• “You've sunk really low, haven't you?” The speaker was none other than Alpha's former friend, the corrupted Alpha that came before him. He saw him sitting in a chair, one leg propped up against his knee. He had an elbow resting on an arm of the chair, and his head was resting against his knuckles.
    Alpha narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. His former friend saw it as an invitation to continue.
    “Sleeping with that woman, I mean.”
    Alpha scoffed, and shook his head. Was that all that he was being bothered about? “My personal life stopped being your business when you turned against us all.”
    The corrupted one laughed. “I was always against you; you just never realized it until the very end, Cop. So tell me, what do you think you can gain from it? Did her lie really fool you?”
    The seed of doubt was quickly sown.
    “....It wasn't a lie.”
    “No? Are you sure? Don't you think it's a little odd that she comes back from who-knows-where, claiming that she can have kids now? How many species do you know that can suddenly have children at such a late age in their life?”
    Alpha was silent. It did seem a little odd, he would have admitted, had the person he was talking to wasn't a lying, manipulative b*****d himself. ...Still, the woman did have a history of lying. She was clever, manipulating, and when it came to interacting with him, there were few things she had stated clear interest in.
    “And even if she wasn't lying, do you really think that having children with her is such a smart idea? They'll have her genes. She'll make sure of it.”
    “That's enough.”
    “She's just using you, old friend. She just needs some poor, pathetic, lonely fool to help her out, and you're the biggest fool out there. I would know-- I personally picked you for that particular reason. Your naivety.”
    Alpha now glared at his conversation partner. “Get out. I don't know how you're here but I want you out.”
    “Huh. I never knew how much you actually wanted kids.”
    “There's a lot of things about me that you never really wanted to know. Now get out and leave me alone!”
    “She's not going to stick around for you to see them. You'll never even get to know what they'll look like. She'll leave you, once she's got what she wanted. That's what she's done to so many other guys. What makes you so different, hmm?”
    “I SAID GET OUT!”

    Alpha sat up in bed, sweat on his skin and his breathing rapid. He put his hands on his knees and rested his forehead against them. His blood was throbbing in his head, and he had to consciously think to slow down his heaving chest. On the bed beside him, he could hear the woman stir.
    “What's wrong, Alpha?”
    He shook his head, trying to clear away the image of his former friend laughing at him. That b*****d's stuck in a black hole and there's no way he could have known.
    “Nothing. It was just a nightmare.”
    “Oh stars.” He could hear her head fall back onto the pillows. “That's good,” she said with all the empathy that could be spared of one who had absolutely no cares for the world.
    Alpha lifted his head up and looked at her. “No, it's not.”
    She sighed, and pulled herself up to sit next to him. As she spoke, she brushed her blonde hair away from her face. “Okay, fine, it's not. Did you want to tell me about it?”
    “He was in my dreams.”
    “Okay... And? If it was just a nightmare, then it means nothing. You've both confirmed that he's in a black hole, correct?”
    Alpha nodded. “Yes, but, QB, you've got to understand something here. I haven't had a dream like that in a very long time. It was new. Somehow he found out about this.”
    She shook her head, more in skepticism than anything else. “Alpha, you and I both know that that's not possible. Maybe it's just your own guilt taking form through him in your dreams.”
    “He's still ******** with me, QB. I don't know how, but he is. There's no way in hell I would have had a dream like that. I can still hear him laughing, like he's right here in my head.”
    It was plain to her that he was already starting to freak out. His eyes had widened when he spoke, and his manner of speaking had gone from calm to paranoia. The sweat on his chest had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. As she continued to watch him speak, he began to shake. He was looking away from her, with his head between his hands now, palms pressed against his temples. His eyes saw far off, as if he was still seeing his dream. So QB did the first thing that came to her mind. She put both of her hands on his cheeks, and gently turned his head so that he could see her.
    “Alpha,” she said, her voice calm but in control. “Look at me.” She saw his eyes dart around, as if it was fighting the command. Eventually, she saw them settle on her, and the fearful look began to ease. His eyes stared down, but slowly they came up to rest on her own.
    “Do you see me? Do you see my lips move as I speak?” She felt him nod in her hands. “Good. Listen to me, Alpha. It was just a dream. He's not here. He's not ******** with you. He has no way to know what any of us are doing unless someone told him, and there's no one to tell him but us. Do you understand?”
    He nodded, and she could see that she had said the right things to calm him. She gave him a smile, and leaned in to kiss him. He repositioned himself so that he could face her more comfortably. His arms wrapped around her body, keeping her close once the kiss was broken. QB rested her forehead against his, the smile on her face genuine. Alpha, on the other hand, now felt the questions raised in the dream as if they were his own, and it was plain that now, instead of fear, Alpha felt apprehension and a tiny bit of guilt.
    “QB... You haven't lied to me since you returned, have you?”
    She lifted her head and leaned back a little so that she could examine his face. “No, Alpha, I haven't. I see no reason to need to. Why?”
    “So you didn't lie to me when you said that you could have children now? It wasn't just an excuse to have sex with me?”
    She's confused by the line of questioning. “No... I would have fed you a much better lie if I only wanted sex from you.” Her fingers caress the back of his neck. “Why are you asking me these things now?”
    “...Because of my dream. He said that you were lying about your ability to conceive and that you would leave with them if it was true.”
    The confused look on her face disappears, replaced by one of relief. She shakes her head at him, her fingers pausing briefly in their work. “You have nothing to fear from anything that dream told you. Ignore it. I know well enough that you would desire to raise any child that you create; given your abilities, I would be hard pressed to find a way to hide myself and it from you.”
    He smiled at her, comforted by her words. This time it's he who kisses her, his hands pulling her head towards him, fingers locking into her hair as she warmly receives his lips.
    “Thank you, QB,” he says as he lays down again.
    She begins to settle down next to him. “Is there anything else that you wish to ask?”
    He lifts the sheet so that it's over them once more. QB props herself up on her hands so that she can look him in the eyes should there be anymore questions.
    “Just one more thing.”
    “Hmm?”
    “Was I really that good?”
    Her smile is wide; she laughs, and leans down towards him. The conversation is paused; the sound of her lips on his is all that can be heard for a moment. When she parts, she rests her head on his chest, tucking one arm against his side and placing the other across his stomach. His arm wraps around her back, pulling up the sheet and then draping around her.
    “You were wonderful.”