Baby
Wynnona
Keya cries out in pain, gripping Brett and I's hands harder. I'm almost 100% certain she's broken something in Brett's poor hand. Jake sits between Keya's legs, instructing her as nurses work around us.
"Keya, I need you to push again." Jake instructs. Keya does as told, crying out again. After several more minutes Jake tells Keya to stop, he walks off with something in his arms. Brett kisses his wife's sweaty face, comforting her. Jake comes back with a strangely silent baby in his arms, wrapped in a blue fleece blanket Athena made the baby. "She's perfectly healthy." Jake tells the new proud parents as he gently places the baby in Keya's arms. The bundle jostles awake, opening her big eyes to look at us. Brett smiles, reaching out to tenderly hold his daughters' little hand.
"Hello sweetheart." He breaths, tears filling his eyes. Keya is also crying. I make my way around the bed, going to stand beside Brett.
"Hello baby girl, welcome to the universe." I say softly, smiling warmly at the baby. She smiles wide upon seeing me, letting out a gurgle that sort of sounds like a giggle. She looks like a perfect mix of Brett and Keya. Her skin is a deep tan colour. Her head is bald. Her eyes are the thing that catches my attention most. They are a deep violet with a ring of gold around her pupils.
"I'm a dad." Brett says so softly I am the only one who catches it. Keya is too busy cooing at her baby.
"You are." I confirm for him. I hug him tightly to my body. "Make sure the three of you sleep tonight." I scold him teasingly. I leave the room then. Athena, Roe, and Giovanni sit in the waiting room. Roe is cuddled in Athena's lap, fast asleep. Athena's head is resting on Giovanni's shoulder as she also sleeps soundly. His arm is protectively wrapped around her. I smile softly at the scene before me. Giovanni looks up, smiling back at me.
"How'd it go?" He asks me very softly, exhaustion evident on his face.
"They are now proud parents of a daughter." He nods, assisting me in untangling my son and the love of my life from him. "Help me take them to the ship?" I ask. I lift Athena into my arms after he takes Roe into his. We walk silently to my ship from the rebel base infirmary. He takes Roe to his room, tucking him in as I take Athena back to our bed.
"I'm going to go check on the two and get Jake, get some sleep Captain." Giovanni tells me as he hugs me, lazily kissing my forehead. I change and crawl into bed with Athena, cuddling her close as I let the exhaustion from the day take over.
«----------»
"Can you say 'Wyatt?'" I ask baby Keith who sits in my lap. Well, she sits on my crotch as I have my legs on the control panel, ankles crossed, with an epic slouch going on in my chair.
"Mama." Keith says stubbornly, excited as she thinks she got it right.
"Wyatt." I articulate and say very slowly trying to get her to say my name.
"Dada?" She asks, tilting her head to the side like a puppy. I laugh a couple times as her whole body starts to fall over. I tilt her back the other way using my hips masterfully. "Thina!" She squeals in excitement. I look up to see Athena coming into the room, making a silly face at baby Keith as she reaches for the girl.
"Have you been hiding with Auntie Wynnona?" She asks Keith, nuzzling her nose against Keith's after she lists the one year old off my lap.
"Yes, for some reason Auntie Wynnona was placed in charge of the child." I tease, staring at the empty space in my lap. A moment later the spot is filled with Star. He pokes my hand with his nose so that I'll pet him. I give him some well-deserved attention.
"Do you want to come hang out with Auntie Athena?" She asks Keith again, ignoring me entirely.
"Thina!" Keith cheers happily, clinging to her favourite auntie. Athena leaves the room with Keith, smiling at me when she leaves.
"Star, I'm jealous of a one year old." I sigh to the fox as I slouch further into my seat. He yips at me as I glare at space as we just float in the middle of nowhere. I sigh, standing up to go into the kitchen. Star takes up residence on my shoulders, slowly drifting off into a fox nap. Giovanni and Jake sit at the table playing a card game. Keya is cooking. I go to stand behind her, placing my head on her shoulder.
"Keith wear you out?" She asks me with a smile I can hear in her voice.
"Your devil offspring is stealing my girlfriend." I grumble. She laughs along with Giovanni.
