Darwin Goes Home

Posted on Sat Apr 27th, 2013 @ 1:36pm by Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Darwin's Quarters

Returning to this SB900 had been, he admitted only to himself, heartbreaking. He’d had the chance, one last chance to be with the only woman he had ever loved, and he’d walked away from it. Doing so hadn’t been entirely his choice, but, as he and the alternate universe Amber had argued, he had noticed differences - tiny, minute differences - in her from his own Amber. And he knew that those little seeds of change would only grow and become larger and larger issues for them if she had come here.

Not that she’d been willing to come here.

Walking into his shower and letting the heat of the water warm him, he rubbed his face and tried not to recall how she’d looked. Since coming back, he had buried himself in work - which was easy with Zeferino having taken off to the planet and Edwards having disappeared on some other ‘mission’ - the details of which Darwin hadn’t yet found a report on. Tonight was the first time he had returned to his apartment without going through a Cherry Pit drinking establishment first. Which really meant: this was the first time he’d returned to his apartment. All the other nights, he’d found someone else’s bed to be in, where he didn’t have time to think about Amber.

As he showered, he debated contacting Amber, the one here, and seeing... just seeing if their positions had changed at all. He had nearly convinced himself to do so by the time he was toweling dry and pulling on a pair of loose pajama pants. He strolled back to his living room and nearly choked on his own tongue: Amber was there, on his couch.

Darwin froze, staring at her, taking in every detail. This was his Amber - he could tell by the tiny scar on her right cheek, a scar she’d never had erased because of how she’d gotten it - sailing with him on a Delrusian float. They’d been distracted and the tiller had smacked her in the face. The memory of getting that scar made her laugh, she had always said. It was something the alternate universe Amber hadn’t had.

Amber smiled at him and said, “Dar, I didn’t realize you were home.” She struggled to stand.

He was speechless: Amber was pregnant. Hugely so. He blinked, thinking about the alternate Amber. He’d left her pregnant; she might have lost her Darwin (Mike, as she called him) and then sent him away, but at least she’d have a piece of him and could claim... the mental tricks necessary to call his son Mike’s son gave Darwin a headache. He focused on his immediate visitor and now he could see the grey in her hair; when had that happened? “Ah, Amber... what... when?”

She chuckled and closed the distance between them. “They said the blow to your head was more of a blow to your ego... are they wrong?” Amber touched him, her hands warm against his chest and shoulder.

“Ah... blow? Um..., I guess. When did you get here?” When did you get pregnant? And by whom? He stared at her belly.

Catching the direction of his gaze, her smile grew. “Goofball,” she said, her tone warm and loving. “He’ll be here in just a few days, Dar. I’m scared. For us, our son..., mostly for me, though, and this ‘labor thing’.”

His world tilted crazily and calmed only after he’d laid a hand on Amber’s stomach. “Our son?” He stared at her and knew what this was: it was one of those ‘incidences’ he’d been reading reports about and following up on for the past week. He hadn’t expected he’d encounter one. Did that, then, mean that this... vision? visitation? was false? Or was this Amber from the future - his future? Whatever this was, he wanted to grab it with both hands and hold on tightly.

“Come here, Amber,” he pulled her into the bedroom then into his arms and kissed her. He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, let his hands memorize the feel of her. “Gods, I love you,” he whispered.

“I know,” she said, “I--”

The computer chirped and Gilroy’s voice broke in, “Darwin, Gilroy here. Want to meet me for a round or two of sake and dumplings?”

Amber vanished from under Darwin’s touch and he had to swallow a tortured sob before managing, “Ah... yeah. Just... no Shakespeare tonight, ok?”

“You got it. Meet you at Lao’s in ten.”

“Sure. Yeah, okay,” Darwin answered and mentally scrambled to find his balance.

__________________
Lieutenant Michael Darwin