No one complained when our scheduled departure time came and had been delayed for another three months. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people we had onboard, every single one of them didn't mind waiting for more passengers.

The Aviatoma people especially didn't mind waiting, because it was getting close to the birth of the Honored Matron's son. They would much rather have her egg hatch while the ship was in normal space than in hyperspace. There was no particular reason for that. They just felt better about the ship being stationary while such a delicate thing occurred.

With me being the magnanimous man that I was, I allowed this. No less then fifteen people, adults and children alike, came over to me and smacked the back of my head while I sat on the big comfy couch and snuggled with a very pregnant Noma.

“Ow. Ow. Ow.” I said as each person smacked me good. “It's not fair that you're reading my thoughts.”

“You'd probably never say it out loud, so we have to punish the thoughts.” Simone chuckled and held our son up to let him whack me with all four of his hands. Little Markus took the opportunity to wail on me with both slaps and baby fists as he laughed.

“You don't have to enjoy hitting me that much.” I said and pretended to try and keep my head out of his range. It made him laugh more when he still hit me as I tried to evade him.

“That looks like so much fun!” Mina said as she walked behind the couch. “Markus, want me to help?”

HELP! HELP! Markus broadcast loudly and everyone within his range winced.

Mina was almost six now, so she recovered quickly and grabbed my braid, then she pulled on it to hold my head still.

Markus laughed and laughed as he swung all four of his arms at me as hard as he could. Nearly everyone else laughed as well, because we had all gathered together to watch our favorite show and now they were getting a different show while we waited for it to start.

“You really shouldn't let him do that, Dad.” Portishiastis said. She was Gleas' and my daughter, and she wasn't happy that she and her mother were several seats away on the couch and not closer like she thought they should be.

“Tish, we talked about this.” Gleas said.

“Mom, he's...”

“Tish.” Gleas said in a stern voice.

“It's all right, Gleas.” I said and both she and Tish looked at me as Simone eased Markus away from his favorite punching bag, my face. “She's only saying what others are thinking.”

“Hunter, I've told her...”

“...that I love you and there's only so much time I can spare in a day for everyone?” I asked.

“Yes, actually.” Gleas said with a smile.

“As long as none of you blame Noma, since I spent just as much time with your mothers as I am with her.” I said and the teenagers were all surprised when the Presence didn't waver. “I can't compare to my mom, though. She outshines me with how devoted she is to being there as much as possible.”

Monica blushed as all eyes turned to her. “It's a mother's and grandmother's job to take care of the family.”

“You've done a wonderful job so far, mom.” I said. “I hope you can keep being awesome with the new additions coming.”

Monica chuckled. “I have to admit that the job has been significantly easier with most of the first batch becoming teenagers, because I rope them into helping with the younger ones!”

That made most of the adults laugh when the teenagers in question groaned.

“Well, keep it up. We need as much help, especially Presence help, with Noma's baby.” I said. “Hen warned us that it could pop out any day now.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Monica asked, concerned. “Noma should be in the medical bay and under constant observation.”

I chuckled. “She's always under observation and I've got a transport platform ready for her right there.” I pointed up at the ceiling and everyone looked up to see the stretcher and platform above their heads. “It follows us everywhere, and by everywhere, I mean from the room to here and back.”

“I hate having to waddle and he carries me everywhere, too.” Noma said and laughed.

The show came on and we all quieted down to watch. I generated an invisible Presence Hand and tapped Tish's hand. I felt her 'look' at it and I wiggled the fingers as if asking to hold hands. She looked at me and I gave her a smile.

I promise that after our next monthly vacation, I'll devote an entire day to hang out with just you. I thought to her, exclusively. No work. No other concerns. It will just be you and me hanging out. How does that sound?

Tish gave me wide eyes for a moment, because the Presence didn't waver, then she nodded slightly and held hands with the Presence Hand and started watching the display again.

Can we go to the shopping district? Tish asked me as she piggybacked on my 'exclusive' mental channel to her.

We can do anything you want. I thought back to her. Good job latching onto my signal so that no one else can hear you.

Th-thanks. Tish thought and blushed a little.

I think your lessons need to be expanded to give you more of an in depth knowledge, since you managed that all on your own. I thought proudly and let her feel how impressed I was.

D-d-dad. Tish's face flushed completely red. It's not... that impressive.

