An Office Alien Christmas Collection (Office Aliens Book 5)

by V. C. Lancaster

  “Not as good as mine, theirs are all broken.”

  “Then yours might get broken too if you take them.”

  “No, they won’t,” Taz argued, pushing against Zir’s foot. “I won’t break them, they’re mine.”

  Zir knelt to hold Taz in place with his hands, silently asking Lois to hurry up so they could leave before this turned into a tantrum. “You’ll be asked to share them, you know that. Someone else might break them by accident and then you’ll be upset.”

  Taz stopped pushing and looked at Zir’s face with a mutinous expression instead, as if to measure his commitment to resistance. Zir tried to look helpful and honest, as if he was only stopping Taz for his own good, and not because they didn’t have time to start collecting unnecessary things from other rooms.

  “I’m thirsty,” announced Bor.

  Zir honestly didn’t know if Bor meant it or if he was just trying to create a distraction for Taz. Either way, Zir knew he couldn’t leave the hall or let them slip past him so, barely moving his eyes from his sons, he found Bor’s schoolbag, dug out his lunch box, and opened the bottle of water Lois had put in it for him.

  Bor accepted it without comment, thank the gods.

  And then Lois came up behind him, and Zir relaxed his guard. The boys wouldn’t try anything faced with both of them. Lois rested her hand on his shoulder while she slipped her shoes on, giving him a breathless smile, then calling over her shoulder “Girls! Now!” Shoes on, she checked her watch and pursed her lips, then she shouldered her purse.

  Lia and Nia appeared, and Zir could tell from their demeanour there hadn’t been a fight that morning. They weren’t excited to go to school, but at least they weren’t sulking. Zir breathed a sigh of relief. That had been a relatively easy morning.

  “Okay! Let’s go!” Lois sang happily, and Zir unlocked the front door. Once everyone was in the hall, each taking custody of their own bag, except for Taz who was still too small, Lois locked the door behind them and they headed for the elevator.

  After they had got married and adopted Taz, Zir and Lois had moved into one of the family suites high up in the Volin dorms. Financially, they were in a position to move off the DETI campus, and they had talked about it, but in the end they had decided it would be best for the kids to attend the Teissian school there rather than be mixed with human kids. They weren’t opposed to Teissians going to human schools in the city, and some did, but… Their children were orphans, and they hadn’t been settled for very long. Maybe in a few years, they would ask the girls if they would prefer a human high school, but for now, Lois and Zir agreed it would be better if the kids didn’t have too many big changes to process at once. They had already been attending the Teissian school when they were adopted, and they had friends there and knew the teachers.

  Living in the dorms meant it was barely ten minutes from their front door to the school, and less from the school to the office. They couldn’t ask for better.

  Older children had class on the higher floors, so the girls broke off for the stairs as soon as they were through the door.

  “Bye, have fun!” Lois called. Lia might have returned the goodbye, but it was difficult to hear with all the little ones running around. Lois sighed, and they proceeded to take the boys to their classroom, which was little more than a padded play space. A human woman and a Volon female stood talking to parents, but Lois and Zir just put the boys’ bags in their designated cubby holes and watched the two of them race off to take possession of whatever toys hadn’t been claimed yet.

  They left the classroom and Lois took Zir’s hand with a deep exhale of relief. They were so busy at home, they rarely had opportunity to even hold hands. They shuffled past an incoming family, and then they were outside again in what passed for quiet next to a school. It took a moment to shift out of his ‘father’ mode, and become an adult and a mate again, and just be Zir.

  Lois bumped his elbow with hers. “So what have you got on your plate today?”

  He knew what she was doing, trying to reconnect in the five minutes they had before they had to separate to their own departments. It was so pointed it made him chuckle. “The usual. I think today will be mostly hardware for me. I heard about a software update, but it was Accounting so they do not need me for that. What about you?”

  Lois covered a yawn. “I’ve got a group arriving at three. Can you believe that? The day before the holidays? It’s only going to be fifteen people though so it shouldn’t take too long. It’s weird now the groups are so small after the Tyberius.”

