Adan had trouble making his voice work for a long moment, Finally, “I just don’t even know how I should answer that. I mean, shouldn’t she be the first one to know something like that about her own body? Before either of us do?”

“You’re just as scared of the possibility of it happening as she is” Ilian replied.

“Well yes, but” Adan shook his head. “If it did happen... has happened” he made himself correct, “then me knowing about it and having to be the one to tell her that her biggest fear...” he shook his head again.

Ilian sighed softly as he turned back to Adan. He then moved to place his hands on Adan’s shoulders in a comforting gesture he had seen between them on more than one occasion. “As of the moment she came into the bathroom this morning, she wasn’t.”

Relief flooded Adan, though it only lasted a moment before he spoke again. “Did I ask you to tell me?”

“Your body---”

“Yeah yeah” Adan mumbled, before making himself look up, his worry not fully gone. “And what about since she went into that bathroom with you?”

Ilian shook his head. “I believe it takes a bit longer than that for our cells to finish the journey, as it were.”

“Is that your way of saying you don’t know yet either?” Adan responded, somehow equally relieved and upset by that idea.

“You want to know and you don’t want to know a thing at the same time. It’s an interesting dichotomy.”

Adan just shook his head again, then had another thought. “But if I don’t make love to her again, and she is, then we’ll know it’s yours now, won’t we?”

“If you haven’t made love to her in the last twenty four hours, then yes, that would be an accurate statement at this point in time. Assuming I could even get her pregnant” Ilian had to add thoughtfully. “I mean, we are different species; mostly anyway” he added. “But I have trouble believing you won’t make love to her again , soon” Ilian couldn’t help a small smile before returning to his work.

Trying not to dwell on his commentary on their biological differences too much just yet, Adan addressed the latter comment, “does that make me an asshole, I mean really?”

“Asshole?” Ilian repeated with a raised brow.

“A bad person” Adan clarified more loudly.

Ilian stifled a smile, always amazed by the miasma of emotions inside both Adan and Aura, and even more amazed at how quickly and constantly they changed every moment. “If it’s something you both want to do, then how could it?”

“But, if it puts her in danger...” Adan shook his head again.

“She knows of the danger too, and it seems it’s something she still wants to do as well” Ilian reminded. “She must believe the risk is worth it in the end.”

The next time they shared breakfast, Ilian was looking even more distraught than his companions, which was quite unusual. And now that they all were on such intimate terms with one another, it was even more obvious when one of them was upset.

“You alright?” Adan dared to ask him.

“Just nervous, I suppose” Ilian replied.

“You?” Adan returned with a look of surprise.

“Just because I don’t show my emotions in the same ways the two of you do, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them” Ilian informed softly.

“I doubt he meant that” Aura interjected.

“It’s fine. I know what it’s like to not fully understand the inner workings of your companions, after all” Ilian attempted a smile, though it fell short.

“So, what are you so nervous about?” Adan asked. “Not what we were talking about in the garden the other day?” he asked with a moment of panic.

Aura just gave them a questioning look at that statement. Though Ilian spoke before she could ask for clarification. “It’s been long enough now that I can test the theory” he stated, though he didn’t sound as though he was that eager to do so.

“Are you sure?” Aura asked, his words making her forget the earlier ones for the moment.

“Of course I’m not sure about any of this. That’s why one tests theories” Ilian returned with a slight shrug.

Both Adan and Aura looked nearly as worried as Ilian then. Adan spoke first, “if you’re not actually immune to that strain now after all, what will actually happen? I mean, is there a window of time we have to like, help you? You know, to keep you from dying?” he added more quietly.

“It is possible that your DNA will provide me with some sort of resistance to the strain. I’m just not sure to what extent, or for how long it may last” Ilian informed.

“I don’t know if we should actually do this” Aura worried aloud. “I mean, as long as they don’t know we’re here, we should still be safe as long as we don’t go outside, right?” she argued weakly.

“The longer we let the plants out there survive and spread, the harder it will be to counteract them at all” Ilian reminded. “And even more of your people will die, the longer we wait.”

