Paradise Post #3

Notes: Any sci fi fans familiar with the Space Madness trope?  It’s been touched on by Asimov, Niven, Star Trek writers; a lot of greats.  I briefly considered delving into it here, but c’mon, I’m not mean enough to make a kid go crazy.  I decided on Space Ennui instead, compounded by a judicious touch of claustrophobia.  But don’t worry, Garrett fixed it.  He’s such a fixer.

(PS-Whoever makes me a picture of a panda crossed with an orangutan, I will love you forever:)

Title: Paradise

Part Three:  Empty Spaces Make Empty People

***

Three solid weeks of flying through space equaled definite boredom after about the first week.  The fastest route from Pandora to Paradise didn’t get close to any sights interesting enough to detour for, and the blackness beyond the hatch was rarely broken even by a distant star.  Most of space was just…empty.  Of everything.  No life, no color, no heat or fission or exciting chemistry.  Just unending expanses of nothingness that could drive a person insane if they let themselves go.

Garrett had never been bothered by the vastness of space.  Of course, he’d been a rather dramatic teenager, the sort to color his entire room black and listen to angry, hopeless music.  The melancholia of such nothingness had appealed to his angsty side, and the solipsist in him kind of liked the idea that he was the only sure thing that was real, and that everything else was just something he’d dreamed up.  He got a strange sort of comfort out of looking around and seeing a forever’s worth of nothing. 

Jonah just ignored it all.  He didn’t like it, didn’t dislike it: for him, flying was his job, and it didn’t really matter where he was doing it, he just had to worry about getting from point A to point B.  If he played his music a little louder in the ship than he did at home, and if the lights were a little brighter, well, those were valid coping mechanisms and that was fine. Being on a ship was second nature for Jonah, having grown up a Drifter, and Garrett knew he didn’t have to worry about his fiancé. The problem came from Cody, and it was one Garrett felt he should have seen coming and planned for.

Cody was a kid, an active, bouncy kid who liked to run around and climb things and generally get his kicks exhausting himself.  He hadn’t grown up shipboard like his dad, and he wasn’t used to tight quarters like Garrett.  He’d been adequately distracted for a while, working his way through the movie holos, finishing the homework packet that was supposed to last the entire three weeks and learning the basics of flying a ship from Jonah.  For about a day after that he was antsy, unable to sit still, fighting back against every suggestion for how to pass the time that either of them came up with.  The next day he was worse, listless and sleepy but not wanting to go to his room, and protesting vigorously when either of them tried to get him to go to bed.

Cody finally cried himself out and fell into an exhausted sleep in Jonah’s arms while Garrett spelled him at the controls.  They stared at each other over his head and shared a tired smile.

“We’re going to have to figure something else out,” Garrett said quietly.  “We are not doing this for another two weeks.”

Jonah scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly.  “I know.  Not sure what more we can do, though.”

“Well, he’s not sleeping when we are, clearly.  I have the white noise generator going in his room, it’s set to mimic the sound of rain falling at home, but it’s not doing the trick.  He’s not comfortable enough to fall asleep even with that.”

“Huh.”  Jonah looked down at Cody and then back up.  “This is probably gonna annoy you, but…we could try letting him sleep in our room?  It worked when he had nightmares, and he’s not that much older now.”

“Why would that annoy me?”

Jonah quirked an eyebrow and Garrett chuckled.  “Well, yes, that, but I can be a monk for the duration of this flight if it means Cody’s in a better mood.  Because what I can’t deal with is him being as moody as I remember me being at this age.  I know exactly how much of a pain in the ass I was as a child and there’s no way our kid is heading down that road.”

“It’s a short term solution, though.  He needs something to do while he’s awake or he’ll start breakin’ stuff.”

Garrett waved a hand dismissively.  “I have an idea about that too.  He’s done with his work, so now he can help me with mine.”

“Cody’s a little young for complex climate modeling, don’t ya think?”

“He’s not too young to learn to use the simulator,” Garrett replied.  “I don’t need it right now, but I can teach him to use the animate feature.  He’s tired of watching shows?  We’ll let him make one instead.”

