Chapter Text
Jaal left a trail of hot kisses from Ritika's side-arched neck down to her collarbone. His mouth electrified her skin with bioelectric zaps, but the usual pleasure that raced to her lower belly had been hindered. Her heart raced for other reasons, and when she heaved a shuddering breath, she failed to temper its anxiety. Jaal noticed.
He ceased his kisses to meet Riti's gaze, and his weight shifted under her bed sheets as he ran a thumb along her unfeeling scar. "What is wrong, Darling One?"
His gentleness struck the Pathfinder. Always so attentive, so considerate. He held her wellbeing above his desires, never once let her feel alone or pressured or belittled. To him, she was beyond special. She made his heart sing. And such care left her feeling as if everything she found in Andromeda was a dream.
"How much do you love me?" she asked.
The mauve Angaran reeled for all of a second. "With everything that I am," he answered in a low, trilling voice, "and all that I have."
"Are you happy? Here? With a human, an...alien?"
Riti croaked and Jaal's broad eye ridges furrowed. He pulled himself up further on the bed to be closer to her face while remaining mindful of where he placed his weight at her side. He kept supported on one elbow, his lower body flush with hers, but his free hand continued to caress her scar as he mulled over her questions.
"I love your soul," he answered. "The body it lives in won't change that. And I find it a beautiful body."
His fused knuckle brushed her breast and hip—proof he didn't find her repulsive—yet she continued, "How far would you follow me?"
"To any galaxy."
"Even if the path ahead was dark?"
"Ritika." Concern replaced Jaal's assurance, and his galaxy eyes squinted. "Why the sudden questions? Are you...doubting us?"
"No," Riti replied quickly. She then licked her fat lips. "Quite the opposite. I—I need to know you love me. I need to hear your words, your truth."
"Why? What happened? Has someone said something to you?"
"Not in the way you're thinking."
"Dearest, I don't under—"
"I'm pregnant."
Time stopped. Ritika's muscles stiffened. And Jaal could hardly whisper, "What?"
"I'm—" Riti swallowed hard. "I'm pregnant. Lexi and SAM both helped confirm it. Jaal." The Pathfinder raised a hand to her lover. Her fingertips massaged the sensitive skin between his jawline and neck-flap in hopes of keeping his panic at bay. "I can honestly say I haven't been with anyone else in this entire galaxy. It's yours."
"Mine?"
"Yes."
"You are carrying my child?"
"Ye—yes." Tears strung the woman's eyes, more so when the Angaran became unresponsive above her. "This is unprecedented," she added in a shaky voice. "SAM's explanations go over my head, and Lexi wants to write a book. Something about a leap in evolution or residual something or other. It's crazy. Surreal. Like, I don't—I don't know what I feel. Or how I should feel. Then I think what others might say about a hybrid and—"
Jaal silenced his lover with a long, sensual kiss. It translated so many emotions that by the time it ended, Ritika shook from tears.
"You're carrying my child," Jaal said. "You're giving me a family."
He smiled; how unimaginable. Last time Riti had announced her pregnancy, she had been met with snarls, curses, and a biotic force that ended a life before it could truly begin. Jaal was nothing like Tamir, though, even if a dark part of Riti's mind warned her that he might change.
"Are you okay with that?" she whispered. "A hybrid? Something never seen before?"
Jaal's smile grew. "Your Initiative came here to be pioneers."
"Alien-Human pregnancy wasn't covered in the brochures."
"No? Must be a unique perk."
"Jaal..." Riti trailed off with a weak laugh and more tears.
"Do you not want this child?" the Angara asked, smile falling.
"I do. I—I really do."
"Then damn the skeptics. Our baby is a gift. My family will see it that way as well."
Riti paled. "Oh, right. Family."
"We must tell them."
"Can we think about that later? I've had a hard enough time approaching you."
"Ah." Jaal's new grin turned sly. "I believe I approached you tonight." He gave his lover another kiss, deeper than before. Riti felt him smile against her lips; the contact tingled like his enthusiasm stimulated his electrostatic discharge. "You're carrying my child," he said in between lighter kisses.
Riti released a breathless giggle. "Yes."
"My child." The Angaran rested a hand below the Pathfinder's pierced stomach. "Here."
"Yes."
Jaal said nothing further. Actions spoke for him, and the tenderness in his love-making quieted the disbelief inside Ritika with a realization: Andromeda was real—as real as the electricity that excited her nerves, the pleasant oils that filled her nose, and the trilling voice that whispered sweet nothings in her ear.