“Is it the quality of the wine, do you think, or how much of it we had?”
Gabriel laughed. “A little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.” he suggested. Neither of them were drunk as such, but they both definitely had a happy buzz on, warming and rounding off the night as he walked her home with an arm around her waist. She seemed very happy to be going at his slow, limping pace.
“I think you’re right…aww, we’re at my house already?”
Gabriel studied it. Jess lived in the same kind of tiny chalet as had been given to Adam and Ava, like most of the colonists. He knew that Sir Jeremy was still handling the minutiae of bringing in contractors to establish more permanent and comfortable housing, but that project had only just begun.
“That’s one of the perks of being colonial security chief.” he said. “My apartment’s even bigger than the one I had back in San Diego.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep. Want to see?”
Jess laughed. “Oh, Gabe.” she chided. “I think we’d at least better have a couple more dates before you show me how big your…” she paused, cheekily. “…apartment is.”
“Whenever you want, wherever you want.” he replied.
“Tuesday, same place and time?” she suggested.
“Absolutely.” he agreed.
“Good, because I really enjoyed myself tonight.”
He turned towards her, still with his arm on her waist. “You wanna round it off with a goodnight kiss?”
She did so. It was a good one too, several seconds of gentle, smiling lip contact with a hand on his cheek that promised better things to come, underlined by a second, shorter one just after they separated.
They didn’t say anything else. She just trailed her hand in his as she let herself into her chalet, letting go only in time to blow him a kiss and close the door.
Gabriel Arés walked home with the largest smile on his face that he’d worn in years.
Date Point: 5y 11m 1w AV
Folctha colony, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches
Gabriel Arés
Rather than hobbling through the living room and opening the door, Gabriel was in the habit of shouting “Come on in, Ava!” when the doorbell rang.
She was the only one who used it—literally everyone else in the colony knocked. It was becoming one of those Cimbrean quirks, the sign of a local, insofar as anybody COULD be local in a town so young.
Ava let herself in and gave him a daughterly kiss on the cheek. Gabriel knew better than to comment that she looked a mess—her eyes were dark and pinkish, and she obviously hadn’t brushed her hair. “Cup of coffee?” He asked.
She nodded and slumped down at the table. “That.” she said. “Would be amazing.”
“You okay?”
“Ah, I stayed up all night doing my part of the end-of-semester marking so I wouldn’t have it to do while Adam’s around.”
“He’s not due back until tomorrow.” Gabriel pointed out. His kitchen faucet had a mode to deliver boiling water, and he used it to fill the cafetier with his favoured blend of Galapagos coffee—a rare treat. Sure, Ava adulterated hers with so much cream and sugar that it was barely recognisable, and a bit of a waste, but he figured it must still be better behind all that than just the instant stuff.
“Yeah, but…it’s his birthday, so I can’t sleep.” Ava gave him a little smile that said she knew just how nonsensical that was.
“You’re that nervous at seeing him again?” Gabriel asked, leaning against the counter while the coffee brewed.
“For, like…a whole bunch of reasons.” Ava agreed.
“Eh, don’t worry so much.” Gabriel told her fondly. “if you two manage to break the bed or something, I’ll fix it.”
“Da-ad!”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. Her exclamation had been so guilelessly teenage that it was like a note of pure honesty in the room—there couldn’t have been a conscious decision to call him that involved. “Dad, huh?” he asked, softly.
She’d gone beet red, but she stood up and hugged him. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Hey.” he stroked her hair down, as much to get it out of his face as to reassure her. “You’re a daughter to me as well, you know? I couldn’t have asked for better.”
Ava took the compliment well, sitting down again and tidying herself up a little with a smile as Gabriel depressed the plunger on his cafetier and served.
“I um…” she began. “I guess now that that’s out there, I should…there’s something I want you to know.”
“You sure?” Gabriel asked, catching her nervousness.
Ava swallowed and nodded. “I guess if I’ve learned anything these last couple of years, it’s to never leave things un-said.” she shrugged.
A news reel of different emotions rapid-fired across Gabriel’s face, but he sat down and said nothing, letting Ava take her time.
“I miss my parents.” she said, finally. “It’s…so nice to have a parent again, I love you. You took me in, you’ve been everything I needed but…”
“I understand.” Gabriel said softly. “There’s no substitute for the original. Hell, I miss my folks.”
