“I’m surprised you haven’t left yet,” Dr. Yoo said when the brunette walked into his office.

“I still need to go through the proper procedures,” Dr. Lee grumbled handing some papers to the old blonde. “I need your approval to retrieve little Jae, since he is your son.”

“What about from the other’s families?” Dr. Yoo asked as he looked over the documents.

“They don’t care,” he scoffed. Dr. Yoo looked up in a bit of shock. He shook his head signing the papers, “they probably think they are better off, but I can’t agree.”

Dr. Lee nodded, “it’s safer to have little Jae give birth here. When he is mated then he will be fine in the outside world.”

Dr. Yoo agreed, “As much confidence as I have in #12528, I don’t think he’ll be able to teach Young Jae about mate searching.”

“And #14391?” Dr. Lee questioned.

“He’s too stubborn,” Dr. Yoo complained. “He doesn’t think anything through, he won’t be able to take care of Young Jae the way a mate should. He was barely able to take care of his last one.”

“What brought you to that conclusion?” Dr. Lee was wholly confused. “Was there something I missed?”

“#14931’s mate was unsatisfied,” the old doctor explained. “She desired a new mate.”

“Wasn’t she pregnant though?” Dr. Lee interrupted. “Sorry please continue.”

“Yes she was,” Dr. Yoo continued, “but she wanted another, but the one she wanted was already mated. So she grew jealous, jealous enough to follow him here. She didn’t get pregnant ‘til much later, she hoped to get him jealous by getting pregnant but his mate was already heavy with child. Her jealousy grew so much she thought if his mate lost the child he would turn away from him.”

“That goes against Facility rules,” Dr. Lee pointed out. Dr. Yoo nodded, “yes and she knew that, so she tried to hide away into her home, confusing her mate, but he thought nothing about it.”

“Was she punished?” Dr. Lee asked.

“I had no other choice. She killed one baby, harmed a child, and gravely injured another citizen,” Dr. Yoo huffed. “Why do you think I had to search for a Replacement Mate for him?”

“What do you mean ‘harmed a child’?”

“Young Jae had caught her in the act.” Dr. Yoo’s face hardened. “She threw him hard against several objects. He managed to stay conscious long enough to seek out help, though he became distrustful of people, choosing to avoid any unnecessary contact.”

“And so you were willing to give him Young Jae?” Dr. Lee spoke with a mild distaste.

“I thought that he would be a good influence on him,” Dr. Yoo half lied.

“As smart as Young Jae is he was deprived of certain things from his mother,” Dr. Lee sighed. “I’m not saying it’s your fault but little Jae won’t be able to figure certain things out, he might shy away from what he needs to move forward to, or get too close to something dangerous.”

Dr. Yoo nodded. “Will your candidate allow Young Jae to keep the child he is carrying? Even though he feels his pregnancy was force he won’t let it go willingly, he wouldn’t want to be like his mother.”

“My candidate knows that little Jae is carrying and he has made it known that he didn’t want to harm the child; he’s actually very fond of children,” Dr. Lee smiled and for once Dr. Yoo was not disgusted by it. They had finally found some common ground.

“How soon will you be able to begin your search?”

“With this now signed,” Dr. Lee held up the documents, “I would hope for tomorrow, but people prefer to take their time in processing, so unfortunately we cannot leave until these are done… that will take close to a week or two far too much time.”

“But if you go before they are processed they’ll charge you with kidnapping, child endangerment, and so forth,” Dr. Yoo warned.

“Well I better turn these in and hope they make it an urgent matter,” Dr. Yoo sighed. “You think they would since the one we are trying to get back is pregnant; wouldn’t this also be classified as kidnapping against them?”

Young Jae shuddered as the cool water enveloped his heated body. He released a contented as he noticed was beginning to soften. It perpetually embarrassed him that his hormones would go askew at the oddest of times and he couldn’t afford it to happen at night. He had promised Dae Hyun that he wouldn’t ‘wonder off’, leaving Him Chan to worry, so now he’d have to suffer through the night until morning had come.

Him Chan had so much about it that he never questioned when the blonde decided to just leave the camp at odd times. Young Jae was tempted to ask Dae Hyun if he knew a way to keep his hormones from acting up but he wasn’t sure how to voice the question, but that temptation had come to a halt when the silver haired boy left with the others to get supplies. He pouted to himself, he had become close with Dae Hyun ever since they managed to get past their ‘differences’, as Jun Hong put it, and Young Jae didn’t realize how close they actually had become in such a short period. He actually missed him, it was a bit hard to sleep without his warmth so Young Jae had to settle with sleeping next to the maknaes since he and Him Chan took turns with lookout.

