Connor poured over a WebMD article on pregnancy. His head hurt and pretty much everything he read made him wrinkle his nose with disgust.

The development of a baby took place over 37 to 40 weeks, so about 9 months. Connor knew that already.

He didn’t know that those 9 months were split into 3 trimesters and that a whole list of different symptoms went with each one.

The first trimester, which it was abundantly clear M was entrenched in, was full of nothing but nausea, fatigue and… swollen, tender breasts.

Connor made another face of disgust as he scrolled through the article.

It went into explaining how conception worked and how early a woman could tell she was pregnant. Some fucked up hormone, HCG, could be detected in the urine a week or so after fertilization.

Something seemed off about M’s situation though. The article said that morning sickness didn’t usually start until 6 weeks in… Connor knew they hadn’t been having sex 6 weeks ago.

He glared at Hannah’s computer and wondered what the fuck was going on… He felt really uncomfortable and he wished… well, he wished this wasn’t happening.

He cleared the browser history and shut the monitor off after a couple hours of reading.

He couldn’t take anymore. He was filled with a bunch of disturbing thoughts that picked relentlessly at his brain.

He tried to relax on the pull-out bed, but his worries wouldn’t stop. They were like sharks circling around Connor’s shipwrecked mind.

He couldn’t rest…

Downstairs in the living room, M was watching a kids movie on the Disney Channel. Connor sat beside him and glared at the animated characters on the screen. His bad mood increased tenfold as he watched the stupid humor play out.

“So, I’m guessing you’re 6 weeks pregnant. If not more,” he said abruptly.

M gazed at Connor, but Connor kept him in the corner of his eye. He couldn’t bring himself to look at him fully.

“OK?”

“So we didn’t have sex 6 weeks ago. We started fucking maybe 3 weeks back.”

“I… don’t understand.”

“I don’t know how this baby is supposed to be mine. I don’t understand how I impregnated you,” Connor snapped.

M fell silent. The stupid talking animals on the Disney Channel filled the void with frivolous banter. Connor grit his teeth.

“I don’t understand what’s going on, M, but I’m not about to get stuck with someone else’s kid.”

“Is that what you’re so upset about?” M gaped and Connor turned to glare at him.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

“Well, I haven’t been with anyone but you, Connor, I can promise you that,” M scoffed. An unfamiliar look of anger consumed his face. His cheeks turned an appealing shade of red and his vibrant green eyes flashed.

Connor folded his arms. “Then how do you explain it,” he asked. “Did you and your Mothership steal my sperm or something?”

M fidgeted. “I don’t know what’s going on either,” he said. “You always know more than me.”

Connor laughed bitterly. “Not this time,” he said. “This time, I’m completely in the dark and Googleing everything!”

M chewed his lip and turned to stare blankly at the TV.

Connor looked at the TV too and scowled at the all-animal cast. “I hate kids shows,” he sneered. “Why do you always have to watch this shit.”

M made a soft sound of annoyance. He looked around the couch, probably for the remote, but Connor wasn’t done bitching yet.

“Do you even know what it’s like raising a baby? Do you know how much work it is?”

M dug his hand between the couch cushions.

“They cry all day long, they scream about nothing, they poop all over themselves. We won’t have sex for months, we’ll be too busy cleaning and burping and feeding some bratty kid.”

“It’ll be our kid.”

“Like that means anything…” Connor sneered. “I hate babies.”

M rummaged through the cracks on Connor’s side of the couch. He pulled the remote out from under him and shut off the TV. “Stop it! You’re so mean!” he cried.

“And you’re so stupid. This is never going to work,” Connor said.

M jumped off the couch and ran upstairs.

Connor sat in silence for a while. He stared at his reflection in the TV screen, wondering what the fuck was going to happen next. He had no idea who they could trust, but Google said M needed prenatal care.

He sighed explosively and rubbed his face hard. He couldn’t believe this was happening!

Suddenly, he heard a key sliding into the front door. He checked the time on the cable box… it was almost 4. Time had slipped away while he’d Googled baby stuff and had panic attacks…

“Hey,” Hannah said as she came through the door. She had a paper bag of groceries in her arms and a leather satchel over her shoulder. She looked like a little professional in her pants suit with her hair up and a touch of makeup on her face.

Connor got up to help. He took the groceries out of her arms.

“Whew. Thanks,” Hannah said with a smile. “Set it on the counter, will you? I’ll be in to put it away. Just a minute…”

So, Connor took the groceries to the kitchen and stood over the bag with no clue what to do next. He looked through the food items, checking out the bread, the fresh veggies, and the pack of raw chicken.

He felt so lost…

“What’s wrong with M?” Hannah asked as she bustled into the room. She’d left her satchel behind and her jacket was off. She grabbed the grocery bag and started unloading it.

Connor shrugged uncomfortably. “Why?”

“The door was shut when I went up. I knocked and he said he was OK, but he didn’t come out. He didn’t sound OK.”

Connor glared at the pack of chicken. “He’s fine.”

Hannah gave him a look. “You went to the clinic, right? What happened?”

Connor hesitated. There was no way he was telling Hannah the doctor had diagnosed a pregnancy.

“He uh… he has the flu,” he said slowly. He ran his fingers through his hair and watched as Hannah deposited the meat and greens into the fridge.

Hannah looked over her shoulder, her eyebrow raised. “It’s going around really bad this year. Do you have any symptoms?”

Connor shook his head.

“Well, did the doctor give him some antivirals?”

Connor shook his head again.

“Oh, well, did he recommend bed rest and fluids? Did he tell you to load up on vitamins? Did he—”

“We left right after the diagnosis,” Connor said in a rush. “M was asking all kinds of awkward questions. I had to get him out of there.”

Hannah raised her other eyebrow and shut the fridge. “And they charged you a hundred dollars for that?”

Connor shrugged with discomfort. He tried to avoid Hannah’s piercing gaze.

“That was pretty wasteful.”

Connor grit his teeth. “It was 80 bucks.” He pulled the envelope she’d give him that morning out of his back pocket and tossed it on the table. “There’s your change,” he said.

Hannah turned away from him. She didn’t even look at the money. “I called that cop today,” she said, arranging the loaf of bread on the counter.

