“What was it?” Dread built in his heart. “What did they say?”
Her grey eyes looked too bright, like she was close to tears. “What is a ‘tubal pregnancy’?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Aaron angrily paced the bridge. The B’autachia had berthed beside them. Graymard warned the ISNC to place guards at the Tamora Bight’s gangway to keep Aaron and Caph on board until after the treaty signing ended.
Finally, forty-eight hours after their arrival on Mars, their com link buzzed.
Aaron hit the button as Caph raced to the bridge. “Captain, this is the dockmaster. You’ve been cleared to debark.”
“’Bout fucking time.” He and Caph ran to the main hatch and bolted through it. Graymard himself awaited them at the end of the gangway
“What the fuck is this?” Aaron demanded. “Where’s Ford?”
“Calm down,” Graymard said. “I’ll take you there now.”
“Is he okay?” Caph asked. “Did they hurt him?”
“I haven’t spoken face-to-face with him yet, but I did talk with him over a com link. He assured me he’s fine. He’s healthy and wasn’t harmed in any way. He said they treated him like one of their family.”
There was something more Graymard wasn’t telling them, but Aaron didn’t bother pushing to find out. All he cared about was getting Ford back and getting on with their lives.
Caph didn’t say anything else as they followed Graymard. Aaron watched Caph as the big man clenched and unclenched his fists during the twenty-minute walk. Caph felt upset, but Aaron knew once Ford was safely back with them, they could both finally relax.
Then they could all get on with mourning Emi together.
His throat grew tight and he swallowed hard to push back the tears wanting to break through. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—break down now. That was private, only for Ford and Caph to witness. He would not share his grief with anyone but them.
The ISNC guards at the entrance to the diplomatic chambers nodded to Dr. Graymard and held the doors open for the men.
“I want to talk with all of you after you’ve reunited,” Graymard quietly said as he led them to a private office. Outside the door, he stepped away but held his hand out, indicating they should enter.
Aaron and Caph looked at each other, then the door.
“I’m gonna kill him for scaring us,” Caph muttered, but he sniffled.
Aaron forced a smile and clapped him on the back. “Let’s go get our motormouth back.”
They pushed through the door, which Graymard closed behind them. Before them stood a man even larger than Caph. A Beyant, Aaron assumed.
The man spoke. “Captain Aaron Lucio?”
Aaron nodded. The man’s standard sounded strangely accented, but understandable.
“Caphis Bates?” he asked, looking at Caph.
Caph nodded. “Where’s Ford?”
“Please, wait here.” The Beyant disappeared through another door. He returned a moment later with Ford following him. His skin looked a little orangey, and his hair a little lighter than it had, but it was him.
Caph and Aaron both let out joyful shouts and rushed to engulf him in their arms. Now Aaron didn’t even care the Beyant saw him cry. Ford was back.
“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” Aaron muttered in Ford’s ear as he pressed another kiss to the side of his husband’s neck. “You scared the crap outta us! Jesus it’s good to have you back.” He kissed him on the lips.
Caph pulled him close. “You asshole!” He kissed him. “What the fuck you think I’m gonna do without you?”
Ford looked happy and sheepish and proud of himself all at the same time. “Wow. Did you miss me?”
Aaron fought the urge to strangle his lover. “Let’s get back to the ship so we can show you. After we kick your ass.”
Ford shook his head. “We…uh, can’t yet.”
Aaron glared. “What do you mean we can’t? Me, captain. Ship, now. That’s an order. Don’t make me go captain on your ass.”
Ford waggled his eyebrows at him, then turned and spoke to the Beyant in…
Beyant?
The Beyant answered him in what Aaron presumed to be their native language. The alien smiled.
“You can understand him?” Aaron asked.
“Yeah. Now I can annoy you guys in two languages. I have something I need to show you.” His face turned serious. “Just…please don’t freak out, okay? I need you both to promise me you’ll stay calm.”