“No, that’s not it…” Ava sighed, then wiped her eyes. “I feel really guilty whenever I think this, but I kind of feel like…like you’ve been a better father to me. You’re here, you’ve always been here for Adam, and you’ve been here for me too. I hate to say it, but my parents’ idea of being good parents was just to, to buy me stuff. They gave me whatever I asked for but they didn’t really…I don’t know…”
“They gave you what you asked for, which maybe wasn’t what you needed?” Gabriel finished.
”…Papa would never have joked about fixing the bed.” Ava said. “And…Mom would have told me off for not brushing my hair, but you asked if I was feeling okay. Stuff like that, that you do for me and for Adam. You treat us like a, like you’re our friend as well as our dad. I miss them, but…they treated me more like a doll or a…a pet or a trophy sometimes.”
Gabriel handed her a clean tissue, which she made grateful use of. “You don’t need to feel guilty of that, you know.” he said.
“I know that up here.” Ava tapped her scalp, then bunched a fist between her breasts and knocked on her sternum. “but…”
Gabe scooted round the table and hugged her. “It means a lot.” he promised. “I try but…it’s good to know you think I’m doing a good job.”
She smiled. “I’m glad I got that out there.”
Gabe laughed a little. “Go home and sleep.” he suggested. “You’re going to need it, but you’re welcome to come round, join Jess and me for dinner this evening.”
“I’d like that.” she told him, and stood up.
“Go. Sleep. Nos vemos.”
“Hasta luego, papá.”
Date Point: 5y 11m 1w AV
Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches
Ava Rios
The passenger jump array had been expanded again during the year of Adam’s absence, but they’d kept the glass wall, allowing friends and family to witness the arrivals and departures.
There were a lot of them these days. Byron Group employees headed home for Christmas, travellers from Earth visiting Cimbrean for the same…
And Adam’s face on a nearly unrecognisable body.
Ava’s jaw threatened to drop. Adam had warned her, as best he could, about what to expect from the fitness regime he’d been on, but she hadn’t been prepared for this.
Sure, he’d been fit before leaving and at the end of Basic. Buff, even. But the Adam who caught her gaze and smiled that same winning, puppyish smile at her was getting to the point where the word “buff” was no longer quite adequate. He was…
He was…
He was fucking HOT.
A year of living alone had inevitably resulted in fantasizing and…well, in entertaining herself as best she could, and Ava had assembled a sizable folder on her tablet full of big strong guys. While knowing that he was going to come back big and strong had almost certainly played a role in shaping her tastes that way, Adam would not have looked out of place in that folder.
She made a mental note to add some pictures of him to it.
His muscles were as firm and dense as teak when they hugged, and he made her feel featherlight when he picked her up and spun her around, beaming.
“GOD I missed you.”
She sighed happily and kissed him. “Your letters just…wow, they didn’t do justice. Look at you!”
He looked down and spread his arms. “You like?”
He turned around, and Ava had to fight to stop herself from automatically biting her lower lip. “Yeah…” she squeaked. “I mean, you were pretty before, but…”
They became aware that several bystanders were able to overhear them, to judge by the amused glances they were attracting, and shared a bit of a blush. Adam shouldered his bag with a weighty thump. “Am I…staying with you?”
“Why wouldn’t you be?”
“I’ve learned not to make assumptions.” he replied, clearly pleased by the response, then looked around. “Hey, where’s Dad?”
“He’s cooking Thanksgiving dinner. We’re going round there in a couple hours.”
“But Thanksgiving was last month.” Adam pointed out.
“Yeah, but you missed it.” she retorted. “And it was your birthday yesterday, so…”
“Does it work that way?”
“It does now.”
He laughed. “That works.”
Adam Arés
“Wow. Okay. Guess you’re opening the jars tonight, Amigo.”
Adam laughed, and hugged his dad, gently. “Easy.” he said, then smiled at Jessica, who was hovering in the background with a slightly stunned expression. “Hey Jess.”
”’Hey’ yourself!” she replied. “Good God you’ve changed since I last saw you.”
They hugged.
“Wasn’t easy.” he told her. “Gotta tell ya, hearing you and Dad were dating really picked me up when I was having a rough time with the EMT training.”
