Chapter 34
“On this, the tenth anniversary of Earths unconditional surrender we remember those lost in the induction ceremony attacks.”
“These demons, these monsters will never break our spirit! They’ll never destroy that which makes humanity superior to all other forms of life! Hear me my brothers and sisters! One day we will live free again!”
“I love seeing how the world has changed since they arrived! I’m happy to be training to become a member of the Federation Exploratory Service! It’s a dream come true!”
“It’s embarrassing that it took so long to get the A.A.S. lowered to fifty percent! I never would have thought it would take so long!”
“They plan to enslave us! You’ll see, they’re lulling us into a false sense of security! Now that we’ve bent the knee we’ll see the true depths of their cruel depravity! Mark my words!”
~~
“Can you believe they’re still so worked up about all this?” Alex laughed as he straightened his uniform cuffs, preparing for the memorial parade.
Armando made a small noise of agreement but was clearly distracted as he had been for the past several days.
“Everything alright?” Alex asked cautiously, knowing his mate liked to come to him in his own time.
“Alex…” he faded out, not sure how to continue.
“Yes?”
“I had my inhibitor removed three months ago,” he said in a rush.
Alex’s mind went blank as he tried to process the other mans words. “What? You what? You’re…ready to…?”
“I guess I better be. Looks like we’re gonna be dads,” he said with a crooked smile.
Alex laughed out loud and pulled him to his chest in a tight hug. “Thank you. Thank you for doing this for me.”
He shrugged, beginning to feel some excitement for this change in their lives. “I’m doing this for us. What can I say? The idea has kind of grown on me.”
“We’ll be great parents! You won’t regret this,” Alex promised, so happy he felt like his chest would burst.
Somehow, Armando believed him.
~~
“And where is he now?” Azazel asked, trying not to sound as irritated as he was. Why did his son have to adventuring while he was responsible for the fleet? Didn’t he have enough on his plate? Apparently not.
“That’s the thing, man. He’s off doing his own thing. Maybe we should let him. He’ll come out when he’s good and ready…or when he’s hungry,” Sean said sagely.
Az had taken to accepting this odd humans word as law. If he was ever wrong, Azazel had yet to see it. He wondered why no one else seemed to notice the abilities of his sanguine friend, but didn’t question it. Sometimes genius bloomed in unexpected places.
“His mother will not be pleased with that answer,” he said shortly.
“Ah. Just don’t mention it. She’ll be busy getting helping Raven with the babies all day. Some good has to come from having them in pairs!” He thought for a moment then snapped his fingers, “I know! Get her some night blooming roses. Preferably purple. With a card that says For All You Do. And tell her he’s with me. He’ll turn up,” he said with a cheery smile.”
Azazel cracked a sharp toothed smile. “Remind me never to become your enemy.”
“I don’t have enemies my man!” Sean grinned, “ah, look at the time! Moira and I gotta meeting with some dudes on Genosha Prime. Catch you later?”
“Of course,” he nodded, letting the other man go before grabbing his tablet to search for the flowers he recommended. Sean had never steered him wrong before.
```
He had to laugh later that night when he felt the air displace next to him as he arrived back to their living quarters, hours after an elaborate bouquet had been delivered. Them being him and Kurt who now stood at his side with a bright smile.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Never mind! Tell me while we eat!” he charged inside calling for his mother.
Azazel stepped inside to see Mystique looking as beautiful as the day they met, yellow eyes sparkling as she showed their son the flowers. Az hid a smirk. The look in her eyes promised more personal thanks once the boy was asleep for the night.
He made a note on his tablet to give Sean a raise.
~~
“I pray to God daily for this nightmare to end! So many of the faithful have turned their backs on the Lord and now gladly serve the invaders as false gods!”
“I never thought I’d be able to have children but…well, Say hi Ben!” {woman laughs, baby babbles in the background}
“These collaborators aren’t welcome on Earth anymore! We’ll always be waiting to protest them when they want to pretend to be human! Especially those with half breed offspring with ‘abilities’! It’s not right!”
“I wish I had super powers haha! I might sign up for one of their research trials and see what happens! My cousin went to them for an experimental cancer treatment well she’s in remission now and can set off sparklers with her hands! How cool is that?!”
“It’s kind of weird to think about them mating with human you know? But I mean some of them aren’t too bad to look at, so who can say? Would I ever date a Genoshian? Well… aren’t we all Genoshians now?”
~~
Charles groaned to hear the interviews that Edie loved to listen to so much.
She turned to him with bright eyes. “It reminds me of when Derrian was inducted. There was so much trouble over it.” She shook her head at the memories from so long ago. “I seemed we would never have peace.”
“I know how that goes,” he groaned tiredly, leaning forwards to rub his lower back.
“Is the little one paining you?” she asked commiseratively.
“Yes, as per usual.”
“I’m sorry dear. I can’t imagine having to do that more than once.”
“Well I can’t imagine doing it for five years before the baby was full term so I guess we’re even,” he laughed. Edie smiled along. It had taken some getting used to, but apparently, not all species express humor through laughter.
There were other mind blowing differences as well. Charles had been shocked to learn that Edie had been away from her home planet for nearly six hundred years when they met. Apparently extended life spans were something else Erik had failed to share with him. Or, as Erik put it, he thought it was understood. Charles still rolled his eyes at the memory.
