Roman and Drake sat in the main room of Drake's pod, staring at the strange sleeping creature before them with a mixture of fascination and fear.
"Seriously, you've done some stupid things recently," Roman stated, "But this one takes the cake."
Drake nodded.
"I'm thinking of calling her Aria," he answered.
"Have you even heard a word I've said in the past five minutes?" Roman asked disbelievingly.
"Ro, she needs me. I spent all evening checking up on her, okay? I didn't just steal her or something," Drake explained. "She's Vwasak, like me. Her mom died giving birth to her, and then her dad joined the Trags. He got sent to the Crates a couple days ago, for trying to plant an illegal listening device in a guard tower. Her only other relative is a grandmother and apparently she's gone totally batty. Aria needs me, Roman. And I can help her. Look, I even got the elder's approval to serve as her temporary guardian," he added, handing Roman a letter in the Vwasak elder's own hand.
"What about school?" Roman prodded stubbornly.
"You know, I don't have to go if I don't want to," Drake replied. "But actually, our neighbor's going to look after her during the day. For now, at least."
"What does she eat?" Roman continued.
"Food, man! Seriously. What is wrong with you?" Drake vowed to himself that Roman would never learn how he had unsuccessfully tried a jar of human baby food earlier that night. Despite still refusing to speak, Aria was more than capable of expressing her opinions on baby food.
"This just seems too rash, even for you," Roman continued. "There must be more going on. Are you sure you're not feeling ill?" he joked. Drake wasn't laughing.
"She's just... so… alone. And I'm pretty alone. And – I don't know, I guess I figured we might as well be alone together. It's less boring," Drake tried to explain.
"Uh-huh. And just out of curiosity, how are you going to tell Taylor that you've become a dad overnight? I'm not sure that's a big selling point for human girls."
Drake thought about the question seriously for a moment, but then he reached out to gently tuck a corner of Aria's blanket under her sleeping form, and in the simple gesture Roman saw all the tenderness, the care, that Drake himself had been deprived for years. He cleared his throat and stood quickly, trying to mask his emotional response.
"So, where's your dad these days?" Perhaps it was time to shift gears.
"I don't know. I hear he's been shacking up with Darla mostly," Drake answered levelly. Darla was one of the more well-known of the Sector's drug dealers. "I had to get a new lock for the door a while back. He was telling all his messed-up drug buddies they could crash here."
"I'm so sorry," Roman whispered. Drake sighed.
"Yeah. So… Why are you staying here, anyway?"