"Keith is stealing Jake too." Giovanni smiles at me. I notice the light dusting of stubble across his cheeks and jaw. Jake kicks him under the table, about to win the game. Star choses that moment to wake up and jump into the middle of their game, scattering the cards. I laugh, smiling and giving him my hand. He places his paw in it, giving me a high five. A little while later, Keya calls everyone for food, taking Keith to go feed her and put her down for a nap.
Everyone eats, talking about different things. Brett comes out of his room, yawning as he joins us. Keith keeps him up all night some night crying and screaming bloody murder. It is known to keep the whole ship awake some days. Athena comes in, resting her chest on my shoulders as she hugs me from behind, her standing and me sitting.
"Bonne soirée mon amour." She speaks softly, kissing my cheek.
"Hi." I answer simply, smiling at her as I shovel another spoonful of food into my face. Giovanni laughs as Keya comes back with a cooing Keith, asking for Uncle Jake.
"Hello baby girl." He coos at her as he takes her in his arms, all attention he was once giving to Giovanni going to the baby. Giovanni lets out a humph, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat, glaring at Keith. She smiles at him, giggling at Jake. I smile warmly as I study them, imaging how good Giovanni and Jake would be as fathers. Their child would be so loved. I turn my head, kissing Athena's chin before standing up.
"I'm headed off to bed, wake me when Roe comes back to the ship." I wave goodnight to everyone, heading off to go to bed. I strip off my jacket once I get into the room when something starts to feel off. I notice the photo on my nightstand has been moved. It may have only moved a hair, but I notice the slight shift. I feel movement behind me, swiftly turning to see nothing but darkness.
"I never would have thought," that voice, I recognize it, "my own blood fraternizing with the enemy." The voice growls. I whip around, coming face to face with someone I thought I'd never meet. I let a small warning flame fall from the tip of my finger, sending it to warm Giovanni. "That was a mistake my dear." He sighs, overpowering me easily and plunging a needle into my neck. I keep eye contact with him, bringing one of my hidden knives, stabbing it up into his abdomen through the thick, hard layer of muscles there. Then I fall to the ground, darkness consuming my vision and mind.
Athena
We all watch Wynnona head off to bed.
"Auntie Wyatt is right, it's bedtime munchkin." Brett says, tickling his daughters' stomach, lifting her up into his arms while tossing her in the air slightly so she lets out a shrill giggle. I smile but freeze when the feeling of the room shifts around me. Everyone else notices as Keya grabs a hidden sword, drawing it and stepping in front of her husband who holds their daughter close. Giovanni draws a gun, stepping in front of Jake who grabs the other gun on his hip. I turn to meet the eyes of someone I've learned is called Gunther.
"How did you get in here?" Growls Brett at whoever is in front of them. The man looks to be younger than Brett, same shaggy brown hair. The boy's eyes are a piercing gold, however. Some of their features are different, but terribly similar. He also has a lip piercing that Brett is missing. The boy looks as if this is the last place he wants to be, like he would rather not do this. Remorse flashes in his eyes when he looks over at me.
"Rather easily actually." Comes a woman's voice. I look over to see a beautiful woman standing in front of Jake and Giovanni, her nails pointy and astoundingly long.
"Allison, listen to me," Brett is talking to the boy before him, "what we did was wrong, we should not have done this to ourselves because we fell for someone in the past." He tells the boy, clutching Keith closer to him.
"So, you get your happiness and I'm supposed to be the one to make the morally right choice?" Growls the boy, Allison.
"I don't have time for your brotherly rivalry." Gunther tells the boy sharply. He steps forward and takes my chin into his hand, forcing me to keep looking at him. "We have a job to do." He signals the others. I see a small blue flame dance across the floor to Giovanni. Wynnona. I go to fight against Gunther when there is a sharp stab to my neck and I fall to the ground, faintly hearing the hanger door open and closing.
"Roe," I whisper softly, "run."
Wynnona
I wake on a cloud soft bed, to the feeling of floating. When I open my eyes, I am in the room of a little girl. I stand up from the soft bed, catching a glimpse of myself in the full body mirror by the door. I am in a flowing princess like dress, or I look like Elsa from Frozen two. The dress is solderless, a straight line of lace going from one arm, across my chest, to the other arm. The long sleeves are floral lace, the top of my top is the same lace that fades into silk white. The top clings to my chest and waist perfectly, showing off my curves and breasts. Things I actively try to hide. What looks to be a diamond belt is wrapped around my stomach just above my hips.
