July 10th

Quentin

I woke up to Scarlett flushing the toilet. She has been inside the restroom a lot yesterday and this morning. It was odd since Scarlett would randomly become nauseous before feeling better again. It was as if she was sick at random intervals before becoming healthy again. I was worried about her as she could’ve fallen under a strange alien disease.

Another thought came to my head. Perhaps Scarlett could be pregnant. We were a married couple, and it was certainly possible that she became pregnant. I mean, it would’ve been a quick occurrence considering how short of a time we’d been here. However, it was a possibility that was the most hopeful. With a deep breath, I dialed my mother’s number.

After a few rings, I heard my mother yawn and answer, “This is Madilyn speaking.”

“Hi mom,” I replied as I held my phone against my head. “Listen, I’ve got a strange question. It’s about Scarlett. Lately, she has been getting nauseous and using the restroom more often. Do you have any idea what it is?”

“Hmm. Perhaps it would be better if I talked to her. Can you hand her the phone?” she asked. With a nod that she wouldn’t have been able to see, I handed the phone to Scarlett as she was drying off her hands.

As Scarlett was having a conversation with my mother, I grabbed two MREs from a cabinet. It was awful, but it was what we had to eat so the food could be spread out until the farms had their first harvest. However, I wasn’t one to let the horrible taste be it. I grabbed a frying pan and placed it on the stove. Grabbing two eggs from the fridge, I made sure the pan was oiled and the stove was set to the right temperature. Once it was ready, I started frying the eggs.

It turned out that I wasn’t as good of a chef as I thought. One fried egg came out fine, but the other was scrambled. I put the scrambled egg on my own plate and went back to eat my meal.

As I cleared the taste of the MRE with the egg, I could hear Scarlett padding over to me. She had a small smile on her face as she slid into the chair across from mine. Her fingers tapped the tap as she took a deep breath. Her tail slowly wagged as she looked at me.

“What is it, my foxy wife?” I asked as I smiled back at her. Swallowing the last part of my MRE, I gulped some water to clear my mouth.

Scarlett asked, “Quentin, how do you feel about embarking on a new adventure?”

I smiled as I had a good idea where this was going. “Go on.”

She chuckled. “The nausea and the restroom breaks made me curious. When you handed the phone to me, your mother suggested I use one of those tests she gave me. There’s something you have to see.” She showed me the pregnancy test results.

Positive. Scarlett was pregnant. Tears came to my eyes as I looked at my wife. After all we’d been through, we were going to be parents. I stood up and walked over to Scarlett. I hugged her as tightly as I could. She hugged me back before nuzzling my head. It escalated to a kiss, our tongues touching in the heartfelt moment. Despite all the trials and tribulations we were going through, this felt like a beacon of joy in our lives.

We embraced each other for a few minutes before letting go. I felt a wave of nervousness overcome me. “I don’t feel like I’ll be a good father,” I said as I looked down. “I still feel immature and like a loser. I don’t even have a proper job! How am I supposed to provide for the family?”

Scarlett placed a hand-paw on my shoulder and said, “I got it, love. Remember, I’m building my real estate business. Perhaps you could help diversify the portfolio, but honestly, you’d probably be fine. Quentin, you’re a good man and I believe you’d be a great father.” She looked at herself. “Besides, I think I’d be the one that should be more worried. I mean, I have the physical ability to become pregnant and the different doctors I visited on Earth said I should do fine, but what if our baby comes out a deformed mess? What kind of life would the child have to put up with? I’m sorry if I’m messing up your hopes for a happy family.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I grabbed her hand-paw and held it firmly, our fingers interlocking. “Scarlett, don’t worry about it. Even if our baby doesn’t look the best, they’ll still be our child and we should love them. And if the baby resembles either of our subspecies, that’d be amazing since it means we can safely have more children if we want to. Which would probably be the best outcome as well. Because whether normal or vulpine, this planet needs people to populate it.”

