Page 31 of The Emerald Boa’s Lover (Operation Colonise #3)

“Yeah, sure.” He leans back and I see him try to discretely wipe some tears from underneath his eyes.

He cleared his throat and rolls his shoulders.

Charlie does that when he’s trying to downplay a vulnerable moment.

He presses his com-gem and connects to the morgue to make the request. Meanwhile, I look at the two blue eggs and wonder about the hatchlings.

What kind of Ucfeni are they? Male or female?

In my head I’m drawing out plans for the upper nest room to accommodate eggs and future little nest mates, and my smile grows.

To think, back when I daydreamed about myself and Charlie having younglings together, that I’d get that dream fulfilled so soon!

The urge to hit my workstation at home and draw out new plans, maybe even a new nest entirely, makes my tail-tip flick with excitement.

“The Morgue technician says she can bring the sample up for us.”

“Good.” I nod and then coil my tail around his legs to restrain him as I lean into his personal space. “Not today, but one day, I will ask you to become bonded to me, and you’re going to say yes.” His eyes are wide, and a moment later he snorts and nods.

“You mean one day, whilst we’re raising two children together and deeply in love with each other, I will ask you to marry me, and you’ll say yes?” He countered, and now we’re both grinning.

“I like the sound of both of those things. How about we propose to each other one day?”

“Deal.” Charlie laughed and crooked his finger to summon me closer.

I lean in and kiss him tenderly as we wait for the morgue tech.

He wriggles until I release his legs and he plants himself against my chest to hug me again.

I can tell he needs the embrace and his hands clench into fists at my back.

Underneath his honour to uphold his promise, his love for me, and his worry for the eggs, he lost a patient today.

Charlie has worked so hard to care for Asma, and they all knew she was so badly scared from her previous miscarriages and mis-layings, that her body may not be able to weather this pregnancy to the end.

Asma knew. Charlie knew. Still, I foresee a lot of Plan B taking place later.

I look at the eggs, hopeful that with younglings to care for, he will be kept busy.

Too busy to linger in grief for too long.

An Ucfeni female slithers in, smiling and with a happy rattle at the end of her sandy tail.

“I have a Pheromone sample for Doctor Charlie O’Hara?”

“That’s me.” He chuckles.

“And that’s for me.” I accept the small vial and brace myself as I take hold of the cork stopper.

I pray to the Ancestors that I’m a scent match.

I don’t need the smell to be pleasant, just not unpleasant.

I feel Charlie’s eyes on me, worrying that I’m not going to be a match too.

I nod with a smile, pop the cork and flick my tongue bravely towards the rim of the vial.

“…not bad.” I smile and Charlie thrusts a hand out to bear his weight against the wall.

Asma had a fruity scent, by my scent pits anyway.

I wouldn’t have minded her presence at all.

I scent the pheromone sample three more times, just to be sure, and nod to Charlie. “Good.”

“Oh good.” He rubs a hand to his chest, his heart racing beneath, and chuckles at me. “Now I don’t suppose you can tell me what happens next, do you?”

“Lay-leave.”

“Lay what?”

“One of us takes Laying leave. Usually the female, but considering what you’ve just been through, you should take it.” That, and I work from home anyway, so this way we can both be in the nest. “You remain at home with the eggs until they hatch.”

“…oh my…do I have to sit on them?” Charlie looks mortified, and the Ucfeni technician behind us giggles into her hands.

“No. At night they remain in an incubator like this one.” I wave my hand to the container, before reaching over and lifting it up carefully by the handle. “But by day? You nest with them. Skin to shell contact is very important for development.”

“So I don’t sit with them…but I…cuddle in bed with them?”

“Yes.” I leave out for now that he’ll be naked and usually the Ucfeni female would have the eggs nestled in the coil of her tail. That’s a conversation for later. “Shall we go home and start?”

“Yeah.” Charlie thumbs under his eye again, and holds my other hand in his. “Let’s go home.”

“All four of us.” I add, my heart skipping a nervous beat.

“Oh balls.” He glances at the four mottled eggs from Gjenti, and nods to me with a sad smile. “Yeah. At least we can give these two a home.”

“Oh, actually?” I use my tail-tip to take out the gift envelope and offer it to Charlie.

Perhaps part of plan A is appropriate after all.

He slides his thumb between the wax and the paper to flip the letter open and reads it in his right hand.

His left is still busy holding mine, after all, and my left is carefully carrying the incubator pod.

I keep turning my head to check on the eggs, and then Charlie’s face as he reads the drawing.

“What am I looking at?” He turned the letter this way and that as we walk hand in hand towards the exit.

“A state-of-the-art hybrid Nest house I designed for you.” He inhales sharply and examines the letter more intently.

“I was thinking about Gjenti’s eggs and the fact they’ll struggle for scale to shell contact once they leave the hospital, and I didn’t like the idea of you worrying about them.

” He’s looking at me like I’ve just said something profound.

But surely it makes sense that if my partner is suffering, and there’s something I can do, that I would do it?

Because I care about him? “So I’ve designed a new Nest house.

One where humans and Ucfeni can run it together.

An Orphanage?” I test the human word, and he nods at me.

“My business is based on Ucfeni and humans cohabiting. It occurred to me that there must be plenty of mixed species couples now that would love to adopt. Two Ucfeni being a scent match for a youngling is hard to achieve. But for a mixed couple, only the Ucfeni parent would need to be a scent match, not the human.” I grin at the look of surprise and awe on his face.

“I call it ‘The O’Hara Orphanage.’ I have spoken to my cousin, and Rerasha assures me that Alaric will be happy to assign newly thawed out Allico Inc humans to the Nest House to give the Orphaned eggs skin to shell contact until they hatch.

To reduce the chances of stunted development or still egg syndrome.

Deployments will start with the O’Hara Orphanage, of course, and Rerasha has even arranged that Gjenti’s eggs will go there.

So…?” I tip my head to one side and try to gauge his reaction.

“It’s my gift to you, Charlie. Do you…like it? ”

“Dal?” His voice wobbles and he cleared his throat, rolling his shoulders and sniffling. “I love it.” He squeezes my hand and licks his lips. “Almost as much as I love you.”