“Well, from the readings today, compared to your previousscan, it seems you are due in eighteen weeks,” Rodin said with a smile.
“Wait. What?”
“Are you sure?”
Both Wheaton and Poppy had spoken at the same time.
“Hold the phone, people. Human pregnancies are normallyforty weeks for full term. There is no way I’m due in eighteen weeks,”Poppy said in disbelief.
“Well…it appears as if you two are compatible for breedingbut Wheaton’s cloning genes have taken over the gestation period,” Taminexplained, as if that made total sense to a confused Poppy.
“Uh?”
Wheaton turned toward Poppy and took her hand. Gesturing forher to sit down, he explained, “When warriors are cloned, they are engineeredto have a gestation period of only twenty weeks. This is to speed up theprocess. It must have influenced my own genetics when reproducing naturallywith a human.”
“But wouldn’t I be showing more if I were due so soon? Willthe development still be okay considering the timeline is short and the baby isonly half Phaeton?” Poppy’s voice sounded panicked even to her own ears.
Rodin walked closer to the couple, holding the readouts inhis hand. “The findings are showing a healthy fetus for the time frame listed.Development is showing on par with what we would expect for a cloned incubatorfetus with no signs of distress.” As if embarrassed, he paused a moment beforecontinuing, “Your…weight may be hindering our ability to see more of an obviousswelling of the abdomen. Do not worry though, you are completely healthy and wehave no worries. It will not be long though before your pregnancy is apparentto everyone. We have been lucky so far that you haven’t been showingconsidering your desire to keep your condition a secret.”
“Now that I recall clearly, you are not as soft in yourstomach as you were a few weeks ago. I did not notice it until I caressed youthough.” With Wheaton running his hands over her stomach, Poppy had to admitthat she didn’t feel as squishy as she had before.
“My baby, you are really having my baby,” he whispered. “Istill cannot believe it.”
Poppy was having a surreal moment of her own. She had justgotten used to the idea they’d need to get everything baby ready in forty weeksand now her timeline had been cut in half. She was going to be a mom soonerrather than later and it was freaking her out. Flicking her gaze from one manto another, all she could hear from them was “whaa whaa whaa whaa” andwondered if this was what someone felt right before they passed out. As shelost consciousness, her last thought was please don’t let me hit the ground.
Trying to open her eyes, she heard loud voices above her.Blinking, her eyes hurting at the bright lighting, she saw that she was lyingin the regen bed with the men arguing whether or not to scan her again to seewhat was wrong. Not one of them had realized she had come to again and werestarting to yell at each other.
“Guys? Guys. Guys!” she yelled to get theirattention.
“Poppy, you worried us. How are you feeling?” Rodin asked,sweeping a handheld scanner up and down her body.
“I’m fine. I think I just got overwhelmed there for aminute,” Poppy said weakly. Sitting up, she put her hand on her head to clearthe cobwebs a bit. “Can I have a glass of water?”
Rodin rushed water to her so fast, she was amazed he didn’tgo skidding across the floor.
Wheaton was hovering over her as if she would pass out againany moment, and Poppy was feeling claustrophobic.
“Back up, guys, I need some room to breathe,” she said,pushing Wheaton back a step or two. The hurt on his face made her heart twinge,but she really needed to not have three uber-tall warriors hovering over herright now.
Wheaton felt as if his heart had stopped when he saw Poppydroop in the chair. Realizing she was no longer conscious, he panicked. Thefirst thought that ran through his head was to get her to the regen bed.Noticing both doctors seemed frozen, he lifted her out of the chair and laidher gently down in the unit. Tamin was hitting buttons on the machine whenPoppy moved her head and fluttered her eyes as if trying to wake up. When shedidn’t immediately wake, he had demanded the doctors do their job. It was notuntil Poppy started giving orders that Wheaton felt relief. His little floweracted like a senior warrior sometimes in her temperament.
“Rodin. Tamin. We have a ship to baby-proof and plans tomake regarding houses on the home planet,” Poppy murmured once her headcleared. Plan mode was always her go-to for dealing with stress and this wouldnot be an exception.
“As you would say, we have a lot of shit to do and not muchtime to do it in. Correct, Poppy?” Rodin asked with a relieved smile.
“Exactly, my friend. Exactly,” she replied with a matchinggrin.
The men took that as their cue to help her up and startgoing over the plans they’d made earlier with Wheaton regarding how to getquarters prepared for when the baby arrived. Knowing that they were on an eventighter timeline seemed to give them a new energy for how things needed to bedone. They all agreed that Poppy should be able to tell people about the pregnancysooner rather than later considering the accelerated growth. The scan had comeback showing a very healthy, if not speedy, baby.
Wheaton grilled the doctors about what she should be eating,doing, and reiterated she needed to have an escort at all times. Although hewasn’t too fond of how close Behyr had grown to Poppy, Poppy figured Wheatonunderstood his fellow warrior was still the most logical choice consideringBehyr already knew about the baby and he had become friends with Poppy.
After Tamin and Rodin had explained, repeatedly, thateverything was fine and Poppy was safe with them, he agreed to head to hismorning meeting.
“I wish I did not have to leave you yet,” he whispered,hugging her for the umpteenth time as he prepared to