“Young Jae hyung,” Jong Up’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. Young Jae looked to see that Jong Up had swam next to him. Jong Up smiled brightly, “what are you doing out here?”

“Bathing,” Young Jae half-lied. Thankfully Jong Up didn’t question him any further.

“Let’s play for a little bit before Him Chan finishes with food,” he pulled Young Jae closer to him.

“Play what?” Young Jae asked, not knowing there were games that could be played in water.

“Hmm,” Jong Up contemplation. “How about one of us closes our eyes and searches for the other?”

“It sounds like we might get too lost in that game,” Young Jae giggled, “maybe we can play next time.”

“Okay,” Jong Up lite up. “Well lets finish washing and head back to camp before Him Chan hyung gets worried.”

Him Chan sat himself next to Young Jae after he was sure the maknaes had fallen asleep. The blonde looked at him, “why are you still up?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted softly, “I’m worried.”

Young Jae concurred, “me too, will they be alright?”

Him Chan shrugged, “we can only hope for the best.”

“Will the people at the village like us?” Young Jae looked like a lost and frighten child with his scared words.

“They’ll probably be a little distrustful,” the elder confessed, “but it’s you I’m more worried about.”

“I know I’m a little awkward, I’ll try to change,” he sniffled. Him Chan wrapped and arm around him, “it’s not that I’m worried about the people, you’ve already started to become more social with the help of the maknaes and Dae Hyun.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

“I’m worried that someone will try to take advantage of you.”

“Why would someone do that?”

“You are pregnant and you are without a mate,” he spoke blandly. Young Jae nodded asking him to continue. “Villages are small and not very many are fertile, even some of the females are barren, though some will travel in search of a mate, not many return to the village. And since you’re obviously fertile, you will become a target; most will try to mate you, old and young, and they will do it without your consent.”

Young Jae bit his lip nervously. Him Chan smiled weakly, “the worst part is they decide the fate of the child you are now carrying.”

Young Jae release a chocked sob, “that’s not fair. I don’t want to lose my baby.”

“I know, honey,” Him Chan hugged him. “That’s why I’m worried. Hopefully they won’t try anything since you have taken mine and Yong Guk’s scent, maybe we can-.”

“Scent?” Young Jae didn’t mean to interrupt but his curiosity got the better of him, “we smell? I just took a bath though.”

Him Chan nodded slightly laughing, “not exactly that kind of scent but yes. We have a scent that we can identify certain people with… didn’t your mother teach you this?”

“She left us when I was five,” the blonde looked down.

“Well that explains why I could feel nothing of her when we were at the Facility; explains several things actually,” Him Chan whispered the last part so the blonde couldn’t hear. Young Jae waited patiently for the elder to continue, causing him to smile. “Let me try to explain it this way; your father doesn’t really act like a parent to you does he?”

Young Jae shook his head.

“But you knew without a doubt he was your father, even with all the other Dominates around showing you a tad more affection than him, why was that?”

Young Jae was at a loss. “I don’t know. I just felt like he was.”

“It was a scent that caught you,” he further explained. “You both had a similar scent and so your mind matched him as your father.”

“You said ‘had’,” Young Jae pointed out.

Him Chan nodded, “you’ve replaced it with mine and Yong Guk's scent, though you will always carry your fathers scent, it can be over powered. It’s like you stored it away because you aren’t in need of it. You use ours because we have taken all of you in; if you check the maknaes they will smell like us.”

“What about Dae Hyun hyung?”

“The need for a parental scent diminishes once you’ve mated, but if a Carrier loses its Dominate they are able to use their parents scent to protect them until they’ve remated.”

“What happened to Dae Hyun’s mate?”

“She and the infant died during childbirth,” Him Chan spoke in a monotone.

Young Jae sighed, “Scents are confusing.”

Him Chan laughed, “yes it is, but it helps. Now like I was saying way before.”

The two laughed. “With Dae Hyunie being a bit protective he might become more protective in the village so that may work to our advantage.”

“How?”

“They might think that he’s already caught your interest,” Him Chan smiled, “so they may back down, but that’s not guaranteed, so with Dae Hyun being friends with us it could help with the illusion.”

“Why Dae Hyun?” Young Jae whined.

Him Chan laughed, “What’s wrong with my Dae Hyunie?”

“He’s weird,” the blonde complained, “he talks to his food. He acts all quiet and reserved but then out of nowhere he’s this ball of fluff.”

Him Chan had to cover his mouth or else he’d end up wake the maknaes. “That’s just how he is. You shouldn’t speak so lightly, you’re about the same. You are this little ray of cheeriness but you have very blunt remarks.”

“I’m sorry,” Young Jae looked down. Him Chan could only laugh, “It’s alright; beside when the two of you are together I get a ray of sunshine, even with your little quarrels clouding it up.”