Connor narrowed his eyes. “What cop?”

“Officer Bradley,” Hannah said. “I told you about her. She was the one investigating you.”

“Why did you call her?”

Hannah looked around at Connor, jutting her hip out and firming her jaw with decisiveness. “Because. I told her you were back in town.”

“What?!”

“You said so yourself. The cops aren’t after you.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to get interrogated! Fuck… What did you do, Hannah?”

“I never got around to calling Bradley after we talked the other night. I was busy with school,” she said. “But I wanted to find out if she’d learned anything… about the blood, about Michael Thomas—”

“You don’t believe me,” Connor said through his teeth. “You’re going to collaborate with the enemy, just so you can get a fact check on me?”

Hannah chuckled. “The enemy?”

“Fuck the cops,” Connor growled.

“But you said—”

“I said you couldn’t tell anyone! I can’t have people finding out M’s an alien! We’re hiding from an evil fuck who wants to take over the world!”

Hannah smirked. She tried to hide it with a hand over her mouth, but Connor saw straight through her flimsy attempt.

“Fuck you, Hannah. You think I’m batshit crazy. You have no fucking idea what we’ve been through.”

“Connor, wait,” Hannah said quickly, but he was half way through the living room already.

He paused by the front door, debating whether or not to leave. When he sensed Hannah coming into the room behind him though, he swung the door open and stormed outside.

He started down the street, going the opposite direction they had this morning. He didn’t want to catch sight of the clinic…

He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked quickly. People were getting out of work. The road was backed up with cars, bozos stuck in rush hour. Connor glared at everyone as he went.

He walked in circles for close to an hour, trying to cool off. It wasn’t helping much though. He kept thinking about how he’d have to go back to Hannah’s eventually. How he’d have to help and be involved in a pregnancy he’d never wanted or asked for… It was burning him up on the inside. He was getting more and more furious as he thought about it.

He started to get hungry, maybe a mile and a half from Hannah’s townhouse. The roads were still pretty busy with traffic and the sidewalk had all kinds of people walking to and fro. He had to dodge the crowds left and right. He wanted to shove them out of his path. He was walking as close to the curb as possible and he still had to steer clear of the oblivious city fucks. He was tired of accommodating these assholes…

He turned the next corner and started to head back to the house in a vague, non-direct route.

He wished he’d kept Hannah’s $20. He could have stopped at one of the many eateries that flanked the streets.

Fuck, there was a Taco Bell ahead, crammed between an apartment building and a drug store. If he’d had even $2, he could have gotten something.

Despite his anger and increasing hunger, it still took a little over 30 minutes to get back. He’d been gone close to 2 hours now, and his stomach was rumbling mutinously. He felt almost no change in his mood, but he was ready to get off the street.

Connor jogged up Hannah’s front steps and tried the door. It was unlocked and he slid inside without any problems.

The house was quiet and he went through the living room, searching for signs of life, and hopefully, maybe a snack.

He stopped immediately in the doorway though, his anger flaring into a raging tower when he caught sight of M and Hannah sitting at the table, both of them looking guilty as fuck.

“You told her, didn’t you,” Connor said, glaring hatefully at the blond boy.

M didn’t admit to it, but he lowered his eyes to avoid Connor’s. Hannah tensed up and gripped the edge of the table. She looked flushed and uncomfortable and Connor scowled at her.

“He told you, right?”

“Connor…”

Connor let out a frustrated scream. He couldn’t stand the sound of Hannah’s condescending tone. He walked out of the room and headed upstairs. He just wanted to eat something already! And M and Hannah were chatting it up, wasting their time, plotting against Connor and his antisocial life…

He flopped onto the pull-out bed and forced his face into the pillows. Fuck this. He was going to nap until dinner was served…

By some miracle, Connor managed to pass out after a few deep breaths. He had a miserable dream about being back at the clinic.

The nurses were all plotting against him and sneaking around as they tried to collect a urine sample. He was in a hospital gown, naked underneath, while an old, wrinkled nurse took his blood pressure. He felt her cold hands under the gown, wrapping around his penis and he looked up just in time to see her aiming the head into a cup.

“Get off me!” Connor cried and the nurse looked up at him with embarrassment.

She stood up and dusted down her pristine white scrubs. “I’ll send someone in to check your breathing,” she said before she ducked out of the exam room.

Connor stared after her with shifty eyes, but almost immediately, a younger, much more attractive nurse sidled into the room. She wore soft pink scrubs tight enough to accentuate her curves. Connor clasped his hands in his lap and waited for her to check his chart.

She smiled at Connor and asked him to undo the front of his gown so she could listen to his chest.

Connor awkwardly undressed himself. Keeping his cock and balls well covered under the scratchy cotton.

The nurse came at him with a stethoscope and pressed the cool drum to his skin. She looked directly into his eyes and Connor was filled with discomfort. He looked away, just to the right of her face and out of nowhere, he felt the pretty nurse’s hand slide up between his thighs, searching for his dick.

“Stop!” he shouted and he pushed the woman out of arm’s reach. She opened her mouth to say something, but it was cut off by a knock on the door.

“Connor? Are you hungry?”

He sat up and looked around Hannah’s guest room in confusion. It was dark outside and he was alone and fully clothed… what a stupid dream.

“Dinner’s almost ready,” Hannah said through the door. “Are you OK, Connor?”

He cleared his throat. “Fine,” he said in a scratchy tone. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

Hannah left it at that and Connor heard her move down the hall. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes as he swung his feet around to the floor. His stomach immediately started to grumble.

Finally, it was dinnertime.

He left the room and looked down the hall. At the end, in front of the stairs, the bathroom was all lit up and a long patch of light warmed the landing.

He got closer, taking an extreme amount of caution. He didn’t want to run into a naked Hannah or anything. He didn’t want to intrude…

The girl was inside the bathroom alright, standing over the sink. She looked around as Connor tried to sneak past, her face grim.

“Can you come in for a minute? I wanted to try something.”

Connor was instantly filled with suspicion. “What?”

“Just… come see,” she urged and with a huff, Connor shouldered the door all the way open and came into the tiled room.

“What?”

