Termina Station was fairly large, but still limited in places where a man could go to be alone with his thoughts. Jove stood in the command center, observing the main view screen which peered out across the Antarctic ice.
There was no sign of the ice drones, but of course, that didn't mean that they weren't there. The room was silent save for the low hum of the equipment and the distant sound of wind whipping across the frozen landscape.
He felt the oppressive loneliness of the Antarctic pressing in on him more vividly than he had on arrival. It was a feeling that cut both ways, however. He was well aware that, from what Ryan's account of the destruction entailed, the remoteness of his family's current circumstances might have just saved all their lives.
It was still a little too early for him to expect anyone else to be asleep. He went to see his mother, remembering Eve's earlier words about the stress they were all under. He wasn't sure he'd seen his mom seem so tired and defeated outside of the days right after his father had died.
"Mom?" He paused outside the door to her office, but she was in the bedroom behind it, so he repeated the procedure. "Mom?"
"You can come in, Jove," said Kira. "Just laying down for a bit."
Jove entered his mother's room, taking in the space. It was about twice the size of the dormitory bunks he'd been assigned. Unlike the practical, impersonal nature of his own quarters, Kira's room had a lived-in quality that reflected both her personality and her time at the station.
A stack of paperback books sat on the nightstand, their spines creased and covers worn from frequent reading. Jove recognized a few titles from his childhood, young adult novels his mother had read to him before bed. A framed photograph of their family, taken before his father's death, rested beside the books.
Kira lay on the bed, her dark red hair fanned out across the pillow. She looked smaller somehow, more vulnerable than he was used to seeing her. She held Ryan's phone in one hand, now plugged in to a charger, and he could guess what she'd been doing before he'd come in.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping slightly under his weight. "Hey. How are you doing?"
"I'm good, Jove." She slid the phone out of view and sat up. "Are you all right?"
"I'm all right," he said.
He stayed where he was, letting the silence veer into uncomfortable territory. There had been a time when he and his mom had been close, or at least, closer than they were now. They'd spent so much time on opposite ends of the world that Jove wasn't really sure he knew her that well anymore.
"Do you want to know why I was looking forward to having all of you come down here?" asked Kira.
"It was Eve's idea, if I recall." He couldn't keep all of the bitterness out of his voice as he pointed the detail out.
"Yes, but one that I got behind once she suggested it," said his mother. "I wanted all of you to see what I was doing here in Antarctica, but also how I was doing it. How I'd recovered my balance after losing your father."
"That makes sense," said Jove. "For what it's worth, I think I got a glimpse of it, at least."
"I had friends in Ryan and Andromeda. We were a family unit, almost. I know it sounds strange, but we had our routines, and our in-jokes, a shared goal in our work. A widow, a twenty something, and an AI."
Jove forced himself to smile. He wanted to be happy for her, but picturing the scene stung in a way he hadn't expected and couldn't explain. He almost wished she had just been in an illicit romance with the goofy redheaded young man - not really, but it annoyed him to imagine her mothering Ryan and looking after him. All while her real son was barely scraping by.
"He died because of me," she said. "Because I sent him out to bring my family here and then to collect a snowmobile, a useless machine."
"That's not true," said Jove. "He made it to Port Sirius, remember? It was his choice to come back instead of holing up there for the duration."
"The wrong choice."
"The heroic choice," he said, the words slightly acidic. "He came back to warn us. Even if he didn't make it all the way here, he did end up warning us. He succeeded in what he set out to do."
"I suppose he did. Thank you, Jove."
She surprised him, leaning over so her weight rested against him. Jove put an arm around her and felt a surprising flood of emotion at just having her so close, after so much distance for so long. They'd barely hugged since he'd arrived at the station. But then again, his mom had never been huge on physical intimacy.
"This is nice," she whispered.
She lifted her hand and touched his chest uncertainly. Jove felt his body react, an odd trickle of excitement upward and downward from the point of contact. Such a small touch, but it made their embrace closer to how two lovers might cuddle together, rather than a mother and her son.
He wondered absently if his mother might be autistic. The thought made him laugh out of nowhere, and Kira lifted her head off his shoulder and frowned at him.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing." He shook his head, fairly certain that the idea had just been a random ridiculous notion. But still… possibly somewhere on the spectrum.
"No, tell me!" Kira slapped her hand down against his pectoral muscle in a soft blow. "You're smiling in a weird way."
"I am not smiling in a weird way," he said, with a laugh.