The silk poofs out slightly at my hips, tool on top of the silk making my bottom half look much bigger than my top half. The bottom of the dress is embroidered with beautiful flowers. I also take note that my feet are bare. My eyes fall on my face, amazed by what I see.
My skin seems to glow, my lips fuller than I last remember them being with a rosy glow to them. There is no make up adorning my face. My long, shaggy hair that has since grown out has been nicely, properly cut. At some point it was halfway down my shoulders and at the top of my shoulders, completely uneven. It's what I get by cutting my hair with a knife. Now it is shoulder length all round, perfectly cut with the strange natural wave my thick hair took on as it grew out. My side swept bangs that are almost as long as the rest of my hair have been curled back as to not cover my purple eye. I looked, dare I say, beautiful. Maybe even desirable.
Off in a corner I found my clothes. I pulled on my jeans under the dress, also pulling on my socks and boots that were well hidden under the dress. I stuff my sports bra and tank top in my back pockets then slip my necklace around my neck. I exit the room then, following my gut through the place. At one point I enter what looks to be a throne room. A large group of people are gathered there. Mostly men, dressed nicely under layers of regal armour. Sitting on a throne atop a pedestal on the far end of the room is the leader, watching over something happening in the middle.
I start to push my way through the people, recognizing different symbols on their armour as generals and princes of different planets as well as Needledrop. They completely clear a path for me into the middle where two men are fighting. The one on the left has the same hair as me, but his is an unruly curl, frizzing out from the tight bounds of his ponytail. His skin is a deep chocolate as he strikes at his enemy. The other boy is young, the crown prince of the sea planet, the name of which I can't remember. The red-haired man pushes him to the floor, the prince's sword kicked away to my feet.
"Is no one going to help him?" I ask the men around me. They startle, studying me incredulously I roll my eyes, bending down to grab the sword. "I'll do it myself then." I give them a dainty wave as I've seen Athena do many times before stepping into the ring. This, this feels right at home.
I step between the boy and redhead, swinging the sword in my hand to knock the red head's sword away. I then place the tip of the blade against his throat. He glares at me, eyes suspiciously akin to mine.
"I see you've woken up." The leader on the throne says. I take my eyes from the red head for only a moment. He swings his sword, turning my body in a circle as he swings. I block the swing, kicking my foot into his stomach to knock him back.
"What is this?" I growl, keeping my eyes on the red head as I motion to my body then all around me.
"They are competing for your hand." The leader tells me.
"And an empress should look the part." Comes a sultry voice from beside the leader. I don't look up, keeping my eyes trained to my strange look alike.
"Take a picture of me darling, it will last you longer." I resist the urge to vomit, rolling my eyes instead. In that moment he knocks the sword from my hand, wrapping his free arm around my waist to pull me flush against his chest. "Or you can send these sad boys' home, we know I'm going to win you."
"Too bad I'm not a prize to win." I trail my fingers down his jawline. "And even if I was, this prize has been won already." I smash my foot into his, plowing my forehead into his nose.
"Damnit." He growls as he clutches his now bleeding nose.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I bruise your fragile ego that doesn't fit in the room?" I growl sweetly. He glares at me, going to charge forward. But the leader raises his hand, stopping him. With a flick of his wrist everyone in the room leaves. I turn my back to the look alike, helping the ocean prince to his feet. I give him a meaningful look as I hand him his sword. He's so young, too young for all this crap. I turn back to glare at the man on the throne.
"You seem rather cold my dear, I'll show you something that will warm you up." He flicks his hand again, a handful of guards bringing forward bloody prisoners. I look over as the three people are forced to their knees. Giovanni is covered in bruises, soaked in blood that looks like it's his own. Brett is in a similar condition. Keya has dried tears that cling to her cheeks, a set of claw marks done by human nails on her cheek.
"What's the meaning of this?" I growl, anger boiling in my veins.
"A gift." He speaks. I keep my eyes on my family, watching as Giovanni stiffens, looking up through the thick curtains of hair that have fallen in his face. His blue eyes widened in shock before falling to me. Then they turn back, confirmation clinging to my stomach, dragging it down.
"Dad?" He asks, voice hoarse and soft, something akin to fear weaving into the single word.