Hugh sometimes felt the yearn deep inside him of wanting a child. He loved Paul with all of his heart, they were married, they were soulmates, but Hugh still found something to be missing.
As he and Paul slowly got to know Adira, they showed them the way and helped them when they needed it. Adira needed guidance, Adira needed family, and when they all began to gravitate towards one another, Hugh knew that his family was whole.
They had basically adopted a highly intelligent teenager and Hugh thought that maybe one day they could give Adira a little sibling.
The carpet beneath their feet was rough. Adira tried to tune the sensation out as they began to meditate, to try and bring back more of their past memories. Adira knew most of what had happened to them but it was memories from when they were little that were still blurred, still buried at the back of their mind.
Taking a deep breath in, Adira concentrated on the flame in front of them and cleared their mind, pushing their thoughts to the side as images flashed in their mind. Their birth family, and now their found family, all happy together.
It was bound to happen one day and today was that day. Paul was being himself, perhaps a little more annoying, and he knew he went too far when Jett sucker punched him in the face. Adira looking on, shocked.
Here he was was, sitting on a biobed in sickbay, holding a tissue to his bleeding nose.
"Time to make you all better," Hugh smiled as he came over to him, running some new fancy instrument over his nose.
Feeling a weird tingling sensation, a few moments later Paul could breathe through his nose again. "Thank you, my wonderful husband."
"Sometimes, all you need is a little faith," Hugh smiled, picking up an instrument from his tray.
Running the dermal regenerator over Adira's hand, he made sure the skin went back together perfectly, not a scar left to be seen.
"Thank you," Adira said, checking out their hand.
"Now, for next time, if Paul tells you to stick your hand into something, don't do it, let him do it," Hugh replied, knowing damn well why Paul didn't do it.
"He said it was because my hands were smaller," Adira replied, confused.
"He says that to everyone, my dear, sweet Adira."
The snow was heavy, each step they took was getting harder and harder but they kept on going. The lifesign was only a few hundred metres away, Hugh and Paul were almost sure that it was Adira and they were going to rescue them.
"What if Adira was hurt while lost?" Paul voiced, walking faster.
"I'm a doctor my love, I'll take good care of Adira, I promise."
Following the lifesign into a cave, Hugh spotted Adira first and ran over, pulling out the medical tricorder to see if they were still breathing. "They're alive, set up the transport enhancers."
Adira found watching the stars passing by to be calming. They were on a Federation ship, they were safe, and they had found themself with two dads. Paul and Hugh had taken them under their wing, made sure they ate and slept. Adira found it nice to have people like that who cared, who worried, and whenever they all sat down for dinner, Adira knew they were their family.
Adira couldn't remember having a family like this, they could only remember Gray and their time together. Even though Gray was still with them, it was nice to have their dads.
Sitting down at the far table in the mess hall, Hugh slowly mixed his soup, trying to cool it down a little. It was a long day in sickbay and now that he had time to sit and reflect, all he could think about was the deceased man's family and how they would cope.
He now had his own family to think of and if anything happened to them, he would be utterly devastated. Seeing them enter the mess hall, he was thankful that both Paul and Adira were safe and that he could protect them and care for them.
Adira found themself always awkwardly laughing when something didn't go right. Today they were in a training group with some other members of the Discovery crew who they couldn't place. People they hadn't seen.
Adira felt like they couldn't fit in. They felt as if everyone was looking down on them like some people do to small children. When the instructor finally called it a day, Adira left as quickly as they could, heading towards Hugh and Paul's quarters.
Entering the large quarters, they flopped on the couch between the two men and sighed. It was nice to be home.
Paul always had a hard time putting aside work to take care of himself. Today though was different. Adira had just come back from Trill and they were feeling lonely so tonight was family dinner. Adira, Hugh, and himself.
Family was important to Paul, Adira felt like the child he had always wanted. He was literally a gay space dad with two children and he wanted to make sure he stepped up and didn't let his family down.
Brushing his hair so it sat right, he checked himself over in the mirror. Getting dressed, he began to plan their night.
Hugh didn't like change and with Gray now back on Trill, he felt like something was missing from his life.
Heading out of sickbay and back to his quarters, he got changed into something more comfortable and headed down to Engineering, hoping to find his little family there.
"Hey guys, what are you up to? Hugh asked, noticing Paul and Adira buried deep into a project.
"Trying to figure out what some readings are coming from," Paul replied, not looking up.
"Okay, well, both of you, your shifts ended an hour ago and it's dinner time, come on my loves."