She grinned back at him and tried to sneak her hand in to tickle under his armpit. Jove caught her wrist and twisted and they both fell sideways onto her bed.
His mother laughed, and he played up the mock wrestling, though with nothing close to his full strength. One of her hands brushed his inner thigh as she fought for purchase, one of his briefly made contact with her butt.
He had another strange thought out of nowhere, a sudden urge to accidentally grab one of her large, full breasts. Too far over the line, even for his irreverent brain. He went limp and let his mom get ahold of both of his wrists.
She pinned him but also straddled him, which again made for another dynamic slightly past how a mother and son might play-wrestle. Kira stared at his face, breathing heavily, her smile taken on an odd uncertainty as though she sensed it too.
"There," she said. "Now tell me what you were thinking before."
He rolled his eyes and made to lean up, but she pressed on him, keeping him in place in a manner that wiggled her butt in a dangerous way across his crotch. He tried again, less to escape this time and more just to feel more of their bodies being in contact. His face went hot as he recognized what he was doing.
She's my mother, but she's still a beautiful woman, he thought. Not my fault.
"Fine." He felt a sudden time constraint as he realized he was getting a little too excited. "I was thinking that this feels like it was meant to happen."
"Nuclear war?" Kira loosened her grip on his wrists but tightened it again as he started to pull free.
"No. Us being here, together, right as the rest of the world starts going to hell."
"I'm not much of a believer in fate," she said. "But I like the sentiment. I love the sentiment."
"So do I, Mom."
She let out a contented sigh and pressed down on him, wrapping him in a full body hug. Jove hugged her back, enjoying the intimacy even as he felt a growing sense of horror at the stirring of his cock.
"I don't even remember the last time we really hugged," she whispered against his neck. She kissed his cheek and a soft, involuntary groan escaped Jove's lips.
"Well, we're really hugging right now." He kissed her cheek too. She'd let go of his wrists and he wrapped one of his arms around her, rubbing her back.
"It's like a dream to hold you like I used to hold you when you were little," she whispered, kissing his cheek again.
"All grown up now." He tried to breathe, wondering how she hadn't felt his erection, but also not really caring. Her scent was intoxicating.
"Too grown up." She kissed him again and again on the cheek, making exaggerated, motherly noises that shouldn't have sounded as hot as they did. "You became too big, too fast, in my opinion."
"Well, I'll go slower next time around," he muttered.
He squeezed her tight to him, groaning again as he felt the mash of her soft tits and body, far too vivid and compelling to be his mother.
"I'm going to keep you safe. I love you so much, Jovian."
"I love you too, Mom."
She kissed him once more, this one landing almost against the corner of his mouth. Jove blinked and then responded, giving her what he meant to be a quick peck on the lips, a half step further across the line.
Their mouths locked together, passion burning with unexpected intensity for a second or two of real kissing. Kira pulled back first and let out an odd laugh.
"I think the day we've been through has us primed for affection," she whispered.
"Sorry, I just… really wanted to kiss you, Mom."
He still had his hands on her hips. He kissed her neck, lips seemingly drawn to it by an invisible force. His mother stiffened and made an odd little noise.
"That's… not exactly a place you should be kissing," she said.
"Sorry." He felt a sudden rush of shame, but not quite enough to stop. "One more kiss?"
"Oh, Jove. You can have as many more kisses as you want. They just have to be…"
He kissed her on the lips again, and their bodies were suddenly moving as their mouths sucked at each other. His mother kissed him for another few seconds and then pulled back with that same weird little laugh.
"You should go get some rest," she said, firmly.
"I should," he agreed.
She rubbed a hand on his chest, only seeming to realize that she was the one on top after a moment of deliberation. Jove waited for her to roll sideways and then slowly stood up.
"I'm really glad we got a chance to talk and be close like this," said Kira. "I needed that."
"Yeah," he said. He felt more than a little confused at what she was saying and what it meant. "It's like you said. It's nice to be close. We haven't gotten many chances since I was a kid, basically."
"Well, no time like the present." Her eyes glanced down at his erection and she cleared her throat. "Make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight."
"I will."
"Also, would you mind checking on your aunt before going to bed?"
"Yeah." He paused at the door, folding his arms. "Have the two of you spoken much since we got back?"
Since the slap, he wanted to say.
"Not a word," said Kira. "Our relationship is… complicated."
His mother's eyes lingered on him in a way that made him feel strange.
"I think complicated relationships run in the family," he said.
"Apparently so."