Gently, he reached over and gave her a small shake. She blinked her eyes open, looking around in confusion for a moment as though she hadn’t expected to find herself asleep on their back patio.
“Hey. Oh sludge! You’re already home? It must be pretty late.” She sat up straighter. “I’m sorry! I planned to start dinner a while ago. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
Jarmuk squeezed her hand. “Hey, it’s okay. We can order takeout tonight. I love it when you cook for me, but you know I never expect it of you. And it looks like you had a long day at work. It’s really unlike you to take naps.”
“Work was alright. I actually left a little early today though. That’s not why I’m so tired.”
Jarmuk felt a small twinge of alarm. “Are you sick? Do you want me to call Kromin for you?”
Maisie smiled. “Actually, I’ve already been to see the Doc.”
“You have?” Jarmuk felt even more alarmed now. Maisie usually hated going to the doctor’s office, even though she loved Doc Kromin. So she must have felt really badly. But then, why was she smiling?
“Yup, I went to see him, because I’ve actually been feeling quite tired for the last several days. I thought I might know what the issue was, but he confirmed it for me.”
“You haven’t been feeling good for days? Why didn’t you tell me? And what’s wrong?”
“Well…” her smile broadened, and Jarmuk felt even more confused. Was this some sort of joke? But Maisie wasn’t the type to joke about something as serious as an illness that required a doctor’s visit.
“Well, what?” he demanded, starting to lose patience despite himself.
She gave an exasperated sigh, as though she couldn’t believe he hadn’t magically figured out what was wrong with her yet. “Jarmuk, I’m pregnant.”
He stared at her in stunned silence for several long moments. “You’re…pregnant? But we thought that was impossible.” When several months had passed of both Maisie and Nova being in a relationship with a Zocronian, and neither of them falling pregnant, everyone had just started to assume that it wasn’t biologically possible. But this was definitely not something Maisie would joke about. Jarmuk could feel the blood starting to pound in his ears.
Maisie shrugged, her smile stretching from ear to ear. “Apparently we thought wrong. Because I am definitely pregnant. You’re gonna be a daddy, Jar.”
Jarmuk let out a whoop, then stood and pulled Maisie up out of her chair and into his arms, spinning her around. “I’m gonna be a daddy!” he yelled. Then he stopped suddenly and set her down. “Wait, am I hurting you? I don’t want to hurt the baby.”
Maisie laughed. “It’s fine. He or she is well-cushioned in there.”
“Still,” Jarmuk said. “We should be careful.”
Maisie gave him a playful punch in the arm. “Hey, mister. You’re not going to treat me like some sort of breakable porcelain doll for the next nine months. The baby is fine, I promise you.”
“Nine months,” Jarmuk repeated with wonder, pulling Maisie into his arms. He looked over the top of her head and out over their yard, trying to imagine what it would feel like to finally hold a child of his own. His eyes fell on the banana tree Maisie had bought him, which was flourishing in Zocrone’s tropical climate. He smiled as he imagined their little Human-Zocronian son or daughter playing underneath it.
Then he pulled back so he could look into Maisie’s gorgeous sea green eyes. “Well, my little banana. Looks like our greatest adventure yet is about to start.”
“Yes, it is,” she replied with a smile. “And to think that all of this started with a super-tornado.”
“Best tornado ever,” Jarmuk said, pulling her close against his chest.
“Best tornado ever,” she agreed, her voice a happy, muffled murmur against his chest.
CHOSEN BY THE ALIEN DOCTOR
Chapter One
Anya Evans winced as the sound of her friend’s screams grew only louder. It was going to be a long night.
“You’re doing great, Maisie. Just breathe, okay?”
Maisie glared at her. “Easy…for…you…to say.”
Fair enough, Anya thought. Maisie was in labor, and had been for about twenty hours already. Anya had never experienced labor herself, but as a doctor back on Earth she’d done a rotation on the labor and delivery floor. She’d seen plenty of women in labor, and Maisie was holding up better than most. But still, it had been a long time and things were not progressing. Anya glanced up at the console screen that displayed a constant readout of Maisie’s vitals and the baby’s heart rate. The baby’s heart rate had started to slow, and Anya knew it was only a matter of time at this point before Maisie needed a C-section. Or, as the Zocronians called it, an ABR surgery—advanced baby removal surgery.