Hannah stepped away from the sink and Connor saw a small box resting on the counter.

“So, he did tell you,” Connor growled, poking a finger at the package.

“We talked about it. Yes,” Hannah said easily. She leaned over to the toilet and Connor saw she’d already used one of the plastic sticks. “Mine came up negative,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting anything different.”

Connor glanced at the little digital screen. Not pregnant.

“What do you want me to do? Show M how pee on a stick now?” Connor snapped. “The doctor already checked. I don’t want to see this.”

“It’s for my benefit,” Hannah said. “We’re just making sure—”

“Sure?” Connor snorted. “I just want something to eat. I haven’t eaten all day.”

“I made chicken stir fry,” Hannah said. “And I can show M how to do it. It’s not a big deal,” she said.

Connor scoffed, disgusted by the image of Hannah holding M’s penis over a pregnancy test. It reminded him strongly of the nurses in his dream. The stupid bitches trying to sneak some piss out of him. He turned to leave the room, horrified by it all. He was grabbing a plate and serving up some stir fry, damnit!

“Wait,” Hanna called.

“What?!” Connor exploded. “Have him pee all over that thing if it makes you happy. What do you need me for?!”

She pulled a wrapped test out of the pack and waved it temptingly. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t pregnant, too.”

Connor felt as though he’d been doused in ice water. “I’m not,” he said clearly. “I’m perfectly fine and normal…”

“Let’s just make sure—”

“Stop saying that!” Connor cried, but he wasn’t going to argue all night. He wasn’t fucking pregnant. There was nothing feminine about him… He came back to the sink, grabbed the pregnancy test and ripped the wrapper off. “What the fuck do I do with it?”

Hannah pinched the tip of the plastic monstrosity and pulled the blue tip off. A bumpy white strip was underneath.

“Hold it so the test strip is pointing down. Don’t tilt it upwards, it might cause an error.”

Connor grunted and took the test over to the toilet. “What now?”

“Pee directly on the white strip,” Hannah said. “Make sure it gets wet and then we put the top back on and wait 5 minutes for a reading.”

Connor glared at Hannah for a long moment, and then he moved closer to the toilet, making sure his back was the only thing Hannah could see. He unzipped his pants and released his cock, held the strip out and released a stream of urine.

The strip was drenched in urine in seconds.

“That’s good,” Hannah said from behind him. “Don’t overdo it.”

“Fuck this,” Connor growled, but he forced himself to stop peeing and he handed Hannah the pregnancy test over his shoulder.

“You can finish,” she said vaguely and Connor glanced at her. She was putting the cover over the test strip and laying the whole thing flat on the countertop. “I’m not looking.”

Connor bit his tongue. He was so annoyed that this was happening, but he finished pissing into the toilet water, shook off and zipped himself away.

“Happy?” he asked.

Hannah checked her phone. “Four more minutes,” she said.

“I already know it’s negative,” he said. “I’m going down to eat.”

“Send M up in a couple minutes, would you?” Hannah asked as he pushed his way out of the room. “I wanted to do him last.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

Down in the kitchen, M was picking at a delicious looking meal. The chicken stir fry was dotted with green veggies and served over a bed of rice. It smelled garlicy and Connor’s mouth watered the second the scent hit his nose.

M looked up from his plate. His face was pale and drawn. He seemed a bit surprised to see Connor standing in the doorway, but he was silent and didn’t react either way.

Connor quickly averted his eyes. He spotted the rice and skillet of chicken and veggies on the stove and he opened the cabinet next to it, searching for a plate.

“It’s the next one over,” M said helpfully.

Connor opened the one to the left and grabbed a plate identical to the one M was using from the bottom shelf.

“Forks are next to the sink,” M muttered and Connor opened the drawer M had indicated and grabbed himself a fork and knife. Satisfied, he went back to the stove and used the serving spoons to dish himself a heaping portion of dinner.

Connor sat across the table from M and both boys kept their heads down. Connor started shoveling food into his mouth, thinking it was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted, but M was simply staring at his fork as he stirred the rice and chicken into interesting patterns.

“Hannah wants you upstairs,” Connor said around a large bite of stir fry.

“She said she’d call me up,” M said softly.

“She sent me down to do that,” Connor said bitterly. “She’s making sure I’m not pregnant. Then it’s your turn.”

He could feel M’s eyes boring into his forehead, but Connor didn’t look up from his food. He speared a piece of broccoli, a smaller bit of chicken, and then piled some rice on top with the edge of his knife. He popped it into his mouth, enjoying the flavors.

Slowly, M got up from the table. Connor expected him to hurry past and head upstairs, but he went to the stove and reached into the cabinet. On one of the right-hand shelves, he found a glass and took it to the fridge.

Connor watched the blond pour a glass of milk from the corner of his eye. He didn’t want to get caught looking or being interested in anything M was doing. He wanted to concentrate on eating and on getting back upstairs to the solitude of the guest room.

M put the milk back in the fridge before he carefully collected the glass. Connor lowered his eyes quickly as M turned in his direction. The blond brought the glass over and set it next to Connor’s plate.

“Hannah says milk is good for growing bodies.”

Connor nodded awkwardly. He hadn’t noticed, but it looked like M had been sipping on some milk, too. There was a half empty glass next to his plate.

M stood uncomfortably next to the table for another moment or two while Connor ate mechanically, wishing the boy would leave him alone already.

“I guess I’ll be back,” M said finally and Connor nodded again. M left the kitchen and the tension drained from Connor’s body almost immediately. He relaxed in his chair and sighed into the silence.

For whatever reason, M and Hannah stayed upstairs for a long time. Connor didn’t care. He finished his meal and drank his glass of milk. He hadn’t drunk milk with any regularity since high school. A little pint of it had always been paired with the free lunches. He didn’t let the memory taint his mood though. He took his dishes to the sink and cleaned everything and set it to dry in the drainboard.

As he was finishing, M and Hannah came into the room. M went back to his food and resumed eating, but Hannah came to stand close to Connor. He tried to ignore her. He shut the water off and shook his hands over the drain. Hannah continued to stare at him though, and Connor quickly lost his patience.

“What? What is it now?”

Hannah flinched. She set one of the pregnancy tests on the counter, but Connor backed away from it.

