Okay, I've gotten a few comments regarding Purple and that after forcing himself on Tenn and what he's done to her, he doesn't deserve a child nor Tenn. I think I've said this before, but I'll repeat it again: my portrayal of him is not meant to garner too much sympathy from readers, but I DO want to show that he does have redeeming qualities. The best way to show this is for him to have a smeet, which is actually one of his greatest desires. Honestly, I do picture him as a good dad.

As for his relationship with Tenn, I've mentioned that this fic won't have the typical 'happily ever after' ending. I won't go into any further details, though. You'll have to see for yourselves eventually.

Enjoy the chapter!

Shades of Purple

Chapter 33- Return to the Massive

Tenn guessed she had fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew, she was being carried off the ship in Purple's arms and they were instantly surrounded by Irken medics checking him all over. The Invader recognized the mauves, purples and pinks of the Massive's docking bay; she let out a relieved sigh.

"Out of my way, all of you!" Red moved through the swarm of shorters, kicking aside those not fast enough to move aside. "Purple!" Tenn shifted uncomfortably as his arms wrapped around her husband, and in turn, her.

"Red, I'm still holding my wife, you know."

"Are you alright?! Did those lizards hurt you?! When was the last time you ate?!"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine! I just barely escaped from a Sobrekt warship, but I'm alright." Tenn growled sarcastically.

"Sorry, Tenn, but the two of you really had me worried! Purple, do you have any idea of how I felt when that lizard called me and showed me footage of you in chains and a muzzle like an animal?!"

"Oh, believe me, I do," Purple growled gently. "Red, can we catch up later? I want to make sure Tenn is alright."

"Lena's already preparing the medical bay, let's go."

As Red had said, the medical bay was mostly empty except for the taller female medics; Tenn would have rolled her eyes if she didn't feel so dizzy.

"Tenn, Purple!" she immediately felt safer as she heard Lena's voice and saw the Irkenette approaching hurriedly; she looked like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Thank Irk you're back!"

"H-Hey…" Tenn greeted weakly. Lena's now-gloveless hand touched her forehead.

"She's boiling hot! What did those monsters do to her?!"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Purple retorted. "Other than blocking all of our PAK-tools, that is!"

"Place Tenn on the medical capsule and I'll do the rest. Meanwhile, go have your PAK checked to re-activate the tools."

Tenn instinctively clutched to Purple as he was about to place her down, but she forced herself to let go of his arms. Lena gave orders to the medics surrounding the medical capsule; Tenn winced as a long cable connected to her PAK and ran a complete analysis.

"Your sugar levels are surprisingly normal for your state. What did the Sobrekt feed you with?"

"Meat," Tenn shivered at the reminder. "I actually ate some of Purple's snacks."

"Purple's snacks?"

"You look surprised."

"He doesn't share them with anyone, not even Red." Lena glanced back at Red, who was currently talking with Purple as the latter's PAK was connected to the scanner. "And judging from the state he was in when he left to bring you back, I was actually afraid he might do something rash."

"Long story."

Lena winked. "We'll have a lot of time to catch up once we're done checking on you and the smeet."

Tenn froze. "How did you-?"

"The way you were clinging to Purple gave you away, it's normal during the pregnancy if you're out of your 'nest'. I did the same with Red every time he dragged me out of my den to take me to the check-ups. Anyhow, I guess Purple knows, doesn't he?"

"I don't think I'd be here in one piece if he didn't." Both Irkenettes giggled.

Thankfully, Lena didn't question her as to what happened between the two of them; she just asked medical questions such as what she had been eating, her symptoms and if she had any complications so far. Tenn mentioned the typical pregnancy symptoms, the stress she went through during the captivity, and overall her latest ones regarding the fever and headaches.

Lena had a grave face as she spoke.

"Tenn, I need to sedate you for a while."

"Is anything wrong?"

"No, no! It's just want to check something out."

Tenn saw right through the lie, but she backed off. She didn't mind sleeping for one more hour or two, anyway.

'PAK maintenance complete.'

Purple tentatively summoned a PAK-limb, and to his delight it responded to his neural command. He likewise did the same with the rest and they spread out.

"Oh, my PAK-limbs! How I missed you!" Unable to resist the temptation, Purple embraced the robotic legs.

"Pur, you look ridiculous."

"I don't care, I spent Irk-knows how lung having to use my bare hands for everything! Do you know how tiring that is?"

"Big deal, it's not like they had you carry heavy things around like in prison... Right?"

"No, but it stressed me out!"

"Anyhow, what happened between you and Tenn? I mean, you seemed to be on… more-or-less better terms."

