For six weeks, Galen endured the conditions of his house arrest. The best and the worst part of it was Allie.

She wished him a good morning every day as she unlocked his apartment door to release him from captivity, walked him to work or worked alongside him if a maintenance job required two of them, and shared every meal with him in silence. At night, she wished him a good night before she locked him in and escaped to her own apartment, or a hot date, or whatever she chose to do with her freedom in the evenings.

More than once, he'd considered following her. He was an engineer, after all, and the door controls were hardly more complex than anything else he'd built. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of seeing her happy with someone else. He understood that she hated him now, seeing as she could barely stand to look at him, but he wasn't sure he could handle seeing the woman he loved in another man's arms. It was hard enough knowing he'd lost her through his own stupidity.

But it wasn't until they were working together on a bunch of blocked drains at the strip club that he noticed she wasn't singing any more. Allie had always sung or hummed something while she worked.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked her.

"Of course not," she said. "I have yet to meet anyone who can keep their lunch down after they've unblocked three toilets in a brothel and the fourth one looks like...looks...ugh."

She did look distinctly green, he realised, but that went right along with doing a disgusting job. The dark circles under her eyes were new, though. He tried to remember if she'd looked like this yesterday. "Yesterday, you missed lunch. Today, you're throwing up. Plumbing aside, what's wrong?"

"Nothing that won't go away on its own," she said. "Look, can we just finish this job so we can go do something else that doesn't stink like someone died in here?'

Galen nodded and switched the pump back on, but he found his eyes straying to her more and more as the day progressed. She seemed listless and tired, like she'd never been before. When the day ended, he'd made up his mind.

"I'm sick of eating by myself at home every night. Want to go out for pizza?" he asked her.

The eyes she turned on him looked almost haunted, they were so hollow. "I'm not hungry, and it's been a really long day. I'll go with you to pick up a takeaway pizza if you want, but then I'm going home."

If that was the best she had to offer, he'd take it. She called for an aircar instead of a skimmer, so they wouldn't have to travel as closely together, he guessed, but when she sank onto the seat with a little sigh, he wondered if it was more about her exhaustion than anything to do with him at all.

Despite her protests, he ordered a pizza for her as well as the one for him, knowing the seafood one was her favourite. He carried the boxes back on his lap in the aircar, grinning as several of the other passengers cast covetous glances at their dinner. Just as long as it tempted Allie into staying with him for the evening.

They arrived back at his apartment and he palmed open the door. "You coming in to join me for dinner, or are you taking yours home with you?" he asked, hoping she'd choose him.

"I'm really not hungry," she began, then clapped a hand to her mouth and bolted for his bathroom. Galen heard the sound of retching from behind the closed door.

He propped the pizza boxes open on his kitchen counter and grabbed two plates. He waited a few minutes for Allie to emerge from the bathroom, but when she didn't, he decided to eat a slice before it got cold. He could always reheat hers when she was ready.

He was three bites into his second slice when Allie staggered into the living area. She clutched at the doorjamb to stay upright and her face was paler than he'd ever seen it.

"You're not going anywhere like that. Come and sit down." Galen pointed at the dining chair across from him.

She almost made it, then stumbled as she reached the table. Galen grabbed her as she reached for him, and for the first time in weeks, he finally had her in his arms. He breathed in her scent – fresh, intoxicating and salty, like the sea, as always – and he almost moaned. He'd missed her so much.

"Let go of me. I'm fine," she said, grasping the table and hauling herself to her feet. She made it to her chair this time, but not without effort.

"You're not fine. Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or should I call a doctor?"

"Nothing's wrong!" she exploded. "Not yet, anyway. I'm pregnant, all right? This is normal."

Galen wanted to cry. She had moved on, finding some other man to seduce...no, some other Titan, he realised. It had to be, if the guy could get her knocked up.

"Whose is it?" he asked.

"Mine, for the moment," she said.

"I mean, who's the father?" Galen paused to think. "It was that green merman, wasn't it? I saw the way he looked at you. Like he wanted to cover you in cream and eat you."

