"Hey little, Bro! So good to see you."

"Knew I shouldn't have picked up the phone."

"Look your practically glowing, come on guys can't you see the glow."

Adam shook his head and sighed at his three grinning brothers on the other end of the video call. Despite living in different parts of the county, somehow they had managed to set aside time to get together and call him.

"So when's the gender reveal?"

"Yeah have you come up with names. I have one of those baby name books right here, we can come up with them, as a family."

"Can't wait to see if they have your eyes lil' bro..... or you know maybe your limbs. You never know with alien human hybrids.."

Adam leaned back on his bed resting his head against them all staring up at the ceiling, "Ha ha.... ha you guys are hilarious."

"I think we are.... don't you guys think so" Jeremy asked the others who nodded grinning at each other with smug expressions. David was nudged bodily to the side, and his partner, Jordan, inserted himself into the frame.]

"Ignore them, Adam. What they mean to ask is if you're ok, and if there is anything they can do to help."

Adam smiled at his brother's better half, "See that's right you load of assholes. Jordan's nice to me, he understands."

David nudged his partner out of camera view with a fond smile, "He doesn't understand. If we don't bother you then who else will?" He looked off camera smiling, but received only a snort of derision and probably an eye roll. He eventually turned back grinning, "Humoring my better half though. Are you ok?"

Adam sighed leaning back against the wall, "Yeah, I'm alright..... totally over it though. I'm hungry and cold all the time. Everything smells weird, and I haven't exactly been sleeping great. They keep telling me it should be over soon, but of course they can't predict when."

Thomas shifted himself to a better position on the couch, "Ok, you know I need to hear how this even happened in the first place. I mean we knew you had a thing for aliens, but we didn't exactly expect this."

"Thanks..... for that, Thomas." He groaned, "And it was a complete miscommunication and the unfortunate fact that I have a high body heat. She probably thought it was the best way to seal a peace talk. You know, if she takes some of our DNA, than that makes us practically family, and what could be more of a peace offering than that."

"What was it like." Jeremy wondered leaning forward in his seat.

David opened his mouth to protest, "If you don't want-"

He raised a hand, "No no, its ok. Honestly the worst part is the fact that she looks like a massive ass spider with a wolf head, I thought she was going to eat me, or maybe lay her eggs down my throat, one of the two. I guess in the grand scheme of things, the eggs were evolutionarily meant to be parasitic, so it was like being implanted with a giant tic. It was cold ... and." He shivered "Slimy. Luckily I didn't feel the little fibers burrowing into my organs, I'm sure that would have been unpleasant."

"WHAT! Burrowing into your WHAT!."

Adam shrugged, "Well, they have to get food and nutrition somehow, right?"

"That is ... absolutely disgusting." Thomas pointed out pulling a face.

"Dude, that's kind of sick, I'm sorry to hear that." David said a little more sympathetically than the rest of them had.

"Can we see." Jeremy asked in mild excitement.

Adam groaned, but agreed. Resting back and stretching out. HE pulled his shirt up far enough to reveal the six black eggs and then turned the camera to face them.

"UHHHHH, WHAT THE HELL!"

"Dude, that is sick... and nasty."

"Kinda cool though."

Adam readjusted and sat back up again, "Yeah imagine what they'll look like when they come out. Not entirely sure how I'm supposed to feel about that."

"It'll be cool. I'm sure whatever it is, you'll manage."

Thomas sat up a little straighter and leaned forward, "You know, speaking of your thing for aliens, there is something we have been meaning to ask you.'

The other two brothers turned to look at each other, "Really Thomas, you're gong to ask that now?"

"It's a good a time as any."

Adam sat back against his pillows face bathed in the blue light of the projection, "What are you guys talking about." He glanced quickly towards the door and then to the clock on the wall.

It was late, everyone should be asleep by now.

"Look Adam, we.... well we don't mean to make assumptions." Jeremy began

"And we completely support you, whatever your decision is." David continued.

