“Hey. How did you sleep?”
Lance turned over so he faced his lover. “Well once he decided to go to sleep; fine thanks.”
“Oh you decided you are having a boy then?” Chris chuckled.
“It won’t be a girl, I can feel it’s a boy.”
“YOU BASTARD.”
Both men jumped at the sudden intrusion on their privacy. Lance’s head snapped backwards as JC’s fist made contact with his chin. In an instance the furious brunette had straddled the blond alien grabbing handfuls of his hair twisting it painfully. “YOU FUCKING EVIL BASTARD.” He spat angrily.
“JC, GET THE FUCK OFF HIM.” Chris dragged the incensed man off his boyfriend. “HE’S FUCKING PREGNANT JACE. FUCK.”
“WELL HE’S NOT THE ONLY FUCKING ONE IS HE!” JC collapsed, tears running down his face. “Why lance? Why did you do it to me? I trusted you. I really trusted you.” He hid his face in his hands sobs racking his body.
Lance moved to his side his eyes wide, filled with liquid his lip trembling. “Josh.”
“Don’t fucking touch me! Don’t you even talk to me.” JC recoiled from the blonds touch. “Do you hate me Lance? Is that why you did this to me?”
“Josh, I didn’t do this I swear to you.”
“Yeah right.” Josh got to his feet his eyes swollen and red. “I trusted you. Never, never speak to me again.” He jumped sadly to his feet and ran from the room, leaving a stunned Chris and Lance behind him.
“Did you do it Lance? Did you fool him into believing he was safe?” Chris asked totally serious for the first time since Lance had known him.
The green-eyed man looked up his own face streaked with tears, his jaw swelling, turning slowly purple as the bruising took hold. “No Chris, I wouldn’t do that to him, he’s still too frail from the last time. The pills worked I know they worked. It’s got to be a mistake. He hates me Chris! What am I going to do he hates me?”
The pregnant man wept bitter tears in the arms of the man he loved, the father of his child, shaking with the torment that maybe just maybe he had failed the gracile human, condemned him to carry yet another child maybe more. “His body can’t take much more Chris.” He whispered between sobs. “I have to see Justin, he has to stop this.”
“Lance you need to rest.” Chris tried to sooth his lover, stroking his hair. “Honey please.”
“What went wrong Chris? What did I do wrong?” the colour drained from the blonds face. “NO … Josh No.”
“What ? What is it?” Chris took lance by his arms shaking him as the blonds eyes filled with a new terror, an overpowering feeling of dread.
“He… he’s going to hurt himself, find him Chris ; find him now.” The stocky brunette leaped to his feet and took off down the corridor shouting JC’s name.
JC ran down the corridor his bare feet slapping against the cold tiled floor. He pressed repeatedly at the opening mechanism for the cold storage room. The door slid open and he darted inside closing and locking it behind him, smashing the lock sealing himself inside. He crawled behind the workstation and curled into a tight ball, his heart breaking. He had been betrayed by a man he thought was his friend. He unclenched his hand looking at the vial of liquid he held in his hand, his vision bleared with tears. All he had to do was swallow and it would all be over. He clenched his fist tight round the tiny bottle and prayed for god to forgive him.
Justin looked up from his course calculations his lover’s distress howling in his ears. Fear and confusion echoed off Lance and Chris. Somewhere he could feel JC resolved decision.
“Lance what happened to Josh.” he spoke directly to the alien doctors mind.
“He’s pregnant Justin, he’s pregnant again and he’s terrified we are looking for him now. Chris thinks he knows where he would have gone.”
“I’ll meet you there I know where he is too.”
“Justin he is going to hurt himself, his mind is whirling, he‘s scared and confused. He wants death.”
“Just get to him, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The tall blue-eyed man hastened to his quarters scooping up the sleepy toddler from his playpen. “Jovian, sweetie I need you to do something for me. Call for poppa, call poppa in your head like I taught you. Jovie please baby call for poppa.”
The little JC clone rubbed his eyes with his fists his daddy’s urgency swept over him like a tidal wave. He could feel his poppa’s distress and resolution. He began to cry; his little mind screaming for his poppa to come get him, to make things better, to hold him and kiss him. His shrill little baby voice echoed in Justin’s head.
“POPPA, POPAAAA”
Justin ran, the child in his arms he knew where to go. When he got to the storage room Chris was trying to prise the door open with a crowbar. Lance was thumping on the door yelling for JC to let them in. he put the toddler on the floor. “Call him Jovie call poppa.” The baby boy slapped his hands on the panel and cried out as loud as he could.
Inside the room JC lifted the vial to his lips hesitating as his beloved child’s voice reverberated through his brain, four more voices joined in the calling of poppa as the quads disturbed from their sleep by the fear and terror that engulfed the entire ship. JC threw the poison from him and shrank into himself blocking out the sound of the children and the hammering at the door, slipping slowly into oblivion as he buried himself deep down inside where no one could ever find him.