In which they arrive back at camp and I attempt to write pseudo-medical jargon despite biology being my least favorite science.
Synchronized, Not Stealthy
Minus the part where they might be dying from some sort of poison, the day was going surprisingly well.
Penny might be biased though, given she was the one being carried through the forest. It was Vijay's idea though so she refused to feel guilty.
He'd convinced her by saying it would be faster. Which, fair. Her ankle was refusing to take her weight and she kept getting random chills. One episode had even gotten her to start shivering on Vijay's back.
And really, who doesn't love being carried through a picturesque forest on the back of a guy they find attractive?
The answer is Penny.
No one is more shocked than she is, but it's true. She does not like it at all.
She couldn't do anything - not even read - because she had to hold into him. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders. Her chest was pressed to his back. The fabric of his jacket that she was still wearing was starting to chaff. And! With her head on his shoulder, his scent was literally the only thing she could smell. It was a very nice smell she would admit, but it was *incredibly* distracting.
And okay, maybe she could have turned her head to look out at the trees rather than facing his neck. But this was an opportunity to figure out why his scent smelled so familiar.
"What're you doing?" Vijay asked, head turning to look at her sideways.
"Nothing."
That was a lie. He knew. She knew. Her nose was literally right next to his scent glands. If she were to move her face even a centimeter closer Penny would be violating so many rules of etiquette and manners.
"I can literally feel your heart beat against my back," Vijay reminded her, which… that was still cheating.
And his heart rate was just as high as hers!
"I'm trying to figure out what you smell like exactly," Penny admitted. His head turned back to face forward and she watched the blush on his cheeks rise on his neck too. "Since you keep your scent low, I figured this is my best chance."
"Figure it out then?" Vijay cleared his throat. Penny pursed her lips as she tried not to smile.
His voice had cracked. And he hadn't told her to stop.
"It's Earth-y. Reminds me of home, like, the trees or the plants or… something." Penny sighed, forehead wrinkling, "I ruled out flowers. Since it's not particularly sweet smelling."
Vijay glanced back at her briefly, "So… I smell good, to you?"
"Shut up," Penny bit her lip. Her face was probably bright red now. Tomato red. She pressed her face into his shoulder.
He stopped walking. Penny looked up. They weren't far from the Jupiter 2 site. It was just through the tree line basically.
Which was probably why they could hear whatever yelling was happening.
"That does not bode well." Penny whispered, hands gripping into Vijay's shirt. She recognized the voices. One of them was definitely his dad. And another was definitely hers.
Nope. No. This was gonna suck.
"Maybe we can get to the Jupiter without them seeing us?" Vijay said, almost hopefully. Penny nodded mutely.
It was not a good plan. He knew. She knew. Hell, Robot would've said 'Danger' if he were there.
They did it anyway.
Quiet. Slowly. With a carefully planned route around the side of the camp site.
"Penny?"
She was going to strangle Will.
He caught sight of them on the ramp. They were literally home free, and then he'd said her name and Robot had done his little whirring noise of concern.
The entire campsite went quiet. They didn't have to turn around to know that every adult was probably looking at them. Likely with some sort of curiosity or concern.
"Vijay?" And that was Victor.
At least they weren't fighting anymore?
"What happened to your ankle?" Will asked as he descended the ramp, head tilted. Penny tried to signal him with her facial expressions. But Will was very much not looking at her face, "And what's that stuff on your hands?"
"If I commit fratricide will you help me hide the body?" Penny whispered to Vijay, wincing as Judy shot over, bringing significantly more parents than was necessary.
Unfortunately, there were too many witnesses to commit murder and Penny instead ended up in medical bay with Judy flitting about with various medical contraptions.
"Can you take off the jacket so I can place a sensor -"
"Nope," Penny told her bluntly, pursing her lips as she avoided eye contact with everyone in the room. Which was not an insignificant number.
Judy, her mom, her dad, Victor, Vijay, Will. Even Robot was standing just outside the room, whirring curiously.
"Why not?" Judy huffed, brow furrowed.
Ah. She was in a mood. Whatever that fight was about, Judy had been involved.
"Well, I'm not wearing anything underneath it and I'm not really into flashing people," Penny smirked and Judy's eyes widened.
Her expression was satisfying to watch. The shock and horror spreading across her face.
Every adult in the room turned to look at Vijay then. He managed to shrink back against a wall.