“Yours was negative,” she said. “You were right.”

“Of course I was,” Connor spat.

“M’s… Well, that’s his. Take a look.”

“I don’t want to,” Connor sneered.

Hannah gave him a long suffering look. “C’mon,” she said.

Connor glanced at M, a scowl on his face.

M had been watching the exchange, but he quickly looked away the second their eyes met.

Hannah made a sound of annoyance and Connor turned his glare onto her.

“You’re the reason for this. I don’t know how you think it’s M’s fault,” she said and Connor laughed in shock.

“What the fuck was I thinking, fucking a boy raw dog?! I should have known he’d end up pregnant!”

Hannah glared right back at Connor, unfazed. Just to end the conversational discomfort, Connor came closer to look at M’s pregnancy test.

Pregnant, it said, 3+ weeks.

“See, I knew it,” Connor said, pointing a finger at M. The blond was hunched over his plate and he didn’t look up, but Connor wasn’t going to let that stop him! “We weren’t even having actual sex that long ago!”

“These tests aren’t the best indicators of gestation,” Hannah said.

“Whatever that means,” Connor sneered. “Listen, this is pissing me off. It seems like you’ve got it handled, so leave me out of it. “

Hoping that’d be enough to end the conversation, Connor turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.

***

M never came up to bed. Connor stayed up most of the night, watching Netflix on Hannah’s computer and taking advantage of the quiet night to cool down.

He was up until 4 in the morning, clicking through old episodes of cold cases. When he felt himself beginning to nod off, he dragged himself to the pull-out.

Connor slept soundly through most of the morning. He woke close to noon with a burning need to piss and he crept to the bathroom to relieve himself.

The house was quiet and still and he had the thought that maybe he should check on M.

He didn’t though. He finished in the bathroom, went back to bed, pulled the blanket over his face and fell asleep.

***

“Connor?”

Connor woke with the sun in his eyes. It was an orangey, afternoon kind of light and he squinted in the daze.

“I’m coming in,” Hannah said from the other side of the door and Connor jerked into an upright position.

The door opened partway and when Hannah caught Connor’s eye, he met her curious gaze with fury.

“I thought this room was private,” he started testily.

Hannah slid inside so the door was left hanging open. “We were starting to wonder if you’d died in the night.”

Connor glared at her.

“C’mon. Weirder things have happened,” she said with a laugh. Connor didn’t smile, didn’t let even a hint of warmth touch his bitter expression, and Hannah quickly soured. “Alright, Doom and Gloom, you knocked your alien boyfriend up. Time to get over it and get on with the show. We need you out there.” She gestured through the doorway.

“You need another sperm bank?”

Hannah snorted. “No,” she said. “You should come downstairs with me.”

“I’m fine right here…”

“Seriously, just come down with me.” Hannah tugged on his shoulder.

Connor ripped his arm out of Hannah’s grasp. “Don’t tell me what to do,” he snapped.

Hannah glared at him, completely unimpressed. “We need to talk about this… issue,” she said delicately. “We can’t avoid it and hold grudges against each other like children.”

Connor snarled at Hannah and poked a finger in her face. “I don’t give a shit about you goddamn opinion,” he hissed. “I already told M I didn’t want kids and that was like 2 weeks ago! Apparently, he’s been pregnant for over a month now!”

“Let’s talk about this downstairs—”

“Shut up! No!” Connor snapped. He glared hatefully at the blonde girl standing so arrogantly in the middle of his room. “Call me when dinner’s ready and maybe we can talk then. But I’m not promising anything,” he said bitterly.

Hannah didn’t budge from her place in the middle of the room. She tapped her polished Mary Jane shoe into the carpet and folded her arms. “We have a guest,” she said. “It’s the policewoman. Bradley,” she said. “She wants to talk to you.”

Connor gave Hannah a look of wild incredulity. “You’re kidding me.”

“Come down and see,” she smirked.

Connor shoved past Hannah and forced his way downstairs. He didn’t want to meet the police lady, but he was tired of looking like a ball-less wimp.

He hopped the last two steps at the bottom and slid across the wood flooring on his socks. The front door was just paces away from the bottom of the stairs and the living room sprawled out in the narrow stretch between.

Connor immediately caught sight of a stranger in the room. A tall, buzz-cutted female in a black t-shirt and tight fitting jeans stood beside M, chatting casually and towering over the blond boy with ease.

Both of them turned to look at Connor as he slid across the landing. M looked a bit wary, but the police lady quirked an eyebrow and moved around the couch with her hand out in greeting.

“I’m Lee Bradley.”

“The cop,” Connor sneered as they shook hands. Bradley had arms corded with muscle and a grip that left Connor’s hand tingling…

He flexed his arms when Bradley let him go. He felt incredibly self-conscious next to the giant lady cop.

Hannah appeared at the foot of the stairs behind Connor. She looked awfully smug and Connor ground his molars together as his level of discomfort increased tenfold.

“So, this is Connor,” Hannah said coolly, barely giving the angry male, seething in the corner of the room, a glance.

“We just met,” Bradley said with a wry look on her face. Her voice suddenly got deep and her steely gray eyes got soft around the edges. “Hey, I could hear the two of you arguing upstairs. Is everything alright?”

Suddenly, Connor bit his tongue and he flinched as he tasted blood. He sealed his lips together with superglue as Hannah and Bradley gave each other knowing looks.

“Everything’s fine,” Hannah said easily. She flipped her hair and walked casually around the butch cop standing on her carpet. She fell gracefully into the far end of the couch and crossed one slim leg over the other. “Connor’s nervous is all,” she said with a little smirk.

Connor felt his face getting hot, but his lips remained sealed. He could really taste a lot of blood…

“About what? I just want to talk,” Bradley said. She gave Connor a curious look, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Everyone fell silent, waiting for Connor’s response, apparently, which never came. He glared angrily at the floor and refused to participate in this bullshit.

“Sit, everyone,” Hannah said suddenly, her nervous high-pitch making Connor swallow some of his coppery mouthful. “Please, sit down.”

“Is that an order?” Bradley asked, quirking a grin at the bleached blond. Hannah’s cheeks went red, and they got even more so when the cop went around the coffee table and took the armchair catty-corner to the couch.

