It didn’t take very long at all for them to get Lili back to the pod where Jared had access to the rest of the medical supplies that he would need. Though, it took a quite a bit longer for the removal and for Lili to finally become lucid once more. It was now early evening. Kyle and Ian were worriedly waiting outside the compartment which had now doubled as not only a bedroom the previous night, but now as an operating area too, as well. Once her turquoise eyes finally opened again, Lili found Jared lying next to her, having watched her as she made her way back to consciousness.
“Hi,” she said a little hoarsely, as her eyes focused on him.
“Hi,” he repeated, not bothering moving any further back from where he had laid close to her while she recovered.
“Is it done?” she managed.
Jared couldn’t help a small smile, “Do you feel better?”
“Physically, you mean?”
“Yeah, we’ll start with that,” he told her as he offered another smile.
“I’m kinda groggy, and a little sore, but,” she moved her eyes downwards from where they had managed to hold his for those few moments, “better.”
“Then I guess I did my job,” he smiled as he gently placed a kiss over her forehead, which thankfully was no longer burning to the touch.
“So, they’re out there?” she managed a moment later.
“Yeah, neither of them are really the medical assistant types,” he smiled again.
“Do they know what’s going on?”
“They know what I told them: Your body chemistry was changed by breathing the air here for the last twenty-four hours, and it caused a reaction, and I had to fix that,” he answered, “Do you want me to tell them anymore?”
“No, that’s good,” she returned softly.
Another long pause before he spoke again, “You know, while you slept, I had time to do a lot of thinking.”
“That’s never a good thing. Even if you are a genius,” she added with her own small smile.
Another slight smile, “Out there, when you told them about my vision, you assured them both, all three of us, really, that we each had at least a fifty-fifty chance.”
“Well, you all do, even if the time frame has now changed a bit,” she added more softly.
“See, you just did it again.”
“Did what? Agreed that yes, I said what I said?”
“No, I mean, without even thinking about it, without even questioning it, you’re sure that all three of us, that we all have an equal chance. There was no trace of doubt in your eyes, even.”
“Ok, and that means what?”
“It means that you believe it: You already feel it. You already know that it could be any of us that could truly become the father of that child. Being here like we are, despite the jabs, arguments, worries, fears, unknowns, you already feel that…bond…with all three of us who are trapped here too, in this same situation. You already feel that connection with each of us. Or, in some cases, you still feel that connection,” he smiled again. “And I feel it too. No bullshit, no neurosis about it, no real jealousy about it, honestly…I feel like all four of us, we really are part of a bigger whole, truly,” he repeated again, as he added another kiss to her forehead once more before pushing himself up to slide the door open, an honestly sincere smile back her way before he stepped back out to greet the other men’s worried faces.
“So…is she better?” Ian asked upon Jared’s return from the hours he had spent in there with Lili, who looked floored by whatever had just transpired between them a moment earlier. But she still looked healthy and even almost…relieved.
Jared smiled as he looked back at her again, “Tired, a little sore, and I’m guessing hungry, too, but better,” he offered.
“You really are a fuckin genius,” Ian offered as he grabbed Jared and placed a wet kiss over his lips before letting go of the shocked teen. “I’ll get the food.” he stated simply as he moved to Lili’s bag and began searching for the food, paying no real heed to any of the slightly startled looks around him.
“Um...” Kyle began as Ian offered him another of those pre-packaged delights, “You know, I’m a genius, too,” he stated with such an innocent tone to his voice that all three of them couldn’t help laughing out loud at the statement, before going about the most relieved meal any of them had had in a long time.
----------------------------------------
With Lili feeling greatly better than the previous day, the four began preparing for another very cautious foray into the wilderness early the next afternoon. As Jared and Ian gathered most of the supplies that day, she waited in the cockpit with Kyle, casting a glance at her watch as the other two finished gathering the chosen items. She looked over at where Kyle silently tinkered with the computer once more.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“So, it’s August 2nd,” she offered, pointedly looking to see Kyle’s reaction.
“And?” Ian asked as he offered her the lightest bag.
“Anything special you want any of us to try and do tomorrow, Kyle?” she pointedly stated his name to get a reaction at last.
“Sorry?” he asked, looking up with an attempt at indifference.
“Tomorrow’s your birthday, Kyle,” she smiled. “Anything in particular you want us to try and do, or anything?”
Kyle just shook his head as he looked down once more, “Not really a lot of options in this place, Lili. That’s why I didn’t even bother saying anything.”
Then Ian just scoffed loudly as he moved to stoop in front of Kyle’s seat, “Ky,” he began pointedly, “the last woman, on the planet, just asked you if you wanted anything special for your seventeenth birthday. Did you happen to hear that, at all?”
Kyle scoffed with a bright blush as he shook his head, “Shut up, Ian. For cryin out loud, Jared is sitting right there,” he stated plainly.
“It’s ok Ky. It was actually pretty amusing,” Jared offered with his own little smile and simply went about gathering together his supplies for the day, as the other three looked just a bit shocked by his seemingly sincere calm.
