[Fiction] Joyous Complications

[Timeslip]

The first hint had come after taking Ptesan-Wi across the temporal streams to meet herself. A touch of nausea had accompanied the first transit; the trip back to Prime had brought a wave of sickness with it that Timeslip had not felt in over a year.

Then, her perfect clock told her that it was time for a regular event... and that time passed without the expected event.

In the end, confirmation came from a cheap drugstore test, pilfered from a smalltown pharmacy in the middle of the night. The blue strip seemed to glare at her under the dim bathroom light.

From a secure connection, she tapped out a very brief, succinct message to her husband:

***Long, we have a complication. I'm pregnant.***

[Long]

Long read the words and was simply dumbstruck. With everything else going on around them, with Endeavor and he now acting on their desires, This comes out. He laughed long and hard. Loud enough that he woke the children.

"It's ok children, Timeslip has sent me some wonderful news. It is nothing that will trouble you." He said no more and sent them along back to bed and shot an email to Neil Preston.

Neil

My wife and I have a matter of utmost importance to discuss with you. If you could please come here to my home in Japan as soon as possible I'd be much in your debt. News like this begs to be shared.

Long

He hit the send button then composed a reply for Timeslip.

"My darling wife,

This is the best news I've had in a long time. I have spoken with Neil Preston and hopefully will recieve a preply from him. I think what's important is that we make sure the baby is alright, and I know we can trust Neil in this regard I am going to have him come here, then we will proceed to where we took the children back in March. If you would, meet us there.

Long

He clicks "Send" and gets dressed, ready to recieve his guests and then roceed on to his old training grounds. He could barely contain his excitement and his eyes radiated blue light even as he tried to calm himself. This was something he'd hoped for for quite some time.

[Neil Preston]

For another long second, Neil's mind was confronted with the absolute impossibilities of reality ... and he was loving it.

The message went over to the delete/over-write/annihalate function Machina had built into his system ... only because his father insisted and when your father is a century-spanning Precognative it pays to show more than cursory attention to his paranoid desires.

Long,

I can imagine the scope of your news and I hope that Nova, Winter, and I can hop by as soon as possible.

Neil

All of this was just tumbling together to well. Selena wanted him and Flicker to take Snow Blossom with them this weekend, so Neil's two Ladies could spend some time together. Now, this news with Flicker and TimeSlip and the promise of a new life. For a near-infertile race, Neil was coming across more than his fair share of the Greatest Blessing life bestows.

Neil pulled out his phone and made his first call,

"Flicker, honey - love ... I've got some plans for your vacation, if you're interested? Please pop by asap. This is something we need to talk about face to face."

Under his shirt, Neil rubbed his cross and locket. The cross was his confirmation gift and the locket was a twin of Nova and Winter, of course.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

(edit: nothing to see here, move along.)

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Friday morning:

Nova "Flicker" Madigan sprawled on the living room sofa, in the spot where Meghan usually lay. She'd been up since dawn, and had already showered and dressed in faded denim jeans and a camisole top. With one hand she thumbed the massive wall-mounted television through the channels while she sipped coffee from a plain mug.

Her mobile phone sounded with the custom chime that indicated the call was from Neil Preston, her fiance'. She muted the television and swapped the remote for her phone.

"Hiya Neil!" she said without preamble.

"Flicker, honey - love," Neil began, "I've got some plans for your vacation, if you're interested? Please pop by asap. This is something we need to talk about face to face."

Face to face? Nova thought, intrigued. The meaning of Neil's tone was unambiguous. He wanted to discuss something secret. Still, her sense of dread had not been triggered, so she knew it was not an emergency.

"Okay hon," she replied simply. "I'll be there in a few minutes. You're still at the clinic, right?"

"Done and done. Washing up as we speak,"

Nova nodded out of habit, a gesture which the phone did not transmit, and then pressed the END CALL button.

A few minutes later, Nova appeared in the corridor just outside Neil's cramped office at the clinic. She'd added sneakers and a comfortable hoodie to her outfit. She peeked around the corner into Neil's office, and saw that he was alone.

"Hi hon!" Nova said, framing herself in the open doorway.

[Neil Preston]

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Friday morning:

Neil couldn't help giving Nova a dead-sexy look. He was just in that frame of mind, but ...

"Can we pop up to Boston? Selena needs me to take care of Winter for a week, plus I got a little bit of business I need your consultation on, if your game?"

Neil packed up his gear and walke over to the door. He kissed her fully on the lips and rested one hand lightly on her right hip.

"Selena's at her place and has some gear packed up. We've got so much going on."

As Neil touches Nova's flesh, she can feel her neurons tingle.

