His World
It was a truth of his reality that wherever Christine Hollis went she drew attention and admiration.
In the years that followed her banishment from her timeline by the Council of Months he had travelled alongside her and, in that time, certain occurrences had become common place. Wherever and whenever he took her she literally turned heads; drawing in the collective gazes of men and women alike, regardless of what she what she was wearing or what she was doing. August surmised it was just Christine herself, her smile, her mannerisms and everything about her bled life vivacity and sheer mortality. Humans of all times were draw to her like moths to a flame and he could not deny the attraction as he himself had been willing to give his life simply to be in hers.
Nowhere did she draw more attention then in those rare instances where he brought her back with him to 2609- this his 'original time' and his home.
Truthfully, he had little desire to return to his 'home' as Christine put it. Observers did not feel the same connection to their own time as humans seemed wont to do and August was no exception to that. After the initial hearing that decided her fate and the subsequent arbitration that had bound them together there was no reason to go back to the location of his birth. His genetic progenitors were alive and he kept in some contact with them but they did not reside permanently in that specific time nor did many others.
The world he had been born into was the same Earth they travelled, however his world was too polished. Even with the well manner stewardship of the Earth itself nature no longer held any splendor, all things natural were landscaped, sculpted, labeled and carefully contained. It was predictable bordering on boring and very few of his kind sought out the monotony it offered.
He had no friends or family that were incapable of travelling to wherever he was in order to speak with him if the need arose and all contact was conducted through the small communicators every Observer was implanted with. Christine herself had only ever directly met one or two of his people; September who had been eager enough to meet her given his penchant for her particular time period and his knowledge of their situation (both past and unknown past) and December, who had been acting as a representative for the Arbitration system and felt the need to deliver the verdict to her personally.
August suspected both were adequately entranced by her but he also would conceded that his judgment on all things Christine was severely compromised.
Then he had brought her to his time and discovered something rather startling, he was not the only one of his kind to be enthralled by her particular charms.
It had been a scheduled visit with a member of the medical council and a necessary one. An issue he had brought up during the debates with the Arbitration committee was that humans from Christine's time were not physiologically resilient enough to transport through time as their kind did. It was a rational concern; while his particular species was indeed human they were not what the original humans were, just as different as Christine was from her own ancestors. His kind were stronger, smarter, with more intricately developed brains and a fair few senses that humans of the twenty first century did not yet possess. One element of this was their more durable physiology made the damage done by the time travel process minimal whereas the stress of time travel itself was liable to tear Christine's body apart. An agreement was made that if Christine consented to a life as his partner then she would receive medical treatments to maintain and reverse the damage that she would endure. He had insured it would not be anything too invasive, she would be sedated, injected with a compound developed by Walter Bishop to make her more capable of time travel and then the damage to her body would be corrected. Chrono-particles would be cleansed, her organs would be healed and, eventually, her own implanted tech would be seen too. Nothing that would change her personality (he could not have abided that) but he had no qualms about prolonging her life as much as possible.
August had estimate the entire process could be completed in a series of ongoing visits of less then twenty-four hours a piece. They would arrive, proceed to the medical center, Christine would be treated and then they would leave. He had not expected she would draw the attention she did.
It had begun simply. He had activated the transporter and held her securely in his free arm while she held her suitcase and his briefcase in his own grasp. It was the most common way for them to travel and he knew once she had her own implant it would no longer be necessary so he took full advantage of it while he had the opportunity to do so. He did not mind the way she would tilt her head, nuzzling the crook of his neck and peppering his exposed throat with warm kisses. It made travelling most enjoyable.
His own world had changed greatly because of Walter Bishop and September's plan. The main difference being he was one of the few living creatures aware of the changes the plan had instigated. His 'death', an event almost unique among his people, had granted him a divorce form the normal timeline that even September could not lay claim to. In fact, his friend (for really that's what the other Observer was) could only speculate how they had come to be, appearing together in a restaurant they had eaten at in the twenty-first century with no memory of how they had ever arrived at such a place. Some aspects of time were still lost to their kind and they had agreed, in that moment, to leave it be; Christine was safe, the world was safe and it quickly became apparent that the totalitarian plans their superiors had wanted to instigate had instead become a passion for scientific exploration and the reverent study of human evolution.
