The Alien Commander's Surrogate

Episode 57

Hillary

Walking around in Salex's office, I mentally chanted all the names I'd just learned over and over. I had always been shit at names, but it was super important that I remember these.

These of course being the names of the other surrogates who were able to be woken up.

There was of course Kait, who was Adra's surrogate and had been already moved to his rooms for recovery from her recent scare.

The newcomers brought our total to ten awake surrogates. There had been a tall, curvy woman who had stared around silently the whole time I spoke named Gianna. Friendly, curly-haired Toni. Quiet but smiling Jillian. A firecracker of a redhead named Vera and her sister, Jessa. Or was it Jessie?

I palmed my face. Then finally the last three that had been in the room...Rae, Ellie and Jaymee. I still wasn't sure which name belonged to which person, but I was eager to get to know them more. Lylta had warned they were most drowsy and had mostly just listened as I talked about my experience on board and let the medic run their tests.

I could see on Lylta's face that he was torn about going against protocol, not just because of the political upheaval it could cause, but because now that these women were all awake, he had a lot more work on his hands. When I'd left, he'd been sitting in a corner, holding his head in his hands, stalis going wild.

When I messaged Salex about it, the asshole only sent back a soft laugh and told me it was good for him. I couldn't wait to talk to him more about the women, and all of their curious questions. I couldn't answer half of them to be honest. But I planned on being more informed the next time I visited them.

A soft beep informed me someone was at the door. Since Salex wasn't here, I didn't typically answer the door. While Salex insisted that his home was mine, it still felt odd. Especially without Ghantlan around. The young Trenzian had gone down to get himself a late meal. I had a sneaking suspicion that he wanted to sneak by the med bay and see all the women too. These males were a little wild about the possibility that there was more to life than just blind assignments. Which was great, but I could foresee the ladies quite overwhelmed by all this attention.

I moved to the small screen to the side of the office door. To my surprise it was Bayes standing in the hall. I pressed the button to speak out to him. "The commander is up on the main deck with Prime Oren."

Bayes looked up at the camera, then stepped closer. "I was actually hoping to speak to you."

I was glad the camera wasn't two way, because I'm sure I made a ridiculous face as he said those words. I paused, gathering my thoughts. "What can I do for you?"
Bayes shuffled even closer, looking for all the worlds like he wanted to climb right into the camera. "Can I come in, it's personal."

Humming, I considered it. Bayes spoke again, "I have no deathwish, and will stay as far away from you as the room allows. But I'd prefer to not shout this to the hallway."

Nodding, I stepped back, pressing the button to allow the door to slide open. Bayes stepped inside quickly and turned to offer me a cut bow. Which, while a little over the top was a nice change from the generally grumpy males usual attitude.

"I will get right to the subject," Bayes straightened, "I heard you were down in the med bay today with the surrogates."

My brows flew up, "Yes, I was.'
Bayes' purple skin seemed to darken, and I can see his chest rising and falling quickly, "Did you meet the surrogate named Gianna?"

Intriqued I nodded.

Bayes body actually shook a little, "Was she–is she alright?"

"Bayes I–."
"Lylta is withholding any information until everyone is settled and I can't keep waiting. I need to know."

My lips actually burned at the realization of what was happening. This big, surly male was in a near-panic because he was worried over his surrogate. I had almost forgotten who had surrogates on board, Bayes, who wasn't often around in the common areas, hadn't come to mind.

"Gianna is doing well so far. Lylta said no one is out of the woods yet, but he was optimistic."

A flash of a smile slipped across his features before disappearing again. "Good. That's good."

He made like he was going to leave, dropping into another short bow as we faced each other. "Thank you, Hillary. I appreciate your knowledge."

He made for the door, immense steps bringing him there nearly instantly. "Bayes–wait!" THe warrior paused in the door, looking back at me. "She's really lovely. Tall," I held up a hand over my head, "Several inches taller than me, and she seems quite kind."

Bayes' eyes actually lit up, but he didn't say anything, just dropped his chin in a short nod and vanished through the door. I couldn't stop grinning.

Who would've thought he would be such a softie on the inside. But then, maybe that was more typical than we even knew. I was still grinning to myself when Salex came in a few minutes later, wrapping me up in his arms as he unloaded the trays of food he'd brought back with him.

"Why are you smiling so much?"

I observed him, currently pouring me a generous amount of water. "Nothing, just....you all are really quite surprising you know?"

"How so?"

It was as natural as breathing to press myself against his side. Just as natural to feel his hand brush over my hair. "I have a sneaking suspicion that you are all big squishy teddy bears on the inside."

Salex laughed, pulling me closer.

"What's a teddy bear?"