I sent her a mental laugh. You just proved you can mentally track anyone that tries to probe your mind, Portishiastis. It really is impressive, because I didn't learn how to do that on my own for years.

Really? Tish asked and looked at me again.

Maybe you also need a few lessons on talking mentally and not letting your actions show people that you're talking mentally, too. I thought with amusement.

Tish looked around and several adults and teenagers were looking back and forth between her and me. That made her blush deepen and I stopped myself from laughing.

It's all right. I thought with reassurance. You can't be absolutely amazing all the time. You have to settle for being just amazing for now. All right?

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Tish looked back at me briefly and then looked at the display. She sent me a mental nod. All right.

That's my little girl. You're already getting it and understanding what I meant. I thought happily. Now we just need to get that cute blush under control.

Daaaaaaad! Tish blushed bright red and I laughed mentally.

*

A week later, Noma was rushed to the medical bay on the stretcher. This birth was going to be something that none of us knew was going to happen, so we were all ready for pretty much anything. We even had the original Herbie there to assist Hen. Thankfully, it was a little better than a textbook birth. Noma felt a lot of discomfort while in labour and yet she barely felt any pain. Hen said that was normal in some cases and not to worry about it.

Twenty minutes later, the baby popped right out without any muss or fuss. That had surprised everyone, Hen included, because there was usually some kind of distress as the baby passed through the vaginal opening. Not this little girl, though. She slipped right out as if she could squeeze herself through a much smaller hole, then she was out into the world and crying her eyes out.

“WAAAHHH! WAAAHHH! WAAAHHH!” She let out as she kept sucking in air to cry more.

“She's got great breathing capacity.” Hen commented and quickly checked her over and cleaned her, swaddled her up, then handed her to Noma. The crying didn't abate or lessen in any way and Noma gave us a sorrowful look.

“I'm thinking that handful you thought Simone's baby was going to be, may have rubbed off on mine.” Noma said.

“Don't worry.” I said and reached for her. “I'm sure that...” I stopped talking when I touched the baby and felt a tug on my Presence. “Noma, can you feel her trying to absorb anything?”

Noma shook her head. “I thought I would feel her trying to use the ability on me; but, I don't feel it.”

I looked at Hen and then at Noma. “Can I hold her for a minute?”

“If you think you can stop her crying, go ahead.” Noma said and held her out to me.

I took our baby in my arms and hugged her to my chest, then suddenly the chest part of my bodysuit sunk into my skin. The baby stopped crying as she latched her mouth onto my nipple and started to suckle.

Noma let out a bark of laughter. “You're her father! She's not going to get anything out of...” She gasped when she felt my Presence being sucked out and into the baby. Her mouth dropped open in shock and Hen just stared at me.

I was even more shocked as the baby fed herself from me and was completely contented.

“Let us see!” Mina said loudly and used Presence to carry her voice through the wall.

“No, we... we shouldn't let them see...” Hen tried to tell us that everyone shouldn't know what was going on.

“They're going to find out soon enough anyway.” I said and looked down at my daughter. “I would never hide this beautiful little girl.”

“But... Noma...”

I chuckled. “Don't worry, she's still going to need momma's milk. She's just feeding her emotional hunger right now.” I looked at Noma. “You know what I mean.”

Noma nodded. “Food is always secondary to feeding.”

I hit the button and the covers opened on the observation window and everyone looked at Noma to see the baby. They felt confusion for several moments, then they saw me standing beside the bed and that it was me that was nursing the baby.

“Oh. My. God.” One of the teenage girls whispered. “What... the baby can't...”

“You can feel it, can't you?” One of her half-brothers asked. “She really is feeding.”

“But... how...”

“Sama has her mother's ability.” I said. “Surprise.”

Everyone just stared at me with the baby suckling on my nipple. Tish gave the baby a glare, gave me a glare, then she walked away without a word.

*

At the end of the month, they had family vacation and Tish was nowhere to be found. Hunter was not surprised by this, considering the thoughts he had picked up from her during the brief times that she had been within his detection range. Hunter let it go until the vacation was over, then everyone went back to their normal daily routine and their jobs. He handed Sama off to her mother after feeding the both of them very early in the morning, then he used his hunting skills to track Tish down.

Gleas had tried to stop her from leaving their living area and Tish had easily avoided being delayed. She had thought she made her escape and did her best to avoid her father. Hunter didn't cheat and try to ask Zoe where his errant daughter had run off to, because he wanted to prove to her that he could find her without having to resort to the all-seeing AI that ran everything on the ship.

