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TWENTY-ONE

OLIVIA

The harsh beep of Aeon’s wrist communicator jolted me awake.

I blinked in the darkness, momentarily disoriented by the weight of his arm across my waist, our legs entangled beneath the sheets.

My heart skipped when I remembered where I was—in his bed, where we’d fallen asleep after.

.. well, after not sleeping for quite some time.

Aeon snapped to alertness instantly. “Report.” His voice was rough with sleep but clear.

“Commander Helix needs medical assistance immediately.” The voice on the communicator sounded tense. “Severe headache, blurred vision, confusion. She’s asking for Dr. Parker specifically.”

Aeon was already moving, pulling on clothes with efficient movements. “She’s thirty-five weeks along, correct?”

“Affirmative.”

A cold knot formed in my stomach. I scrambled out of his bed, grabbing my clothes from where they’d been hastily discarded hours before.

“Those symptoms...” I didn’t need to finish my thought. The look Aeon gave me confirmed he was thinking the same thing.

“Preeclampsia,” he said, his jaw tight.

We raced through the colony’s paths, the humid night air of Planet Alpha clinging to my skin. The medical bay was not too far from Aeon’s quarters.

When we burst through the doors, Laine—one of my most promising trainees—was already helping Helix onto an examination table. The commander’s face was drawn with pain, her usually commanding presence diminished by whatever was happening inside her body.

“Something’s wrong,” she gasped, reaching for Aeon’s arm. “I can feel it.”

Before I could even approach with the blood pressure cuff, Helix’s body went rigid. Her eyes rolled back, and she began to convulse.

“She’s seizing! Get her on her side!” I moved with practiced urgency, my hands steady despite the adrenaline coursing through me.

Aeon moved with me in perfect tandem, supporting Helix’s head while I administered the emergency medication.

“This is eclampsia,” I said, meeting Aeon’s intense gaze. “We need to deliver this baby now or we could lose them both.”

Once the seizure subsided, I made the call. “We’re inducing. Now. Prep for emergency delivery.”

My fingers worked quickly, breaking her water manually while Aeon and Laine gathered the equipment we’d need.

For a moment, I caught myself. Here I was, light-years from Earth, about to deliver a cyborg commander’s baby in the middle of an alien jungle.

And I wasn’t just doing my job anymore. I genuinely cared what happened to these people. To Helix. To her child.

“Contractions are starting, but her blood pressure is still climbing,” Laine reported, her voice steady despite the fear in her eyes.

“We’ve done drills for this, remember? Aeon, I need you with me every step.”

His hand briefly covered mine, steadying me. “I’m right here.”

As Helix’s labor progressed at an alarming pace, I felt the weight of every decision. Back on Earth, I’d have had a full OR team and specialized equipment. Here, we had what we’d cobbled together and what we’d trained for in our makeshift classes.

“You can do this,” Aeon whispered, close enough that only I could hear. “We can do this.”

And somehow, against the odds, we did. After ninety minutes of the most intense delivery I had ever managed, a tiny, perfect cry filled the medical bay.

Before long, I sank into the nearest chair, my hands shaking with the aftermath of adrenaline as I watched Helix cradle her newborn daughter against her chest. The little one’s cries had settled into soft cooing sounds, and her tiny fingers wrapped around her mother’s thumb.

For all her military bearing, Helix looked utterly transformed by the bundle in her arms—softer and more vulnerable.

Her usual steely resolve had melted into something tender and raw.

“You did it,” Laine whispered, squeezing my shoulder. “We never could have managed without you.”

“No.” I shook my head firmly. “You all did this. Every drill, every late-night study session—it paid off when it mattered most.” My voice cracked a little. “I’ve never been prouder of a medical team, honestly.”

The room hummed with quiet celebration as the cyborg trainees moved efficiently around us, checking vitals, replenishing fluids, and documenting every detail with the precision I’d drilled into them over the past weeks.

At that moment, they weren’t my captors or my students.

They were colleagues who’d stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me through one of the most harrowing deliveries I’d ever faced.

“I need some air,” I murmured, after triple-checking that both mother and baby were stable.

The night air hit me like a balm as I stepped onto the open walkway.

Planet Alpha’s twin moons cast everything in a silvery-blue glow, illuminating the dense jungle canopy beyond the settlement’s perimeter.