"You mean Sven?" Allie snorted. "He wishes. He's had a crush on me since before he learned to turn his tail. He used to sneak off from the crèche to watch Ceyx and I, I'm sure of it. He might be a Patriarch now, but I remember when he was too small to swim."

"Who, then?" Galen persisted. He wanted to start an interspecies war with whoever the Titan man was.

"The only man I've slept with this year is you, Galen, so I'll give you one guess," Allie said. Before he could respond, she added, "Not that it matters. I can't carry a child to term. Five miscarriages have taught me that. Ceyx said it was the combination of his genes and mine, but I knew better. It was me. There's a reason no one else has a tail the colour of mine. Inbred is what I am, because the Mer community aboard our ship was so small, genetic diversity was damn near impossible. So I'll have to endure a few weeks more of morning sickness before I miscarry this one, too, in a wave of blood and pain. The universe never meant me to be a mother. I should have learned my lesson by now." She inhaled deeply. "You know, I think I will have some of that pizza. It smells really good."

Galen stared as Allie picked up a slice and took a huge bite.

Not sick. Pregnant. With his child. It wasn't possible.

"But we're different species. We can't breed," he said.

"Stardust. That's what they want you to think. Ceyx discovered we could and he died to protect his secret." Allie finished her slice of pizza and reached for another. "It doesn't matter, anyway. She won't live long enough to surface."

"You mean be born?"

Allie shook her head. "Surface. Cross-race Mer children are always female, born to swim. Mer give birth in the water, and the first thing she'll learn is to surface, closing her gills to breathe through her lungs. Later, she'll learn to turn her tail so she can walk like us."

Galen couldn't help laughing at the image that popped into his head. "You mean our daughter will be a mermaid?"

"Galen, don't get attached. In a few weeks – "

Galen pressed a finger to her lips. "I'm not an expert in genetics, but you said your husband was. If you say his genes made you miscarry because you're too closely related, that doesn't mean mine will. In fact, a couple can't get more diverse than the two of us."

Allie didn't pull away this time, as his eyes held hers. "We're not a couple any more," she said. "You've made it abundantly clear that you hate me for what I did to your family."

"No, I haven't. You're the one who told me I was worse than my father because of what I nearly did to the city." Galen grasped her hands. "I don't care what you did in the past. I love you because of what you've done for me since I met you here. You've saved my life, stopped me from doing something incredibly stupid, and made every day I spend with you a pleasure. Even the ones where I don't get to sleep with you. I love you, Allie." He pressed a hand to her still-flat belly. "And I'm going to love her, too, when she's born. Even if she has a tail."

"But what if – "

"I'm going to take such good care of you, nothing will hurt this baby. I'll pay every credit I have to keep a doctor at your side round the clock until she's born." Galen swallowed. "If you'll let me. I mean, I'm under house arrest. I can't be with you every moment, even if I want to be."

For the first time in weeks, Allie actually smiled. "Actually, Ira never said it had to be your house you stayed in. You could come live with me. There's more than enough space for two at my place. Maybe even three, if she survives."

"She will," Galen swore. "I'll start building her a crib in the workshop tomorrow on my lunch break. What else will you need? Just tell me and I'll do it."

Allie blushed. "Actually, there's one thing that's different about this pregnancy. Something I never experienced before. When I'm not feeling ill, I crave sex like you wouldn't believe. Alone at night in my apartment, so many nights now, I imagined I was with you once more and...it's not the same, a poor shadow of the reality, but I want...you."

"I'm yours if you want me," Galen said. "Now and forever. Halcyon...Allie, I love you. Anything you want, you just have to ask."

"Stay with me, Galen. Sleep with me. Love me like...like I love you," she said.

"As my lady wishes," he replied. He hoisted her in his arms and carried her to his bed. As he set her on the mattress, Galen said, "You know, there's an old Human saying that would be perfect for us. Make love, not war."

Allie laughed and pulled off her shirt. "Yes, Galen. Make no more war. And love...it's such a strange phrase you Humans have. I never thought of love as something you can make. It's created, yes, but born out of so many things shared between two people. You make me feel love for you, and I want to...we would call it joining, where two people become one so completely it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. When you make love to me, there is only us, and a universe of stars."