“I love you poppa, thank you, for everything.”
JC hugged him tight from where he sat in his wheelchair. “We’ll talk again tonight Gem-gem, maybe you could bring Josh round too?”
Jewel blushed, “He’d like that, Joshy likes you.”
“Well I like him too.”
Chris coughed. “Er … remember me? Need to talk to you remember!”
JC slapped Jewels ass, making him yelp as he scampered off to find his lover and tell him at least one of his parents was on his side.
The frail brunette sat back in his chair, allowing Chris to wheel him to where ever they were going. He peered up curiously at his long term friend when he began to wheel him up the ramp that led into Big Bird, still he said nothing, knowing that Chris would tell him what this was all about eventually. The spaceship had been almost stripped of anything that they could utilise elsewhere, wires hung from open hatches, and whole sheets of steel had been ripped out, melted down and remoulded into more useful objects. It made it seem sad and desolate, a sad remnant of their past.
“What do you think of the boys news then?” Chris’ question startled JC from his musings.
JC sighed, “it’s too late to worry now, you can’t turn paper back into trees. I just wish I had known they were intimate, I would have advised them to speak to Lance, made sure they were safe. Jewel is so young to carry a child, and he is so much like me, I’m frightened that he may suffer like I did.”
Chris patted the slender mans shoulder, “Lance is keeping a close eye on him, and Joshua, well, he dotes on his Gem, he’s been going through the old database looking for baby names.”
JC laughed slightly and covered Chris’ hand with his own. “If the baby is anything like Teddy and Crystal, he’ll pick his own name.”
Chris grinned . “He? You know something grandpa Chris doesn’t?”
“No just a feeling.” JC sucked his lip into his mouth and let out a deep breath. He’d waited long enough. “Why are we here?” He asked.
Chris looked puzzled then his mouth formed a perfect O as he remembered what he had brought JC here for in the first place.
“Justin gave Jovian the codes to the stasis pods.”
“He did? But he was dead set against it when I mentioned it to him!”
“A lot happened while you were on walkabout. What with Jewel and Joshua. Jovian is lonely, he needs a companion, a mate.” Chris looked sadly at his friend. “He needs love, a kind of love that you just can’t provide, no matter how much you want to.”
JC raked his fingers through his hair. “What does Lance say? Does he think Jovian is mature enough to pick his life mate?”
“It was Lance’s suggestion that he spend time with the pods.”
The seated brunette frowned thoughtfully, his _expression suddenly bleak. “Don’t you think that he will want to do this alone?”
“I think he’ll want his poppa to lean on.”
JC pulled at his lower lip with his teeth as he considered the older mans words. “Then I guess I had better go find him.”
“I thought you might, he’s in with pods 1- 50.” Chris kissed JC on his cheek. “Help him pick a good one Jace, he’s a good boy, he deserves to be happy.”
The older brunette tapped in a code and a panel slipped open and JC wheeled himself inside.
***
Jovian had taken a deep breath and punched in the security code and the doors slid open. Blue white lights flashed on and off. Blinking rapidly to clear his eyes he picked his way quickly to the console and typed in his pass number, the room went dark. Seconds passed before the main light bank flickered on. Row after row of stasis tubes lit up revealing their occupants . He swooned at the sudden choice he had to make, giggling as he walked down the first row, running his eyes over the naked bodies. He stopped, as the storage unit door opened again.
“Hello Jovie.”
“Poppa what are you doing here?”
JC pulled his jacket tightly round his body and smiled. “Thought you might like to have some help.” JC studied the first tube. “You know your daddy and Uncle Lance have really bad taste sometimes.”
Jovian chuckled, covering his mouth with his hand as he moved on down the lines of tubes. “Some are a bit gruesome,” he giggled, dismissing one then another. He paused by a tall blond man with a well-muscled body. He closed his eyes and concentrated. After a minute or so his eyes snapped open and he shivered repulsed by what he had read in the mans mind.
“What is it?” JC asked concerned.
Jovian took a thick marker from a drawer and drew a cross over the glass. “He’s a paedophile, he was on his way back from babysitting his sisters children when he was taken, his mind is full of the disgusting things he did to them.” Jovian shuddered again, tears in his eyes. “How do you do it poppa? Live without being able to reach inside people and find out what they are really like?”
JC let out a sigh that came from his soul. “You just do baby, you learn to trust your instincts, and sometimes they let you down, sometimes they don’t.”
“Is that how you chose daddy, went with your instincts?” Jovian’s face lit up a little.
“Your daddy picked me, I had no choice but to go with him, he had impregnated me and I would have died if I stayed on earth.”
Jovian dropped into a crouch before his parent. “Do you love him poppa?”
JC’s smile answered Jovian’s question. “With all my heart.” he whispered. He stroked his fingers down the 18-year-olds face, tracing his lips with his thumb, before pulling him close so he could kiss his forehead. They rested together for a few minutes their foreheads resting on each other’s. JC broke the intimate embrace. “Lets find you a soul mate, baby.”