M glanced at Connor, Connor could feel his gaze like an itching disease. The blond went to sit right next to Hannah, leaving the only space available, a spot on the end of the couch.

Connor folded his arms and firmed his stance. He didn’t need to sit. This conversation wasn’t going to take long anyway.

“.... Connor… please, try to calm down—”

“I am calm,” Connor snapped, glaring heatedly at his long-time friend.

“Sit down—”

“Stop ordering me around,” he spat.

“C’mon now, guys. Do we really want to start a conversation off like this?” Bradley asked from the other side of the room. Her voice was firm and her gray eyes were trained on Connor’s face with an intensity that made his head spin with paranoia and fear.

“I didn’t want to have this conversation. I have no idea who you are and I have nothing to tell you! This meeting is entirely pointless!”

“Connor!” Hannah hissed, her lips pressing into a thin, white line.

Connor whirled on her. “Fuck you, Hannah!”

Bradley stood up and rolled out her shoulders. Connor sneered at the sign of the challenge, but again, he was impressed with the woman’s bulky muscles. He wondered if cops were allowed to take steroids…

Connor and the lady cop stared each other down for a long moment. Hannah looked between the two of them, her face red, her eyes misty with some unknown emotion…

And then Bradley held up her hands and lowered her intense gaze. “I simply came to gather some information.”

“What?” Connor spat. “Just ask your stupid questions already and then get out of my face. I didn’t do anything wrong. And I have nothing to tell you anyway.”

Bradley smiled a little and sat back in her chair. Connor scowled epically at the woman and waited for her to open her trap; his crossed arms biting into his chest.

“I was investigating you, initially,” Bradley began. “After Pizza Hut called in a disturbance between employees.”

“Yeah,” Connor said. “My friend,” he pointed at M. “Showed up at the pizza place needing help and I had to split. I ran off with delivery money. Big deal, I’m sure they took it out of my pay a long time back already.”

“Right,” Bradley said with a grin. “But we both know that’s not what I want to talk about. “

Connor huffed. He could feel Hannah’s and M’s eyes on him and he didn’t like it. He wished they’d at least have the courtesy to fuck off.

“I went to your trailer because your ex coworkers said your friend showed up covered in blood… I had to investigate that.”

“Whatever,” Connor grunted. “M’s careless. He hurt himself. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“You guys also skipped town… and I’ve been helping your girlfriend here research M’s identify… I hear he reacts badly to the sound of his full name.”

“Michael Thomas?” Connor blurted and M flinched into Hannah’s side.

Bradley, the perceptive bitch, had been watching M with hawk eyes. She stiffened a touch, when M reacted to the sound of his human’s name with pain. When she met Connor’s eyes again, she frowned and hardened her jaw.

“I have a few pictures of the boy on file,” Bradley said. “There’s an eerie resemble between Thomas and M, but Thomas was declared dead just over a year ago…”

Connor glowered at the cop.

“And the blood at your trailer didn’t match Thomas’s anyway,” she continued. “Someone completely different came up. An FBI field agent was a 99% match on the biological sample. One who’s been missing for some 20 years.”

Connor didn’t say anything.

“OK, Connor, you don’t have to worry about anything. She isn’t going to tell anyone your secret.”

Connor continued to glower at nothing in particular. M had his lips sucked into his mouth. He looked like he’d just spilled the beans and he was hoping if he was quiet, everyone would forget what had just been revealed.

“So, the FBI agent…” Hannah started.

“He’s the other alien,” Connor snapped. “I saw his ID that day we left town. He came to the trailer to kidnap M, but M fought back,” he said quickly as the blond squirmed on the couch. “He busted the agent in the head until he fell in the middle of my living room and bled out in a pool of blood.”

Bradley took a little palm notebook out of her pocket and jotted something down with a golf pencil stored in the spiral.

“Drawing up a murder case?” Connor sneered.

“Just making some personal notes,” Bradley said distractedly. She didn’t look up from the page. “So, M came to find you at Pizza Hut…”

“Covered in the agent’s blood,” Connor finished.

“And you guys decide to leave the state?”

Connor guiltily shifted his stance. “We didn’t do anything wrong. The agent broke into the trailer and attacked him,” he said, poking a finger at the little blond. “We didn’t know what to do.”

“Fair enough,” Bradley said. “The scene you two left behind didn’t look good, but as there was no body—”

“Exactly,” Connor said. “You didn’t hear it from me, but that guy was dead… “ He shivered a little. “And now he’s up walking around again! I’ve seen him, more than once, and he’s definitely alive.”

Bradley wrote in her notebook for a solid minute. “And you said he’s um… an alien?”

Connor laughed. “Oh yeah. That part.” He laughed again and Hannah and M glared at him like he was crazy.

But what the fuck! Why did Connor have to do all the explaining?!

“Hannah’s… already told me some of the story,” Bradley said.

Connor snorted. “Then you tell me. What do you want to know? The planet’s being invaded by body-snatchers. Here’s one of them,” Connor gestured at M, who immediately began to pout. “The other one that we know of is the FBI agent.”

Bradley cleared her throat. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Me and M were in Florida a couple days ago, staying with my mom,” he said solemnly. “The agent found us and he was really fucking with my life, like, he totaled two cars, wrecked my mom’s place, got me fired… We had to run. We left my mom’s in the middle of the night with no warning…”

“Would you say you’re in trouble?”

“Yes,” Connor said vehemently. “The agent wants to abduct M so he can study how he was put in his human body. We think if he does that, he’ll be able to get more aliens to come invade. Plus, he’s probably going to scalp M and throw his body away like trash.”

“So, that can’t happen.”

“No. That’s not part of the plan,” Connor said firmly.

Bradley wrote a few moments more and then she set the notepad down on her knee. She looked up at Connor with an incredible amount of seriousness in her gaze and Connor froze, feeling like he was missing something important.

“Hannah told me there’s one other pressing matter on the table,” she said.

Connor stared at her blankly.

“Connor… the baby,” Hannah said under her breath.

“Oh yeah,” Connor sneered. “Somehow, he wound up pregnant,” he said, jabbing another finger at M. The blond was hanging his head “It’s pretty upsetting,” Connor said.

