Ben made a face at the little box on the shelf. It didn't make a face back at him. It sat on its shelf, like inanimate objects were wont to do. It was pink, and in mauve letters right on the front it said OMEGASURE. For when you really need to know. Why this would be the brand the Navy stocked, instead of any of the more neutrally packaged products, Ben had no clue.

The hospital quartermaster, who was separate from the ship's quartermaster, gave him a bright smile. "I can sign that out for you, Doctor. Just let me see your ID."

Of course. Because the Navy had to account for every little item right down to the paper clips. He handed her his ID and gave her a weak smile. God, she was probably already planning how she was going to gossip about this to her buddies. That omega surgeon the captain brought on board? He's already PREGNANT!

"Here you go." She passed it over to him, her whole demeanor as professional as anyone could want.

"Thank you." He slipped the wretched box into his pocket and headed for his bunk.

He'd been suspicious for a while. He'd tried to pawn off the nausea as something he'd eaten or seasickness. The anxiety had made perfect sense without having to be pregnancy related, too. The fatigue, on the contrary, was absurd. He was getting more sleep now than he had since high school. He shouldn't want to sleep so much. He and Dave had used condoms reliably, but things happened, and who knew how reliable that brand of condoms were? He didn't read Greek. For all he knew it just said they were about as effective at preventing pregnancy as tissue paper.

He locked himself in his cabin, set the wretched box on the bathroom sink, and stared at it. The stupid thing even had a shirtless guy on the cover, with perfect abs of course, holding a newborn and smiling like he was higher than a kite. No one who'd been recently pregnant had abs like that. No one with a newborn smiled like that, either, unless they shot him so full of painkillers he tasted sounds.

Maybe if he ignored the problem it would go away.

Maybe rivers would run uphill.

Damn it, he was an adult, and a professional. He shouldn't be sitting here agonizing over taking a stupid pregnancy test. He filled the little cup, slammed the dipstick in, and set it on the counter. He had five minutes before he knew one way or another.

He couldn't look at himself in the mirror. The captain had jumped through some hoops to keep him on board, and here he'd repaid him by getting pregnant. He was supposed to be responsible. He was supposed to be sensible. He was supposed to be smart. Instead he was showing himself to be flighty, irresponsible, foolish, and slutty.

He turned his back on the test and the mirror. He was not going to allow outdated conventions to define him. Ben was a respected surgeon who'd seen more and done more in his short life than most doctors did in long careers. If he wanted to be out there having sex he could. If he wanted to be out there having sex with fifty men, he could. If he wanted to be monogamous, he could do that too. He didn't need the Navy's permission—or his parents' permission—to have a child.

He did worry about how Dave would respond. They hadn't known each other very long. Most rational people wouldn't try to make a co-parenting arrangement of any kind after such a short acquaintance. Ben would give Dave the option. He wanted Dave in his life, and in the baby's life. If they wanted to try to make a go of it as a family.

The thought made him giddy, like too much champagne. Guilt weighed him back down. Could he honestly think of starting a family with someone besides Zahi? Especially on such short acquaintance?

Apparently the family was happening anyway, whether or not he or society thought it was a good idea. Even if they decided to stay apart, the child was still on its way. Ben hadn't thought much about starting a family after Zahi died, but he liked kids well enough, and he and Zahi had planned to have them together.

He flopped back onto his bed. "What do you think?" Zahi wasn't there, in the room with him. Ben was a scientist, for crying out loud. He'd been there when everything that made Zahi Zahi had left the world, and he'd been there when they put the shell of him into the ground. That didn't stop him from talking to him sometimes, like he was still around. It was foolish, but it still brought him comfort. "Am I being ridiculous? Am I being disrespectful?”

"I didn't seek this out." He put a hand over his flat abdomen. "I wasn't looking to get pregnant. It's the kind of thing I would rather have talked about with him ahead of time. But since I am, I don't think I could give it up. I can afford to keep this baby. Even if he doesn't want it, I can afford it on my own. And after hearing what his mother did, whatever her reasons, I just can't."

Zahi didn't answer him. The timer on the test did, however, ping merrily from the bathroom.

Ben jumped to his feet and raced to the sink. He wasn't surprised when he saw the results. Of course, he was pregnant. It couldn't have gone any other way.

