Thanks to Badly-knitted and PCJanto for reviewing. You warm my heart. Thanks also to everyone still reading this.

Warnings: It get's a bit… ehm… gory.

Chapter 16 Family matters

Warwyn woke late one night, feeling very confused as to why. Orion was sleeping soundly next to it, one arm flung loosely over its waist. It lay for a minute listening to his deep breathing, feeling the warmth of his breath as his exhales blew on the back of its neck. It loved snuggling close to him, especially at night. It felt so safe and loved in his arms. It knew that he would fight to the death to protect it from all harm. It shuddered. He had killed for it - back on that awful ship. It still had nightmares about what had happened. 'How could uncle Lartorc do that?' It felt its eyes tear up. 'We've never done anything to him. Why?' It began to sniffle.

It was just so incomprehensible. Lartorc had arrived one day at the mining field they were servicing. Its parents hadn't been too pleased with seeing him there, but their relationship had been strained for years, so that wasn't surprising. Warwyn had hidden outside their room when they had shouted at each other. Sadly the soundproofing had been too good for it to hear what had been said. Then it had heard a weapon firing and had rushed into the room to see what was going on. That had been foolish, it knew, and a big mistake. Lartorc was standing there with a stunner in his hand and Warwyn's parents were both sprawled on the floor. Warwyn had screamed and tried to run, but had only made it halfway down the corridor when it too had been struck by the debilitating beam from the stunner.

When it had come to it found itself strapped into a strange device. Its parents were there one on either side of it. They looked really bad, but no matter how hard it struggled it couldn't get free. It felt as if it had run a marathon through water. Just keeping its head up took a massive effort. It heard laughter in the room along with various machine noises. Dazed it looked and saw a group of furry beings laughing with its uncle Lartorc. Warwyn had cried out to him, called him uncle, but the man had just walked over to it, given it a look full of contempt and punched it in the stomach. Warwyn had still been gasping for breath when Lartorc had walked away laughing.

Warwyn slowly sat up, taking care not to wake Orion. It moved his hand away and he soon curled in on himself in his sleep. Warwyn smiled softly at the sight. It had been Orion that had come and saved it. He had done the impossible and broken through the fabric of the universe or something like that, just to come and rescue it. Sadly he had been too late to save its parents. Warwyn strangled a sob, trying desperately not to make a sound. Oh, how it missed its parents. It missed its mum, who always had a smile on her face; it missed the bear hugs its other parent would give it, before swinging it around in the air in a big circle. A memory surfaced of its mum explaining the intricate workings of the Moonatchi Doppler Mantifold while they sat hunched together in a small access tube surrounded by tools and wires and dismantled pieces of machinery. Warwyn sobbed.

Suddenly strong arms were enfolding it in a loving embrace and its head was snuggled against a firm chest. It sobbed and clung on, feeling as if its heart was breaking. 'They were supposed to be here! My parents were supposed to be here to take care of me and help me go through the change. They were supposed to be here to dance at our bonding ceremony and play with their grandchildren, when the time comes. But now they never will.' The sobbing intensified and Warwyn cried for a long time. Throughout it all Orion just held it tight, stroking it calmly; knowing that right now there were no words that would comfort his mate with the grief it was feeling.

He had long since told Warwyn about the madman chasing after him and his surviving siblings. They had both been stunned and appalled upon discovering that the madman in both their lives was one and the same. He supposed it brought them a sense of togetherness, of destiny. He found it incredible that a person would sell his own family members to such a horrible fate. But then again he probably shouldn't be so surprised. The man had after all murdered his own wife and some of her innocent children. He hated the thought of Lartorc being out there somewhere, doing who knew what. He hoped he would be captured soon, so he and Warwyn could sleep better at night.