Aaron wanted to get back to the ship five minutes ago. “What the hell?”
“I’m serious, Aaron. You have to stay calm.”
He exchanged a confused look with Caph, but nodded. He refused to hope and shoved back the memory of the station officer talking about Emi’s chip.
“Come with me.” Ford opened and led them through the door he’d used to enter the room.
Aaron and Caph followed.
There was someone standing at the window sim with their back to them. A woman, Aaron realized. A Beyant, she had their blonde hair and…
She turned around when Ford walked over to her. Ford slipped his arm around her shoulders as she nervously looked from the floor up at them.
Aaron glanced at Caph and saw his jaw also gaped in stunned disbelief.
“Tell me I’m dreaming,” Caph said in a hushed tone. “No, wait, don’t tell me if I’m dreaming. Just fucking kill me so I don’t wake up. I don’t want to wake up. Seriously, just fucking kill me now because I don’t want this to end.”
“No,” Aaron said, “because I know I’m not dreaming.”
Ford quickly filled the gap. “The drugs the fucker gave her totally wiped her memory. The Beyants found the pod. They rescued her. They let the pod go because they were afraid to be found with DSMC property before the treaty was signed. I saw the film and believe me, they didn’t hurt her. They saved her life. She was nearly dead when they found her, starved and nearly out of supplies. They took damn good care of her, too. The ambassador adopted her.”
He nervously coughed. “And by the way, all three of us guys are now officially Beyants, too, because we’re her husbands. The big guy out there is our brother-in-law, Yanna.”
Aaron couldn’t pull his gaze from hers. “Em?” he whispered. “Is it really you?” Tears filled his eyes as he crossed the room in three strides, barely beating Caph to her. He touched her and looked at her in disbelief. Her skin had an orange tint, and the hair…
But it was her.
He heard someone sobbing and realized it was him. He pulled her into his arms and tightly hugged her as Caph wrapped his arms around both of them.
“Jesus, Em, babe. Oh my gods.” Aaron closed his eyes and wept.
Ford was still talking, Aaron realized. “Her skin and hair should change back. But her old memories are fried.” He stroked her hair. “We were afraid to try the antidote on her because we didn’t know if we had the right stuff. Her med skills are all intact though. She saved the ambassador’s life when they had an accident before I got there—”
“Shut up, Ford,” Aaron whispered as he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. “I’ll kick your ass in a minute.”
Ford laughed. “Yeah, yeah.”
Caph cried so hard his whole body shook as he held Emi and Aaron, nearly crushing them against his body. “I love you,” he repeated over and over again.
* * * *
Ford remained silent for a few minutes, allowing Aaron and Caph to get through their initial shock. When he felt he could continue, he took a deep breath. “I need to tell you something else.”
Aaron wouldn’t lift his head. He had his face buried in Emi’s hair. “What?” he mumbled.
“I don’t think we can give her the antidote now even though we’re back.”
“Why not?” Caph asked as he looked at Ford.
Ford felt his face grow hot. “I need you guys to stay calm. You promised.”
That was enough to get Aaron’s full attention. He lifted his head
to look at Ford. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s pregnant.”
Caph’s mouth gaped. Aaron stared, stunned. Ford quickly continued. “I didn’t know her chip was removed. When she was with them, they found it and she let them take it out so they could study it. She thought it might give them a clue to who she was. I didn’t know about that until after she started showing symptoms.”
Aaron’s voice sounded choked. “So the baby is—”
Ford nodded. “Mine. Without question. I told you, they didn’t hurt her or…anything else.”
Aaron glanced at Yanna, who’d followed them into the inner office and stood guard by the door. Ford didn’t need to be a mind reader to sense Aaron’s unspoken question. “Dude, they didn’t touch her. I mean it when I say they literally adopted her. If we had to pick someone to take care of her, we couldn’t have found better guys if we tried. They’d have been the first to kick anyone’s ass who even looked at her cross-eyed. They’ve treated her like a princess. Beyants practically worship their women. Yanna calls her his little sister.” He stroked her hair. “If she’d gotten mad at me, they would have tossed me out an air lock without hesitation at the snap of her fingers, trust me.”
