Aberrant: The Long March - Proposal - 1988

[Courier]

Proposal - 1988

Steve looked at the mirror and brushed back some of his white hair. He reflected, "Time makes fools of us all". That had the ring of a saying but he off hand he couldn't place it. It was only mostly true, Joani and Ulric seemed fine, ditto Lorean. All the rest of them were having issues. Omar was visibly showing signs of taint. Cody was on a path whose end destination was madness. Andrew was fighting against becoming a monster. Max's future failings continued to be a serious problem in the here and now.

And now it might be Steve's turn. It wasn't taint, it wasn't depression, so what did that leave? What do you call a man who lusts after a woman less than one fifth his age? Middle age crisis? Better still, he was her boss, so was that Criminal sexual harassment? Steve looked at his 86 year old face in the mirror and winced. He was 52 years older than that face, and/or 63 years younger.

Steve decided he was wasting time, and he mentally added introspective dithering was an exercise the weak willed indulged in. For 138 years he'd considered himself above this sort of thing, but it appeared an alluring face and athletic body would bring even the strongest man down. No, that wasn't fair, not to either of them. Amber might be only twenty four years old, but he was as attracted to her mind as much as her body. Or at least he told himself that. And while he'd never gotten nervous at asking anyone out, up to and including Lorean, he'd never had a diamond ring in his pocket either.

Steve mentally fortified himself and stepped back into the office. Amber was sitting at her desk and as always, she took his breath away. She combined the best of Arabic features and could probably become a nova model.

Steve said, "Amber..."

Amber smiled impishly and said, "Yes Steve."

Steve said, "In these months..."

She interrupted, "I meant, 'Yes Steve, I will marry you.'"

It was rare Steve was surprised enough for it to show, but this was such an occasion. He blinked, paused, and tried to recover, continuing, "...before you say that for sure, there's something you need to know about me..."

Interrupting again, Amber stood and approaching him said, "You're a nova, and you only choose to look old to reassure people. You don't age?"

This time dumbstruck, Steve just nodded.

Amber nodded back and said, "Sorry for jumping to the last page but I've been seeing that speech of yours for days now. It was seriously overkill. Try paring it down to six words."

Steve said, "Ah... I love you, marry me?"

Amber said, "Those are it."

The two kissed and by the end Steve looked his 'real' youthful self.

Steve said, "What gave me away?"

Amber said, "Two weeks ago I had a vision of the two of us getting married, but on my wedding night the man in your suit looked like your grandson. After that it was just a matter of connecting the dots."

Steve grinned and said, "You're always going to be a step ahead of me aren't you? Hmm... so now what?"

Amber said, "Now I confess that I love you to, and task you with figuring out how to explain 'us' to my father."

Steve gulped.

Amber continued, "And speaking of being a few steps in front of you, I had the foresight to clear your calendar for the rest of the day, and I'd really like a tour of your private quarters."