I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with the sweet, earthy scent that still felt alien to me after all this time.

Heavy footsteps approached, and I didn’t need to turn to know it was Aeon. His presence had become as familiar to me as my own heartbeat.

“That was...” he began but then paused, searching for words. “What you did in there?—”

“What we did,” I corrected, finally turning to face him. The moonlight carved shadows across his face, highlighting the strong line of his jaw and the intensity in his eyes that never seemed to dim.

He moved closer, towering over me with that imposing frame that no longer intimidated me the way it once had. “Helix would have died without you. Her baby, too.”

I swallowed hard, the reality of those words hitting me. “I can’t leave now, even if I wanted to, Aeon.”

His expression shifted in that subtle way I’d come to recognize when emotions overwhelmed his ability to process them. He reached for my hand, his fingers entwining with mine.

“Come back inside,” he said, his voice gruff with feeling. “There’s something you should see.”

He led me back through the doors, where I found Laine and the others had gathered outside Helix’s room. When they saw me, they straightened, forming an almost ceremonial circle.

“Dr. Parker,” Laine stepped forward, “we want you to know that you’re not just our teacher. You’re part of our family now.”

One by one, they shared words of gratitude and trust. Tears blurred my vision as I looked at these faces—once strangers, once captors—now my team, my people. The weight of their acceptance crashed over me in waves of emotion I couldn’t contain.

“I don’t know what to say,” I whispered.

Aeon’s arm wrapped around my shoulders, strong and steady. “You don’t need to say anything. You belong here, Olivia. With us. With me.”

I soon collapsed into Aeon’s bed, every muscle in my body aching from the intensity of Helix’s delivery. The now familiar scent of his sheets—a mixture of something earthy, clean, and uniquely him—enveloped me as I sank deeper into the mattress.

“You were incredible tonight,” Aeon murmured as he settled beside me, his weight creating a delicious dip in the mattress that rolled me gently against his side.

I turned to face him, taking in his strong profile in the dim light. “We were incredible. The way you handled that seizure...” My fingers traced one of the scars on his chest. “For someone who claims he was only programmed for battlefield triage, you’ve got impressive obstetric instincts.”

“I think it’s less programming and more...” His brow furrowed in that adorable way it did when he searched for the right words. “Learning from you. Watching you.”

His hand found mine in the darkness. The simple touch sent warmth radiating up my arm.

“Sometimes I think about how I never would’ve known about this place or you. If you hadn’t...” I swallowed hard, the word “kidnapped” sticking in my throat because it no longer felt like the right term for what had happened between us.

“Brought you here?” he offered, a hint of guilt still coloring his voice.

“Yes.” I shifted closer, resting my head on his chest where I could hear the steady beating of his heart. “I would have missed all this. Missed being part of something that matters so deeply.”

His arm tightened instinctively around me. “You’re talking like someone who isn’t planning to leave ever.”

The realization washed over me with startling clarity. I wasn’t planning to leave ever. Whatever Earth forces were coming, whatever rescue mission they thought they were mounting, they were too late. My heart had already made its choice.

“I’m not leaving, Aeon.” I pushed myself up on one elbow to look directly into those piercing blue eyes. “Tonight made it crystal clear. These women need me. The babies being born here need me.” I paused for a moment. “And I need you.”

Something fierce and protective flashed across his face. He pulled me closer, his lips finding mine with an urgency that stole my breath. When we finally broke apart, he pressed his forehead against mine.

“Are you certain? If Earth comes…”

“Let them come.” The fierceness in my voice surprised even me.

“Ben recognized what I couldn’t see then—that you’re all more than what CE programmed you to be.

You feel, you care, and you love.” My voice caught.

“He’d be proud that I’m finally finishing what he started—fighting for your right to build a life here. ”

Aeon’s hand cupped my cheek, his touch achingly tender for someone so powerful. “And what about your life? The one you had before?”

“My life is here now.” I smiled, feeling lighter than I had in months. “My home is wherever you are, Aeon. I’ve fallen completely in love with you—with all your warrior instincts and your secretly soft heart.”

His eyes gleamed in the moonlight, filled with an emotion I’d never quite seen there before. “I love you, Olivia Parker.”