“Dammit, we apparently are in the Twilight Zone after all,” Ian stated as he shook his head and stood upright again. Then he turned back to Lili. “So, what’s up with memorizing birthdays of people you barely talked to before last week? You a stalker, Lil? Cause if so, I’m offended. I’ve been like, begging you to stalk me since he was in like first grade.”
Kyle just shook his head again, “Did you find that one amusing too, Jar?” Though Jared’s only response was a smile that was, seemingly, amused.
“And, don’t worry Ian, I’ll tell you happy birthday on December 8th, too,” she assured him smartly.
He just shook his own head then, “Well, do I get any special surprises on my twenty-fourth, too?” he couldn’t help asking as he gave her another pointed up and down glance.
Lili just smirked, “Well, that’s four months away. It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now, would it?”
“That’s ok, I’ll act as fuckin surprised as you want me to,” he told her with another devious grin.
“Are you proud of what you’ve done now, Jared? You just green-lighted him to go back to sexually harassing her as much as he did on the ship,” Kyle warned, trying not to concentrate on that implied offer, after all.
“If it bugs Lili then I’m sure she’ll tell him,” was Jared’s only response, as he still seemed quite unruffled by any of Ian’s comments.
“I think he’s getting into his own medicinal supplies, now. That’s gotta be it,” Kyle returned with a shake of his head.
“Well, I would contend that maybe he got laid, but Lili was a bit out of commission last night, so it is rather odd,” Ian agreed as he gave Jared a puzzled look of his own.
Jared just shook his own head with another amused chuckle, “I was in a really bad mood the other day, when I jumped down your throat about liking Lili. Sorry, ok?” he told Ian simply.
Lili smiled up at Jared, with a bit less shock than the other two as Kyle looked up at Ian in disbelief, “What the hell kinda kisser are you?”
“Jealous?” he teased Kyle with his own content smirk as he moved to open the hatch to begin yet another unknown adventure for the day, figuring it couldn’t get much more shocking, anyway.
----------------------------------------
A good ways into their walk, Jared continued to remain vigilantly at Lili’s side, just in case any pain came back. Though, after a bit, he couldn’t help breaking the silence of the woods as he looked down at her, “So what is up with the birthday stuff?”
“What do you mean?” she asked with her own small smile.
“Well, Ian’s right: Other than the couple of nights you and I…had,” he began softly, though quickly continued on, “None of us really hung out that much together, before.”
“Yeah, but when I found out who all was going, I looked up your birthdates on the computer.”
“Um, ok…so you are a stalker?” he asked her with a playful caution.
“Yes, yes, this was all a big part of my master plan. See, I had it all figured out: Find a planet, then find the three hottest guys on the ship, and then get stranded here with them. Then all I had to do, was almost die, and hey, putty in my hands,” she teased with a little laugh.
He couldn’t help chuckling back before returning, “Actually, I believe my people were the ones that found the planet.”
“Details,” she scoffed playfully.
Then another quiet moment before he had to speak up again, “So, you think the three of us are the hottest guys on the ship, huh?” he couldn’t resist calling her on that.
A bit of a blush rose to her cheeks before she responded, “Can we go back to talking about birthdates again, or something?”
Jared just chuckled, but allowed her the subject change, “So, why did you look ’em up though, honestly?”
“Like you said, I’m all ‘new agey,’” she teased.
“What?”
“Remember, I believe in science, and astrology is a science.”
“You looked them up to find out our signs?”
“Had to know what I was getting into,” she pointed out.
“Ok, so what are you getting into with the three of us…sign-wise,” he just had to add as a disclaimer.
“Kyle, Leo. Ian, Sagittarius. You, Cancer.”
“Well yeah, but what useful information did that give you?” he continued.
“Kyle: Leo. He seems full of himself, always thinks he knows what’s best, and will always make sure you know it too,” she chuckled, then added, more softly, “but it’s because he really is that good, and too fragile, inside, to ever let anyone see any of the weakness behind all the bravado.”
Jared nodded thoughtfully, “Ok, one for one, I’ll give you that.”
She chuckled as she continued, “Ian: Sagittarius. Bold, brave, fearless, complete class clown, hardly any tolerance whatsoever for boredom, or any patience to be had, bursting with more energy than he knows what to do with, very sexual, but always in a playful way, too likeable for you to hold it against him for long,” she finished as she smiled fondly up at the men she described.
Jared just shook his head in concession, “Ok, I guess you are pretty good at this.”
“What, you’re not gonna ask about your rundown?”
“Oh, I think I can live with the suspense,” he told her with a slight bit of unease, though still wore a smile.
“Jared: Cancer. Very emotional, shy, very deep, too caring for his own heart’s good most of the time, always in tune with things that other people don’t even notice half the time, sensitive, sensual, very loving, very fragile.”
Jared looked down in a bit of his own embarrassment at such a description, “When you put it that way, I’m practically a girl.”
“Yet, which one of you was the first to get the girl, in every way?” she reminded him with a gentle kiss upon his cheek before moving to catch up to her other companions, leaving Jared to those deep, deep thoughts of his own, once more.