Purple retreated his PAK-limbs, sighing. "What can I say, Red? The time we spent together in that cell… I don't even know how to describe it. The both of us opened up somewhat and we shared lots of things from our pasts and learned more things about each other than we have in the five months we spent here on the Massive. I'm happy about that, but at the same time, it bothers me that we had to be taken prisoner by the irkdamned lizards to do it.

"All this time I've been dealing with this the wrong way, Red. I've been treating Tenn as if she were just a doll of my property, but she's way more than that. I was so bent on forcing her to love me that I didn't realize I was actually driving her further away by wanting her to bend to my will instead of…" Purple noted Red was averting his gaze. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just curious that you never listened to me when I told you basically the same thing when you came up with the 'plan', but then the irkdamned lizards show up and then it finally goes through your thick head."

"Red, right now I'm not in the mood for that."

"...Something else happened, am I right?"

"Yes, but I'd rather not talk about it here." Purple glanced around at the medical drones. Leaving his seat, he approached Lena. "How is Tenn?"

"So far she seems to be doing fine; her sugar levels are normal for her pregnancy, undoubtedly thanks to the snacks you shared with her."

"You shared your snacks?"

"Don't start with that!"

Lena coughed impatiently. "But her body temperature is higher than normal to the point of causing her fever and migraines, weakening considerably. However, the scans don't identify any sort of virus or disease, so her condition must be caused by something external."

"External in what sense?" Purple inquired.

"Someone seems to have implanted a sort of device in Tenn's body."

Purple gulped the lump in this throat. "What kind of device?"

"I can't tell you more until I take it out and have it examined. Meanwhile, you may want to go eat something and take a break. I imagine you haven't had anything decent to eat for a while, right?" Lena inquired, smirking.

"What about Tenn?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her. Once we make sure she and the smeet are alright, I'll take her up to your bedchambers. Meanwhile, it'd be nice if you could check on Rouge."

Purple didn't want to separate from his wife, but he couldn't deny that he was eager to see Rouge after not seeing him for a week. But Red had to smack him in the back of the head and literally drag him out of the medical bay to make him snap out of it.

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator and into their living room, a small black blur tackled into Red's legs and gripped unto his robes. Purple recognized the little indokuro from the last time he called Red, but it had grown a few inches ever since. His scales seemed a darker shade of gray too; it must be the type of creatures that darken up as they age.

"Bad lizard! You're going to tear off my robes, you little scaly menace! Go bite into Purple's boots or something!" Red managed to tear off the hatchling away from his legs and shoo it away, but it was too late. There were holes all over his robe. "Damn it, not again! It's the eleventh time!"

"He's a cutie!"

"You think that because you haven't been living under the same roof as that thing!"

"Ilk said she'd send you a guide or something, didn't she?"

"You mean the... instruction manual on how to get the creature to obey?"

Purple rolled his eyes. "Yeah, exactly."

"She did. Thanks to that, I've had an easier time teaching the little menace to learn his place, but unfortunately, it's still a baby. He'll be like this for about a cycle."

"Speaking of which, does it have a name?"

Red shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about it. The training guide says that indokuros are the ones who choose their names, but I don't understand what that means. We tried naming it, but it doesn't respond to anything." He raised his lekku. Purple raised his own as he heard wailing coming from Red and Lena's room. "Looks like someone's awake. I'll be right back."

Purple immediately made his way to the fridge and served himself a generous amount of donuts, pastries and ice-cream. After days of having to live off meat, he needed some sugar. Contrary to what one would expect, Purple didn't devour the food. Instead, he gave slow bites and made sure to enjoy the sweet taste with every spoonful he took.

Red joined soon after, shushing and bouncing Rouge in his arms as the smeet wailed loudly for his mama. Sweet Irk, even Rouge looked like he had grown a bit.

"Shh, it's alright, Rougie. Daddy's here."

"Looks like he's been a handful."

"You have no idea. He doesn't fit into the pouch anymore and Lena's started the weaning process, but Rouge isn't too happy about it." Red sighed, sitting down next to him. Rouge continued to wail and wiggle even as his father offered him a fry.

"Aww, don't worry, Rouge, soon you'll have a little cousin to play with." Purple chuckled as he tickled on the smeet's foot, but he didn't even notice.

"Oh, that's right! Tenn is pregnant! Congratulations, Pur! I'd hug you, but my hands are occupied right now."

"That's okay. In a few months, I'll be holding my own smeet too."

"But before that, you'll have to deal with... Err… your wife's spontaneous desire to eat strange food,"

"Cravings?"

"...The sudden display of wild emotions thingy,"

"Mood swings."

"And… What was it again? When they go straight to the bathroom to throw up."