Not surprisingly, he found her in one of the maintenance access ways that ran around the hydroponics bays. They delivered water, power, and air to everything, so it wasn't surprising to him that she tried to hide there. The access ways went all over the ship and unless you took a transport platform or one of the personal conveyances, you weren't going to get far.

*

I had used Stealth to move about without causing a stir and found my daughter in one of the large junctions between two hydroponics bays. I dropped the technique and walked over to the spot where Tish sat.

“I wish I could do that.” Tish said, bitterly.

“I can teach you.” I said and sat beside her.

Tish huffed. “How? You've got to stay close to the new baby in case she needs to feed.”

I opened my mouth to explain, then sighed. “I honestly didn't know she would bond with me and not her mother.” I said and held a hand out, palm up, and wiggled my fingers. “All I can say is that I've never broken my word.”

Tish looked at my hand and then at my face.

“It's not going to be just us today.” Tish said.

“For all intents and purposes, we will be all alone... but... you know we have to stop to eat lunch and supper with the family like we always do. I would like for you to forgive me if Noma brings Sama to me for a meal at the same time.”

Tish looked down at my chest and gave me a bit of a glare. “You know that's really weird, right?”

I chuckled. “More than you do, since it's my nipples she chews on.”

Tish winced at the thought.

“Yeah, if my regeneration and self healing weren't so high, they would be sore all the time.” I said and wiggled the fingers on my still extended hand. “Believe me, she's not gentle at all.”

Tish gave my hand a glance, then put her hand in it. “I'm kind of happy you're suffering doing it.”

“You say that as if I didn't know that.” I said and tapped my forehead. “Come on.” I stood up. “I'll cook a quick breakfast and then we can officially start our father daughter day.”

“If we go back there, you know someone's going to distract you.” Tish said and stood.

“Nope. Today's a day off for me. It's even in my schedule.” I said. “Zoe? What's on my schedule for today?”

“It's the first personal day you have officially booked off in thirteen years.” Zoe said. “All inquiries for you during the day will be deferred until tomorrow. You have also paused the loading of the automated warships, because you can't be there to properly monitor the assembly of the black barrier machines.”

“Wh-what?” Tish looked from the closest intercom speaker to me. “Why would you...”

“I don't even have a datapad or my wrist communicator on me.” I said.

Tish looked at the wrist of the hand she held, then she gasped at not seeing the communicator that was always there.

“I'm sure if there's an emergency, Zoe can find me; but, besides anything catastrophic happening, I really am all yours all day.” I said.

Tish looked like she was about to cry, so I stepped close and hugged her.

“Hey, it's okay to feel that way.” I said and squeezed her tightly. “I'm really sorry that there's not more of me to go around. I've been getting a lot better the last few years and I haven't been working around the clock like I could be.”

“You mean like you want to be.” Tish said.

I chuckled. “If I could get my work done at night and then spend all day with you and the others, that would be great.” I said and let her out of the hug. “Unfortunately, even I need to sleep eventually.”

Tish nodded. “I can't get my mind to sleep and meditate at the same time.”

“Well, I learned it just from necessity. Having to learn it and not having a reason to do it? Your mind probably can't adapt properly.” I said and covered us in Presence. “I can give you a reason to, if you want.”

Tish gave me wide eyes and I gave her a grin back.

“I'll initiate you later with that. For now, I want you to concentrate on what I'm doing right now.” I said and very, very slowly, initiated the Stealth technique and shared it with her as we both disappeared.

Tish's mouth dropped open in surprise as her mind opened up and absorbed the technique like a sponge. “Dad! You just... Dad!”

“It's going to take you a while to practice and get it to work on your own, though.” I cautioned her. “Let's run back to eat with the family, all right?”

Tish nodded and we used Presence Run together. She tried to hide how happy she was as we ran through the maintenance access ways and I let her think that I couldn't feel it. Teenagers needed to believe that they could hide some things from their parents, or they were never going to be happy. At the moment, Tish was very happy and doing her best to not show it.

We ate breakfast with our family and then spent the rest of the day together. We went shopping and I refrained from buying her everything that she wanted. I wasn't stupid enough to think buying her gifts would make everything better; but, having debates with her over the merits of some things over others was actually quite delightful. When Tish took a stance and proved her point, those things I bought for her. She also appreciated it more, too.

All in all, it was a great day.