“We have too many friends,” Alex said, thumbing through his pad on the armrest of the sofa.

“Why do you say that?” Rixie asked, as she lounged on the couch, frowning as she read through her fifth attempt at Iron Maiden’s speech for the upcoming Tol-Bot banquet.

“Really, it’s just the Archer-Dande-Kramer-Mavoy-Prias. Another wedding invitation just came through.”

“Sorcha and Joseph finally?” Rixie said, looking down the length of her body to her feet, and the armrest where her husband was perched.

“Yup. Three months from now, on Freeman. So we’ve got the Tol-Bot banquet in two weeks, Amelia and Thomas in two months, Sorcha and Joseph in three….”

“Don’t forget Zhalem and Reevah next month.”

“Right, how could I forget? We never should have got married, we started a trend. Surprised Sorcha and Joseph are actually having a ceremony. Is Freeman up to having guests?”

“My understanding is that they’ve built a small hotel and holocenter on the moon there, like they did on Luna by Earth,” Rixie said.

“Well, at least we’ll finally get to meet Lessy and Moze’s baby, Ekowhatsit.”

“Ekundayo. How can I remember that and you can’t? It’s a Terran name!” Rixie sighed.

“Hey, I’m an American, and the best part of being an American is that you didn’t have to pay attention to people who weren’t American. You get one of them fancy African or French or Canadian names, we just ignore it. I mean, who names their kid Chidi? Or Garth? Or, uh…Jean-Luc? They’re made up, I tell you.”

“Still, you should remember this one. Knowing Lessy, she had a good reason for the name.”

“It means ‘Sorrow Becomes Joy,’” Alex said.

“You know that, but you don’t know the name?”

“I know what sorrow is, I know what joy is, I know the verb to become. How often do I say Ekundayo? I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition!”

“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition,” Rixie sighed.

“Showed you that one, did I?”

“At least six thousand times.”

“Ah,” Alex said.

They were quiet for a little bit.

“You’re worried about Thyllia,” Rixie finally said.

“I mean, she’s a week late, and I know Brinn says that’s nothing abnormal, and I even believe her, but….”

“There’s no chance that Brinn, Nick, or Pryvani will let anything happen to Thyllia or our granddaughter. I swear, you weren’t this nervous about me and Asteria.”

“I gorram well was! I just tried not to bother you with it because you were pregnant and didn’t need the stress. Ask Ryan, down the stretch I was a wreck, and not just right before she was born and I realized what I’d gotten myself into. That was silly, though, Asteria wouldn’t hurt a tupp.”

Rixie sat up. “She hurt you pretty badly last week.”

“Nick patched me up just fine, and that kind of thing is gonna happen,” Alex said. “She’s never come close to seriously injuring me, she was just trying to help.”

“She dislocated your hip!”

“And Nick patched it up just fine! I should be completely pain-free by next week. Honestly, it already was achy, so that will be an improvement,” Alex said.

“It doesn’t make you weak, you know,” Rixie said.

Alex looked up at his wife, and smiled. “I know, Rix. I know. Trust me, if Asteria was being reckless or foolish or life-threatening, I’d actually activate the emergency force-field. But no way to do that without giving her a nasty pinch, maybe even a mild plasma burn. I’d rather get my hip popped back in and a shot of stem cells than do that to her.”

Rixie picked Alex up and kissed him, as hard as she ever dared. “You’re a good father, and a good husband, and it’s no wonder everyone wants to get married if they think they’ll be as lucky as I am.”

“Oh yeah,” Alex said. “You’re the lucky one. Not the guy who married the beautiful, deadly, funny, beautiful, six-time champion, beautiful literal princess.” Alex said, gazing contentedly at the face that filled his entire field of vision.

“You said beautiful three times,” Rixie said.

“I should have said it more, you’re right,” Alex replied.

They grinned at each other for a moment, and both were just about to make the same suggestion, when both of their pads rang with a chime announcing a call from Pryvani.

“Get rid of her,” they both said at the same time. Then, shaking her head, Rixie said, “Answer, voice only. Hello, this is Rixie, boss, can this wait for an hour?”

“Well, perhaps,” Pryvani’s voice called over Rixie’s pad. “I can ask Thyllia to stop her contractions for a while.”