He wasn't sure if he should cry or shout. He wanted to tell someone, but who would he tell? The first person he told should be Dave, but Dave was out bringing injured people back to the Solace. He wouldn't be back for a while, maybe a few days. Ben was on his own.

Ben didn't fret well. Things were going to have to change, on a number of levels. He was going to have to leave Borderless. He felt bad about that, but it wasn't optional. Even if Dave decided to stay with him, he'd be deploying on an unpredictable schedule. Ben had every intention of hiring a nanny, but even so, the child would need at least one parent in the same state at all times.

Bringing an infant into the environments he usually went into wasn't an option either.

He would find an OR job somewhere once the baby was born. Maybe he'd even work part time. The idea almost made his heart stop when it first occurred to him, but it made sense when he gave it a little consideration. He didn't need the money, and it would let him spend more time with his baby. His own parents hadn't spent much time with him at all. Maybe he could do better with his own child.

So. He was going to need a home, because hotel guests frowned on crying babies in the middle of the night. He started to make a flowchart. If Dave was willing to stay with him, he'd get a place near the base and look for a job nearby. If Dave wanted to skip the whole thing, he'd get a place somewhere else. He had no idea where he'd want to live, though. He had that offer of a flat in Grenoble, he guessed.

No, no, no. New York, maybe, or Massachusetts.

Either way, he would need things. He would need furniture, specifically baby furniture. He'd never gotten far enough along with Zahi to think about baby furniture. They'd had one pregnancy scare that had turned out to be food poisoning. A quick internet search turned up a wide variety of baby items some of which were cheap and looked flimsy and some of which might have held the King of England.

Only ten minutes into his pregnancy, or at least his knowledge of his pregnancy, and he already understood why so many impending parents looked so overwhelmed.

Someone knocked on his door. When he got up to open it, he found Aziza standing at the door. "Do you mind keeping an eye on her for a few hours? The Captain wants to go over some legal questions with me with regards to her."

Ben took Khadijah into his arms. She settled in right away. "Of course. No problem. Are you looking at adopting her?"

Aziza blushed and ducked her head. "It would mean leaving Borderless, but I can't just send her into a refugee camp and hope someone picks her up. She's completely alone in the world."

Ben smiled and stroked the baby's cheek. "I think it's the best possible solution. Do you know where you'll go yet?"

She shook her head. "No idea."

Ben licked his lips. "So, I wanted to wait until I told Dave. But, um, it looks like I'm going to have to leave Borderless too. For similar reasons."

Aziza dropped her jaw. "Oh. Oh my. And he's the father, of course?" When Ben blushed and nodded, she clapped her hands with joy. "Congratulations, Ben. I'm so happy for you. You deserve happiness. You truly do."

"We'll see what happens. I love him, but we haven't known each other very long, and we both have some kind of fraught issues when it comes to family. So we'll see how that goes. But I'm—I'm excited. I'm scared, because this is all so unknown and everything, but I'm cautiously excited. It feels like a new beginning, for both of us."

Aziza put a bag of pre-filled bottles, with formula, on his bureau. "I'll come back, and we'll talk about this, but I'm beyond happy. We'll talk about where to settle."

The thought that he might have one ally, one friend going through the same things he was going through living nearby made him feel buoyant. These are pregnancy hormones. You're not really this excited. It's just a maybe. She might not want to live within five hundred miles of you. His rational mind telling him these things didn't change his joy at all.

He settled in with Khadijah, who stared at him with giant brown eyes. She was doing worlds better than she'd been when he'd first met her, when Dave put her into his arms. Her breathing still wasn't perfect, but it improved every day. She smiled and laughed now, at least with Aziza and sometimes Ben.

The baby put her chubby little hand on his face. "Yup. It's me. Dr. Ben. If you're going to come and stay in America, though, you'll probably just call me Ben. You can't say that yet. You're only about three months old, so you can't say much. You can say 'waah' with various intonations, which is perfectly age appropriate."

Khadijah blew spit bubbles at him and giggled.

Ben poked her nose, and she grabbed his finger with a strong grip. "I've never spent much time with babies, outside of work. Even then I don't get to cuddle them much. Zahi had a little cousin I got to play with sometimes. It was kind of nice. I think we got along well, if I do say so myself."

He kept talking to the baby until she wanted her bottle. Then, while she was drinking, he looked up some lullabies. He didn't personally know any, but he could probably find something worthwhile to sing, right?

