Kozantei, Fourth Quarter, Andromeda Galaxy.

Two years later. Two anums later.

"You're about to drop!" exclaimed Mya, as Mara waddled into the room.

She looked pissed – as she always did lately. She frequently cursed Azazel out for making her round and fat with a youngling. He dutifully endured each and every tirade while rubbing her feet or feeding her the fruits she constantly craved. She was due any day now.

Mara shot her a glare.

"Oh, if looks could kill you would be burnt to nothing." Nezerra said loudly enough for her to hear.

Mara growled then and rolled onto a soft seat in the entertainment family quarters. A large circular den, with a translucent ceiling. The moons and the swirling Magellanic Clouds above illuminated them all, the only lights needed in the room. The den was filled with games, holograms, food machines, everything anyone could need when they wanted a day of relaxation and a good family time.

Nezerra smiled at the sound rolling from her sister. Mya's lips pulled into a small smile. Nezerra's recovery was going as great as could be expected. Some nights she still begged to sleep in Zogan and Mya's room when her nightmares became too much, they'd set up a small cocoon pod for her near their larger central bed but these days she was smiling more, and her night visits had declined. It might have had something to do with the Vorreth sitting quietly next to her, Quang.

"Oh don't be so mean, Mara, you look radiant!" Mya tried her flattery again, holding the back of her hand to her forehead and looking off into the distance dramatically.

Zogan snorted beside her, he drank from his hollowed out horn cup and rubbed Mya's small but rounded abdomen gently with his free hand.

"You'll be looking like her very soon." he said, his swirling molten eyes trailing from their growing youngling in her belly, over her breasts and up to her face.

They gazed at each other, and Mya blushed. Zogan leaned in to kiss her.

BAM!

Something flew into them causing Zogan's full cup to spill on the seat. He hissed and glared at Mara who bared her teeth in return.

"We're here to watch the meteor shower, not you two mating."

She hunkered down into her seat as Azazel slipped in beside her, his arms filled with platters that brimmed with fruit. Mara sighed in contentment, finally shutting up now that her cravings were being seen to.

The doors chimed again and Zogan's parents entered, the now retired king and queen of Kozantei. Mya and Zogan were sworn in months ago. The new title still hadn't sunk in. Anytime someone called her queen they'd literally had to shout it at her for her to realize they were addressing her. She was working on being better at that. Ravanna walked in then, his hand tightly clasped around a blushing Yavik. They were so cute. They sat on the long couch that Zogan and Mya had relaxed into.

Yavik leaned in and asked, "Is the youngling okay?"

Mya rolled her eyes, "Yes and I'm fine too, thank you for asking."

Yavik exposed his box teeth in a grin, "Yes yes, you too."

They laughed softly, he was her personal gestational medic, so he made sure to always check in on her and the baby. But like everyone else, he'd mostly focused on the young one growing inside of her and forgotten all about her. She chuckled and then pouted in mock annoyance.

The meteors began to shoot across the sky glowing orange bright. Everyone looked up transfixed. It was what the people this side of Kozantei were doing tonight. The meteor shower was lauded for being a sign of the end of another year. A year that had brought changes Mya had never expected, like the life growing inside of her. She remembered when she'd found out and the reaction it had brought out in Zogan.

******************

She'd been sickly and weak for weeks. Throwing up, dizzy and a sweating mess no matter how much cool air was trained on her. Her training had suffered, her queenly duties had suffered, and no one had known why. Zogan had paced their room, argued with Yavik and all the other medics who kept coming to them with the same thing.

"I don't know what's wrong with her."

No one had thought to check for pregnancy. Mya hadn't even undone whatever the temporary sterilizing process from earth had done to her. Her period had always been irregular never having established a set pattern that she could follow so she hadn't paid its absence any mind. She and Zogan were not careful, and she hadn't thought about the possibility of their compatibility. At all. It had happened when Yavik was spending time with her, and she'd told him about the symptoms of pregnant women on earth. She'd meant it as a joke comparing her sickness to theirs, but Yavik had jumped up and ran out of the room. He came back with a small paddle in his hand and plugged it into her pod. It hummed and he passed it over her stomach. She felt a tingle go through her. Yavik clapped a hand to his mouth.

"What?! Is something wrong!?" Mya asked trying to sit up to see the screen on the back of the paddle. She seriously thought he'd found a big ass tumor or something but no.

"There's a youngling growing inside you!"

Mya had laughed, disbelieving – but upon closer inspection of his face and him capturing a photo and showing it to her – started crying. Bawling even.

She didn't exactly know why but being pregnant was not something she'd ever expected. She wanted her mother with her, she wanted her mate there too. There was also a swirling mess of emotions pulsing through her and the only way she could express them was through tears. Yavik had panicked as she'd been inconsolable and hastily comm called Zogan. He'd been in a comm meeting with the elders of the two other quarters giving a security update when he'd stepped out of the room to a blubbering Yavik who said he needed to come urgently. Fearing the worst, he'd ran out of his meeting straight to the medic facilities. He'd walked in to see Mya bawling, Yavik keening while trying to calm her down. He'd been thoroughly confused to say the least.

"What the hell is happening?!" he shouted over the noise filling the room. His face was stricken.

Mya looked over at him and saw him standing in all his commander glory. Dressed from head to toe in his official uniform and cried some more. It was only after an hour of him standing there holding her and Yavik having left the room at the urging of Zogan that she'd shown him the photo. He froze, brow bones and chin lowered in confusion.

"What does this mean?"

"It's inside of me Zogan."

"You? I-inside of you?"

Mya nodded so hard she felt her brains move. Her watery eyes stared up at him and he looked from the photo to her and back again. He'd swayed and Mya tightened her grip on his arm. His pupils blew to fill his eyes black and then shrank back to its slitted shape. This happened countless times as he sat and processed the news. Mya waited, still shuddering from the sobs that had wracked her body earlier. He looked down at her again.

"We have a youngling inside of you?" his voice was soft, filled with wonder.

"Yes, ours."

A smile bloomed across his face and a wheezing sound came from his throat. He leaned down and kissed Mya softly until it morphed into a deeper more sensuous probing. She sighed and slumped back into the pod. He'd climbed in beside her and pulled her to him, kissing and caressing her until she'd fallen asleep, exhausted from her earlier outburst. His hearts filled with a happiness he had never known.

******************

Mya leaned back against her mate, and he rubbed slow circles over her belly. Yavik had theorized that the suspension tank had healed her womb, from whatever it was that had been done on earth. She supposed that that was very plausible and hadn't even considered it. She gazed up at the show above and her mate gazed down at her. Both mesmerized, thinking on the things they had gone through to get to this point and the greater things to come. Amaryah escaping from a destroyed earth, travelling through the stars to another galaxy to become her best self and to meet a family that accepted her unconditionally. A mate who loved her senseless. She sighed and snuggled deeper into Zogan, who pressed a kiss to her temple. She and he were ready for the new chapters in their lives. A baby. The first of its kind. Who would've thought?