by D. Brumbley
“It’s still a little sore, but it’s better than it was when I went to bed. I think I just pulled the shoulder wrong or something. Nothing major.” He was eating with the arm in question, after all, so it couldn’t have been that major. His other arm he just kept around Rachel’s waist, along the band of the shorts she wore for pajamas and her mostly-exposed ribs beneath her short t-shirt. “What about you?”
“I always sleep better when you’re there.” Rachel smiled and then snuggled him gently while Brianne continued cooking, apparently both women completely at ease with sharing their husband.
Anna watched the entire thing for a moment in awe, since she didn’t understand it all. She was just about to comment on how crazy the whole lot of them were when Logan appeared and she turned her attention to him instead, then got up to greet him with a fiery good-morning smooch. “I’m glad I don’t have to share you.” She whispered against his lips, since she in no way would survive whatever circus was happening in front of her with Liam and his wives.
“You and me both.” He agreed immediately as his eyes darted around the room. He shook his own head at his brother and his wives. Even if the entire thing had been his idea, there was no way Logan thought he’d be able to survive it himself. “Hey, Bri, any chance I could get some of that bacon on a bagel or some toast or something to go? We’re gonna be late getting down to Doc’s as it is. I do not want to piss off the woman who’s about to stab a series of needles into my arm.”
“Sure, Logan.” Brianne hummed and swayed her hips across the kitchen as she whipped together a bag for breakfast with remarkable ease. She sauntered over to him with a smirk as she handed it off to him. “You always look so afraid of seeing Liam with us, as if we’re just now going to discover that he’s with all of us at once.” She shook her head as he took the bagel sandwich from her. “Or maybe you think you’re about to witness an orgy in your kitchen. Let me put your mind to ease, not everyone would be okay with that idea, so don’t you worry about that.”
Logan just rolled his eyes and held a little tighter to Anna. “I trust you all to keep your orgies more or less to yourselves. I have to eat off this kitchen counter, after all.”
Liam laughed as he leaned back with Rachel in his lap. “Yeah, well, God invented cleaning products for a reason. I wouldn’t worry too much about the counter.” He was rewarded with a smack from Rachel, which only led to more laughter.
The sigh that escaped Logan was mostly for dramatic effect, as Liam’s two wives laughed at the situation and Logan’s response. “Fair enough. I’ll work on the whole not-walking-on-eggshells thing every time I see you guys.”
Anna grabbed a couple pieces of bacon and a bagel for herself before she linked her arm with Logan’s and they walked out. She wasn’t about to linger and give Brianne the opportunity to start telling stories about Liam’s sexual prowess. After rushing to the truck, Logan programmed in their destination and they both relaxed to eat once the truck was moving. Anna eyed Logan with a little concern. “You were in the shower a long time. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just waking up. I didn’t sleep that well last night.” He put the sandwich down after a few bites, then leaned back to watch the truck maneuver out onto the main road, where he trusted the autopilot a little more and felt he could relax. “No particular reason, just a lot happening all at once. A lot to think about. Stayed awake and watched you for most of the night.” He grinned and put an arm around her shoulders to hold her in close the way they’d gotten accustomed to riding.
Anna easily slid the rest of the way into his side and kissed his cheek before she went back to eating. “You watch me sleep? Creeper.” Anna was smiling at him, though, before she took another bite. “I’m a day late, you know. I’m going to ask her to do a blood test to test for that too. A baby.”
He hadn’t actually been aware of that, since they’d only been together for a few weeks in total, but he realized he probably should have thought of that, since she hadn’t actually been on her period for any of that time. He and his dick would’ve noticed. “Well that would be a hell of a going-away present from the planet, wouldn’t it?” His hand moved over her shoulder to hold her firmly against his side.
“You’re telling me.” She smiled hopefully and then gripped tightly to his arm. “I really hope that I am. I want to have your babies. So bad.”
“You can say that now at the beginning, and when you’re in the process of pulling them out of me, but when it comes down to it, nine months from now when we’re about to blast off for the other side of the galaxy, you might feel a little differently.” He still looked happy and hopeful, though, as he kissed down her neck, letting her finish her own food.
“Maybe I will, but I’m betting not. I’ve dreamed about being your wife and having your children for years.” Anna ate the rest of her food quickly, even though she didn’t have to, but she didn’t want to make a mess in his truck. He was a little particular about his truck. “And if it turns out that I’m just late, then we’ll have to try harder next month.”
“Trying harder than we already have, all in lower gravity?” He took a bite of his sandwich, having regained some of his appetite. Anna had that effect on him. “God, I’m gonna be throwing you around whatever capsule they put us in. You seemed to like it when I put you up against a wall that one time. We’ll see how you like it on the ceiling.”
“I like it everywhere so long as I’m with you.” She grinned at his returned appetite and then put a hand on his large thigh so she could grip it. “I’m a little surprised that we have to drive out to Doc’s again. I don’t know why the Initiative would need more blood samples. They sure do ask for a lot.”
