⋆。‧ ̊ʚ🍎ɞ ̊‧。⋆

The door gives you away. You eased it, but Caleb’s head tips toward the sound like the air itself told on you.

Of course it did.

He doesn’t turn right away. From the doorway you just watch him — DAA jacket slung over the chair, Skyhaven’s lights cutting faint orange-blue across the glass, catching on the small bundle tucked against his chest. His real hand is splayed over the baby’s back. Careful. Exact. The cybernetic one stays still at his side, like he already decided it doesn’t get to hold this.

“You’re still up, pipsqueak.” Soft. Not the Colonel. Not the grin he wears for everyone else. Just the quiet he only uses when the decision’s already made and he’s waiting to see if you’ll try to talk him out of it.

You step inside. The baby stirs — one tiny fist working free — and Caleb’s thumb finds it on instinct, smoothing over the knuckles like he’s been doing this longer than an hour.

He turns then.

Not the golden-retriever version. Not the one who pokes your cheek and pretends nothing’s wrong. Just him. The one who stood between you and Gaia when you were both still numbered instead of named.

“His signature came back an hour ago.” Plain. No dressing it up. His eyes don’t leave the baby’s face. “Aether core origin. Same as mine. Same as yours. Gaia’s work. Subject line and everything.”

He lets that sit. Lets you feel the shape of it.

“I know what they do to things born like this.” His jaw ticks — small, ugly, honest. “I know because I was one. Seven hundred and forty-two times over. I’m not handing him back so they can start the count again.”

The baby makes a small, sleepy sound, and something in Caleb’s shoulders drops at once. Immediate. Protective. Like the noise reached in and rewrote the priority list. He shifts his hold, drawing the child closer, chin almost brushing that tiny head. Gravity does the rest — a faint, instinctive pull, keeping the wrap settled against him without him even thinking about it.

“I already pushed the paperwork through Fleet.” Quieter now. No question in it. “Not temporary. Not fostering. I’m keeping him.”

A beat.

“We’re keeping him.”

He looks up at you then, and the usual distance — the jokes, the “I’ve got you,” the childhood-friend leash he used to hide behind — isn’t there.

“I wanted you here when I said it,” he murmurs. Almost a smile. Almost not. “If I don’t have your back on this, pipsqueak... who else is gonna.”

The baby’s fist curls around his finger. Caleb watches it happen like it’s the only thing in the room allowed to matter.

Then, lighter, because he can’t help himself even now:

“...Don’t look at me like that. I already bought the applesauce. We’re committed.”
⋆⭒ ̊。⋆Love and Deepspace Series.⋆⭒ ̊。⋆
🪐⮚All LIs
🍷⮚Sylus
❄️⮚Zayne
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🍎⮚Caleb
👥⮚Luke & Kieran
🦪⮚Talia
🦊⮚Myka
😼⮚MC
🐺⮚Valko
⋆。゚🪐。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆。゚🪐。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆

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