Midnight stood quietly in one of the Lab rooms at the New Chakat Industries. The wedding was a week away and shi felt overjoyed at it. Shi loved Talia and would bear hir child as Talia would bear hirs. And hir surprise was to do something special for Talia, and on some level for hir. Talia was graceful in the air, as swift as any Falcon, grand as any Eagle, and yet as delicate as a Swan. Shi enjoyed riding on Talia's back when shi was younger and Talia was hir friend and teacher. But now that shi had grown up, while friendship and blossomed firmly into love, shi was too big for Talia's wings to carry both Talia and Midnight at the same time with the same degree of grace. Talia might have the strength to carry hir, but Midnight knew that it would be strenuous... and like humanity did before Kats ever appeared, a part of hir longed to fly. To be as graceful as hir mate.
"Okay, Midnight, I can't say for sure what the serum will do with your pup... but it's likely it will impart the same sort of sphinx DNA to them through you," Maurice said as shi approached holding a lone syringe, "but given that you're one month, we can be relatively sure that it won't harm the pup in any way, as the stage of development is too soon for many aspects of development to be firmly settled."
"Meaning...?" Midnight asked.
"Your pup will develop as a sphinx-based Wolfkat just as the serum will make you," Maurice explained, "and this development will be natural, so there should be no complications."
"That's good," Midnight breathed a sigh of relief, finding it strange to suddenly feel a mother's concern when for so many years shi had felt a child's innocence.
In a way, it also made hir happy. Everyone had to grow up and pass on what they knew to the next generation. Given Kat's long expected lifespans and rather sexual nature between bonded mates, it's common that you had multiple generations growing up together. Hir older sither was six years older and shi and hir mate were the parents of two young Kats, about six years old, though Lia's was nine months younger than Luna's. Janice and Pinkie were twelve, Fluffy, Mary, and Reca were six (or close enough to it), and much the same went for Jess and Nikole's children. Diamond was between Janice and Pinkie and Fluffy and Mary with regard to hir age. And then there were Justin and Francine, the Kieens of France. Justin was Sally and Jess's father and Francine was Alexis's mother, they were grandparents to the children of Sally, Jess, and Alexis (and by extension their mates as well). And when they came to visit, they came with their own children together. Two around eleven and two were about five or six. Midnight also noticed a slight bulge in the taur bellies of both Justin and Francine, which made hir guess that they were pregnant again, though only three months along at most. And now Midnight knew that shi was joining hir older sither, hir adopted parents and aunts, and hir adopted grandparents as being a mother hirself.
Maurice approached and prepped Midnight's shoulder on hir humanoid half.
"Now, as I said before, the part of transformation that people will notice will not happen until the wedding, but you may experience some discomfort, particularly in your forelegs's hips/shoulders," Maurice explained, "Where they will be altering to accept the development of what will be your wing bones, not to mention the wing muscles that will be necessary to fly."
"It won't be too noticeable, will it?" Midnight asked.
"Not too noticeable, but to a keen eye, you probably won't be able to hide it completely," Maurice told hir, "Do you still wish to go ahead?"
"Yes," Midnight said firmly.
And so, Maurice injected the needle.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"It was nice of you two to come all this way," Raul spoke to Francine and Justin.
The work of preparing the Janace church for the coming wedding was on a brief pause and the former general in the French army and his mate took a moment to talk with the Kieen and Kieen of the nation he still loved, and through the UN's program to try and respond to the various outbreaks and the criminals trying to use them to their advantage, still served.
"We wanted to come and visit when the Moscow outbreak happened," Francine commented, "but between the surprise at that outbreak, our then more advanced pregnancies, and our coming coronation things just wouldn't have allowed it, and things just kept getting in the way..."
"But now, we not only had the time," Justin added, clasping Francine's hand in hirs, "but we had the excuse to make the time. I can see Jess and Sally... Francine can see Alexis..."
They paused as shouts in broken English and French as Justin and Francine's soughters ran by with Alexis and Flake's soughters, Charlie and Sally's soughters, and Jess and Nikole's soughters ran by. For the older ones it was more of an exercise in babysitting and for the younger ones it was an excuse to play and be kids. Diamond and Reca were among them, and seemed to be doing quite well with their extended family members.
"And our children can be with their niphews," Justin then finished with a chuckle.
"How long to you plan to stay, your Majesties?" Maria Herroud asked, patting Anna's shoulder as hir daughter sat quietly in awe at Janace's visitors. Anna had never met royalty before and was naturally curious. True everyone told her that technically Sally, Jess, and Alexis could be counted as royalty, too, given their relations, but they were Sally, Jess, and Alexis to Anna. Friends of her mother and that was how she knew them.
"For awhile," Francine commented, "Make sure Jess is healing well and that Sally is not too troubled..."
"They all seem to be doing well," Raul commented, "Jess has started the exercises to get hir strength back and Sally... well... having Charlie with hir has helped a lot."
