Tymber Dalton - Bightmares

She wasn’t sure what to say. After a moment of consideration, she said, “Thank you for loving them and showing them how good they could be together. I promise I’ll love them as much as you did and take good care of them.” She took a sip.

They all held their cups up again. Aaron’s voice sounded rough. “Crew first,” he said.

They all repeated it, then finished their tea. Without speaking again, Ford collected their cups. He carefully poured what little remained in the carafe onto the grass around the crystal geode. Then he kissed the tip of his hand and touched his fingers to the geode. Caph, then Aaron, repeated the gesture before they stood and walked to the entrance without speaking.

Ford returned the beacon to the booth. Outside the dome’s entrance, the men took turns tightly hugging Emi.

“Thank you, babe,” Ford said. “That was great.”

Caph concurred. “She would have liked you,” he said as he hugged her.

Aaron held her for a long moment as she felt him trying to pull his emotions back into their highly protected place in his soul. “Thank you for loving us, Em,” he whispered in her ear. “I can’t begin to tell you how much.”

She offered him a smile. “Hey, I’m the lucky one.” She hooked her arms through Caph and Aaron’s as they followed Ford back to the tram depot.

They didn’t return to the main depot. They took another series of trams to the far side of the base, where the residential area was located. Markkus and Delaney D’ambroise still worked for the terraforming division of the DSMC. Emi felt herself trying to contain her nerves as they approached their housing pod. Ironic, because the men had relaxed and even looked forward to seeing the D’ambroises again, their usual playful banter returning as their moods lightened.

Ford pressed the doorbell. A moment later the door slid open. Emi felt another wave of sadness, this time her own. This woman was about the age her own grandmothers would have been, had they still been alive. Kelsey had received her hazel eyes from her mother. Emi also suspected the soft, natural grey color had once been the same dark blonde of her daughter’s hair.

Delaney D’ambroise’s face lit up when she spotted the men. “My boys!” The short, slim woman immediately engulfed Ford, who stood closest to the door, in a huge hug.

Emi felt nothing but joy from the woman.

“Caph!” She laughed as he picked her up when he hugged her.

“Hi, Mom,” he said.

After he set her on her feet, she patted him on the arm and turned to Aaron, who also got a hug. Then she offered Emi a smile. “You must be Emilia.”

“Please, call me Emi.”

Delaney also had a hug for her. “Would you please call me Mom? The boys do.”

Times like this, Emi loved her empathic skills. Her own nervousness finally slipped away as she felt the woman’s genuinely warm reception. “Thank you, Mom. I’d like that.”

“Well, come on in! Mark is in the kitchen.” She led them inside. Emi glanced around at the small but tidy and warmly decorated space. Earth tones for sure, autumn colors of orange, gold, and red interspersed with bright greens and light blues reminiscent of spring and early summer days. Over the main vid screen in their living room, a large picture hung on the wall. It was the same picture Ford had shown her the afternoon in the sim when he told her their “crew story,” Kels in the front, the three men standing behind her, taken in happier days.

There were other pictures of their daughter with any combination of the men and alone in her childhood.

Their only child.

Markkus stood as tall and beefy as his wife was short and willowy. Black hair liberally sprinkled with grey, wrinkles creased the corners of his grey eyes.

Whatever he had cooking smelled fantastic.

“Ribs,” Delaney offered, noticing Emi’s reaction.

Caph broke into a wide, beaming grin. “Damn, Mom! You remembered!”

“Gotta feed our big guy right,” Markkus teased.

Emi found it easy to call the couple Mom and Dad. The conversation flowed, catching up at first, current events on both sides, the couple getting to know Emi, and everyone relaxing. As dinner progressed at a leisurely pace, they started talking about Kels in better days, happy memories that had the men laughing, her parents smiling, and Emi feeling like part of the family, being brought into the fold as they shared those things.

The men offered to help Markkus clean up the kitchen. “I don’t do dishes,” Delaney teased. “I hate cooking, always did. Hate cleaning up even more. I do all the other stuff he hates to do. I think it’s a fair trade,” she said with a laugh.

When the women sat alone in the living room, Delaney leaned over and patted Emi on the knee. “You’re good for them. They haven’t been this happy in…” Her face clouded. “A long time. Since then.”

Then Emi realized something she’d missed earlier. “You’re an empath, too, aren’t you?”

Delaney smiled. “Yep. A trained class one. I worried about those boys. Especially Aaron there at the start. We almost lost him.” She sat back and picked at her fingernails. “I worried about Caph, that if they lost Aaron, Ford would have to have him medicated and put in restraints. I don’t know how Ford didn’t lose his mind. Bless his heart, his plate was full. I always worried if he had time to grieve properly because he was so busy with the others.”

Emi glanced into the kitchen. The men laughed, smiled, and joked with Markkus. “He’s a lot stronger than he looks. They all are.”

“Last time we saw them was when they picked up the Tamora Bight .” She looked sad and shook her head. “Poor Aaron. No matter how much we all tried to reassure him, he couldn’t forgive himself for losing Kels, even that many years later.” She took a deep breath, then smiled. “I can’t tell you how glad I am they met you. In many ways, the old Aaron is back. I can sense it. And he’s really, truly happy again, in a way the twins couldn’t heal him.”

Emi looked into the kitchen again when she heard Aaron’s deep, rumbling laugh.

“That’s a good sound,” Delaney said. “I wondered if we’d ever hear it again. For the longest time, I never thought we would.”

“It’s a very good sound,” Emi agreed.

Emi eagerly sat in front of the bridge view ports and watched as the Braynow Gaston slowly rolled into the hangar bay on top of several large hover lifts. Once the Braynow Gaston had been positioned and secured, Emi raced out of their ship and down the gangway to wait at the airlock while the docking crew completed the connections.

As soon as the all clear tone sounded, the dockside gangway doors opened. A moment later, the ship’s hatch opened. Donna raced down the gangway and slammed into Emi with an excited squeal.

As the women hugged, Emi was aware of the Kendall Kant’s crew joining them outside the gangway. After Donna stepped away from Emi, she threw her arms around Captain Elloy and planted a long, lingering kiss on his lips. First Officer Sam Johnson next received a hug and kiss, as did Mate Gregor Davis.

The men barely resembled the stiffly starched, regulation-bound military grunts Emi had first met in the sim.

Elloy smiled as he left his arm draped around Donna’s waist. “Dinner tonight, our treat,” he told Emi. “Please join us, you and the guys.”

“What about us?” Captain John Tarrence of the Braynow Gaston joked as he appeared in the gangway. He carried several large bags, as did his First Officer, Alex Parisi, and the mate, Jules Green.

Emi silently snickered. Donna never was a light packer. Emi wondered how many crates in the Braynow Gaston’s cargo hold belonged to her.