Work Text:
Grace's eyes flit back and forth as he reads the letter in his hands, eyebrows hiking higher and higher, and eyes widening.
"Hey Simon..?", he hesitantly calls towards the living room where his husband sits in his favorite chair.
"Yeah babe." Simon rumbles back not looking up from his botany book.
"What do you think about cats?"
"Cats?" Simon blinks as he looks up from his book with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah."
Simon hums. "I mean, I've never actually met one. I only know about them from what you've told me and the videos you showed me."
"…right." Grace says. "Well," he starts cautiously, excitement starting to grow, "if you could meet one, would you want to?"
Simon purses his lips in thought. "I suppose if I could, I'd want to, unless they're, like, dangerous. But in the videos you showed me they were pretty cute and seemed harmless, though sometimes mischievous."
Grace grins. "Yeah, the ones I had as a kid for very much that. The relative chaos just added to the adorableness though."
Simon give Grace a soft smile. "Sounds like good memories." He shifts a bit in his chair to face Grace more properly. "So, seeing as you met cats before and sounds like you liked them, I can presume that if you got the chance again you'd want to meet another cat?"
"Yeah, about that..." Grace turns to the dining table where the most recent earth care package sits. It took them a few years to optimism the Earth-to-Eridini interstellar mailing situation but with some crazy smart Eridian scientists and their technology, they been able to shorten across space travel time to a miraculous six months.
"You know how in the last package from earth, the letter mentioned that they were working on improving longevity of cryopreserved embryos, eggs, and sperm, as well as expanding their library of species in case a potential world ending event happens again?"
Simon puts his book down, getting the sense this is going somewhere. "Yeah...?"
Grace looks down at the messily unwrapped box on the dining room table, packing materials strewn across the surface and fallen onto the floor.
He reaches into the packing peanuts and after shuffling around his hand connects with something solid and cold. He pulls it out to reveal a black box, frost just barely creeping from the seam where the top and bottom of the box meet.
"The bio and genetics teams worked together to send us a cryofrozen cat embryo." Grace takes a deep shaky breath, excitement and nerves swirling in his gut. "There's certainly no guarantee that it'll be viable, seeing as it's been outside of an actual cryo-freezer for six months, but... I'd like to give it to the Eridian microbiology and genealogy team and see if they maybe could produce something with it. Even if it's honestly very unlikely."
Simon stands from his chair and joins Grace at the table to examine the frozen box. He slides his hand up Grace's back and wraps his arm around his shoulders to give him a squeeze.
"Well, they sent us seeds and stuff that sprouted. Those survived the trip through space. Maybe this will too!"
Grace leans his head to rest on Simon's shoulder. "That would be nice...but I can't get my hopes up. Admittedly the chances are very slim. Even in perfect conditions, when genetic material is kept in professional cryofreezing laboratories, they can still fail. This one was shipped in something that kept it cold, sure, but I'm not sure it's still actually Cryo'd."
Simon kisses Grace on the top of his head. "Give it to the bio team and we'll see what happens."
Grace nods, reining in his giddiness. "No harm in exploring the possibility, I guess. Other than potentially being a little disappointed.
Grace wrapped his arm around Simon's waist to return the squeeze in gratitude. "I'll take this to the team now, and we'll see what happens. Who knows?", Grace shrugs, "a cats gestational period is approximately two months so, maybe, we'll have a little kitten running around in a bit. Don't get too hopeful though!"
Simon smiles at him from his place at the dining table as Grace backs towards the door.
"We'll just have to see."
Grace hurries to take the sample to the laboratory door connected to the bio-dome. With a press of the buzzer, one of the Eridian scientists- a light blue one he nicknamed Alveus, due to their fascination with wildlife- comes to meet him, chirping and singing in their joy to see him. As he explains the situation the scientist noticeably becomes more enthusiastic about the idea of studying another earth mammal, nearly vibrating in place. Grace has to speak over their eagerness and emphasize that it's very possible the embryo is already dead.
Alveus trills. "No worry Savior-Grace! We finish making artificial earth wombs recently, studied earth biology textbooks very thorough. Eridians advanced, we can fix. Have done with Eridian animals long time. Have experience."
Grace smiles down at them. "We appreciate your efforts. If anyone can work a miracle, it's you. But if it doesn't work, it's okay too."
Alveus waves a limb at him. "no no no, we will make work! Savior-Grace want cat, we give! Very exciting science too. Get to use new fancy technology!"
Grace chuckles at their insistence, though he doesn't doubt their words. "Alright, alright. I trust you Al, thanks. Let me know if I can do anything to help."
He crouches down to the exchange slot and places the cold box within the little cubby there. Alveus waits a moment for the atmospheric safety divider to rise on Grace's side before lowering their own and collecting the box. They immediately began scurrying away as fast as their spindly legs can, calling back behind them, "we give cat, Savior-Grace!"
