“You named him... Hunter?” Derek asked as he crouched down a little and cooed. He held his finger out and, most likely by complete accident, the baby’s hand found Derek’s own and wrapped around his finger. “Oh... this little fellow is going to be a strong one,” Derek said with a gently smile. Finally, he looked back up at Rayna. “Are you sure naming him that is a good idea?”

    Rayna looked over to Jacks, then back to Derek. “We are. We decided on the name months ago if we had a boy.”

    “I see,” Derek said as he playfully poked at the baby. Then, he turned his attention to the boy’s sister in Rayna’s other arm. “What about this little cutie? Have you decided on a name for her?”

    “That...” Rayna started, but was interrupted by Silvi’s voice chiming from the crystal around her neck.

    “Silvi! Silvi is great name. Would grow up a strong chef just like her aunt!” Silvi had hopped onto the couch, positioning herself in the small space between Rayna and Jacks.

    “That...” Rayna started again, but seemed to be tongue-tied.

    “Silvi wouldn’t be good,” Derek said, much to his companion’s dismay. “I already know two Silvis...” he looked down at his companion. “And one of those Silvis just so happens to be the greatest Silvi. We wouldn’t want a name that would cause her to always be in your shadow, now would we?”

    After a moment of silence, Silvi finally replied, “Guess not. Too much weight of responsibility to bear such a great name. Burden would be much too much... so, soo much.”

    “I agree,” Derek said.

    “As do I,” Rayna said, and looked thankfully at Derek. “Now, our idea for if we had a girl was to see if there was a name you liked. Perhaps a name that means something to you?”

    “Oh, I couldn’t,” Derek said. “You’ve already named the boy after my surname.” He shook his head. “That is too much as it is. I couldn’t possibly name your child.”

    “Derek...” Rayna looked at Derek, all playfulness gone from her face. “We are not stupid.”

    “I would never think you were,” Derek said. “Even though you thought I was the first time we met.” He tried to bring back the playfulness, but his words didn’t help.

    “What I am saying is... we know you won’t be here much longer. Whether that is weeks or years, we don’t know, but you will eventually do as Ms. Swan, and go,” Rayna explained. Only a few people actually knew what happened with Alanah, but everyone knew that it wasn’t a bad thing by how those who knew acted and spoke about it. So, it didn’t take much of a leap for those around Derek to figure that it had to do with her strength. And it wasn’t like she hid her ascension from everyone.

    And, if her leaving had to do with her strength, then it would be only natural for the same thing to happen with Derek—after all, he was already stronger than the siren was in many ways. It had been something that lingered in the air, but nobody really talked about. It didn’t help that it was pretty much impossible to talk about the specifics, anyway.

    “So...” Rayna continued. “We wish for each of our children to have something important to know you, and I can think of nothing more important than a name. Jacks and I have discussed this in great detail, and it is our decision. We hope you will honor it.”

    Derek looked over to Jacks, and the older man nodded firmly back. Derek took a deep breath in, then removed his finger and backed away, back to his seat. “Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to begin,” Derek said as he looked down at his hands. A lot of names went through his head, and one kept coming to the top, above all others, when he tried to think of meaningful names. But he shook his head.

    “Stacy,” Silvi’s voice called out again, this time saying what Derek didn’t have the will to say. Derek’s head shot up. His eyes bore into her, but Silvi only stared back—she didn’t back down.

    “Silvi... no,” Derek said. Other than Alanah, there was only a single other person who knew Derek’s sister’s name, and that was Silvi. Derek and Silvi shared almost everything—she was the one being who he could speak about anything with, and not have to worry about any system interfering in the conversation. And, over the last few months, he had shared with her the same story that he did with Alanah. It was much easier the second time—especially since he was speaking to someone so close to him. R?a?O??E?S?

    “Who...” Rayna started to ask something, but seeing the way the two were looking at each other, she stopped. “Never mind... it’s not my place.”