Rixie and Alex looked at each other, and shook their heads. But they both smiled. “We can put that off until later. Not every day you become a grandparent. Infirmary wing?”

“She just got settled. Dr. Ntele’s estimate is two hours, maybe three.”

“Asmonia would know better than anyone but Brinn,” Alex said. “All right, we just need to get changed, and see if Zara can….”

“Zara said she’s in the middle of a project and will be a few hours, but said Taron would be happy to come over until then, if that’s all right. I will tell him to give you a chance to get dressed, and I am sorry I didn’t call you half an hour later.”

“Taron is great, and it’s okay,” Rixie said, with a smirk. “We hadn’t even gotten undressed.”

“Well then, my timing could have been worse. I’ll see you both soon.”

“We’ll see you soon, Pryvani,” Alex said.

“End call,” Rixie said. She sighed. “I’d suggest a quickie, but….”

“Nah,” Alex said. “When this is all over, we’ll take our time. I ain’t never been with a grandma before, I’m looking forward to it.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” Rixie said. “We’re getting old.”

“Beats the alternative,” Alex said. “And you’re gonna be the hottest grandma alive, Rix, I say you should lean into it.”

“True. And I’ve never been with a grandpa before, so….”

“See? Something to look forward to.”

* * *

“Riggu? You should be asleep.”

“I’m just messaging a friend, mom,” Riggu said, as he quickly tried to switch alerts to silent. Stupid, of course she’d hear the bleep. She’d always had great hearing.

“You have to be up early for school tomorrow. Tell your friend that, and go to sleep.”

“Can I just have five more minutes? Please?”

Riggu knew the pause from his mother was a good sign.

“All right,” Ljied said. “Five minutes. But that’s it. I’ll come check on you in ten, and if you’re still messaging you lose your pad for two days. Got it?”

Riggu smiled. He knew his mom’s ten minutes would be at least twenty. “Got it. Night mom, love you.”

“I’m serious, I’m coming in to check in ten minutes. And I love you too,” his mother called back.

* * *

Nonull felt the rush of the drugs, felt more alert and less conscious than ever. This was what he needed to do this. This was where he needed to be.

He checked the weapon. It was glowing blue, safeties on.

He would wait, patiently, for the right moment. He would wait, and then he would strike.

And eventually, he might feel remorse.

But he would not feel it that night.

* * *

“She’s already dilated to four centiunits,” Dr. Asmonia Ntele said. “Everything is going smoothly.”

“That’s easy for a you to say,” Rixie said.

Ntele grinned. “I didn’t say it was fun, I remember giving birth to Visu. I’ve given her a pain block, though, and it seems to be working well. Thyllia is too smart to want to feel the pain of childbirth.”

“Damn right she is,” Alex said, looking up at the doctor. “Now, a few questions. First, should I be going down to the holosuites? Are we all supposed to be titan-sized?”

Asmonia rolled her eyes. “I kind of have to be projected at this scale to do my job, Alex. You do what you want.”

“It’s fine,” Alex said, “it’ll keep you from trying to order a drink while underaged.”

“I’ve literally graduated school, gone through college, and become a doctor since then, are you never going to let me forget that?” Asmonia said, throwing up her hands.

“Take care of my grandbaby and their mom and I’ll think about it. Last question, how’s your father-in-law? I called him not long after the trip and he’s said he’s fine, but you know, none of us are young anymore.”

“Darren is doing great,” Asmonia said. “We’ve gotten very good at rehabilitating and rebuilding wounds.”

“That is an understatement,” Rixie said.

“Anyhow, he doesn’t even have a limp anymore. He’s just grouchy because he keeps saying he was surveying the Western Territories until he took an arrow in the knee, and then he gripes that nobody….”

Alex burst out laughing. “Ho! I don’t believe Darren remembers that one.”

He looked at the blank faces of Rixie and Asmonia.

“You see, it was a video game, and they had these non-player characters, and…well, it was simple programming, this was Earth in like 2101…okay, I guess you had to be there, and by ‘there’ I mean ‘on Earth in 2011.’ That’s when I started that meme.”

“Darren did say that if I told you, you’d claim you started it,” Asmonia said. “And that you most certainly didn’t.”

