Caboose smiled happily as he walked Rachnera back to Blue Base. He was certain this would be another perfect night as-
"I snatched you in that direction," Rachnera pointed out, indicating the opposite direction.
-Caboose turned around to go the right way. "Right! No scenic route when Suu might be worried about her Daddy!" he declared firmly, certain Rachnera would accept that explanation.
Rachnera chuckled a trifle wickedly. "Whatever you say, Honey," she purred happily.
Caboose beamed. They were already at the affectionate nickname stage! Now he just needed to come up with one for her. He was pretty sure 'scary spider lady' was out with how she reacted to it before...and 'sexy spider lady' felt wrong for the same reasons he'd asked to call his dead friend 'Bina. "I'm not good at nicknames!" he shouted in despair.
Rachnera laughed affectionately. "Quite alright, Honey," she offered reassuringly, reaching over to stroke his cheek- well, his helmet with her other claw/hand. "I'm sure the perfect nickname will present itself when the time is right."
"Okay!" Caboose agreed happily. "Oh look, there's Blue Base!" He pointed...to a much larger building that now covered the entire housing block. "...it's a lot bigger than I remember."
[Spatial dimensions of original base determined too limiting with Cerea and Rachnera in residence,] Freckle observed dryly. [Unit Freckle assigned to Sergeant Scary Smith Lady filed the appropriate requisitions and permits, and all other Freckle units performed construction.]
"The paperwork was filed and the building finished in the time it took us to walk here?" Rachnera declared in amazement. "Just how many of you did it take to do that?"
[Eight assigned units and 20 backup units engaged in construction,] Freckle explained. [Total construction time: 10 minutes.]
"What, did you just say 'wall there' and cause a wall to appear out of stray energy?" Rachnera demanded sarcastically.
[Affirmative.]
"I knew you could do that!" Caboose declared proudly if unconvincingly.
"...your balls just keep getting more terrifying," Rachnera murmured softly.
[Error: Bow-chicka-bow-wow.]
"How is that an error?" Caboose asked in confusion. "It sounds like Tucker!"
[Affirmative.]
At that moment, the door flew open and Suu came charging out, quickly followed by Papi. "Papa!" Suu cried out as she wrapped tightly around Caboose.
"Husband!" Papi wailed as she flew up to hug him around his shoulders. She then noticed he was holding Rachnera's hand. "Who's this?"
"This is Rachnera," Caboose explained happily. "She's going to be living with us all, too! She's why Freckle and his siblings made the Base bigger!'
Papi glanced up at the base. "It's bigger?" she asked in confusion. "It doesn't look different."
"That just means they did a good job!" Caboose declared happily.
Rachnera chuckled softly as she observed the pair. "How adorable," she purred somewhat wickedly.
"Oh!" Caboose proclaimed excitedly. "You need to meet everyone else!" He quickly pulled the three girls inside.
Once all four were inside, Caboose took in the new space. The main foyer and dining hall were still visible, but much bigger with more than enough room for everyone to spend time together even with guests...practically enough room for Cerea to exercise indoors. A quick download to his helmet from Freckle showed that the overall floor plan was the same on the first and second floors, merely expanded in scale. There was information on a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floor as well as three basement levels, but his attention was pulled away from that by everyone's warm greetings...and one angry hiss.
"Darling!" Miia cried out, glaring daggers at where Rachnera's hand still rested in Caboose's. "Did you bring home another girlfriend?"
"Yes!" Caboose declared proudly, making Polt and Agent Smith facepalm. "This is Rachnera Arachnera. She is going to be living with us, and is a new marriage friend!" This declaration brought a subtle flush to Rachnera's cheeks. "Now, I know she looks really scary, but she's actually really nice once you get to know her, I can tell. But she's like Carolina, and is going to be pretty abrasive for a while because she's been hurt badly before. So I want all of us to make her feel welcome, knowing we won't ever reject her for being different, okay?"
As the others stared in awe, Smith buried her face in her hand. "Why couldn't you have been born here?" she murmured in wonder. "You would have made a wondrous Interspecies Exchange Coordinator."
Rachnera giggled coquettishly. "Honey, don't you think you're moving a little fast calling me a marriage friend already?" she asked impishly.
"Says the one already calling him Honey!" Miia hissed angrily.
"You want to stay," Caboose said simply. "I want you to stay. And you're giving off the same bear-phones everyone else did once they wanted to be my marriage friends...at least according to my helmet."
"Wait, what?" Smith asked in surprise as everyone else but Suu blushed brightly.
[Captain Caboose's helmet has been upgraded with numerous sensors to enable easier interaction with demi-humans,] Smith's Freckle intoned. [This includes pheromone detection, though it is not advanced enough to pick up purely human pheromones.]
Smith let out a sigh. "That's a relief," she murmured softly. The last thing she wanted to guess at was what Caboose might make out of whatever his sensors said about her. Even if she had developed a rather strong affection for the soldier, all it could be was friendship...and even that somewhat awkward due to their roles being at odds. The last thing she needed was for him to realize-
[Sergeant, your pheromones indicate you wish to mate with the Captain,] her Freckle unit suddenly intoned.
"GYAK!" Smith gasped out, nearly losing coffee and shades as she managed to stagger to her feet. "Don't tell him that!" she commanded her Freckle, looking worriedly towards Caboose…
...who was oblivious. "Rachnera, you're a spider right? Does that mean you eat insects? Can I offer you poly-tick-ale berries? Pretty sure we still have some. We gave Suu some, right?"
"Can't you just let me file the paperwork to get her assigned here for her new homestay?" Smith pleaded. The last thing she wanted was having to explain to governments on both sides why a demi-human with an Interspecies Exchange Visa would choose to seek political sanctuary with an off world dignitary. Somehow she doubted 'Because he's everything man should be in her eyes' would go over well...especially if they asked whose eyes.
"I don't know," Rachnera purred wickedly as she draped herself over Caboose. "Maybe I'd rather be under Honey's authority, hmm? He hasn't failed me yet, after all…"
"Keep your hands off my Darling!" Miia hissed angrily as she lunged forward to grab onto Caboose's other side.
"What happened to making me feel welcome?" Rachnera taunted playfully.
"I'm not judging you for being part-spider!" Miia snapped back. "I'm judging you for acting like a tramp with my Darling!"
"Yeah!" Polt called out playfully. "Only Miia gets to act like that with Beloved!"
"Exactly!" Miia proclaimed smugly, only to blink as she realized what she said. "Polt! You're supposed to be on my side!"
"But this is hilarious!" Polt called back laughing.