This chapter arrived slightly later than I had anticipated...oops.
Sorry...
Six weeks and three days after Aphrodite's birth.
"Jinmay's coming back today!" Chiro exclaimed in excitement, as he started to throw Aphrodite's toys in random toy boxes, doing his best to clean the toy infested foyer to make it halfway presentable. However, he was failing miserably as Aphrodite had other plans to put her toys back on the floor. Nova began to snicker.
"Chiro! You should have learned by now, nothing stays clean with a baby!" Chiro's eyes widened at Nova's remark.
"Baby…Jinmay has no idea about Aphrodite! I-I forgot to mention that to her!"
"How could you forget to mention about something that squeals a lot and makes a huge mess?" Nova asked jokingly.
"Ah, I guess the subject never really came up." He turned towards Aphrodite who was pulling a doll out of one of the toy boxes. "Hey! Aphrodite! C'mere for a second!" Aphrodite dropped her doll on the floor, rushing towards Chiro.
"Do you wanna meet someone amazing, today?" Chiro asked as Aphrodite nodded her head. "I think you'll really like her! Her name is Jinmay! Can you say 'Jin-may'?"
"Ji-ay." Aphrodite said with an adorable smile, clapping her hands together proudly.
"Good job, Aphrodite!" Chiro chuckled as Aphrodite began to curiously look around the room.
"Where Ji-ay?" she asked.
"She's not here, yet! But you two will be meeting later today! Are you excited?"
"Yeah!" Aphrodite exclaimed, clapping her hands. However, her excitement disintegrated as the entrance doors opened, revealing the pink haired teenager. Aphrodite rushed towards her mother for protection as Chiro laughed.
Jinmay looked around the foyer in surprise, it was an absolute wreck; and not in a horrible way either.
"What's with all the baby toys?" Jinmay asked as Chiro laughed nervously.
"Yeah, you two haven't met yet…and I, uh…never really mentioned it during our conversations…I-I thought it would be better if you…witnessed it on your own." Chiro looked towards Nova and Aphrodite approaching them as Jinmay's eyes sparkled.
"OH! Hello! Aren't you adorable?!" She cooed, wiggling her finger in front of Aphrodite who clinged onto her mother tighter.
"She'll warm up to you." Chiro admitted as Jinmay turned her attention to her boyfriend.
"Where did she come from?"
"This…is gonna be hard to believe…" Chiro began, as Nova turned her attention from Aphrodite towards Jinmay.
"She's mine…I gave birth to her." Jinmay's eyes widened as she took a device from her ear.
"Uh, s-sorry, Nova. I-I think my translator is broken?" Chiro placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder.
"If you heard her saying she gave birth, then no, the translator isn't broken." Chiro admitted as Jinmay's eyes became wider.
"WHAT?!" Jinmay screamed in shock, "B-but…h-how long was I gone?! I didn't think I was gone that long!"
"Just for a little over a month." Chiro said as Jinmay put the translator back in her ear, she looked at Aphrodite in shock.
"When did they come back?" Jinmay asked.
"Antauri, SPRX, and Nova came back the day after you left."
"B-but…that can't be right! She looks so…" but Nova interrupted her before she could finish.
"Aphrodite's growth has been rapid."
"But don't worry!" Chiro exclaimed, noticing the worried expression Jinmay was portraying, "Antauri and Gibson are working on making her a robot monkey! It should be finished when she reaches adulthood!"
"Which, we need Aphrodite for a moment for that purpose." Gibson said walking into the foyer, he gave Jinmay a small greeting smile "Great to have you back, Jinmay. Come on, Aphrodite!" Gibson said, holding out his hands, "We need to give you a quick check-up, and to do some bloodwork." Aphrodite clinged onto her mother tighter.
"No! No Gib-on! No Gib-on!" She began to whine, Gibson sighed.
"You still don't trust me, I see…I promise, Aphrodite, it will be super quick! And your father will be in the same room." Aphrodite shook her head as Gibson sighed in defeat.
"Fine, I'll just have your father retrieve you." he groaned, rubbing his eyes. His communicator came out of his ears, "Antauri, please come get your daughter."
Jinmay blinked a few times in confusion, and leaned towards Chiro to whisper to him.
"D-did Gibson say Antauri and daughter in the same sentence, or is my translator broken this time?"
Ah…yeah, it's…a long story." Chiro whispered back nervously, "Anyway! H-how was the mission?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"It was great! I didn't mean to stay longer than intended…but, those kids were so sweet! I couldn't help it!"
"Yeah, I remember you telling me about them! They did sound great! And with Aphrodite around, you get the privilege again!" Jinmay giggled, looking down at Aphrodite, she extended her pointer finger, as if wanting to shake her hand.
"Well, all things aside, I'm still very glad to meet you, Aphrodite!" Aphrodite just stared at Jinmay's finger curiously, she looked up at Chiro with a questioning look.
"Ji-ay?" Aphrodite asked, as Chiro gave a nod.
"That's Jinmay!" Aphrodite hesitantly grabbed Jinmay's finger with one of her hands, while still clinging onto her mother with her other hand. The foyer's doors slid open as Antauri entered.
"Welcome back, Jinmay!" Antauri exclaimed, walking towards them, "I take it everything went well?"
"It went great!" Jinmay exclaimed, Antauri smiled at her before turning his attention towards Nova and Aphrodite; he extended his hands.
"Do you want to come with me, Aphrodite?" Aphrodite looked at his hands for a moment before eagerly reaching for him.
"Fa-uer!" She squealed happily as Antauri took the young toddler from her mother. Gibson and Antauri with Aphrodite in his arms left the foyer; Jinmay looked over at Nova in confusion.
"Aren't you going with them?" Nova shook her head.
"Nah! Everytime I'm in the medical bay with her she wants me and will throw a tantrum. When I'm not with her she doesn't get as upset…"
"And not to mention, Nova cries every time Aphrodite cries." Otto said, popping out of a toy box.
"Otto? How long were you in there?" Chiro asked as Otto shrugged.
"I dunno, I climbed in to surprise Aphrodite whenever she would get to open this box and I fell asleep." Nova slapped her face in a way that said 'unbelievable', though she wasn't surprised.