Humility
The last thing Humility expected when she woke was to have her father hanging over her, looking intently at her face. There was a moment of tension as he saw the surprise in her eyes, and then he smiled. Her father actually smiled.
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
Humility sat up so fast that her head began to spin and she nearly puked her guts out on the floor. Except, she wasn’t sure she had anything in her stomach to puke.
“Dad!”
“It’s me. And listen to this!” He took in a deep breath, and then another. Not a raspy cough in sight. He didn’t have the oxygen tube in his nose either, and his color was actually good. In fact, if she wasn’t completely mistaken, he had a bit of sunburn on his ears.
“Why am I in the medical bay? And how long have you been here? How did you get here and why the hell am I in the med bay?”
Humility swung her legs over edge of the unit. It adjusted underneath her and she nearly wanted to upchuck again.
“The last thing I remember was Kave and that damn scanner.” For some reason, in the the past few hours, her galoot of a husband had decided to attack her with the scanner. At first, he’d been secretive about it, but when she’d asked him about it, he’d given her a full scan before telling her it was just for ‘standard medical purposes,’ and then wandering off again.
After Odette and Clover had begun parading around with their new babies, baby fever had struck the camp. Everyone was all about booties and little sun hats and diapers. Kave had probably caught the fever too, and was hoping his own mate was pregnant.
Humility would probably fail at that too. It seemed that she was failing at everything lately. She’d managed to stab her husband, and then just when she’d thought she’d gotten a handle on things, a new gaggle had shown up and become the center of attention. She didn’t mind slipping back into the old supportive role, but every time she looked at Kave, she was reminded that she had even failed with their relationship.
They had very little in common and Humility felt ashamed that she had been most excited by the fact that she could use him to finally get what she wanted.
But here was her father, healthy and present, and she couldn’t figure out how Kave had managed it. He had offered her some hypothetical situation the other day, but she’d only been paying half attention.
The med door opened. Wendy’s head popped in.
“You’re awake!” Wendy ran in, gave the stunned Humility a hug.
“How long was I out?”
“We’ve been here for at least two days. It’s hard to keep track. There’s a lot of man meat running around and the hours don’t seem to match up with the ones on Earth. How strange is that? We’re wandering around on an alien planet!”
“I don’t understand. How did you…? Why are you here?”
“Well, the Mahdfel have a compassionate leave clause in their contract. In the unlikely situation that you become deathly ill, your closest relatives are ported to you to say goodbye. And once we were here, it was a snap to cure Dad, apparently.”
“I’m not deathly ill.”
“You were. Oh, and Kave told me to tell you that we were met directly at the pad and we didn’t have to wait by ourselves at all. He’s been rather accommodating. By the way, what time is it? Now that you are okay, I don’t feel so bad joining the girls’ volleyball team. Got a match soon!”
Wendy gave Humility another hug, and then ran back out again.
“You have to forgive her. Once she learned that you weren’t actually dying, she’s been having a ball. I mean, having her father back, her sister back, and being transported to a tropical paradise all in one day has been an emotional roller coaster,” Mason said.
“She can’t stay. Nobody’s thought this through, have they? She’s never going to find a man here. They just don’t exist, and when she hits her birthday-”
“Sweetie. Let her be happy for a few days. We’ll worry about the rest as is comes. After all, remember, you left her a ton of cash. And let me tell you, your brothers were extremely unhappy with you.”
“Oh, darn,” Humility replied sarcastically.
Scrubs entered and eyed her up and down with the cold and calculating doctoral eye. “Any nausea?”
“Plenty.”
“It will pass. Your mate was not very precise with his dosage.” He gave her a glare, as if it were her fault that Kave had done something stupid.
“What exactly was I dosed with?”
“A chemical of undetermined origin that just so happened to be covered in the DNA of Kave and Athen’s mate. But I am not allowed to complain about the reckless behavior that put your health at risk.”
So Kave and Odette were responsible for this.
The doctor had the look on his face of a man that has said too much. “I said nothing. I know nothing. Ask your mate.” Scrubs suddenly found something else to do, off in the corner, and turned his back on Humility and her father.
”Like she said Kave really has been great in all of this. I mean when a guy finds out that his daughter is going to marry an alien for money, he gets a little apprehensive but this Kave fellow actually seems pretty decent and he's head over heels for you,” Mason told her.
