The flight back home was quiet, Vic keeping his distance but glancing over to Beau every few minutes to see, again, that she still stared out the window, hugging her knees to her chest. When we got to the townhouse, she went upstairs, only to come back down almost immediately.

"I packed all my stuff and it's still on the Buzzard." She said, sheepishly.

"I'll get it." Vic told her.

A cloud of purple smoke appeared next to Beau, with Ushar in the middle, holding her suitcase. "Too late." He offered it to her and she took it, thanking him. She gave Vic a lingering look before she headed back upstairs and closed the door.

"Whose turn was it to cook tonight?" Vic asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Mine." Trugden called from the living room.

Ap'lek was at the sink, washing the night's dishes, and he sighed when I walked in. "Are we at war with Cyrilla?"

"More than likely." I admitted, going to the refrigerator and grabbing a beer.

He groaned, letting his head fall back. "Godsdammit, Kylo."

"Don't blame me!" I said, popping the top. "Vic is the one who couldn't hypothetically keep it in his pants." I took a drink. "My hands are clean in this."

Ap'lek turned to look over his shoulder at our brother. "Please tell me he's joking."

Vic shrugged, eating cold leftovers directly from their container. But, at least he was using a fork. "That pompous ass hat was going to sell her to be raped and bred," he said, mouth full. "I didn't know what else to do."

Ap'lek scoffed. "You could've, I dunno, not?"

"That wasn't an option." I told him. It hadn't been an option before, but it especially wasn't now that I knew how Vic felt, that he loved her. "And, either way, it's done now." We had no choice but to face the fallout.

I turned the beer up, draining it, and threw the bottle in the trash, then got another, ignoring the glances that my brothers threw at me.

A shadow darted to Ushar, coiling around his waist and coming up to whisper in his ear.

"How was she today?" I asked, popping the top and taking a sip.

"Fine." He said. "She startles easily, and is hyper vigilant."

Both of which were trauma responses.

"She told me about the baby." He grinned. "Congratulations."

I couldn't help the smile that broke out across my face. "Thank you."

He nodded once.

Ap'lek went to bed shortly after, and Vic took the rest of his leftovers downstairs. With the others in their rooms or already in bed, I quietly went to the laundry room and grabbed the bottle of vodka I'd hidden in the cleaning supplies. I finished it off, taking it, and the trash bag of beer bottles to the recycling bin, then brushed my teeth before heading upstairs.

I gently knocked on the closed bedroom door. "It's me." I said, and heard Rey give her permission for me to come in.

She was in the adjoining bathing room, her hair up in a towel, and another wrapped around her, starting under her arms, and ending several inches above her knees. I couldn't help but be struck again by how thin she was, but I looked away, going to my dresser and pulling out a drawer. "I'm just getting something to change into." I said, searching for my sleep pants.

The smell of jasmine and vanilla wafted to me, and I looked up, seeing her with one leg up on the sink as she rubbed lotion onto her thighs, then down her calf.

"I won't be able to do this much longer." She said, reaching over to pump more lotion into her hand.

I blinked, realizing I'd been staring. "You won't be able to put lotion on?" Was that a segment I missed in my quick read through of What to Expect When You're Expecting?

She made a face. "What? No. I mean I'm going to be too big to get my legs up like this."

Oh. I laughed at myself. "Yeah, that would make a lot more sense."

She switched legs, and I went back to rummaging through my drawer. "Have you given any thought to names?" She asked, and I stopped, my gaze going back to her.

"Names?" I asked. "For the baby?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Is there something else we're naming that I don't know about?"

I smiled and shook my head. "No, I haven't thought of names. It's probably best I leave that to you."

She took her foot down and faced me. "That sounds like a story I want to hear."

"Why does it sound like there's a story?" I lightheartedly shot back. "I could just suck at naming things."

"And if you gave something a sucky name," She said, matter of factly. "I want to hear the story."

"Fine." I sighed in defeat. "When I was twelve, my first summer at the camp, I kept a lizard as a pet." End of story.

"What did you name it?" She probed.

"Raul."

The corners of her mouth twitched. "Raul?"

"Yes."

"You named a lizard Raul?"

"Sure did."

She turned back to the sink. "Yeah, it is probably best if I name the baby."

I chuckled, and opened a different drawer to look into. "How was training?" I asked.

"What did Ushar tell you when you asked him?" She asked, not looking up. How she knew I'd asked him first, I didn't know, but I felt my face heat.

"We didn't actually train." She said, "I didn't want to be teleported, so we tried to walk to the library, but I got hungry halfway there so we went to this pizza place on Third. Then, I was too full to train, so I came back and took a nap."

"Sounds like a good day." I said.

She pumped more lotion into her hand and rubbed it onto her arm. "Yeah. How was yours?"

I found my sleep pants and pulled them out. "Horrible. But, also good, I guess."

The sound of her laugh had my heart fluttering. "How is that possible?"

I shrugged my jacket off and moved over to the closet to hang it up. "Elmi had contracts lined up whether our marriage had been consummated or not, so even if I lied and told him it was, he still would've sold her. So, Vic said that it was him."