“Doc said something about some other inoculations we apparently missed, before going up to space. She wasn’t big on details, just said it was part of the Initiative’s requirements.” He shrugged and set about devouring the rest of his sandwich. “I imagine we’re gonna be getting a lot of that. Requirements that don’t have a whole lot of ‘why’ behind them, just a lot of ‘shut up and do it’. The little I’ve ever been able to find about life in orbit leads me to believe that’s pretty much their norm.”
“And we’re agreeing to it.” She reminded him with some resignation as she remained curled into his side. “I don’t do well with being told what to do. You know me. I just have to keep Jannah in mind all the time, I guess. Just to keep myself quiet.”
“I want you a lot of things, baby, but quiet isn’t one of them.” Logan’s fingers massaged over her back as he leaned back to get comfortable for the drive down to the Webers’. “Honestly, before the meeting, I thought that was what they were trying to recruit for everybody who was going. People who would be useful, but who would fall in line. Most of the time, I think I probably fall into that definition myself. But when you told me you had been accepted…” he chuckled against her hair. “Yeah, falling in line and doing as you’re told has never been your strong point. And I like you that way. But clearly we’re not gonna be alone when it comes to civil disobedience. If they want us to be the ones going out there, then we’re gonna be some of the ones in charge of how the place operates. Staying quiet isn’t on the menu.”
“I don’t think they are interested in having me in charge.” Anna disagreed. “And I don’t think you would just fall in line either. You are a born leader.”
“I wasn’t born to it.” He said quietly, since he’d never been particularly good at taking compliments when the reason for those compliments was a situation he hadn’t chosen. “I was car-accidented into it. Take anybody ever born on the planet and put them in charge of an estate at ten years old and you’ll eventually get somebody who’s real comfortable bossing people around.”
“Liam didn’t step up to it, you did. It’s not all about circumstances.” Anna ran her fingers across his cheek. “Look at me and Ben. No one forced him into it and he is the bossiest person I know.”
“Yeah, well, Ben is kind of a natural-born asshole
. Shocked the hell out of me when I found out Susan went for him, of all people.” Susan was almost a year and a half older than even Logan was, so when she’d gotten with a younger man, especially one like Ben, it had been surprising, to say the least. “Regardless, I’m from Earth. Nobody’s putting us in charge once we get up there. From the tone of that presentation info-session, it sounds to me like they want us along because we know what a seed looks like and we understand that it requires water. I would think the rocket scientists at the Consortium would have some experts of their own on that subject, but if they want us along to help actually feed some people, I suppose I don’t mind.”
“I’m not going to make any guesses about what they want us up there for. If I do, I’ll have expectations, and I don’t think having expectations for this sort of thing is a good idea.” She shrugged and then glanced out the window and her gaze went up toward the sky. “What do you think they’re like? Do you think all of them walk around like they have a stick up their ass and like they know more than everyone else?”
“I’ve wondered that before.” He looked up along with her, and it wasn’t hard in the clear autumn sky to find a station moving across its unmarred blue perfection. How many other satellites and smaller stations were up there besides the dozen or so major ones that could be seen easily with the naked eye? How much was the sky hiding? “Mostly I figure they’re gonna be a bunch of morons who just assume their world is better than ours because they can control every little bit and piece of it. What’s really gonna freak me out is being around…well, old people.” Two of those who had come with the informational meeting had had hair that was beginning to go salt-and-pepper, and one had even had the beginnings of wrinkles. Logan couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever seen anyone with wrinkles in anything but a movie. “Who are all gonna think we’re just a bunch of kids down here all playing with our parents’ toys while they’re permanently away.”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like a kid.” She said as she stared up at the sky. “And I know for damn sure that we’re not just playing around down here. I don’t have any problem re-aligning their perspective of us. I know they’re gonna need it. I bet none of them have done any real work in their entire lives. I just see them up there with their noses pressed to computer screens all day long.”
“Sounds about right to me.” He shook his head at just the thought, glanced back down at her side of the truck that she never actually ended up sitting on, since she was more frequently in his lap or up against his side. “Speaking of which, I gave that tablet you found a shot the other day while you were helping Liam with his jewelry selection. I couldn’t get it to turn on, since there’s no charge and I don’t want to hook it up to anything in case it traces itself, but honestly, I’ve seen tech with more of its shit beaten out of it come back from the dead. It should be salvageable.”
“I guess I’ll just have to wait to find the right person to look at it.” She thought about the tablet for a moment as she wondered what was on it, especially since the old man had it clutched to his body like a lifeboat in the last moments of his life. “Not just anyone. Someone we can trust. Because I feel like there’s probably some dangerous shit on there.”
“I feel like there’s gonna be some dangerous shit no matter where we go from now on.” Logan responded darkly and he clutched Anna tighter as he considered possible threats. “That’s why they call it a risk, I guess.” He leaned her head back and swept in with a possessive kiss, while they had the time to themselves on the way down to Doc’s. It was going to be the two of them against the rest of the world very soon, and he found himself really looking forward to that in ways that he hadn’t anticipated when he first considered the Jannah Initiative. There was no one else he wanted on his team the way he wanted Anna. If she was next to him, it didn’t matter what was against them.