“Okay, I just used it way too much. Anyhow, if you see him before I do, let him know that next time, he should probably try not to get shot with an arrow – and that I’m glad they just winged him, and that he’s doing well.”

“I will. So I should get back in there….”

“All right,” Alex said. “I’ll save questions about Abe and Visu until the next break.”

Rixie shot him a look.

“I’m kidding! I saw Abe last week, he’s working on the new stadium, says Visu is trouble, which she should be, she’s not quite two. Tell Thyllia that if she wants her ear talked off, I’ll come in.”

“And in the far more likely event she doesn’t,” Rixie added, “I’ll keep him out.”

Asmonia nodded. “I think Pryvani is enough for now. It’s…not really a time for an audience.”

“Gorram right,” Rixie said. “Just let her know we’re both here, and we love her. And that I’ve sent through a request to Ryan, and if I can raise him, I’ll bring the pad in.”

“This is why I married her,” Alex said. “I can talk; Rixie can do.”

Rixie could tell by the way Alex stood just a bit straighter that he wasn’t joking or chattering; he meant it. It wasn’t exactly true – Alex had done quite a bit by any reasonable standard.

But he was proud of her. Not in a boastful way; just proud of who she was and what she’d done. Rixie knew that her being a secret princess wasn’t what Alex meant, nor her Tol-Bot wins. He wasn’t proud of her accomplishments per se. He was proud of the work she’d done – for him, for their family, for their children.

That was why she’d married him. Because he loved her for what she did every day, whether anyone but him ever noticed. And because he always noticed.

* * *

Ljied finished washing her face, walked into her bedroom, and undressed. She wondered idly if she should start dating again. She was 44, and like many reasonably well-off titans, she had been getting regular lattice gel treatments; she still looked like she could be in her thirties, and she’d looked good in her thirties.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t dated since she’d divorced Skor, she had, and a couple of them were almost serious. But while she liked to insist that she knew what she was getting into when she married him…she didn’t, really. She’d actually come to love him, come to care for him, and his refusal to see her as anything other than a mom and a cover story while he fraked Aud….

She knew that much of the blame really lay at Luviisa’s feet. If she’d let him marry Aud like he’d wanted, way back when, he would have married her and both she and Venla would be happier.

Well…Venla wouldn’t have Siru. And she wouldn’t have Riggu.

She had Riggu. That made it worth it. And while her son could be annoying and self-centered, as all 12-year-olds can be, she hoped and believed that he was becoming the kind of person that his father was when his father was a good person. And Skor could be a good person.

It was ironic, of course; Ljied’s cousin had told her about Aud’s real parentage last year. Probably, Kullervo had finally just told Luviisa so she’d let Aud and Skor marry already, rather than risk Skor marrying and impregnating yet another member of the Ten Noble Families. (Of course, he had done so anyhow, hadn’t he?)

Ridiculous. She’d started out wondering if she should start dating and ended up thinking abut Skor. He didn’t deserve it.

She slipped on her nightgown, and crawled into bed.

She didn’t know that she’d been watched the entire time.

Nonull had seen her from his hiding place, between a dresser and the wall. He was distanced enough that he was not actively aroused, watching the giant beauty undress and slip into pajamas. He would think back on it later, of course. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d feel.

She looked quite familiar, he’d realized, and if he had been on fewer drugs he would have been shocked when he’d realized why she looked familiar. She looked just a little like the Goddess Herself. Pryvani Tarsuss, that is – he knew she wasn’t really a goddess. His parents had always called her the Goddess though, and it was hard for that not to stick.

He fought against training he’d received when he was much younger. The Jacks were trained to draw a line and prepare to fight. They assumed they would not have time to dither. But he had time. Time was his ally.

He watched the woman take two pills, sipping enormous gulps of water to down them. Then she slid under the covers, and with a word, doused the lights.

Soon. It would be very soon.

* * *

Rixie poked her head into the private infirmary room. “Thyllia dear? How is it going?”

Thyllia was, like most women in labor, not in the mood to talk. “Great. Just fantastic,” she grumbled, then grimaced; the pain blockers were very good, but that did not mean they eliminated all pain or discomfort, not during the birth process. She needed to be able to heed what her body was telling her to do, and so she needed to get enough of those messages to follow along.

