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  Luna wiped her mouth on her wrist. “Beckett, I have a stomach bug or something. I probably ate too many apples or. . .” She swallowed, fighting down another upheave.

  Chickadee leaned into Beckett’s field of vision. “What are you going to do here? Watch Luna throw up what she ate, then sit in jail? You can’t help, so go. You’re the first to hear when she’s all better.”

  Luna threw up again.

  Dilly said quietly, “You have to Beckett.” She offered him her hand, helped him up, and turned him away toward the parking lot. Dan pulled beside him as escort.

  Beckett asked, “You’ll call me, right? Dan? Dilly? You’ll call?”

  Dan and Dilly both nodded and assured Beckett all the way to the car.

  Chapter 48

  The gate was opened and Dr Mags dropped to the ground beside Luna. She placed her fingers on Luna’s wrist and counted. Then she asked the gathered Waterfolk to load Luna onto a blanket and carry her over to the far end of the pen where it was dry.

  Luna begged, “I can walk, let me walk.” But Dr Mags continued counting, commanding, and hovering like Luna’s stomach bug was a full blown emergency.

  Once Luna landed in a spot under a tree with a large crowd gathered around, Dr Mags checked her eyes. “How long have you been feeling like this?”

  “It started yesterday. It comes on like a wave.”

  Dr Mags asked, “What did you eat this morning and when?”

  “A protein pouch and an apple. Water. About two hours ago.”

  “Hungry?”

  “Not really. . .”

  “What would taste good to you right now?”

  “Chocolate, something sweet.”

  Dr Mags furrowed her brow. “Okay, stupid question, I’m not sure if Nomads even get government-mandated birth control, but if you do, have you been taking it?”

  Luna said, “We don’t. . .”

  “When was your last period?”

  Luna’s face twisted up, “Um. I — uh. Oh.”

  Chapter 49

  Dan searched his pockets for the keys while Beckett stared across the parking lot down the sloping grass to the faraway gathering at the fence. They were moving Luna in a blanket. He could run back there, but he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t do anything but leave. His only option. Beckett didn’t like having only one option. Not when it came to Luna.

  This sucked. If he had known that last night on the ship, when he held her under his shirt, hiding from the storm, would be the last night — if he had only known. He might have held tighter. Hell, he’d still be there.

  So why was he here, back on land? Was this the whole goal — to get her here? She was in a cage and he was driving away.

  Dan unlocked the car. Beckett climbed in. The engine rumbled to life.

  Dan said, “I know you want to go back, but here’s the thing, that’s real trouble for you and also, what if they arrest you at the protest? They could say all the protesters are criminals and public opinion would turn. Right now your Aunt Chickadee, who is awesome by the way, and her friends, are fun and friendly and smart. People are watching the news and thinking they make sense. But if you show up and get all tragic and argumentative and belligerent and arrested, guess what happens?”

  “They look like troublemakers.”

  Dan pulled the car out of the parking lot. “Opinion is changing. No one wants the trouble of dealing with this; it takes too much effort. Aunt Chickadee is making people focus on that effort and question whether it’s worth it.”

  “You make sense — but it’s still — man.” Beckett ran his hands up and down on his face.

  “I don’t blame you. If Sarah was — I don’t blame you. But at least you have Chickadee.” They sped along the coastal highway toward the bus station.

  Beckett stared out the window at the shops and houses flying by. “And Roscoe.”

  “That guy is a genius. He told me that the government spends thousands of dollars a day on the Nomad camps. Instead they could have expanded the Outpost system with floating derricks. It would have been a fraction of the money, but a couple of politicians, specifically John Smithsonian and his buddy at the Final Interior, Tuck Frank, thought it would be worth it. They’re on some kind of evangelical mission to change the Nomads, turn them into land dwellers. Can you believe it?”

  Beckett shook his head. “I was a part of it. All those people, I sent a lot of them to the camps.”

  “Yeah well, you didn’t have the full story. We all have the full story now. And if it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t have Chickadee chained to their fence.”