“Here they are,” Edie said happily, her sensitive hearing picking up the sounds of the children running down the hall.
She opened the door and stooped her slender six foot form to hug her adopted son- the child of Jason Stryker and his former mate, Svelik.
Jason had categorically refused to accept his pregnancy and had rejected the child at birth. He was still serving his prison term and refused to participate in any communications with Earth or with his son whom Edie had named Svelig, in honor of the traditions of his maternal line.
“Mama, Mama, look what nunka Genlen sent us!” he held up a glowing disk that looked to be made of shatterproof glass.
Edie smiled, “I’m not sure that’s the right word little one.”
“It’s uncle!!” David yelled, charging into the room and into his grandmother’s arms. He was far smaller and slower than his ‘cousin’ but neither boy cared.
“There you are. I thought Grandma Edie and I would have to eat alone,” Charles said with a smile.
“Now who’s being silly? Who ever heard of two growing boys missing a meal?” Edie teased.
Charles had to agree with that. “Let’s head in, the foods all set.”
They made their slow way to the dining room of the villa they were vacationing in off the coast of Spain. Edie was entirely enraptured with the ocean, as Erik had known she would be. And they spent as much time in and around the water as possible.
“Where is papa?” Svelig asked, as he loaded his plate with various nearly raw meats.
“He is in a meeting with Erik and they will be joining us shortly. Chew your food,” Edie said warmly.
“I can’t wait to see papa! I have a secret to tell him!” David cheered.
Charles bit down on a smile, though he knew David still sensed it, “is it your secret to tell?”
He screwed up his face in thought for a long moment, mind whirring. “Kind of?”
“David.”
He sighed dramatically, “it’s Aunt Moira’s secret but I know Papa will want to know!”
Edie looked up just as Charles felt his husbands mind wink into the room. “What will I want to know?”
“Auntie Moira is going to have a baby!!” David yelled before Charles could stop him.
“That’s your aunts business to tell,” he said firmly but kindly, having learned firsthand how hard it was to pretend not to know intimate details of the lives of others.
“But she’s happy she waited to have a baby because she gonna have a girl and she dint want to have the first girl on the fleet!” he pouted. “So it is to do with us!”
Charles sighed as the baby pressed her foot into his ribs like she was trying to pop them out of joint. Erik walked past and pressed his hand to the back of Charles’ neck soothingly.
“That’s lucky for her, and for your sister that she’ll have a playmate nearby,” he said happily. He had never- and Charles suspected would never- chastise David for using his telepathy however he pleased.
“She’ll have us!” Svelig announced around a mouthful of blood. Charles grimaced at the sight and felt his stomach turn.
“Close your mouth boy,” Jakob said stiffly. “Mind your manners.”
“Yes, papa,” he said happily, spitting blood as he spoke.
Jakob just sighed and took the empty seat next to his wife, trading fond looks with her as he did so.
Charles was happy to see that the other man had taken Erik’s words about his parenting style into account. Jakob had missed out on a close bond with his first born son and hoped not to repeat the experience.
He was far kinder to Svelig than Charles could have imagined in the first few years of knowing him.
~How was your meeting?~ he asked Erik, taking his hand where it rested on the table.
~It went well. Lady Frost claims she had a vision and knows of a planet we should explore. She’s never been one for seeing the future but Genlen is excited and is already plotting a course.~
~ How are they doing?~
~They who?~
~Erik! You know who! The Southern Fleet? Admiral Summers? Emma? How is their bond working out?~
~I didn’t ask. If there were problems they’d let me know~ he said absently as he took a bite of his roast beef.
Charles sighed at his disinterest and made a mental note to call Emma for a chat sometime soon. He wondered if she was expecting as well since he’d learned that telepaths often exhibited the powers of their unborn children as a pregnancy symptom.
He thought back to the strange feeling that he’d communed with Albert on some odd primal level just the day before. Perhaps that was all in his head.
Erik sensed his mate’s displeasure with his answer and decided to change the subject. “How are Alex and Armando?”
“Great! They do an excellent job of handling the issues that arise on Earth. Thank goodness Armando is so level headed. You wouldn’t believe what the Joint Navy got up to in the South China Sea last week.” Charles began happily. Kindly allowing the kids to guess. Neither of them got it right, though not for lack of trying.
Erik sat back and took a deep breath of the warm salt air and looked around at his family all chattering and happier than he could have imagined. Life was surprisingly…nice.
A decade ago he’d come to this little blue planet-closer to midsized if he was feeling generous- to conquer, induct, and move on as he’d done in countless systems before.
He’d still been locked in a strange half competition with Shaw. A Genoshian who should have been as a brother to him, whose perversion and selfish ambition had lead to his ultimate downfall and execution at the hands of the very race he’d attempted to betray the Federation to.
He’d protested his superiority and love for Erik until the very end. It was disturbing, but had helped to make him an outcast. His few devoted followers were serving long prison terms on distant colonies, earning their way back into good societal standing the only way they could.
Instead he’d found his mate and the home he’d like to retire too when it was time to resign his post. He’d made a life and a family for himself. He’d found happiness and come to peace with his past. And now he had a brilliant son and an unprecedented daughter on the way.
He winked at David who was clearly reading his mind and liking what he heard. Yes, life was good.