That didn’t mean she liked it.

“Pryvani and I both know how great you’re doing,” Rixie said. “Hang in there. I…know you may not want to talk, but I have your husband on the line.”

“I have some things…I’d like to say to him,” Thyllia said.

Rixie grinned. “Probably best he’s not within arm’s reach. Ryan?”

“Hey, princess,” Ryan said. “I really wish….”

“I’m never letting you touch me again, Captain Carey,” Thyllia said. “You hear me? Never again.”

“She doesn’t actually mean that, Ryan,” Pryvani said.

“I frakking do,” said Thyllia.

“I believe I said that Alex should lock himself in a box forever,” Rixie said.

“I didn’t say what I thought Zhan should do, but I definitely thought it,” Pryvani replied, squeezing her sister’s hand.

“Ugh! All right, I don’t literally mean it, but…frak! This is not fun!” Thyllia said.

“I know it isn’t,” Ryan said. “I know it isn’t, but you’ll get through it, you’re Thyllia. You can do anything. You know it.”

Thyllia caught her breath for just a moment. “I love you. I miss you so much,” she said, tearfully. “I wish you were here. I miss you.”

“I will be soon. I can’t say exactly when over an open channel…but soon.”

Ryan dearly wished he could tell Thyllia that Seminavarchos Gwenn had cleared him for three weeks’ paternity leave, effective tomorrow. Archiploiarchos Ibanez had already reached the Antero to assume temporary command – the Faederon VI was already back in dock at Tantalus for the next month, and the Antero was going to be tasked with patrolling the Tau Ceti system while Ishaytan Fleet finished assembling.

He had told Lauryna that he could be back sooner, but she said she’d already spoken with Navarchos Kgggggr, and they both agreed that the timing would work out well, and besides, it would do some good for Izzy to spend some time on the Antero. Ryan had already told her about a couple officers who, with any luck, would let their anti-human bias show around the first human to wear a comet. Izzy was practically salivating at the possibility.

Tonight, he’d hop a shuttle down to Freeman City, let Moze, Lessy, Sorcha, and Joseph buy him a celebratory drink; based on the communication he’d just gotten, Taron would be en route as soon as Zara came to watch Asteria. They’d fly back to Avalon on the Galatea, and he would be with his wife and baby by tomorrow.

It was sooner than he’d dared hope, and it was not nearly soon enough.

“All right,” Asmonia Ntele said, walking back into the room. “Let’s see…okay, I think it’s time. You’re moving right along, Thyllia.”

“I frakking better be,” Thyllia said.

“I’m going to step out,” Rixie said. “Thyllia, do you….”

“Leave the pad,” Thyllia said. “I want Ryan to….”

She grimaced as she bore down.

Rixie handed the pad to Pryvani, who simply turned it so that Thyllia could see her husband.

“You’re doing great,” Asmonia said, moving into position. “Just a few more pushes, and you’ll be a mommy.”

Ryan swallowed hard. And both he and Thyllia had that sudden lurch, as they both realized that in a few moments, they would suddenly be responsible for a person. They would go from a couple to a family. They both wanted it, both were looking forward to it, both were going into it with eyes wide open. They weren’t kids, they weren’t naïve, they knew what it was going to entail.

But still, in that moment, the CEO of Darkstar Entertainment and the Captain of the ISS Prince Antero felt very weak, pathetic, and unworthy of the task they were about to embark upon.

Just like every single parent does.

“All right…one more push….”

* * *

Her breathing had become shallow. It was time.

He had done this many times before. It was almost routine. He climbed up the covers to the bed proper, and looked down the length of the sleeping woman.

Part of him knew that this was wrong, deeply and irrevocably wrong. She was not the one who had failed to pick him up after the protest on Svek, she was not the reason he’d been sold off as a pet to an abusive man who got off on torturing him, she was not the reason that when he was brought back to the HOS shelter, and picked up by Xyly…she was not the reason that he was so ready to hurt them, those giant lumbering beasts who claimed to be on his side, and failed him.

He had bit Xyly, that day. And she had smiled in that odd, emotionless way, and said he was perfect. She had taken him home, and she had shown him how they could both get their revenge on the titans who had wronged them.

They were made for each other. Both of them perfectly broken.