"TimeSlip and Long are expecting. I just got the word. I want you to help me with the Pre-Natal exam and get to know the Mother-to-be better."

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

"How sudden," Nova said neutrally to camoflauge her thoughts. She glanced up and down the corridor. Nobody was within earshot due to the early hour.

"It's been a while since I saw her," Nova said, meaning Timeslip. "Where in Boston are we going?"

[Neil Preston]

Neil pulls up the memory of their first date together from Flicker's memories ... Selena's apartment.

"She's there waiting for me/us. Dad says she's mellowed a bit toward me/you and this was her idea."

Out loud,

"Yeah, its all been quite sudden and joyous. Ready to go?"

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

"Ready as I'll ever be," Nova replied. What she knew about Selena she could fit into a matchbox without first removing the matches, so she was prepared for the visit to be an awkward one. Nova took Neil's hand, and together they teleported to Selena's apartment. The last time they'd been there, she and Neil had ended up humping like bunnies for two and a half hours back at Nova's apartment in Cleveland. This time, she expected things would go differently.

"You do the talking," Nova said quietly to Neil.

[Timeslip]

Quote:

...I know we can trust Neil in this regard. I am going to have him come here, then we will proceed to where we took the children back in March. If you would, meet us there.

- Long

The mountains. I remember when Long and I brought the children here, back in the spring.

Autumn had worked its wonder on the rugged land. The slopes and vales were on fire, pale yellows mixed with vibrant reds and orange so bright that you could almost feel heat. Leaves swirled in the air on the breeze, a cool wind that brought the briefest kiss, the first cold caress of the coming season of death.

I'm already in a season of death. I've started a season of death, by my own hands. It won't stop with her; they'll never let it stop. We'll never let it stop. The visions that had haunted Timeslip every day since the end of her Chrysalis flooded her sight - the carnage, the death of her husband, the gleam of hunger on the monster's face as he turned to take her life. It was all there, fresh and crimson, the smell of burning flesh in her nostrils, the sickness and fear in her soul.

What right do I have in this season of death to create a new life?

Amid the rustle of dying leaves, the time when a family had felt joy here was as a thousand years ago.

[Neil Preston]

The Selena Ramirez that met them caused Neil to stammer and stare dumbfounded for a second (this once his best day). She was all motherly-smiles and warmth of personality. He held up a small pre-toddler girl with deep black-brown eyes and thick black hair already down to her tiny shoulders.

Her Mother, Selena, had the look of intelligent and deadly Latina-Lynx humanoid ... yet she strode over to Flicker without pause and warmly hugged the female to her like a loving sister.

Again, Neil was a half-second too slow to impose himself between the woman he knew all-to-well for her titanic rages and his love. Before he could make a true fool of himself, Selena turned kissed Neil quickly on his cheek and handed him Winter Blossom.

Selena turned back to Nova,

"I'm glad we could meet again under better circumstances. I've got Winter's travel bag packed and their special instructions inside, if something comes up. She's healthy and happy and been looking forward to this trip. If you get into some real trouble, I can warp to your location. I know ..."

"Nova," Winter slurred out, beaming a smile at Flicker.

" ... you are on vacation, so let me burn the quantum if needed, okay?"

Winter turned to Neil and said,

"Neil ... Nova and Neil," then looking back to Flicker, "Nova ... Flicka."

Winter Blossom seemed overly pleased with herself and bubbled with pleasure. Finally, to complete Nova's discomforture, the small child reached out to be held by Nova.

Selena smiled happily at the little exchange.

"I've been teaching her all about the two of you, and," Selena reached down to one of the small bags at her feet and pulled up a plushie doll that looked hauntingly familiar. Holding the doll up to Nova, Selena gave a sinister smile made much more so by her pronounced, needle-sharp canines, and squeezed the plushies left hand.

Suddenly the plushie became translucent (if not truly invisible) and then visible again. It kept this 'flickering' activity going for a minute.

"I had one of our department tinkerers transform a Ragnarockette doll with some Hino fiber. Winter adores it."

Selena gives a playful glance over to Neil while keeping the majority of her gaze on Flicker.

"I had a Neil plushie made too, but as usual, its kind of plain."

Selena appears to have somewhere else to be, so hurriedly packs up the two with Winter's 'Day' bag and 'Toy' bag. Looking over to Neil,

"So were to next? I'll drop you"

Neil barely hesitates.

"Do you know about Long's estate?"

Selena's brow furrows, but she nods,

"Slaughter reprobate; Ex-Killer-for-Hire and protege of Shen-Khan; Titan-Class threat, with that drug-addict wife. We had an Interpol flash and a Directive Update on them a while back. I know the coordinates. You three take care."

