“What?” She asked as she placed the phone on speaker. She looked up to Greg and knew he was slightly surprised that she spoke like that. It wasn’t like her. He knew then how tired and worn out she really was.
“Are you done with this farce?” Her mother asked. “I don’t know how you got all your stuff out of the house, but it is time to come back and end this little stunt you are playing. I mean, Kristen, we all know you aren’t with a man. It is simply impossible to think about. That is how we should have known you were lying last night.”
“Mom, it isn’t a stunt,” Kristen said. “I moved out. I am fine, and right now, I am unpacking, so I am a little busy and tired.”
“Who was that man we talked to last night?” her mother demanded.
“That is Greg,” Kristen said. She was careful not to say his last name. Knowing that her mother could have poss
Greg held her in the open kitchen and living room as she cried. He knew she was letting go of all the past. It had hit her all at the same time. Yesterday had been hard, but she didn’t really process any of it. Now she had no choice. Her mother had pushed her too far. She had to do that to be able to move forward with him. Though he knew her mother was trying to get under her skin and doubt herself and him. It made him furious in so many ways. She didn’t know him or what he believed. It was then he knew without a doubt that this was the right thing for them both. The fact her mother had tried this route was speaking volumes. He was angry but not for himself. Kristen had her life run by this woman. At the first chance, Kristen had to find her own way. This woman did this and had the chance to be happy and away from them taken from her. Gently he moved her to the couch and held her against him as he moved the pair to lay down. She was prop
“I don’t get what you are saying.” She said as she stared at him.“Kris, it doesn’t matter how you saw yourself up until right now. Things changed, and it is time to move forward with those changes. I don’t want to cover you up and hide you away. From now on, you are the other half of myself.” Greg said as he kissed her softly. “That is how I see you, at least. I will help you find who you really are regardless of how you see yourself right now.”“I don’t understand.” She said as she looked at him. Surprisingly she found it hard as her eyelids were pulling down. She was struggling to keep her eyes open more and more. She could feel him moving slightly to make her more comfortable.“You don’t have to.” He said softly as he kissed her forehead. There was nothing she needed right now more than to rest, and he knew that. Letting her find that rest with him was a g
As he drifted off to sleep, he saw things in the dream that he had no idea what they were. He looked around and knew somehow this wasn’t earth though it looked like it. Things were different as he continued to look around the area he was in. Soon there were people there. They were looking at him as he looked back at them. He was sure he had never seen them before.“Welcome home.” One said as he looked at Greg and then all around him.“Home?” Greg asked.“As you guessed, this is not your birthplace.” The being in front of him said. “Actually, not even this is real. It is an image that we placed there so you could understand how close our planets are alike. Everything you see here is a way for you to understand.”“So you are what exactly?” Greg asked as he looked around, and he was trying to take everything in that was there. The room was something that he had never seen before.
“No,” Tok replied. “Right now, there are forty-three active seeds. The two of you are the only ones who can understand not only what you are but who you are as they are very different things. Every few years, a new seed will be there, but they don’t understand, and they let their human side take over. That is fine and even understandable. I can sense them as they are born. The two of you will create one of those children as well. However, they will change everything.”“How?” Greg asked.“We will have to see,” Tok said with a slight rumbling again. “The first thing you both need to know is who you are. I have been watching you for years. A handful of samples made it to your planet. It is easy to track with the energy you all produce.”“I don’t understand,” Greg said, shaking his head to try and clear it all out and sort it quickly.“Like how humans can track through t
When she woke up and started to stretch, and remembered he was right there. He looked at her and smiled. “Glad to see you return to the land of the living.”“I was just so upset.” She said. “it made me so tired, and I had to sleep. I normally don’t do that. Even when I am upset.”“That is fine.” He smiled again as she got up, and he was able to stretch as well. “Everything that you felt is completely valid, honey. But I want you to remember it is okay to be upset about things like they did to you and how you were treated as well. It is perfectly fine but also understands that it isn’t normal. That won’t happen here. I will listen to you. We will talk about things. You don’t ever have to think that someone won’t listen to you. You don’t have to hold on to anything with me around.”“I know.” She said. “Why a
“And what about me?” she asked.“You were the most loved princess on the planet.” He said as he looked at her.“I meant seriously.” She said.“I am being serious.” He said as he looked at her. “You were exactly that. Personally, I think it is a great idea. I don’t think anyone could be more of that than you. My own princess to watch over and care for. It is better than a Disney movie.”“Sure.” She said sarcastically as she looked at the time. She then looked in the kitchen for something easy to cook since it was now later than she had planned for dinner.“What are you doing?” he asked.“Looking to change dinner.” She said.“I already took care of that.” He said with a smile. “I know tomorrow we have to go to the food store, but tonight let me deal with it.”“But I.,” she said as
