she could finally choose what she wanted and to hell with fashion.
There were going to be a few things to hammer out, but she was now married with a child, expecting neither, and she was going to make Gryphal her home. Folks had better get out of her way.
Chapter Eleven
“Norso Amur! Get your butt home. It’s time for dinner!” She spoke firmly to the sea.
Two minutes later a craft appeared over the horizon, and her son steered his vessel toward the dock. She smiled and closed the window.
She walked across her kitchen toward the base and said, “Anyone who wants to come for dinner is welcome. Wash up and show up.”
She saw the door up the hill fly open, and a line of men in their casual attire sprinted down the hill.
Khed chuckled from behind her. “You have gotten very good with that voice.”
She turned toward him. “I have had a lot of practice. Thanks for agreeing that four was enough.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “Now that my samples are on file, I am free to make love to my wife whenever we wish and don’t have to worry about the bright and exhausting joy that our children bring.”
“That is a poetic way to speak about it. I just like not having to spend all that time on my hands and knees. The sex drive was there, but the knees were taking a pounding.”
He chuckled and kissed her while the team piled into the kitchen of their private quarters on the island.
Levell murmured, “I will help get the kids ready.”
