Daryl sensed the tension in the Mink household and was very nervous when he set plates in front of everyone for supper. Even the children were unnaturally quiet, able to tell that something wasn't quite right. Iason and Riki sat at opposite ends of the table, not looking at each other and not talking. Finally the Blondie looked at Riki and said his name a few times, trying to get his attention. But to no avail.

"Is there anything I can say that would make you want to stay here?" He finally asked, figuring the mongrel could hear him.

Riki didn't even look up as he answered curtly. "Tell your precious Jupiter that you love your family and maybe I'll consider it. It's a choice between her or me, you can't have us both."

"You know I cannot do that." Iason replied. I'll lose my job, my home and my position here in Tanagura. And then you'll probably be killed as well."

Riki slammed his silverware down on the table and stood. "NO! Iason, that's your fucking problem! If you truly wanted to you know you could bring the AI down. But you're not able to make the fucking choice between her and us! Get your fucking priorities right and maybe we'll think of staying!"

Rion started to cry when he heard his father yelling. Riki instantly calmed down and hurried to kneel next his son. "Ohhh… I'm sorry, baby. Daddy's sorry. I'm not mad at you, this isn't your fault." Guy started to cry as well, so Riki picked Rion up and went to the other side of the table to lift Guy up as well. "Come on, guys. Let's go down to the room. How about I get Daryl to bring you guys some ice cream, yeah?"

Iason watched them leave, his mind in turmoil. He had never felt as alone as he felt right now. Daryl rushed around the table to clear all the plates. But the Blondie stopped him with a hand on his wrist. "Daryl… am I truly so wrong to find this a hard decision to make?"

The furniture stammered a bit, having never been asked his opinion in his master's affairs before. "Well… I-I think that perhaps Riki believes that you should choose him without thought. But you've lived your whole life under Jupiter's rule, so it's understandable that you're having trouble."

Iason waved him off and stared down at the table. He had a very important decision to make.

Later that night, Riki found himself tucking the kids into bed while he packed a bit. Both the twins seemed to be nervous and still had the sniffles from crying. But the mongrel managed to get them to sleep and even snuggled up next to them. He felt bad for putting such a burden on Iason… but obviously the Blondie was different and he couldn't just trust that he loved him anymore.

About an hour after the kids fell asleep there was a soft knock at the door before it opened. Riki hurried out of the bed without waking the kids and was dismayed to see that it was Iason. The Blondie let his eyes travel briefly over his former pet's shirtless body, narrowing them slightly at the faint scar where the C-section was performed. But then he snapped back up to look at Riki's face so he wouldn't be caught. "We need to talk." was all he would say.

He turned and walked towards the sitting room. Riki sighed and followed him, looking back to make sure the kids weren't disturbed before he shut the door and left. The Blondie sat in his chair and Riki took a chair across for him, leaving Iason a bit disappointed that he didn't sit in his lap like he always did.

But there wasn't time for that anyways. Taking a deep breath, Iason started. "I did love you. I can't really remember much of before my mind was altered, but I do remember that I had strong feelings for you. Even now I have a strong pull towards you that I can't fully explain." He paused to glance over at the hall leading towards the children's room. "Our children are beautiful, and I'm proud of them. But they were forced away from me for over five years. I don't want that to happen again, and I won't live without my family any longer. Not now that I've finally got you again."

Riki shook his head and laughed dryly, even crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to shut away myself and my children so that you can play the perfect Blondie. Living in fear that one day Jupiter's going to find out again and send a force to kill us… it's no way to raise my children."

The Blondie nodded. He knew that argument was coming. "Indeed. So… I propose a new plan. Perhaps we should leave… together."

This peaked the mongrels' interest. "You would give up this life for us? You would choose us over your precious Jupiter?"

"I have done much thinking about Jupiter's laws and found many of them to be unnecessary and overbearing. So I'm willing to leave her for you and go live in a manner which I desire."

Riki thought it sounded rather cold, but he knew that it was the greatest confession of love he was going to get from the Blondie at the moment. "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

Iason smiled, the curse word reminding him of the mongrel that he'd fallen in love with. He stood and strode over to his former pet, reaching out to touch his cheek softly. "We can pack tonight. I won't be taking much with me. I have credits and I'll try to find clothes that won't reveal my station."

"We'll have to do something with your hair." Riki replied, though he loathed changing the silky strands he loved to run his fingers through.

"Then we'll dye it. Or cut it. Or do whatever you think it necessary." Riki looked Iason in the eye as if he didn't believe this was happening. They stared each other down for a long moment, and then the mongrel looked away, down at the floor.

"You know I can never trust you again." He said almost sadly. "I won't be able to really trust that you're not going to go into some sort of insane state and try to kill us all again."

Iason nodded and pulled his pet up out of the chair, holding him tightly. "I know. But I want to have this opportunity to regain your trust and start from where we left off so long ago."

The mongrel smiled and looked up at the Blondie. They looked into each other's eyes once more and then let their lips meet in a kiss that made both their bodies tingle from head to toe.

Review, my little chickadees! I noticed I didn't get as many reviews for the last chapter... was it not as good?