She turned around when Ford walked over to her. Ford slipped his arm around her shoulders as she nervously looked from the floor up at them.
Aaron glanced at Caph and saw his jaw also gaped in stunned disbelief.
“Tell me I’m dreaming,” Caph said in a hushed tone. “No, wait, don’t tell me if I’m dreaming. Just fucking kill me so I don’t wake up. I don’t want to wake up. Seriously, just fucking kill me now because I don’t want this to end.”
“No,” Aaron said, “because I know I’m not dreaming.”
Ford quickly filled the gap. “The drugs the fucker gave her totally wiped her memory. The Beyants found the pod. They rescued her. They let the pod go because they were afraid to be found with DSMC property before the treaty was signed. I saw the film and believe me, they didn’t hurt her. They saved her life. She was nearly dead when they found her, starved and nearly out of supplies. They took damn good care of her, too. The ambassador adopted her.”
He nervously coughed. “And by the way, all three of us guys are now officially Beyants, too, because we’re her husbands. The big guy out there is our brother-in-law, Yanna.”
Aaron couldn’t pull his gaze from hers. “Em?” he whispered. “Is it really you?” Tears filled his eyes as he crossed the room in three strides, barely beating Caph to her. He touched her and looked at her in disbelief. Her skin had an orange tint, and the hair…
But it was her.
He heard someone sobbing and realized it was him. He pulled her into his arms and tightly hugged her as Caph wrapped his arms around both of them.
“Jesus, Em, babe. Oh my gods.” Aaron closed his eyes and wept.
Ford was still talking, Aaron realized. “Her skin and hair should change back. But her old memories are fried.” He stroked her hair. “We were afraid to try the antidote on her because we didn’t know if we had the right stuff. Her med skills are all intact though. She saved the ambassador’s life when they had an accident before I got there—”
“Shut up, Ford,” Aaron whispered as he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. “I’ll kick your ass in a minute.”
Ford laughed. “Yeah, yeah.”
Caph cried so hard his whole body shook as he held Emi and Aaron, nearly crushing them against his body. “I love you,” he repeated over and over again.
Ford remained silent for a few minutes, allowing Aaron and Caph to get through their initial shock. When he felt he could continue, he took a deep breath. “I need to tell you something else.”
Aaron wouldn’t lift his head. He had his face buried in Emi’s hair. “What?” he mumbled.
“I don’t think we can give her the antidote now even though we’re back.”
“Why not?” Caph asked as he looked at Ford.
Ford felt his face grow hot. “I need you guys to stay calm. You promised.”
That was enough to get Aaron’s full attention. He lifted his head to look at Ford. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s pregnant.”
Caph’s mouth gaped. Aaron stared, stunned. Ford quickly continued. “I didn’t know her chip was removed. When she was with them, they found it and she let them take it out so they could study it. She thought it might give them a clue to who she was. I didn’t know about that until after she started showing symptoms.”
Aaron’s voice sounded choked. “So the baby is—”
Ford nodded. “Mine. Without question. I told you, they didn’t hurt her or…anything else.”
Aaron glanced at Yanna, who’d followed them into the inner office and stood guard by the door. Ford didn’t need to be a mind reader to sense Aaron’s unspoken question. “Dude, they didn’t touch her. I mean it when I say they literally adopted her. If we had to pick someone to take care of her, we couldn’t have found better guys if we tried. They’d have been the first to kick anyone’s ass who even looked at her cross-eyed. They’ve treated her like a princess. Beyants practically worship their women. Yanna calls her his little sister.” He stroked her hair. “If she’d gotten mad at me, they would have tossed me out an air lock without hesitation at the snap of her fingers, trust me.”
Emi smiled, even though her eyes remained closed as she kept her arms around Aaron and Caph. “I wouldn’t have done that to you.”
“How far along is she?” Caph asked.
“She is standing right here,” Emi said.
He tightly hugged her. “Sorry, babe.” He burst into tears again. “I can’t believe you’re back.”
Ford took over again. “Graymard wants to talk to us. We need to get her to the med facility here on Mars and have her checked out. I think she’s a little over six weeks.” He gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “Then the three of us need to sit down and talk with Graymard.”
“I don’t want to talk,” Caph said. “I just want to curl up with all of you and sleep for a month. I’m so fucking exhausted and now I can sleep again. I never thought I’d ever be this happy again in my entire life. You’re both back. Just sleep, nothing else, that’s all I want. I just want to fucking sleep again with my whole family.”
Ford leaned in and kissed him. “I missed you, too, buddy. I’m sorry I bugged out like that. I let the whiskey do my thinking for me and didn’t have time to come up with a better plan when I saw her. I didn’t know I’d be stuck under radio silence once I got onto their ship.”
Yanna had stepped out, but he returned. “Dr. Graymard says they are ready for her at the medical facility.”
“Thanks.” Ford waved the Beyant over. “By the way, Yanna, I know you sort of met, but this is Aaron and Caph.”
The Beyant smiled and shook hands with the two men. “I am sure a’tein is in good hands if Ford is accurate in speaking of your character. If you love her half as much as he does, I am happy that she is well cared for and loved.”
Aaron glanced at Ford for an explanation of the strange word.
“A’tein basically means little sister,” Ford explained. “Look, let’s get her taken care of and I’ll fill you both in later.” Ford let Aaron and Caph hog Emi as they followed Yanna out to the main corridor. Dr. Graymard led the way as a group of Beyant guards surrounded them to escort them across the complex to the medical wing. Graymard personally took charge of her care. Yanna stayed with them.
Aaron pulled Ford aside. “Why are they still with us? Can’t we get rid of them? Have a little privacy?”
“I told you, he’s family. We’ve officially been declared part of the Beyant ruling family. We’re married to the ambassador’s daughter. That’s the ambassador’s son. He’s our brother-in-law.”
Aaron lowered his voice so the others couldn’t hear. “What else aren’t you telling us?”
Ford glanced across the room. Emi lay in her hospital bed, where Caph held one of her hands while Graymard talked with her. He put his arm around Aaron and turned him so they were facing away from them. “We think it’s a tubal pregnancy,” Ford quietly admitted. He tried to hold back his emotions. “All the stuff that asshole gave her to fuck with her body so he could do his thing, I think it did something to her. She’s been having a lot of pain the past several days. It’s getting worse. We didn’t have access to the testing equipment we needed, obviously, and they didn’t have stats on human anatomy other than what they’d been able to gather on us already. Their scanners don’t work on us like they do on them, but from what we could see, we think that’s what it is. I wanted to declare a medical emergency and have her evaced from the ship to one of the escort vessels, because it would have fallen under one of the exemptions about contact, but she wouldn’t let me. She was afraid what might happen if she was wrong. She insisted we had to finish the treaty signing first.”