“Martina would kill you if she knew you were lettin’ him play around with the priciest piece of equipment in the lab,” Jonah smiled.  “I’m kinda surprised she let you bring it with, honestly.  Doesn’t she have a tendency to hang on to things?”

“Like a vulture clutching a carcass.”

“A what?”

Oh, right.  Minimal experience with animals.  “A vulture is a type of bird, a scavenger.  It’s big and ugly and smart, and it’s very opportunistic.  They’ve been introduced on over a dozen worlds in the central system, in part to keep down the rest of the cloned animal populations. 

“By the way, whoever thought redesigning Old Earth animals and putting them in wildlife reserves based on their ‘cuteness’ was a goddamn idiot.  There’s this zoo, Chibi World?  Most frightening experience of my young life.  They crossed a panda with an orangutan, and the thing ripped through its enclosure and tore around the park like a mad thing.  My class had to barricade ourselves in the cafeteria and wait for the robots to tranq it, which took hours.”  Garrett shook his head, then pointed a finger at Jonah.  “Speaking of which, the pet thing?  Is an absolute no, as far as I’m concerned.  Pets are nothing but pain and suffering.”

Jonah stared at him with slightly wide eyes.  “What the hell’s a panda?”

“I’ll show you sometime when Cody isn’t around, being all impressionable.”  Garrett set the helm to autopilot and stood up.  “Let’s go to bed and see if it works out.”

Cody didn’t even wake up as they all settled in, and he slept a solid eight hours nestled between the pair of them.  He woke up when they did though, and insisted on being with at least one of them at all times, which meant fast, solitary showers and accompanying him to his room to change his clothes.  Breakfast was a little subdued, with Cody on the edge of pouting as he chased his cereal around the bowl with his spoon.

“So,” Garrett said cheerfully as he finished his coffee, “are you ready to go to work?”

Cody frowned.  “I don’t have any more schoolwork, I finished it all.”

“Not that kind of work.  This is special work.  Something very, very exciting, something completely brand new.”

“How exciting?”

“So exciting,” Garrett confided.  “And important.  And I need your help to do it.”

“Really?”

“Really.”  He stood up from the table.  “You ready?”

Cody glanced at Jonah, who smiled.  “Go on, bucko.”  Those few words of approval were all Cody needed, and he grabbed Garrett’s hand and pulled him down towards the makeshift lab that used to be the ship’s gym.

“Is it in here?”

“Yes,” Garrett said, heading over to the simulator and turning it on.  He loaded the simplest visual program up and pulled a chair over for Cody.  “It’s got to be done with this.”

Cody stood on the chair and looked into the viewfinder of the machine.  “But I don’t know how to use this.”

“I can teach you,” Garrett said.  “We’re going to use it to make a holofilm.  One about what things are like back on Pandora, since my family hasn’t gotten to come and visit us there yet.  We can load images and sounds and you can draw the things that aren’t in the database.”

Cody looked at him solemnly.  “That sounds really hard.”

“It’s going to take some time, that’s true, but you’re smart.  I wouldn’t ask you to do it if I didn’t think you could,” Garrett told him.  “I’ll help whenever you need me to, but I think this would be a great gift for when we arrive.”

“Do you think it will make your family like me better?”

How was this even a question?  “Are you kidding me?” Garrett scoffed, leaning in and hugging Cody around the shoulders.  “You’re their absolute favorite.  Every time they call, who do they want to talk to first?”

“Um…me.”

“Exactly.  They can’t wait to see you.  I’m hoping this will make them like me better.”

Cody giggled.  “They already like you!”

“Yes, usually, but a little extra ammo never hurts.  So.  Want to learn how to load the environments?”

“Yeah.”

The morning was pretty slow, hampered by Garrett’s compulsive need to step in and help until Cody finally told him he could “figure it out by myself, okay please Garrett?”  The afternoon went better, Garrett only stepping in when Cody needed help drawing something or tracing a movement pattern in 3-D.  Jonah joined them after dinner so Cody could show them what he’d come up with so far, and he duly gave it the praise it was due.

That night, as Cody lay sleeping between them, Jonah whispered, “You know, you’re kinda brilliant, darlin’.”

Garrett smiled lazily.  “What, because I kept Cody distracted?”

