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Story: Corvak's Challenge

I'm delighted at his reaction, because it's as big a deal to him as it is to me, and it just makes me love him all the more. "I was talking with Mari and Penny. They're both pregnant right now, too, and we got to talking about baby names. Mari said she was going to name hers after her mother if it was a girl, and I automatically said that it was what I was named after. It's like I didn't even think about it—it just popped out. I'm named after both of my grandmothers, Agnes and Dorothea. My mother wanted to honor them but thought the names were too old ladyish, so it became A.D. Aidy."

"Agnes Dorothea," Corvak echoes. "Such a long, lovely name. I like it. We will use it for our daughter." He leans down and kisses my stomach again.

We'll see. There's something nice about having it again after "losing" my name for so long. I might want to keep it for myself for a while. "It might be a boy."

"Whatever it is, I will love him—or her—as much as you."

The things he says make my heart swell. "You're just trying to get laid again, aren't you?"

He chuckles, pressing another kiss to my still-flat belly. "Is it working?"

"A thousand percent," I say, and take my alien lover into my arms again.