  Following the destruction of the transporter ship the UNESS Tyberius by the Rhacahr, who believed the ravenous bugs, the Ypex, got on board, immigration from Teiss to Earth had been halted. It had taken a few months to get it started up again, and even now over a year later, there were fewer ships making the journey, though ships that had been en-route were still arriving. It would be years before immigration became regular again.

  He squeezed her hand. He was still so grateful for what she did for his people.

  “Are you sure Xin is alright babysitting?”

  Zir nodded. “Yes, I am sure.” It wasn’t the first time. Zir knew the children could be little monsters if they got at each other’s throats, but they were getting better as they settled into their new home. The morning had gone well, and the girls would have homework they could do, and Zir and Lois would be home in time to put them to bed. It was only a few hours.

  Zir and Lois had worried that looking after children, especially little boys, might be painful for Xin. Zir had offered in the hopes that it would help him to heal. Xin still didn’t talk about his feelings, and Zir was not one to probe, but Xin asked after the children and never hesitated when they asked him to babysit, so Zir thought he most likely enjoyed being around children again. Xin had even mentioned that he was thinking of adopting a child from the orphanage himself.

  When they had first been reunited, they had circled each other awkwardly, not knowing how to talk around the pain they both still carried. The last time they had seen each other had been when Zir had searched Xin out on Teiss to discuss rumours of monsters and people with weapons invading the forests. He had had Xin’s son under his wing, and he had been caught by a stray Rhacahr shot. He and Xin had both watched him fall dead to the forest floor. Horrified beyond reason, hurt, and ashamed, Zir had fled to the evacuation camps.

  Zir had thought Xin blamed him for his son’s death. That would have been fair of him, by Zir’s reckoning, but they had sat down over cups of choba and Xin had stiltedly explained that he didn’t. He was grieving, the loss of his son had changed Xin so much Zir barely recognised him as his brother, but he knew that it had just been bad luck that Zir had been carrying his son, and that he had caught that shot. It was nobody’s fault.

  Xin had been understandably awkward around the children the first time they had met. Lia was right when she called him quiet. He was, then and now. He seemed to let the world move around him instead of moving with it. But he was family, and Zir wanted to help him, and he thought that letting him spend time with the kids was helping.

  They also needed a babysitter, and Xin would do it for free.

  It wasn’t often that both Zir and Lois were out of the house in the evening. They rarely went out anymore, only a handful of times since adopting the kids. The kids might not like a strange male in their house, but they understood Xin’s connection to Zir, and better a Teissian than a human who wouldn’t know how to take care of them.

  Lois blew out another breath, and Zir knew she felt guilty for leaving the children. Motherhood had brought out a self-effacing side of her Zir hadn’t seen before. It was there in how hard she worked, but she hadn’t ever behaved that way with Zir. He supposed he was an adult, and comfortably established. He did not need her help so she didn’t offer it. Instead she had made demands. Not the demands he would have liked, for him to prove himself with gifts or sex perhaps, instead she had demanded he tell her his thoughts and feelings,
a much riskier venture. But it had worked, and now they were mates. He squeezed her hand again.

  “This party tonight…” she began. “Sounds tiring.” She laughed at herself.

  Attending a party for two or three hours was nothing to the shifts she used to work, but the children needed them to get up earlier than they used to, and there was always cooking and cleaning and shopping to do at home now. Lois was probably thinking she’d rather be relaxing at home, but this was an opportunity for one of their rare dates. They could talk, and kiss.

  “It will be alright,” he said. “I will look after you.”

  She rolled her eyes but she smiled at him and pressed her shoulder into his. “Thanks.”

  They reached the DETI offices and let themselves into the huge marble and glass lobby with giant screens playing the news. Off to one side was the café, with the information desk on the other, and slightly off-centre was the security check-in desk.

  Lee and Tol were there as usual. Now that Zir and Lois were mated, Zir felt much more generous towards the other Volin than he had, though it could wear thin when Tol tried to tease him about his behaviour before he and Lois got together.

