When he caught sight of Sunny, Kilnor didn't know whether to cry and laugh. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, swelling with emotion.
She was here, and she was alive, but she was so little, and Kilnor had thought she was fragile the first time he set eyes on her, but now he was cruelly aware of how correct he had been.
Before Kilnor could say anything, not that he knew what to say, Zalon was speaking.
"I want her in the medbay," he said, tone brooking no argument. Kilnor would not have argued. He was not going to let Sunny out of the medway until she had been cleared at least three doctors.
Nevertheless, he stepped forward and took her from Cade's arms. Cade let him do it, and he mouthed a voiceless thank you. His weakened body staggered slightly under his weight, and he could feel the wound in his chest tugging, but he only clutched her frail form closer to him, unconcerned with the filth covering her.
It was a mark of the relief that Zalon was feeling that he didn't admonish Kilnor for straining his body, and only repeated himself.
"Medbay, if you could."
Murmuring nonsense endearments and words of affection into Sunny's hair, Kilnor turned on his heels and strode back through the ship.
Medbay was perhaps too grand a word for what it was they actually had, which was more along the lines of a cupboard with a narrow stretcher in the middle, with just enough room for some various pieced of medical equipment and a sink squeezed around the side.
As gently as possible, Kilnor laid Sunny down on the stretcher. Even in her unconscious state she seemed unwilling for him to leave her, letting out a small murmur of distress as his arms left her.
Kilnor immediately reached back out, placing his hand along the side of her face. He fairly dwarfed her, with the majority of her face nestling neatly into the palm of his hand.
Not too far behind him, Zalon entered the room, surveying his latest patient with a critical eye. For Kilnor's benefit, he spoke of what she'd need.
"I want fluids in her," he said. "I shall also need to insert a feeding tube - luckily for us, she does not appear to have been physically abused, just abandoned and starved. She is extremely malnourished."
He gave her another once over.
"Her system will be weak," he added. "It is best if we clean her first - the slightest germ could make her seriously ill. Help me undress her."
If it was anyone else, Kilnor would not have been able to bear them seeing his mate naked. But this was Zalon, the consummate professional, and Sunny may as well be a mannequin for all the sexual interest Zalon would feel. Even Kilnor, who loved and desired every inch of her body, could not find anything sexual in the prone body in front of them. No, in the state she was in, Sunny was something to be cosseted and protected - not desired.
They removed her clothes quickly and efficiently, and then Zalon passed Kilnor a damp cloth that smelled faintly of flowers.
Working quickly, but methodically, Zalon set about cleaning the filth from Sunny's skin. Kilnor's movements were slower, more tender and infinitely more tentative.
Several times the water and clothes had to be changed as the ones they were using grew too encrusted with filth, but finally, Sunny seemed to resemble herself more, though she was still much too small.
The moment that task was complete, Kilnor could feel the entirety of the tiredness he'd been staving off envelop him, and he staggered on his feet.
It was something Zalon had evidently been expecting, as without looking up from where he was sorting through equipment, he spoke.
"Go ahead and lie down."
Kilnor threw a quizzical look at the back of Zalon's head. Utilising those senses that Kilnor had thought were restricted to parents only, Zalon responded to Kilnor's look.
"Yes, with Sunny," he said, sounding slightly exasperated. "This way I can set the IV and feeding tube up around you, rather than you sneaking in here the moment my back us turned and messing up all of my hard work."
Slightly abashed, but not willing to give up the boon he had just been granted, Kilnor clambered awkwardly onto the cot, careful not to disturb Sunny. He curled his body around her and was asleep before Zalon even began inserting any of the necessary medical paraphernalia.
Kilnor woke briefly to watch as Sunny was stretchered into the medical centre. He complained loudly when an overzealous assistant tried to do the same to him, until a frustrated Zalon told them to take both stretchers to the same room.
***
Gradually Sunny became aware that she could hear voices. Her first thought was that the extended and enforced solitude had truly driven her crazy.
She did not recognise any of the voices, though strangely enough, she was able to understand what they were saying, though they definitely weren't speaking English. Two of the voices were most definitely feminine, and Sunny was sure that she hadn't heard them before. They both sounded cheerful.
Then another voice spoke, and Sunny felt her brow wrinkle. The voice was masculine and familiar, but not quite right. He reminded her of something, or someone, but she knew that the speaker definitely wasn't someone she already knew.
"Look!" Sunny heard the younger feminine voice cry. The girl sounded like she was about nine years old. "I think her face moved!"