Purple rolled his eyes. "Really, Red? I'm gone for about a week and you lose fifteen percent of your vocabulary?"

"For your information, I was to busy dealing with the lizards and having to make sure Ilk isn't beheaded!"

Oh, right, Ilk! "How's her mission coming along? Is she alright?"

"My baby's officially working with the lizard-lady in charge of the hybrids!" Red laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she called next month to tell us Sobr's been conquered and ready for the Organic Sweep!"

Purple's spooch sank. Knowing Ilkie, she'd actually try to stall it as much as possible. She's never liked to take unnecessary lives, if any to begin with, even if they were inferior species.

"Does she have a plan already?" he asked, changing the topic.

"If she has, she hasn't shared it with me. I guess she doesn't want to risk the signal being intercepted."

The next two hours were spent catching up on what had happened in Purple's absence, as well as the awful experience of being Sobrekt war prisoners. Purple forced himself to remember the discovery of Mizorant's plot and the revelation of her involvement in the Sobrekt attack on the Massive and Tenn's miscarriage. He also mentioned the kryvtor named Sakar and the way he had helped them escape. Red was skeptical, though.

"Why would a Kryvtor help you escape? I mean, if they had taken you to Sobr, the Shuryo would have had a nice trump card."

Purple shrugged. "I don't know. He just said that children aren't supposed to pay for their fathers' mistakes, whatever he meant."

The door whizzed open at that moment, and an anti-gravity stretcher, in which an unconscious Tenn was laying on top of, was slid into the lounge. Lena and a few of the taller medical drones were at the sides; the indokuro hatchling hissed and went to hide under the couch. Guess he doesn't like doctors.

Purple instantly got to his feet. "Lena-!"

The Irkenette shushed him sternly. "She's had a rough time. The anesthesia will wear off soon, but it'd be convenient if you let her sleep. I need your help in carrying her to bed, if you don't mind."

"You don't have to ask twice!"

Purple carefully picked his wife up bridal style and silently made his way towards their personal chambers. It was still the same way they left it. He carefully tucked Tenn in and made sure to accommodate the pillows so that she'd be in a comfortable position. Once Purple finished, he returned to the lounge; the medical drones had already left, taking the stretched with them, while Lena had sat down next to Red.

Rouge squeaked and managed to crawl off Red's lap to crawl all the way to Lena's; Purple couldn't contain a small laugh as the smeet scratched at his mother's abdomen, trying to find the pouch's opening. Purple finally lost it when the hatchling dashed out of his hiding spot and leaped straight into Red's lap.

"Nononono, the couch is off-limits!" he growled, pushing the creature unto the ground.

"So what did you find?" Purple asked Lena rather impatiently.

"The device was near the spooch-sac, so I have an idea of its purpose." Lena took a deep breath, flattening her lekku against her head. "You've heard of abortions?"

Purple froze.

"Isn't that when a pregnant female doesn't want the offspring and goes through a sort of surgery to-?"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Purple warned his co-Tallest.

"As I was saying, it's probably a device made for abortions. However, this particular model isn't meant to directly terminate the pregnancy, but cause an eventual miscarriage. It's inserted near the spooch-sac and deprives the smeets of its vital nutrients, weakening it until the egg detaches from the sac and is expelled. However, it also causes illness symptoms in the mother so that it looks like it was a natural miscarriage. It's often used by women who had an affair and end up getting impregnated by their lovers so that their husbands won't find out.

"Before you get any funny ideas," Lena narrowed her eyes. "Hyoomans don't have the technological level to create such devices, so it's unlikely that Tenn had it implanted when she learned she was pregnant. Besides, you said the symptoms started days after you were brought to the Sobrekt ship. It's possible that they might have implanted it sometime during that time."

Purple released the breath he didn't know he was holding. Yeah, that made sense. Both he and Tenn had been knocked out when they were first captured; the lizard and the Meekrob might have implanted it then. He was so going to plan a terrible punishment for those two once he gets his hands on them.

But for now, all he cares about is his wife and child's wellbeing.

Tenn wasn't sure of how much time she was asleep, but right now that was the least of her worries, as the impulse to hide inside a nest returned tenfold. She hurriedly grabbed all of the pillows to make a sort of improvised 'den' on top of the bed, unknowingly occupying most of the space. It was so comfortable that she nearly fell asleep for a second time until she heard the doors open.

"Tenn?" Her lekku twitched as she poked her eyes out of the den. Purple was standing at the door, holding a big bowl of ice cream. Her mouth watered.

Purple half-expected to find his wife awake, but he did not expect her to take all of the pillows to make a nest. Oh, right, the nesting behavior. Admittedly, Tenn looked adorable tucked inside that nest!

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat down on the side of the mattress.