"Wow," Penny drawled, "Way to assume a stereotype everyone." She applauded mockingly until they all looked back at her, "I fell in a river. My shirt was wet. It's really that simple."
"We haven't tested the water yet," Maureen's brows shot up. Her spine straightened.
"Yeah, we know," Vijay held up his hand. The black lines that spread across his skin were both darker and more wide spread than they had been a few hours earlier at the river.
"I'm calling Hiroki." Maureen disappeared out of the room.
Victor cleared his throat, gaze still leveled on his son, "Would you like to call your mother or should I?"
"Uh..." Vijay rubbed at his neck. Face now red and eyes on his shoes.
"We'll be right back." Victor stepped from the room and beckoned Vijay to come with him. He slunk away, casting glances back at Penny.
Given she was now being grilled by her father and Judy, she was no help. She was less than no help actually, because her John Robinson's forehead wrinkled more and more with every word out of her mouth.
"Wait, you were shivering and he got closer?"
Yeah, John was not Vijay's biggest fan right now.
"I wasn't in heat, dad, I was just cold. You know, from the water," Penny argued.
"You didn't know that for sure Penny," Judy huffed, arms folded over her chest.
Penny glared at her, "I was like 98% sure. And given his throat and his pants are intact, obviously I was right!"
John grimaced. Ha. He deserved that.
"Now, can I maybe get some privacy for what I'm sure is about to be a very thorough exam?" Penny wasn't exactly yelling, but her voice certainly carried outside the room because Will scurried away from where he was eavesdropping in the hallway. Robot right behind him.
"Hiroki wants to know if you two took any samples from the river?" Maureen popped her head in as John left.
"In Penny's pack, we bagged her clothes and the towel," Vijay answered as the medical bay's door closed.
She felt slightly bad, leaving him alone to face all the parents at one time. But Penny as leaned back on the exam table to heave a sigh, Judy cleared her throat.
Neither of them was getting off easy.
"Jacket," Judy demanded.
Stripping was significantly easier this time. She just had to unzip Vijay's jacket.
It was also more awkward this time because Judy was watching her like a hawk about to pounce on a snake.
"Holy shit..." Judy breathed out, eyes wide and arms dropping as she caught sight of Penny's back.
The lightning-like marks on her arms continued all the way across her back. Down to her waist and up to her neck.
"This doesn't hurt?" Judy asked as her gloved fingers traced over the dark, jagged lines.
They'd looked serious on Vijay's hands, like burn marks. But Penny's back was practically porcelain colored. She imagined it was almost like a mirror of what actual lightning across the sky looked like.
"Nope, only hurt when I was wet," Penny held the jacket against her chest for some semblance of privacy as Judy took swabs and scanned her with all manner of devices. "My ankle still hurts though, ya know, if you wanted to take a look at that."
"I will," Judy said, face scrunching up as she read something on her screen.
Yeah... the ankle was going to be waiting a while. Obviously.
"Put the jacket back on," Judy headed towards the door, "I want to get some blood from you and Vijay."
Penny pulled it over her arms and zipped up the front. Judy nodded and opened the door.
The equipment behind her was still beeping. Judy had put sensors on her chest, her wrist.
When Vijay was dragged back into the room, he got the same treatment. Sensors. Poked. Prodded. Swabbed.
And then it was time for the needles.
"Are you afraid if needles?" Penny raised an eyebrow as Vijay turned his head away to avoid looking at his arm where Judy was taking not one, not two, but three vials of blood. Thorough, her sister, very thorough.
"I prefer to use the word dislike," Vijay shot back, eyes squeezing shut. The beeping from the monitoring equipment grew louder.
Judy glanced at it, frowning.
His heart rate wasn't the only one higher. Penny squinted at the numbers. Her beats per minute were the exact same as Vijay's.
"What are the chances of that?" Penny asked Judy, gaze shifting from the monitors to her sister.
Judy pursed her lips, "Not likely." She moved to Penny's side of the room. Vijay had been relegated to a chair while Penny remained on the exam table.
Vijay's eyes stayed fixed on the monitors His heart rate lowered. Hers dropped with it.
"Look at the needle," Penny asked him. He turned his head. Immediately, both read outs started beeping as their beats per minute rose again.
"I thought you said nothing happened between you two?" Judy whispered gruffly, glaring at Penny.
