Pierce turned red and stumbled from his seat, knocking his chair over in the process. “Dalia! It is you,” he said, and then turned even redder. “What I meant was, I hardly recogniz.... No. What I meant was ... shit!”
Agonizingly aware that a half a dozen people were watching them, Dalia smiled with an effort. “I hope that means you’re glad to see me.”
He laughed, dragged a hand through his shaggy blond hair and finally swarmed toward her and grabbed her in an awkward embrace, rocking her slightly. “I am glad to see you, Dally. God I’ve missed you!”
“Step away from the female!”
Pierce released her as if he’d just discovered he was holding a hot piece of metal and jumped back. He glared up at the observation window.
Dalia placed a hand on his arm warningly. “Never mind.”
He looked at her, still frowning, but finally a grin dawned. He was taller than she remembered, blonder. She realized she’d forgotten how handsome he was, or, more accurately, she supposed she’d never really noticed. Shehadnoticed that one out of every two females that glanced his way did a double take, or simply stopped dead in her tracks and gaped at him as he walked by, but he’d never had that effect on her, never made her heart flutter with excitement. It was unfortunate, because he was as kind as he was handsome and he always made her laugh.
He’d always reminded her of a frisky puppy--a very large frisky puppy--always anxious to please, delighted with the smallest scrap of attention.
She immediately felt ten times worse than she had when she’d considered renewing their friendship merely for safety’s sake. As he grabbed her arm and led her to an empty couch, however, she realized that it wasn’t only for that reason. Until Reuel, she’d never been close to any other person, but, in the time they’d spent together, she’d grown accustomed to having someone to talk to, to touch and she desperately missed contact with another breathing being.
Pierce, she noticed, was beaming at her, watching her expectantly. His gaze kept flicking toward her belly, however. “So--it’s true what they said about you then? Man! I can’t believe my little Dally’s going to be a mom!”
Dalia blushed uncomfortably. “I suppose by ‘they’ you mean the company?”
He shrugged. “Bunch of assholes. I won’t miss it. I can tell you that. I never did have the stomach for ... well, hell, I never was any good at it anyway.”
“That’s not true! If you hadn’t been, you would’ve been cut from the program.”
Again, he shrugged dismissively. “Oh, I never had any problem learning the skills. I can’t say I even mind a rousing good fight from time to time, but I puked my guts out every time I had to kill.”
Dalia looked at him in surprise. “You, too?”
He laughed, but the sound had no humor in it. “I kept trying to convince myself they were just machines and it wasn’t any different from busting up a ... freezing unit or something like that, but it was ... the blood, the look in their eyes.
Throwing a glance in the direction of the viewing windows again, he leaned toward her. “Can I feel it?”
Dalia looked at him blankly. “Feel what?”
“The little tyke.”
“The what?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “The baby, Dally.”
Dalia studied him self-consciously but finally nodded. Pierce placed his hand on her rounded stomach and frowned in concentration. After a moment, he grinned. “It’s an active little thing. My mom told me.... Uh.” He broke off, looking at her uncomfortably. “Forgot.”
Dalia hated seeing the glow of happiness in his eyes dim. “Never mind, Pierce. What did she tell you?”
He looked at her a little hopefully. “Boys are more active. She was ... she was really old fashioned. She had all of us herself. She said it wasn’t natural to breed babies in tanks, like they were goldfish or something.”
He looked so unhappy; she cast around in her mind for something to distract him. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. “You like babies?”
He smiled. “Sure. They’re cute as hell. I had....” He broke off again and leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “This really confuses the hell out of me, Dally. I don’t know now what happened and what didn’t. I was beginning to think that me and you being friends was only more of the memory implant. You didn’t seem to recognize me. I can’t tell you what pure hell it was to think I’d lost ... my best little buddy.”
Guilt swamped her. He didn’t have to tell her what he was thinking and feeling. His face was as open and honest as Reuel’s was dark and mysterious. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to ignore you, it’s just ... I’ve been so unhappy since we were put in here that I was too self-absorbed even to realize you were here.”
He rolled his head along the back of the couch and studied her for several moments. Finally, he sat forward, grasping her hand. “Hey! You shouldn’t be unhappy. You’re going to be a mom!”
As much as she appreciated his efforts to cheer her, pointing out the one thing that was making her most unhappy didn’t help. Regardless, it was sweet of him and, impulsively, Dalia leaned toward him and kissed him on the cheek.
“Release the female!”
