Sonata mewled as she felt her husband's knees under her, angling her up and keeping her wrenched into her current position, grasping the fabric of the nearby cushions for support. She looked up at Staccato's face, watching it contort as he kept his eyes on her, his face looking almost . . . pained somehow.

She sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. "You don't have to be jealous of him, you know."

"I'm . . . not . . . jealous . . ." He grunted out, his hands braced against her ribs.

"Please. I suppose dragging me aside and out of the way to try and-. Ah! . . . to try and 'protect your claim' after I show some appreciation to our guest was just on pure whim?" Sonata was having trouble breathing as she tried to look up at Staccato. "You're not that subtle, Stack."

"And what makes you think you're any better?" Staccato hissed out, rocking Sonata gently as he went, ekeing a chirp out of her. "Why shouldn't I be worried about my wife trying to 'take on' one of the strongest, most powerful men on Veldin, hm?"

She moaned, trying to pull the cushions closer. "I already have you . . . you treat me so well . . . take me across the galaxy . . ." She gasped, chirping again. "Make me famous . . ."

"Just admit you want him. Make it simple." He spoke up again, watching her form rock against his. "I know I'm not perfect. Tell me what you see in him."

"I . . ." She chirped again, her face quickly becoming flushed. "I don't . . ."

"Why? Just tell me why!" He cried out again, before giving up a chirp of his own. "Now . . . please . . . Tell me!"

"He's . . .He's a . . ." She gasped, chirping again between breaths now. "He's a hero, damn it!"

Staccato jerked up against Sonata once more, his hands wrenched tightly against her shoulders, the cacophony of chirps and moans making it impossible to keep talking, the two of them moving against each other in one last rush of conjoined ecstasy, their screams loud enough to cause Hydro Girl in the next room to turn her head.

She gasped it out again as she felt Staccato's last throes. "He's a hero . . . that's what people do for heroes . . ."

"I'm your hero too . . . aren't I?" Staccato spoke up, still with shortened breath.

"Not that kind of hero . . ." She reached a hand out, stroking his face

Staccato jerked away, before pulling himself away from her, resting a hand on her belly. "I didn't hurt you, right?"

"It's not easy to tell right now . . ." She replied, looking down at her belly. "It should be fine, Staccato. You're not about to give me an abortion just from riding me hard enough."

"I just . . ." Staccato sighed. "I want it to be done . . . we've tried too hard for this. It's supposed to be simpler, damn it!"

Sonata shrugged. "BioBloom swears they're working on a multi-species 'ex vivo' incubator . . . if this doesn't work-."

"It's not the same." He shook his head. "I want to see you grow . . . I want to see that the last ten years haven't been wasted trying to do the impossible. Getting an incubator feels like giving up."

Unfortunately, Staccato was answered with a shrug, and a brief whip of a t-shirt going past his legs as Sonata began to dress. "It's not giving up . . . just getting a little outside help is all."

"I want a natural child." He intoned. "I want to be there for you, be there for her . . . him, whatever, I don't care anymore. I want to be there by both of your sides, for as long as I can, including while you're carrying. I don't want any excuses for why . . ."

Sonata sat up, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Shh . . ."

Staccato drooped his eyes and his ears. "I want to be the father I was supposed to have. Is that so difficult?"

"It wasn't your fault, you know that . . ."

With that, Staccato stood up, slowly putting back on his clothing. " . . . I know I've been terrible about this. I know it's asking a lot of you. I know it's been years since we were supposed to have Melody . . . and maybe I just never got over losing her, let alone the others."

"Don't worry so much." Sonata stood up, stroking Staccato's cheek just as he pulled his vest on. "They're not lost. They just keep trying, same as we do."

"Maybe." Staccato shook his head. "I need to go for a moment. You should check the camera equipment and make sure we're ready." Sonata gave a brief nod, and with that, Staccato headed out of the room, back into the party proper.

Ordinarily he'd feel a blush of pride as he walked through the room, smug in his own satisfaction, but this time . . . he didn't care. He almost preferred the momentary shield of privacy; Force knows he doesn't get enough of it in his line of work as it was.

Fortunately, being the life of the party meant it was easy for everyone else to find you, and just like that, he caught Ratchet sitting up, with a drink in his hand of some kind and Clank nearby him. "Ratchet! I want to talk to you!"

"Woah, look, Staccato, she came onto me, I swear-!"

"Not that." He butted in, cutting him off. "I came to apologize. There were better ways to deal with that situation that I didn't take."

To this, Ratchet could only raise an eyebrow. "You seemed pretty cool about it to begin with . . ."

"I was still rude in how I did it." Staccato shook his head. "All things considered . . . you're certainly one of the better men I'd leave with my wife like that."

Ratchet blinked, exchanging a look with Clank before speaking up again. "Are you sure you're all right, man?"

"Better than I've been in a while." Staccato shrugged, giving Ratchet a half-smile. "Please, Ratchet . . . accept my apologies. Have my wife in any way she allows you. I just ask to capture it for my own purposes . . . I know she's stressed from the pregnancy. I'd be a horrible husband not to let her have a few . . . liberties while I ask so much of her."

Clank blinked in shock, while Ratchet now had a stunned look on his face. This wasn't at all what Ratchet had in mind . . . and for some reason he couldn't help but feel like there was something about this he just wasn't meant to interfere in.

Staccato had a small forlorn frown on his face, raising an eyebrow. "Is something wrong with my offer?"

"I wasn't expecting that." He spoke up, one hand absently going for the tattoo on his back, as though it only now began to itch. "I'm not really . . . I . . ."

Clank had an exasperated look on his face. "He's a virgin."

"Well only technically now . . ." Ratchet spoke up, glaring at Clank. "And next time, let me say it myself, all right?"

"Ah, I should have asked!" Staccato chuckled, giving Ratchet a knowing look. "Make sure that Sonata knows before anything more happens. I'll leave the judgement call up to her, but you'll need to speak with her anyway before we begin the show 'proper'. After all, I suspect you'll want her doing more of the interesting details than myself."

With this, Staccato gave Ratchet a brief stroke along the ridge of one ear, apparely moving deftly enough to get Ratchet to blush instantly. "Though if I were to hazard a guess, I doubt you'd mind too much either way."