Anya looked up at Jarmuk, Maisie’s partner and the father of the baby, as Maisie screamed again. From the look on Jarmuk’s face, Anya could tell he knew something wasn’t right.
“What’s going on, Anya?” he asked in a tone of voice that said she better not try to sugarcoat things for him.
Anya glanced down at Maisie, whose face was red and covered with sweat. Then she looked back up at Jarmuk. “Things aren’t progressing well. My guess is that the baby is simply too big. It’s half Zocronian after all. Human bodies weren’t made to send such a giant blue baby through the birth canal.”
A look of panic crossed Jarmuk’s face. “What can we do? You have to save Maisie.”
Anya spoke in a soothing voice as she stood. “We can do an ABR surgery. I was hoping to avoid it, because the recovery time will be greater for Maisie. But the surgery itself is safe and usually quite quick.”
“Just get this baby out of me!” Maisie yelled in the brief moments between contractions. Then the next contraction hit and she was screaming in pain again. Jarmuk tried to reach out and brush a sweaty strand of hair back from her forehead, but Maisie swatted him away. She would find no comfort until this long, painful labor was over.
“I’ll go talk to Kromin and get the operating room ready,” Anya said as she stood. Maisie didn’t seem to hear her, and Jarmuk was too terrified to make any sort of reply, so Anya slipped out of the room to find Kromin, the Zocronian doctor who ran this small hospital pretty much singlehandedly.
He was already in one of the operating rooms, prepping things for the ABR surgery. He had known this was coming. He looked up when he saw Anya step inside the doorway and raised an eyebrow at her.
“I take it you’ve told Jarmuk and Maisie to expect surgery at this point.”
Anya nodded. “I was coming to set up a room, but it looks like you’ve already started.”
“Of course. It’s been quite obvious for a while that natural labor isn’t going to work in this situation.”
Anya bit her lip, annoyed at the know-it-all tone in Kromin’s voice. Outside of the hospital, Kromin was usually nice enough to her. And he was always nice to his patients at the hospital. But he didn’t like having Anya around. He wanted to do things his way in his hospital, and he didn’t appreciate a human medic butting in with opinions or advice. Normally, Anya tried to stay out of his way as much as possible. When she’d first arrived in Zocrone, she’d been excited for the chance to learn more about the Zocronian medical methods. In her mind, learning about another species’ advances in medicine could only improve her abilities as a doctor. But Kromin hadn’t wanted to give her a job in the hospital, and so she’d given up on working here and had opened her own small clinic on the other side of the city dome.
That had lasted for about a month. Rent was too high, and no one wanted to come to her clinic when Kromin’s tried and true hospital was available. Anya had closed up shop and wondered if perhaps her medical training was just going to go to waste for as long as she remained on the planet of Zocrone.
But tonight was different. This was Maisie. This was one of Anya’s best friends, and neither Maisie nor Anya were going to put up with Kromin keeping Anya away from the hospital
while Maisie was in labor. Kromin had reluctantly agreed to let Anya stay after Jarmuk had threatened to let Maisie have the baby at home under Anya’s care if Kromin didn’t allow Anya into the hospital. Jarmuk himself trusted Kromin more, which Anya supposed made sense. After all, Jarmuk was a Zocronian, and he’d grown up with Kromin. The two men were close friends. But Maisie wanted Anya, and one does not argue with a woman in labor.
“I should do the surgery,” Anya said, trying to keep the statement from sounding too much like a challenge. “I think Maisie would be more comfortable with me.” She wasn’t trying to antagonize Kromin right now, truly. But Maisie was her friend, and Anya had been Maisie’s primary doctor for years. Besides, Anya had far more experience with human patients than Kromin did. It just made sense.