“You were struggling with that?” Ava asked, hanging up her jacket and sitting down at Gabriel’s dinner table, while Gabriel returned to the kitchen. The whole apartment smelled of turkey and potatoes.
“Yeah. Think I’ve learned just enough about medicine now to know that I know basically nothing about medicine. It’s…crazy.” he sighed. “And for a while there I just wasn’t getting it, you know? My buddy BASEBALL—you remember BASEBALL?”
Ava giggled. “Hard to forget.”
He laughed. “Right. Well, he was kicking my ass. He’s a total natural. Me…I mean, I’m starting to get it now, but for a long while there, getting all that knowledge to stay in my head was damn near impossible. You’ve got to learn a lot of the academic stuff before you can start working on the practical, you know?”
“You always were more of a hands-on kinda guy.” Gabriel noted, from the kitchen. Jess nodded, smiling and looking up at the ceiling with an ‘oh yeah’ expression.
“You were okay though?” she asked.
“Ah, y’know. I was just…frustrated.” Adam’s chair creaked as he sat down next to Ava. “Like, I’d gone through all the pain of Indoc and all that PT and everything, and here I was struggling with what I’d thought was gonna be the easy bit. So yeah, the good news from home helped there. Made me feel positive again, and that helped me get past the block. Can’t say I’m ever going to be a great medic, but I’m not gonna be a bad medic, either.”
“So you approve?” Gabe asked, appearing with the plates.
“Oh come on, Dad! I mean, of course I do, but you don’t need my approval.”
Jess and Gabe exchanged a happy glance, and both headed into the kitchen.
“Guess this is a family Thanksgiving then.” Ava commented, snuggling up next to Adam.
“Late though it is.” Gabe agreed, reappearing with the roast potatoes. “Adam, put those muscles to use Amigo, bring the turkey through?”
Adam laughed and did so, retrieving a bird the size of a dog from the oven which he hefted easily on one oven-gloved hand. “Where did you get this?”
“Cimbrean wild turkey.” Jess revealed. “They’re part of the ecosystem reconstruction.”
“No shit? What else is out there?”
“Bobcats, bats, mice, eels, eagles…” Ava smiled. “From what Hayley Tisdale was telling me, they’re throwing a whole bunch of different species into the mix and letting natural selection do the rest.”
“They’re talking about deer and wolves, too.” Jess added. “It’s not all going perfectly right—I heard the eagles especially are struggling. Apparently the low gravity throws off their instincts when they’re swooping in on top of something, and they struggle to hunt at first.”
“How is Hayley?” Adam asked.
“She’s…She and Marc, they’re both okay. Did I tell you they had a little girl?”
”…Yeah, you did. Hope?”
“Hope. That’s right.” Ava nodded. “She was gonna come back to Folctha after the birth but the medical advice was it’s probably not good for a kid to live in low gravity until at least their second growth spurt which is, what? Ten or eleven years? And even then…”
“Right.” Adam nodded.
“So, they’re living in London nowadays, working for the Reclamation Project. Something about…GMO plants that are better suited to Cimbrean’s soil, gravity and sunlight.”
Gabe set down the last of the gravy, vegetables and sauces, and glanced around the table, looking happier and less stressed than Adam could remember seeing him in a long time. “So…Thanksgiving. It’s been a rough and crazy few years, and…you know, I can’t remember the last time we actually did this. I just wanted you to know how thankful I am to have the three of you in my life.”
Jess smiled, and murmured a “Hear, hear.”
Gabe and Ava exchanged glances, and bowed their heads in prayer. Jess just put her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand, watching them with a faint smile.
Adam…thought.
It was a skill he hadn’t been given much opportunity to practice. Constant PT, constant education, interspersed only with meals, sleep and only a little leisure time (most of which had been taken up by letters and Madden) hadn’t made for a contemplative year. He’d learned to enjoy moments, though, and this moment was…
Warm. Comfortable. He shut his eyes and let it wash over him—the gentle breathing, the wall clock marking away the seconds, the buzz of the kitchen light and hum of the oven fan, the warmth of Ava sitting next to him, the soft sound of his Dad praying under his breath…
He opened his eyes when Gabriel murmured an “Amen”, and looked up.
“So…” he asked. “What are the rest of you having?”
