Page 39 of Becoming Brandy

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Brandy laid in bed,staring at the canopy. Charis had wanted to stay, but Brandy had insisted on being alone. News like this was best processed by herself. Alone. Devastated.

She was pregnant. There was a life inside her. Touching her stomach did not make it feel real. Even vomiting up the bubbling liquid Charis had given her didn’t do it. She felt her body changing. Her stomach felt taut. It kept cramping in a way she’d never felt before, but she’d just been through a major ordeal and had been teleported from one alien ship to another, so, yeah, she was queasy. It was to be expected.

But Charis had explained that when they’d gotten her on board, the ship’s doctor had done a full body scan to make sure she had no injuries and found the pregnancy. Apparently, the growth rate of Cartharians also made it possible to detect upon conception. If she chose to believe she was with child, she would have lots of questions for Charis, but she was choosing not to believe it. If she ignored it for long enough, it would go away. That was how her mother dealt with raising Brandy anyway.

Motherhood. What a disaster. Her own mother had barely tolerated her. How in the world was Brandy going to deal with mothering a child who was not even human? To make matters worse, whoever the father was, he’d be incarcerated. She’d be a single mother to an alien son. Tears leaked from her eyes, and she brushed them away.

No, it couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.

Charis brought food. She offered more anti-nausea drink. Seeing the mess of sick, she got a cleaning crew to take care of it. She’d even ordered a chair and slept in it beside Brandy’s bed, her watermelon-sized belly rising and falling as she slept.

Brandy stared at Charis’s sleeping form in the dim light, unable to sleep. The baby was a source of joy for Charis. She was in love with Han and knew he was her life mate. Brandy didn’t even know who the father of her child was. Wrek or Tork, it could be either one.

In the morning when Charis stirred, it was the first question she asked her friend.

“Can I find out who the father of the child is?” she asked a groggy Charis.

“Good morning to you, too,” she said, pushing the unruly brown hair out of her eyes. Her round face was radiant. Charis was one of those pregnant ladies who glowed when expecting. “And yes, you can, but not until it is born.”

“All this advanced technology and I can’t know until it’s born?” Brandy dropped her hands onto her bedspread, exasperated.

Charis shrugged, rubbing a hand over her baby bump. “Do you have an idea whose it is?”

“One of two guys.”

Charis kept her eyes down as she asked another uncomfortable question. “And did you like either of them?”

“Both actually.”

“Hmm,” Charis said.

“It wasn’t rape,” Brandy said, feeling choked up again. “It was consensual. I like Wrek and Tork very much. Even Drake is just hurt and misunderstood.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” Charis said, and Brandy knew she was thinking of Han.

“What’s going to happen to them?”

When Charis looked up, the worry in her face twisted Brandy’s insides. “Nothing yet, but Han was talking execution.”

Brandy sprung up. “We have to stop him.”

Charis was on her feet a moment later. “I know where he is. Come on.”

The best friends gripped hands and started out of the room. An alien guard murmured concern in his language, but Charis waved him away. “It’s fine. We’re allowed to move as we choose. We’re going to see the king.”

When the alien didn’t do anything to stop them, Brandy knew Charis ran the roost around here.

They ran barefoot and pregnant through the glowing white halls. Charis found the room Han was in and pressed her hand to it. As it disintegrated, men at a conference table appeared. Han sat with his brothers and a few other humanoid aliens. They were clearly discussing something important, but they stopped as the women entered the room.

Han stood, the rest following. “What are you doing here, sweetheart?” he said, walking to Charis. “Aren’t you two supposed to be resting?”

“There’s something really important we need to talk to you about,” Charis said, taking a step back. “Brandy says she wasn’t raped. She cares about those men. You can’t kill them.”

Han’s face darkened. He glanced back to Rahan and Kahn. “But they did abduct her and hold her against her will, as well as attack our ship and disregard direct orders. Their crimes are numerous.”

“But they didn’t see any other way. Your people and Drake’s have been at war for a long time, right? Maybe some forgiveness could go a long way to smoothing that over.” Brandy gave Han a hopeful look.

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