“Because you made him happy,” Jonah corrected.  “You came up with a game plan, something to do to keep him interested, and it’s educational too.  Maybe you should moonlight as a teacher.”

“Mmm, no.  I’d sooner shoot myself in the face than stare down a class full of seven-year olds every day, but thanks for thinking nice things about me, babe.”  He grinned.  “Between you teaching him to fly and me teaching him my job, I think Cody will be ready for colony-wide domination at around ten.  Then we can move on to the rest of the Fringe.  He’ll make a wonderful despot.”

“Don’t give him ideas.”

Paradise Post #2

Notes: Dirty post!  Oh, this is a dirty post, folks.  Don’t read if you don’t like things explicit.  A little plot with a lot of porn thrown in for good measure.  Finally, yeah?  Yay for smut!  I’m so happy to give it to you.  More soon.  We’re leaving Pandora after this next post, darlins.

Title: Paradise

Part Two: An Evening In

***

                Pandora City’s hospital was probably the nicest building in the entire colony.  Of course, it was the building that got the most use, and so setting it up to be a comfortable, efficient place was a reasonable expectation, but it wasn’t just nice there: it was posh.  There were private suites for families decorated with beautiful but resilient furniture, a playground for children, a small theater that played a new holo every day and took requests when there wasn’t a waiting line, and a dedicated health worker for every new case that came in.  Even simple, routine visits like updating Cody’s vaccinations warranted the red-carpet treatment.

                Dr. Reynaud checked the sleeping boy’s temperature and smiled over at Jonah.  “Still a slight fever, but it’s gone down a degree in the last hour.  I think he’ll be back to his normal self by morning.”

                “Hyper and noisy?” Jonah joked, but honestly that was how he preferred his kid, not this quiet, listless version that whimpered with discomfort as he dozed.  Jonah stroked his fingers carefully through Cody’s damp curls, a gesture that soothed both of them.

                “Just like a little boy should be,” Dr. Reynaud agreed.  “I’ve talked with the chief medical officer on the governor’s staff on Paradise, by the way, and made sure he’ll have all the necessary technology and medications on hand that Cody might need.  I’m still sending doubles of some pills with you though, just in case.”

                Jonah looked up at her with surprise.  Before he could ask, though, she said, “Dr. Caractacus asked me to make sure everything was in place before you left, just in case something needed to be ordered on their side.”

                “Thorough of him,” Jonah commented, thinking that it was something he should have remembered to take care of himself.  Then again, one of the benefits of having a partner—a fiancé, his subconscious teased him, fiancé, fiancé, whispering it like it was something secret and special and rare—was that he didn’t have to take care of everything by himself.  Garrett was good at planning, and Jonah was more than happy to cede over a lot of the details of their trip, mostly concerning himself with getting Cody ready and squaring things at work.  He tried not to think too hard about what they were getting ready for, or the people they were going to go see.  Garrett’s family.  The most important people in his life, behind Jonah and Cody, and part of a social circle that Jonah knew very little about.

                Not that he hadn’t talked with all of the major players more than once.  Jonah was comfortable with them over a com, but heading into their turf with nothing to recommend him except Garrett’s sometimes-baffling regard and his admittedly incredible kid was a little daunting.

                “Mr. Helms?”

                Jonah jerked his head up.  “I’m sorry?”

                “I said, I’ll be back in another two hours, all right?” Dr. Reynaud repeated.  “Cody should sleep through the night, and I recommend you get some rest yourself.  There’s a bed in the adjoining room there.”  She gestured towards a smoky glass door.  “You don’t want to be too tired to deal with him when he wakes up.”

                “Right.  Thanks.”

                Dr. Reynaud smiled one more time and turned toward the door.  Jonah was ready for silence to descend again, leaving him with his swirling thoughts, but instead he heard a soft exclamation.  He looked up and saw Dr. Reynaud almost run into Garrett in the hallway right outside the room.  “Garrett!  I didn’t think you’d be by this evening.”

                “I didn’t either, but happily I was wrong,” Garrett said, his voice low and rich, none of its expressiveness lost despite being quiet for Cody’s sake.  “How are you, Rickie?”

