Alien Proliferation

party thingy isn’t until after the baby arrives. So we have at least a couple of weeks.”
    Jeff sighed. “It’s an induction ceremony. It’s traditional.”
    “Right. That.” The positive was that the A-Cs waited for the baby to arrive and then showered child and parents with gifts. When I’d first heard about it, it had sounded great. One big party, lots of goodies, what’s not to love? Then I realized everyone would be staring at me, expecting me to squeal with delight over every single item, and my anticipation had gone downhill.
    “Lorraine, Claudia, and Serene are all looking forward to theirs,” Jeff reminded me, with more than a little chide in his tone.
    This was true, because they were right behind us in the baby race. They were also all A-Cs, so to them, the whole massive group baby shower ceremony thing was normal.
    But this was why Tito was covering most of Alpha’s and Airborne’s medical—our three other female members had all gotten married shortly after Jeff and I had and were, just like us, immediately pregnant. We were at the head of what was about to become a baby boom of epic proportions, and we were all scared as hell about it.
    Which was the main reason Jeff and I were stalling out on the baby stuff. We were both frightened, and not just for us. If something was wrong with our baby, that meant there was a likelihood something was going to be wrong with a lot of babies.
    Precedent said they’d be fine. But we’d become used to nothing working out like we planned—story of my life, really—so we’d become apprehensive. Tito’s insistence on bed rest for me after the fainting incident hadn’t made us any calmer.
    “I know they’re all excited about their induction ceremonies. I am, too,” I lied.
    “I know you’re not.” Jeff sighed and hugged me. “I think I understand. You’re afraid. And,” he said in a low voice, “I can’t blame you.”
    I knew where this was heading. “Jeff, let’s not rehash it. You weren’t responsible for what happened to you.” I nuzzled his chest. “Besides, the drug made your powers stronger, so it all worked out.”
    “What if—” He snapped his mouth shut.
    “What if what?” He wouldn’t answer, so I thought about what he could be worried about. “I’m sure it won’t have hurt the baby. Tito and every medical A-C you’ve dragged by to check me out all say everything’s fine.”
    “How the hell would they know?”
    I managed to sit up to look right at him. “Uh, ’cause they’re doctors?”
    “The last hybrid birth was Abigail Gower, and she’s twenty-four now. No one working medical was around for her birth.”
    “Her parents were. And Ericka and Stanley both have said that the pregnancies were hard but nothing life-threatening.” I looked at his expression. “Jeff, just because your parents had a hard time with you, it doesn’t mean we will. You and Christopher put blocks into all your nieces and nephews. If our baby isn’t an empath, Christopher will put in an imageering implant, and it’ll be fine.”
    He nodded but didn’t look convinced. Point of fact, he looked worried, though I knew he was trying to hide it.
    “Besides, Serene is younger than Abigail.” Yep. I could see his worry spike.
    “And we know nothing about her human father, and her mother’s been dead for almost two decades.”
    I sighed. “I know we’re not supposed to find out the sex early by A-C tradition. And I swear Tito hasn’t told me. But you’ve been worried since June, so I have to guess we’re having a girl, right?” We’d figured out that male hybrids had no power issues—they got standard A-C talents or they got no talents. But the female hybrids, of which there were very few, all had advanced, mutated talents.
    “Doesn’t it seem odd that in all the original hybrid tests, there were only two girls born? Naomi and Abigail?”
    “Yeah. It seems odd that you have two hearts and can run fifty miles in the blink of an eye, too. I stopped worrying about it, oh, about an hour after I met you.” I hugged him. “Baby, you worry too much.”
    He hugged me back, so tightly I almost couldn’t breathe. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, or to our baby.”
    “Nothing will. We’ll be fine.”
    Before I could try to reassure him any more, a voice came over the intercom. “Commander Martini, we have a situation.”

 
    CHAPTER 8
     
    “W HAT IS IT, GLADYS?” Jeff asked, as he moved me gently so he could get