He hugged Warwyn tighter, feeling the need to reassure himself that it really was safe. He looked down at it. Its face was all red and puffy from crying and it had gotten snot all over its face and his chest. Its eyes were half shut and tears were still rolling down its cheeks, though with less intensity than before. Its hand was resting over his heart as if feeling his heartbeat. He smiled lovingly down at it at kissed its brow. Then he began humming a lullaby ever so softly as he rocked it gently. He didn't have much of a voice. In fact he was hard pressed to carry a tune, but it didn't matter now. Pretty soon Warwyn had fallen asleep and he gently lowered it to lie down and pulled a blanket over them.

xxXxx

He woke a few hour later still tired but for some reason unable to sleep any further. Warwyn was snoring slightly beside him, looking a mess from the crying, but also looking rather cute and vulnerable. Orion felt his heart skip a few beats when he looked at it. Carefully he removed himself from the makeshift bed and walked outside. It had finally stopped raining and the stars were peaking through the scattering clouds. He walked over to the far side of the ledge and relieved his bladder over the edge.

It was while he was standing there that he noticed an unusual glow coming from the plains above the Ravine. He finished urinating and curiously Jumped up on the plains to see what the cause was. What he saw left him breathless.

xxXxx

"Warwyn, wake up. Come on, wake up, Zuuva." Orion was shaking it.

"Wha..?"

"Come on. Up on the plains. You have to see this." He said excitedly. Warwyn blinked blearily at him, still exhausted both physically and emotionally.

"What? Where?" it said tiredly. It really wasn't in the mood for games.

"Upstairs. On the plains." Orion said patiently and wrapped Warwyn in its blanket. "Come on." He repeated and Jumped away. Warwyn blinked at the now empty spot a few times, before sighing tiredly and Jumped as well.

When it got there it found itself looking at its mate, who was gazing out over the plains in an awestruck fashion. Warwyn turned to see what he was staring at and felt its breath hitch at the amazingly beautiful sight. The entire plains were covered by shining white flowers. They were all glowing with such radiance that they could easily see every blade of grass and every shrub. Just like when it was a full moon on earth. The flowers themselves were gorgeous and delicate looking. They reminded Orion of Lilies. The whole plain was covered with them and the air was heavy with their sweet scent. Warwyn bent down to touch one, only to have it wither completely in a matter of seconds.

It stood back up and threw its arms around Orion, hugging him tightly. They stood like that for a long time; gazing out over the flowers and watching the alien stars appear behind the diminishing clouds. They did not get back to bed for a long time and when they went to check the next morning, the flowers had all withered. They never saw the spectacle again.

xxXxx

It was about a week and a half later that Warwyn woke up in a completely male body. It hadn't really noticed as it went about its normal morning routine. It didn't give it a thought when it held a penis in its hand while peeing over the ledge, as they had taken to doing, because it had found having a penis in certain situations a lot easier. It meant that it didn't need to completely undress - a coverall was completely unpractical that way – when it needed to pee and it could do so standing up.

So it wasn't until Orion had come back to the ledge after a morning dip in the river and had stopped talking mid-sentence, that Warwyn figured something was different. It looked down at itself and a slow smile spread across its features. It hurriedly unzipped the coveralls and stepped out of them. It had an athletic build, though not too muscular. Wide shoulders, firm chest, narrow hips, strong arms and legs, it even had the hint of a sixpack. It beamed at Orion quite pleased with the current body, but was surprised to see him averting his gaze and blushing. Deciding to have a little fun, Warwyn slowly walked over to him.

"Hi, Ziwa. What do you think?" It flexed its new muscles and made a few moves as if preparing for a physical exercise. Orion swallowed audibly and his blush intensified.

"Y-you," he cleared his throat. "You look very nice." His eyes refused to meet Warwyn's. It moved closer, pressing its body against his. A look of mischief in its eyes.

"Just nice?" it pretended to pout. Orion's eyes flashed quickly to meet Warwyn's and then away again. He swallowed again.

"Put some clothes on." He managed and Warwyn taking pity on him laughed and went over to retrieve its coveralls. It could feel Orion's eyes on it as it redressed.

"Minx." Orion mumbled softly as he headed over to the fire to get warmed up. Though the weather was improving and it was getting warmer, the river was still awfully cold. But they didn't have access to a shower and boiling all the water needed for a warm bath would take too long and require too much energy. The cold morning dip also had the added function of providing them with food.