"But we were wondering......" Jeremy rubbed his hands together nervously, as if not sure how to ask the question that was on his mind. For the life of him, Adam couldn't imagine what would make the three of them so nervous.

"Well you see... our question is."

"Are you and Sunny dating?"

Adam's eyes went wide as the rest of the brothers began trying to cover for Thomas re-phrasing his words in so many ways to make the question seem less invasive, but none of them denied asking the question.

Of course it would be Thomas to ask something that blunt.

"Like, its ok if you are."

"Yeah we just wanted to know."

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want."

"We promise we won't tell anyone."

Adam finally regain himself and waved his had at the group of them, "Look guys, its really late here, so...."

"Wait, Adam, please don't hang up, forget we asked anything."

He simly gave them a smile, "Love you guys, don't do anything stupid." Then he shut off the camera and leaned back onto his pillows staring up at the dark ceiling above. He had left the viewing window open partially tonight, and turned on his side to watch the swirling bands of Jupiter roll past his window.

It was a pretty crazy sight, but somehow relaxing.

He had no idea when he had fallen asleep distracted and lost in his thoughts as he was, but he did remember waking up.

He woke up cold, unusually cold. At first he assumed it was just the fact that he had fallen asleep atop the covers, but as he shifted, and eruption of goosebumps ran up his arms and back as something cold and wet rolled down his stomach and left leg.

He froze.

He ... hadn't wet the bed or something ... had he?

Slowly, he reached a hand down and began patting at the covers below him. They were wet, and cold and..... slimy....?

Gross.

He reached a hand upwards patting as his shirt and sides. The shirt he wore was absolutely drenched and sticky. As he brought his hand away, he could feel a string of mucus clinging to his fingers. In the dim light reflected from Jupiter, he could just barely see the delicate string of glittering form his fingertips.

He dropped his hand to the fabric, and his hand brushed over something, whatever it was, it was slimy, cold and furry. He jerked his hand away paralyzed by the dark and the trembling fear that rolled through his body. The only sound he could hear in the darkness was his own ragged breath. He stayed very still for the longest time eyes wide.

And then.... something moved. His stomach churned with fear as... whatever it was crawled its way up his body. He could feel it's multiple limbs as small, hard points of pressure crawling up his stomach and onto his chest. Tears of fear sprang to his eyes, but he was too afraid to move unsure of what the creature was going to do? For all he knew, the thing was going to burrow into his skin and eat him as it's first meal.

His body trembled as the weight move closer and closer to his face. He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath. A cold pint of pressure came in contact with the skin of his collarbone, and his body trembled. More lines of cold dripped their way down his sides and onto the blankets below.

ANother cold, furry, limb pressed it's weight onto his upper chest, then another, and then another.

He waited for the thing, perhaps to scuttle towards his face, or mouth ready to burrow into his insides and use his chest cavity as a cocoon, but instead, it seemed to turn in a circle, and curled up on his exposed skin between the junction of his neck and collar bones.

He grew dizzy realizing he had forgotten how to breathe for a moment. When he started ack up, his breaths came in ragged gasps. He looked at the door hoping that someone would come to check on him, for whatever reason, and HELP him. When no one did, he wanted to scream, but was too afraid of what might happen if he did.

The wet sheets were like ice on his back, legs and stomach, with his shirt plastered to his stomach.

Somewhere in the dark, there was a soft crackling noise, kind of wet too like the fracturing of a chicken egg. He whimpered, but was cut off as the thing on his neck shifted. A line of cold rolled down his right side.

He waited there in horrible suspense as the cracking continued. Something wiggled on his opposite side.

SOmething else moved. His entire torso flexed against the feeling, as, wet and cold, and slimy, the thing moved under his shirt, up the line of his sternum and onto his chest. TIny hairs tickled at his skin.

He felt as if his larynx were about to crawl out of his throat and GTFO. HIs mouth trembles and his eyes burned staring up into the darkness. WHatever it was, it curled up against the warmth of his skin, something tiny and mobile prodding at the muscle underneath.

