CHAPTER 195: WADDLE THIS WAY

Madison’s phone went off with a message—it was Mr. Zach requesting a ride into the township to do some business. He messaged him back and told him he’d be there within ten minutes.

On the trip into town, Madison wanted to talk to Mr. Zach, but he couldn’t gather his words. Zach, not being a dummy, turned and looked at Madison. "Well son, how was your first time with Benjamin last night? Because it’s written all over your face that you and him had sex."

Madison’s mouth fell open while he was driving.

"It’s okay, young man. We all get our first piece of vent sometime—you were just lucky enough and privileged that it was Benjamin. The two of you are going to be happy together, and raising that young man will be the best feeling in the world."

Madison smiled. "We’re going to name him Colton. Sir, I am the luckiest man in the world to find somebody as good as Benjamin. I want you to be the first to know that I asked him to be joined with me and he said yes. So Colton’s birth certificate will read parents: father, Madison O’Malley and dad, Benjamin Spinelli O’Malley. His full name will be Colton Ben O’Malley. I think that’s enough to please most everyone, don’t you think so, sir?"

"Sounds like a good name to me—C.B. O’Malley. Yep, that’ll do just fine, and if anybody doesn’t like it, who cares? That’s on them. I know a couple of grandfathers that are going to be thrilled with the name. But let’s not tell everybody or anyone else until he’s born—let that be a surprise."

"When we get back to the ranch, I want to stop by construction site number one. I need to talk to Ben, and you need to go on to the house and feed Zachary your little bit of loving. So I’ll see you back in about an hour and a half, and you can pick me up." With all the business finished, Madison headed back to the ranch with a certain Genman on his mind.

---

Zach was walking toward the office when he noticed Curtis carrying a large timber. He shook his head. "Well, I’ll be damned."

Ben walked up at that time. "Damned what, Zach?"

"Ben, I want you to look at Curtis walking, carrying that timber, and tell me what’s wrong."

Ben looked for a minute. "I don’t see anything wrong. What do you notice that I can’t see?"

"That’s it—you need glasses, Ben. If that ain’t the damnedest first-time carry waddle I don’t know what is."

Ben looked again and realized what Zach saw. "Dammit, not Curtis! He’s one of my strongest guys. He didn’t have to be instructed or nothing—he knows his job. Shit, what’d he let himself get knocked up for? At his age, a first-time carry? This is going to be rough."

"Ben, don’t get too excited. He probably doesn’t even know himself. Tell him it’s required by insurance that he gets a comprehensive physical—head to toe, pregnancy test and all—and we need it by this afternoon."

"Let me call Lex and alert him so he can play it off as a routine event. I’m going to go by and see Walter and find out what the hell happened between the two of them. I know it’s all connected to what happened, but maybe not to both of them. Walter is an off-lander and Curtis is just a good old guy who doesn’t harm anyone and doesn’t realize what happened. It’ll be their first, and who knows? Maybe it’ll work out."

---

It was just a short walk over to Curtis’s place, and Zach decided to pay a visit to good old Walter.

Walter was a little surprised to see Mr. Zach at the front door and invited him inside. The boys were out at a neighbor’s house playing, and he had Curtis’s lunch almost prepared.

Zach took a seat at the table and motioned for Walter to take a seat also. "Okay, Walter, talk to me. When did it happen? And don’t play coy with me—you know exactly what I’m talking about. When did the event between you and Curtis take place?"

Walter was totally thrown off by this line of questioning. "Mr. Zach, what are you talking about? What event?"

"Okay, let me put it to you this way: I know that you and Curtis had sex—that much I’m positive on. How long ago did it happen?"

"Mr. Zach, I’m not allowed to have sex. Lex told me no sexual intercourse while I’m carrying this child. So what do you mean by ’you know it happened’?"

"Let me rephrase this: how long ago was it that you had sex with Curtis, and you were the one performing the sex act?"

Walter turned bright red. "I was having a bad time and I was missing my mate. Curtis was holding me and trying to make it okay. We got up and he took me into the bedroom. He removed my clothes and then his. He coached me and wanted to do it. In that room, with a lot of effort, I finally was able to gain entry to his vent because he had never made himself available to anyone before. I helped him and we had sex all night long. The next morning, while I was still asleep, he got up, made breakfast, and acted like nothing happened. That was about a month ago. Why? What’s wrong?"

"Well, I just came back from the construction yard, and he’s got the first-time carry waddle. Even though he can carry the big loads, he’s not walking the same way because his hips are spreading due to the baby that he’s carrying—your baby, in fact."

Walter laid his head on the table. "Mr. Zach, he can’t be pregnant. He wasn’t on cycle—yes, it was his first time, but he wasn’t on cycle. He didn’t come on cycle for another three months, so I don’t know why you think he’s pregnant just because he’s not walking right."