2 months later
After dropping off the cat embryo and returning home, Grace kept himself busy and his expectations low. Though the Eridian team were all advanced and skilled scientists, arguably even more advanced than scientists back on Earth in some ways, there was only so much they could do if the embryo was already dead when they got it, and neither Grace nor Simon had heard anything about it since the day he dropped it off.
So, it was thoroughly surprising when, a little over two months later, Grace heard a knock on the door.
He put the dish he been washing into the drying rack and slung the dish towel over his shoulder. "Be right there!"
Shaking residual drops of water off his hands, he made his way to the front door and opened it to find Rocky, along with Alveus and Adrian behind him, all standing proudly at his doorstep in their xenonite suits.
"Oh! Everyone is here. Hi. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Alveus jumps forward, restlessly tapping their limbs on the ground as if they couldn't bear to stand still.
"Savior-Grace! We make a cat!"
Grace's heart jumps into his throat and he gapes at them in shock.
"Wait- holy- it, it actually worked?!" he stutters out.
"What actually worked?" Simon asks from the stairway where he's coming down from their bedroom.
"A cat! They actually managed to make a cat from the embryo!"
Simon's eyes go big and his lips stretch into a smile. "No shit?" He asks, hopping the rest of the stairs and quickly walking to the front door.
Rocky chitters a laugh at him. "None of shit. Eridian scientists very good, yes yes yes."
Adrian chimes in with a melodic voice. "Cat still very small, will need care. Brand-new, we only take out of artificial womb very recently when we saw vital sign change."
Grace feels his eyes start to burn with incoming tears. "Can..can we see?"
Adrian hums and moves forward to reveal a container strapped to their side. Simon and Grace lean over the container to see a bundle of blankets, and in the middle, snuggled in the cloth, is an absolutely tiny black and white kitten.
Grace stares. And stares and stares. He couldn't look away if he tried. He loves Eridani, but seeing something so reminiscent of Earth makes it feel like the distance between the planets isn't far at all, and he just moved away from home.
Simon is the first to speak. "It's so....tiny."
Alveus perks up. "Yes, just born today! Very vulnerable, will need lot of support. We study Earth books, formulate food. Is almost ready, will bring very soon today."
Grace's head snaps up as everything sinks in. "Wait, you're leaving them with us? They're so tiny, and- and I've never raised a bottle baby kitten before. I don't know what to do."
Rocky makes a noise like a huff. "Grace is doctor, supposed to be smart! Find Earth book on computer to learn!"
Simon looks in the container again, a peculiar expression on his face. "Can we, uh...hold it? Them?"
"Yes," Adrian replies, "Just lift lid and pick up gentle."
Simon follows their instruction, slowly lifting the kitten in bundle of blankets from the container up to his chest and cradling it. The kitten squirms, sensing it's been moved, and begins to emit tiny cries.
Grace, as if pulled by a magnet, practically glues himself to Simon's side and puts an arm under the bundle of blankets to join Simon's in cradling the kitten. He reaches forward with his other arm to touch it, but pulls back, afraid.
"God, its so so tiny..." He whispers, almost subconsciously. "I don't want to hurt it."
Adrian lifts a limb and nudges him. "Grace won't hurt cat. It is small, but is already strong. Gentle touch is okay, is even good. Help cat recognize you."
"Okay..." Grace reaches forward again, slowly, so slowly sliding a finger under the mewling kitten's head. He lets out a breathless laugh in sheer awe. "I can fit their entire head in just the crook of my finger!"
It turns towards his palm, nuzzling it as if searching for something to latch onto, and Grace feels the tears that had been welling up spill over and down his cheeks as something new and big and powerful blooms in his chest.
Rocky cheers, lifting his front limbs in the air. "Simon Grace animal parents!"
Simon laughs. "Yeah, I guess we are. Cat dads."
-
While Adrian and Alveus go back to the laboratory to ensure the kitten formula creation is going well, while Rocky stays behind. Rocky says it's to support them in their newfound cat parentship. Grace thinks it's to tease him for being leaky.
The remaining trio make their way to the living room to settle in just as a laboratory assistant runs up to the front door with the formulated kitten food, becoming flustered when Grace thanks them profusely for their work before they skitter away.
Grace takes Rocky's advice and searches the archive on the computer for advice on taking care of newly born kittens. He and Simon rest on the couch, Grace with the computer researching while leaning against Simon cradling the kitten in its burrito of blankets. Rocky sits on the floor telling them about how the Eridian scientists implanted the embryo into the artificial womb and developed the fetus, and how much they learned from the process. Apparently Adrian lead the effort along with Alveus and both were being awarded some fancy Eridian certificates for advancements in zoology, genetics, and biology.
"Okay, here's a guide…," Grace leans closer to the computer. "It says when they're one to two weeks old, they need to be fed milk or formula about every two hours." He groans. "Well, there goes our sleep schedule for a bit."