  “Chickadee is a formidable woman, you should have seen her when I. . .” Beckett’s voice trailed away. He added, “I’m glad she’s always been on my side.”

  Dan pulled into a space in front of the bus station, got out, and pulled Beckett’s bag from the trunk.

  Beckett said, “Promise me, if something is wrong, any news, a sneeze, God, or a cough, anything — promise me you’ll let me know.”

  “Definitely man, I promise. I’ll make sure.”

  “Okay, thanks.” The two hugged, said goodbye, and Beckett walked slowly toward the bus station.

  Dan yelled, “Shoulders straight Army. You need a strong back for all that sandbag lifting!”

  Beckett raised his hand with a wave and disappeared into the cavernous building.

  Chapter 50

  Luna heaved herself into a sitting position with a groan. She rested her head on her knees for a moment, then said, “I’m okay now. I can walk. I should go tell Chickadee I’m okay.”

  Dr Mags walked with Luna through the sprinkling rain toward Chickadee’s encampment, where a guard gestured for the doctor to leave the cage. He slammed the door closed with a clank, almost in Luna’s face, and locked it with added animosity.

  Chickadee glared at him. “You mark my words, I will have your job.” Then she turned with a sweet smile to the fence and Luna behind it. “Are you okay, Dear?”

  Luna nodded.

  Dr Mags said, “Can Luna and I speak to you alone?”

  Chickadee turned flapping her arms. “Shoo, shoo.” The surrounding crowd got up and shifted away.

  Luna said, “I need to sit down.” She collapsed into a cross legged position.

  Chickadee clutched the fence. “I’m sorry, but you still don’t look good dear. I think you need a hospital. Don’t worry I’ll get you to—”

  Dr Mags said, “Chickadee, I believe Luna might be pregnant.”

  “Pregnant?”

  Luna nodded.

  “With Beckie’s baby?”

  Luna nodded again.

  “Oh, honey.” Chickadee’s eyes swept around the pen and the surrounding encampment, it was all sadly, terribly, bleak. “Oh honey. Now this is amazing news but. . . You’re inside a—” She turned to Dr Mags. “Will the baby make it? I mean, it’s so rare. . .”

  Dr Mags shrugged. “It’s rare to even get pregnant, who knows. We’ll need to run a lot of tests. I have a friend at the Heighton Hospital that Luna can see.”

  Chickadee ran her hands up and down her face. “What is Beckett going to — he’ll come back here. He’ll get himself arrested.”

  Dan appeared through the crowd, arm thrown around Sarah, headed their way. When they were close enough, Dan grinned. “Man, Army barely got on the bus. I had to watch the doors to make sure he didn’t desert again. And I hope Luna is okay now, because I promised I’d report back, pronto.” His expression dropped. “What?”

  Dr Mags and Chickadee looked from Dan and Sarah to Luna. She bit her lip and screwed up her face. “I’m probably pregnant.”

  Dan’s eyes opened wide. “Oh. Oh. Oh man.”

  Sarah slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh!” She crouched down eye level with Luna. “Luna what will you do?”

  “I need to talk to Beckett—”

  Dan said, “Definitely. He needs to know.”

  Luna nodded and sat for a while staring off into space. Then she turned t
o Dr Mags. “What are the odds?”

  “I have limited knowledge, but carrying a baby to term is increasingly rare. Is it rare for Waterfolk too?”

  “It’s rare to have babies, but also complicated. I’m not sure many Waterfolk families want to. It means they have to split up, live on land for a bit, drastically change their circumstances. We usually try not to, and I just, I don’t — I guess I forgot that I would—”

  Chickadee said, “You would what, dear?”

  Luna twisted the hem of her cotton dress. “I forgot that I would keep living.”

  Chickadee said, “Well, you did dear, and we are so grateful for that. But now we need to call Beckett, immediately.”

  Dan said, “Yes, he’s waiting, worried already. I promised. But he’ll come back here for sure if you tell him.”