He climbed up on her chest – carefully, so as not to wake her. He felt the warm flesh below him, felt the ground rise and fall. He moved forward slowly, Jacks training telling him that if he moved too carelessly, she might feel it even through the sleeping pills.

He readied the weapon. One switch, and the light turned amber. He slid just a bit further, right up next to her left carotid artery. He watched it carefully, reflexively, making sure he was looking at the artery, not a vein.

He moved the gun into position, and pulled the trigger.

It was over in just a second. The lights went red, the needle deployed, the payload was injected. She hadn’t even moved. She wouldn’t feel anything.

He leaped off – there was sometimes a spasm as it took effect – but not this time. She lay there placidly, as the cocktail of drugs crossed the blood-brain barrier, causing arteries to fail repeatedly as they cascaded through. She was having a massive aneurysm, and in less than a minute, her breathing suddenly stopped.

He did not linger. He could take her temperature at range, and he would do exactly that. When it was clear that she was dead, he would enter the walls and make his way to the egress point. Xyly would retrieve him in a day or two; until then, he would hide out, like a mouse in its hole. They wouldn’t look for him. They never did.

He checked her temperature. Already falling.

He tapped the band on his wrist twice, sending a signal that Ljied Umbas was dead. And then he entered the heating vent.

* * *

“She’s in perfect health. She, right? You’re not going with they?”

“If she changes her mind later, we’ll support her, but yes, we’re gonna assume female for now,” Thyllia said, cradling the tiny – or enormous, depending on your point of view – infant in her arms.

“Do you have the genetic readout, doctor?” Pryvani asked. “I will take care of filing it.”

“We file everything with the – oh, right, she’s heir to the House of Carey. Of course, Lady Tarsuss, I’ll get that for you,” Asmonia said. “You ready for the rest of the family?”

“Yup. Alex and Rixie can come in.”

“Garo,” Asmonia said, turning to a nurse, “can you get the Careys, please?”

Garo Arites, said nurse, walked the few steps out to the waiting area. “Everything went perfectly,” he said with a smile. “Would you like to meet your granddaughter?”

Alex looked up at Rixie, and she looked down at him. Alex was so stunned by that simple question that he couldn’t even muster a mocking, “Nah, we’ll wait” in response.

“Absolutely,” Rixie said, which Alex appreciated, as he had found he couldn’t really say anything at all.

They went into the room (it was not cramped; Pryvani did not design anything to be cramped), and walked over to their daughter-in-law’s bedside. Ryan was just quietly watching via pad, staring dumbstruck at his wife and child.

“Oh, she’s beautiful,” Alex said.

“And she’s paying attention to everything,” Rixie said. It was true; the infant’s slate gray eyes were wide open, and she stared at everything in turn, as if trying to understand it all at once. She spent a hard moment staring at the tall woman and the tiny person in her hand, which was reaching toward her so Alex could see her – and so she could see Alex.

“Lexie, these are your grandparents Carey. They’re your daddy’s mommy and daddy. And your mommy’s friends. You met your daddy, and your Aunt Pryvani, and later you’ll meet your Aunt Asteria. And all of us love you, so so much.”

“Lexie?” Rixie said.

“I was named after my grandfather. And I always liked that,” Ryan said. “Even though I didn’t know him, I felt like I was connected to him.”

“You’re more alike than you know,” Alex said. “He was a big damn hero too. And a good dad, like you’ll be.”

“Right,” Ryan said, blinking back tears. “Well…Thyllia and I wanted our daughter to have that same connection, to you and Rixie, and to my birth parents. So we gave her a Spanish name, in my birth mom’s honor, but the name itself…we wanted to connect to you.”

“Rixie and Alex,” Thyllia said, “this is your granddaughter, Alejandra Isabella Carey.”

Alex’s eyes popped open as wide as his namesake’s. “You…you….”

“Alejandra. I like that. And Lexie. How does it connect?”

“Alejandro is the Spanish form of Alexander,” Alex said quietly. “And the girl’s version of Alejandro is Alejandra.”

“Isabella is the one I’m really proud of, though,” Ryan said with a grin. “It’s the Spanish version of….”

“Edward?” Pryvani offered.

“No,” Alex said, suddenly looking up at the pad and his son. “You named her Alexandra Elizabeth?!”

