Zach was in his office when Ben came in at 7am. He was in a very good mood. "Z, with everything going on yesterday I figured that what I had to tell you could wait until later, so do you have a few spare minutes?"
Zach looked at his friend. "I could use some good news, Ben."
Ben laid the photos in front of Zach. "Look at these two healthy babies."
Zach looked at them. "They look good."
"Claude had already named them—check it out," Ben remarked.
Zach looked at Ranger and Josephine. "Good strong names for Genmen."
Ben chuckled. "Zach, read the names out loud this time."
As he began to read them, he chuckled. "Baby B is misspelled."
Ben pointed to the top right corner. "Read this, Zach."
When he saw the word Female, his mouth fell wide open. This was a one in 2.5 million births—it only occurred when both parents carried a rare genetic code. Zach jumped up and hugged his old friend. "Congratulations, Ben, to you and Claude. You have been doubly blessed—first by me sending him back there, you two meeting each other, and now these babies."
"You know that if Tom had been home and Claude decided to be bred, Tom was to be his first," Zach replied. "He doesn't produce big children, so it's much easier for them to be delivered by first-timers."
Ben chuckled. "Yes, but even I wasn't the first in line—he had already been mounted before."
"How do you know this, and who was it?" Zach remarked.
"No hymen. He probably used a condom, hopefully. I have no idea who it was, but he wasn't much of a Genman in the dick department because Claude was still extremely tight and his reproductive ducts were not fully opened."
"Ben, in light of everything I'll be courteous, but I wish to speak to Claude just to see where his heart really is because I will not let him break your heart, my friend," Zach said.
Ben agreed and left for home. When he arrived, he told Claude that Zach wished to see him in his office about the babies—he was impressed. Claude got on the buggy and traveled to the main house.
Claude knocked on the office door. "Come in and close the door," Zach responded.
Claude had a seat. Zach congratulated him on the babies.
"Thanks so much," Claude responded.
Zach walked around his desk and took the chair beside Claude. "I need to talk to you about the babies and Ben."
This had Claude worried. "When babies are conceived, sometimes things can be perfect or can go very wrong," Zach started. "I have to ask you if you are positive that these children are Ben's and not someone else's offspring, because mistakes can happen."
Claude looked at Zach through hurt eyes and started to cry. "Why would you ask me such a question?"
"Because I know that Ben wasn't the first Genman to top you, and that gives me cause for worry. If you had unprotected sex for up to 10 days before you went into your cycle, his seed could still fertilize the eggs you released—either one or both of them."
Claude's mouth fell open. "They never taught that in Genman School."
"I know that it was an immature Genman that mounted you first because when I questioned Ben, he stated that your hymen was broken. Only the top knows if the so-called virgin bottom has been topped before, but he remarked he had to finish opening your reproductive organs when he topped you. One of the previous seeds left by the other Genman could have been implanted then. So was it Eric, or maybe Hyden? Is that why you were so aggressive to him when you transitioned?"
"Mr. Z, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that male Genmen had hymens—I thought only females had them. To ease your and Ben's minds, these are his children. Yes, I had sex before, but he wore two condoms and they were intact when he pulled out. We took no chance of me getting pregnant."
Zach smiled. "It was good that you had the good sense to use condoms. I don't want to tell you how many Genmen become pregnant by pre-shift sex. I've told them in that school they need to teach the dangers of pre-shift sex, but what do I know? Plus, you don't know how many so-called virgin bottoms show up here, sent by ranches that tried and failed to get them bred first."
"If we are finished, Mr. Z, I really need to get back home to Ben and the boys. Explain all of this to him to ease his mind."
Zach hugged him. "Go home and be with your family, Claude, and congratulations on the healthy babies of yours and Ben's."
For the next few days it was touch and go, but during the last scan, Lex gave the all clear. Then he slowly started to bring Eric to a semiconscious state—he was going to be out of it for a while until the drugs completely wore off. Lex asked the attending aid to stay with Eric until he was fully awake, then call him.
Ben knocked on Zach's office door.
"Come on in, my friend," Z said.
Ben had a seat and told Z thanks for all he had done for Claude and him, and everything he had done for him over the years that he had lived on the farm.
Zach looked up. "Do you remember the first time we met and where?"
"Yes, it was at that front door in there when you opened it," Ben answered. "Welcome young man, welcome to your new home where you will always be loved and wanted. The next year I really tried your last nerve, but you never walked away. I remember the night of the big storm—the thunder, lightning, rain and high winds—and we lost lights. As a young Genman getting ready to shift, I was scared out of my mind, but you held me tight in your big bed where I hid from the storm as my shift started. It was at that very special moment we let our feelings for each other take over our bodies and we made love and conceived Luther."
"Zach, can you imagine our life if times had been different and we could have stayed together—what it would have been?"