Emi smiled, even though her eyes remained closed as she kept her arms around Aaron and Caph. “I wouldn’t have done that to you.”
“How far along is she?” Caph asked.
“She is standing right here,” Emi said.
He tightly hugged her. “Sorry, babe.” He burst into tears again. “I can’t believe you’re back.”
Ford took over again. “Graymard wants to talk to us. We need to get her to the med facility here on Mars and have her checked out. I think she’s a little over six weeks.” He gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “Then the three of us need to sit down and talk with Graymard.”
“I don’t want to talk,” Caph said. “I just want to curl up with all of you and sleep for a month. I’m so fucking exhausted and now I can sleep again. I never thought I’d ever be this happy again in my entire life. You’re both back. Just sleep, nothing else, that’s all I want. I just want to fucking sleep again with my whole family.”
Ford leaned in and kissed him. “I missed you, too, buddy. I’m sorry I bugged out like that. I let the whiskey do my thinking for me and didn’t have time to come up with a better plan when I saw her. I didn’t know I’d be stuck under radio silence once I got onto their ship.”
Yanna had stepped out, but he returned. “Dr. Graymard says they are ready for her at the medical facility.”
“Thanks.” Ford waved the Beyant over. “By the way, Yanna, I know you sort of met, but this is Aaron and Caph.”
The Beyant smiled and shook hands with the two men. “I am sure a’tein is in good hands if Ford is accurate in speaking of your character. If you love her half as much as he does, I am happy that she is well cared for and loved.”
Aaron glanced at Ford for an explanation of the strange word.
“A’tein basically means little sister,” Ford explained. “Look, let’s get her taken care of and I’ll fill you both in later.” Ford let Aaron and Caph hog Emi as they followed Yanna out to the main corridor. Dr. Graymard led the way as a group of Beyant guards surrounded them to escort them across the complex to the medical wing. Graymard personally took charge of her care. Yanna stayed with them.
Aaron pulled Ford aside. “Why are they still with us? Can’t we get rid of them? Have a little privacy?”
“I told you, he’s family. We’ve officially been declared part of the Beyant ruling family. We’re married to the ambassador’s daughter. That’s the ambassador’s son. He’s our brother-in-law.”
Aaron lowered his voice so the others couldn’t hear. “What else aren’t you telling us?”
Ford glanced across the room. Emi lay in her hospital bed, where Caph held one of her hands while Graymard talked with her. He put his arm around Aaron and turned him so they were facing away from them. “We think it’s a tubal pregnancy,” Ford quietly admitted. He tried to hold back his emotions. “All the stuff that asshole gave her to fuck with her body so he could do his thing, I think it did something to her. She’s been having a lot of pain the past several days. It’s getting worse. We didn’t have access to the testing equipment we needed, obviously, and they didn’t have stats on human anatomy other than what they’d been able to gather on us already. Their scanners don’t work on us like they do on them, but from what we could see, we think that’s what it is. I wanted to declare a medical emergency and have her evaced from the ship to one of the escort vessels, because it would have fallen under one of the exemptions about contact, but she wouldn’t let me. She was afraid what might happen if she was wrong. She insisted we had to finish the treaty signing first.”
“What’s a tubal pregnancy? What does that mean?”
Ford took a deep breath. “It means if it’s a tubal pregnancy, they’ll have to operate and… She’ll lose the baby. Otherwise, if they leave it, she’ll die.”
* * * *
Based on what Ford had told him, Aaron didn’t hold out much hope as Graymard and his staff ran extensive tests and scans on Emi.
He considered his hope used up on the miracle that was Emi returning to them alive and reasonably well, even if she had a lot of recovery time ahead of her.
