Aaron knelt next to him. Ford knew it was an award-winning act Aaron put on for their lover. “Hey, Caph,” he gently said, “I need you. Motormouth has been pulling our share of the weight. But as bad as this is, I don’t want to get stuck on a rock. We can’t do anything for her stuck back on Earth. We can’t let Ford down, okay?”
Caph nodded. Aaron hugged him as Caph cried against his shoulder. “I miss her so much, Aar. I dream about her every night. I wake up thinking about her.”
Ford forced himself not to join their group hug. He stood back and watched, his own tears flowing.
“I know, buddy,” Aaron soothed. “Me, too. I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you. I’m here now, I promise.”
“Can we…can we get her a place by Kels? On Mars? I mean…” He sobbed. “I know she’s not there but it’s something.”
Ford spotted Aaron’s tears as he stroked the large man’s hair. “Yeah, of course we can. Absolutely. Whatever you want, big guy.”
Caph’s anguished cries ripped Ford’s heart. He sensed his two lovers needed this together, would never heal if it was simply him trying to bring them back together.
Eventually, Aaron looked at Ford and held out a hand to him. Ford took that as his cue to join them.
Aaron kissed him. “I’m sorry, man,” Aaron whispered. “I’m sorry I checked out. What would we do without you taking care of us?”
Ford closed his eyes. Maybe now they could heal together. It would always hurt, and Ford would never give up hope, but maybe a tentative healing was possible. “I love you guys. I can’t not take care of you.”
They all debarked, received their passes, and went to their appointment with the shrink. After three hours, he deemed them duty-worthy and released them. Graymard had left word to allow them another two months of search time, if they wanted to take it, before their next assignment. Or if they wanted R&R, they could spend it at the resort.
To accomplish that feat, the three men had lied through their teeth and told the shrink what Ford had prompted them to say, the key points he knew the shrink would look for to determine emotional fitness, but it worked.
Aaron and Caph returned to the Tamora Bight, while Ford wanted to explore. The station was a distraction. He needed to look at something besides the same walls.
He really needed a fucking drink.
Erin nervously clung to Yanna’s side as they were led through the space station. Things looked familiar in shops. She could read many of the signs in standard, but nothing jogged her memory even though it felt like she’d been there before.
They met with the representatives from the Interstellar Treaty Coalition in the station commander’s office. Despite the growing feeling she’d definitely been there in that office before, Erin ignored her increasing discomfort while she and Yanna translated for the ambassador. She noted the confused stares of the men on the coalition committee, as well as the station’s commander, and felt their overwhelming curiosity over her appearance.
“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” she finally asked. Only one of the ISTC representatives, the one from Earth, was Terran, although they all spoke excellent English standard.
The Earth representative spoke. “You’re…not Beyant. Are you?”
Her skin had darkened a little due to the minerals in their water, but was nowhere near the orange tint of the men. “No, I’m not.”
“Terran?”
Yanna spoke up. “But she is my sister. Adopted. She is part of the official diplomatic party, as defined by treaty protocols.”
“And your name?” the Earth ambassador asked her.
“I am Erin Cafford Raoulx. Ambassador Raoulx’s daughter. Why?”
Commander Dobros, who ran the station, shook his head. “You look vaguely familiar.”
He, however, didn’t personally ring any bells in her memory despite her feelings about the office itself.
She had asked her new “family” not to mention how she’d come to be with them, and they respected her wishes. Erin wanted nothing to interfere with the Beyant treaty process. She feared the revelation of how she’d joined them would at the very least be a distraction. At the worst, it could potentially derail the process, regardless of how good their intentions had been.
Especially if it turned out she’d been on the run, an interstellar criminal. She suspected she’d been running from something. That was one of the few things that felt certain in the nebulous dark region of her mind that refused to give up its secrets.
And the uneasy feeling that filled her from being in the station commander’s office only reinforced that.
She wanted to wait until they reached Mars to reveal the truth to Terran authorities and research her past. Then she would be protected no matter what she discovered.
The trip to Mars would take four months Earth time, and in her heart it felt like a safe place to go. Perhaps even a familiar place. She couldn’t explain why it seemed that way to her, but she didn’t want to be separated from her new family in space. Surely she could stay missing a little longer.
These men had taken a huge risk saving her life. She wanted to pay them back by helping them sign the treaty and join the ISTC.
She remembered all too well the nasty taste of fear in her mouth when she first awoke on board the B’autachia. She had felt no fear since, except when trying to coax meaning from her hazy early memories. And when racing to save the ambassador’s life.
She felt safe with the Beyants.
She felt like she was home.
She felt like she had a family.
She wasn’t willing to trade her safety and the love of these men for anything. Not even for the disembodied voice of the man called Ford that she couldn’t bear to listen to anymore because it hurt too much to miss someone whose face she couldn’t even recall.
She still wore her rings. She’d confirmed it meant she had likely been married. Who knew if her husband was even alive?
These men needed her. Her fluency in Beyant and in English standard meant their final negotiations would go much faster and easier and with far less risk of misunderstandings or delays.
The ambassador returned to the ship while Yanna wanted Erin to have a chance to see the station in the hopes it might help jog her memory. On their way through the station, she smelled something, stopped, and grabbed Yanna’s arm. “Yanna, wait.”
Everyone stopped. “What, a’tein?” he asked.
She deeply inhaled, a word magically coming to mind. “Cheeseburgers!”
He laughed, obviously amused. “What?”
Their Terran security escorts watched as she excitedly discussed the restaurant in Beyant with Yanna. Then he turned to the guards. “She wants to eat. There. Is that permissible?”
The men quickly conferred with their commander, who said as long as the Beyants didn’t interact directly with anyone but their guards, they would allow it. They had already set up an expense account funded by Beyant money and converted to coalition currency.
Erin clung to Yanna’s arm as she read the menu, her eyes wide with excitement. She realized she recognized all the offerings. She spoke to the security officer in charge. “A cheeseburger, rare, with cheese and mayo and ketchup. And french fries! Oh, and a salad! And a vanilla shake and water!” She laughed. “Oh my gods, I can’t believe it. I know these things!”
The security officers didn’t try to make sense of her joy. They simply ordered for her. She knew a few of the things were safe for Yanna and let him taste those while she savored her meal.
Yanna sat across the table from her while the security force stood around, keeping a perimeter around the Beyants. The Beyants watched her eat, amused by her joy.
“If you enjoy these things, a’tein, I will never begrudge you having them,” Yanna said.