"Quinn and Culluch are talking about adopting a brilliant orphan." Jason said looking over at Ian talking to two of the grunts.
"They'll make great fathers." Dornan said with a smile. He hadn't spoken to Kali about kids but he definitely wanted a son to pass his skills onto.
"Hmm." Jason shrugged. "I know."
"You and Ian could do the same." Dornan said quietly. "You would both make great fathers too."
"I don't know if I'm cut out to be a father." Jason said quietly.
"Of course you are," Ian said coming to stand next to him. "You have no compunction about fathering anyone younger than you."
"It's true," Dornan said glaring at a grunt that had stopped to listen.
"For what it's worth, sir," she said ignoring Dornan. "You remind me a lot of my own father and I worshiped him." She walked away to go and help another soldier.
"See?" Ian said. "And we're not getting any younger either. We should consider it Jase."
"We'll talk about it after we get settled at the vault." Jason said.
"Don't think I'm going to let you forget this." Ian said.
"I won't forget." Jason pulled Ian into his arms and kissed him.
The grunts all stopped to smile, or whisper, or elbow a friend.
"Back to work!" Dornan barked at them. "Knock it off you two. I refuse to watch your public display of affection when Kali isn't here for me to do the same too."
Thankfully things were different than the old days, Dornan thought to himself. Before the bombs had fallen many people had seen homosexuality as some kind of sin. Now day's people took love where they could get it. Dornan had never had a relationship with a man but he had to wonder if he would have if Kali had been a man. He shrugged putting it out of his mind. It was time to focus on the move.
000
Jason stood in front of the group of soldiers and looked them over. The grunts, the techs, the officers, the senior officers, and the "new recruits" as he'd thought of the former slaves that had stayed on with them. They all stood quietly, waiting to hear what he had to say. He looked over at Ian, whose face was impassive but his eyes sparkled with merriment and love. Jason smiled at him and looked back at his people.
"Fate damn well kicked us in the ass didn't she?" There were a few chuckles and quite a few nods of agreement.
"I don't know what the future is going to bring us. Don't know what it holds in store. But I do know that this is a brave new world that we're facing. We will always be soldiers. We will always be Enclave. And now, on top of that, we will be a family. We're going to have to rely on each other to survive."
Jason squared his shoulders. "You weren't sent to Navarro just because your number came up. When I was given my command I handpicked each and every one of you to serve under me. I chose you because you all had traits that I considered beneficial."
He looked over at his senior officers. "Courage. Cunning. Loyalty."
He smiled at Kali and her eggheads. "Knowledge and Skills that would benefit all of us now and in the uncertain future."
He looked over at the grunts that were looking at him as if he were god. "Fresh faced enthusiasm that keeps some of us older cynics on our toes."
Jason took Ian's hand.
"Each of you has a great capacity for kindness. You were the ones that were open minded. The ones that cringed at the thought of slavery. The ones that stood bravely, facing our enemies head on. You are the men and women that I've been proud to serve with and lead. The ones I will be proud to have follow me into the future."
He motioned toward the cavern that held the vault entrance. "Not where we all we all expected to be in the future, I know. But this is where we will make our place. You all know what you need to do so let's get to it."
"Dismissed!" Dornan barked and they all headed into the vault.