A visit to the ghost town where Doc lived was always a little depressing, but her clinic/home was bright and cheery enough. When they arrived, they were told that Doc herself was busy with a pack of boys who had gotten into some trouble on their family’s ranch. There were half a dozen already in casts and still four more in makeshift splints waiting to have collarbones, arms, and legs mended by the doctor. “That’s what happens when you try to get cute at a cattle drive.” Logan looked more amused than anything. They walked through the main hall of the clinic to the back office where Doc’s secretary had directed them, and promptly walked in on Sierra in a doctor’s coat, sitting on top of an exam table making out with Gary. “Are we interrupting?” Logan asked with a broad grin at catching the lovers in the act.
Sierra pulled away from Gary sharply and her face was flushed when she looked toward the intrusion, but clearly her flushed face hadn’t been entirely from surprise. She attempted to discreetly allow for Gary to extract his hand from underneath her shirt, but there was only so much that wouldn’t be obvious. “Anna. Logan.” She cleared her throat and tugged at her shirt as Gary stepped aside so that she could jump down off the table. “I, um, I wasn’t expecting any patients.”
“Clearly.” Logan just chuckled, since it was a side of Sierra he hadn’t seen before. She was a couple years younger than he and Anna, so generally the doctor’s daughter was considered off-limits. “Your mom’s busy with the whole pack of kids who decided to get themselves smashed to pieces out there. She told us we were supposed to come by and have some bloodwork done before we go upstairs. Did you two already do yours?”
“Um,” Sierra glanced Gary and then back at Logan. “No, we decided we aren’t going.” She moved quickly toward one of the cabinets nearby to get supplies for blood samples. Getting back to work would diffuse the awkward interruption, right? “We decided we would be happier here where no one has the chance to mess things up except us. My mom really wanted me to go, but I guess I’m too selfish.” Sierra smiled at Gary before she continued. “I want to keep his genetic code all to myself.”
That chased away Logan’s playful grin, even though obviously Sierra was clearly happy with her man and her reasons. “Speaking of genetic code, there’s some other checks we’d like you to do while we’re here, if you don’t mind.” He held out his arm to let Sierra get to it as she liked and gave Anna a knowing grin.
Sierra looked confused at first but then she laughed once she caught his meaning. “Oh, sure. I can take an extra vial for that.” Sierra was deft with getting the needle into Logan’s arm. “You two didn’t waste any time, did you?”
“No time to waste, right?” Anna said as she watched Sierra fill up small vials of blood and then put them aside. “You two don’t look like you’re wasting any time either.” She looked over at Gary with curiosity. “Did she convince you to stay or was it the other way around?”
“It was a little of both.” Gary kept his distance off to the side of the room, but he didn’t look like he was embarrassed at all about having been caught by them. No reason to waste any time being embarrassed when Sierra was just that gorgeous. “Honestly, before the meeting, I think we were both pretty excited about going. I may be a hired farm grunt, but I know a great opportunity when I see one. Then we had the meeting and it just…I don’t know. It sounds more like they want to build something on top of us instead of give us the chance to build something ourselves.”
Anna’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked over at Sierra again, but Sierra was busying herself with making sure she had taken all she needed from Logan’s arm. Once she pulled the needle out and taped up the spot, Sierra started labeling the vials. “That’s what you think, too?” Anna wanted to hear from them both.
“I think they spent too much time trying to woo us instead of telling us important information.” Sierra replied vaguely as she briefly glanced up from her task. “I know my mom wanted me to go because she wanted me to get treated. She didn’t care about Jannah so much as just making sure I don’t die, but I can still choose to believe that we’ll have a permanent, Earth-based cure before I die.”
&nbs
p; “I thought Crisis research was at a standstill?” Logan knew he wasn’t a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but he had…well, some of his former girlfriends had been smarter and more ambitious than others. “Is that what you’re deciding to get into? Not general practice like your mom?”
“It’s been at a standstill here on Earth, but there a lot of doctors working on it up there.” She nodded upward as she finished labeling Logan’s vials. Sierra then grabbed a small package and grabbed one of her mother’s scanners. She held it out for Logan to place his hand on top of, so that she could get his fingerprints and so the scan would unlock the package with his name on it. “You better believe that they don’t want CV to make it to Jannah.” When the screen beeped and the package popped open, she pulled out three syringes. “I wish I could get into the research myself, but my mom needs my help more and more these days. She’s doing really well for her age, since she spent half her life up there, but she’s still going to need me to help her. I can’t help her if I’m spending time doing research.”
Sierra held up the three syringes for Logan to see, and she tapped each one in turn. “These are your pre-treatments, we’re to give them out after your final round of bloodwork. You’ll get your first full treatment for CV when their doctors come down here to pick you up. The treatments aren’t effective if you stay on Earth more than 48 hours after you get the initial one, so it doesn’t make sense for us to give them to you.” She rubbed more alcohol on his upper arm once he pushed up his sleeve. “I’m told the first one burns like a bitch, the second one makes your tongue numb for ten minutes, and the third one makes your arm cold. I don’t know enough about what is in these suckers to tell you why, they don’t tell us what’s in them. Even more reason not to want them, if you ask me, but you two have always been braver than I am.”