One Week Later
Janet is surprised to see her daughter arrive at her office near the end of her shift. "Hello, honey, who vouched you on?" she asks, referring to the fact that in order to get onto a military base, they had to have permission from someone that worked there.
"Shelby. I told her I needed to see you."
"Ok, do you want to go out to eat?" Janet asks.
"No," the girl fidgets, "I wanted to see you as a doctor, not as a mother. I know that really isn't possible. I'd go to another doctor, but I think this might have something to do with my classified origins. I know I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but it's reached the point where I really don't care anymore."
"Come on in to my office," Janet says.
Janet sits down behind her desk, trying to take on the doctor role. Her daughter sits down in the only other chair in the room. If whatever this is required a physical exam, they're going to have to do it in the public infirmary, Janet thinks nervously.
"Is it possible that my physical differences could allow me to be allergic to people from Earth?" Cassie asks.
"Sweetie, you're around people of Earth all the time," Janet says.
"Well, what if I'm only allergic to parts of the people of Earth?" she asks.
"What parts?" Janet presses.
There is a long silence in which Cassie looks everywhere but at her mother. Finally she blurts, "I had sex."
Janet's eyebrows shoot up, "Dominic, I assume?"
"Duh. It's not like I would cheat on him."
"Ok, did you use protection?" Janet asks carefully.
Her daughter nods.
Janet smiles, "Well, that kind of eliminates you being allergic to his fluids, doesn't it? If they didn't actually touch you."
"But I feel like I'm on fire!" Cassie objects.
"Honey, you know how I can't put on gloves when I exam you?" Janet asks.
"Yeah, that's because of my latex allergy."
"And what are condoms made out of?"
Cassie closes her eyes looking relieved, "So it will just go away, like the rash on my arm?"
"Yes, and I can give you something for it in the meantime," Janet says.
"Well, I'm glad I'm not permanently damaged, but that means I'll never be able to have sex without having a chance of making a baby, doesn't it?"
"No, honey, you are not the only person in the world that has ever had this allergy. They make special condoms for people who have this problem. They are a little bit more likely to break though, so I'd like to put you on birth control pills, if you're ok with it."
Cassie blinks in surprise, and then nods her head.
"I'm so glad you came to be about this. I'm sure you were really worried about it."
"You have no idea," the girl says, breathing air out quickly.
"We'll get the medicine you need on the way home from work. Do you mind if we switch to mom mode for a little bit? Because I can't really separate the two roles."
Cassie flinches, "Please don't tell Dad."
"Honey, married people shouldn't keep secrets from one another."
Cassie is just about to start begging when she realizes that she has a much better option. "Doctor patient confidentiality. You legally can't tell him."
"Yeah, well, I know that my daughter isn't very likely to sue me."
"However, I do know that you're a very ethical women. One that would be unwilling to break the law even if she wouldn't be likely to be caught."
Janet sighs, "Maybe the conversation we're about to have is going to change your mind."
"I doubt it. There is no way you could ever be as scary as Dad."
"I'm not trying to be scary," Janet says. "I'm ok with the way that you're handling it. You waited a long time after you started dating to get to know someone. You only have one sexual partner, and you're wearing protection. You're almost seventeen years old Cassie, that's an ok age to lose your virginity."
Cassie looks at her mother in surprise, "On Hanka, if people found out you were having pre-marital sex they would kill you."
"Well, we're not on Hanka, babe."
"But most parents wouldn't be this cool. I mean, most parents try to do anything to keep their kids from having sex," Cassie says.
"And most of them fail. And it just ends up with the kids doing more dangerous sexual behavior. I'd much rather keep the lines of communication open with you. Help and guide you to pick safe behavior."
"And Dad really feels the same way?"
"I actually have no idea how your father feels about this. He and I have never actually discussed this. But I would be willing to feel him out, and see how he feels. If he's going to be ok with it I'll tell him. Otherwise, it can just be something between us girls."