“Well.” Bradley briskly clapped her hands together. “I want to help out. I can’t say I believe everything you’re telling me, but when I tried to look into the FBI agent, when I tried to get anything even as simple as his first name, there were multiple system errors and malfunctions… I’m intrigued. I want to know what’s going on.”

Connor sneered. “And you’re not going to turn us in?”

“I’m about to become an accomplice,” Bradley smirked. “No, I’m not looking to turn anybody in.”

Connor huffed and unfolded from his uncomfortable You-Won’t-Take-Me-Alive pose. He felt more than a little awkward. He wished he’d been able to keep up the death glares and strained silences. He felt vulnerable now.

“So, what can you do for us? Can you find us somewhere else to hide?” Connor asked suddenly.

Bradley looked around Hannah’s front room. “Somewhere else?”

“I don’t think it’s safe to stay here for long. I don’t know why I decided to come here,” Connor said with disgust. “I feel like we’re sitting ducks. We lost contact with M’s mothership so we no longer have any clue what’s going on in the skies.”

“I… can look into that,” Bradley said.

Connor nodded. He really wasn’t expecting much from the random cop, so he wasn’t going to put any more effort into the demand. Bradley could help or maybe she wouldn’t…

“Actually, Connor, I was thinking she could help with something else,” Hannah said.

Connor frowned and waited to be filled in. Everyone looked at each other like they were fucking clueless.

“What did you have in mind,” Connor prompted, his irritation mounting.

“I wanted to get some blood samples on M so we could compare them to Thomas’s DNA records.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “That’ll help tons.”

“I have a few friends in forensic. I think I might also be able to get M a private exam and ultrasound.”

Connor raised an eyebrow.

“So we can figure out for sure what’s going on inside him…” Bradley said, her eyes flickering to Hannah’s when Connor continued to stare without a reaction.

“Connor’s… not excited about the idea of fatherhood,” Hannah said slowly, her hair shielding her face from Connor’s view. She was turned far to the right, facing Bradley in the armchair… Connor burned with embarrassment.

“Considering the circumstances, I think I understand where he’s coming from,” Bradley said and Connor purposely met her eyes across the room and slowly raised his chin in acknowledgement. “Plus, I’m sure it was hard to jump back into a relationship with your ex girlfriend when your alien boy-toy starts telling everyone he’s expecting your child.”

Connor gaped at her. “I’m totally confused… What?”

“You and Hannah—”

“Have never been a couple and will never be a couple…” Connor grunted. “What the fuck are you getting at?”

Bradley’s face went blank. “Your Pizza Hut coworkers all named Hannah as your girlfriend,” she said slowly. “Hannah said you’d broken up—”

“Yeah, but I’m obviously into guys,” Connor sneered. He looked over at Hannah. “What the fuck have you been telling her?”

“It was a relationship to me,” Hannah said loudly.

Connor rolled his eyes. “Whatever. This conversation is over right? You got what you wanted?”

Bradley closed her notebook and slipped it back into her pocket. “I think that’s good. For now.”

Connor sneered.

“And since I’ve imposed on you all for almost an hour now, how about I take you out for dinner? There’s a little diner around the corner that’s to die for.” Bradley beamed at Hannah and her gray eyes wrinkled pleasantly at the corners.

“I-I’d love to go,” Hannah said softly.

M nodded silently.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Connor spat at Bradley. “I’ll eat something here and go back to bed.”

“Oh, Connor, there’s nothing to eat here,” Hannah said sadly.

“Don’t you have peanut butter and jelly?”

Hannah shook her head with exasperation.

Connor ignored her. He spun around and hurried up the stairs, out of the room and the awkward conversation. He was done. It wasn’t up for debate.

***

Once Connor was sure the house was empty, he went down to the kitchen and raided the fridge.

Hannah hadn’t been joking however. There wasn’t much to eat.

He settled for toast and a banana and went back upstairs to watch Netflix. He was bored. And grumpy, but mostly bored at this point. He wished he was back at Julie’s house and that Jack was waiting outside for a run.

There was nothing to do at Hannah’s. There was no one Connor could talk to either. He wasn’t unfamiliar with the feeling, but he missed hanging out with Marcus… fuck, he missed doing stuff with Nathan and Jamie.

He wished they’d never come back to this place…

He sat in extreme boredom and unhappiness for over an hour before he finally managed to slouch across the pull-out in unconsciousness.

Hannah woke him for a second time that night. She knocked on the door and came in without waiting for a response.

Connor glared at her. He wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries. He never was. Didn’t she already know that?

“Dinner was really nice,” she said from the hallway.

“Great.”

“You should have come,” she said, hiding her face, staring down at the rounded toe of her shoe as it touched the edge of the door jamb. “The way you were acting, it really seemed like you were jealous or something.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “Is that what you girls talked about over dinner? She’s obviously a dyke, Hannah, you’ve realized that, right?”

Hannah frowned. “So?”

“She wants you. Obviously,” Connor said heatedly “She was the one acting jealous.”

“That’s not true at all—”

Connor snorted. “How is it not?”

Hannah frowned.

“Do whatever you want, Hannah. I really don’t care,” Connor said. “Hook up with a carpet muncher if it makes you happy.”

Hannah’s eyes bulged out of her head.

Connor grinned at her rudely. “Is that all you wanted? To rub your new girlfriend in my face?”

“N-no,” Hannah muttered. “We brought you a to-go box. It’s down in the fridge.” Then, blushing, she slid out of the doorway and disappeared down the hall.

Connor rolled his eyes. He sat on the bed for a few seconds, hoping Hannah would make herself scarce then he got up to investigate his dinner. Luckily, he didn’t bump into Hannah on the way down. He took the stairs cautiously though. He could hear the TV playing in the living room downstairs and he cursed under his breath, expecting he’d have to put up with more of Hannah’s dumb bullshit, her judgmental looks and lecturing.

When he got downstairs though, Hannah wasn’t in sight.

The blond was though, and he was sitting quietly on the couch, a bed pillow on one side of him and a folded blanket on the other.

