It had now been nearly two weeks since Ian and Jared had begun their attempt at finding some sign of the ship, while leaving Lili behind in Kyle’s care. She still was struggling with her morning sickness on a daily basis, as another day began with her rushing from their bed to go and rid herself of anything that might have actually remained in her stomach throughout the night. Though, this morning, she didn’t even make it all of the fifty or so feet from the door to the river as she collapsed to her knees, giving into the continuing nausea once more.

“Didn’t wanna go all the way to the river today?” Kyle asked hoarsely, her leaving the covers easily waking him as well, as he stepped outside to find her there on her knees, barely ten feet from the door.

Lili just sniffled and angrily wiped at her watering eyes as she attempted to force her voice through her still raw throat, “Didn’t really have much of a choice.” she muttered as she forced herself to stand again to go in search of a cup to fill with water that could wash the horrible taste from her mouth once again.

“So, is it getting worse, then?” he asked warily as he followed slowly as she got her drink and took a seat on the log near the remaining fire.

“Yeah, cause it was really pleasant before.” she mumbled through another sip of the icy water.

“I mean, you’re almost two months now,” he began with a slight pause, “isn’t it supposed to eventually stop, not get worse?”

“Gee I don’t know Kyle. First time I’ve been pregnant.” she scoffed, though it wasn’t truly apparent whether she was more upset by his question, or just by the facts of the situation, as a whole.

“Do you think it’s cause of us just eating fish now, instead of the fruit and other stuff anymore?” he pressed.

“I’m not the doctor, remember?” she returned bitterly.

Kyle sighed quietly as he pondered his earlier posed theory, “Well, I obviously have to go hunting more often. And believe me, I know that upsets you, but…” he just shook his head.

“You hunting doesn’t upset me.” she argued, her voice still a bit rough, “You being out there alone, that’s a different story.” she grumbled.

“Well, I’m sorry, but you know there’s no option, here.” he attempted.

Lili just scoffed, “In exactly what dictionary does it say that pregnant and crippled are goddamn synonyms?” she bit back, her own increasing feelings of inferiority easily bubbling to the surface in the midst of her current mood.

Kyle swallowed a bit as he tried to find an acceptable reaction to her statement, or, more precisely, one that wouldn’t further upset her, “You can’t mean that you want to come hunting with me?”

Lili scoffed again as she set the cup aside with a bit more force than was necessary, “Well, when something happens to you, out there, by yourself, I’m gonna be the only one left to do any hunting at all, by myself, pregnant or not, aren’t I?” she shot back.

“Lili…”

“What? It’s true!” she returned vehemently, “You get yourself hurt or killed and that’s the only fucking option we have left, isn’t it?” she asked with a near growl, “And why the fuck am I the only one that seems to realize that, when compared to not one, but two fucking geniuses and a survival expert? Can you explain that to me? Huh, genius?” she finished with more volume than Kyle had ever remembered hearing her speak with, making it obvious that her own stress and exhaustion were very near a boiling point.

After a long moment, Kyle finally spoke up, though softly, “So, I guess that means you do want to come?”

Lili just shook her head, “Why bother even talking about it? It’s not like any of you would even consider the option. After all, we’re only living in the 21st century. We grew up on a goddamn floating city, where my mother, yes, mother, was in charge of every other man, woman and child. We’re the first people to discover a brand new fucking planet. But no, the female here couldn’t possibly be expected to be able to help any of us fend for ourselves. Oh no, that’s just pure insanity, isn’t it?” she exclaimed even more loudly, her sarcasm painfully obvious.

More than a bit shocked by her lengthy outburst, Kyle couldn’t help letting out a loud laugh as his own form of response.

“Oh, so glad I fucking amuse you!” she shouted back as she rushed to stand, fully preparing to storm away, though she was easily stopped by his hand grasping her arm and pulling her back to face him.

“That’s not why I was laughing, well not exactly.” he chuckled again.