                Didn’t it just figure that he knew the staff well enough to call them by their first names when Jonah was still struggling to remember all of the pilots on the colony’s roster.  “Fine,” Dr. Reynaud—Rickie—grinned.  “Cody’s sleeping better now, he should be a hundred percent by tomorrow morning.”

                “That’s great.”  A few more polite words and Garrett was in the suite, and silently closed the door behind himself.  He came over and Jonah stood up to meet him, pulling him into a tight hug.

                “I thought you were gonna pack tonight,” he murmured into Garrett’s hair, savoring the warmth of his strong arms across Jonah’s too-cool skin. 

                “I got bored.  Thought I’d come and see my guys instead.”  Jonah ignored the frisson of contentment that sent down his spine and let Garrett pull away to look at Cody.  “He’s a little flushed.”

                “Still has a bit of a fever,” Jonah admitted.  “It’s gone way down, though.  He’s restin’ better too, not so tossy and turny now.”

                “Good.”  Garrett laid the back of one of his hands against Cody’s soft cheek, his eyes a little cloudy as he looked at him.  “Is it weird that I just want to crawl into bed and hold onto him for a while?”

                “Nah, I fight that all the time,” Jonah chuckled.  “He used to have nightmares, wanted to sleep in my bed.  Those went away around his fifth birthday, and I swear I went into withdrawal when he stopped comin’ in.”

                “Whipped,” Garrett nodded sagely.  “Whipped is a good descriptor for this sad state of affairs.”  He turned and wrapped his arms around Jonah again, this time twining them around his neck.  Garrett was a little shorter than Jonah, just enough for him to make it look naturally sexy and not just coy when he gazed up through his long dark lashes, like he was now.  “I guess I’ll just have to crawl into bed with you, then.”

                “We’re in a hospital,” Jonah protested before he could stop his stupid mouth.  Fortunately Garrett wasn’t put off.

                “We’re in a private suite,” Garrett replied, slowly pushing them back towards the glass door.  “With two bedrooms, note.  And unless Cody is planning on waking up, which I doubt as long as we can be quiet, we’re not going to be disturbed for several hours.”  He smiled, and there was nothing coy or scheming about it, just happy desire.  “And I missed you, and I want you now, and you’re going to let me have my way because you love me.”  He twisted the handle on the door and ushered them through effortlessly.

                “You make a good case for it,” Jonah said a little breathlessly, his hands starting to wander across his lover’s—fiance’s—lower back, skimming down his hips and across his ass.  Garrett arched into the touch even as he shut the door behind them.

                The room was dark, with no windows and a low, slowly oscillating white light travelling up and down the walls.  The colors were meant to be calming, but all they did for Jonah was make him more and more desperate as they cast Garrett’s face into shadow, accentuating the sharp lines of his cheekbones and chin, the sultry twist of his mouth and his pale eyes, somehow bright in the darkness, almost as though they were backlit.  His sleek blond hair was styled back and away from his face, and Jonah gave into his impulse to mess it up and slid one hand up Garrett’s spine, across the smooth skin of his neck and into the soft, feathery strands.  He got a grip and pulled Garrett’s head back, just enough to expose his throat, then bent and scraped his teeth across the point of Garrett’s jaw the way Jonah knew he liked, the way that always made him shudder.

                “You haven’t even gotten to my closing argument,” Garrett gasped, grabbing Jonah’s free hand and sliding it down his back.  He slipped their fingers beneath the waist of his pants and down the silky skin of his ass, then nudged Jonah’s hand towards his crease.  A moment’s exploration found the surprising slickness, and Jonah felt his arousal go from simmering to nearly boiling over in a second.

                “You got yourself ready for me?” he asked, his voice so grainy he barely recognized it, but Garrett seemed to like it, if the sudden hitch in his breathing was anything to go by.

                “I didn’t want to waste time if there wasn’t much of it,” he said, coiling one leg around Jonah’s thigh.

                “And this is what you want, baby?”  Jonah circled his finger around Garrett’s hole, covering the tip with moisture before he pushed inside.  Garrett groaned.  “Shh,” Jonah chided him, pressing his finger deeper into that slick heat, almost dizzy with how turned on he was.  “Can’t be loud, don’t want to wake our boy.”

