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Rocky was crashing out. It had been over 15,552 seconds since he had last seen Grace and he told him he was going to take a nap! He was sleeping in a strange place and Rocky wasn't there to make sure he was safe. Yes, he had his mate with him and yes, Tom had said he would watch him, but Rocky knew it wasn't a human norm to watch each other while they slept. What if Tom got bored or distracted and left Grace alone? He didn't even know where he was. This new place was much larger than the Hail Mary and he couldn't hear the entire building all at once like he was used to.
Currently Rocky was in the temporary habitat that had been set up for him near the landing are where they had arrived on Earth. It was nice to have more space to stretch his limbs than the tunnels on the Hail Mary. He wasn't claustrophobic by any means, but four years in cramped quarters was not ideal. There was a guest area in his habitat that allowed him to talk to humans who came to visit. At Grace's request they were limiting the number of visitors at any given time and Rocky was grateful for the opportunity to get a more gradual introduction to the humans he would be around these days.
Right now there were only two visitors, both of them being the offspring of Grace's egg-mate Colt. The older offspring, Courtney, was an engineer like him and they had been having an excellent conversation about the technology on his ship and the new technology Earth had devised based on astrophage while Grace was away. The younger offspring, called Thomas, was a musician. He had apparently been studying the Eridian language and had a portable keyboard that let him make a decent approximation of his speech. It was strange to hear his language spoken again in such an alien place, but it was a nice strange.
If it hadn't been for the pleasant conversation, Rocky probably would have started complaining about being separated from Grace for so long a while ago. As it was, he was finding it increasingly difficult to focus on helping Thomas refine his keyboard tones or discussing astrophage powered engines with Courtney. Usually it wasn’t difficult for him to carry on multiple conversations at once, but currently he was distracted by having a conversation with himself about why Grace had been away so long.
"Rocky needs to find Grace. Grace has been sleeping too long without Rocky to watch."
Courtney rushed to reassure him, "Uncle Ryland is fine. The doctors gave him a thorough exam and he has Uncle Tommy with him. He won't let him out of his sight for a second."
"Rocky is not fine. Rocky need to see Grace." He said. He knew it was illogical and no one would let anything bad happen to his friend, especially right after he got home, but they hadn't been separated for more than minutes for years and this was too much. He needed to hear him, needed to hear his heart beating to reassure himself that everything was okay.
Thomas seemed to understand the emotional tone of his words and understood that he needed to see Grace. "They're bound to have some degree of separation anxiety after everything, Courtney. We should just take him to reassure himself that they're both okay."
Courtney nodded, "Okay, yeah, I'll go ask where his room is while you get in your ball and get ready to go."
**********
Half an hour later, Thomas, Courtney, and Rocky were outside the door to Ryland and Tom's room. Rocky was listening to try and hear what was going on in there. They had convinced him to leave them alone if Ryland was asleep because he really did need his rest after such an eventful day. Shortly after they arrived at the door, Rocky started to bounce around and demand that someone open the door for him. "He is hurt! Grace is hurt! Rocky need to fix!"
Rocky could hear Grace being held down on the bed, making pained noises that he had never heard from his friend before. It was terrifying. He had to get in there and stop this immediately.
Thomas opened the door, took one look at what was going on and immediately slammed it shut saying "Sorry, Rocky was confused!"
Rocky immediately stamped one of his feet in frustration. "Let me in there! I need to help him!"
"No, you don't," Thomas said sternly. "He is not being hurt, he's, um… how much do you know about human sexual behavior?"
Rocky hesitated, then listened a little more carefully to what was going on in the room beyond the door. Ohhh, right, human mating. He had seen this in movies; he knew that Grace had a mate, obviously. Oops. Hopefully Grace wouldn't be too mad at him for this intrusion.
**********
Ryland looked up at Tom in horror after the door shut. Then they both started laughing. "Hopefully the kids aren't too traumatized by that." Ryland said giggling into his husband's shoulder as he pulled him closer.
"You think they were raised by Colt and Jody and never walked in on something they didn't want to see?" Tom asked. "Besides, they're grown, they'll be fine."
"I don't know if I'll be fine, though," Ryland said mortified. "Kinda killed the mood, honestly."
Tom shook his head and grumbled, "I'm gonna kick that little alien's ball next time I see him."
"I wouldn't recommend it. He weighs almost 400 pounds," Ryland warned.
Tom picked up his phone and sighed. "We should probably get going anyway. They want you for a press conference before dinner."
**********
The only time Ryland enjoyed being the center of attention was in the classroom. Press conferences were not even remotely the same kind of experience. Thankfully Rocky was there too, so he wasn't the only one under scrutiny by the media representatives.
They started things off with Claire giving a short speech about the successful retrieval of Ryland and Rocky from the Hail Mary and about how they were already starting to see improvement in the Sun's brightness since the taumoeba had been sent to Venus. It was all around a cause for celebration.
The first question was for Rocky. "What are your first impressions of Earth?"
Rocky answered with enthusiasm, "Rocky has not seen much of Earth personally, but Grace has showed many videos and I have many things I want to hear."
"Dr. Grace, what was the most difficult part of your mission?" asked one reporter.
Ryland hesitated for a moment before answering, "Emotionally it was thinking I would be unable to return home. There were a lot of physical challenges, also. Thankfully I had Rocky for emotional support through most of it."
"This question is for both of you: How would you categorize your relationship?"
Rocky spoke up first, "Grace and Rocky are best friends, almost family."
"Do you agree with that assessment, Dr. Grace?"
"Absolutely," Ryland said. "Rocky is an incredible friend and I love him like a brother." he then muttered under his breath so only Rocky would be able to hear it, "A very annoying brother who needs to learn to respect a closed door!"
Rocky replied "Apology!" in a tone pitched low enough that the translator didn't pick it up, but Grace knew what it meant. He smiled at his friend and Rocky knew he was forgiven.