For once it came to only one long scene. Thanks to Yarharr for reviewing.

Lex struggled to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand ounds each. Even in the darkness she felt the warm pressure of someone holding onto her hand.

She finally screwed up all her strength and managed to lift her impossibly heavy lids. The vision before her was well worth the effort. James was sitting beside the bed holding her right hand to his lips, his eyes closed as if in prayer. After a moment he looked over and his eyes widened when he saw that she was awake.

"Hey." He drawled, smiling slowly.

"Hey." She smiled, and then winced from the pull of her skin against a cut near her hairline. "You're smiling James. I guess that means I'm not going to keel over then."

He laughed softly, glad she was feeling up to cracking jokes. "No, not just yet." He handed her a pair of pills and offered them to her. "Gel said this'll help with the pain, said it was the equivalent of 'children's Tylenol' or something."

She swallowed the pills and took a sip from the water he offered her. "What's Tylenol?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess something your Mom told her about."

She looked around the room, then turned to him with a half amused, half confused look on her face. "How did you convince Jess to leave you alone with me?"

He grinned. "Should I be offended?"

"No, I just meant how did you explain why you should be here with me?" She couldn't resist smiling back, his smile infectious. "You didn't…"

"Tell him about us? No. I thought we should tell him together." He turned her hand over and pressed a soft kiss onto her palm. "We decided to take shifts watching over you, in case you woke up today."

"And I woke up during your turn?" She caressed his cheek with her hand, smiling up at him. "Must be a sign."

He laughed. "You always say that. Thinking you smell pizza means we should make it, seeing an ad for candy means we should go buy some."

She laughed back. "Hey…that peanut butter cup ad was a sign okay. If we hadn't stepped into that stall to buy some those Alliance guards would've caught us before we could unload that shipment of illegal beagles."

"I cannot believe that job actually existed." He continued laughing. "Mom and the rest of the parents could not keep from ribbing us for that."

Lex sobered as a thought occurred to her. "James, what happened to 623?"

James stopped laughing. "She's hasn't woken up yet. Gel is trying to figure out a way to wake her up without hurting her or the baby."

"I guess that's why the Alliance hadn't woken her up yet." Lex sighed. "I just wish sometimes that people would stop trying to dissect every transgenic they find. But I guess that after five hundred and twenty years, it's not looking all that likely that all ordinaries will accept us."

"Then we'll just have to show them how amazing you all are." He kissed her palm again. "How human you are."

Before James could say anything more Gel sauntered into the room. She nearly squealed with happiness when she saw that Lex was awake.

"How are you feeling?" She came over to give her a gentle hug.

Lex squeezed her cousin tight. "Like I got shot in the stomach by some pigu hundan."

Gel smiled widely, and then she became deadly serious and put her hands on her hips. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what exactly?" Lex asked obtusely, ignoring the fact that James was holding onto her hand in an obviously intimate way.

"First that James and you were together," She raised an eyebrow. "How did you manage to keep that a secret when we all live on this ship?"

James and Lex both sported grins. "We have our ways."

Lex looked at Gel and cocked her head. "You said first, what other things have we been keeping from you."

"That you're pregnant dummy. I found out from your bloodtests."

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