"Better."

"I imagined you'd be hungry. I brought you some vanilla-mirror cake ice cream."

Her lekku were twitching wildly at the pleasant aroma of sugary milk, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. Warily, Tenn crawled her upper body out of the nest to grab the bowl and bury her face into the treat. Ah, sweet, sweet, ice cream! She didn't mind her face feeling numb or her cheeks getting stained with chocolate and cream; the Invader focused on her meal.

"What?" She asked with a small frown as she heard her husband chuckle.

"You look adorable with whipped cream on your face, you know."

An uncomfortable silence followed soon after. Both Irkens wanted to say something, but neither spoke. Eventually, Tenn was the first to ask. "What did Lena say?"

Purple took a deep breath. "Apparently, the lizards inserted an abortion device into your body so that you'd lose the smeet while making it look like a miscarriage. Thankfully it's been extracted and the smeet is okay, though you must stay in bed for a few days and avoid getting stressed. We spoke with the Control Brains and they agreed that we may take a few months off the Massive for the remainder of the pregnancy."

Tenn sighed. "I guess it'd be nice to be back on Irk for a change. All of this space travelling is getting on my nerves."

Purple grinned. "We agree, then! The Massive's actually on course to Irk for the crew shifting and maintenance, so we'll get off once we arrive. Want something to drink? I made you a cookies n' cream-marshmallow milkshake. It's really tasty."

"Purple," Tenn called out to her husband before he got to his feet. She almost dismissed it when he looked at her, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and say it. "Thank you for looking after me. On the Sobrekt ship, I mean."

"There's no need to thank me, my dear." Purple offered her a sincere smile. "I love you." Kissing her forehead one more time, he walked out of the room.

Lena came in to check on her shortly after, and the two engaged in a pleasant conversation as they caught up. Tenn told her all of her misadventures on Earth, her experiences with Gaz, and overall of what happened after Purple found her and their capture by the Sobrekt. When it was her turn to ask, Tenn inquired as to how Purple found her in the first place.

"Zim's robot called to invite him and Red to a 'pizza party' or something, and inadvertently gave you away. Afterward, Purple went to retrieve you. I was afraid that he'd do something reckless." Lena said.

"Did he learn that you helped me escape?"

"He suspected it from the beginning, and eventually I had no choice but to confirm it. He wasn't very happy with me, but my conscience is clear, Tenn. You needed help, and I thought solely of both your mental and psychological health, as simple as that. I have the feeling that he'll never forgive me for it, though."

"What did Red say?"

"He didn't pick sides, though I'm certain that he did agree with me even if he wouldn't say it outloud in front of Purple. Anyhow, did something happen between you two in the Sobrekt ship? Purple doesn't seem to be mad at you anymore, or if he is, he's making a good job at dissimulating it."

Tenn toyed a little with her fingers to shift her attention elsewhere. "What can I say? He actually looked after me and tried to protect me as much as he could, but…" the Invader sighed, closing her eyes. "Lena, he wept when he learned that Mizorant was behind my miscarriage. I never thought I'd see him crying like a smeet, I didn't think of him even being capable of showing that emotion. And when the medic made me that ultrasound, he was looking at the screen with such…. Paternal love.

"And that's not all. We ended up talking about each other a lot. There were no arguments nor veiled threats, just pleasant conversation, almost as if I was talking to a friend. Purple didn't make me feel like a slave nor a trophy, he actually made me feel like his wife. I can't believe I'm saying this, but… I liked him."

Lena listened to her tale intently, her expression serious. Letting out a sigh, she looked down at her hands.

"Tenn, I don't mean to defend Purple's actions. I know that he's hurt you very much and many of the things he has done to you're unforgivable, but… He's not a bad person. True, he's selfish, somewhat childish and he always wants things done his way, but he's also a good friend and a loving uncle who genuinely loves smeets.

"Purple loves you. He has strange ways of showing it, but his feelings for you are genuine. However, ever since becoming Tallest no one, absolutely no one, has ever denied him anything. When you rejected his first proposal he didn't take it lightly, but not for the reasons you may believe."

"What do you mean?" Tenn inquired.

"I'm afraid that's something you must ask Purple yourself. I'm afraid it's something too personal for me to meddle on."

Tenn pondered on it. Does it have to do with the question she made on the Sobrekt ship? Purple had gotten quite on the defensive when she inquired over any ex-girlfriends he had. Does this mean he's had a previous romantic experience? And if he had, did it end badly? It might explain some of his behavior.

There was only one way to find out.

Ohh, soon will be learning more of Purple's past and why he's the way he is. It doesn't justify his actions, but it gives more insight into his behavior. Is Tenn right?