"Really?" Cassie asks.
"Really," Janet says with a smile, "Now you want to go get your medicine?"
"Yes, please!" Cassie says.
"While we're at the drugstore, I'll buy you some latex-free condoms. You really shouldn't be having sex for a week or so, though."
"Ok," Cassie nods her head with relief.
-0-0-0-
It's not really the best night of the week to have such a serious conversation, Janet knows. It's one of the two nights a week when her husband brings home his work. He's reading something in Babylonian, or maybe Arabic. Janet has never learned to tell the difference between any of the scripts that her husband likes to read. She tried to have him teach her once, since he liked talking about his work so much. But he just couldn't understand why she wasn't able to understand it easier, and she was happier living in ignorance than showing her ignorance off.
"Daniel, how old were you when you lost your virginity?" she asks.
He looks up from the book at her with a puzzled look on his face, "I was in college."
"So, like, sixteen?" she asks hopefully, knowing that her husband went to college younger than most people did.
"Grad school," he corrects.
"So, nineteen?"
"Twenty-two," he says, putting the book away, and giving her his full attention. "What is this about?"
"I was just curious, we never really talked about our sexual past before," she covers quickly.
"Ok, well, if it hasn't mattered until now, why does it suddenly matter?" he asks nervously.
"I was just thinking about being young, and wondering about what it was like for you to be young.
"Well, I've had three partners: Sara, Sha'uri, and you," he says.
"Three?" she asks, eyes bulging.
"And I regret that it wasn't only two. I think that waiting until you're married is a beautiful thing. It has some real benefits for the cultures that choose to practice it."
"Daniel, sweetie, we didn't wait until we were married," Janet points out helpfully.
"True, but by the time we had sex, I was pretty sure that's where it was going, weren't you?"
"Not really, we hadn't been dating that long."
"Long enough," he says with confidence. "So, I told you how many partners I had. What about you?"
"I don't think I want to share," she says.
"Are we in the double digits?" he asks with the sort of lighthearted tone someone might if they were playing a guessing game, although there is some depth beneath it.
"Eight," she says, looking away from him.
"That's ok," he says, scooting over and taking her hand.
"I was fifteen," she says.
His eyebrows go up, "Fifteen?"
"Yeah," she nods.
"I'm sorry," he says.
"Don't be sorry," she says, sounding offended.
"You were a kid. Someone took advantage of you. Why wouldn't I feel sorry for you?"
"I was not a kid. I was a teenager, and I was in love. I choose it. No-one made me do it. I don't even regret it."
"So, what, do you wish that you were still with this guy?"
"Of course not, that was decades ago," she says.
"But it was love?" he asks.
She nods her head.
"Well, apparently you and I have different takes on what love is," he says.
"What?" she says.
He touches her face, "Love doesn't end. I have only been in love twice."
She swallows, and looks away from him even though he still has her chin in his hand, and she can't get far.
"Honey, I'm saying I love you," he says with a smile.
"You're saying you love me more than I love you."
"I don't doubt your love," he says.
"I worry about that sometimes, that I can't even love like you can. That your heart is bigger than mine."
"You? The woman who adopts orphans, including a six-foot-tall orphan husband. The one brings children into the world even though it makes you sick? You're the most loving women in the world."
"I'm sorry, Daniel, about the eight," she says humbly.
He tilts his forehead against hers, "I've got you now. I'm not going to worry about before."
The Next Day
Cassie is waiting outside of her bedroom door when Janet leaves. "How did he take it?"
Janet sighs, "We're not telling your father. We ended up talking about my own history, and I don't think he'd be very accepting of this."
"Your history?" Cassie's eyebrows shoot up, "Is there a particular reason you were so understanding yesterday?"
"Nothing too scandalous. I made no worse decisions than you."
"So are you ok with keeping this secret from dad?"
Her mother nods her head, and pulls her daughter in for a hug.