Despite Selena's apparently low opinion of Long, she opens a Warp without hesitation.

Only after the three step through and the warp closes does Neil turn to Nova.

"Aaahhh ... I haven't a clue what's got her so happy. I really think she was happy to see us."

"Happy," Winter burbles and tries to grasp Nova's flickering hair.

Having no real explaination for what Flicker has just endured, Neil leans in and kisses Nova strongly.

[Mithril]

Nova looked around at their new setting, awkwardly holding Winter in her arms with the heavy baby bags dangling from her wrists. The bags swung back and forth, banging her on the hips in rhythm. She'd been carried along by the rapid pace of surreal and unusual events in Selena's home and already found herself on the other side of the world before she'd had a chance to react.*

"So," she said, finally having the opportunity to get a word in edgewise, "So this is Long's estate, I take it, right?" Nova turned to Neil. "Have you been here before?"

(* Because someone posted a long and uninterrupted scene with several interesting plot points in it, involving Flicker. A chance to respond to some of this would have been courteous.)

[Long]

Long greets Neil and Flicker warmly as the appear in the garden of his estate. "My friends welcome. His eyes quickly notice the baby in Neil's arms. "So this must be Winter Blossom, your daughter I've heard so much about. She's beautiful Neil."

His smile shows all of his pointed teeth, but it isn't a threatening gesture. "Now, if you're ready I can complete our little journey." Ablue rimmed warpgate opens before them, and Long gestures. "She's already waiting for us, so if you would come with me."

Long allows them to pass through the portal and then follows, sealing it behind him as he exits. Thankfully they'd agreed to meet near the foot of the mountain instead of the summit, no doubt the pressure change would have caused the baby with them to cry.

Timeslip wasn't very far off, perhaps a dozen meters and Long covered the distance to her in a handful of long strides. His tail quickly coiled around her waist, albeit gently, and his arms wrapped around his young wife. "It's good to see you, so your message spoke of a certain "joyous complication.""

[Timeslip]

In a way that Long hadn't experienced since the previous autumn, his wife's arms wrapped around him and she held on as if afraid that he would disappear. For a long moment, the scene held, the only sound a quiet, echoing whisper: "I missed you."

The moment passed, and with obvious reluctance Timeslip pushed back from her husband. Emotional coldness formed a shield once more... but Long could tell that there were soft spots in her defenses that had not been there a month ago. "It's a complication, for certain. Aside from the obvious problem that I am not exactly welcome in most hospitals and that being gravid is eventually going to take a toll on my ability to stay on the run, there's the Rhesus factor. Like most Japanese, you're Rh-positive, and if the child has taken after you...." Shaking her head, the cosmic nova refused to finish the statement.

Instead, she looked past her husband at the one person who could allay - or confirm - her fears. Swallowing hard, she asked the brutal question: "Neil, am I going to lose another child?"

[Neil Preston]

*Flicker, I am so sorry. I thought I was supposed to move the plot along and stupid me never even considered you would find Neil's side-plot of any interest to you. Very inconsiderate of me and I apologize.*

"Neil, am I going to lose another child?"

Neil steps up and puts a hand on each of TimeSlip's shoulders,

"Not while I live and breath, TimeSlip."

Neil looks over his shoulder and adds,

"I want Flicker to assist us in this, if the two of you don't mind. I trust her with my life and with anything I would attempt."

Looking over to Long and then back to TimeSlip,

"I would like to work from within some kind of structure to keep the elements at bay. I don't need a hospital. I have Machina's Medi-Doc, I can aquire any meds I don't currently have, and then my QE's are geared toward nurturing, sustaining, and strengthening life."

As close as they are, TimeSlip can feel the lightning race through Neil's mind.

"I would like to check on his/her/their development and see what, if any, effect the LSD is having so far. Do you want to know numbers and sex right now?"

[Timeslip]

Timeslip was noticably taken aback. "Numbers? There's numbers?" An edge of panic tinged her voice.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

Timeslip hadn't greeted Nova, she noticed, and the conversation had already moved on to the business at hand. When Meghan Cutter had returned from her visit with Timeslip a few weeks earlier, she'd reported that Timeslip meant well, but lacked social skills.

She's no doubt distracted by events, Nova thought. If I were in her situation, I'm sure I wouldn't be the picture of social grace either.

Nova followed along as Neil practiced his craft.