“Hey, it flowed better than Alejandra Eduardo,” Ryan said. “And honestly, what kind of son would I be if I named her after you without getting in a dig at you in the process?”

Alex looked at his son a long moment, then laughed uproariously, until tears streamed down his face. “Never, ever…never ever doubt that you’re my son, Ryan. If I didn’t know you were adopted I would get a paternity test to prove it. I just hope Lexie can get over the sting of being named after me.”

Rixie stroked her granddaughter’s head. “So Lexie instead of Alex as a nickname, because that would get confusing.”

“Not just that,” Thyllia said. “We wanted her to be named after you, too. And Lexie sounds better than Alrix.”

It was Rixie’s turn to blink back tears. “Gorram,” she said, softly.

“You two always were here for me,” Thyllia said. “Alex was the one who convinced me Odin wasn’t gonna mean that Pryvani wouldn’t love me anymore. It wasn’t just Ryan who wanted our daughter to be tied to you.”

“You could have named her Random Child,” Alex said. “We don’t need to be honored or anything. We’re just happy for you both. You don’t know how amazing this is gonna be.”

“It’s an enormous amount of work, mind you,” Pryvani said. “We’ll help, of course – we all help each other.”

“Oh, I know it will be,” Thyllia said. “My sister, Zhan, Rixie, Alex – you all worked hard for us. I hope we were worth it, but I know we owe that much to Lexie.”

“You do,” Alex said. “Just like we owed it to you two. And…kids, I’m gonna tell you – I’d do it all over again, every bit of it. You were both worth it, and more.”

Alejandra Isabella Carey, heir to the House of Carey, began to fuss, as she began to experience a brand new sensation that she would eventually learn was called hunger.

“Oh, she’s hungry,” Rixie said. “We’ll let you feed her. Do you want to get some sleep before Asteria comes to visit?”

Thyllia realized suddenly that she was quite exhausted. “Yeah. Bring her in the morning. If that’s okay.”

“You’re Lexie’s mom,” Rixie said. “You set the rules.”

* * *

Pryvani stepped out of the delivery room just as Zhan arrived via tram. “Of all the nights to have a drill,” he said. “Of course, I’m the fool who scheduled it and felt like he needed to be there. Is she doing all right?”

“They both are,” Pryvani said, reaching out a hand.

“Thank you, and thank You,” he said, stepping into it. “So I’m an uncle.”

“In a way. We’re probably more like grandparents, but I am not going to adopt that title before I have to,” Pryvani said. “I’m old enough, I don’t need to put it in brackets.”

“You’re immortal, so it hardly matters,” Zhan said with a grin.

“I only wish I was,” Pryvani said. “So do you want to go in? I was just about to send the report of birth to the Council of the 79.”

“I will in a minute. Before we do, though…you’re right, she’s more our daughter than your sister. And I know you hear how wonderful you are from me, all the time…but you were a fantastic mother to her. And Thyllia is proof of that.”

Pryvani’s eyes watered. “I couldn’t have done worse than her mother.”

“Yeah, she could have grown up with Syon. She got you. You know how lucky she is not to have had Syon as a mom, you know that better than anyone. But you don’t always realize how lucky she was to have you. And not because you were rich, or powerful, or whatever. You loved her. Frak, we were dating, and she was your sister and ward, who you’d chosen to adopt…and you were willing to risk our relationship to keep her safe. And it wasn’t a risk – that was when I realized that your love for her, for me, for all of us that you love – it was just pouring out of you like a fountain. And I knew at that point that I would stay with you as long as you’d have me. Not that I was seriously questioning it before that…but I have never questioned it since.”

“You have too,” Pryvani said. “More than once.”

“I’ve questioned only if you’d grown tired or embarrassed of me, and that was only my self-doubt. I’ve never questioned if I would want to leave. Not once.”

Pryvani leaned down and kissed her husband gently, and said, softly, “Nor have I. And she did not just have me. She also had you. And you loved her despite me springing her on you, and you cared for her despite the obvious logistical difficulties of it, and you were the father that she deserved. Even if you were really her brother-in-law. She was lucky to have you, too.”

“And we were lucky to have her,” Zhan said.

“Gorram right,” Pryvani said.