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Vicky Goodwin snuggled up to her lover, Paula while Alex held James. Snuggling with Paula was getting a little difficult, considering how big she was getting. Briefly she worried about the decision to leave their other kids behind. Granted, Hugh was an adult, and Jenna would be of age before they got back, but she still missed them. She wanted them to know they had two new parents, and a new sister on the way.
Once again she cursed the need for the never-ending comms blackout that kept them from talking to each other. She hoped that all was well with them, and Hugh had settled on a career path. Jenna had planned to become an astrogator and should actually be finished with school by now. She wondered if either of them had found lovers yet. Hell, Jenna could be pregnant already and she wouldn't know. Well, in less than two months, this picket would be over, and Invincible would return to Mars Base.
They already had several messages to their kids waiting in the ship's message cache. She hoped Hugh and Jenna had sent them messages like they'd promised. Even Paula and Jim were looking forward to hearing from them.
Fallon watched her young lover and her brother as they got breakfast and headed for her table. She noticed that Jenna was glowing with love, and she felt her heart begin to break. Jenna'd told her about the love she felt for her handsome brother. The way they looked at each other now confirmed it for her; the two siblings were very much in love. She sighed, and prepared herself for the encounter.
As they sat, Hugh sat his tray down and waited for his sister to sit. Jenna came over and kissed the surprised young woman lovingly on the lips before taking her seat. Fallon glanced at Hugh and saw him smiling lovingly at them ... both of them?
"Good morning, beautiful! I almost called you to come over last night!" Jenna began, happily.
Hugh chuckled. "Take it easy, Babygirl, you're going to hurt her and scare her off before she hears us out."
Fallon looked at them warily. "Hears you out about what?"
Hugh reached across the table, and took her hand. "Jenna is very much in love with you, and really wants to keep you in her life. I'm in love with her, and don't ever want to see her hurt. Besides, even before we fell in love, I'd been forming a plan in my mind that actually included you in it, since I knew Jenna liked you. I thought you might help us flesh it out some more."
Fallon looked closely at Hugh. By and large she really didn't care for males all that much. Yes, she knew she had a duty to procreate to try to save the race, but she hadn't been looking forward to the getting pregnant part.
She didn't really know him all that well, and most of what she did know about him came from Jenna's very biased descriptions. However, as she listened to him, she began to realize that he wasn't like the guys she'd met that just wanted to 'work on the duty'; she realized that young Hugh actually cared. He'd matured a great deal from the first time she'd met him. He preferred to love someone, and be loved in return, than to just knock you up, and move on to the next.
She made a decision right there, something she normally didn't do, that this man would be her husband, if Jenna would share.
Once Hugh had stopped talking and was looking at her expectantly awaiting her opinion on the plan. "It sounds like it could work, Hugh. Let's see..." She looked around the large cafeteria. Spotting who she wanted a few tables away, she called out. "Master Chief Cameron!"
A really big, muscular woman that had been just sitting down with two smaller versions of herself, looked up and smiled at Fallon. She spoke something to the smaller girls and the three trooped over to join Fallon, Hugh and Jenna.
"G'mornin' Ma'am, you've met my twins Haley and Holly, haven't you?" The Master Chief asked.
"Yes, I have Master Chief, but I think it was a couple of years ago. They're taking after their mother in the looks department." She turned to the two younger women. "You're both beautiful!"
"You're not so shabby yourself!" Holly replied boldly.
"Amen to that! But who's he?" Haley nodded at Hugh hungrily.
"Girls! Behave! I swear; I can't let them out of the apartment! I'm afraid to let them go for training!"
Jenna and Hugh were laughing as Fallon introduced them. "You know my lover, and future wife, Jenna Goodwin." She waited while Jenna and the Master Chief shook hands, and the twins flirted. "This handsome young gentleman is our future husband and Jenna's older brother, Hugh Goodwin."
"You're getting married ... to a man?" The Master Chief asked, astounded. "No offence, Ell-tee, but I didn't think you were all that crazy about males."
"This one isn't your typical bear. Jenna and I are going to tag him before someone else figures that out," Fallon replied.
"Too late. Incoming battle harpy," Haley said in grunt-speak.
" ... and she looks pissed," Holly added, cracking her joints and doing the pre-fight loosening exercises of the ConFed Marines.