Raul didn't want to mention that he had accidentally walked in on them having sex and that Charlie and Sally were likely to be having new kittens again in nine months. Telling them was their duty. Justin and Francine nodded at the statement.
"So... how far along are you, if I may ask?" Maria Herroud asked carefully.
"Three and a half months," Francine gave a smile and looked back and down to hir body, "It's funny you know... I became a Kat delivering Snowflake and it terrified me... but now... now I can't see myself as anything other than as a Chakat. It's brought joy into my life and gave a chance at things I thought I'd grown too old for and I have the most wonderful mate to experience them with."
"And we can experience love from every point of view... as male... as female," Justin added with a smile, "We can experience every point of view."
"I've tried to explain that to Raul," Maria gave a smirk to hir mate, "and while he loves me and is quite willing to pleasure me in his own loving way... he seems set on remaining only a Taur."
"There is nothing wrong with being only a Taur and not a Kat," Raul answered, "Kats and gendered beings, like Taurs and Humans can get along quiet well and can breed. We have Anna, the cutest one here, if you ask me and I think I saw in the news that a woman who bought the serum and willingly became a Dogkat last year recently gave birth to a Kat/Human hybrid. Hir husband was still human and still with hir."
"I know," Maria nodded, "I was just messing with you, my dear."
There was a silence for a moment before Francine turned to a more serious question.
"How did your meeting with the UN go with regard to what you found in the Vatican?" Justin asked.
"The South Korean delegate seemed embarrassed, but from what we've heard from the Republic of Korea (South Korea) they will make some effort to figure out where any of these fraudulent labs or clinics might be, and we'll send a team when they think they've found them," Raul said slowly, "North Korea, however is a bigger problem... their Communist government doesn't like outside influences and their delegate said so and walked out. Their border is also closed..."
"Which means we couldn't get in if we wanted to," Justin sighed.
"And getting them to come back to any negotiating table is beyond my responsibilities, so all we can do is wait," Raul nodded.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
A couple of days later, Charlie and Sally were visiting with Nikole and Jess. Jess was getting much better with hir strength exercises and didn't need to keep hir arm in a sling anymore, though Nikole did have to help a little bit with some things to the rotation of hir arm and shoulder.
"You've been looking much better, sis," Jess commented, seeing that Sally had regained much of hir confidence since the Vatican.
"I've had Charlie with me, having hir there, regards of hir form is always good," Sally commented, "And shi makes a rather cute manticore based Chakat, don't you think?"
Jess looked over to see Charlie sipping hir tea from a cup, and being careful not to bump the cup into hir saber-like canines. Shi looked fine to Jess, and Jess also assumed that the Chakat form had also helped Sally quite bit, though shi also got the sensation that there was something else.
"Yes, shi does look fine," Jess commented, "but you'll forgive me if I prefer to mount Nikole and to have Nikole mount me."
"I'd encourage you to mount Nikole and have hir mount you," Sally giggled.
"Let's not start an orgy now," Nikole said calmly, "as fun as that would be, we agreed to wait until after we don't have any missions to go on to breed again."
Charlie and Sally didn't immediately say anything.
"And besides, we're to be celebrating Midnight's growing up," Nikole finished.
"And hir pregnancy," Charlie commented.
"Shi's pregnant?" Jess and Nikole gasped together, almost feeling jealous, given that through their adoption of Luna and Midnight, Sally and Charlie were grandparents, and they wanted a bit of that feeling as well. Technically, Nikole was also a grandparent, since shi was Charlie's mother, but on many levels, hir relationship with Charlie had very much become one like they were sithers rather than mother and soughter, and Charlie's and Sally's soughters commonly called hir Auntie without any thought.
"Shi's behaved almost the same way Luna did when shi realized shi was pregnant," Sally giggled.
"For me... it brought more memories of my first pregnancy... being pregnant with Pinkie... and since like Luna and I, Midnight was born male, I'd think the comparison is accurate," Charlie giggled and then gave a sigh, "It's strange though... our kids are growing up so fast and yet we've hardly aged any since Fee City and that was what twelve years ago now? Or at least around there..."
The others nodded.
"And Snowflake and Janice won't be too terribly far behind Midnight," Sally commented, "Granted they're both only just started to hit puberty... they've been such close friends since they were born... seeing them kiss... I just know they'll become mates when they grow up, I just know it."
"Shi's been squealing about that since it happened," Charlie quipped.
"You squealed too!" Sally chided hir mate.
Charlie only shrugged.
