30 Tovis
The mated females leftus to attend to Amy, and Jessa clutched Sal to her chest.
“She’s having a baby?”she asked, eyes wide.“Here?Is there a doctor?”
“A medic?”I questioned.“She’s not injured.”
Jessa’s mouth opened and closed and she shook her head.“Humans have babies in hospitals, with doctors and nurses and medical care.Not-” she waved a hand at the camp full of turochs who’d clustered near the strip mall to wait.Sal took the opportunity to throw himself out of her grasp and I caught him before he hit the ground.“Not in alien camps.”
“We don’t have a human doctor,” I said, my excitement over the impending birth wavering at Jessa’s clear concern.“Turoch females are attended by their mothers and sisters.”
“This is crazy,” she said, watching as Sal squirmed in my hands and let out a plaintive honk.“I think he needs to pee.”
“Let’s take him to the edge of camp,” I said.“His odor is intense and lingering.”
Jessa let out a choked laugh and I wrestled the wiggling baby percer until we were a safe distance from anywhere someone might smell his leavings.Setting him on the dirt, we watched as he happily snuffled around in circles before squatting and leaving a puddle.
“I hope Amy’s okay,” she murmured, biting her lower lip.“No one’s ever had a turoch human baby before, we have no idea how it will go.”
“The sytos took many of your people as breeders,” I admitted.“They tested them to see if they were compatible with many species.”
“Turochs were one of them?”she asked.
“We were.”
Jessa pushed her hair out of her face.“I shouldn’t be relieved to hear that, because it means some poor woman got experimented on and had a baby against her will, but I just hope it means Amy will be fine.”
“She will be,” I said gently.“She’s strong, and she has her mate.”
“I can’t imagine having a baby with the world like this,” she admitted.Sal wandered away from camp and we slowly followed, each of our steps equaling a dozen of his.
“You don’t want children?”I asked, my heart sinking.My desire for a mate was more than just a need for a female to love.It was a bone deep craving for family and connection.
“I-” she rubbed her arms.“I did.I always pictured myself having kids.But everything is such a mess and so dangerous now.It seems insane to bring a baby into the world.”
“Children are hope,” I said, feeling the words down to my soul.“A promise we make to the future that things will be better.I know the world is different than it was, but for us?”I gestured back at the camp.“This is a world of freedom and opportunity compared to what we lived in before.It’s a good world, a good planet.”
Jessa looked up at me, her emotions warring across her pretty face.I could see the wariness and fear there, the same fear I’d seen when I’d first spotted her.But there was hope to, a flicker of vulnerability, as if she wanted to believe my words.
“We just met,” she finally said, a smile tugging at her full lips.“It’s been less than two weeks but I feel so close to you.I trust you so much already and it scares me.”
“Have I given you reasons not to trust me?”I teased, reaching out and curling a lock of her hair around my finger.Jessa was so soft and small compared to me, silky hair, soft hips, round features.I already loved every inch of her.
“No, you’ve never let me down,” she murmured.“I don’t think you would.But I don’t know what you’d get out of this except for sex and company.I’m not a fighter, I’m not a survivor, the only reason I’m still alive is dumb luck, and you.”
She saw herself as weak, I could see it in her eyes when she looked at Taz and when she stared at the other turochs.But she’d survived the sytos, helped keep me and Jiith fed, fought to save the little percer stumbling around our feet.
I let my hand drift from her hair to her arm and tugged her closer.
“You’re not a fighter,” I agreed.“I don’t expect you to venture out and fight sytos or hold off percers.But you’re sweet and kind.You kept me fed when the Kwin was starving me, you helped Jiith when he didn’t deserve it, you felt pity for the percer boar and saved Sal when Jiith and I would have crushed him.Just because you’re afraid sometimes doesn’t mean you’re not brave.”
She stared into my eyes, searching for something.“Is that enough?In a world like this?”