"Because nothing did?" Penny whispered back, jaw clenching. She pulled the collar of the jacket down to reveal the scent glands on her neck. "See?"
There were no bite marks. No hickeys. Nothing. There was no reason for her and Vijay to have synchronized heart rates.
It was a rare side effect for mating bonds anyway!
"Vijay?"
He strained up at his mother's voice and Prisha Dhar walked into the medical bay with her brows knitted together. She also walked right up to Vijay, eyes flicking over his arms and his face.
"What's happened?" Prisha pressed a hand to Vijay's cheek, frowning. She followed his gaze to the display of their vitals. Her eyes narrowed.
And now Penny's heart rate was the one rising and dragging Vijay's with her.
Alphas were arrogant, but omegas were protective. Especially of their young.
Or so the books she had on her phone said.
"Mom!" Vijay whined as she tilted his head to side. She sniffed at his scent glands, frowning.
"Did you run a pheromone comparison?" Prisha turned to Judy then. Her question coming *just* as the rest of the parents filed in. Cause, ya know, parents and timing. Infamous combination.
"Why would she run a pheromone comparison?" Maureen was eyeing Penny very pointedly.
Penny laughed nervously, possibly hysterically, "Because space water is weird? I have no idea."
"I'm running a blood panel and a hormone check now." Judy gestured to some medical contraption she'd put the vials of their blood into. She crossed the room to rummage through a cabinet, "I can check their pheromone profile in just a minute."
It was a very awkward minute. Full of parental disapproval and nervous hand wringing.
Penny had never even *heard* of someone having a mate before their first heat. Judy hadn't even had sharp enough teeth at 16 to mate, so there was absolutely no way that -
"They're different," Judy hummed, eyes narrowing on her tablet. She turned it around to show Penny's pheromone profile from her file and the one Judy had just taken. All the little colors and markers from the before were accounted for on the left, but there were extra blips too.
She flicked her finger over the screen and Vijay's was the same. Same markers, just a few extra.
"They have the same extra markers," Judy flicked her finger over the screen again. This time both of their current profiles came up, she tapped on the markers that matched.
"That's not a mating bond," Victory had his arms folded over his chest, lips set in a firm frown. Prisha hummed in agreement, her hand resting on Vijay's shoulder.
There was a collective sigh of relief from the entire room. Mostly from the parents, which Penny found more than a little insulting.
"So what is it?" John asked, head tilting to the side.
Judy shrugged, "Endocrinology is not my specialty and I've never seen anything like this in my training.
"I sent Will to the Watanabes with Penny's shirt. Maybe something in the water caused it?" Maureen suggested. She reached for Penny, a hand stroking over her back.
Penny flinched. Maureen's eyes fluttered, her hand retracting.
"Penny?" Maureen shifted to stand closer, eyes narrowing in concern.
The whole room was looking at her again. Which... fair. But ew.
"Your hand like... shocked me?" Penny tried to explain, lips pursing and fingers squeezing the edge of the table. "Like static electricity, but..."
"Worse." Vijay offered, head nodding. All the eyes turned to him now. Yay! Ish. "That's what the water felt like, when I touched it."
Prisha said something in another language. It was quiet, and very fast. Vijay responded in the same one. Stilted. His shoulders hunching slightly.
Penny glanced towards Victor, who was staring at them with his brows furrowed. Well, at least the Robinsons weren't the only monolingual people around.
"The water, did it get on your scent glands when you fell in, Penny?" Prisha asked her softly, voice low and soothing.
"Uh, yeah, I think so," Penny nodded.
Maureen's back straightened, "That makes sense. For your pheromone profile to change, something had to come in contact with your scent glands "
"That explains Penny, but I thought you didn't go into the river?" Victor looked to Vijay with one eyebrow raised.
"No, but he helped her out," Prisha reminded him, smirking, "And he has your habit of rubbing at his neck when he's nervous."
Victor's hand immediately dropped from his neck where it had been doing that exact motion. Penny pursed her lips to suppress a laugh.
"I'm going to swab at both your necks," Judy reached for her gloves again, "That might give us some help in figuring out... whatever this is."
It was nice that Judy had such confidence really.
"Right, that's great and all, but then can you check my ankle?" Penny asked pointedly, gesturing towards the swollen joint.
Vijay had wrapped it earlier, and Judy'd given her ice when she sat on the table, but it was rapidly turning from red to purple.
"You know, the thing that actually hurts?"
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