  Luna nodded. “I don’t — wait, let me think.” Luna sat for a moment. She dug her fingers into the mud and thought about what this meant, to her, Luna, Waterfolk. Pregnancy meant that you had to look for a nesting spot. A place to rest. A place to have the baby. A place to nurse the baby until you could move again. And wasn’t that what her plan already was, nesting?

  It was a good plan.

  Beckett, without even knowing, was giving her a nest.

  She only had to get there.

  And she had to get him there.

  Safely.

  And she had no idea if the baby would make it. So many didn’t, so she had to go with the flow.

  She was good at that. It was in her DNA. Trouble was she was surrounded by stiff-neck, land-dwellers who would want to stop everything and fix it. She looked up in their faces, they were worried and afraid.

  She would need to make sure she stayed strong. And kept Beckett safe. That was the only thing to do.

  She took a deep long breath, stood, and swiped the gravel off the back of her legs. “We won’t tell Beckett. Not yet. Not until he comes back in three months.”

  Sarah, crouched beside her in the rain, asked, “Are you sure?”

  Chickadee said “It seems like something he ought to know, even if it—”

  Luna said, “You said so yourself, he’ll come back. He’ll get himself arrested. I need him. I have to keep him safe. I owe him that. Even if it means keeping this from him. That’s my decision. No one can tell Beckett.”

  Dan said, “I think he deserves the right to hear about this, but also, so far, he has terrible decision-making skills. And worse where Luna is concerned. So, I guess I agree with Luna. For what it’s worth. New friend and all.”

  Sarah nodded. “New friend vote, I agree with Dan and Luna — yes. And oh Luna, I’m so—a baby, really?”

  Dan reached down and squeezed her hand.

  Chickadee squinted her eyes. “Fine, I’m in agreement. We won’t tell him until he comes home in three months.”

  They nodded at each other solemnly.

  Until Dan said, “But seriously, what am I going to tell Army?”

  “Tell him I’m fine, it was something I ate.”

  Chapter 51

  “Hey Dan, what’s the news?”

  Dan stood in the middle of the parking lot, staring back at the camps. “By the time I got back, Luna felt totally better.”

  “Really? What did Dr Mags say?”

  “She said it was something Luna ate, acted like I was an asshole for worrying about it. You know Dr Mags, all business when you’re sick, but when you’re healthy, she’s the first to tell you to suck it up. Well she told me to tell you that Luna said to suck it up. She’s fine.”

  “Man, that is such a relief.”

  “Are you with your battalion yet?”

  “Still on the bus, though we’re entering the mountains, I might lose service soon. I have two hours left.”

  “Why are you going into the mountains? Aren’t you headed to the coast? I thought—”

  Beckett ran his hand around his head. “Can you put Luna on the phone? Hold it for her through the fence?”

  Dan looked around the parking lot, “Um, I’m not with her right now. I stepped away to make this call, sorry man. I’ll do it in a bit.”

  Beckett closed his eyes. “I’m not sure if I can talk much after six, try to call before, okay?”

  “Look, it’s no problem I’m walking back right now.” Dan jogged across the parking lot toward the fence, reaching it, and looking at the phone. Beckett wasn’t there.

  “Luna, I’m sorry Beckett wanted to talk to you.” He dialed Beckett’s number. The call was answered by a strange beep-beep sound. “Weird. I guess we lost the connection. He said he was going into the mountains. . .”

  Chickadee said, “The mountains? There’s no mountains near the coast where he’ll be stationed. . .” Her voice trailed off.

  Dan nodded with a glance at Luna. “You know, I probably misheard him. we’ll call back in a few minutes, see if we can’t get him on the phone again.”

  Chapter 52

  The following day Beckett called Chickadee.

  “Beckie!!!” She yelled into the phone, then to everyone else, “Beckie’s on the phone!!”

  “Hi Chickadee, are you still with Luna at the camps?’

  “Oh we are, we’re all here, and the crowd is even bigger now. Hey everyone say, ‘Hi Beckie!’”

  A cacophony of voices yelled his name. She said, “Roscoe has the hearing set for Thursday, three days from now. He said this was merely a formality.”

  “That’s amazing Chickadee, this is quite an accomplishment.”