“But I just keep screwing everything up. It won't last.” Humility took a few deep breaths.
”He cured you. To pay him back… there's nothing I could do to pay him back. Give him time,” her father said.
“How much time you do you have?”
“Well Clover has promised to take us anywhere we want to go when she gets her ship back. I don't think she knows how long that's going to be though.”
“You don't have to go back.”
“She mentioned that too. I mean what's left for me back there? The farm I haven't worked on for so many years, I'm not sure I remember how. I don't remember how to be anything else except for a shriveled-up shell of a man. And Wendy’s almost old enough to do whatever she sets her mind to. She doesn’t need me.”
“You've got your lungs back. You can be anything you want. Except maybe a lounge singer. if I remember correctly, you can't carry a tune.”
”You've got that right. But I've got some time to think it over.”
With that, her dad offered her a very dad-like pat on the hand. ”Now how about we get you something to eat? I keep hearing that there's alcohol around here somewhere but I have not seen a sign of it.”
They wandered out into the quad and before Humility could turn toward the mess tent, she saw Kave practically sprinting towards them from the command center.
“You are supposed to be asleep. That incompetent medic told me you would not wake up for at least another hour.”
“Incompetent? That's not the way I heard it because he blames this whole mess on you. I assume that’s correct?”
Kave's colors muddled and he turned strange almost gray green. ”It is correct. I deceived you,” he said, abashed.
“Thank you.”
“You will smile now?”
Humility tried to smile, but the only thing that came out was a rattling sob.
“You nearly killed me? To get my father here?”
“In my defense, I did ask you first. And had you actually died, I would have walked into the ocean in guilt. So everything has turned out for the best. Would you like to stab me again?”“No, I don't want to stab you. I want to hug you.”
“You may hug me. You may hug me at any time.” Kave held his arms out in front of him. Humility stepped into them and was enveloped by his broad arms. He put his head down into her hair and breathed deeply. Humility could not help but notice a certain part of him growing in length and hardness as they stood together.
“Perhaps, we should continue this conversation in our quarters,” she suggested.
“Only if you smile first.”
Humility plastered a huge smile on her face. “Happy now?”
“I doubt the veracity of that smile but I shall accept it.”
Without further warning, Humility found herself being swept up in his arms and carted off to his quarters. She didn't mind, considering it would be rather tacky to make out with her new husband in front of her father.
Kave had just put her down inside the quarters when Odette came storming through the door like a woman on a mission.
“Okay I'm holding an intervention. This has to stop. You are going to forgive Kave because despite everything, he's head over heels in love with you,” she told Humility.
“He might be a big stupid conniving idiot.” Odette paused to glare at Kave before continuing. “Do you know what he did to me when I first got here? He put me in a box. Yeah. Wanted me to jump out of a paper cake like a stripper.” She whispered in case she wasn't clear, “And if I can forgive him for that, you can forgive him for saving your dad. It might have been a little underhanded but sometimes that's how you have to get things done.”
“A stripper cake,” Humility questioned as she stared at her husband. “Really?” Kave looked extremely uncomfortable. Humility was beginning to recognize his colors. This was embarrassment. Humility tried to imagine Odette popping out of a cake like a tart at a bachelor party. it actually made her giggle.
Kave's face lit up. “You're smiling.”
“You've got to admit it's pretty funny.”
“It wasn't at the time,” Odette said.
Humility couldn't help herself. She snorted and laughed. Odette tried to keep a straight face and failed.
Athen appeared in the doorway. He did not look amused. Humility wondered how much of their conversation he had heard. The aliens had very good hearing.
Odette took one look at him and burst out laughing.
“Mate, I would speak with you.” he said to her.
“I bet you would. You two okay here?” Odette looked from one to the other with one eyebrow raised.
“I'm fine,” Kave said. “Hue?”
“Yeah.”
Odette approached her husband. When he didn't move, continuing to glare at Kave, Odette gave him a little shove. ”Let's go big boy,” she told him and they turned leaving Kave and Humility alone.
“Your smile makes my heart happy,” Kave told his wife. His skin turned a minty color with a hint of neon.
“We need to talk,” Humility told him.
“Are we not talking now?”
Humility ignored his confusion. “We have an expression on Earth. ‘It's not you, it's me.’
You don't need me. You give me things to do to make me feel better. I'm not a Wonder botanist, or a pilot or a kickass or Peacemaker.”