But of course, Kromin wasn’t going to give in that easily. He scowled up at Anya, his fog gray eyes turning black with anger. “No way. This is my hospital. I’ll do the surgery. You can assist, because you sort of know what you’re doing and I do need an assistant for a surgery this involved. But I’m not letting you be the primary physician on this. End of discussion.”
Anya chewed her lower lip, trying to decide how to respond. Part of her wanted to argue with him. She knew if she dragged Jarmuk and Maisie into this, Kromin would be forced to let her take the lead on the surgery. Maisie would want Anya to be the doctor in charge, and Jarmuk wouldn’t argue with what Maisie wanted. But at the same time, Anya didn’t want to put the stress of that decision on Maisie. Maisie was going through enough right now without having to referee an argument between the two doctors on Zocrone. All Maisie wanted was to get the baby out, and so, Anya sighed and nodded.
“Fine. Let’s just get this done quickly. The baby’s heart rate is dropping steadily.”
Kromin looked up at her and scowled again. He must have suspected some sort of trick on her part, because Anya didn’t usually give in that easily. Anya met his gaze and scowled right back.
“Don’t think this means I approve of your bad attitude toward me,” she told him as she placed her hands on her hips. “But right now, this baby is more important than any feud I have with you. So let’s just get this done for Maisie’s sake and the baby’s sake.”
The scowl did not leave Kromin’s face, but at least he didn’t say anything rude. He, too, knew that there were more important things at stake right now than the animosity between the two of them. Anya studied his features for a moment, staring at him under the guise of being angry. But really, she was thinking that he looked so damn good, even when he was angry. Even if he did treat her like an asshole. His deep blue skin set off his dark brown hair quite nicely, and his eyes were gorgeous even if they were full of anger right now. But it wasn’t just his coloring that made him so attractive. It was his shape as well. Even underneath his white doctor’s coat, she could see the defined muscles of his biceps. He was also tall, even for a Zocronian, and Anya had always been a sucker for tall men. His broad shoulders weren’t too bad, either, and she knew he had a fantastic set of abs underneath his doctor’s uniform. She’d seen him swimming several times now, and had always struggled not to stare at his perfectly sculpted, perfectly blue stomach. And of course, the rough, chiseled line of his face was enough to make her swoon as well. His body was pretty much perfect.
If only he’d had a decent personality to go along with that perfect body. He glared at her now, his ridged, Zocronian forehead furrowed in a way that only defined the ridges even more. Anya forced herself not to sigh in frustration again. She would remain professional and work with him as well as she could for the next hour or so, until Maisie and the baby were both safe. But that didn’t mean she had to like him. Handsome as he was, his caustic personality was a struggle to put up with. Without another word to him, Anya turned on her heel and headed out of the operating room. She needed to focus on Maisie right now, and not on her maddeningly conflicting feelings about Doctor Kromin Zebbo.
Chapter Two
Kromin Zebbo breathed in a deep, victorious breath as the sound of the baby’s wailing filled the operating room. Finally.
“Congratulations, Jarmuk,” Kromin said, glancing up at Jarmuk for just a moment. “You have a son.”
Kromin handed the baby off to Anya to clean and check, and then began the process of closing Maisie’s abdomen back up with skinsealer. He hoped this was going to work well on a human. He had used skinsealer on human wounds before, when the four humans from the crashed Starburst ship had first landed on Zocrone. They had all had some pretty bad gashes, and he’d been the one to help them out, of course. But major abdominal surgery was quite a bit more involved than anything he’d treated humans for before. Human physiology was similar to Zocronian physiology, but not exactly the same. Kromin had to admit that he was glad that Anya had been there during the surgery. He would never admit that out loud to her, of course. But still, her presence had been helpful and calming.
And now that this whole ordeal was just about over, he couldn’t wait to get away from her. As soon as Maisie was closed up and cleaned up, and the new family of three was resting in a recovery room, Anya could get the sludge out of his hospital.
Kromin knew that Jarmuk and Daxar, and even Toryx, didn’t like the way Kromin treated Anya. All three of his best friends had asked him over and over why he was so nice to everyone else, but so rude to Anya. Kromin had tried to explain to them that Anya was the only one trying to take over his territory, but they didn’t understand. They thought Kromin should be thrilled to have help, but Kromin knew that asking another doctor to join him here was only asking for trouble.
