S-Duality: A Marauders Novella (16 page)

But Jane had a point.

“Maybe it is,” he agreed.

-o0o-

A few hours later, after he'd left Jane at his place, he walked into the hospital room he'd found out was Violet's. She was alone with the baby in her arms, but he assumed Mac wasn't far away. It would surprise him if he was, and he wanted to get this off his chest as quickly as possible. He wasn't sure he'd be able to if Mac was in the room with them.

“Hey, girl,” he said with a smile and gave her cheek a kiss. “All good?”

“Very good. I think I'm high on something,” Vi smiled with a look at the baby. “I can't even feel any pain.”

“That's good.” He sat down and took a deep breath. “Hey, remember the Seattle artist you told me about last time you did some ink on me?”

“What?” she asked and looked at him with a confused expression. “Oh! Trudy Evans?”

“Yeah. She was my wife.”

“I didn't know that.” Vi stared at him with wide eyes. “I'm so sorry.”

“Thanks. She...
She died when she was pregnant. Was hit by a car. Our baby girl died the next day.”

“Oh my god! I'm so sorry. I didn't know.” She kept looking at him, and he noticed the first tear running down her cheeks. He hadn't meant to make her cry. “That's why you don't...”

“Yeah. That's why I don't hang around for births, but I thought it was time to make a change now.”

“Why me? I mean... why now?”

“My baby girl, Lorna, would've been around your age. If it's been long enough for me to possibly be a granddad, I should be able to... I don't know. Guess I just thought it was time. A lot of things have happened—good and bad.”

“Sorry,” she said and wiped her eyes. “I'm just a blubbering mess. I have been for months.”

“I remember Trudy being like that when she was pregnant,” he said with a laugh. “Her eyes were leaking worse than our basement.”

“Basement?”

“Sorry. Seattle joke.”

“Lorna, that was her name?”

“Yes.”

“It's a nice name.”

“It really isn't,” he chuckled. “But thanks.”

“Do you have her name tattooed, too?” she asked, and when he looked at her, she shrugged. “
Sorry. None of my business.”

“No
, I don’t. I never… got around to have it done, I guess.”

“Let me know if
want it. I'd be honored to do it. Just between the two of us.”

“Thanks, girl. I'll think about it.”

She looked down at the baby in her arms. “Wanna hold him?”

He hesitated for a while. He couldn't remember the last time he'd held a baby, and frankly wasn't sure he'd done it since he'd held Lorna. He must've, at least once, but
he wasn't sure.

“Yeah,” he said and stood up. “Looks like a sturdy kid. How the hell did you manage to grow that big thing in your tiny little body?”

“Dad said the same thing, just before cracking jokes about him being bald.”

Sisco laughed and then drew a breath as he put his arm under the little body. The baby might have looked sturdy, but he didn't weigh much. He sat back down on the chair and looked at the sleeping bundle in his arms.

He still missed Trudy and the baby girl he had never gotten to know—every single day. He knew he would until the day he died, but he'd learned to live with it. Even if there was pain, there were other things as well. Lately, the memories of her were good memories, something he enjoyed, rather than just making him feel bad. He knew he was lucky to have found someone like that; not everyone did. He'd met his perfect match, the one that was for life. It was just that her life had ended a lot earlier than his. That didn't make it any less perfect.

He also knew he was lucky to have found another new family. In a way, he'd had three families in his life, and even if the first one had been more than a little shit, it was still something. It might not be what he'd wanted, but he knew that life had dealt him his hand, and all he could do was make the best of it.

He looked at Vi and smiled to assure her that he was more or less okay.

“So, what are you gonna call this sturdy little fella?”

THE END

-
o0o-

About the author:

Lina Andersson was born and raised as far up north as you can go in Sweden. The long, dark winters were made for reading and writing, which is pretty much all she
ever did. In her early twenties, she packed up her husband and son and moved to the slightly warmer climate of southern Sweden, where they still live, more than a decade later. When she's not writing, she's an avid gamer and film geek.

The Marauders series, books

Book One: Arrow of Time

Book Two: Perfect Collision

Book Three: Center of Gravity, not yet released

Novellas
:

S-Duality

For more information:
http://tfcpress.wordpress.com/