The two settled into their places in the outside world as well as the one in the apartment. Days turned into weeks. Then weeks turned into months. Kristen had begun college, and she was working hard for the first year. Greg had begun teaching at the middle school. He found that he liked the environment much better, with the exception of a few female co-workers, and of all the things he could end up teaching, it was earth science. He found the irony in that.As he was sitting at his desk wrapping up his paperwork for the day, one of the female teachers from the music department popped her head in. “Mr. Bridger.”“Miss Devinport,” Greg replied with a head nod. ”What can I help you with today?” Though he already knew the question the woman was going to ask. She was a few years older than him. The gossip he had overheard was that she was working up the courage to ask him out. He looked at the
“Greg.” She said as she looked at him. “We don’t have to rush anything.”“Look, that wasn’t how I was going to ask you. I still haven’t asked you, by the way. I want to know what you want so I don’t screw it up.” Greg stated as he looked at her. “I know you could do this on your own, but you’re not going to. This is our child.”“The one you didn’t push for.” She said with a slight smile.“Well, I didn’t.” he chuckled. “I figured this would happen sometime. You’re eighteen, and I am twenty-three. We have no excuse on any part of it. However, I don’t mind it. I like the idea of having this with you.”“Greg.” She said and then sighed.“Sweetheart, we will make this work.” He said as he kissed her nose and then her mouth. “you just have to tell me what you want.”
Though the boys were early, they were of a good size, and neither of them had to stay in the hospital longer than a normal birth. Greg was beaming with pride as he helped her out of the car to go home. He then got both car seats out of the car. Though he knew that his parents were itching to see the twins, he wanted a few days of just them, and he had told his parents that. He knew that they need a few more days to adjust to the newest additions to their family. Kristen was sore, but she was looking like she had used to. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as she walked in front of him. Though she was still slightly swollen, and she was also curvier than she once was, he thought she was even more beautiful now than she had ever been. He knew how much he loved her when they were in the hospital. Now he could show her more openly. She opened the door, and he walked in behind her and closed the door with his foot. He place
Kristen spent most of the day lying on the couch or trying to watch things on the television. Though she knew the twins needed more time to grow but she secretly wanted them out. The energy they produced at times was too much for her to take as she could feel it in her bones and all around her in everything she did. It was becoming overwhelming to her more and more as she felt she was losing herself within the energy. Though when she said as much out loud, they both seemed to tone it back. They were always there making themselves known to the world or at least their parents.Greg was helping her with even the most basic of things now. She hated relying on him for anything. However, she knew she had too. She had to let him help. It was the only real-time that she could feel anything but the twins when he was around. So when the pains started right before he got home one Friday evening. She knew it was time to finally meet the twins that had been gro
As the weather started to turn warm, Kristen hated the thought of moving too much. The weight she had gained now only in a few sections of her body was just too much for her tiny frame to handle for any period of time while standing. She continued to go to class, but she was able to finish early for most of them. She had smiled as she talked to her teachers, explaining the situation to them, and they all understood. Everyone had understood at the university, which allowed her to take all her tests early, and she was officially done with her first year in college and also some of her second years as well. She was more on track them most students were for any degree. Though she had an idea of what she wanted to do, she was debating with herself as well.Greg was still working hard at his classes though he often would call home in between his classes to make sure she was okay. He would smile at his students as they walked in and would
Greg settled into the bed and again knew he was trying to search within himself for the answers he now needed to have. He began to drift off to sleep. She was now comfortable next to him now. She was now fast asleep. Greg could feel the weightless feeling that was there as he passed over to the sleep realm. Somehow he knew that this was going to be different. Something was going to happen.With a blinding light, he was standing next to Tok again. Greg looked him over and saw that nothing had seemed to change for the being that was there. He did have a slight smile on his face, though. “Welcome back,” Tok said as he looked over the man. “This time, you actually brought yourself here.”“How did I do that?” Greg asked as he looked at the being who went to sit down on the ground. Greg followed his lead and sat down on the ground in front of the being. He wanted to see what he could do to further his learning of their past.