                “I won’t,” Garrett gasped, getting onto the tiptoes of his foot in an effort to make it easier for Jonah’s fingers to penetrate him.  “I just—I want you, I don’t want to wait.”

                “What if I want you to wait?” Jonah asked, turning them so that Garrett’s back was towards the bed.  He removed his finger and pulled his hand away, then cut off Garrett’s complaint by picking him completely up and letting both of them fall onto the mattress.  They bounced once before the pressure controls caught on and leveled off their momentum, and Jonah used the newly-firm surface to grind down against Garrett, torturing his needy arousal through three layers of clothing.  Just because his lover didn’t feel the need to wear underwear didn’t mean Jonah was about to go commando.

                “What if,” Jonah growled, biting at Garrett’s collarbone even as he opened the front of his shirt, “I want to take my time with you?  What if I want to suck your cock until you’re begging for mercy, what if I wanted to open you up by rimming you instead of you cheatin’ at home with your fingers?  What if I want to make you suffer for me, darlin’?”  He licked a line up Garrett’s neck, then mouthed hotly at his earlobe, loving how it made Garrett whine.

                “Then I’d have to remind you,” Garrett managed around his breathy exhalations, “that we’re on a timetable and that we’re not exactly alone here, and sometimes speed is a necess—a nec—fuck it, it’s an evil but so are you, so just fuck me already, damn it!”

                “Quiet,” Jonah said as he pulled back just far enough to get Garrett’s slacks down and off his long, golden legs.  He shed his own clothes with a minimum of interference, just far enough out of Garrett’s reach to make him pouty but not grabby, then leaned back in and slid his hands under the backs of Garrett’s knees, bending him in half.  Garrett went gracefully, way too hot to look ridiculous in that position like almost every other person alive would, and Jonah’s heart gave an unexpected lurch as he looked down at his fiancé, brilliant and beautiful and giving everything he had to Jonah, to Cody, to the idea of them being a family.

It made Jonah want to be tender, but Garrett was writhing against his hands, needy and demanding without saying a word, and he clearly didn’t want tender.  Jonah dipped two fingers into Garrett’s body, closed his eyes as they went in easily, helped by lube and Garrett’s personal preparations, then put Garrett’s calves over his shoulders, lined up and slowly pressed his dick inside the hot, tight ass that belonged to him.

The hiss that slowly left Garrett’s mouth was music to Jonah’s ears.  They had a lot of toys; Garrett liked variety in the bedroom and Jonah was learning to like it himself, but sometimes there was nothing like a simple, straightforward and completely relentless fuck, and that was what Jonah gave him.  The first stroke was the slowest; he picked up speed immediately, keeping it long and deep while exercising complete control of Garrett’s hips, leaving him unable to do anything but lay there and take it.  He couldn’t even make the noises that Jonah knew he wanted to, and Jonah treasured the wanton frustration on Garrett’s face even as he got closer to the edge himself.

He let go with one hand and reached for Garrett’s cock, but Garrett shook his head.  “After,” he panted and Jonah nodded tightly, then grabbed his hip again and hammered into him, eyes closed and head arching back as he lost himself in Garrett, pounding his tight, clinging hole faster and harder until one last thrust tipped him over the edge, and he slammed in balls deep and came with a near silent groan.

Garrett held him in place with his heels against Jonah’s back, quivering quietly while Jonah came down from his orgasm, until finally Jonah felt like he could move without getting dizzy.  He pulled out slowly, absorbed Garrett’s sigh with a kiss, then shifted positions until his face was level with Garrett’s cock, flushed bright and hard.  Jonah laid his lips reverently over the head even as he brought his hands up between Garrett’s legs and slowly pressed three long fingers into his warm, sticky hole. 

“Yesss,” Garrett whispered, his voice wrecked even though he’d barely made a sound so far.  He rocked his hips desperately, sliding between Jonah’s mouth and his hand.  Jonah took his as deep as he could, loving the taste of Garrett, loving his scent and the soft, squelching sounds his fingers made as they fucked his loosened body.  Garrett’s hands pressed down on his head, his lungs heaved like he was running a race and Jonah decided, finally, to have mercy.  He curled his fingers so that they hit Garrett’s prostate and rubbed, gentle for a few thrusts, then hard.  Garrett clenched around his fingers, thrust his cock as far down Jonah’s throat as it would go and stopped breathing, coming in absolute silence, all tremulous tension and exhausted restraint.