Everything he found online turned out to be stupid. Did babies really fall asleep because someone else's kid fell out of a tree? What was that, some kind of bizarre "better them than me" thing? He decided to quietly make do with some of the softer songs he knew, which seemed to satisfy the little girl until she nodded off against his shoulder.

This, this might be the nicest feeling in the world, or at least close to it. Khadijah was so warm and cuddly, and she held his shirt in her fist like she never wanted to let go. Yeah, he could spend the rest of his life just like this. Now if only Dave were here to share in this.

Aziza came back after a couple of hours. "So much paperwork," she murmured. "And they got it so quickly! Even when things were running smoothly, I don't think our paperwork ever ran so smoothly."

"Well, I guess American bureaucracy is the wonder of the modern world." Ben snorted. "How did it go?"

"We're going through the UN to see if they have any missing persons reports one final time. It doesn't look likely—none of the survivors found with the mother had any idea who she was and said she was alone." She hung her head. "I feel sad for her. She died protecting her baby."

"I know. I know she did." Ben had been there.

His mind flashed quickly to Dave, and to his mother. He could remind himself not to judge all he wanted, but he knew the truth. She could never have defended her child the way Khadijah's mother had defended her. "She kept her safe. And now you'll keep her safe."

Aziza blinked back tears. "Do you think I can? I couldn't keep my first family safe."

Ben bit his lip. "You're going someplace that's currently safer than where you were. No one can know the future. But Aziza, I know you. I know you tried. I know you've fought like hell for every patient. And I know you'll fight for this little girl too."

"I still miss them. Is it wrong to bring home another child? I feel like I'm trying to replace them, even though that couldn't be farther from the truth." She dabbed at her eyes.

"I sometimes feel the same way." Ben patted Aziza's back, just a little. She squirmed. "I feel sometimes like I'm being disrespectful to Zahi, even though he'd be the first one to say he wants me to move forward. Grief is funny. I'm not sure it ever really goes away, you know? We get used to it, until it spikes when we least expect it. The question is whether our hearts are big enough for the ones we've lost and the ones we're bringing in now.

"You saw this little one and you recognized what she needed right away. I think if there wasn't room in your heart for her, you wouldn't have been able to bond with her. And you have. Anyone can see that. You'll do your best by her. Someday you'll tell her the story of her sisters and brother, and how much they would have loved her too. She'll love them, because she'll know them through you, and you'll celebrate their lives together."

Aziza nodded. Tears still streaked her face, but she was smiling now. "Do you think you and Dave will celebrate Zahi's life together?"

"I hope so." Ben kissed Khadijah's forehead. "I guess I have to have faith."

* * *

Dave wouldn't have seen their quarry if the guy hadn't been so damn pale. As it was, he reflected the moonlight just enough to tell Dave where Conley was. He picked up his gun, aimed it, and fired.

The man let out a high-pitched squeal as he went down. "That's one," Dave said with a grin.

"What?" Kelly's voice came over the comm as Dave took off after his prey.

"Nothing." He pressed his mouth shut to hide a grin. Kelly wasn't in on that joke. Kelly probably wouldn't find jokes about a fight he'd had with a partner funny. Dave wasn't sure why he did, either. "Got him in the leg."

"Good work. Secure him and wait for backup."

Dave didn't have cuffs on him. He was a SEAL, not a cop. Some of the guys did carry cuffs if they were hoping to take prisoners, but Dave hadn't ever seen the point. He did carry zip ties, just in case. They all did, because sometimes prisoners were a possibility and because zip ties came in handy for all kinds of things. SEALs liked multitaskers.

He put his big gun away, pulled out his sidearm, and stood over Conley. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay profoundly still."

"You shot me in my leg, you fuck!" Conley had a thick Rhode Island accent. It combined the worst of the New York and Massachusetts accents with none of their endearing qualities. Somehow, that seemed perfectly in character for Conley. "What the fuck! This is police brutality!"

Dave put his foot on Conley's neck and aimed his gun. "Ain't a cop." He grinned. "Now, I'm sure you'll eventually be meeting up with a few of them. I know for a fact that the cops in Texas still want a crack at you. And the cops in Florida, they're looking forward to a long and friendly chat. Right here and now, though? I'm not a cop, and this isn't US soil."

Conley paled. Ben would not approve, but Ben wasn't here.