Warwyn had been the one to discover the fish swimming in a shallow pool further down stream. After some trial and error they had managed to catch some using a grass woven net. Warwyn was actually getting rather good at weaving now. They had also managed to build a trap to catch some of the oversized guinea pig-like creatures they had found living in one of the caves further down the Ravine. The surplus meat from the beast that had attacked them had to be thrown away since they hadn't been able to preserve it properly. Orion had since built a small chimney to smoke meat in; he had stacked some stones in a rough cylindrical shape and used clay as mortar. They had learned to use wet shrubs and herbs to generate a lot of scented smoke but little heat. All in all things were going well for them.

Orion was sipping his second cup of herbal tea when there was a deafening noise coming from somewhere above. They both jumped to their feet.

"That's engine noise!" Warwyn shouted. "We're saved!" Orion shook his head.

"Could be hostile." Warwyn's momentary feeling of joy deflated. They both looked up as the sound came closer. Soon a dark silhouette flew over the Ravine. Pretty soon the noise died down and the two young people looked up at the edge of the Ravine uncertainly. Orion cursed to himself and rushed into the cave to grab the blaster. He ran back out again and grabbed Warwyn's hand, pulling it back into the shadows of the cave. They hid staring anxiously at the upper edge of the Ravine on the far side.

They didn't have to wait long. First one figure appeared, then another. They appeared to be humanoid, though they really only could see the silhouettes, as the sun were behind them. Then a very familiar voice shouted:

"Helloooo!" Orion gasped. He wanted to Jump immediately, but Warwyn still had a strong hold of his hand and arm. He half dragged it along with him out of the cave as he shouted:

"Daddy!"

Warwyn let go of him, sensing his need to join his family and he immediately Jumped. When he saw them he couldn't help but shout to them: "Daddy! Tad!" and flung himself into their arms. They held him so tightly in a three-way-hug he feared he would die of asphyxiation. But right at that moment he didn't care. He never wanted to let go of them ever again. They were all crying happy-tears and he had no idea how long they had been holding each other. Then he heard a third person sniffle and looked over his shoulder.

"Rea!" he wrestled free of his parents and flung himself into his grandmother's arms. Xarion was beside her and the moment he touched Orion's back, Orion flung himself into his arms as well. Then he threw himself back into his Tads arms and felt his Daddy wrap himself around the both of them, just like when he was younger.

"Oh, Love, we've been looking all over for you!" his Tad was crying.

"It's true! We've searched for weeks." his Daddy was saying and ruffling his hair. "And look how much you've grown!" Orion beamed at him. He was only half a head shorter than his Tad now.

"And who's this?" Rea said behind them. Orion smiled the biggest smile yet, as he once again freed himself from his parents. He rushed over to Warwyn who was standing apart from the rest and looking very shy and uncertain. It had returned to its neutral gender form again. He grabbed its hand as he looked deep into its amethyst eyes and smiled at it. It sent him a small smile in return. Turning he carefully led Warwyn over to the others.

"This is Warwyn. My mate." He told them with such tremendous pride in his voice, that they couldn't help but smile. Warwyn half hid behind him in shyness, until he pulled it forward and put his arm around it in a comforting hold. Warwyn smiled shyly at these people that were obviously Orion's family. It could see his resemblance to the two humans.

"Hi." It said timidly. Rea was the first to react. She smiled greatly at the young couple and warmly said:

"Greetings, Warwyn. I am Rea, Orion's grandmother. I am so glad to finally meet you." Warwyn cocked its head to one side, narrowing its eyes a little. Then it gasped.

"It was you! Back when I rejected him… that was you!" the others looked a little confused, except for Orion and Rea. She smiled and nodded. Warwyn blinked away an unbidden tear.

"Thank you." It said softly. Again Rea nodded. Orion squeezed his mate tighter to him. They had both been hurt by the closing of the bond and he was glad Rea had been able to help them.