  The desk was busy with everyone arriving. Hopefully that would mean that Tol would not have too long to talk. Lee was set up with the wand to check people’s bags, so Lois had to go to him, leaving Zir to go to Tol.

  “Hello, Zir!”

  “Greetings, Tol,” he replied in Volin.

  “We should speak English in front of the humans,” Tol reminded him for what must have been the two-hundredth time.

  Zir suppressed a hiss. “What difference does it make?” he continued in Volin. It just felt unnatural for two adult male Volin to meet as equals and speak a foreign language together. He spoke English to his colleagues, everything around him was in English… It wasn’t as if he and Tol ever said anything that amounted to more than “Hello”. It wouldn’t even be a conversation if Tol didn’t argue with him every single day.

  Lois’ Volin was good enough for them to speak it at home, but it was important for the children to develop good English, so in practice they spoke both, switching back and forth in a way that probably just confused the two languages in the kids’ minds. One day he and Lois would decide what to do about it, but they never seemed to have the energy. Being obeyed was hard enough without making it into a language lesson.

  “It’s polite,” Tol said cheerily, finishing with Zir’s security pass and waving him through the scanner.

  “Have a nice day, Tol,” Zir said in Volin, just to get the last word.

  Lois joined him at his side, closing her bag. “Were you fighting with Tol again?” she asked with an amused smile.

  “No. That was not fighting,” he said, taking her hand.

  The I.T. department was on the ground floor, so Lois walked him there before heading upstairs to Intake. They stopped outside the doors, and Lois reached up to pull him down to kiss her with her hand on the back of his neck. The kids could run off without a goodbye, but he was not allowed to. Still, they did not ‘make out’ at work, or at least not where people could see, so their kiss goodbye was a series of chaste presses of lips.

  “Get a room,” said a lowered voice, which Zir understood was a lazy human attempt to disguise the speaker. He lifted his head and Lois let him go.

  It was Ty, Zir’s sometimes-partner. He was grinning, so Zir didn’t take offence. “Hi, Lois.”

  “Hey, Ty.”

  “Still mackin’ on Zir?”

  “Yup,” Lois smiled back.

  “Gross.”

  “It’s not gross,” Zir objected with a scowl. “You will be gross if you say that again.” He held up his hand and flexed his claws.

  “Yeesh,” Ty said, his eyes widening, but Lois laughed so he smiled again and went into I.T., leaving them alone.

  Zir snorted, and Lois turned his face back to her to kiss him once more. “I have to go. Play nice.”

  “I do not play.”

  “Sometimes I think you pretend to take me literally just to tease me.”

  “I do not,” he answered gruffly.

  Lois pressed her hand to her heart and tipped her eyes to the ceiling as she retreated to the elevators. “Just like old times!” she said, pressing the button.

  Zir knew she was teasing him, but still, she had reminded him of how much he loved her, so he snatched her hand and kissed her for real until the elevator doors opened.

  He let her go, nudging her gently towards them. “Play nice,” he rumbled as she wobbled on her heels.

  “See you at lunch.” She pressed the button for her floor.

  He nodded, and watched the doors close.

  2

  Because they lived so close to the office, they left at five to pick the kids up and take them home, and wait for Xin. Lois took the opportunity to change, wanting to get ‘dressed up’, as she called it. Zir didn’t really see the difference. She wore more make-up and brighter colours, maybe, and showed more of her chest. He was of the opinion that he should be the only one to see her like that, but he accepted that it was a human practice for even mated people to show themselves to their best advantage at parties. Even so, Lois had stopped him the one time he had tried to participate in his traditional Volin outfit. She’d said he needed to wear a shirt, so he suspected there was something of a double-standard at play.

  He looked after the children while Lois was in the bedroom. From the way they behaved after school, it was as if they had been away from home for a week, being starved. The girls were big enough to get their own snacks. The boys, not wanting to be left with nothing, leapt onto Zir in attempt to steer him in the right direction.

