The loud, shriek-like wail awoke Tenn abruptly. Her first reaction was to cover her head with her pillow in a feeble attempt to minimize the sound. The Invader checked the hour; 2:15 A.M. Sweet Irk, it hasn't been even half an hour and the smeet was crying again?
Purple shifted next to her, groaning tiredly. "Teeenn, the smeet's crying..."
"Your turn," The Invader said quickly, hiding back under the duvet and closing her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep.
Purple sighed. He could have protested, but oddly he didn't really mind. He just loved to have any excuse to hold his baby. Purple got up and went to peek at the cradle; Mor was kicking his little legs, his little tongue sticking out as he looked for the pacifier that had slipped out of his mouth. Purple tried to put it back, but Mor would spit it back out.
"There, there. Shhh, don't cry, smeetie-pooh," Purple purred gently, cradling Mor in his arms and bouncing him gently. "Why's my little smeet crying?"
"You know he can't talk, don't you?"
"I thought you were asleep, Tenn."
"I was until your son started crying."
"Hey, he's your son too!"
"Not until 7."
Purple chuckled. "Whatever you say, my dear."
The Tallest silently walked out of the room, bouncing Mor in his arms and making crooning noises. The lounge's lights lit up dimly as he walked out of his bedroom. Purple noticed Stalker curled up just outside Red's chambers; the indokuro opened an eye warily before going back to sleep.
Purple opened the fridge with his PAK-limbs, took the bottle of smeeting formula Lena had helped him prepare beforehand, and touched Mor's tips with the teat, prompting the smeet to latch on. Purple hummed a particular tune he was fond of as he bottle-fed his son; Mor purred happily until the bottle was empty. Afterward, Purple patted Mor's back with his fingers until the smeet let out a small burp. He continued to stare down at Mor as he went back to his nap, suckling on his thumb adorably. Purple would gently rock him soothingly if he shifted or seemed like he'd wake up, whispering sweet words to him.
He still couldn't believe it. Here he was, finally holding a smeet of his own. He had the feeling that Mor would be so much like him! Purple could already imagine himself taking his son to blow planets up or eat donuts, teaching him all he knew about combat and training with him to help him reach his full potential. But for now, he was content with holding his little Mor close.
One of the doors whizzed open. "Oh, Uncle Pur, I didn't know you were here."
Purple looked back at his niece, smiling a bit. She was wearing a pink sleeping gown similar to Lena's.
"Don't mind me, just giving Mor a midnight snack."
"I kind of heard it from my room; I'm not complaining, it's just that from all that time on Sobr I had gotten used to the quiet."
"I can actually imagine it..."
Ilk grabbed a big slice of mirror cake and went to the couch to eat. Purple decided to join her for a little while; after all, they hadn't had any quality time together for a long time, and now was a perfect chance. Not to mention that Ilk looked like she needed someone to talk to.
"I heard the rest of your presentation went off without a hitch." Purple sat down next to Ilk, chuckling. "You even sent Larb to the med bay."
"It's the one thing I'm not sorry about, he's a jerk." Ilk took a bite from her cake.
"Too bad I didn't get to see that, but at least the other Invaders learned not to cross you. Though frankly, if you hadn't unleashed that creature on Larb, I'm sure Red would have looked for an excuse to send that," Purple subtly motioned to Stalker with his head, "after Larb."
"Yeah. Dad's actually gone a good job in training him. From what I've seen of Stalker so far, he's in good shape and listens to orders. Many newbie Indokani struggle to control their indokuros the first few weeks; I was actually stunned that he lay back down when Dad ordered him to when there was a live prey in front of him."
"Well, you know what everyone says when Red gives them an order: Yes, my Tallest!" Both chuckled lightly, causing Mor to shift awake with protesting squeals. "Shh, it's okay, go back to sleep, smeetie-pooh." Purple cooed.
"Smeetie-pooh?"
"What? You should have heard the nicknames Red called you with."
Ilk shifted closer to him, leaning down to peek at Mor's half-asleep face. "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said his eyes have different colors."
"Maybe, but that makes him more unique."
"Uncle Pur, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
Ilk shifted in her place, rubbing the back of her head. "How did you know Tenn was the one? I mean, you mentioned that you had seen her before the Fall of Vort but didn't have any attraction for her until... Was it just a matter of looks? Or chemistry? Sweet Irk, I don't even know what I'm saying!"
