Chapter Text
Tech figures out how to fix their aging. It doesn’t happen immediately, but once he gets the supplies he needs, he’s able to reverse it. They might not live as long as natborn humans, but they’ll live far longer than they would have before. Assuming, of course, that they live out their normal lifespan, but that’s a problem for the future.
The far-off future.
It means he’ll be able to carry a child without worrying that it might kill him to do so. Omega will get to have a little sibling. Or siblings.
They leave Ord Mantell and go to a distant planet on the Outer Rim. Settling down isn’t easy, but they make it work. They stick together, of course, helping one another when needed, working tirelessly to create a new life for themselves. For their daughter. Omega becomes comfortable calling the others ‘Dad’. She’ll use their names sometimes, but she still considers them her parents.
Hunter doesn’t become pregnant immediately. Perhaps it’s his body settling back into its normal rhythms and cycles or maybe it’s the stress of not knowing what will happen from one day to the next. It doesn’t matter, he supposes.
Echo talks about going to help Rex. He hasn’t decided when, but he wants to do more for the clones. Hunter will miss him when he goes, all of them will miss him when he goes, but this is Echo’s choice. Echo’s fight. Though they might not be able to understand why he wants to fight, they’ll support him, nevertheless. He’s one of them. He’s their mate.
They want him to stay, but they won’t stop him from going.
Hunter grows bigger far slower than he did with Omega. It makes sense since she grew so quickly, yet sometimes, he thinks something is… different. He can almost feel the spark of life inside of him, though it doesn’t feel like it did with her. Maybe because everything has changed. They have changed. They’ve gotten older.
Harder, in some ways.
Crosshair’s loss shaped them, even if he’s back home with them where he belongs.
The scanner in Tech’s hand beeps, and everyone sits up a little more.
“How’s it look?” Wrecker asks, almost impatient.
Tech is quiet for a very, very long moment. “They appear to be doing well.”
“They?” Hunter nearly squeaks.
“You are carrying triplets,” Tech informs him flatly.
What the hell? He doesn’t know if he’s more freaked out or excited by the news. “Isn’t that… pretty much unheard of?”
Tech tilts the scanner screen, frowning slightly. “I believe two of them are less developed than the third.”
“So, what does that mean?” Echo questions, as Crosshair’s arm tightens around Hunter’s waist.
“Hunter had two separate conceptions,” Tech replies. “It is rare, very rare, but it can happen.” He looks at them. “Do you want to know the gender?”
Hunter exchanges a look with his mates. “No,” he answers for all of them, Crosshair’s hand sliding down to press against his abdomen. “It doesn’t matter.” Because whether he has a son, a daughter, or both, their child will be loved all the same. It will be loved from the time it’s born, from even before then. They will do anything to keep them safe and to give them a better life, a life free from the burdens they were forced to bear when young.
They will give their children a life. What that means or what it’ll take them, Hunter doesn’t know. He only knows that he is grateful to be here. He’s grateful to be with his mates, with Omega, and when she escapes from Wrecker’s arms and crawls into his lap, he tucks her against his chest and holds her tight. Soon, she’ll be a big sister. Soon, they’ll have to care for more little lives depending on them, and it will be terrifying, but they’ll figure it out. The struggles are worth it if they get to be happy.
And right here and right now, Hunter is happier than he ever has been.
***
“There is a particular child, a young girl, the offspring of two clones. She is the key to controlling Nala Se.”