Jonah hummed and swallowed, relaxed his hand and slowly pulled his fingers out, one at a time.  He wiped his fingers off and pulled himself up the bed to lie next to Garrett, kissing his shoulder and chest and marveling, like he did almost every time, at the fact that they were actually doing this.  Not just fucking, but loving, having a relationship, getting married.  Garrett was his fiance, he was going to tie himself to Jonah and Cody legally as well as emotionally.  It was kind of overwhelming.

“You’ll be happy to know,” Garrett said after a few minutes of quiet worship, “that my ship has really excellent soundproofing.  Really, truly fantastic.  Each room is like an island unto itself.”

“That’s good news, darlin’,” Jonah murmured, smiling against his lover’s sweaty skin.

“I thought so.  Otherwise I might have an aneurysm trying to keep quiet one night, and that would be tragic.”

“A terrible waste,” Jonah agreed.  He pulled back and sprawled out beside Garrett, grateful now for the cool temperature in the suite.  “To show my appreciation, I’ll let you take the first shower.”

“We could shower together,” Garrett suggested hopefully.  “Cleanliness oriented activities only, I swear.”

“Can’t trust you,” Jonah shook his head mock-regretfully.  “You’ve got odd ideas of what constitutes an activity.  One of us should be with Cody, just in case.”

“Oh, fine.”  Garrett heaved himself up with a sigh, grabbed his clothes off the floor and stalked off to the attached bathroom, giving Jonah an excellent view of his bare ass and thighs, shining with cum and lube.  It was hot enough that Jonah felt himself stir, despite his recent orgasm, and he mentally smacked himself for insisting on being responsible.  He rolled to his feet, walked to the door and cracked it open, just to check.  Cody was still on his side, eyes closed, completely still except for his quiet breathing.  The room was otherwise empty.

Maybe there was time for a friendly shower after all.

Prepping For Awesome

Yes, the next part of Paradise is coming, and yes, there will be sex.  I love that you guys are digging on the next part of this series, and I think the time has come for another post fraught with warnings for my G-rated readers in the beginning, yeah?  I would have posted earlier (I assume) but I'm commuting to Denver this week to cover someone else's caseload in RL, and it sucks royally.  Free time = 0.  Next week will be equally lame but hopefully this weekend I can get something worthwhile done.

On a professional level, I'm looking for advice/assistance.  I was thinking about the mammoth piece of work that the Bonded/Pandora/Paradise universe is turning into, and I'd like to be able to put it all together into e-books for you guys that you could download and enjoy.  I'm talking multiple formats, decent cover art, and of course keeping it free, because this is all originally free work and I don't intend that to change.  Anyone with desktop publishing experience (I'm looking at you, Tree) who has advice on how to do this, it would be totally welcome right now.  I'm sure there are programs out there I can download that will let me make pdfs and other formats, but I'm trying to teach myself Paintshop Pro with limited success at the moment, and my ability with visual arts isn't as strong as my writing, not even close.  I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me at the moment, at least not much, but hopefully one of you can point me in the right direction.

I'd like to have e-copies, pretty and edited and artsy, done for you guys by Christmas.  Hopefully the process won't take nearly that long, but I figure it's a safe conservative estimate.  In the meantime, I'm going to get back to Paradise.  The next part is some Jonah POV.  Mmm...Jonah...

Paradise Post #1

Notes:  Originally I had planned this story to be another vignette in the Bonded/Pandora saga, fairly short and from multiple POVs.  Then I started writing it and I realized that there’s no way it’s going to be short.  Probably not as long as Pandora, but definitely not short.  There’s just too much story to tell here, so I’m abandoning the idea of short and sweet and going with whatever happens.  I’ll keep the multiple POVs, I’m having fun delving into Jonah and Cody’s minds, and I may even branch out and revisit Wyl and Robbie once everyone is together.  Basically, this is going to be an ensemble piece.  If you haven’t read Pandora, I recommend it before diving into this.  You can find the full thing here on my blog.