"I'll be glad to observe and learn, and to give a hand where I can," she said agreeably, "but you have got to remember that I am on semester break, hon. I just crammed a semester of medical school into a month. This is supposed to be my vacation." Nova shifted her weight, settling Winter more comfortably in her arms, and trying to find a way to balance the two baby bags which she still carried.

[Timeslip]

Still visibly shaken by the mention of a possible multiple birth, Timeslip took a deep breath and refocused on the here and now.

Turning to the flickering woman beside Neil, she said, "I'm sorry; I'm more than a little bit out of sorts right now. Given our respective appearances, an introducting is a bit redundant, but I'm glad to meet you, Flicker." There was a limit to how much emotion could be transmitted by way of a voice that was both whispery and slightly out of synch with time, but even so, a combination of weariness and warmth touched the words.

[Long]

Long quickly picks up on Flicker's delimma and smiles. "Allow me to take those." His tail slides through the handles on the bags and takes them from Flicker without disturbing the baby. It's odd to see him holding the baby bags, yet there's a certain softness in the way he looks. His mind is ablaze with thoughts of Misato and Benkei, how he'd missed their births, and of course of Hideki.

His son's face plays across his mind, remembering those few short months. He never saw him as a baby, only as a young man who'd grown used to him not being there. He silently promised himself that this child would not know the same feeling. He would be there.

His gaze was soft as he looked to Timeslip and to those around he seemed totally serene, something totally uncharacteristic for him.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

Nova controlled the urge to giggle at the sight of the mighty Long clutching pastel-colored baby bags and half-bowed politely.

"It's good to see you again," she said, indicating both Long and Timeslip. "And Meghan sends her regards as well. She's still buzzing about her trip to-- well, to wherever it is you went. There's a lot she won't talk about, but I'm okay with that."

[Neil Preston]

Nova's giggle brings a smile to Neil's lips. He steps foward to TimeSlip and gently places a hand upon her belly. Her starfield seems to pulse around and absorb his hand. TimeSlip can feel Neil's quantum aura moving around and through her own and she feels a surge of pure quantum flow gently through her center. Neil pulls his hand back and smiles into TimeSlip's eyes.

"On the basis of my preliminary probe, I would say you have a healthy latent baby girl."

Deep inside, for the first time, Neil feels a knowing that he and Nova will most likely never recieve this joyous news, and it carries with it a palatable pain.

[Timeslip]

Timeslip gave a deep sigh and sagged with obvious relief. "That, Neil, is the best news I've received in a long, long time. I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Still, one issue was left unknown. "Were you able to tell... could you see if there's an Rh-mismatch?"

[Long]

Long visibly relaxes and remains silent. He moves behind timeslip and lays a hand on her shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. He looks down and nods, his eyes shining brightly indicating his joy over this particular develpment.

Right now all he can do is smile at his wife and friends as the implications of this continue to assault him. I'm going to have a daughter. this is cause for a great celebration.

"I told you there was always hope of a brighter tomorrow."

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

I'm in class eight hours a day and I study for another eight, and all Neil has to do is put his hand on someone and he knows their blood type and shoe size, Nova thought.

She held her polite smile, but had nothing in particular to add to the conversation at this point. It felt to her like the moment belonged to Timeslip and Long, so she kept her silence out of courtesy.

[Timeslip]

"I told you there was always hope of a brighter tomorrow."

Timeslip whirled to face her husband, her stance not at all the loving hug of a moment before.

"A brighter tomorrow? Are you out of your mind?" She continued to yell in the face of Long's shock at the sudden outburst. "I'm on the run from Project Utopia! They consider me Public Enemy Number One! Exactly what kind of 'brighter tomorrow' do you think we are going to be able to offer our daughter? Hell, for that matter, we don't even know if there's an Rh-mismatch yet; if there is, there's no guarantee that..." Timeslip paused for a moment; when she continued, her tone was much more quiet. "...that what happened last time won't happen again.

"So you feel free to go on about a brighter tomorrow. Maybe with luck, you and Sakurako can actually have one. But I'll have to deal with reality. You won't leave this world, and our child won't be safe on the run with me. I don't want to have to give her to Bounty - or Endeavor, for that matter; she's my daughter. So tell me where you think that leaves us."

[Long]

Long is taken aback by Timeslip's vehemence and it's hard for him not to shout back how here current plight is her own fault.

"Yes, there still going to me some major issues Timeslip, some really major issues. But I told you I'd stand with you through it all. You said you didn't wish to leave as well, that there was too much left to to do here."

His voice drops low and his features darken. "I would never ask you to give anyone else OUR child. You will be her mother and I will be her father. Nothing will change that. We will find a way to raise our child well." There's a hurt look in his eyes, Timeslip had pushed too far with that last one, how could she even think he'd be cruel enough to take her child from her? It was times like this he was glad the link wasn't active.