Purple glanced at his niece, raising his lekku in interest. Why was she asking something like that? Could it be that she...? But how? She hasn't been around other Irkens for a long time now.
"Well, it's... hard to explain." he said after a while. "I admit I didn't realize it at first, I was merely curious about her increased height, but the more I got to know her, that's when I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my lifetime with her." Purple smirked. "Who's the lucky guy?"
"What?! No! I don't-!" Ilk stuttered, but the pink color in her whole face said everything. "I'm not dating anyone!"
"I never said you were."
Thankfully for Ilk, Mor seemed to resent that he wasn't the center of attention anymore and squealed loudly. Purple laughed.
"Okay, okay, I get it. You're sleepy. Let's go to bed." Purple headed towards his bedchambers, not before giving Ilk one last glance. "Sleep well, Ilk."
"You too, uncle Pur."
As the doors silently closed behind him, Purple went to take a peek at his wife. Tenn had fallen asleep against the pillows. Shifting so that Mor was carefully held in one arm, he reached out to stroke her head, causing his wife to shift slightly. Purple smiled and couldn't resist the temptation to lean down to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Squeak! Squeak!
"Don't make any noise, Mor. Mommy is asleep," Purple cooed gently. Mor squealed loudly. "Okay, okay, I get it, you're sleepy."
As he went to tuck Mor in the crib, though, the smeet whimpered and held onto his sleeping robe with all of his might. Purple contained the urge to squeal in delight. His son wants to stay with him! He silently returned to bed and placed Mor on top of the soft smeet pillow they'd purchased, then lay down and carefully moved it closer to his head.
"Good night, my little Mor..." Purple whispered, placing his hand on top of Mor's body to keep him warm, falling asleep not long after.
**SoP**
Despite being only one day old, Amoranth already showed a natural-born smeet's characteristic curiosity. When not asleep he looked around and fixed his gaze on anything that got his attention, mostly his father's face and voice. Mor soon began associating the 'big one' with good things such as warmth and comfort. A few times he even tried, to no avail, rolling unto his belly to crawl towards his father.
The rest of the 'family' fawned over the newborn smeet one Red and Ilk returned from the Progress Convention, which went off without anymore hitches; Purple made a mental note to ask Red for more details later. The only two people who didn't get to meet Mor just yet were Rouge and Stalker; the former because Lena considered Rouge might want to play or get jealous and unintentionally hurt his smaller cousin. As for Stalker... Well, one just needed to look at him to figure out why they didn't want him around any smeets.
As Mor continued to learn more around the outside world, Purple held him in a warm swaddled blanket, whispering sweet words to him or stroking his little cheek, prompting Mor to grasp unto his finger and nibble on it.
"Hey, Mor, look at this! Daddy got it for you when you were in mommy's tummy!" Mor raised his lekku at the sound of the rattle above him and reached out to grab it with adorable squeals. "Aww, look at this!"
"He's adorable!"
Red wiped his eye, placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Reminds me of when you were a smeet, sweetie. I still remember you were so tiny that you fit in my hands!"
"Daad, I'm not a smeet!" Ilk protested as she was pulled into yet another irasplooch hug.
"I haven't you in the flesh for months so deal with it. Besides, I'm very proud of you! I mean, turning the lizards' own hybrids against them? I don't think even I would have thought of that! I bet it won't be long before we perform the Organic Sweep on bloody Sobr at last!" Purple noticed how Ilk shifted uncomfortably.
"Hey, mind your language! There's smeets present!" Lena chided, gesturing to Rouge and Mor.
Speaking of Rouge, the smeet crawled from his mother's lap all the way to Purple's, eyes fixed on Mor. Curious, he squeaked and made calling sounds of sorts; to Purple's surprise, Mor twitched his lekku and reacted by squealing loudly and trying to worm his way out of the swaddle. "Are you watching this? It's like they're communicating!"
"I think I know what's going on. Purple, think you could lower Mor a bit? Just enough so that Rouge can see him."
Though hesitant, Purple did as told. Lena carefully raised Rouge with her hands; both smeets stared at each other for a good few seconds, seemingly unresponsive, until Rouge crawled onto his cousin's swaddle and cuddled next to him, clumsily trying to pull him closer with his little arms. Mor happily snuggled into the embrace as both smeets purred, twitching their lekku.
"Sweet Irk, please tell me someone is recording this! Hey, Ilkie, bring the Irkpad!" Purple laughed.
"Is this normal?" Red inquired.