“Not exactly?” she retorted, some venom remaining in her voice, despite her shocked reaction to the way he still held her in place next to him.

“You…” he began with a soft smile, “I guess you do amuse me, but not for the reasons you’re thinking.” he quickly added, though still spoke just as gently.

“Do I even wanna ask?” she returned, trying to keep her voice firm, though it was becoming difficult.

“You really think we see you that way?” he began, “That’s not it, at all.”

Lili scoffed once more, “Odd how that’s exactly how it seems.” she muttered.

“Hey, which of us can read minds here?” he reminded playfully.

“Not a good time to point out more of your supposed superiority, here, Kyle.” she complained with a scowl.

“You honestly think that the three of us treat you this way cause we think you’re inferior? Really, Lil?” he asked with another gentle smile.

Another scoff, “Don’t know exactly how else I’m supposed to interpret it, here.”

“Maybe, like the three of us think you’re too precious, you, and the baby,” he managed, “to ever let ourselves risk doing anything we think would have an even remote chance of putting you in danger? How’s that for a different interpretation?” he asked her sweetly as he placed a gentle kiss over her cheek, where she just looked up at him in some attempt to take in his words through her own shock at not only his words, but at the soft kiss as well.

Finally after another long moment of him remaining close to her, a hand gently caressing each of her arms, she spoke up, “Since when do you think the baby’s precious?” was all she managed.

“I told you that when we first got here: I said, that if we’re trapped here, you are the most important person here. Because you’re the only woman left. The only one who could ever carry on our race at all. You can’t tell me that you don’t remember that.”

Lili just shook her head up at him, “But I thought you hated the fact that I was pregnant?” she managed, though her voice continued growing smaller as she spoke.

“I hate the fact that now everything we do, or don’t do, is so much more important now, because of a baby that completely caught me off guard, completely. But that’s only because of how very important this child really is. I just don’t deal well with stress, like, at all, remember?” he admitted softly with another slight kiss upon her cheek.

Lili sniffled slightly as she tried to force her eyes up to meet his, “You mean, you don’t hate the baby, and me, after all?” she whispered.

Kyle just shook his head down at her, trying not to show his reaction to such a question, before finally finding a response, “I have yet to even meet the baby, and I somehow doubt he or she will give me a lot of attitude before they’re even out of the womb.” he attempted a smile.

Lili forced back the slightest smile before continuing, “And me?” she asked hoarsely, forcing her eyes back up to his.

He just swallowed a smile as he allowed himself to look back down into her questioning eyes, “I guess it has been nearly a month, hasn’t it?”

“What’s been?” Lili furrowed her brow, a little thrown by his response.

“This.” he answered briefly as he moved to lift her into his arms as she let out a slight gasp, which he paid no heed to as he carried her back inside once again, feeling that them having one good morning again, that was long overdue.

As neither of them had been getting much sleep over the last couple of weeks, Kyle easily drifted off once they had finished making love on that chilly morning. Though, Lili’s stomach would not let her sleep as her hunger was only increased by her constant loss of any kind of sustenance each day. She sighed softly as she looked down at him before carefully moving to slide her clothing back on and then retrieve the knife that was always near their bed when not being used to prepare a meal.

After bundling herself up as much as she even could with what supplies were available to them, she headed over to peer into the cooler at what fish were still stored there. Upon opening it though, the nausea threatened to return once more, though she wasn’t sure if it was the smell of the fish or just the very prospect of eating fish for yet another meal that week. Either way, she quickly closed the lid with a slightly heavier sigh as she looked around in the cold air surrounding the shack, despite the now bright morning sun in the sky.

She glanced back over her shoulder with another slight sigh before moving back into her sleeping quarters and retrieving one of the guns that Ian had left them with. She then secured the knife and gun to her jeans, under the fur over-wrap of sorts, and headed outside once more.

