Page 26 of Not So Stranded
“Oh, no, it’s not that,” Kit said to reassure them all. “I just didn’t put myself into the mix. It’s been Hiaka and Zenori who wanted kids this whole time. But it… It could be me, too.”
“It absolutely could.” Eric smiled and got everyone moving again.
But even as a cheer and a lot of hellos reached Kit from the lagoon as they approached, he was still distracted by the idea of being the one to get pregnant. Could the children be half his? Zenori couldn’t host, so maybe the kids could also be theirs. Or even though Hiaka could host, Kit could do it anyway, and the children could be theirs. Or he could host Hiaka’s and Zenori’s kids. There were so many possibilities, and Kit could absolutely be a part of every single one!
“Kit?”
He blinked a few times and realized he’d shaken so many hands without really focusing on anyone that he was literally standing there with his hand out to Hiaka. “Oh, sorry. I guess I was distracted.”
Hiaka took his hand and drew him forward into the warm water of the lagoon. “You looked like you were more than distracted.”
“Did I do something weird?” He looked around at the people he’d just absentmindedly met, but no one seemed to be side-eyeing him or anything.
“No, but are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just…” He gasped and looked around. “Oh my god, tell me I didn’t meet your parents while I was all spaced out like that?”
“You didn’t,” Hiaka said with a laugh. “But here they come so focus and smile.”
Kit smiled and focused on the big man wading out of the water toward them with a cecaelia beside them. Hiaka’s parents, Michael and Serion. Zenori came with them, so Kit assumed they’d already been introduced.
“Dad, Serion,” Hiaka said proudly, “this is my mate, Kit Tennant.”
As Kit gave them both a nod and held out his hand to shake, he realized this was the first time he’d met the parents of someone he was seeing. No other relationship had gotten that far. “It’s wonderful to meet you both,” he said with all sincerity.
Michael knocked his hand away and scooped him into a bear hug that literally squeezed the breath out of him. When Michael pulled back, he looked down at Serion and said, “One more and we’ll have gotten all of them mated.”
Serion snorted a laugh. “Like you had anything to do with any of them finding their mates.”
“More than half didn’t even have to leave the bay,” Hiaka said to their parents before looking up at Kit. “Most of my clutch mated with Eric’s and Ty’s kids like right out of the egg.”
“Aww,” Kit said, “that’s adorable. Marrying your best friend that you grew up with.”
“And we’re not pressuring Ukanipo,” Hiaka said sternly up at Michael, “because we like having them around instead of disappearing for years at a time.”
Michael made some grumbling nosies, but then beamed at Kit and Zenori. “I can be distracted from my unmated offspring by new grandchildren.”
Kit laughed and said, “Well, good, because I don’t think you’ll have to wait very long. That’s why we’re here.”
“Ah,” Michael reached for Kit’s face, “I knew I liked you right away.” He planted a big kiss on Kit’s forehead before letting him go and making a shooing motion. “Go settle in. Relax. Take advantage of the darkness.”
“Uh, okay. Goodnight!” Kit said just before Michael and Serion dove out of sight. “What did he mean about the darkness?”
Hiaka gave a throaty chuckle. “Come sit. They saved a chair for you.”
He followed Hiaka and Zenori over to an Adirondack chair partially submerged in the water. When Kit sat down, the water came to the middle of his chest, and he gave a sigh as he let some of the tension of their journey leave him.
It suddenly got a lot darker, and Kit realized someone had turned off the lights and the movie projector or whatever it was that had lit up the screen on the other side of the lagoon. Voices seemed more hushed, and the people around them were disappearing under the surface or settling into different kinds of chairs and cushions all around the lagoon.
“Can I have some elixir,” Kit asked, “so I can sleep here all night?”
He wasn’t sure whose tentacle it was, but he accepted it nonetheless and drank down the dollop of elixir that pooled in the center of it. That warm, slightly buzzed sensation slithered through him and had him sighing again.
“Kit? Why did you tell my dad we’re here to breed?”
Hiaka was leaning against Kit’s leg as Kit frowned at them. “Isn’t that the plan? Should I not have mentioned it?”
“It is, but…” They shared a look with Zenori. “It kind of sounded like you were going to, um…”