He gritted his teeth and moaned softly, "Help." but was too afraid to say anything else, any louder worried that he would agitate the creatures.

It was a horribly and horrifically slow process. He was freezing and covered in an unknown and unmentionable substance. Something tricked away across his stomach, down onto his arm. At his hand, more sensitive, than the rest of his body, he could feel ten searching legs, and a strange covering of course fuzz, like a tarantula.

His body trembled as the thing crawled up his arm, eventually making its way onto his shoulder. His entire body was just a mass of fizzing static as all his nerves fired in panic trying to tell him something was crawling on him, like he didn't already know. He tried turning his head away, but that agitated the thing towards his collar bone, and he was forced to remain still.

The one on his shoulder inched forward prodding at his neck, and his jaw, his ear and his cheek. He felt as if ice were crystallizing over his skin. His eyes were squeezed shut. Finall the creature crawled downwards onto the pillow, and burrowed itself in the tiny hollow esteem his neck and the pillow.

He could feel it breathing.

That happened three more times, and every time his body grew colder with the slimy substance. Something made itself comfortable under the junction of one of his knees. Another burrowed under his back , and the last curled itself against his upper thigh.

He didn't sleep trapped in some sort of living nightmare afraid for what was to happen if he owed.

***

Sunny was carrying another breakfast tray. She had made it a point to bring Adam breakfast the past two months. She wanted him to know that someone had his back. Besides, she liked the company, and when he was out working, he was often stolen away from her for more important matters

Instead of complaining or getting in his way, she made things work.

She didn't much bother knocking anymore, since she came at the same time every day, and he was usually already up and waiting for her. She opened the door with one of her lower arms listening to the familiar hiss, and stopped.

Sensing her movement, the automatic lights slowly adjusted upwards.

She dropped the trey.

"ADAM!"

The bed was absolutely covered in blood. It soaked the blankets and the pillow, and tracks of it trailed up his arms, onto his neck, and on His face.

She rushed forward shocked to find he was still alive!.

His single green eye was wide with panic, though he didn't move.

"Adam a-"

HIs right hand raised at her, and his mouthed moved pleadingly for her help.

That's when she saw it. It was only one creature as far as she knew, but she began to spot signs of the others, though the one on his neck was the most obvious. It was about fist sized, from what she could see it looked like a white and grey ball covered in blood. The skin of its body was a strange grey color, and from it's skin stuck little white-blond hairs heavier in some places than in others. As she watched the creature lifted it's head catching her gaze with striking green eyes.

Like its earlier species, the creature had a wolffish head with a snout, nose and ears, but the face, instead of looking like the muscle underneath, was covered in a layer of human-like skin and a light dusting of blond fuzz over that.

It opened its mouth wide with a yawn , the interior a bloody pink, without any teeth to speak of.

"The fuck." SHe whispered.

***

Dr. Katie and Krill were much less perturbed by the scene. While Kril was busy with Adam, Dr. Katie gently reached down to pick up the creature resting on his chest, "Well hello there." Sunny watched in horrified fascination as the things spidery legs were revealed, curled under its body. The mouth of the creature opened and closed as doctor Katie tilted it this way and that gently examining the legs and the tiny head.

She handed it to an assistant who, somewhat hesitantly, cleaned the creature off with a soft-wet cloth.

It opened its mouth again, and as it did the room was filled with a quiet squalid.

"What the fuck." One of the Nurses repeated mirroring Sunny's reaction from earlier.

"Behind.... my head.... get it off.... get it off." The man moaned lifting his head slightly as Dr Katie reached behind his head pulling out the second tiny body. THis one had scales AND hair, which was a very strange look. It too had a rather wolffish looking head. She examined it and then handed it off to a PA

Sunny patted his hand as the rest were removed, and Dr. Krill looked him over, "Don't worry, Commander, it isn't your blood, or at least not entirely. It would have been inside the eggs, so take a few deep breaths, alright. Your blood pressure is starting to scare me."