Connor was absolutely silent as he surveyed the scene on the couch. He was instantly filled with guilt. He’d figured Hannah had set up a bed for M somewhere else, and here he was… making the best out of Connor’s shitty mood.

Connor’s mouth twisted into a knot. He was so angry with himself, but he didn’t care damnit! He didn’t want to talk about babies, he couldn’t fucking believe… M… fucking M was pregnant….

A streak of rebellion grabbed ahold of Connor and he surged forward in an effort to sneak into the other room, but it was no use. M saw him immediately and his head turned towards Connor, his eyes filled with sadness.

His heart pounding, Connor made it over the threshold and he rushed across the room, putting the kitchen table between him and the blond in the other room. Connor ran to the fridge and cursed as he wrenched open the door.

“Fucking stupid M,” he said under his breath, hating himself all the while.

He just wanted to go the fuck home already! He was so tired of all this crazy bullshit!

Connor found his meal in a plastic to-go box. It was a burger and fries, nothing to write home about. Grudgingly, he took it to the microwave and nuked for half a minute. The burger wasn’t cold yet. It just needed a little warming.

As he stood waiting, he tried his best to avoid looking through the doorway at M, who blatantly continued to stare at him.

Connor grit his teeth as the seconds ticked by on the microwave display. He grabbed some paper towels and stole a water bottle from the flat under the counter. When the microwave stopped, he took the hot plastic container out and bustled from of the kitchen at top speed, sweeping quickly past M and his unending sadness…

He just couldn’t handle this. Not on an empty stomach, not with everyone tip-toeing around him, afraid to mention the one thing everyone kept obsessively bringing up…

So, he took his meal upstairs and shut the bedroom door. He spent another night alone, pouting and angry about everything…

At least the burger was decent.

***

A few days passed without much change. Connor continued to avoid everyone and everything and M and Hannah obliged him.

He spent his days in the guest room, watching videos online and researching babies when he got up the nerve. Everything he learned made him feel like this was going to be a huge mistake though and he felt like he was preparing for the apocalypse.

Connor got into the habit of cursing M, his stupid Mothership, and the entirety of their fucked up race.

Ugh!

He wished he could disappear… he wished he could melt through the fucking floor…

He couldn’t though, and Connor’s days passed by slowly. One excruciating minute at a time…

On Friday evening, Connor was reading through another baby blog, terrifying himself with stories of first time moms and their horrible babies.

Connor knew he’d end up getting vomited on like the lady with the Linda Blair baby. HotMamma2017 detailed in a ranty post how her baby’s head had basically done a 360 degree turn as she projectile vomited mushy pees all over the kitchen. It sounded way worse than The Exorcist. Connor read every reply in disgust, wondering what the other mommies had to say.

Of course, he was even more horrified to find out this Exorcist vomiting wasn’t a rare thing. Apparently, it happened a lot and like, to everyone’s baby at some point.

Connor fell back in the reclining office chair, his mouth agape.

How the fuck was he in this situation right now!!??

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Connor turned to glare at the intruder.

He knew Hannah had come home maybe 40 minutes ago, but she hadn’t bothered him with pleasantries like, honey, I’m home!’ or ’how was your day?’ in a few days now, so Connor hadn’t thought much of her arrival.

She usually called him down to eat, which he only did after everyone else had finished. But it was too early for dinner…

“Connor? Are you sleeping?”

He sighed and exited out of the baby blog. “What do you need?” he asked as he spun back to the door and thought about getting up to open it.

“Bradley’s here,” Hannah said, and Connor froze up. “She was able to get something set up for M at the hospital.”

“Blood tests?”

“I think so,” she said.

Connor hesitated for a moment, but finally asked before Hannah could interrupt: “What about the ultrasound?”

“That too,” she said.

Connor gulped. “We’re going now?”

“Yes. Do you want to come? I could fill you in later if you wanted to skip it.”

Connor was intensely curious to actually see the baby in M’s belly. As mad as he was, he knew he couldn’t sit this one out.

He opened the door to find Hannah standing primly in the hall. She quirked an eyebrow.

“I’m coming,” Connor said flatly and Hannah smirked and gestured down the hall.

“Let’s go then.”

***

Connor’s palms itched with discomfort. They were in a tiny exam room in the back of Labor and Delivery and he was wedged into the corner of the room over M’s right shoulder while the blond sat cross-legged on a hospital bed. Hannah, then Bradley, then the door were to Connor’s right and across from him, on the other side of the bed was an ultrasound machine manned by Bradley’s confidant, a blue-haired nurse.

The monitor was on, but blue-hair wasn’t looking at it. She had a whole process… She clamped a glowing little module to the end of M’s index finger and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his upper arm.

“What is this?” M asked, wiggling the end of his finger. The clamp held fast, and M’s finger glowed red underneath from a little LED inside it.

“It’s a heart rate monitor. It’s tracks airflow too,” blue-hair said.

“I’ve seen this before,” M said, pointing to the cuff on his arm. “It squeezes your arm really tight.”

Blue-hair smiled and arranged a couple vials on the end of the bed, using it like a table. She had a medical syringe in her gloved hand. “You only needed the two samples, right,” she asked Bradley.

“Yeah. That’s fine,” Bradley said easily. She was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket today and her short hair was tousled. When Connor had followed Hannah and M out to the curb and Connor had caught sight of the butch cop straddling a motorcycle, he’d started to chuckle.

“Fuck, she’s such a dyke.”

Hannah blushed. “I’d love to try it out some time.”

Connor snorted. “Jesus, Hannah, you’re really gun-ho about this lesbian thing, aren’t you?”

Hannah didn’t say anything. She got into her car and waited for M and Connor to follow. They’d ended up following close behind Bradley for the next 15 minutes.

Connor hadn’t been able to help himself. He’d teased Hannah most of the ride.

Now that he was stuffed into the hospital room though… Connor felt far too uncomfortable to make stupid jokes. He could barely meet anyone’s eyes, he was sweating under his t-shirt… He wanted to get out of there… Fast.

He watched with narrowed eyes as blue-hair started searching for a vein on M’s forearm.

The blond was chattering about the ultrasound. He was asking how much of the baby they’d be able to see and blue-hair was being evasive. She had a discomforted look on her face and Connor wondered how much Bradley had told her. He glared around at the sterile supplies and at the monitors, stewing with annoyance.

