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  The crew exited first, and the Guardians tensed. The passengers began to disembark, and in the middle of the batch were two familiar faces.

  Anna tensed and put a hand on her belly as she watched her parents stare at the new world around them.

  Yem-lal floated forward and greeted them with kisses and hugs.

  “Does she often fly? I haven’t seen her do it before.” Anna whispered to her husband.

  “She is showing off. Trying to make a good impression.”

  Anna giggled and then caught her breath on a gasp. It felt like a hand squeezing her spine and pulling at her belly.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No. Everything is fine. My parents have finally arrived. I am so happy.” Anna squeezed his hand and stepped forward to hug her astonished parents.

  Her mother blinked and stared at her belly. “When you said grandparents, I never thought you were already pregnant.”

  Anna grinned. “I figured that out. This was my way of enticing you here. I am guessing it worked.”

  Her father hugged her carefully, and then, it was time for the serious introductions.

  “Mom, Dad, this is my husband, Dey-lal Aricor. Yem-lal’s son. This is his brother, Karo-lal, and they and the other two are Guardians of Hemcorl.”

  She wanted to explain about the Guardian situation, but her water broke.

  With military precision, everyone was loaded into the skimmer and they flew back to the base.

  Alber-vel was a trained physician, and he assisted Yem-lal who was operating as midwife.

  It seemed surreal to have everyone around her and her parents looking so worried. Too worried.

  “Mom, Dad, the average size of a Nyal baby is seven pounds, no matter the size of the father. The baby won’t be to scale with the adult.”

  Her parents looked embarrassed and tried to find something to do.

  “Everybody out.” Yem-lal ordered it, and Anna was delighted.

  It took a lot of nerve to have guys that you beat at poker staring at your crotch while a living being tried to exit it. Between the contractions and emotional overload of seeing her parents, Anna had no nerve left for anything but the task at hand.

  Dey-lal scowled at his mother and held Anna’s hand. “I am not leaving.”

  “Good. When the child arrives, I will need nine hands.”

  They had deliberately avoided knowing the sex and had programmed the monitors not to display gender data. Everyone wanted to be surprised.

  Anna looked to her husband and watched his concerned expression as things picked up the pace. It could have taken minutes or hours. All that Anna remembered clearly was the sound of the little squall followed by shouts of relief from outside the door.

  Dey-lal kissed Anna quickly and took charge of his child with easy motions. He had obviously been around infants before. Anna couldn’t imagine him babysitting in high school.

  Her whimsy continued until he handed her the baby and she looked down at her daughter. “It’s a girl.”

  Dey-lal was smiling, and he rubbed his cheek along hers. “It is a girl.”

  Yem-lal looked over and smiled. “Anna-bax Aricor. It is a good name.”

  Anna had given in to the tradition of the mother-in-law naming the child, and Yem-lal hadn’t let her down.

  A few more minutes and the placenta completed its delivery. Scans indicated that Anna was in the first stages of recovery from housing the baby.

  When the blood was cleared and Anna brought to their room, she was read to receive visitors and delighted that the regenerator worked on her nether regions far better than it did on Dey-lal’s body.

  She was settled into a sitting position with her daughter seeking her breast before the family and Guardians were let in to view the little crossbreed.

  The fresh starts were everywhere in the room. Karo-lal was negotiating for his own Terran, Alber-vel was being set up by his own parents and Crios-nan had a long-distance relationship with another Guardian.

  Her parents were home and would soon be in their expansive house overlooking the city, and she would be close enough to visit with the baby.

  The alarm sounded, and Yem-lal looked at her sons. “Stay there. I have got this.”

  Anna sat stunned as her mother-in-law shot out the window to go kick the ass of whoever was disturbing her granddaughter’s first day in the world.

  Anna grinned at her husband and looked down at her daughter. “It is a very new day, indeed, Anna-bax. Glad you could join us.”

  She looked at the faces around her. “Glad that everybody made it today.”

  Dey-lal dropped to the bed next to her and lay on his belly as he played with his daughter’s fingers and toes.

  Anna could see the surprise in her parent’s faces, and she grinned. “You get used to it.”

  Her father hugged her mother and said, “I am going to enjoy the process of getting used to all of it.”

  Over the next few hours, the Guardians explained themselves to the Terrans and demonstrated their skills, with Titan having to do it from outside the building.

  The delight and awe on her parents’ faces was an amazing gift. It wasn’t every day that a daughter could give her parents a whole new world complete with a grandchild. It was definitely a very good day.

  Author’s Note

  One more down, three to go, with Quit being the final story. We will find out about Norz, her original identity and why she was pregnant the last time I showed her to you.

  Thanks for reading,

  Viola Grace

  About the Author

  Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

  An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.