“But...” she began, though just looked down, not sure what she could actually say to that fact.

“But what if...” Adan began, then stopped himself.

“What if what?” Aura asked as Ilian also looked back at him expectantly.

“DNA works both ways, right? We’ve got yours inside us now too. What if the blue shit out there is no longer toxic to us now?”

Ilian thought on the words a moment. That possibility had occurred to him, but it was still too risky in his opinion. “And they could still find you and kill you in any other way if you were to go outside. And even if they didn’t...” he shook his head.

“It still won’t help anyone else” Aura made herself say, though quietly, “not unless Ilian decides to go find, and fuck, every other human survivor who might still be out there. And I doubt that would be very practical. He might get a bit tired, too” she added wryly, making an attempt at humor in the face of tragedy, the way Adan usually managed to.

“Yes, doing that with two humans expends plenty of energy already” he managed a smile. “Pleasantly though” he had to add, which did cause a tiny smile from each of them.

Adan just grinned over at him, “sweet talking us is not gonna help us wanna let you risk your life though. Just sayin.”

Ilian sighed after a moment, “I’m the one who doesn’t belong on this planet. Your people do. If I die trying to save them, then at least I die trying to set something right” and with that he made himself leave the room in thought. The two of them looked after him with admiration and gratitude, but even those were far outweighed by their worry and fear of losing his protection, and Ilian himself.

Though, it didn’t take long before they did follow him from the room after all. Neither of them could sit idly by while he risked his life. They needed to be there with him. Of course, their hopes were that the experiment would actually work and everything, including their planet, eventually, would be OK. But as optimism wasn’t in high supply in their world, their more realistic hope was that even if he still had an adverse reaction to the original strain of the plant, that the two of them could save him before it could damage him too terribly. Their least optimistic hope would be that if it all went wrong, at least he wouldn’t die alone.

When they stepped into the gardens a few moments after Ilian did, he gave them a grateful, if sad smile. “You two don’t have to be here, you know.”

“I think we do” Adan replied, he and Aura giving each other’s hand a squeeze before they moved toward him.

The two each reached out to wrap him in a hug, and even each gave him a rather passionate kiss as well. “This is starting to feel like you’re saying goodbye to me” Ilian stated once their kisses ended, turning his eyes to the floor as he spoke.

“We’re hoping like hell that that isn’t the case” Aura returned.

“Yeah, there’s still plenty more pleasant sensations we were hoping to share with you while we were all stuck in here together” Adan teased with a bit of flirtation.

“That is tempting” Ilian returned their smiles. “But you know I have to at least try to do this.”

“We know” Aura sniffled slightly, “but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

Ilian gave them each another tight hug before moving back to his makeshift lab there in the gardens, and taking a breath to compose himself before reaching for the glass vial filled with the black seeds.

“No suit?” Aura asked worriedly.

“I already know I can survive them with the suit. But I need to know I can survive them without it too. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to survive on your planet after it’s done either” he reminded with another deep breath as he picked up the vial with slightly shaking hands.

“But living in the bunker forever isn’t that bad, right?” Adan spoke quickly, before Ilian could finish opening the vial. “I mean, it’s doable, right?”

“The resources in here won’t last forever” Ilian warned. “That’s precisely why I have to try and do this, to make it safe for the two of you to leave eventually too. But until my people and their blue poison are gone, neither of you, and none of your race will ever be safe out there.”

“But we’ve got years before the resources in here will be depleted. Years to figure this out!” Aura pleaded as she moved her hands to cover his, and keep him from opening the vial just yet.

Ilian moved to gently kiss her forehead. “Like I said; the longer we wait, the harder it will be to get rid of my people and their poison. Maybe even impossible. And if we let them take any more than they already have, there won’t be anything left on this planet for either of you if you do have to leave this bunker someday. I have to try to do this, Aura” he whispered as he moved to give her a long, tender kiss. He then wiped away a tear that had escaped and slipped down her cheek, before turning away. Adan moved to wrap her in his arms then instead, as they waited to find out if there was going to be any hope for Ilian, or them.