Other differences in this new world quickly became obvious. Observers did have the capability to feel emotions both positive and negative but overall logic ruled in emotion's stead. It was something August was grateful for, as a world where his kind were ruled by impulse seemed more dangerous then the one they had erased. Perhaps the biggest difference was the advent of the females. They were just as common as their male counterparts, and similar in appearance and completely unobtrusive to all others except for himself and September, both of whom were aware of their own alternate pasts. The females' bodies were idealized, a balance of height and weight designed to conform to the healthy human ideal. They were pale as most of his kind were, all with varying eye colours and possessing the same blonde white hair- pulled back tightly into buns at the nape of their necks; some had their hair sheered short in a style Christine called 'a pixie cut'. They all wore the same feminine version of the suit and fedora all his kind favored and, in most ways, acted just like their male counterparts. He found them slightly disconcerting but, in his mind, they were nothing in comparison to the woman he had fallen in love with. On the whole his interaction with them was minimal, including the one who had maternally contributed to his existence.
So, consequently, he thought just as little about the interactions between the sexes of his people that he thought about their method of arrival or Christine's own appearance and the impact it might have on his wholly homogenous society. At the scheduled time they appeared in the atrium of the main medical institution with Christine at his side and as they parted she did as she always did, pressed a warm kiss to the side of his neck.
People stared; not just a glance but flat out stopped moving and stared.
It was surprising. He was used to a more subtle form of attention. Men would look at his Christine through hooded eyes, women would casually glance at the vivacious young nymph at his side. His kind were not very subtle creatures when the situation did not demand it. However, when they arrived at their designated place all activity paused. It was not that most of his kind had never seen a human of her era (in fact most took great delight in observing her particular time) but the laws were quite clear and the repercussions of interactions very severe. In most cases what he had done was a crime punishable by full timeline erasure or revocation of time traveling rights. It was only his and Christine's specific circumstances that allowed for their survival and, of course, the fact that she was supposed to be dead.
The attention did not seem to phase Christine in the least. She took a moment to look around before doing the most typical Christine thing. She flashed a smile that made his chest hurt before twisting around in his arms. She was on her tiptoes in an instant, her mouth angled against his in an action he was happily familiar with, even as her hands wrapped around his neck. He placed his own hands around her waist and smiled at the contact, he had long since admitted to himself he would never deny her anything, most especially his affections.
He let her press her lips to his, never allowing her kiss to grow out of control. He knew this kiss, it was one he had experienced before. This was ownership, or he liked to think it was. It was a defiant kiss that plainly stated that she was his and he was hers to anyone who was watching them. She did it when she felt their relationship was in question and wanted to make it perfectly clear that she was, in no way, ashamed of what they shared. It had made him uncomfortable at first (the spectacle of it) but as he grew more aware of her mannerism and quirks he grew to view it a simple affection and an outward expression of her love.
She parted from him happily, pressing her hand into his as he led her across the expanse towards the towers where they were due for their appointment, she did not even glance at those who had been watching them.
As their scheduled stops at the Medical center became predictable it seemed common for others to anticipate their arrival and, apparently, wait for it. He and Christine would appear in the Atrium where a progressively larger and larger group of his people would be waiting, eyes peeled and ready. Christine was usually pleased by this and would then proceeded with her ritual of pressing her lips to his in a kiss. There was nothing untoward about it and it amused him that, in some of their little adventures, she was much more erotic. This seemed to be for others, not focused on arousal but rather acknowledgement.
Then things began to change.
On their four visitations he noticed at least two females who were not wearing their hats.
Then on their sixth visit some of the women had her hair down, loose and pin straight over her shoulders like Christine's was.
On the tenth visit he was surprised to see at least three couples holding hands.
It was shocking to think of but he should not have been surprised at the inevitable results. Christine Hollis had a tendency to draw attention and admiration wherever she went especially among his kind.