  “Zir, I’m hungry,” Taz whined, clinging to Zir’s thigh while Bor struggled to stay on his back, slipping until he dragged himself up to his shoulder, Zir’s shirt askew and probably full of holes now. He held back a sigh. Climbing was instinct for the Volin, and at least they behaved well enough not to do it to Lois, whose skin could bleed under their tiny, needle-sharp claws.

  “I want a snack,” Bor demanded, making sure his needs were not forgotten either.

  “Please,” Zir reminded him.

  “Please.”

  Lia and Nia saw them coming and left the kitchen, their haul of nut bars and dried fruit pressed protectively to their chests. Zir didn’t know why they acted like he wanted them to be hungry. Most days, he or Lois would make sure they didn’t eat too much before their dinner, but they let them have something. The kids just acted like they had crossed a desert to get there.

  He put the boys down on the counter, prising them off him, and pulled open the snack drawer. He kept them busy with a bag of dried mango pieces coated in yoghurt, then set about cutting up some apples and pears for them. Dinner would be later than usual today, because Xin would be cooking after Zir and Lois left for the party. Zir almost pitied him for that, but he was too relieved to be spared the task for a night. Cooking for the kids was not easy when they insisted on liking different things, and Xin didn’t feel he had the authority to be stern with them. Zir might suggest take-out.

  Bor and Taz got their plate of fruit and quieted, so Zir went to collect lunch boxes, empty and wash them all. He wondered if he should eat anything. There would be food at the party, but hors d’oeuvres wouldn’t substitute dinner. He checked the time. He didn’t have long enough to make anything, and after checking the fridge, decided he’d just ask Xin to save them some leftovers. It was tempting to ask him to order enough for a meal tomorrow as well. The cost might be worth a brief reprieve from the endless cycle of cooking and dishes. He’d give Xin the money for it.

  He could hear the girls had got the TV, so he asked the boys about their days to keep them entertained, listening to them tell stories of conflicts with other children and learning about Earth animals. He was disproportionately proud of them for their small victories and intrigues, like when Taz had shared crayons with another boy after all, or Bor had decided after m
uch contemplation that tigers were better than lions but not as good as dogs.

  At ten to six, Lois came out of the bedroom dressed in a red dress Zir had seen before. He narrowed his eyes.

  “What?” she asked. She looked beautiful, her dark hair fluffed up somehow, livelier than usual. Her eyebrows and lips were defined, broadcasting her expressions, and her skin had been painted over to look smooth and flawless. Her dress draped loose around her breasts, implying modesty while achieving the opposite as her body shaped the fabric, and a thin gold chain ensured her waist was outlined perfectly.

  It was a look to attract males, and it was working.

  “That dress.”

  “What about it?” She looked genuinely confused.

  “It’s your mate-hunting dress.”

  “My mate-hun-? Zir. Okay. Yes, this used to be a good date dress for me, but I haven’t been able to wear it in ages because I’m married to you, you big…” She put her hands on her hips, then sighed and walked up to him to put her hand on his chest instead. He felt a little bit better. She smelled nice. “It’s Christmassy! It’s red! It’s my favourite dress and I want to wear it.”

  “I have not told you not to.”

  “No, you haven’t, so tell me I look pretty.”

  His suspicion only increased. “Why do you need to know that?”

  Lois looked at the ceiling for a moment, then back down. “I don’t need to know, I just want to hear it.”

  Zir considered it.

  She moved her arms around his neck, and his hands fell automatically to her hips. Her face was very close. He didn’t understand why she was cuddling him now when they seemed on the verge of an argument. “I want my husband to think I’m pretty,” she said quietly.

  His eyes widened in understanding. “You dressed this way for me. You wish to renew my interest.”

  She seemed at a loss for words for a moment, and he took advantage of that moment. He walked her backwards to the dining table, tightened his hold and lifted her onto it.

  “Zir-!”

  He stepped between her legs, holding her eyes and keeping their faces in kissing distance. “You have never lost my interest, Lois. Whether we have the time to mate or not, you are still my wife. You are my only one, and I love you, and I am always interested in mating with you whenever the opportunity arises.” He pulled her closer to him, so she could feel the truth of his words against her centre.