Jess and Nikole save a contented sigh. They had all worked to be good parents and commonly babysat while the other was out or on a mission. Jess had noticed a little bit of jealousy in Diamond, but mostly that she was at a sort of odd age. Shi was younger than Janice, Pinkie, Silky, and Foxy by about three or four years, but was older than Heather, Shasta, Fluffy, Mary, and Reca, by two or three years. As a result, with Midnight now living outside of Charlie and Sally's home, Pinkie, Janice reaching the age that boys, girls, or gurls began to become more than simple friends and Fluffy, Mary, and Reca still interested in somethings that Diamond had outgrown, shi felt a little left out. That was pretty common though with families as large as Charlie's and Sally's. Between breeding and adoptions, they had the largest family in Janace. At times Jess and Nikole felt a little jealous, though there were times when they also knew that Charlie and Sally had a lot more on their plate with regard to family life.
"Glad to see that tings are going well," Nikole said after a moment.
They paused for a moment when they heard the door open and then close. They turned to see Brent coming in from inside. They soon heard a rather nervous clicking as hir mandibles opened and closed rapidly, like a person with a quivering jaw when they were facing great stress.
"Ah..." Brent said slowly, "You're all here."
"Yes," Jess commented, "Just enjoying the good days that are there... while they last at least."
"Come join us," Nikole offered, "Would you like some tea?"
"No thank you," Brent said nervously, "but I will join you."
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked to hir sither.
Brent's nervous clicking of hir mandibles continued.
"What is it, Brent?" Nikole turned to hir other son, now soughter. Shi could sense Brent's nervousness radiating off of hir.
Brent looked up to see Charlie and Sally moving around the table. They also looked concerned.
"Is this about your appointment, Brent? Did you get any results back?" Sally asked nervously.
Jess and Nikole caught on to this.
"What appointment? The doctor's appointment?" Jess asked.
"How do you know, Sally?" Nikole asked to hir, and then bit back tears, "What's wrong with my son... soughter?"
"Brent came to us to help me adapt to what happened in the Vatican," Sally explained, "and shi has been helpful... mostly because shi's had the same issues I was dealing with."
"But the Kats in the Vatican were all lust filled," Jess commented, "It wasn't quite like the Jackkats that raped you in Egypt."
"Rape is still rape, and its consequences will still be there even if the something was influencing the rapist," Sally answered.
"And it gave me the same feeling of weakness that Sally felt," Brent spoke slowly, rebuilding some strength as hir talks with Sally and Charlie on the odd occasion had helped both of them, "And... it left me with something else..."
Jess and Nikole looked on, with wide eyes and a nervous quiver on the lips of their muzzles.
"The tests..." Charlie said slowly.
"They came back a few days ago," Brent nodded, "I'm... I'm..."
"You're..." Nikole said slowly.
"Pregnant," Brent answered, "I have twenty Scorpkat eggs inside me..."
The silence that followed was shocking and surprised.
"I did some research... the species of scorpion used in creating Scorpkats does lay eggs, but the eggs hatch internally and the young are then born," Brent said weakly, "It's why there are so many photographs of scorpions with their young on their backs... and now... now that will be me..."
Jess and Nikole were speechless. Brent hadn't mentioned any of this to them. Charlie and Sally, while they knew of the rape and probably expected Brent to be pregnant, they were also surprised by the number of eggs Brent was carrying.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Nikole finally blurted, gripping Brent by hir shoulders, "I'm your mother, regards of what kind of Kat you are. I am your mother and I will always love you and want you to be happy! I will always support you and Charlie! I will always love you both... you're my babies!"
Jess slowly nodded. Shi was thankful that the kids were presently playing with their younger "aunts" (Justine and Francine's children).
"I'm sure," Brent said slowly, "but I was scared... you all have mates... true loves. I'm alone... I'm... I'm... I'm not ready to be a mother. Not to twenty children at once!"
Nikole turned from gripping Brent's shoulders to pulling Brent into a firm hug, purring and pouring as much motherly love as shi could muster.
"What's done is done," Nikole spoke, "If it were possible, and if you truly don't feel ready... I would either accept you getting an abortion... but I don't think there is a practice that would work for invertebrates..."
"Probably not," Brent sighed.
"But we can still help," Charlie spoke up, "Sally's and my adoption center is running well... and we do a lot of work with regard to foster care and rescuing kids from poor homes and those kids that were turned into Kats and abandoned by fearful parents or relatives and we find new homes for them."
"And we'd keep them together," Sally added.
"Who would adopt twenty children at a time?" Brent asked.
"The only other option would be for you to be a mother," Jess told hir, "we'll do all we can to help, you can be assured of that."
"But I'm not ready," Brent said nervously, "I'm scared."
Brent soon felt all four of them press around hir and hugged hir.
"I was scared when I was pregnant with Pinkie," Charlie said softly, "And getting pregnant had been a choice for me... but motherhood is one of the most rewarding things I've experienced in my life. Twenty may be a lot... but to feel the unconditional love of someone you either sired or gave birth too... it's..."
"Magical," Charlie, Sally, Jess, and Nikole said together.
"We'll do anything to help you, anything at all," Nikole looked straight into Brent's eyes, "Do not be afraid."