He’d spent the first part of his medical career dealing with two older doctors who could never agree with each other on how things should be run at the hospital. And they definitely didn’t care about Kromin’s opinions on anything. Kromin would never say it out loud, of course, but he had been immensely relieved when both of the older doctors had died off within a few months of each other, and the hospital had fallen entirely to him. Now that he was in control, he didn’t want anyone else around, telling him what to do or arguing with him about procedures. Especially not a human doctor.
Oh, sure, Anya was the most beautiful creature Kromin had ever laid eyes on. All four of the humans who now lived on Zocrone were good-looking, but Anya outshone them all. She was stunning, and if it hadn’t been for how obnoxious she was, constantly trying to wiggle her way into his hospital, Kromin might have even been interested in dating her. But no. It didn’t matter how gorgeous she was. He didn’t want a relationship with someone who didn’t know her place.
Kromin breathed a sigh of relief as he finished closing up Maisie’s abdomen. It looked like the skinsealer would hold, and the surgery had gone as well as he could have expected. Anya had checked the baby’s vitals and cleaned him up, and was just now handing him over to Jarmuk. To Kromin’s surprise, Jarmuk’s eyes were tearing up. Zocronians never cried, especially not Zocronian men. But Kromin figured it made sense. If ever there was a day to become emotional, it was the day you became a parent.
Kromin made eye contact with Jarmuk then, and smiled. The grin on Jarmuk’s face stretched from ear to ear, and Kromin couldn’t help but feeling a little magic in the air himself. As the only doctor on Zocrone, Kromin had attended hundreds of births over the years. He was always happy for the new parents, of course, but at the end of the day delivering babies was just part of his job. This was different though. Today, the new father was a man Kromin had grown up with. They’d shared so many heartaches and triumphs over the years. As boys, they’d also run together through the rainforests of Zocrone’s city dome, climbing from trees and swinging like monkeys. They’d spent hours causing mischief, or swimming in Zocrone’s watering holes. And now, that crazy, goofy boy was a grown man with a son of his own. A son whom Kromin had no doubt would be causing mischief of his own soon enough. Kromin wasn’t the type to get all sentimental about the circle of life, but right now he couldn’t help it.
; “Congratulations, Jar,” he said, giving his friend a small salute. “I hope he gives you as much trouble as you gave your parents.”
Jarmuk laughed, and Maisie rolled her eyes. Even Anya cracked a smile.
“Do you have a name?” Kromin asked, even as he went back to cleaning up the mess from the surgery. To Anya’s credit, she came to help him. The girl might be obnoxious, but she wasn’t lazy.
“He’ll be Ayaan. Ayaan Kader.”
Kromin nodded in approval. “That’s a good, strong name.”
Little Ayaan had begun wailing again. He’d stopped for a few minutes, apparently so shocked by the new outside world that he hadn’t known what to do with himself. But now he was protesting loudly once more. Maisie laughed as she looked up at Jarmuk, her skin glowing with the happiness of new motherhood.
“He sounds just like you,” she teased Jarmuk. Jarmuk tried to act shocked and offended, but he couldn’t pull off any angry looks right now. There was too much happiness in the room.
Jarmuk had turned slightly, which gave Kromin a better look at Ayaan. The baby looked mostly Zocronian, but he had touches of human in him too. His little forehead was ridged, and his skin was blue. But it was a lighter shade of blue than most Zocronians, probably due to his mother’s pale-skinned genes. And his eyes were not the typical Zocronian fog gray. Instead, they were a deep, velvety brown, just like his mother’s.
“He’s a handsome little guy,” Kromin said, and Jarmuk beamed with pride. Kromin often told new parents that their just-born babies were handsome or beautiful, but he hardly ever actually meant the words. Newborns tended to be wrinkly little beings, with their bodily proportions way out of whack. But today, Kromin was sincere. Ayaan truly was the most beautiful little baby he’d ever seen.
The Alphas of the Seven Galaxies Page 32