“Do you ever think about what we had to get through to get here and then to meld with humans? What if we weren’t compatible. How much of a waste would that have been?” She asked one night as they lay in bed. Greg chuckled as he rubbed her back with one arm, and the other hand was resting on where the twins were kicking. The whole process of them growing in her still amazed him in a way he didn’t know he cared about. After learning how to teach the reproductive cycle to younger kids and high schoolers, he did think he would ever really care to experience it like this. Now that he was, it was completely different. This was his wife, and these were his children. It still took his breath away that all of this was real. He was enjoying it more than anything else in his life.“You know, I never really thought about it like that,” Greg said as his baritone voice filled the room in the darkness of the ro
Greg helped Kristen to the car, and they took off. He was surprised at how completely different this night had been than the one before it. She had shined all night, and it came through more and more. It was like a side to her had to be reawakened, and it was now. “Why did you stand up for us like that?” he asked softly.“It was easy, Greg. It was like I had a vision of how much your mom and sister thought they could control you through the way they treated me.” Kristen said as he took her hand in his as they drove back to the apartment. “I have dealt with much worse than those two, and I know how much you wanted to have them in your life and how much it would hurt you. I couldn’t allow that. Just like you won’t let someone hurt me. I won’t let them hurt you. I figured it was just the way to go.”“Kris, I do want them in our lives but not at your expense.” He
Greg looked at his small wife, who was standing next to him, as did his father on the other side. Everyone in the room went completely silent as Kristen stared back at his mother, who was clearly shocked that the woman next to her son did indeed have a backbone. She nodded slightly, only enough for the younger woman to see. “Good. Now that we have that settled.” Kristen said. “I don’t think that we will have to bring anything like that up again.”His mother looked at her, and Kristen smiled. There was something in the smile that made even his mother want to take a step back. Greg was slightly afraid of his wife for a second, as well as being proud of her for being able to do something like that. He had never seen someone stand up to his mother that way and without even raising their voice. His parents had fought a few times, but it was not like that. His father often just gave in to his mother on whatever she was going
Greg shook his head. He didn’t want this to be happening. However, when he looked at his mother, he saw it right in front of him. His father probably had no clue and didn’t know that he was being used as a pawn for his wife. Greg felt his own energy change in a way it never had before. He also felt the babies reacting to his change. He had to calm down. The simple fact he was the one who was causing the change in the babies scared him. They knew he was angry, beyond angry.Kristen was looking at him. She knew something wasn’t right, but it wasn’t until he was almost pulsing with a different type of energy that she knew he was beyond mad and upset. She took his hand in hers quickly. The other woman watched as it seemed the small gesture calmed her son. He had focused on her tiny hand touching his. She was still his center. She would always be his center from now on, and he knew that. As soon as he felt her tiny fingers rubbing his hand, he
The next night they were back in front of his parent's house. He wasn’t too happy that this was happening again, but he was willing to try because Kristen had asked him to. He got out of the car with a sigh and knew that he was going to be on high alert the entire night. He helped Kristen out of the car and then walked up to the door and rang the bell. His mother was the one who answered, “Why didn’t you come in?”“Because this is not my home anymore,” Greg said as he shrugged off his coat and then helped Kristen out of hers. His mother looking at the smaller woman and seeing how her son doted on her. She couldn’t be sure until the children were born, but she felt something was off about her. Kristen looked up to her and saw the look on the other woman’s face. Kristen knew then something was not right here. She was watching Kristen like she was the worst thing that could have happened to her son. Kristen let out a