Dr Katie had one of the PA's cut away the wet fabric of his shirt, retrieving a rather miffed hatchling who glowered at her with large- blue eyes, "They're kinda cute." She added tilting the one she held onto its back giggling as it snapped at her hand toothless.

"Under my back." Adam muttered softly cringing as the creature moved in response to his speech.

All together they retrieved all six, and adam eventually sat up. He looked exhausted to sunny, and was shivering horribly. It looked like a horror show covered in blood-colored goo. As he moved, the egg-shells shifted and slid to the side dripping red fluid.

WIth one shaking hand the commander reached down and dislodged the egg remnants. The skin below was unusually pale and rather slimy looking, but otherwise unharmed, as was the muscle below that.

Under where each egg had rested were two tiny scabbed-over dots barely noticeable as anything other than freckles.

Sunny hurried over, and helped the man stand on his single leg, supporting much of his weight as he sagged into her, "That was some bullshit." He muttered head resting against her arm.

"You'll feel better after a shower she urged helping him over to the door, and looking back at Krill, who nodded in agreement, "We will examine these..... well, whatever they are."

Dr. Katie leaned over the towel-lined box smiling and cooing at the little creatures, "They're so cute!." SHe exclaimed, "In a really uncanny valley sort of way."

Adam shivered, and vanished behind the door as the rest of the medical staff stripped the bed, throwing the leftover contents into biohazard bags. Dr. Katie appropriated the box and left the room cooing and giggling to herself as she went.

-

The commander emerged well over an hour after he had entered, skin scrubbed to a bright red looking much more put together than when they had found him. Sunny helped him to the chair, and he pulled on his prosthetic, "You ok." She wondered.

He looked up at her a bit ruefully, "Probably only number ... ten on my roughest night list, but I think I'm ok. Let's go take a look at my progeny.

-

The staff in the medical bay of the UNSC headquarters stepped aside to let them through. THere was a large circle of people trying to get a good look at Dr. Katie and her box. At least three PAs from the ship were helping her to weigh, test and catalogue the creatures, who seeed less than happy to being handled the way they were.

Adam was rather hesitant on approaching, but once he did his natural curiosity overruled whatever experience he had the night before, and he leaned in to examine one of them, "The original ones didn't have hair, did they." He wondered reaching out a finger to stroke the tiny hairs sticking up from the creature's body.

"No, " Dr. Krill commented, "The original ones weren't warm blooded either. It looks like they have incorporated the human visual system, warm bloodedness, dermis, hair, and larynx."

"Creepy." Adam said leaning in a little bit closer, as he did, the four creatures which sat on the table turned towards him simultaneously sniffing the air with their tiny noses. Adam pulled back a bit, but it appeared as if they caught his scent and recognized him. Together, they scuttled across the tub, clambered over the wall, rushed across the table, and one of them managed to make its way onto his arm and hand before he could pull away.

He had to try very hard not to squeal and throw the thing off as it scurried up his arm, onto his shoulder before dropping itself into the pocket on the chest of his shirt with an indignant grumble.

He craned his neck downwards and was received by a set of angry grey eyes looking up at him reproachfully as if wondering why he had abandoned them to be poked and prodded. The rest of the medical staff muttered quietly from behind.

"Ok......"

On the table before him, the creatures were mewing unhappily.

WIth one hesitant hand, he reached outward, placing his palm against the table. It didn't take long for the creatures to sense him, and moved forward crawling one by one up his arm. When they couldn't find anywhere comfortable to rest like the first had, they settled with clinging to his shoulders.

He turned to face Sunny arms held out a bit uncomfortably, "Well, this..... is my life now."

Sunny hummed deep in her chest, "Super cute, its a good look for you."

"Dr. Katie walked over with the two remaining creatures duped in either hand, "Wait, we aren't done yet."

By the end, he had one in his pocket, two on his right shoulder one on his left and two clinging from his belt loops.

He sighed, "Well I guess it could be worse."

He wasn't entirely convinced of that in the next moment, as the one on his right belt loop crawled up under his shirt, practically using his spins as a ladder.