"Zuuva," Orion gently got its attention again and ignored the twin gasps from Rea and Xarion upon hearing that title. "These are my parents. My Daddy, Jack Harkness and my Tad, Ianto Jones." Warwyn looked at the two humans. One was beaming a smile at him that was so familiar that it couldn't help but smile back. The other was also smiling, but more reservedly so.

"Hello, Mr. Harkness. Mr. Jones." It said, suddenly feeling afraid of their reaction. 'What if they don't like me? What if they don't want me to be with Orion and try to split us up?' It felt the warm assurance from Orion through their bond, but it wasn't enough to keep the panic from its eyes. The friendly man, the one Orion called Daddy, was laughing.

"Please, call me Jack and that's Ianto. You're part of the family now." He threw his arm around the other one, the one Orion called Tad. The man seemed to loosen up and smiled more friendly.

"Yes, of course you are. I'm pleased to meet you, Warwyn, and I look forward to getting to know you better." The smile reached his eyes and that more than anything persuaded Warwyn to relax. It smiled at the man and they seemed to reach an unspoken understanding.

"Well," Jack said loudly, breaking the emotional atmosphere. "Have we got stories to tell you! And it looks like you have some to tell us too." he said and wrapped his arm around Orion's shoulder. Orion chuckled fondly and hugged his Daddy's side. He had missed him something terrible.

xxXxx

They were sitting around the campfire, sipping the warm herbal tea Orion liked so much, while waiting for the food to be cooked. They were making a stew similar to the one they had made for their first meal using local ingredients. Except this time the meat was the more tender meat off one of the freshly caught guinea pig-look a likes. The adults had all been most impressed with everything they had been able to achieve on their own. Especially Xarion and Rea, seeing as how used they were to just transforming everything they needed. Jack had even cracked a joke that they could teach the team survival skills for when they got back home.

They had all laughed at the joke, but Orion had gotten all misty eyed at the thought of going home again and Warwyn was feeling really happy at the small admission that they would not be separated. It was snuggling up close to Orion, who had his arm around it. Sometimes it would feel a bit self-conscious when it noticed one of the adults looking at them, but the feeling of having Orion so close was just too good to do without.

Xarion made a joke about seeing the humans being transported down one at the time to the cave on the back of Orion's dragon form. Though the man was used to seeing Orion's monstrously large dragon form he still saw dragons as vermin and the sight of a slightly terrified human riding one was just too hilarious for him. They all laughed when Jack pretended to be offended, claiming he would ride any dragon anywhere and Ianto softly saying that he didn't appreciate his fiancée riding anybody but him. Warwyn had blushed furiously, but Orion had just laughed, being rather inured to lewd remarks.

The uplifted mood lasted all the way through the meal until the conversation turned serious. Ianto told them how the people of the entire nation of Bangladesh had vanished into thin air and how they had received a threat for them to hand Orion over to Lartorc. Warwyn had been terrified upon hearing it and Orion was hard put to calm it down again. He had then told the adults how Lartorc was Warwyn's uncle and what the man had done to it and its parents. Ianto had jumped up from his seat and come over and hugged Warwyn – and subsequently Orion too as Warwyn was in his arms. Jack had been furious and wowed once more to seek vengeance on the miscreant.

When their emotions had settled some, Orion continued to tell them how he had rescued Warwyn, how they had ended up on this planet, of the awful storm and their move to the Ravine. He told them the entire tale and was soon getting hoarse from speaking so much. Rea handed him another cup of tea and he drank it thankfully.

"I must say, you've had quite the adventure." She smiled at him. "I can't tell you how proud I am of how well you've done. And you've been taking such good care of Warwyn too." she smiled at it and patted it on its arm.

"I didn't do it by myself." He told her. "'sides, Warwyn took care of me too." he smiled lovingly down at it. Warwyn was practically sitting in his lap with its head on his shoulder. Warwyn smiled up at him.

"Together." It said softly, not really meaning the others to hear. The two young people were lost in each other and the adults could only just smile at them. Ianto was having a bit of an internal struggle. One part of him was relieved and happy to have his son back safe and sound, while another part of him was frowning in parental concern. 'Orion is still so young. What is the exact nature of their relationship? Have they slept together? Surely they are too young for that.' Gasping he realisedthey could have and that without protection. 'How old did a – whatever Warwyn was – have to be in order to be able to conceive?' He realised that they couldn't put The Talk off for much longer.