Then Graymard called the men into a conference room while Yanna stayed with Emi in her hospital room. It was only with a lot of not-so-gentle coaxing on Ford and Aaron’s part that they got Caph to leave her side.
Graymard removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Ford, how much do they know?”
“I told Aaron everything.”
Caph, bless his heart, stared at Graymard in confusion. “What?”
Caph had sat between Ford and Aaron. Ford hooked an arm around Caph’s shoulders. “There’s a problem, big guy.” He looked at Graymard. “Am I right?”
Graymard nodded. “I’m so sorry, Ford. You were correct in your assessment.”
“What’s wrong?” Caph asked.
Graymard spared Ford. “The pregnancy isn’t viable. It’s an ectopic tubal pregnancy. We need to operate, as soon as possible, to save her life. We think we can reverse the changes the drugs did to her reproductive system so she can one day get pregnant again, but it will take some time before we know for sure.”
Caph stared at him. “What do you mean? Will the baby be okay?”
Aaron also slipped his arm around the larger man. “No, buddy. I’m sorry.”
Stunned, Caph went silent for a moment as he tried to absorb the news. “You’re telling me my wife, who I just got back, is pregnant. And now you’re telling me what that son of a bitch did to her is going to make her lose our baby?”
Despite his own pain, Aaron ached for Caph. Caph wasn’t the least bit possessive or jealous of Emi when it came to the three of them. Any child they might one day have, regardless of which man fathered it, would still be one hundred percent his, in his eyes.
“That’s correct, Caph,” Graymard confirmed. “I’m so sorry.”
Caph shook off the other men’s arms, stood, and walked over to the window sim. Tears rolled down his face but he didn’t say anything.
“We’ll get her prepped and operate soon,” Graymard told Ford and Aaron. “She’ll need a few days to recover. We will try the antidotes Kayehalau formulated and see if they will reverse the changes and her memory loss. It might not be possible to retrieve her old memories. New memories apparently are not impacted, but she has been unable to retrieve older ones.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Ford corrected. “She remembers little bits and snips. The memories are still there, she just can’t usually make the neural connections to fully access all of them when she wants to.”
Aaron felt pain in his palms as his fingernails dug into his flesh. He unclenched his fists. He couldn’t let his anger get in the way right now. Emi and Caph both needed him. And so would Ford. “What about using sim se
ssions? Maybe all of us reliving things with her might help.”
“That is an option I’d already considered,” Graymard confirmed. “But let’s get her through the next few days first.”
* * * *
The men returned to her hospital room and surrounded her. They’d already started an IV and had given her medication to keep her relaxed and help with her pain. She reached for Caph’s hand as he crowded close and kissed her forehead.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
A ragged laugh escaped him. “You’re in the bed asking me if I’m okay?”
She worried about him. There was no doubt in her mind these two men loved her as much as Ford did. She worried most about Caph though. His initial joy at their reunion had been compounded by Ford’s revelation of her pregnancy. He returned from their talk with Graymard full of grief and heartache.
Aaron moved a chair over to her bedside for Caph and took up a chair on her other side. Emi squeezed Caph’s hand. “It’s okay, big guy. I’m going to be okay.”
More tears rolled down his face. “But the baby…” He rested his head on the bed and cried as she stroked his hair and Ford rubbed his shoulders.
She hurt, inside and out. Emotionally and physically. She’d hoped their reunion could be nothing but joy. When she’d recognized her symptoms, she’d understood that fantasy would be impossible. What hurt even more was that this gentle man was in more pain than before, after a teasing moment of unbounded happiness, his first joy in months.
Aaron stroked her hair. She’d started letting it grow out again after Ford’s arrival and seeing what it had looked like in the pictures of herself. She reached up with her free hand and laced her fingers through his. “Are you okay?” she asked. He felt full of a different kind of pain. Grief, anger at himself, and guilt.
“Yeah. I just want to get you healed up so we can all be together again.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t know. I didn’t know what the chip did.”
He nodded, but she felt how unconvinced he was. “I know, babe.”