1322 North Folk Road
Sherman Housing Area
Fort Bragg
North Carolina, United States of America
15 December, 1989, Friday
1300 Hours

Stillwater, Anthony, Sergeant, US Army Active

The door thudded, the knock loud and official sounding. I knew who it was before he even called through the door.

"Are the two of you decent?" My Father asked through the wood.

Natalie looked at herself, dressed in a nightgown, then at me. She leaned down, flipped the blanket over my waist.

"Come in," Natalie said, "We're decent."

The door opened and my father ducked out of habit coming through it. He stopped and looked at me, and I knew he was staring at the scars on my chest. Not in shock, just taking count of them. He'd be familiar with what had caused the scars.

"Wolf bite, boy, really?" He asked me, referring to the scars over my shoulder and onto my chest. "Big one, too, weren't it?"

I nodded. "Hard to explain. We call them wargs. Bigger than wolves, older, designed differently."

He just nodded. "Germanic Alps," he looked around, saw one of the chairs was unoccupied and made his way to it.

"They're going to operate on your thigh in a week," He told me. "Well, next Friday, the 22nd," He looked serious for a moment. "They're going to rebreak it and put some fixators in it."

I just nodded. "I broke it pretty bad, never really healed right."

"Something I wanted to talk to the two of you about," He said slowly. He motioned at a chair, "Please sit, Miss Dawson," He rumbled. Natalie looked worried, but sat down anyway. "Go ahead, light up, this is the kind of conversation that requires cigarettes anyway."

Natalie lit a Kool, my Father lit two Marlboros from my pack, giving one to me.

"I know what the two of you are trying to do," He stated simply. Natalie paled, then blushed, while I just blushed. He shook his head, smiling slightly. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Ours is a hard profession, you two have had it harder than most these last few years of what the civilians call 'peace-time', and I ain't holdin' nothin' against ya."

Natalie just stayed red. I opened my mouth to say something, but he held up his hand.

"A moment, boy," He said. "I saw little Hannah Lane brewing that tea, bringing it down here. Warm belly tea, thick belly tea, and I doubted it was for the boy here."

That made Natalie and I both laugh and he smiled.

"I ain't gonna blame neither of ya none," He said. "But there is something that Miss Dawson needs to hear from my mouth to her ears that you already know, boy."

Natalie looked at him, paling. I could see all her fears well up.

"The boy might be too busted up to keep on with his career. They might put him on the Temporary Disability List or they might put him on the Permanent Disability List, but either way there's a chance he'll end up out of the service. That and the slim possibility of my boy dying of infection or on the table due to doctor error," My Father's voice was remote, dispassionate. It would be easy to assume, with his matter of fact words, that he didn't care about me. That was far from the truth. He stayed dispassionate because he did care, and this wasn't the time or place for him to wave his emotions around.

"That will be come what may," Father said. He flicked his ashes then looked at Natalie. "The baby you're hoping for is what we need to discuss."

Natalie blushed and one hand went over her belly. My Father nodded and continued. "This house has always welcomed children. Those who's parents did not feel they could care for them, those who life or their parents had victimized, those who needed a home."

He took a deep drag, "I would not turn my boy away, nor would I turn away his child and the mother of his child. My house will welcome you, welcome any child, and boy, you need to hear this, will shelter my son while he recovers and his life can be put back on track."

He sighed and looked up, then back down at me. "You have never asked me for favors, never asked me to intervene in your life, your career, but in this case, I would insist."

"Miss Dawson, one of the first things I would do is pull strings to get you reassigned to someplace more equipped to care for my son's injuries. Get you in a unit where your duties were more in line with the rest of the Active Army rather than what you are used to. Give you time with the baby, with my son while he heals up. I'd probably join you so Mother and I could help. I've been in a long time," He shrugged. "There are favors owed, favors available, it would be fairly trivial."

He looked at Natalie. "I don't leave children behind, or their parents. If this is the course you two want, then you have my support and Mother's support, as well as our blessing."

He stood up and I noticed he was blushing slightly.  "Well, I'll bring down dinner," He looked at me. "You taken your pills, boy?"

I looked over at Natalie. "She's making sure."

"Boy's stubborn," the Sergeant Major chuckled. "Always was. Don't let him lie to ya none."

"I won't," I told him.

"See ya this evenin' then," He said.

I watched him leave, looking at the door.

"Would he really do all that?" Natalie asked me.

I looked over at her, making a face. "Yeah. I don't like him to interfere. I want to make it on my own, not because I'm the Sergeant Major's son."

She nodded at that, moving over to sit next to me on the bed. She put her hand on my forehead, rubbing gently. "I get. He's right, though, you're a stubborn one," She laughed. "Our baby is gonna be stubborn."

I put my hand on her belly, feeling her warmth under the nightgown. "How many days did you bleed?"

She smiled. "A guy who knows fertility cycles?"

I nodded.

"Five days. Went spotty on the 8th, was completely done the morning of the ninth," She smiled.

"All right, today's the fifteenth, that's seven days since it ended, five for your period, total of twelve days into your cycle," I said slowly. "You're in your fertile window now. Next three days are going to be the big ones. Best ones."

She nodded at that. "Look at you, doing math like a big boy."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Add in Aine's tea, and it should work well."

"Can't believe she gave me one for you to drink," She giggled. "Weird thing is, I've noticed a difference."

"Really? I'll be honest, I wouldn't notice a meteor hitting me."

