Alien Proliferation

human men, like Brian.”
    “Doubt it.” Tito was still looking at my chart. “They aren’t carrying the babies. I’m pretty sure the father’s sperm were altered like the rest of him, which created the embryo and therefore mutated it. In the eight-plus months to go from embryo to fetus to baby, blood, and possibly cells, from the fetus clearly mingled with the mother’s, which then created the mutation in the mother once the umbilical cord was severed. Of course, we’ll want to run more tests.” Emily and Melanie both nodded emphatically.
    “How charming. Tito, could you have possibly made that any more clinical, gross, or weird if you’d tried?”
    He shook his head, still engrossed in my chart. “Sorry, just fascinating stuff.” He looked up and grinned at me. “You were right—I’d never have learned these kinds of things at a regular hospital.”
    “So happy it’s all working out for you. We are rather attached to you by now. So, no worries about my torpedoes suddenly not working?” About the only downside I could see was if I wasn’t going to be able to breastfeed Jamie. I liked it, a lot, and I knew it was good for her. And Jeff still loved watching it, too.
    “No, at least, if you’re now following standard A-C reactions,” Emily said. “You should be able to breastfeed as long as you want. I recommend stopping between six months and a year, but it’ll depend on how fast Jamie’s developing.”
    “Do A-C babies grow faster than human ones?” And, if so, why hadn’t anyone mentioned that in the last eight months?
    “Not so much, no. But the double hearts do speed some things up. Teeth and such, as an example. Trust me,” Melanie said with a grin, “you do not want to be breastfeeding when the teeth arrive.”
    I could easily imagine. “Good point. Noted.” I was so excited I couldn’t keep still. I was sort of bouncing.
    “Baby, the whiplash, it’s bad for me. Stand still.”
    Heaved a sigh. “Fine.” Stood still. Excitement didn’t go away. “Wonder how my parents are going to take the news.”
    “Take what news?” My dad’s voice came from the doorway. “What’s going on?” He went over to Reader and took Jamie. She woke up, cooed at him, and went back to sleep. “Oh, my little Jamie-Kat knows her Papa Sol, doesn’t she?”
    I watched my dad cuddle Jamie. He looked so happy and so did she, at least, as much as a newborn could. I was enjoying watching them so much I forgot what we’d been talking about.
    Dad hadn’t. He looked over. “Kitten? You had news for me and your mother?”
    Jeff cleared his throat. “Yeah, Reynolds is still refusing to let us out of the compound to get a damned bassinet.”
    Chuckie blinked, but he went right into his part of this act. “Yeah, it’s dangerous. I don’t want to risk anyone, Sol, especially Kitty, who wants to go baby shopping.”
    Dad shook his head. “Charles is right. We need to stay hunkered down. They can’t hurt anyone that way. Poor Sheila! Those goons had knives to her children’s throats. Naomi and Abigail had to alter their memories, it was that traumatic for them.”
    I took a deep breath. Jeff and Chuckie both gave me looks that shouted “shut up.” Let the breath out. Geez. I was excited, not stupid. “Dad, what does Sheila think’s going on? I haven’t seen her yet.”
    He shook his head. “Not what I would have liked. We can’t afford to have them forget the incident, because they may have information we need that they’re not remembering, may be able to identify one of this network, and so on. So the girls took the fear of the event away from them. They remember it, but more like it was a movie they watched as opposed to an experience they lived.”
    “Sounds like a decent compromise.”
    “So live without a bassinet for a bit longer, kitten. Where is my little angel here sleeping anyway?”
    Jeff and I looked at each other. Felt every eye in the room on us. “Ummm . . .”
    “She’s not in a Poof bed, is she?” Dad sounded horrified.
    “Oh, no. Not at all.” Jeff was able to answer that one with a cheery smile, because it was true.
    “So, where is she sleeping?” Tito sounded like he was readying to go into Clinical Doctor From Hell mode again.
    “Sleeps like an angel.” Shot them the bright smile.
    Tito looked at Jeff. “Where?”
    Jeff looked at me. “Uh . . .”
    “As the baby’s doctor, I want to know where she’s sleeping. And I want to know now.”
    Reader