“True,” Scarlett replied with a faint smile. She chuckled. “Imagine if our descendants look like me and eventually overpower the human genetics on the planet. They would reunite with the other survivors, who would be shocked at all the ‘foxes’ claiming to be human. There could even be a misunderstanding where telling someone to take their grubby paw off of something may not be insulting.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight?” I asked rhetorically as I let go of her hand. There was a lot to do before a baby would be born. I was pretty sure the capital would have a maternity ward by then, so Scarlett would be okay when that time came. She would have to stay out of combat, which would probably be the worst part for her. Scarlett could wipe the floor with several people, but the problem was the unborn child that would be joining us. I wanted our future son or daughter to be healthy.

There was a certain consideration I had. “Scarlett, how soon is currency going to be reintroduced?”

Scarlett tapped her chin and replied, “Next month. My business venture is doing well. Rest assured, by the time that happens, I can probably have a house built for myself. Ultimately, I want us to live in a mansion, but I know it’ll take a bit longer. Ultimately, competition would emerge, ending my current monopoly. While a good thing, it also means I lose the guaranteed profits.”

“Did you already procure the land of our future home?” I asked as I was curious about it.

“Yes, my love,” she replied before putting on her duster and cowboy hat. She gestured towards the door and said, “Let’s go. Perhaps it’ll take our minds off the developing news.”

We left the cabin to enter the emerging settlement. Robots were setting down the pavement for roads, making it so that cars could be used again. Buildings were being built. Scarlett pointed to one of them and explained, “That’s going to be the new model house I’m making. Someone decided to make a great investment on the first two-story house in the area. It’s one of the signs of progress.”

I looked at Scarlett and asked, “How many credits do you have now?”

She shrugged and said, “About one hundred and fifty thousand. I still need to pay back the loan, but I’m going to wait until I’m secure enough to do that. I’m going to need some real estate agents and more people. We should start a campaign to get people to migrate to this settlement.”

“Perhaps that should wait until a future date. We still need the infrastructure in order to do that,” I replied as we resumed our walk.

We soon reached an array of anti-air defenses. SAMs were scattered about, presumably to shoot down any alien attack on the settlement. The avians, being able to fly, threw a wrench in conventional defenses. They weren’t planes, though, so at least the missiles don’t need to penetrate armor. However, our plans of a wall were thrown out the window.

Once we were past the defenses, we stood at the base of a small hill overlooking the lake. Holding hands, Scarlett and I walked up the slope to reach a beautiful area. The view was to die for. This alien planet gave views that would put Earth to shame. I then looked at the area claimed and smiled. There were about ten acres of property that Scarlett reserved for us, and I could already see mini-Me’s and mini-Scarlett’s running around and playing. “This is beautiful,” I said softly as I looked around.

Scarlett squeezed my hand and said, “I know. This is what we earned for ourselves. We don’t need to run away anymore. The Qarri aren’t here, and the planet isn’t going to blow up. It’s a paradise.” A tear came to her eye as she cried with joy, “And it’s going to be the home of our family. A family I once thought was impossible. While I may have wished to have more time between our marriage and starting a family, I wouldn’t exchange this for the world.” She looked at me and said, “Thank you, Quentin. I owe my happiness to you.”

I placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered, “You give me too much credit. You fought for this and earned it. Between you and me, we owe each other nothing, yet at the same time we owe each other everything. I love you, Scarlett, and I believe we can make this work.” I put my hand on her belly, though I didn’t feel much considering how early her pregnancy was.

She chuckled and said, “I think you’re going to need to wait a few more weeks before my pregnancy is noticeable.” We stood together in silence. A pleasant breeze blew through, keeping us cool and comfortable. It was a magical moment that I didn’t want to end. Yet I knew it would.

As we returned home, I started worrying about the time it would take to defeat Arthur. I didn’t want our child to grow up in a nation at war. Living in fear was not how a child should be raised.

With my resolve strengthened, I knew what I had to do. I had to bring the fight to Arthur and stop his madness. If I didn’t, it’d be the end of us.