He’d told Hannah and Bradley not to tell anyone about the alien shit… and here they were, casually discussing M’s pregnancy like it was completely normal…

“You’re going to feel a pinch,” blue-hair said as she poised the needle of her syringe at the crook of M’s arm.

M made a face. “Why?”

Blue-hair pushed the needle under M’s skin. The blond gasped. “Because we’re going to draw some blood.” She attached one of the vials and the syringe filled with red as blood flowed thickly into it.

M’s whole body stiffened up and his head rolled back.

Connor surged forward and grabbed onto M’s shoulders. He supported the boy through a barrage of shakes.

Blue-hair gasped and nearly dropped the syringe, but Connor snapped at her.

“He has issues with blood. Just finish getting your sample!”

“But his heart rate’s all over the place! He could go into cardiac arrest.”

“Just hurry and finish!” Connor cried and Bradley leaned over M’s thighs, restraining him to the bed.

“Do what he says,” Bradley said in a deep voice and blue-hair snapped to attention and quickly sealed off the first vial and began filling the second.

“I’m done!” she released the syringe and stuck a cotton ball over M’s tiny wound. She plastered a band-aid over that and let out a huge sigh of relief.

Bradley straightened up, but Connor pulled M to his chest. He couldn’t believe they’d all forgotten about his stupid blood phobia…

“OK… what was that?” blue-hair started to fan her face. “What’s going on with him?”

“Just wait a minute. He’ll wake up,” Connor muttered into M’s hair. He was curled around the blond, protective and comforting. Everyone was staring at him.

“I’ve seen this happen before,” Hannah said in a quiet voice. “Certain things make him go into fits.”

Connor didn’t bother to correct her or to elaborate. He didn’t trust the blue-haired nurse. He didn’t even know who the fuck she was!

M was beginning to rouse though. He blinked his pretty green eyes open and cautiously licked his lips.

“Did you get the blood out?” he asked the nurse.

Blue-hair gaped at him.

“Yeah. We got the samples we needed,” Bradley said before turning on the nurse. “Chris. Please. The ultrasound…”

Chris turned to the nearest monitor and pressed a couple buttons on the keypad below it. The display lit up and Chris flashed her ID card under the scanner next to the screen.

She turned back to the rest of the room’s occupants, her face flushed and her eyes full of indecision.

“You owe me big time, Lee.”

Bradley laughed. “I’ll buy you dinner this weekend, too.”

Chris didn’t seem very amused, but she started setting up the machine. She squirted gel on the rounded belly probe and turned to M.

“Lay back,” she said. “Pull up your shirt.”

M couldn’t lay back, Connor was supporting his weight from behind, cradling him like he was a child.

He released the blond awkwardly, letting the boy slip from his arms like it was no big deal.

M glanced over his shoulder at him, biting his pink bottom lip. Connor swallowed and nodded at him, trying to both apologize and lend him support with a single look.

M didn’t look comforted. He seemed confused, if anything. He laid back on the bed and hiked up his t-shirt… It was one Hannah had bought him. It was on the larger side, and colored a boring, faded red. Connor missed M’s flashy colors and his hot shorts. He missed the blond’s golden tan… They’d been back in South Dakota for barely a week, and already the lovely warm flush to M’s skin had faded.

The nurse pressed the probe to M’s belly and he gasped. “Cold!”

The girls laughed nervously, but Connor rolled his eyes.

The monitor lit up and just like that, the room around Connor faded into the background. His eyes were glued to the screen and he waited with bated breath for the baby to appear.

Chris moved the probe across M’s lower belly. She moved slowly, pausing to tuck a bit of her shoulder-length locks behind her ear. A grainy, black nothing stretched across the monitor’s screen. They didn’t seem to be looking at anything.

And then Chris sucked in a heavy breath.

A little white blob came up on the screen, floating in a tight pocket of blackness.

“That’s the baby,” she said, pointing at the blob. “From the size of the fetus, I’d say you’re about 9 weeks along.”

Connor scoffed.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” M asked enthusiastically.

“We can’t tell yet. It’s too soon. At week 15, maybe we’ll be able to determine the sex.”

“Aww,” M pouted. “And that doesn’t look like a real baby. It looks like a bug.”

Chris laughed, seemingly surprised. Hannah started explaining about babies and how they grew, but Connor shook his head and backed away from M and the hospital bed.

Bradley looked at him pointedly. “This is really happening,” she said. “You have to man up.”

“Fuck you,” Connor growled. “None of this makes any sense. It’s not my baby. It can’t be!”

The females looked at Connor like he was the crazy one. Connor glared back at them all as a strange glimmer of hope bubbled up inside him.

Maybe M was growing some weird science experiment in his stomach and it had nothing to do with Connor at all… Maybe it wasn’t even a baby inside there… Maybe Chris was confused about what she was seeing…

M hung his head. It was like he was responding to Connor’s wild accusations. ”Connor…” he whispered. “It can’t be anyone else’s.”

That pissed Connor off. M acting like he knew what the fuck was going on… How the fuck did he know Connor was the dad! He didn’t even know how babies were made!

“I don’t believe you,” Connor said angrily.

He couldn’t leave the building without the assistance of his ex-best friend and some rogue dyke cop, but he didn’t have to stay in the room.

Connor shoved past Hannah and Bradley and fumbled with the door latch.

Once he was outside in the hall, Connor tried to calm down and relax, but it was difficult.

He paced the halls, keeping his head down so he didn’t meet anyone’s eyes… there were a lot of visitors wandering around and down the hall, Connor could hear someone’s baby shrieking.

He found a window that looked down on the city. There was a scenic park in the upper right corner encircled by townhouses. A few tall skyscrapers dotted the horizon, but the majority of the tall buildings were 12 story brownstones.

It was getting late and the streets were flooded with traffic and headlights. Connor watched the traffic flow like water in a stream as he tried to deny everything.

He wasn’t having a baby. M was all on his own in this weird alien birth… Connor could support him and stand beside him, but this wasn’t his fault. This wasn’t his fucking baby… That’s the only way Connor could accept what was happening.