    Derek continued to have a stare-down with Silvi, but, eventually, his eyes broke away. “It’s okay...” Derek said as he shifted his attention to Rayna. “Stacy... was my little sister.” Nobody in the room seemed shocked at the announcement. Mostly because Derek had mentioned his family on occasion—though, he’d not spoken about his sister until he spoke with Alanah.

    Even though nobody seemed surprised at the revelation that he had a sister, a few of the faces in the room turned from interest to that of sadness. It didn’t take much to figure out from the way that Derek spoke of her that she was dear to him, but also that she was gone.

    Preparing himself, Derek sighed, clenched his fists, then gave the room an abridged version of what he’d told Alanah and Silvi. In that abridged version, he didn’t speak of Earth or college, or a lot of the other important details—just that he’d had a family, and that they’d all passed away in a tragic accident. Nobody called him out on the lack of details, every person in the room Derek, and knew that it was something he didn’t want to talk about.

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    “Congratulations,” Derek finally said as he rocked the babies back and forth. “They really are amazing.”

    “Thank you,” Jacks said.

    “They’re going to have an easy life,” Derek said. “Don’t let them grow too spoiled.” He’d already said as much to the couple a time or two, but he couldn’t help but say it again.

    “We won’t,” both Rayna and Jacks answered at the same time.

    Then, as if in sync, both babies began crying in Derek’s arms.

    “You broke them!” Silvi half-shouted, panicked. The next thing they knew, there was a red health potion floating above the babies. “Here... drink!”

    “They are fine,” Derek said and realized that Silvi had never actually met a baby before. Sure, she’d seen one on occasion in the street, but it wasn’t something she was ever interested in, and she never got familiar with one, so, for all she knew, crying meant that something hurt. “It’s just what babies do. They are either hungry, or need changed, or need their momma, or a hundred other things.”

    “Oh...” Silvi said, then the potion vanished.

    “Thank you for being worried,” Rayna said as she stood up and walked over to Derek. “I’ll take them now.”

    The moment that they were back in their mother’s arms, both babies stopped crying, and Derek clicked his tongue. “I guess I’m not good enough.”

    “They just needed their mother,” Malorie said.

    “Looks that way,” Derek replied as he sat back down. There was, however, a question on his mind that was sure to make him look dumb in front of everyone, but he didn’t care. He had to know. “Jacks...”

    “Yes?” the man answered as he cooed over his newborns in his wife’s arms.

    “This may seem ignorant, but how did you deliver the babies?”

    “How?” Jacks looked at Derek, confused.

    “Yes... how?” Derek asked again. Then, to explain, he said, “Where... where I’m from, there were specialists that delivered the children. I... uh... never really heard of the father doing it. That, and there was usually a lot more... noise from the delivery room.”

    “Oh...” Jacks said, but still seemed confused. Eventually, he just shrugged and two potions appeared in his hands. “This is a numbing tincture and a Greater Health Potion,” he began to explain. “The contractions begin, showing that it is time. Then, I made her comfortable, rubbed the tincture on her belly, then cut. After that, she drank the potion and healed up. Now we have two beautifully healthy babies.”

    “Ah...” Derek said. I guess it is like a very crude version of a cesarean section, he thought. “Is that how everyone does it?”

    “Everyone who can afford it,” Jacks said. “Take Rayna, for example. She is strong and has relatively high endurance and vitality. She is extremely durable. But, the babies do not have access to the system or any stats. They are as fragile as they come. Luckily, I am stronger than she is durable, so we were able to do it this way. Technically, there are ‘specialists.’ But really, they are just those who have the ability to cut with precision, even if the person they are cutting has very high defenses.”

    “In the village,” Rayna cut in. “Most would deliver the natural way. The poor villagers usually don’t have much in the way of vitality or endurance, so it is less harmful on the mothers and the children to birth naturally with the cost of potions unattainable for many. But for those like us, this is the quicker and safer way. Do you understand?”

    “I think so,” Derek said with a nod. “Thanks for explaining it.”

    “We are happy to,” Jacks said.

    “Now,” Rayna said as she looked at Derek with a serious expression. “Do you need to know how babies are made, too?”