She knew that Kyle would be more than a bit upset by her making any attempt at locating anything edible on her own, aside from fish, but her stomach was insisting upon it, and quite forcefully, at that. On that thought, she tossed one more glance back toward the shack and headed off towards the least dense part of the forest, hoping it wouldn’t take too long to come across some tiny animal that may not exactly require an expert hunter to take down, and would still provide any option but another fish breakfast.

She walked for several long moments, watching the underbrush while not having any real destination in mind. Though it seemed the colder temperatures had sent most of the forest’s smaller animals into hiding, as they would most likely be prey for more than just the few humans that now shared their woods with them, hoping to locate some form of sustenance during the ever cooling winter to come.

Nearly half an hour had passed without Lili finding much in the way of a realistic target. She then bit her lip, looking back the way she had come, mentally scolding herself for not retrieving Kyle’s computer, and the map which was on it, as well. She attempted to continue walking in a straight line, as difficult as that was made by various trees or underbrush, figuring that she might find her way back much more easily if she kept the route simple.

Though her mental debate was soon cut short as she fought her way past a thick patch of underbrush, only to come out on the other side, her eyes immediately moving to the large grassy clearing of sorts that waited beyond that tree line. However, it wasn’t just the clearing that startled her, but also the mere number of inhabitants she found grazing there on what little was left of the slowly dying grass.

There before her were multiple groups of creatures resembling anything from goats to bison or deer and others that were not even similar enough to any of earth’s species which she could quickly call to mind to make any kind of mental comparison to. Another short breath as she attempted to gauge her best plan of action, while still remaining deadly still, despite the knowledge that grazing animals were most likely not all that aggressive under normal circumstances. Though, as Jared would say, that was on earth.

Then there was the fact that she was a predator, plain and simple, when speaking of the natural facts of the world, as well as the fact that she had come there to indeed, find prey. She swallowed again as she shakily reached for the gun, trying to weigh whether or not she truly wanted to fire a bullet into a group of animals this large, even if she had been remotely comfortable with the idea of guns at all, prior to her new life here.

Though her attempt at making that decision was soon interrupted as one of the nearest, smaller animals, most resembling a goat, as well as it’s young offspring glanced up at her presence. Lili swallowed a bit from her place at the tree line as the animals’ eyes regarded her with somehow more curiosity than fear. She allowed a small smile wondering if maybe, in this world, she was not immediately seen as a predator, after all, since her kind were virtually unknown to any of the species here, unlike on her original home, where her kind had wiped out nearly every other type of creature, even after their survival no longer justified it.

Her hands shook a bit, loosely grasping the gun at her side as the two animals dared to move closer still, breaking off from the rest of the group to get a closer look at the new arrival. She swallowed again as the mother took another step toward her, the young easily following. Once they were only around ten feet from her, the mother bleated softly as she sniffed the air, her eyes still moving curiously over Lili.

“Hi.” Lili smiled softly, despite knowing that the creature had no way of interpreting her greeting. However, the completely unexpected blind trust this animal seemed to show couldn’t help making Lili forget that she had originally started this adventure with the plan to bring an end to some animal’s life in order to preserve hers, as well as that of her own offspring.

In some form of unspoken response to Lili’s greeting, the mother moved closer still, extending her neck to attempt to get a better whiff of this strange new visitor. Lili smiled again as she slowly held out her empty hand to the creature, which then took the cue to sniff the offered hand with it’s own further curiosity, it’s own child staying close behind it.

“You’re somehow not afraid of me, at all, are you?” Lili whispered as the mother gently pressed her nose against Lili’s open palm. Then startling Lili further, it moved closer still and gently used it’s nose once more, to now nudge at Lili’s still flat stomach with another gentle bleat.

Lili’s breath caught more than a bit at that particular interaction, tears seeming to well up in her blue eyes once more at not only the very symbolism of the moment, but also, at the prospect of what it truly did, or would, mean at all.