Van Heel, Kelly, and Floyd jogged up. "Get him bound," Kelly snapped. "And search him. If someone wants to slap a band-aid on that bullet hole that's fine too. Come on, let's go." He pulled his gun and took over covering their prisoner while Dave bound his wrists with zip ties.

Van Heel found three guns, two knives, a Taser, and three vials of a liquid they were going to have to assume was poison on Conley. He also found two satellite phones. "Someone's a boy scout. You're just prepared for anything, aren't you, pal?"

Floyd made a face as he wrapped a bandage around their enemy's leg. "Man, quit bleeding on me. It's like you're contaminating everything. I feel like I need a hazmat suit." He wasn't all that gentle about applying the bandage and in fact slapped the wound when he was done. Conley howled, his obscenities echoing off the bombed-out buildings nearby.

"Tell me again why we're letting this piece of shit live again?" Floyd wiped his bloody hand off on Conley's shirt.

"Because killing people is wrong," Dave said in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, fuck you." Conley turned around and tried to bite him. Dave punched him in the mouth. He wouldn't admit it, not even under torture, but it felt good.

"All right. Toss him in the jeep and one of you—Van Heel, you do it, Hopper's feeling a little punchy tonight—get in the back with him. We'll bring him back to the boat and have someone do a more professional job on his leg." Kelly tossed Dave the keys as Conley sagged visibly with relief. "Hey, Hopper?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's see what the shocks on this baby can handle. Sound like fun?"

Dave snickered as the color drained from Conley's face. Then he got behind the wheel of the jeep and headed back to the port.

Getting back to the ship only took five hours, including boarding. They'd caught up to Conley not far from Latakia, trying to sneak into Turkey by water. It had been almost too easy. The rest of their trip would be spent helping to rescue injured people and put them on the boat, just like they'd claimed.

Once Conley, still cursing and complaining, had been deposited in the brig, Dave debriefed with Chief and DeWitt. Then he went to check on Ben. It was too late for Ben to be on duty, but he might still be awake. Dave hoped he was awake. He hadn't seen him in two or three days, he'd lost track of which.

He got to Ben's cabin and knocked on the door. The light was on, but Ben took a minute to answer it. Was he okay? Had he been asleep?

Ben's eyes had that haze that sleep usually carried, and his hair was tousled instead of styled. Yes, he'd definitely dozed off. "Hey," he said with a sleepy grin. "Come in. Are you okay? No injuries or anything?"

Dave chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah. No injuries. I'm good. How about you? It's not like you to be asleep this early."

Ben started guiltily, and then he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Um. Well, it's going to be a lot more like me, for a little while anyway. Come in and grab a seat. You're not going to want to be standing up for this."

Dave frowned and sat down at the foot of Ben's bed. Ben sat back at the head. "What's wrong, babe? Are you sick?" He clutched at his stomach. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm clean, they test us on the regular and we use condoms, but I guess anything can happen."

Ben huffed out a little laugh. "I'm not sick, no. I'm healthy as a horse. Everything's functioning normally, which is kind of the issue. Although funny you should mention the condoms."

Dave stared blankly. Then his mind made the connection. "You're pregnant."

"Yeah. I found out yesterday." He rubbed at his head. "I'm sorry to spring it on you. I know it's sudden and neither of us was trying for this."

"You're pregnant?" Dave held up a hand. "Actually pregnant?"

"Yes?" Ben was a little more awake now. "I think I said that? I don't know what you want to do about it, and you don't have to decide today, but I'm not getting rid of it, and I'm not giving it up. I just can't do that—"

Dave stopped his mouth with a kiss. "You're having a baby!" he said, joy making his limbs loose and giddy.

Ben chuckled weakly. "Well yeah, that's what pregnant means. Are you having a stroke? Should I get a team in here?"

"No, no, I'm just—I'm a little startled here." Dave fell back against the bulkhead, laughing. "You're going to have to give me a minute. I'm not the one usually having to adjust."

"Crass," Ben said, and stuck his tongue out. "You're not mad?"

Dave flailed his hands. This was too big. This was Christmas, Easter, and Halloween all in one. "Why would I be mad? It took both of us, right? And yeah, we're both a little new to each other. It's not the ideal time. But it's the time we're having one." He couldn't stop himself. "I'm going to be a dad! I can't wait to tell Aunt Sadie!" He brought himself up short. "Wait—do you want me to be in the kid's life?"

