Page 24 of Having the Alien Overlord’s Baby

I lost track of how long this went on. The medic stayed on the screen while Rone went to the front of the room. I heard a door open and close. Rone returned with a cart of more towels and a giant pot of freshly boiled, steaming water.

“That’s a lot of water,” Bhesur observed.

Rone shrugged. “The cook didn’t know how much was needed.”

Just when I thought the baby would rest before resuming its audition for a karate tournament, a contraction seized my entire torso from front to back. I yelled, “The baby’s coming now.”

The medic’s voice sounded distant beneath the sound of my pulsing heart and the ringing in my ears. “Rone, I'll need you to check her dilation.”

“Her what?” He tilted his horns at an angle that I would’ve found humorous had I not been in so much agony.

“Lift the towel.”

I felt an intense pressure shift downward right before Rone removed the towel from covering me from the waist down. “What is it?” I asked when I saw he did that thing with his eyes again. “What’s happening?”

“It’s a boy,” he announced. His voice was filled with both shock and awe. He breathed heavily while staring at what I couldn’t see for my pregnant belly. “I see its head. He has horns.”

For a split second, I wondered if the baby had been kicking or ramming me this entire time. The thought dissolved once another big pressure took hold of me. As if by some basic instinct, my body knew to push. I bore down, wanting nothing more than for the baby to be born and the pain to stop.

Rone grabbed my hand. I squeezed it as I pushed through yet another contraction. Something burned like hellfire. Did the baby come with his own Olympic torch, too? Rone dropped my hand to get in front of me on the bed. Then I felt tremendous relief as the pain subsided and a baby’s loud cry broke through the room.

“Cammie, you did it. Our son.”

I looked, bleary-eyed, at Rone as he held a wailing bundle in his arms. The baby thrashed in protest, moving both arms and legs. It connected its tiny fist to Rone’s jaw.

“Oof. I guess it’s my turn to receive a right hook.”

I reached out for the baby. Rone placed him in my arms after dabbing his face and body clean. The baby peered at me with amber gold eyes, the same color as his father. He settled as I gazed into his tiny face, surrounded by a cloud of thick curly dark hair. Two tiny nubs for horns protruded from either side of his head.

“They’re formed already,” Rone looked at him, pride written all over his face. “He’ll grow up to be big and strong.”

The baby moved its head and mouth, searching for milk. I brought the baby to my breast and observed as he latched. I never imagined I could feel so much love so fast.

“Good job, you two.” The medic beamed from the screen. “Cammie did all the hard work, of course. Now, Rone, I'm going to need for you to cut the umbilical cord.”

He flexed the fingers of his right hand where I gripped it hard during labor. “Bhesur, are there any left-handed scissors in the infirmary?”

The ship reached the landing dock at HQ minutes later. Bhesur and a team of nurses were there to meet us. They checked the baby’s vitals and mine. After declaring us both healthy, they transported me and the baby up to our living quarters to rest.

The soldiers and officials moved forward to offer their congratulations and tried to peek at the baby. Rone talked to them while the nurses got me upstairs. He accepted their well wishes and promised them a chance to see the baby in the near future.

For now, this was our time to rest and bond with our newborn.

Rone came into the bedroom as I held the baby, now fast asleep. He tiptoed towards the bed to take a look at him.

“We were so busy leading up to his birth that we never thought of names,” I said.

“What should we call him?”

I touched his springy curls. “I love the way his hair curls around his face. His hair and eyes remind me of a lion.” I thought about the time of year. If we were on Earth, it would be the month of August. “What about Leo?” I smiled down at the baby. “Leo Azulim. It has a cosmic ring to it.”

“Leo it is, then.”

At the sound of Rone’s voice, Leo opened his gold eyes and peered at the two of us. We became silent, staring transfixed, watching his every move. He stretched his mouth in a wide yawn and shut his eyes again, going back to sleep.

I adjusted his weight in my arms. “Clearly, he’s unimpressed by us staring at him all day.”

“We’re impressed.” Rone touched the boy’s head of curls. “He’ll just have to get used to it.”

“Our son. Literally born in space among the stars.” I marveled at his little horns. One day they’d be big horns, and he’d grow to be a tall, imposing figure like his father. Was I looking at a future warrior and commander, or would he grow up to be something else entirely?

Only time would tell. We had many years until then, and I intended to enjoy every single one with my mate and our baby boy.