Simon chuckles, letting his head fall back to rest against the couch headrest. "Ry, We've been through so much worse. Getting up every few hours, in our own house to feed our baby kitten, is fine." He looks softly down at the bundled kitten, now resting on his lap so he can use his arm to carefully pet them with a single finger. "In fact, I think it'll be perfect."
"Yes yes, and good practice!," Rocky chirps from where he sits on the carpet, limbs folded around him not unlike a cat would.
"Huh?" Grace looks at him, confused. "For what?"
Rocky wiggles, something akin to his happy dance. "Grace Simon taking small cat very serious. Rocky wonder if they be even more serious when have small human!"
Both Simon and Grace's mouths fall open in shock, completely dumbfounded.
"Um! Where is this coming from?," Grace squeaks out, face heating up and beginning to turn blush red.
Simon makes a choked sound from beside him.
"Adrian and team do big science!" Rocky answers joyously, seemingly oblivious to the humans stupefied reactions. "Develop technology to blend human DNA to create new human. Use modification of gametes and artificial womb! Grace say human have different body types, and Simon Grace same body type. Can't make small human by yourselves. But Eridian scientists smart! We fix! Help Simon Grace make small human!"
Grace's face is so red he's surprised it isn't steaming, or lighting on fire. He wheezes, feeling lightheaded. "Oh! Ha! That's-!"
Rocky continues. "Technology not finished yet, but soon. Then-"
Grace shoots up from the couch abruptly, stumbling in his haste. "Ah- I'm getting the kitten formula from the kitchen be right back thanks bye!," he blurts in a high pitch strangled voice before dashing for the kitchen.
Rocky jumps up to follow him. "Why Grace heartbeat so fast? Also excited?" He runs after Grace, leaving Simon alone on the couch in a pale faced daze.
7 weeks later
Grace turns off the stairway light before he enters his and Simon's bedroom. Simon already sits in bed, leaning back against the headboard with the covers pulled up to his waist, book in hand.
Or, it appeared to previously be in his hand, before their new fuzzy little family member decided to lay face down on it.
Grace chuckles softly as he makes his way to the bed and pulls back the covers. "Looks like someone demanded your attention."
Simon sighs, smiling. "Yep. She didn't think laying on my lap was enough. She had to lay on my book too."
Grace shuffles, getting comfortable before he reaches over to pet the sleeping kitten. "Maybe she's trying to learn via osmosis." She makes a mrrp sound when he touches her, before stretching out and pushing her head into his hand more firmly. He grins, scratching under her chin as she starts purring loudly.
Simon snorts, but is smiling too. "Sure, because that's how that works. I'd take it though, if she was more help in the garden instead of just pouncing on my trellis twine. The snap peas are growing like weeds, I've gotta string them up so they grow right."
Grace hums in acknowledgment but doesn't respond for a long moment. When he does, it's quietly, almost nervous.
"If Adrian's team actually does successfully develop the technology…..would you want to use it?"
"Huh?"
Grace clears his throat. "To, uh. Have a child. Together."
Simon blinks before his eyes widen. "Oh."
At his response, Grace stammers, resolutely staring down at his hands. "Um, I mean, you don't have to answer now, I know that's a big ask and we've only been married for, like, half a year, and-"
"Yes."
Grace stops, open mouthed. "Uh?"
Simon is gazing at him, glistening eyes crinkled at the corners paired with a smile so loving a weaker man would have turned to mush under it. "Yes, I want to have a child with you. I want us to be fathers together."
Grace meets his gaze, open mouth turning up into a smile, then a grin. "Yeah?"
Simon reaches out his arm and wraps it around Grace's waist, pulling him close and pressing a long kiss to his brow before turning Grace's face over towards his to capture his lips.
Grace hums into it, tilting his head to get a better angle as he enjoys the feeling of Simon's plush lips moving against his own before Simon pulls back, breaking the connection with a faint pop. He rests their foreheads together.
"Absolutely."
Grace grins so wide his cheeks hurt, delight filling his chest. "Okay, great. Excellent. Fantastic."
"Mhm." Simon, hand still under Grace's chin, rubs his thumb over Grace's cheekbone. "So..next steps?"
"Um, well.." Grace blinks, mental cogs starting to turn. "I think… we tell the Eridian science and genetics team. So we can work with them on the development of the technology. And, uh, we should probably discuss parenting style so we're on the same page. And! I'll find some parenting resources in the archive on the computer! So we can prepare."
Grace reaches over to his bedside stand and fishes a notepad out of the drawer to start writing down their list, eyes bright. Simon happily sighs, looking down at the kitten still laying on his book, now sprawled out on her back like a starfish. He reaches down to rub one of her paws between his fingers.
"Well, North Star…It seems we're gonna get a bigger family."
