Once I gave the order for the child's clothes to be made, I had to get to start working on a lot of other things that I would need, seeing as I was now expecting a kid. To be honest, this was not how I was expecting this to turn out: I mean, yes, I felt something like this would've happened eventually, but not under these circumstances. I was also rather surprised I hadn't gotten a notification about my newfound companion's gestation earlier, but I just chalked that up to either ignorance or the AI monitoring his growth not seeing any reason to inform me of the development. Ugh, that would've come in handy.

Well, Since my citadel back on my homeworld was still under construction, I decided to start building my... well, I guess son would be the appropriate term, so I needed to start building a room for my son. Alright, so, what would I need to get for him?

Well, might as well start a list:

Bed. Since my worms were still transmitting, I might as well get a design from them and get it started now.

Dresser: Again, use worm to get a basic design, fabricate a woodshop, take some trees from the biosphere within my ship, and boom, dresser.

Something to sit on...well I suppose one of those giant bean bags would suffice.

Balanced diet: just set up some advanced hydroponics inside my ship. Complete.

Companionship: well, maybe I could get Krel to play with him until I could find a proper pet.

Education: I just drew up a teaching AI to help him learn things. Objective Accomplished.

Clothes: Already being made.

Alright, all immediate concerns solved.

And I still had 45 minutes left until he woke up. Forty five minutes with which I was going to fill myself with anxiety. Ugh.

Well, I might as well get a few last minute details in on my 'son'...ugh, that sounds so...so...weird.

But, whether or not I had intended for him to exist, he was my responsibility, and I was NOT going to shirk that responsibility.

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GREETINGS COMMANDER! WHAT DO YOU REQUIRE?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON NEW AI AVATAR

AFFRIMATIVE. SPECIFICS?

WHAT ARE THE CAPABILITIES OF OUR NEWEST AI AND ITS AVATAR?

AI HAS ROUGH INTELLIGENCE OF A TEN YEAR OLD HUMAN. IT HAS THE ABILITY TO TALK, COMPLETE RUDIMENTARY CALCULUS, AND DRAW PICTURES...CREATING PICTURE BOOK NOW.

CAPABILITIES OF THE HOST BODY?

CAN WALK, EAT, CRAWL, AND HUG.

GOOD TO KNOW. GOODBYE...

DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION

AFFIRMATIVE: WHAT IS YOUR DESIGNATION?

...I DO NOT POSSESS ONE.

...NOT ANYMORE. YOUR ARE NOW DESIGNATED OUIUM. WELCOME TO THE TEAM, OUI.

...THANK YOU FOR THE NEW DESIGNATION.

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Forty minutes later...

So, this was it: it was time to meet my new creation. My progeny.

Needless to say, the anxiety was killing me.

HOW LONG DO I UNTIL HE GAINS CONSCIOUSNESS?

APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES. BRACE YOURSELF: AVAILABLE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT YOUR DISPOSITION INDICATES YOU ARE VERY ANCIOUS.

NO SHIT

Now that I was within visual range of my boy (I just realized how creepy that sounded), I finally got a good chance to look at him: he had black hair, freckles, and overall, looked...well, I wouldn't say scrawny, but not really muscular. Is the term boyish applicable to physique?

Look, don't try to ask me about how well developed other parts of his anatomy were. If you do, I'll have you chucked into a hole filled with wolf beetles.

Any ways, back to the scene at hand: I'd had Ouium bring all of the clothes over, as well as two towels: seeing how the avatar in front of me was soaking in amniotic fluid, he'd probably want to dry off once he could walk.

Somehow, the five minutes eventually managed to pass, and my new friend (Would child be appropriate?) began to awaken. The tube he was growing in slowly began to drain of fluid as the being within began to stir. By the time the fluid was gone, the avatar was on the floor of the tube, trying, almost comically, to balance himself on his hands and feet. It took a few tries, but eventually he managed to do it.

Well, time to meet him.

The glass tube retracted, exposing the avatar to the outside world. I'd had the room darkened, so that he wouldn't be distracted by anything, but now that I was ready to meet him, I think it would be preferable if he could actually see me in full color (apparently, Ouium had added in the Promethean genome while he was gestating, which included innate night-vision. Still, full color would be preferable here), so I slowly began lighting the room. My new companion initially reacted with confusion at this, head twisting and turning to look at the new light sources. I couldn't understand why at first, before realizing that my companion hadn't opened his eyes. Had they not formed properly, or was he just not sure how to use them?

Then he turned to stare at me.

I held my breath, tensed up, and prayed that things wouldn't go wrong.

The new avatar finally managed to stand upright, still facing me.

Then he stepped forward...

And promptly slipped, since he was still soaking wet and didn't know how to walk.

He had a soft landing though: I wasn't about to let him get hurt, so before he could hit the ground, I reached out and grabbed him. I ended up pulling him into a hung when I lifted him up.

This being the first time he had any interaction with anyone else, he responded by flailing about, trying to get me to let go of him. I eased up and gave him a little more freedom but didn't let go just yet.

"It's okay," I said in the most reassuring voice I could muster, "it's alright. I'm your...father, I guess."

After a few minutes, and a lot of calming words, the struggling stopped as my 'son' finally calmed down. Slowly, he pushed me away, until he could look me in the eyes. Only then did he, finally, open his eyes, revealing hazel orbs that gazed deeply into my brown eyes. The initial expression of fear gave way to surprise, then, finally, curiosity.

This was followed by a strange set of noises. At first, I thought they were from his stomach, until I noticed that they were slowly getting more pronounced and clearer. It soon dawned on me that he was trying to talk to me. Eventually, he finally managed to get the words out.

"H-h-h-h-hi."

"Hello, child."

"Um, w-w-who are y-you?"

"I'm Commander Flamealisk, but you may call me Flame. You could say that I am your dad." Then, a thought occurred to me. "What's your name?"

That provoked an interesting response: at first he opened his mouth wide to speak, only to close it with an expression of surprise. Then he shifted to one of deep thought, which slowly gave way to one of deep sadness. It was really hard to watch the last one spread across his young face.

"I don't know. I don't think I have one."

Time to remedy that.

"Well, that won't do, everyone should have a name. How about...Billy?"

He seemed to think on that one for a moment, before shaking his head in what was recognizably 'no'.

"Okay, how about Nigel?'

Again, no.

"Hmmm... How about Rourke?"

That seemed to get his attention.

"Um, I like it, but is there a shorter one just like it?"

"Well, if you want, I could shorten it to Rory most of the time."

The response was yet another shake of his head...albeit this time in a way that was definitively a yes.

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And that's how Rory entered this story.

You know, looking back, I think I wouldn't be the same without him. A lot of things people said to me wouldn't have carried as much weight if he wasn't around. And of course, his adorableness was appreciated. VERY, VERY APPRECIATED.

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AN: Read and Review.

This is Flameal15k, signing off!