Gee POV

The Royal Courtyard was the perfect place to welcome our mates, no, husbands, to their new home. I'm going to have a HUSBAND! Frankie will finally be by my side. He was already more then I had hoped for, so I couldn't wait to have him here in person. To touch him, hold him, make love to him. Of course it's just my luck that we have to stop a war when I fall in love. At least now I'll have Frankie by my side.

I watched the workers I had assigned to make sure at the landing went smoothly. Everyone worked like a well oiled machine. You could feel the excitement.

Since I had arrived so early, I had time to reflect on the past few weeks. More specifically, I had time to reflect on my brothers' behavior in the last few weeks. I was a little concerned that Andy was headed for burnout. He was so committed to the welfare of others, so selfless, but it some point he needs to know when to say no and when to rest. I understand the importance of the vaccine and the antidote that he wishes to fabricate, but if he makes himself too weak to continue there will be no one to take his place. Of course there are others in his department but none with his skill. Ze was loathe to admit it but he is by far the most gifted in his field at 18. Ze finished medical school in half the usual time, using the “extra” years to study chemistry, botany, pharmaceuticals and microbiology in depth. The only people who really knew just how degrees and knowledge ze has, besides family, were the doctors he did his residency with. It's only when ze has to show zir resume. Ze had always said zir was going to start taking degrees off zir resume if it didn't directly apply to the job at hand but I did't think ze was going anyways. Ze had found zir home. Everyone respected zir. Most didn't even mindworking under an 18 year old as soon as they got to know zir, zir skills and humility.

But I worried about Mikey the most. Ze was acting so strangely and I'd been too busy to ask zir about it. I felt so guilty about that. Ze was most likely keeping a secret . All the signs were there, he'd displayed all the same tells that he's had since he was a kid. Ze would't look anyone in the eye for more than a few seconds. He'd answers questions with a question. He'd start biting his bottom lip aggressively. Ze'd been even more quiet and stoic than usual. Something was up with him. I just didn't know what yet. It might just be nerves about our fiancees, I thought. After all, I was really the only one who had been able to get to know my intended. The others were still a mystery. About a month ago, I was freaking out although my concerns were mostly with regards to finding the right co ruler on my first day in a big job I felt completely under qualified for. I was hoping he would be here soon, so I could talk to him before the landing.

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Frankie POV

"This is it. After a couple of months in this hunka' junk..... aaahhh," Bob threw his arms wide open in an exaggerated way. He tilted his head back like he was looking at a sunny day instead the ceiling of the space ship that had carried us nearly 40 light years away. "It will be nice to be on the ground and breathe air."

"Yes! To see the sun again." Ray piped in, smiling as always. I honestly didn't know how the guy can be happy that much of the time. But I wasn't going to be the one to rain on his parade. Listening to those 2 play fight and squabble made me smile. "Hey, Frank. What do you want to see? Whadaya miss most from Earth?" Silence. It was meant as a light hearted 'get to know each other' question, I know that. But the truth was ugly and painful.

"Well, what I miss most from Earth, I'll never get to see again no matter where I go. I miss my family. My wife, twin daughters, baby son Miles, my parents and my unborn child. They all died in a car accident." The guys just stared at me with horrified looks on their faces as I tried very hard not to cry.. "I think you can guess what I want to see. Gee! I really think I can find love and happiness again which is all I've ever wanted." I wiped my eyes a little on my sleeve, but I held it together pretty well.

"Sorry about your family, man. That's tough. I hope you and Gee are very happy. You guys seem perfect for each other, at least you seem like it." Bob puts a hand on my shoulder for a few seconds, then left. Ray did the same shortly thereafter. They both left the main area for their individual bunks and I felt guilty for killing the jovial mood. Then I wished I'd just said something more like their stuff, but really, who cares about fresh air and sun? I mean I'm sure that Corlia will have similar things. There's bound to be light of some kind. It was already confirmed habitable for humans so that means there's definitely oxygen. I can handle a few months of being stir crazy. Until recently, I didn't even know what kind of a spouse I was flying toward, but I felt ready for anything. Just like college experimentation but on a greater scale. And sure, I hadn't expected the genderless things but I think things will be even better than expected. So far Gee seems like the greatest person I've ever met since... Well since, Jamia. I have to open my heart sometime or I'll just spend my entire life alone.

Earlier in the week, Gee had prepared us as best ze could for what we could expect after we exited the spaceship. Ze had me gather Ray and Bob, so that he could talk to us all. Then he told us exactly who's going to be there, what the landing site would look like, and approximately how long it would take until we would be in a place where we could relax and eat a real meal. At least we would have a little downtime. Ze had said ze was going to have as few people as possible at the landing site so that it wasn't overwhelming to us. I thought that we so sweet. When I told Gee that, in front of the guys, ze blushed and Bob made a gagging face behind one hand while pretending to stick his index finger from the other hand into him mouth. Real funny.