Title: Paradise

Part One:  Ready, Set…

***

                All right, so the circumstances that had led Garrett to propose to Jonah were somewhat irregular, and yes, his reputation of decades as a cavalier playboy was now ruined.  But this kind of reaction was just excessive.

“It’s not that funny, damn it.”

                “It is!” Wyl howled, doubling over until just the top of his head could be seen on the holoscreen.  “No, it really is, it is!  You all wet and smelly like a drowned catterpet and him all worried and you just up and…like, out of the black, you…you spring a proposal on him…fuck!”  He kept laughing, loudly, one hand beating on the table he was leaning on, and Garrett had finally had enough.

                “Call me back when you’re done, you freak.”  He shut off the call and glared at the screen for a few moments before getting up and mixing a drink.  It was frothy and purple and not the sort of thing he usually went for outside of very pretentious parties, but it was sweet and alcoholic and the chemical reaction in it sparked tiny lightning bolts against the glass.  It was the sort of cocktail you drank to cheer yourself up, and that was what Garrett needed right now.  He stuck a slice of lemon in it and took a sip.  Not bad.

                The chime of the com sounded, but Garrett ignored it in favor of finishing his drink, slowly.  It wasn’t Jonah or Cody, and he wasn’t worried about offending anyone else.  The news of his proposal had prompted some smiles and a little teasing here on Pandora, but for the most part everyone seemed excited for them.  There were far more couples and families than single colonists living in the colony, and most of them were married, not just contracted or partnered.  Apparently when life was abnormally short, people tended to take commitments more seriously.

                Not that life would be short for Garrett and Jonah.  Both of them were fully capable of using Regen, and if they were lucky they’d have each other for many, many years.  The only member of their small family that couldn’t use Regen was Cody, and he was still just a child.  He had his whole life to live, and who knew how long that might be?  Secondary treatments were getting better, Cody might live to be a hundred.  He might live even longer.  He might…

                The chime kept ringing.  Garrett rolled his eyes and put the empty glass in the autoclave, then went back to the couch and sat down.  He turned on the screen, expecting to see a repentant Wyl.

                Instead he saw Jezria Dowd, the administrative chief of Pandora City and the woman who had originally hired Garrett to come and work here.  He put on his professional face.  “Jezria.”

                “Garrett.  I was wondering if I’d have to send city security over to check on you, you always answer your com.”

                “I was busy.”  He plowed ahead before she could ask what he’d been busy with.  Jezria was an old family friend, and she thought that just because she’d first met him as a toddler meant that she had the right to ask about his personal life.  Which she kind of did, but now wasn’t the time.  “Are you approving my request for time off?”

                “In part.”

                “What do you mean, in part?  Which part?  Why not all of it?”

                “Garrett, you’re asking for three standard months’ worth of leave.  That’s a long time for the colony to be without its weatherman, not to mention one of its most versatile pilots.”

                “I am not a weatherman,” Garrett interrupted with a groan.  He was an expert in climate modeling and long-term climate prediction, not local weather forecasts, but somehow his responsibilities had morphed into taking on the task of short-term weather prediction as well.  Still, he hated the term.  “Weatherman implies some smarmy piece of meat hamming it up for the vacant masses.  I’m a scientist, not a soothsayer.”

                “Regardless,” Jezria continued smoothly, “it’s a long time to be gone.  I’ll approve two months.”

                “It’s a three week trip!  That would give us two weeks with my family before we had to come back, which is next to nothing.”

                “Two months, or you agree to work a three-day week from Paradise for the duration of your stay there.  Three full days, Garrett, spent on Pandora’s issues, not half-heartedly fussing with your modeling program while you play with Wyl and Robbie.”

                Garrett gaped at her.  “You’re a slave driver.”

                “I’m just holding you up to your end of the contract.”

                For the umpteenth time, Garrett mentally kicked himself for signing his employment contract before reading it all.  “Any restrictions on Jonah?”

                “None at all.  He hasn’t taken the time off that you have so far, dear.”