As if sensing his thoughts Orion chose that moment to look up and met the worried gaze of his Tad. Frowning slightly he sent a wordless question to his Tad, who shook his head unwilling or unable to answer. Jack noticed the little byplay but decide to ask Ianto about it later. Instead he chuckled and said:

"Well, that's all very nice and good. But don't you want to hear how we kicked Lartorc's butt and found you?" That got both Orion's and Warwyn's attention, as well as the others. Xarion spluttered, while Ianto chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"That is not exactly what happened, Jack!" Ianto told him. Jack sent him a well-you're-no-fun-look.

"Did too. We kicked his butt, he took off and here we are." He beamed at them and winked at Orion and Warwyn. They both smiled at his antics. The others laughed except Xarion, who sighed with an air of longsuffering.

"What you mean is that the Saluvian frigate, The Queelor'at Musini, engaged Lartorc in combat after he had first rendered our vessel inoperable. The frigate won the engagement after a fierce battle when they managed to destroy half the ship." Jack stuck his tongue out at him.

"That's what I said. We kicked his butt."

"We?" Xarion was huffing, while Jack was having a field day. The man was so easy to goad.

"So," a small voice said. "Lartorc is dead?" Xarion looked gently at the owner. Warwyn was peeking up at him from Orion's embrace. It broke his heart that he had to destroy the glimmer hope evident in its eyes, but they didn't know for certain.

"His body was never recovered. It is possible he escaped."

Warwyn hid its face in Orion's chest, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by it all. Orion just held it tighter and sent his love along their bond. Ianto put his arm around Jack, feeling the need for support himself. Jack smiled softly at him and kissed him. Just a quick peck on the lips, but it brought comfort to Ianto just the same.

Rea smiled softly at them all.

"I'm just glad we finally found you." She said. "We've been looking for you for a long time now. I had sensed you were in this nebula – it's called the Razor Nebula, by the way – and this sector, the Dula sector. But other than that we were clueless. Space is so big after all and we couldn't pick up on your distress signal any where. We had to wait for the ship to be repaired, but once it was we Jumped to this sector and set up a search parameter. We've been criss crossing this sector for something like two weeks now. Then we came across an automated distress signal from the lifeboat and the moment we were in this system I just knew you were here." Orion sent her a beautiful smile. She hugged him – and Warwyn – with one arm and kissed his temple.

"I bet you can't wait to be going home." Xarion said with a twinkle in his eye. He had been very worried that their search would be in vain. He had to admit he had gotten rather fond of his young pupil. Orion nodded with a smile.

"Yeah." He smiled at the thought of a long, hot shower, of sleeping in a real bed, of seeing the others again and most of all of going back to not having to worry about their survival all the time.

"The others really miss you too. Tosh even threatened to castrate us if we didn't bring you back soon." Ianto said with a smile. Orion laughed at that, causing Warwyn to whimper a little as its head was being jostled against his shoulder. He stroked along its back as an apology.

"Yeah," Jack said. "But you have some major sucking up to do with Myfanwy. She's furious with you being away from her for so long."

"Remind me to buy her a huge chocolate bar." He said. Ianto chuckled.

"More like twenty and a whole barrel full of fish." They laughed a little. It was something of an insider joke between father and son and not something the others would understand. Before anyone could say anything though, there was a bright flash of light in the sky and a burst of orange rolling over the planets atmosphere. Both Rea and Xarion gasped. Rea was leaning heavily on Xarion, who looked ready to fall over himself.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Orion said, as Jack and Ianto both jumped to their feet.

"The mothership. It's gone." Rea whispered breathlessly.

"What do you mean gone?" There were shocked gasps all around. Xarion looked ready to faint, but the shock of feeling all those deaths was really too much to handle to a Sensitive such as him. Rea was looking pale as well.