  “All I did was plant myself like a brick wall. It’s pretty much all I’m suited for. Don’t tell Dilly I said that, she’ll get all romantic and make me sit still and listen to her list off my assets in long form poetry, but really she has to say that because she loves me. Those that don’t love me know — I’m stubborn as a brick wall. It’s what they say behind my back. I’m a realist.”

  “I agree with Dilly, you’re amazing.”

  “You should save your long form poetry for Luna.” She giggled. “She wants to speak to you, I’ll hold the phone to the fence, so don’t say anything lewd, because I’ll probably hear it.” She grunted as she rose from the chair.

  Beckett said, “Lewd? You’re the one talking about my long form poetry.”

  She cackled merrily. “It’s not really you I’m worried about, it’s Luna who would, wouldn’t you dear?”

  Luna gave her a weak smile, took a deep gulp of edifying air, and sat up from her sprawled position on a blanket on the ground. Her nausea had been terrible all day, but she wanted to talk to Beckett more than anything. Her next few moments would be very difficult to maneuver.

  “Hi!” She forced herself to sound upbeat.

  “Hey love, last I saw you you were spewing chunks all over your feet.” He laughed. “Dan says you’re good?”

  “Yeah, I’m great. And it stopped raining, so — everything is good here.”

  “I’m so glad. I miss you so much.”

  “I miss you too, though I’m getting used to it,”

  Beckett sat for a moment. “You’re getting used to it?”

  “Yes, I mean, we’ve been apart so much it’s just normal. I didn’t mean I didn’t miss you, I—”

  “Yeah, no, I get it. We’ve been apart a lot.”

  “Beckett, I just meant that I’m okay, that this is going to be okay, us being apart.”

  Beckett ran his hand over his head. “Wait, I need to hang up, my commanding officer wants me.”

  “Okay, I love you, I miss you, I really do, I just wanted you to know that I was okay—” Luna looked down at the phone — the call was lost. She burst into tears. “I said it all wrong, and he — this is too hard.”

  Chickadee said, “I know dearest, you’re going to have a lot of difficult conversations for the next little while. It will be hard, but he knows. Don’t worry yourself, he’ll understand.”

  Chapter 53

  Beckett’s phone rang three days later — Chickadee. “We won! that Roscoe is
a genius and we won, and all the—”

  The sound of celebrating drowned out her next words. Beckett said, “That’s awesome Chickadee! I’m so—”

  She continued, “Roscoe was so eloquent, brilliant. Those bureaucrats didn’t even know how to begin to argue against him. They asked at most ten questions, deliberated for an hour and then said they would close the camps.” More cheering from the surrounding voices.

  Beckett said, “So is Luna there?”

  “Roscoe is so amazing. Here, Dilly wants to talk to you!”

  Dilly came to the phone. “Your Aunt Chickadee really did it this time.”

  “That she did.”

  “It looks like the camp closure will be in effect by the end of the month—” She yelled, “Woohooo!” to someone off the phone, then returned her attention to Beckett. “So we have lots of celebrating to do.”

  “I’m so glad, is Luna there?”

  “Hey, it’s really loud in here. I love you, and we’re so proud of you. I hope your back doesn’t hurt too much from all that sandbag lifting. I’m giving you back to Chickadee.”

  Beckett shut his eyes tight as Chickadee came back on the phone. “I knew you wanted to be the first to hear. Your Luna will be home soon.”

  “When will she get to go home?”

  “What did you say? When you’ll come home? I can’t hear you over the party, I’ll call tomorrow and—”

  “Sure, of course, but tomorrow, after that it will be harder to get through.”

  “Okay, bye Beckie!!”

  Chapter 54

  The following day Beckett received a call from Chickadee’s phone, but Luna’s voice greeted him. “I’m out.”

  Relief surged through his body. “Oh I’m so glad Luna, I’m so glad. I don’t — I’m speechless.”

  “Me too. I’m so happy and grateful and excited and kind of scared. We’re in the truck. Dilly and Chickadee are driving me to your mountain house. Or less driving, more sitting and waiting, traffic is terrible.”