“I do not require any of those things. I require you. I do not know how things will go. Will Athen demote me or give me my own clan? I see the likelihood of either of these adding to 50% but I've always been alone. Now, I will not be alone. We will make decisions together. And you should stop me from doing anything stupid. And I shall make you smile. I require nothing more than that.”
“What if it’s not enough?”
“I require sex too?”
Humility snorted again, but her laughter must have encouraged him. Kave claimed her mouth in a kiss. A moment later, her wandering hand found that his hard on was back.
“So, are you saying you expect me to suck your cock regularly?”
He stalled, not sure of the right answer. She knew what he wanted, what she was willing to give. Pulling down his shorts, she guided him to their bed. A little shove was all it took to get him onto the bed. He straightened up and put his arms behind his head. If he thought he was going to watch her strip, he had another thing coming.
She climbed up onto the bed next to him and lowered her mouth onto his cock. She loved the way it felt in her mouth, loved to run her tongue over the grooves and ridges. He moaned as she stroked his shaft with her hands.
“Aren’t you going to remove your…?” suddenly pausing as Humility swirled her tongue around the head.
“My what? Do you want me to remove my mouth?”
“No! No, not that. Although if you continue much longer, I shall spill all of my seed. And I wish to get to the business of making a little warrior to compete with Athen’s child.”
“Is that the only reason you want a child?”
“No. But it is a good one. Unless you do not think it is a good reason. Whatever reason you like.”
Humility knew he was at the point where he’d agree to almost anything. And she knew she didn’t want him to spill himself anywhere but inside her.
Cursing her jeans for being too tight, she rolled off the bed to shuck them off. Fearing that she had changed her mind, Kave followed her off the bed, his skin turning a clear color of relief when he found her suddenly naked from the waist down.
He took advantage and sat her on the edge of the bed. Before she could manage an objection, his tongue was between her legs and giving her a lashing that had her screaming out an orgasm in less than a minute.
Kave lifted her legs onto his shoulders and pressed into her. It was a frantic mating, but it was exactly what both of them wanted, needed. Humility wanted to be pounded, to be taken and made his, only his. Her pleasure spiraled out of her as her hands clutched the sheets. Kave’s tattoos glowed a brilliant white as he growled out his own release.
As feral as he had just been, Kave switched to the gentle lover as he placed her in the center of the bed. He peeled off the rest of her clothes and joined her in the bed, spooning with her. Humility felt cocooned in his heat.
“I would know what you would like,” Kave said after a long pause.
“I would like a breather before the next round.”
“I meant for our future. But I shall refrain from playing with your nipples until you have had a breather.”
“Thanks. But I don’t know what our options are.”
“I could pursue a diplomatic position back on Etlon. Athen would not like this. If I went, his father would expect him to follow. And he is stubborn. There is also talk of making Noven 90 a true colony planet, with actual dwellings and such. Multiple cities. With Odette’s plant growing well here, and the flegan, there are enough resources to expand operations here.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Make you happy.”
“Besides that.”
“Have lots of fat little warriors, and comrades and dinner parties.”
“Dinner parties?”
“It is a Terran thing. I have researched. Paired mates meet for dinner while leaving their offspring with some other warrior.”
“A baby sitter.”
“Why would you sit on a baby? A toddler, or young warrior, perhaps, but not a baby.”
“Someone who sits and watches the baby, not sits on the baby.”
“Ah. Yes. I will appoint Leif to do it.”
Humility giggled at the thought of the large warrior staring at the sleeping baby, burping him and changing a diaper.
“Here on Noven 90 or on Etlon?”
He paused to think. “My friends are here, but anywhere that you go, I will follow.”
“Then here we stay and have our babies for Leif to babysit. And if he wants, my father to stay?”
“Of course. And Wendy, as long as she is not called to be a mother. And if she is, I will do everything within my power to have her mate stationed here.”
Yes. They had options. Wendy didn’t have to be stranded on a planet where all of the males had already paired up. She could travel or go back to Earth and go to school. If she did get picked in the lottery, Kave would pull strings.
“Have you had your breather?” Kave questioned, breaking her out of her reverie.
“Maybe.”
Kave’s hand reached out to play with her nipple. It was going to be a long afternoon. Humility didn’t think that was going to be a problem.
The End.