Page 19 of Her Alien Matchmaker
I took the offered data pad and began scrolling through Lilly’s notes to get a feel for her health, any possible complications and her personal preferences for the birth.I’ll need to find out how Volderens have babies, too, and what procedures they use if there are issues.My scrolling became endless, and true excitement at helping to deliver a new life—the first of a new race—coursed through my brains.
“Are we home yet?”Aaron snuggled his face against my stomach and pulled his knees closer.
“Almost, sweetheart, almost.”
Jet gave me a wide smile, and I grinned.
Home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling.Home is where we are loved.Home is anywhere, and anyone, I want it to be.
Epilogue
TwoMonthsLater
“Push, Lilly, push.”I carefully grasped the baby’s head as he crowned, his dark hair thick.One last push by his mother freed his cranium from the birth canal.Two tiny nubs where future horns would grow poked from his forehead.One noticeable difference revealed his mixed heritage: the dusky pinkish purple coloring of his skin.“Great job, Lilly.He’s beautiful.”
His mother, her sweaty hair plastered to her forehead, collapsed into the reclining bed.“Oh my god.”She held her hands out.“Can I see him?”
“One last push on the next contraction.Once we clear his shoulders, we’ll get dad to cut the cord.”
Voren’s normally stern face blanched.“Should that not be something a medical professional performs?”
My Volderen counterpart, Nelani, snickered, then tried to cover it with a cough as she wiped a small amount of vernix from the baby’s eyes.
Lilly gave one last push, letting out a low grunt.
“He’s free.Great job!”The baby boy slid into my hands, and I gently massaged his back, ensuring he released a deep cry to clear his lungs.
“He’s beautiful, Voren.”Lilly held out her arms, and we wrapped him in a blanket for her to hold while Nelani readied the umbilical scissors and I placed the clamps.Lilly’s previous screams of pain and threats of violence morphed intocoosandahhswhile she and Voren smiled with wonder and love in their eyes.
After he hesitantly cut the cord and we performed the initial and subsequent APGARs, confirming what I thought: Mars’ first half-Volderen and half-human baby was healthy and strong, I bid the family farewell, relinquishing my role to the Volderen pediatrician.
I headed to the showers, ready to collapse into a bed myself.Her labor had lasted for fifteen hours, and it hadn’t been easy, but we’d learned so much in the process.
I took a lift to my work apartment, which Jet had arranged two months ago once the council agreed to bring me into the fold.I would work for a place in their society by sharing my knowledge and being the primary provider for humans on their ships and bases.Tomorrow, I’d fly to Atlantis, where I permanently lived, to start a week-long rotation.
No rest for the wicked.Seeing Aaron and Jet always buoyed my spirits, and healing others after years of XVU’s experiments shaped my perspective to one of gratitude.
The doors eased open after the security lock read my fingerprint and scanned my face, and I collapsed into bed, falling asleep within seconds.
Below me lay an enormous, circular ship resting on the ocean floor.
A port lit up when the pilot approached, speaking Volderen as he coordinated with Atlantis command.A school of fish, startled by our quick entry from the surface, zipped away, their bodies flashing a bioluminescent green, the only light this far down next to the inner glow of Atlantis.
After docking, the pilot cleared me to exit.I burst through the door, ready to hug Aaron and hear all about his week.Jet, true to his word, had found a spot for him with the other humans reintegrating themselves into the current year after being rescued by Volderen teams and waking up from cryogenic stasis.He’d even managed to find a Nanny for the days I had to work on Mars.
“Mommy!”A streak of red hair and legs were all the warning I had before he clobbered me with a tight hug.“I missed you.”
I gripped him as tightly.“You still see me every day in the holo cube.”
The holo projector, similar to the holodeck inStar Trek, allowed us to interact with one another in a simulated environment.The Quantorian cyborg, Xyra, had been working on upgrading Volderen technology and shared everything he knew, with the holo cube marking the first major collaboration between the Volderens and the highly advanced cyborg race.
“I know, but it’s not real.”
I went to my knees and fished around in my pack until my fingers brushed against the soft toy I’d replicated for him.
As I pulled it out, he squealed.“It’s an octopus.”His little hands reached for it, and he pulled it to his chest, wrapping the purple tentacles around his neck.
“Now Crockett will have a friend.”Movement farther back pulled my attention to the door leading out of the hangar.