Date Point: Boxing Day, 5y 11m 2w AV
Adam wasn’t yet asleep, but it still took him a couple of seconds to register the knock on his door.
He sat up a bit “Ava?”
She called through the door. “Can I come in?”
“Sure!”
She’d left the hall light on and leaned against the door frame, backlit by it, and Adam just had to stare. She was wearing one of his t-shirts, a thin white one. The shirt itself wasn’t blocking any of the light from behind her, and the varying depth of shadow her body made under it was…
Amazing. Sexy. Gorgeous. He could just about make out her nipples by the shadows they cast across the fabric, and the shirt was just short enough to create a fascinating dark triangle with her thighs. When he looked up at her face, she was breathing heavily through slightly parted lips.
“Past midnight?” he asked.
She laughed, nervously. “Happy birthday to me.”
“Deja vu.” he observed. She laughed a little again, and took a pace forward, loitering at the end of the bed.
“I’ve been…kind of regretting that, I, uh…I chickened out last time.” she confessed.
“Ch–uh, chickened out?”
She knelt on the edge of his bed and crawled up it like a predatory cat to kiss him.
It was a different kiss to any they’d shared before—a fiercer, more adult one. He was still mind-blanked by it when she grabbed his wrist and guided his hand firmly onto flesh that was so warm it almost felt like she’d burn the skin off his palm.
He took the hint and put his free hand on the back of her head, pulling her into the kiss. By the time it came to a natural conclusion she was pressed right up against him, every warm inch of her, and his roaming hands had discovered that she wasn’t wearing so much as a stray thread under that shirt.
All of that notwithstanding, though, she was trembling.
“You sure you’re ready?” he asked.
“I am.” she promised, and straddled his lap, grinding against him and making him acutely aware of just how little and thin the blanket was, knowing how close which bits of him were to which bits of her. There was a scent in the room he’d never smelled before, and it was having an urgent effect on some very ancient parts of his brain.
He could feel every inch of his body pulsing, shaken by a heart that was suddenly hammering away as hard as if he was back in Indoc. Was feeling sick and shaky the right response here? It was all his body seemed to know how to do. For all he wanted to be suave and confident and passionate with her, deep inside he was a knot of anxiety and trepidation. So was she, judging by the way she froze when her hand paused in trailing down his body, just short if its destination.
“You’re scared.” he observed. She just smiled weakly and nodded. “We don’t have to if you don’t—” he began.
“I want to.” she interrupted him.
“But…you’re scared.”
“So are you.”
He couldn’t deny it.
“Do you want to?” she asked.
The honest answer was that every nerve in his body did, bits of him hurt with wanting to, but he was becoming too paralysed by the shakes to do more than nod.
It seemed to be enough for Ava’s purposes. She scooted down his legs, taking the blanket away, and conjured a little square foil pack that she must have smuggled in with her, somehow. “Lie back.” she whispered.
Adam could no more have disobeyed her than he could have willed himself to teleport to Mars. He lay back and shut his eyes, almost hyperventilating as she pulled his pajamas off him.
She made a noise, something between a frightened whimper and a “wow”, and there was a little crinkly noise as she tore open the wrapper of the thing she’d brought with her.
“I don’t know how to put one of those on…” he objected.
“It’s okay.” she promised, and touched him where the contact went through him like an electric shock. “I do.”
After that, while they made plenty of other noises, the only talking they did was in the form of whispered instructions and little two-word prayers.
When he woke in the morning, she was stil l there. It hadn’t been a dream.
Most of the morning was spent fielding birthday well-wishes for Ava. Her presents were both more numerous and more impressive than Adam’s, but he didn’t mind—she could take them with her, after all.
It was only after the last of their visitors had gone that either of them were able to discuss what had happened the night before, as they were finishing the washing up.
“Did you…” she cleared her throat. “…Was it…okay?”
He took her hand. “It was…kind of awkward.” he confessed.
“Yeah…” she nodded agreement. “I’m sorry…”
“No, no…it was great! Uh…maybe we, uh, just need to practice.”
She thought about that, put her head on one side, put the last fork on the drying rack and vanished into the bedroom.
“Uh, Ava…?”
Her shirt flew out of the door. “So let’s practice!” she called.
“Oh! Right!” He tripped over his own socks in his rush to pull them off and join her.
They practiced.