She bent over, unraveling the towel on her head, then stood upright, her wet hair hanging in messy curls around her face and shoulders. "Vic said it was him who what?" She grabbed a comb and started to gently pull it through.

"Who - uh - took her to bed."

She stopped, and turned to look at me, the comb still in her hair, and her eyes wide. "And, I'm assuming Elmi didn't take too kindly to that?"

"No," I reached up and loosened my tie, pulling the knot free. "He stripped her of her title, and banished her for defiling herself with Vic."

She went back to combing. "I wonder why it's defiling herself if she slept with Vic but it wouldn't be defiling if she'd slept with you. One would think that you both would be equally defiling."

"Wow, thanks." I made a stabbing motion into my heart and then twisted my fist.

She gave me a look. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I think that's exactly what you meant." I teased.

Her shoulder lifted in a shrug. "Fine, it is what I meant."

A laugh bubbled out of me as my eyebrows lifted. "Fucking savage."

She smiled at me, and I had to stop to remind myself to breathe. This ease, this playfulness, it was what I'd missed the most, and it was what I was terrified would be lost forever. But, it really was her. She really was here.

She pushed the door, but stopped before it was fully closed, and disappeared behind it.

"It's because we were contracted." I said, unbuttoned my cufflinks. "I think that's the defilement threshold."

"It's disgusting, really." She said, pulling the door open. She'd changed into the flannel pajamas Beau had gotten for her, and pushed her sleeves up, grabbing her toothbrush. "If she chooses who she gives her virginity to, it means that she's somehow less than if the man who bought her takes it from her."

I nodded my agreement. "I know."

"So, what part was good, and what part was horrible?" She squeezed a dollop of toothpaste into place and started to brush.

"All of the parts were horrible." I clarified. "She can never go home, she can never see her family again because Vic lied." Even saying those two words together, Vic and lied, seemed wrong. "The only good that came out of it is that she can't be sold now, but at the cost, I'm not sure if it's worth it."

Rey spat in the sink. "Have you asked her?" She asked, then resumed her brushing.

I shook my head. "No, we -" I sighed. "We don't really talk."

She spat again and turned the faucet on to wash her mouth out, then used a towel to dry her face. "In the same way you don't really talk to anyone, or -?"

Calling me out on my shit in jammies that made her look like a lumberjack. Fuck, how did I ever live without her?

"I wasn't nice to her." I admitted. "I took everything out on her, then I ignored her while I -" Drank until I forgot you were gone. "Uh - tried to find you."

"That was so unfair." She scolded.

"I…know."

She walked out of the bathing room, and I was able to actually see the slight curve of her belly under the flannel. I wanted to feel it, get on my knees and press my face against it. I wanted to hold her, kiss her, but I stopped myself there. I had other wants, other desires in the back of my mind, but I kept them buried. It wouldn't be fair to her to make them known.

"We both need to have some sort of relationship with her, especially if she's with Vic." She grabbed her pillow and pulled the comforter back.

My eyes narrowed as I thought. Was Beau with Vic?

"You mean they're not together?" Rey asked.

"He mentioned something about being with her and she told him to drop dead, so I'm just really confused about their entire dynamic." I confessed.

"Well, is that just her sense of humor?"

I offered a shrug. "I really don't know."

She made a face. "You were contracted to her for four months-"

"And, I've been a little distracted." I snapped, though I hadn't meant to. She recoiled, the ease between us clouding, growing cold, and she blinked, her eyebrows pulling together as she stared at me.

"I'm so sorry." I said. I had no idea where that aggression came from. "It's just been a rough day, and I'm tired." I picked up my sleep pants and moved toward the bathing room. "I'm going to change."

When I walked past her, she grabbed my forearm in an iron grip, and I froze, looking down at her. She wasn't looking at me, but staring off at nothing, and I was afraid, for a moment, that I'd triggered her.

Her hazel eyes came to mine. "Have you been drinking?"

My stomach dropped and I found myself forgetting to breathe again for an entirely different reason. I tried to pull away, but she held me, both with her grip on my arm, and the cold look in her eyes.

"Yeah," I told her as casually as I could manage, praying she didn't notice the hitch in my voice. "Yeah, just a few with the guys before I came upstairs."

Her nostrils flared as if she could smell the lie, and my stomach twisted. But, her grip loosened, and I was able to pull away. I went into the bathing room and closed the door, sighing as I brought a hand up to rub my face. I'd forgotten how observant she was, and cursed myself for my careless slip. I quickly changed, and stepped out into my bedroom, but found it empty.

My heart dropped. "Rey?"

I went into the hall. "Rey!" Receiving no answer, I headed for the stairs, stopping when I saw her calmly coming up.

"Where did you go?" I demanded, anxiety making my voice harsher than I intended.

"To get some water." She said, her voice like ice as she breezed past me and went back into my room. I moved to follow, and was met with the wood of the door as it was slammed in my face.

The lock clicked.

Dread settled in my stomach, and I closed my eyes. "Fuck."