Sunny's brow twitched again. Was the girl talking about her? When the girl continued to say, "Look, she did it again!" her question was answered.
Sunny opened her eyes. The effort involved was monumental. Not only did her eyelids feel exceptionally heavy, but her eyelashes felt like they'd been glued together.
The room was blurry. Sunny had to blink quite a few times in an attempt to bring it into focus. Her eyes landed on the two female figures. Upon seeing them, Sunny was 100% sure she'd never seen them before. She had seen her share of Miotalans, starting with Kilnor and ending with the creepy older male, with an entire shipful in the middle - but she'd never actually set her eyes on a female Miotalan.
One look at the adult female watching her was enough to tell Sunny who she was. How many times had Sunny stared into replicas of those cat-like molten gold eyes?
Even though Sunny was well aware of how tall Kilnor and his teammates were, the height of his mother didn't fail to surprise her. Sunny would place a guess on her being around six feet, but that did not in anyway detract from her femininity.
Despite her height, she seemed very delicate, with fine bones and elegant cheekbones. Her face was heart-shaped, her wide eyes giving her a fragile air.
The young girl next to her was no doubt Kilnor's younger sister, possessing the same golden eyes that looked huge in her little face. Unlike Kilnor and his mother, she did not possess their soft gold skin. Instead, hers was a glowing silver that shimmered where the light hit it.
Maybe she wasn't mad then.
Maybe a miracle had happened, and Kilnor had come for her. Heart swelling with joy, she tried to speak, only to begin to choke with horror as she realised there was something down her throat that she could not dislodge. Her eyes flew around the room in panic, pleading or assistance.
Before she could do herself any permanent harm, Zalon was there, his calm voice instructing her not to panic, that it was just a feeding tube and he would have it out momentarily.
Focused as she was on Zalon's words, Sunny almost didn't hear the worried chatter of the little girl as she asked her mother what was happening.
There was an awful tugging sensation as Zalon pulled the feeding tube free, and then Sunny was just left with her throat feeling raw and burning slightly. A glass of water handed to her by Zalon soothed the worst of those feelings.
"How do you feel?" he asked. There was brief moment of stunned comprehension as Sunny realised she could understand him. His voice was as calm and soothing as she had always assumed it must be.
"F-fine," she stuttered slightly. "Where is Kilnor?"
Zalon's expression turned faintly amused, as if he were laughing at a joke that only he understood. "In the bed next to you."
Sunny immediately twisted her head to look next to her.
Zalon had not been lying. Kilnor lay in the bed next to her, completely still and obviously deeply asleep. Sunny's eyes traced his seldom peaceful features with affection, before she started with shock as she finally realised who the familiar male voice must have belonged to.
Next to Kilnor's bed, an older Miotalan male sat hunched into a chair that was too small for his large frame. Kilnor may have got his eyes and his colouring from his mother, but it was clear the rest of it came from his father's side of the family - from the sharp angles of his cheekbones, to his strong jawline and tall height.
If Kilnor's father was an example of what Kilnor would look like in the future, Sunny thought she should probably invest in some anti-ageing products for herself as soon as possible if she wished to look of an age with her partner.
That was assuming there were anti-ageing products available, but considering there were females on this planet, Sunny thought it probably wasn't too much of a stretch to assume anti-ageing products existed.
As if he could feel her gaze upon his face, Kilnor's nose wrinkled sightly. Combined with the sleepy, peaceful expression on his face, the expression was both adorable and charming.
Zalon followed her gaze.
"Good," he murmured approvingly to himself, obviously pleased by the notion of Kilnor and Sunny both being awake, or perhaps because his two most troublesome patients were well on their way to recovering.
Kilnor's mother and sister had watched Sunny's interaction with Zalon without saying anything. Now that Sunny had been assured that Kilnor was alive and well and close tot her, her thoughts turned to his family.
Somehow, in all of her despair about never seeing her family again, and her tentative hope that she may make a home for herself with Kilnor, she had never really thought about how his family would react to his mating. Specifically, to his mating a foreign female that was noticeably weaker than he was.
She threw another glance at her sleeping mate.
Please, she thought desperately, wake up!
He did not heed her unspoken plea.
Kilnor's mother looked as if she were about to step closer to the bed, when his younger sister beat her to it. Her hair was pale like starlight, strands of pale gold and silver twined together and pulled into neat braids - braids that Sunny still wore when she wanted her hair off her face.
"Hello!" she said brightly. "I am Ainne. Are you my brother's mate?"