[Timeslip]

"Fine words that offer no real solutions, Long. Not your fault, of course - it's not like there is much in the way of solution to be offered. But if nothing else, we need to find out and acknowledge just how many hurdles we're facing.

"In that vein, I repeat my earlier question, Neil: were you able to determine if the child is Rh-negative, or Rh-positive?"

[Neil Preston]

Neil keeps his features strong, but calming.

"She's O+, TimeSlip. I can deal with this if you ..."

Neil realizes he doesn't need to finish that statement, and he can well guess the answer to his next unasked question.

"Can I have a moment to concentrate please," the young nova asks of those around him. Quantum courses through him, mixing and fluxing with TimeSlips and with the nascent aura of the unborn child. A peaceful contemplative expression takes over Neil's face for over a minute. Neil moves his hand and speaks,

"Done. I've altered only that one thing and made sure the rest of her genetic heritage has remained fully intact. We have a healthy, O- fetus ... no defects and a great future ahead of her within the One Race."

Neil smiles warmly and then hugs TimeSlip to him.

"You have friends who will help you every way we can. We are the One Race, and our future should be as brothers and sisters ... family. That's what really matters."

Neil steps back and moves to hug Flicker. There is a certain sadness about him, despite his joy for TimeSlip and Long.

"Flicker, love, this is something I hope you and I can work toward ... to help people bring life into the world, as well as heal wounds and give hope. I wish I could really express how much I love you, especially at a time like this."

[Timeslip]

"It's... fixed? Already? It's really fixed?" Before Neil could reply, Timeslip had him in a tight hug, tears flowing down her cosmic cheeks and the same two words repeating over and over in her whispery, echoing voice: "Thank you."

[Long]

Long wraps his massive arms around Neil and smles. "Should you ever have need of me for anything Neil, you have only to ask and I will do it." His tail coils around Timeslip's waist out of reflex, as tears roll down his own cheeks.

"I have something to ask of you though." He shares a look with Timeslip and she nods. "Would you agree to being our daughter's godfather?"

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

"Which is why I'm attending medical school," Nova replied to Neil with elaborate patience.

Is this the Neil I fell in love with? she wondered, Has he always been this oblivious?

Nova felt a distance between herself and Long, Timeslip, and her fiance' Neil, as if the three of them shared a common purpose that she did not. She didn't know why she'd even come, really. Seemingly alone, she maintained the neutral smile on her lips and continued to hold Neil's bastard child in her arms.

[Neil Preston]

"Godfather?! Wow, that's quite an honor ... and a responsibility. I've got to think about it, please?"

Realizing their time is so restricted, Neil say,

"I'm more than happy to help where and whenever I can, TimeSlip and Long, but our time is horrifically constricted today."

Reaching out to Flicker, looking at her then gazing back,

"We've only got a few hours together and we need to be going."

Neil thinks about the isolated Bahamian Island that's waiting for them with its bungalow, stocked mini-frige, and utter isolation this tiny patch of sand offers.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

Nova shifted her weight, startled at how quickly a child could become uncomfortably heavy, and found a better balance. In a similar vein, she'd been startled at how quickly the conversation in Long's home had become awkward and uncomfortable, and then suddenly balanced. However, she was not willing to bet that it would remain that way for long. Timeslip and Long clearly had a lot to talk about, as did she and Neil Preston.

"It's been lovely," Nova lied, "but I think it's safe to say that we're all pretty busy people, if that's okay?" She looked to Timeslip and then to Long, waiting for confirmation, as well as the return of Winter's heavy supply bags.

[Timeslip]

The look on Nova's face was hard to miss, and Timeslip set about helping her to extricate herself from this mess.

"I think you're right, Flicker. And I'm sorry that we dragged you out here to the middle of nowhere on your vacation. Neil, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done today. Know that if there is ever anything I can do for you - either of you - just say the word."

She stepped back and grasped Long's hand, looking up at him and shifting her head in a way that said "Give them back their bags" as loud as any words.

[Long]

Long turns to Neil an hands him back the bags without incident. "Thank you both for your time today. If ever there is something I can do for you, do not hesitate to ask."

He turns to Flicker and smiles. "Enjoy the rest of your vacation and continue to do well in your studies. You set a great example for many of the newer novas out there, Keep it up."

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

"I'm glad to see you both again," Flicker said, speaking in turn to both Long and Timeslip. "You've been good friends to me and to Neil and to Meghan, and I will never forget that, no matter the circumstances."

She turned to Neil and offered her hand and a smile.