Mess Hall
12:35 PM
"Were you both trying to get pregnant?" Natasha Holster asked curiously.
The lifemates had told the Captain to go ahead and tell the Senior staff of the pregnancy but please not
to make a general announcement: They had wanted to tell their friends themselves.
Upon being told the seventeen year old has squealed and hugged L'Naym tightly and now was bursting
with questions. "My parents tried for two years before I came along," she said.
L'Naym looked fondly at the seventeen year old. "And when you were born I'm sure they agreed that it was
more than worth the wait and effort." When the Nlian had first come to the Saratoga, the two of them
had quickly bonded over their mutual love of music. And after the sensitive human girl had lost her two
previous mentors, Chief Petty Officer Sean Edwards and Lieutenant Commander Natalia Ostrovosky,
in a single year, the two had become steadily closer.
"But to answer your question, we weren't exactly trying to start a family, when it happened. No Nlian does."
At Natasha's puzzled expression she continued. " I should probably explain the Mating in detail. It only occurs
between Bonded lifemates. Lifemates make love all the time as a sign of loving intimacy, but don't become
pregnant when they do. The Mating is different, it's the drive to create to new life. It only happens at certain
times and conception can only happen when it occurs.
"Human females are generally fertile once every month and Human males, with few exceptions, are fertile
all the time. Nlian males and females are only fertile during the Mating. When Nlian lifemates Join their souls,
their bodies are 'keyed' to each other as well and when the Mating occurs they both go into 'heat,'I think
the term is. They both of them go through an intense mating impulse, during which time the female ovulates
and the male's sperm count is heightened. This is the only time when conception can occur."
"How often does it happen?"
"There's no set prediction for when or how often it happens. Tuskaro and I have been lifemated for four years.
The first Mating usually happens within five years after Joining, but it can happen either much sooner or later.
Some couples have gone through it only days after Joining and some had to wait for over a decade or longer.
Some only have it happen once. Some go through it twice or even three times. Some have it happen several
times in a relatively short succession, while others go several years between. Some very few couples have
never had it happen and either tried medical intervention or chose to either adopt. But, as I've mentioned,
that's extremely rare. Usually all Nlians lifemates go through it at least once.
She smiled slightly. "I've heard quite a few human couples say that they've decide to try to start a family.
With Nlian lifemates no decision is involved aside from the decision to lifemate in the first place, because
the moment they do they know that at some point the Mating will strike."
She gently rubbed her stomach. "We never know when or how often it will strike. When it strikes it's always
a surprise, but always a joyful one so we call it the Joyful Suprise."
Her expression turned thoughtful. "My parents only went through it once. My mother died before it could
strike again."