"Steve, stop being stupid and come back here! Your husband will kill me if he has to batch you up again!"

He remembered Marisha yelling to him, but he had shrugged it off. The colony needed this luminol ore, and the high-energy radiation made it impossible to retrieve with remote tracing. Someone had to go down to it and place the beacons.

Besides, he had climbed to much worse places. What could possibly go wrong?

~*~*~

"Ow ow ow! Would some painkillers really be out of question?" he complained as Darryn, the aforementioned husband, clamped a standard regenerative brace around his broken arm.

"Absolutely. Maybe this time you'd actually -learn- something. Just because I can fix injuries in a matter of hours doesn't mean that I can bring you back to life." His tone was stern, but there was the undertone of gentle love in it. Like always. Darryn hated it when he risked his life during the resource hunting trips but understood that his work was important too.

Marisha stood in the corner of the room, arms crossed over her chest. Darryn had not actually chewed her out despite her being his commanding officer and in charge of the safety of the expedition, and they had both known that it would not happen. Steve did have a tendency to push the boundaries, always had, and he took full advantage of the fact that Darryn had been taught to respect "egg-bearers" – in human society that was women – above all else. Besides, Marisha was the most kick-ass woman he had ever known. Nobody could step on her and not face consequences.

On first meeting, Steve had been mostly intrigued by the concept of a human-Ishtei hybrid and found Darryn's appearance – a bit like some fae in an old storybook, all slender and narrow, with huge black eyes and shoulder-length flowing hair – funny more than anything. There was nothing traditionally masculine in him on the first glance. But he didn't dress or act like a usual woman either, and his data clearly stated that he was a man.

To human eyes, Ishtei resembled white ants. Humanoid ants, closer to six and a half feet tall in average, but ants nonetheless, with their long limbs and narrow heads and not a trace of hair anywhere in their bodies. But they were a very intelligent and physically strong species – although they appreciated the former more - and had built a society remarkably free of inner conflict. When humans had shown up in their corner of the galaxy, they had been met with scientific curiosity that had eventually spawned the first hybrids born in laboratories.

In any case, Steve and Darryn had quickly found common ground. Maybe at first it was because Steve always seemed to end up in the sick bay of the space station and Darryn worked there as a doctor. But the strange man had been genuinely fascinated with his adventures and his endless curiosity. And – admittedly after a few too many drinks – that mutual curiosity had led them to share the bed for the night.

"So, um...how are the babies doing?" he asked to break the ice. Darryn loved to talk about the new life growing inside him and hopefully would forget to be angry with him.

Darryn broke into a goofy smile and slowly stroked his belly. There was noticeable swelling, but not nearly enough to be visible through his clothes. "You saw the ultrasound images just a week ago. But I'm fairly certain the shells are starting to form right on schedule."

"And the birth?" That was the part that had him a bit worried. Darryn did have an egg pouch inside him, but unlike pure-blooded Ishtei, he lacked the ability to actually change his biological sex. The twins they had both wanted had been created in a test tube and placed in his belly to grow.

"It will be a cesarean birth. Don't worry about it. It's perfectly safe."

"It's probably a lot easier than the traditional way," Marisha snorted. "At least my baby girl took her sweet time coming out."

Both Steve and Darryn laughed. Marisha's daughter had been such a joy in all their lives, despite all the sleepless nights and emergency treatments in the sick bay during her first months out in the world, and the one reason they had finally decided to try for children of their own, no matter the methods it would take.

Whether it was a man and a woman, a single mom or a male couple, children could be a real blessing. And just like they had become "uncles" to her daughter despite not having any connection by blood,Steve was certain that she'd also be there for them whenever they'd need help.