Sunny shot a wary look towards her mother. Did she want her speaking to the child? Would she deny Sunny's claim to Kilnor?
When she made no protest, Sunny turned back towards the bright-eyed Ainne.
"Hello," she said softly, her voice still raw from the tube that had been pressed down her throat. "My name is Sunny, and yes, Kilnor is my mate."
Ainne's eyes lit up even further, molten gold dancing with an inner fire. She bounced on the spot.
"You can be my sister!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I do not know anyone else who has an alien sister!" Her nose wrinkled in a way that was near identical to Kilnor. "What type of alien are you?"
Before Sunny could answer, Kilnor's mother interjected.
"Ainne," she said, her voice scolding softly. "That is not a polite question."
Sunny smiled slightly. If Kilnor's mother was defending her, she could not be too upset that Kilnor had mated her, surely?
"I do not mind," she assured Kilnor's mother, before redirecting her attention to Ainne, who did not look at all abashed by her mother's admonition. "I am a human," she said. "I come from a planet that is very far away from here."
"You are staying with Kilnor?" Ainne asked, with the carelessness of a child, "You are not going back to your planet?"
Sunny felt Kilnor's mother's eyes lock onto her face, betraying her clear interest in Sunny's answer. It hit Sunny then, that even is she could choose to go back to her planet, she was not sure that she would - not if it meant leaving Kilnor behind.
"Yes," she answered the girl, eyes on the mother. "I am staying with Kilnor."
***
A sound from the bed next to her brought Sunny out of her sleep. She blinked blearily a few times, trying to place her surroundings, before they came rushing back to her. She turned her head so fast to check on the occupant of her neighbouring bed she nearly gave herself a crick in her neck.
"Kilnor?" she asked.
An incoherent mumble answered her, but the voice was unmistakable. Glancing around to make sure that Zalon was nowhere in sight, Sunny gritted her teeth as she removed the IV line from her wrist before slipping out of her bed and slipping into Kilnor's.
His arms closed around her immediately, their warmth and weight familiar and comforting. Sunny felt Kilnor's face nuzzle into her hair, and she let out a soft sigh. This was home.
***
Sunny was having a delicious dream. She was reunited with Kilnor, and he was holding her tightly and kissing the back of her neck gently, whilst his hands roamed her body, eliciting goosebumps and shivers.
Keeping her eyes tightly shut - she did not want to wake up - Sunny twisted in his arms until her own were wrapped around his neck to kiss him. It was a tender kiss, lips soft and yielding. Sunny opened her mouth, taking the kiss deeper when Kilnor pulled away.
She still did not open her eyes.
"Rianhar," Kilnor's voice was slightly more gravelly than she remembered. "Give me your eyes."
Sunny shook her head. "No," she mumbled, pressing her face into his chest. "I do not want to wake up."
"Ach, Rianhar," her name was a sigh this time. "You are not dreaming. I am here."
Sunny wavered.
"Why am I not surprised?"
Zalon's voice interrupted the moment, and the last of her sleepiness left Sunny.
She opened her eyes. Glowing gold eyes met hers, slight amusement in their depths. They seemed to be saying, I told you so.
"I know how you managed to survive to adulthood," Zalon directed his words to Kilnor. "As it was because of my medical expertise and calm counsel. What I cannot understand," he turned to Sunny. "Is how you managed to survive?"
Clearly Zalon did not approve of their sleeping arrangements. Sunny chose not to answer.
Kilnor just stared back at Zalon, his lazy amusement written all over his body. With one last roll of the eyes, Zalon busied himself checking any machine readouts.
"I love you."
Sunny was surprised by the words that came out of her mouth, but she made no attempt to withdraw them, just watched Kilnor carefully for his response.
He smiled, leaning forward the few inches to place a playful kiss on the tip of her nose. "You are my heart," he promised her.
Sunny felt the relief go tension she hadn't even known she was gathering at Kilnor's evident reciprocity. Then she was distracted, as a thought fitted through her mind.
"How can I understand you?" she asked. "I though you were going to make me learn Miotalan the old-fashioned way?"
The smile dropped from Kilnor's face to be replaced by a fierce expression. He clutched her closer to him, unconcerned by Zalon hovering only feet away.
"I never want you to be voiceless again," he said. He reached out to trace the mark he had left on her neck. "You are mine."
A/N: Definitely winding down now! I changed the cover and the summary! What do you think? I'll be beginning rewrites shortly, so let me know with a comment if there are any scenes you really think should be expanded or added!