"It's an old defensive measure of sorts. Back in the day, eggs were placed together in nests and upon hatching, they'd huddle up together to keep themselves warm. As they grew, the bigger smeets often cuddled the smaller ones to keep them safe." Lena explained. "This instinct is still present in natural-born smeets."
"This explains why Miyuki lifted the ban on natural reproduction," Red chuckled sadly. "I bet she would have loved this- Oh, Tenn, there you are! How are you feeling?"
Purple glanced at the doorway. His wife was still in a sleeping gown, leaning onto the wall as she made her way towards the kitchen. "Tenn, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I'm just getting used to walking without the extra weight." was the unsurprisingly curt reply.
"Haven't you experienced any bleeding or cramps or-?"
"I'm okay, Lena, thanks for asking. I just need something to eat, that's all."
"Tenn, you won't believe this! Mor and Rouge just show an... odd behavior that they never learned but had in their DNA."
"Instinctual behavior, Ilkie." Purple corrected with a small chuckle, gaze fixed on his smeet.
"Come and see, Tenn! It's really cute!"
Sighing, Tenn approached the couch while munching on a bag of marshmallows. The sound of the plastic bag brought Rouge out of his protective mood and he immediately crawled off Purple's embrace, reaching out for the bag with insistent squeaks. Lena managed to grab him by the waist before he could fall off the couch.
"Is it okay if I give him s'mores now that he's older?" Tenn inquired curiously, giving the smeet a pink marshmallow at the positive nod she got.
Just like last night, Mor squealed loudly to Tenn's voice and reached out for her once his mismatched-colored eyes managed to spot her. "Aww, she recognizes your voice! Wanna go with mama, don't you?"
"You should hand him over, Pur. We must get back to work."
"Aww, man! Can't you just cover me while I enjoy my baby?"
Red frowned. "Purple, I've already been covering you for months. Stop complaining and let's go."
Purple let out a frustrated groan. Reluctantly, he handled Mor over to Tenn. Leaning down, he whispered to the smeet. "Daddy has to go for a few hours, Mor. Be good and stay with mommy, okay?" Purple kissed Mor's forehead, and then Tenn's before following Red into the elevator.
XOXO
Tenn didn't know what happened; she didn't even realize Purple had handed the smeet over until she felt the weight in her arms and Purple's lips kissing her forehead before he disappeared behind the elevator doors alongside Red, leaving her alone with Ilk, Lena, and the squirming little thing in her arms that was nuzzling against her chest.
"Looks like someone's hungry."
"How can you tell?"
"Believe it or not, but we Irkens used to..." Lena coughed uncomfortably. "Nurse our offspring."
Tenn blinked. Nurse, as in...?
"You mean... producing milk in our bodies and then growing the... " Ilk made round gestures with her hands, leaving the sentence unfinished but clear.
"Yes. I'm not sure why, though, as we're not a mammalian species. In our case the teat was actually located within the pouch so the smeets could nurse from there, much like marsupials. Nowadays we've taken to using feeding bottles because cloning has long removed pouches and nursing."
"Okay, so what do I do? This is uncomfortable..." Tenn murmured.
"He's just hungry. Here, Purple left a ton of feeding bottles ready for Mor."
Tenn accepted the bottle while Lena carefully helped accommodate Mor in her other arm so that he could eat properly. Thankfully it wasn't that hard, she just had to touch his lips with the bottle for him to latch on, as if he knew what he was supposed to do already.
"Do you mind if I take you pictures with the Irkpad? I kind of promised Uncle Pur that I'd record anything Mor did in his absence."
Tenn contained the urge to roll her eyes. "Sure, why not?" she murmured. She tried focusing on the amount of formula left in the bottle, but this only made time feel slower, so the Invader ended up glancing at Stalker. "How come Red didn't take him along this time?"
"There was an... incident a few months ago. Stalker attacked a table drone when Red asked for a refill. Red doesn't take him to the bridge ever since." Lena explained.
"Wait, he leaves a bloody indokuro in the same room as a smeet?"
"Oh, believe me, I don't like the idea either."
"How come he hasn't tried to eat Rouge?"
"Actually, Indokuros have the instinct to protect their indokani's offspring." Ilk glanced at Stalker, who was sharpening his claws on a clawing post.
With the bottle finally empty, Tenn was about to place Mor on the nearby smeet pillow when he started squirming uncomfortably. "Um, Lena...?"
"He needs to be burped, just pat him firmly on the back, but not too hard or he might-"
Blaargh!
"...Throw up."