Ben looked down at the blanket and traced a little design with his finger. "If you want to be," he said in a small voice. "I do. I don't know what you want out of the relationship, but at a minimum, I want the baby to know both of their parents. And to have both of their parents involved, on a regular basis." He took a deep breath. "I'm going to quit Borderless. I have to."

"I never thought I'd see the day when you stopped working." Dave reached out and ruffled Ben's hair.

"I didn't say I was going to stop working. I said I was going to leave Borderless. I spent my whole life with my parents wandering off and leaving me at home with 'staff,' or dumping me at boarding schools. I'm not doing that to my kid. At least one of their parents should be in the same state." He raised an eyebrow. "After the baby's born, I'll find a job somewhere nearby. Maybe I'll work part time, to spend more time with the baby, but I can't just not work. I'm good at what I do. I save lives, and there are always going to be people who need saving."

Dave frowned. He didn't want to fight about it now, but Ben was delusional if he thought child care wasn't going to be an issue. "Okay, we'll talk about options later. Where's your house?"

"I don't have one." Ben's laugh was a little strained. "I had a condo in Boston near the hospital where I worked, but after Zahi died I sold it. I didn't need it anymore, and I didn't want to be reminded. I gave the money to his parents. I just felt so bad—" Ben turned his head away. "Sorry. The whole overemotional thing is not a myth. At least not for me. Anyway. I'll buy a place when we get back to the States, or when I'm closer to my time." He looked over at Dave. "I wanted to see what you wanted to do before I made any plans. If you want to be involved, I want to be near you. Or, you know." He tugged at his collar. "If you don’t, I can expand my search area."

Dave left the subject of housing in Virginia alone for now. That was going to be a more intense discussion than he was ready for. "How far out? Just out of curiosity, since we're going to do the whole co-parent thing."

Ben shrugged. "I don't know. It's not an issue. My dad had a place he offered me, but I don't want to live in France, and I definitely don't want to live in that particular place so no." He snickered to himself. "Oh, one more thing. Aziza's adopting the baby you rescued."

"Oh, that's awesome." Dave welcomed the change in subject, but he was ecstatic to hear good news about the baby too. "I was worried about the little critter. I guess she's doing better?"

"Yeah. She's a lot healthier and getting better every day, and they've bonded well so it's a good thing. But she's obviously going to have to quit Borderless too, so we're going to try to settle together."

Dave recoiled. "What, like living together? That's weird." Living together as roommates would be a good way to save money, but he couldn't imagine it would be a comfortable situation for either of them. Plus, he didn't think Aziza would want to hang around in a house with Ben and Dave, together.

"It's not that weird, but no. Just nearby. That way she's not being dropped into a city full of strangers and, well, I'm not being dropped into a city full of strangers." Ben made a face. "I'm excited, don't get me wrong, but it's like…well. This has been my whole life for so long, you know? Even before Zahi it was medical school, and residency, and internship. This is a huge deal for me. I'm picking a place, and I'm staying in that place. I'm going to find a place to work, and it's going to be the same place, all the time. The same home. The same everything. That's so far beyond weird for me, you know?"

Dave softened and stroked his lover's face. "Yeah. I mean I don't 'know,' but I can guess. I'm going to be right there with you every step of the way though." He licked his lips. "Do you think your family will want to be involved?"

"Do we have to tell them?" Ben shuddered.

Dave sat up, his chest tight. "Are you embarrassed?"

"Everyone's embarrassed in a hospital johnny, Dave." Ben narrowed his eyes at him. "I don't need a birth announcement in the gossip rags, or in the political rags, or in the scandal sheets because that's all they do. My mom is just desperate enough to keep her name in the public eye that she'd do it. Do you really want your kid's picture splattered all over the place, with the caption, 'Selena Eliot's Grandkid?’"

Dave ran into the bathroom and dry heaved. "Oh, my God," he said when he caught his breath. "What if my family saw?"

Ben covered his mouth. "Shit."

"Yeah. Yeah, no papers. No papers, no publicity, no paparazzi—would they really show up?"

"They wrecked Zahi's funeral." Ben looked away. "The great thing about working in a war zone is they won't follow you there."

"Amen." Dave stood up. "Okay. Okay, yeah. We've got a lot to talk about, but babe, I love you. I'm excited about this baby, and we're going to have a beautiful family together." He wrapped his arms around Ben and held him tight, hoping Ben didn't feel him trembling.