She giggled again and grinned. "More of it. Almost thicker somehow. Feels warmer," she giggled again. "Bet she makes Foster drink it."

I shook my head. "We don't ask too much about Foster. It starts getting weird."

She frowned. "Weird?"

"You know the story. KGB hit-man got them both. Aine du Fuilteach, which not Hannah Lane or Little Aine McCullen any more than Godzooki is Godzilla, took her husband to someplace else," I told her.

She nodded. "Tir na Nog," She said.

"She took Foster there, healed him somehow. That star shaped scar on his forehead is from a point blank gunshot wound. He's got two scars on his chest from gunshots," I said. I stubbed my cigarette out and lit a new one. "Now, here's the interesting part."

"Tell me," She was sitting on the edge of her chair and I could see the goosebumps on her forearms. She'd seen Aine do things, knew not to scoff.

"Running NBC with full suits, you see things you'd probably rather not," I said. She nodded. "Foster was circumcised when he joined, right? I mean, his foreskin was gone, snippity snippity, right?" She nodded again. "Well, now he's not. Plus, I mean, holy shit, Aine, greedy much?"

That made Natalie giggle when I made a chopping motion down next to my knee.

"That's terrible," She said.

"Could be worse," I told her.

"How?" She asked me, "Worse than tea?"

"Oh, yeah, Aine or Cromwell could paint up your belly and breasts. Both of them will swear to you that it'll work, that you'll end up knocked up if I so much as walk by you," I told her.

"Really?" she sounded amused.

I shook my head. "Oh yeah."

She giggled. "Maybe I should."

I made a face. "I'd rather you didn't, Natalie. I mean, if we go like a year or so and can't get you swollen up, we'll try having Aine and Cromwell paint your belly, but I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be a problem."

"You gonna be up to it soon?" She asked, smiling. "I mean, if you want to. I don't want you to feel like I'm just using you as a baby-maker."

That made me laugh. "Oh no, a hot chick with big titties wants to use my as a breeding machine. What ever will I do? Won't someone please save me," I mock-whined. She started laughing. "Help me, Amadeus, oh oh help me, Amadeus!" That made her laugh harder. I gave her a look and a grin. "You know, there's another way to tell if you're ovulating yet or at peak fertility."

"What's that?" She asked.

"Thickness of your discharge. If it's thin, no, if it's more like paste, then you're ovulating," I told her.

"Ew," She wrinkled her face in disgust.

I laughed. "Ew? Really? It's your vag. You're gonna be all 'ew' about it?"

"That's gross. I mean,  talking about discharge?" She frowned. "Wait, how do you know all this? Most men can barely find a woman's clit and you know all this?"

I smiled. "I like women."

She barked a laugh. "Oh, 'you like women' is how you know all this?"

"Ever read the Kama Sutra?" I asked her, reaching for the glass of cranberry juice Momma had made for me.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Really? You don't know?" I asked. She shook her head. "Holy shit, you don't," I stared at her in shock. "OK, well, it's from like India or Pakistan or something. Really old book, like 2,000 years old old. Has like every possible sexual position, erogenous zones, stuff like that."

"And that's what taught about stuff like, ew, discharge?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No. Aine was adventurous, but everything with her is wrapped up in mysticism, and I wanted more real information, so I started reading medical books, books on gynecology, anatomy books, and stuff like Joy of Sex."

She raised her eyebrows. "No kidding? How old were you?"

That made me blush. "Twelve."

"Twelve? You were twelve and doing that kind of research."

"Yeah, well, Aine, you know?" I flushed. "She thought it was fun to let me research on books then do, shall we say, practical experimentation with her."

That made Natalie laugh. "SCIENCE!" she quoted.

"Exactly."

"Did it help?" She asked me.

I nodded. "Oh, yeah. I mean, not with Tera, she was an in/out repeat if necessary girl. No blowjobs, no titty-fucking, nothing like that. It as Aine who introduced me to all the euphemisms that nobody else used but her," I said. "Nancy was a bit more, but... well... I don't want to talk about it."

She nodded at that. "Not yet?"

I sighed. "I'm still angry with her. I was gone two months. Two goddamn months. I got shot, blown up, got my leg broken, my knee shattered, had a Tomahawk..." I went silent and she was quiet for a long moment.

"I'm still angry about it all. She used me. Used me to basically get her rocks off, made me think she loved me, then dumped me and ran off and got married on me. So, yeah, I'm still angry," I growled.

...Anthony! I love you!...

No. Not any more.

"I don't know what I did, if I even did anything, but... well..."

Natalie leaned back, nodding, while I grabbed my glass of cranberry juice and took a drink. I yawned, stretched, feeling tired all of a sudden.

Natalie got up, sitting next to me again. She gave me an antibiotic, a painkiller, a muscle relaxer, and a pill to lower my blood pressure, then put my juice up. She fluffed the blanket and pulled the pillows out from under me, laying me down on my back.

"All right, Doctor Vagina, get some rest," she smiled. She slid under the blanket, wrapping her arms around my neck. "I'll be right here, make sure nothing happens."

I gave her a kiss. "Sounds good. We'll need to wait for that blood pressure dropper to wear off. Can't exactly get hard with that thing in my system."

"We'll make do," She said, kissing my cheek. She hugged me tighter. "Now get some rest."

I let the pills drop me down into sleep, letting her warmth help keep me asleep.