                “That was a family emergency!”  A bomb putting his father into a coma and knocking his best friend into a Regen tank for weeks definitely qualified as a family emergency.

                “Yes, but after two months, family emergency leave is calculated against your regular leave.  Honestly, didn’t you read any of this section?”

                “I skimmed it.”  Sort of.  “Fine, three days a week in exchange for three months leave.”

                “And you have to keep Cody up to date on his lessons.”

                “Oh, for fuck’s—”

                “This is for his own good, Garrett.  He shouldn’t get behind the rest of his class just because his daddies have decided to be romantic.  His teacher will be sending you a lesson plan shortly.  There are homework assignments in there that he’ll need to show when he gets back.”

                “You sort of suck the life out of spontaneity, you know that?”

                “I know.”  She smiled slightly.  “I wish I could be there for the ceremony.”

                “I’m sure my father will immortalize it so he can embarrass me forever.  Ask him for a copy.”

                “I’ll do that.” 

The com light blinked soundlessly, letting him know that another call was coming through.  “I’ll talk to you again before we leave, okay?”

                “All right.”  They cut communication and Garrett put the next call in through the holoscreen.  When he saw that it was Robbie he relaxed slightly.

                “Hey.”

                “Hey.  Sorry about that.”  Robbie shook his head slightly.  “Wyl’s low on sleep and running on fumes, he didn’t mean to be offensive.  I’ve put him to bed.”

                “No problem,” Garrett shrugged.  They stared at each other in silent, comfortable companionship for a moment.  Robbie was one of Garrett’s exes, the only man before Jonah he had been remotely serious about, and even after they called their relationship off they continued to get along.  The fact that Robbie’s partner Wyl was Garrett’s best friend bound them together in ways that had the potential to be awkward, but never had been.

                Robbie looked good.  A little more gray in his short-cut, sandy brown hair, but his face was unlined save for the corners of his eyes, and the clinging t-shirt he had on modeled his perfect physique very nicely.  Robbie was, without a doubt, the most classically handsome man Garrett had ever been with.  Jonah liked him okay, but he knew Wyl a lot better.  Wyl was outgoing and easy to speak to, and not quite so physically imposing.  Plus, Garrett and Wyl had never fucked.  That might have had something to do with Jonah’s comfort level.

                “Congratulations, Gare.”

                “Thanks.”

                “Where are your guys?”

                “At the hospital.  Cody’s got to get boosters for all of his shots before he can go anywhere, and they tend to make him feel ill.  Jonah’s staying the night with him and I’m getting things ready to go here.”

                “When are you leaving?”

                “In a few days.”  The sooner, the better.

                “You told your dad yet?”

                “Yeah, I called him first.  He and Claudia are putting something together for us.  Something small.”

                Robbie quirked a smile.  “Have you seen Claudia in event planning mode?  Small isn’t really her thing.”

                “She’ll restrain herself for us, she promised.”

                “If you say so.”  Robbie was quiet for a second.  “I thought you should know that there are some Drifter ships in orbit right now.  We haven’t seen much of them down in the city, they’re mostly keeping to themselves, but they’ll probably still be here when you guys arrive.  You might want to let Jonah know, just in case.”  Robbie knew some of the background info about Jonah and Cody’s split from their Drifter clan; not the gory details, but apparently enough to concern him.

                “I’ll let him know.  Thank you.” 

                “Gare…” Robbie started blushing, but he pushed through his embarrassment to get the words out.  “You know we’re happy for you, right?” 

                Garrett grinned devilishly and batted his eyelashes at Robbie.  “Oh, I know, darling.  I know I’m inspirational to you in so many ways.  My happiness is your happiness, my tears of joy moisten the verdant fields of your soul—”

                “Oh, shut up and go pack your trousseau, princess.”

                “I love it when you order me around,” Garrett purred.

                This time Robbie was the one to hang up, but Garrett was still smiling as he shut down the holoscreen.  He looked around the living room and sighed.  He should start packing, he really should, they were leaving in two days and a lot of that would be spent getting Cody ready, but the house…it was too quiet.  Kind of lonely, actually.  And Cody was in the hospital, after all.

                Screw it.  Packing could wait.