Alien Proliferation

from the drug, only. I think he’s been crying a lot. And I also think he wanted someone to figure it out and make him stop.”
    “He’s scared, I’ll say that. Richard’s staying near him. Isolation’s hard to take—you get used to it as an empath, mostly because it’s such a relief that you can have some true peace and quiet—but Christopher’s only been in there a couple of times.”
    “We can all take turns with it.”
    “Yeah.” Jeff sighed. “I let him down completely, didn’t I?”
    “No. If you’d confirmed his real fear—that you’d never forgive him, never understand, and wouldn’t love him any more? Then you’d have let him down. He knows he still has you, unconditionally. And his father. That’s what he needed. And what he wanted, I’d guess.” I sighed. “We really, really need to get him a girl.”
    Jeff laughed. “I suppose. No idea who.”
    “Me either. Hopefully the right candidate will present herself soon.”
    “Thing is, his right girl was murdered. And the next right girl married me.”
    “Yeah, but I wasn’t the right girl for him. I mean, I can imagine Christopher’s reaction to how I handled the wedding parade. I don’t think he’d have found it cute or endearing—I think he’d have been humiliated.”
    “Yeah, maybe.” Jeff put his arm around me. “I still think it was great.”
    “I still think you did all the running around to make me feel better.”
    “Of course I did. But I enjoyed it, a lot more than the parade because that was just hell.” He nuzzled my head. “You should be able to wear your wedding dress again soon.”
    “I hope so, but I’m not counting on it.”
    “I am.” His voice was a purr.
    “You still have your tux, right?” He was even more gorgeous in the tux he’d worn for our wedding. I started to drool a little as I rubbed against him.
    “Yeah. I asked Tito, he said we should give it at least a week, but then as soon as you feel physically ready.”
    “Marking my calendar. Plan to ring in the New Year.”
    Jeff chuckled. “I can’t wait. I can if you need me to, but otherwise, ready the moment you are.”
    “When can we go back to the Lair? I feel even more helpless stuck in a hospital room.”
    “Tito and Camilla want you in here for at least another day. Then we’ll see.”
    “When do I get to take a shower?”
    “There’s one in this room. We are in the delivery wing.”
    “One day I’ll keep every floor and section straight.”
    “I’ll believe that when I see it. You need me to get your mother in here, baby? She can watch Jamie while I help you shower, or vice versa.”
    “I want you to help me shower.” I loved showering with Jeff. Of course, we normally took a long time because we’d never taken a shower together where we didn’t have a lot of great sex. Even pregnant he’d managed to make showering totally worth my while. Taking baths, too. Generally, getting cleaned up for us meant having fabulous sex. Considered that this was likely to change now. Felt depressed.
    “Oh, baby, I can still make it worth your while.” He kissed my neck while I moaned softly. “There are plenty of ways I know to make you happy.”
    “You know every way.”
    “Mmmm, good.”
    Before we could continue this discussion, Jamie started crying. Did the diaper check, it was fine. Offered a torpedo, refused. Cuddled and held her, seemed to help a bit. She wanted me more than Jeff but seemed quietest when I was holding her and Jeff was holding us both.
    “I should have let James register us.”
    “Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing. We just can’t make decisions on this sort of thing quickly, can we?” He sounded a little concerned.
    “James says it’s because we want everything to be perfect. We make fast decisions all the time when we’re in danger, though.”
    “Yeah.” He heaved a sigh. “Seriously, baby, if you want to stop with just Jamie, I’m okay with it.”
    “I’m not. You’ve wanted a lot of kids your whole life, Jeff.”
    “I don’t want to live without you. And I just faced that possibility in the most real way since Leventhal Reid almost ran you over with that Escalade in the middle of the desert. I was less afraid of losing you when we were fighting the Alpha Four invasion force than when you were in labor.”
    “You know, wouldn’t you think I’d remember it? At least part of it? I remember a beeping, and you going white, and James yelling at me to stay with you guys. Then,