"Well, let’s put it this way: I hope I’m wrong, but I know I’m not. He has an appointment for a complete physical at the clinic at one o’clock. You be there to support him. He’s going to be really blown away when that test says positive pregnancy. So I take it that the two of you must be getting along very well if you’re having sex."

"It only happened one time, sir, but yes, we are getting along fine. The boys adore him. I like having him near when I’m having a rough day—he comforts me. Sometimes I guess not in the right way, but I can’t imagine my life without him."

"Walter, I’m not upset. I’m not mad. I’m glad you found someone as good as Curtis for you and the boys, and it was high time Curtis had someone in his life to make a difference. The two of you get through the pregnancy checkup and stop by my personal office to see me. I feel that we’re gonna need an addition here at his place. And by the way, congratulations."

---

At twelve o’clock, Curtis came into the house and was in an off mood. "I’ve got to go see Lex. He’s got to do a complete exam on me—top to bottom, everything. And can you believe they’re going to run a pregnancy test on me? I’m not even in cycle and they’re going to run a pregnancy test on me. Talk about a waste of money for the insurance companies, but hey, Ben says I’ve got to have one. So it’s their money, not mine. But I will have the rest of the day off if you want to cuddle some—hey, I’m here."

"Curtis, I want to go to the clinic with you and be there for you while you have your exam. I’m just interested in seeing what takes place in one of their exams because, you know, after I have this baby, I’ll have to have one every month until I get the all-clear."

"That’ll be nice. Never had someone who wanted to go be with me at a physical before, and seeing Lex in action will be nice for you. And you get to watch me in all my glory as he gets to push, poke, and prod."

---

At one o’clock, Curtis and Walter were in the waiting room at the clinic when Lex walked in. He was all business. He checked Curtis’s eyes and his hearing, his reflexes, blood pressure, and drew blood. He told Curtis to lean over the table while he swabbed his vent for the pregnancy test portion.

Curtis didn’t have a problem—he went through the whole test no big deal, even when the swab went up into his vent. He didn’t think anything of it.

Lex told Walter to come on over—he wanted to show him something. Actually, they could both stand there while he ran the test.

"This is a common pregnancy hormone test," Lex explained about the test tube and the swab. "When I insert the swab into the container, I’ll push it down till I reach the activation fluid and it’ll break through. If it’s negative, it turns black. If it’s positive, it turns bright blue."

Lex smiled. "Walter, do you want to do the honors of breaking the test tube?"

Walter walked over and, under careful instructions, inserted the swab into the top of the tube and proceeded to push it down. As soon as it popped through the membrane, the clear liquid turned a bright blue, indicating that Curtis was in fact very pregnant.

As the two went to turn around, they found Curtis laid out on the floor, colder than a cucumber.

Lex chuckled. "Gee, one positive pregnancy test and the big lug passed right out. What a big wimp."

Walter held his hand up. "I need a seat. My legs are weak. Shit, what the hell are we going to do?"

"Well, it looks like you are both going to be in the same boat—growing bigger and bigger together. You’re a high carry; he’s going to be a low carry, so he won’t show until he’s almost eight months pregnant. But you? You’re already showing. It’s nothing to be worried about. You had sex together, he conceived a child with your original Goran bloodlines and old Earth bloodlines—it works different. Even though he wasn’t in cycle, he dropped an egg, and that’s common when Genman purebloods and humans mate for the first time. But what you gotta worry about is how to tell the twins that their dad is going to be a father to their friend’s baby."

Walter covered his face and shook his head. "I don’t know how to handle this one. I’ve always carried—I’ve never been a father before. I didn’t really think about it when we had sex. It was comforting, it was someone putting me first for a change. Not ’during his cycle time,’ not ’it’s time for me to bend over,’ not ’come get you a piece and knock me up.’ I’m carrying again, and nine months later it’s twins, then knock me up again and it’s a single."

"Walter, I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but your brother Earl has helped so many of our young carriers deal with being pregnant—it’s amazing. I suggest that you sit down with him as a couple and discuss today’s events. He’s quite good at what he does—he acts as a sounding board for the young men that are carrying for the first and even the third time. Take it with a grain of salt, but that’s just my opinion." Lex reached for a small bottle. "Let me get the smelling salts and wake this fool up. I don’t need no big-ass pregnant Genman laying on the floor here."

Curtis snapped wide awake as the smelling salts went under his nose. Walter smiled. "Come on, big guy. Let’s go to the house—the two of us need to sit down and have a talk before we tell the boys that they are going to be big brothers again. Lex has suggested that I bring Earl in, so that you will have somebody to talk to about this shocker. I know that I’m damned well going to have to talk to somebody."

"Let’s just stop by his place on the way home before we talk to the boys. I don’t know how this happened—but yes, I know how it happened. I know what we did, but it doesn’t make sense to me. It was my first time receiving and I wasn’t on cycle. I don’t understand it, but it happened. Maybe he can make some more sense as an independent party."