"It's been destroyed." She gasped. Orion tried to stretch his awareness up into space, but his range was still too limited.

"How?" he asked. Rea just shook her head.

"We should get back to the transport. Maybe its sensors can tell us something." Xarion said and with a nod from Rea he Jumped away. Rea followed him moments later. Jack ran to the edge of the ledge and looked both up and down to find a path up to the plains. Not finding any he turned back to Ianto, Orion and Warwyn.

"Right, Orion, we need another lift. After that you come right back here and stay with Warwyn."

"What? No! I want to come too." Orion protested. Jack marched over to him and glared at him.

"You'll do as you're told. It's not up for debate." He was in full Captain's mode now. They had no idea what was going on or if there was a threat and he would be damned if he would allow his son to put himself in danger again. Orion sensed it and nodded tersely. 'I'm not a little kid anymore!' he thought angrily and transformed into his dragon form. His Daddy climbed onto his back and held on as Orion flapped his wings and lifted them off the ledge. Ianto and Warwyn looked after them with mixed emotions. Ianto put his hand on its shoulder in an effort to calm its nerves; he could practically feel it shivering. They watched as Jack and Orion disappeared over the top edge of the Ravine.

A few minutes later a bright red bolt of light shot down from sky and all hell broke loose.

The transport exploded in a giant ball of flames. The pressure wave blasted both Jack and Orion of their feet and they were both engulfed by the fire. Only a quarter of the ship remained and the debris from the rest of it was flung in every direction. Orion was still in his dragon form, which kept him moderately safe from the flames, but the blast had addled his senses. Jack had not been as lucky. The man had been burnt quite badly and had a large metal fragment embedded in his stomach. His clothes were still on fire. He was screaming in agony as Orion dazedly got to his feet and wobbled over to him. He used his wing to bat out the flames and carefully bit down on the remains of the man's clothes; lifting him away from the destruction zone and the heat of the fires.

His Daddy screamed in pain as he put him down. Suddenly a movement appeared at the corner of his eye, making Orion flinch. But it was only Warwyn, who frantically had wrestled free of Ianto's grip and Jumped to Orion's side. It rushed to them; checking quickly to make sure Orion indeed was okay, before focusing on the deadly injured Jack. It gasped and put both hands to its mouth and flung it self against Orion's shoulder, hiding its face. It had never seen a person so damaged before. And the smell! Cooked meat and engine fuel. It gagged.

"Kill me." Jack whispered, making Warwyn sob audibly in horror. Orion shook his head terrified.

"Please." Jack croaked almost inaudibly. "Please, kill me." The look in his eyes was something Orion would remember the rest of his life.

"Daddy…" Orion was at his breaking point. Had he been in his human form he would have been crying, but dragons weren't able to. He cried inside though and Warwyn's sobbing didn't help.

"I'll come back…" Jack pleaded. It hurt so much. He didn't know how much longer he could stay conscious. He knew it was an awful thing to ask of his son, but there were no one else. Warwyn wasn't in any state to do it. Rea and Xarion had been inside the transport when it exploded and Ianto presumably was back at the cave. Not that he really gave such rational thoughts to their situation. He was suffering a slow death and knew if he was killed it would be quick.

"Please." He screamed again as a stab of pain shot through his body. He had internal injuries as well. Before he realised what was happening, Orion bit down on his neck; he was dead before he had even stopped screaming. Orion fiercely bit down on the metal protruding from the now dead body and yanked it away; spitting it out bitterly.

Warwyn jumped back, staring at them with huge, horrified eyes. It knew about Jack's ability to come back to life. What horrified it was that Orion had actually done it. He had killed his father. It was a mercy kill and the man had been begging for it and he would come back, but still! Orion changed back into human form and sat looking at his Daddy. Tears were poring down his cheeks now. Warwyn hesitated. Every instinct told it to get away; that its mate was dangerous. But it could feel his devastation through the bond and instinct or not it couldn't abandon him. Slowly at first and then rapidly it moved to his side. The moment it touched him he flung himself in its arms and sobbed.

Then they heard maniacal laughter.