I glanced at the clock feeling like a kid on a long car ride on vacation. Are we there yet? How much longer until we're there? But I made sure that my face and demeanor was as calm as possible. I would have to be the ruler of an entire country, make that an entire planet. I couldn't be fidgeting and antsy just because I was excited and nervous. I closed my eyes breathing in through my nose, and opened them breathing out. I had been in therapy for quite a while after my family was killed. While in group, they taught me something called one - mindfulness where you focus on only one thing. They started with your breathing. It's different than meditation where you empty your mind. This definitely helped me when my thoughts were scattered, bouncing like a thousand balls in a closed-up room. I knew I could do this because I had been through worse. To me, there's nothing worse than losing the ones you loved. Glancing at the timepiece strapped to my wrist, I saw that we were due to land any moment. I walked over to the control dashboard. 5 miles to go. Any second now the landing gear should be... I felt the rough pitch of turbulence, like the landing of an airplane multiplied by a thousand. I turned around to see Ray and Bob already strapped in to their seats. Oops.

"You need to get your head out of the clouds Frank. Buckle up or you're never going to make it there alive." said Ray, but he was laughing good-naturedly. Everytime his head bobbed up and down his hair flopped up and down like wings of a bird flying. A very, fuzzy, thick winged bird.

"Yeah, yeah. I was actually focusing hard on my new roll as ruler, believe it or not." Partially true. I used everything I could reach to pull myself along until I reached my seat and buckled in.

“Not! Ha ha. I think it's more likely that you were focusing on the fact that very shortly you're going to be getting laid for the first time in a very long time to a very hot not girl/not guy. Think I'm right Bob?" Ray turned to Bob at this point, elbowing him in the side softly, and laughing just a bit too loud.

"I believe so, Ray. Let's just hope that Gee's sibling and cousin our half as hot as he/she is. I know Gee is going be your spouse and all, but daaaamn. No wonder you feel in love so quickly." They both start laughing again.

"I am not amused. You guys are jerks you know that? I don't like Gee because of the ways he looks. That's just a happy benefit. Most of the time we chat without video or left messages without video. It takes some of the pressure off. And just so you know, you say ze instead of he or she. Zir for him/her. I know it's kind of awkward to ask or to not know how to say things. Been there. You say Sai Gerard in public, but Gee is ok the rest of the time. Not sure about Mikey and Andy. I guess. But you're still jerks.”

"Oh, come on. You know we're just teasing you right? We know that you like him for his personality. We haven't got to really spend as much time with zir, is it? as you have, but from the little bit we've seen online ze seems like a great person. Pretty soon, you are going to be ruler of a whole world. We aren't going to be able to bust your balls anymore. This is our only chance. That's all we were doing. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

"Oh, well, in that case, sorry Ray. Now I feel like a jerk. But, I do have a lot of pressure on me right now you know." Guess I was being too sensitive.

"That's okay. We understand pressure makes people do strange things and everybody handles it differently." Bob had a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I guess for you, it just makes you act like a whiny little baby who can't take a joke. I just hope you don't turn into a little prima donna once you get into office because the pressure is only going to get greater from here on out. We are starting off into a war time situation. You know you have both of us. Not sure exactly what they have planned for us. You didn't expect to be genderless Queen, so who knows what they're going to want us to do. After all, the rulers sibling and cousin probably don't sit around all day and knit sweaters. They probably need all the help they can get with a war going on. We might end up genderless Princesses. Anyway buddy, we're always here for ok? Don't forget that. I don't know about Ray over here, but I'll always find a way to tease you, ruler or not. I'll just have to pick my moments." I rolled my eyes.

"Not sure if that should scare me or not. But thanks guys. Did anybody realize that we've landed already?" We couldn't have landed that long ago. So do the doors open on their own? I wonder to myself. My question was answered when I heard the sound similar to hydraulic brakes or air pressure being released. And then our ship doors opened for the first time in over 2 months. I had to squint my eyes almost shut because the sunlight pouring in felt so bright after so much low artificial light. Once my eyes adjusted I realized the ship has landed on a large square of what looked like concrete. The door finished opening to form a ramp. Just as I wondered if there was anything I needed to do to secure the ramp before exiting, uniformed employees appeared. There were 6 total, 3 on each side. They rushed to the bottom ship's ramp to make sure all was well. Then they gave the go ahead, greeting us with welcomes. I thanked them, called out to the guys and then started walking slowly down the ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, I realized that Ray and Bob had hung back. After telling them to come out already, I moved as fast as I could while still remaining dignified. About fifty yards ahead was the most beautiful courtyard I had ever seen. Between the courtyard and the ship, were 3 figures I was eager to get to. But even walking fast wasn't fast enough. When I saw the middle of the three coming closer to me with outstretched arms, I knew exactly what to do. Screw dignified! I took off running.

Notes

Sorry for the cliffhanger. I didn't plan this but I already took forever writing these chapters.

B