Malia listened silently as Carson spoke, letting him say what he needed to say, what he wanted to say. She had given him the space for it, and she was glad that he wasn’t just shutting down. She pulled him aside and out of the way as people pushed past them, but her hand fell from his arm—he was using his hands too much to speak. She knew he felt a lot of hurt st the moment, and all she wanted to do was comfort him. Once he was finished speaking, she wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a tight hug. “I love you, Cars. I wouldn’t be able to go on without you. It’ll be okay, though. In the end. All this hurt and heartache won’t have been for nothing.” When he suggested they rest, she took his hand, intertwining her fingers with his own. She walked with him back to their room, luckily the pair didn’t run into his aunt on the way. Malia did see he follow after them, but once they were inside the room, it didn’t matter. She could lay off for awhile.<br/><br/>Malia walked with him to their bed, and she pulled her shirt off. She had found a pull over chest wrap that she wore, but she didn’t want to sleep in it. She took it off, tossing it side and rubbing her shoulders before she pulled her shirt back over her bare torso. Malia was much fitter now, her slender body had gotten even more so with Sunny’s training, and she’d kept it up since they had gotten Carson back from the hunters. The dead, Hunters. Once she was settled, she climbed into bed, beckoning him down with her. She lost Max today, but Carson felt ever single loss harder than she did. He lost Letto, his sister, Max, maybe, and all the runners that he fought to train. He felt those losses heavy. Malia did, too, but not as heavy as he. She pulled the man into her arms once he was down with her, letting him rest against her this time, her hand running across his back.<br/><br/>She kissed his forehead, before nudging his head back, her lips finding his for a slow, sensual kiss. Her free hand cupped his cheek, her thumb running across the skin there. “God, I love you.” She muttered, resting her forehead against his for a moment before settling back down, her hand running across his back once more. “Let’s just rest, everything else can be saved for tomorrow.” With that, the couple fell asleep in one another’s arms, holding tight together, as if the other could disappear, could fade away at any moment.<br/><br/>She slept soundly in his arms, his warmth surrounding her. She woke sometime that next morning, now instead of them being pressed together, he was spooning her with her back to his chest, his arm around her middle. She felt his breath on the back of her neck, and she smiled to herself. She carefully slipped from his embrace, leaning over and kissing his temple before she slipped out of bed. She wrapped her arms around herself and walked from the CIC, only to run into his aunt. Again.<br/><br/>“I want to speak with Carson.”<br/><br/>“Carson is asleep, leave him be.” Malia huffed and pushed past her.<br/><br/>“Carson should get to know his family.”<br/><br/>Malia stopped, turning to the woman. “Carson does know his family. His family is me, Sunny, Nat, Letto. He has his family. Leave him alone, he’s been through a heck of a lot these past couple of days.” Malia turned back and walked back to where she was going, out of the CIC entirely, and towards the kitchen. She wanted to get him some breakfast, he hadn’t eaten anything the previous day, which she understood. She went ahead and put a canned item on the stove, figuring that actually cooking it would make it taste better than simply heating it up. She grabbed a few pieces of bread that the runners had brought, setting it on a plate before she turned around, chewing her lip. She wanted to know what TRIM decided.<br/><br/>She went and jogged to the med bay to quickly snag the paper TRIM had produced on her, and she tucked it under her arm without looking. She went back to the kitchen and gathered the things before carefully carrying it all back to the CIC. Carson was stirring when she returned, and she set the things on the side table before climbing onto the bed, rubbing his shoulder and peppering a couple kisses across his cheek and jaw. She smiled to him before sitting up in her place, helping him to do the same. She knew he must’ve been starving. “I got you some breakfast.” She carefully offered him the tray, setting it across his lap, giving him a bit of a smile. “Your aunt came back looking for you, told her to leave you be for awhile.” She took a piece of bread, nibbling on it before leaning over and snagging the piece of paper.<br/><br/>She leaned back and scanned her eyes over it, before furrowing her eyebrows.<br/><br/><i>Increase of...progesterone.<br/>
....................estrogen.<br/>
<br/>
Patient 1225 is...pregnant.<br/>
</i><br/>Malia widened her eyes, glancing to Carson. “Pretty sure TRIM needs some updating or something.” She hoped, deeply, that it was wrong. She couldn’t be...pregnant. Not now, not when the danger was all around them, not when she had to fight, to protect her and her family. Her people. She couldn’t stop now. She dropped the paper, taking a shaky breath, trying to convince herself that it was wrong. In any other circumstance, she would be jumping for joy, springing into Carson’s arms, celebrating what they had wanted all along but now...she didn’t know. She dropped her face into her hands, cupped over her mouth. A deep sense of dread washes through her, and she moved one hand to her stomach, looking down. “Fuck.”