My eyes flicker open slowly as I slowly drift into consciousness, urged from sleep by the environment around me. A cool breeze, the morning's dawn creeping in through the window and bathing my groggy face, Kayto leaning up against me with his arms wrapped tightly around my skin...

"Idiot," I murmur to the man up against me, Kayto's forehead nestled up into the back of my neck. His soft breathing sounds much louder than the birds chirping outside due to the proximity, but...

Birds?

...why am I hearing birds? There are no birds on the Sunrider...or, at least, there shouldn't be if everyone is following official regulations. But given how lax Kayto can be with the rules, I would not be at all surprised if someone had a pet.

And wait, K-Kayto?

"So you finally wake up. Good morning to you as well, my sweet—"

I jolt up and whip my head around to observe the room I am in. It is not Kayto's cabin, it is not my own, so then whose is it, and where the hell am I?

Kayto gets up beside me, his naked body now side by side with mine, "Are you feeling alright Ava? Did you have a nightmare?"

A nightmare? No, this is a nightmare.

Where are my clothes? What room are we in? The Sunrider doesn't have anything like this. How did we get here? And, again, where are my clothes?

Calm down Ava...think this through...

I am naked...Kayto is naked...we must have spent the night together, that much is obvious. But how did we get from the Sunrider to wherever this is? One does not go from being on a ship making its merry way through the wide universe to suddenly being in a bed beside your superior officer who you may or may not still have lingering feelings for even though you left him years and years ago.

Kayto Shields, my captain and the man to whom I entrust the fate of our ship, places his arm around me again and tries to soothe me, "Ava, I can tell something is wrong. Do you want to talk about it?"

Okay, Ava, this isn't the end of the world...this is hardly the first time you have woken up next to Kayto, naked or otherwise. You just need to be patient and figure out what the hell is going on.

"I…"

I look around to try and gather my bearings. The first thing to catch my attention is a nightstand beside the bed I am on, atop of which is a picture of myself...and of Kayto. In wedding garb. A quick check reveals that on my finger is a wedding ring to confirm the events of the photo.

We're married? How long have I been out and what has that unqualified, perverted nurse been putting in our food?

Kayto seems completely unsurprised by us waking up next to one another, so I am definitely missing something. To take charge of the situation without revealing just how confused I am, I should come up with an explanation for how I presently appear...baffled.

"I just feel a little ill. I apologize."

It is a weak excuse, but I am not used to giving them so I am not well versed in the artform.

He seems to buy it though, as he pulls me in close to him to run a hand over my forehead, feeling no abnormal temperature, and then wrapping his toned arms around me, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Explain to me why we're married would be a good start towards helping me, but be it some form of amnesia or something else entirely I am out of the loop and I intend to figure things out my way. I'd rather not worry him needlessly with thinking I have gone daft overnight...though if things persist I may have to come clean, since things are clearly different than what I remember and if I am to function in this place I may require more information.

For now though, I think the best course of action to not alarm Kayto would be to just continue this charade of illness to afford myself the opportunity to gather my bearings.

"I…I just need some time."

"Of course," Kayto leans in and kisses me where he had used his hand to check my temperature, "Luckily it's the weekend, so you have all the time you could need to feel better."

He gets up and leaves the bed, not noticing me avert my gaze and blush as he goes about putting on his clothes. I normally would be able to just shrug off suddenly seeing him naked, but I do not have the normal mental fortitude I would otherwise given my present predicament.

"What are you going to do?"

"Well, since you are feeling ill I think I should put together some breakfast you can have in bed, and then I'll see about waking the kids up so they don't spend the whole day sleeping."

I am glad his back is still turned, for my little act would be completely ruined should he see the mixture of confusion, shock, and fear on my face right now.

K...kids?

Now that I most certainly don't remember...and for good reason: because we don't have any. We may have had a night of unprotected sex back in high school, but I most certainly didn't have a child with Kayto, and I most certainly did not have multiple.

If this is all some elaborate prank, I will end those responsible.

But if it's not...then what? What other explanation do I have to explain how Kayto doesn't seem half afraid of me, his occasional attempts to veer into unprofessional territory replaced by the care and support of a husband.

Please let this all be some elaborate practical joke for which I will kill Asaga or Claude later...

Post breakfast-in-bed, prepared by Capt...no, Kayto. For whatever reason he is not my Captain here but rather my husband. Why? I am leaning towards blaming Claude right now, but I don't know enough to know for certain and begin sharpening the tools I will use on that insubordinate fool.

So, now that breakfast is over, I have lessened the fatigue I showed to Kayto before to ease his worries about me leaving bed. I am not going to just sit around when I have so many questions, and I think this is a good place to start.

A miniature Kayto is looking up at me expectantly with my own eyes, only smaller and less jaded than those belonging to its mother.

Today just keeps getting stranger.

"Can I play on the computer, mother?"

One, he sounds just like his father did when he was that age and it is unnerving. Two, he seems to be about old enough that we must have had him right out of high school, something I most certainly did not do...but also seem to have.

And three, if this truly is my child, something needs to be done about his grammar.

"May."

Mini-Kayto was standing close to me right where he had first signaled his arrival with a tug on my sleeve. I had chosen to wear the first outfit I could pull out, seemingly business attire of some sort with the type of black I enjoy...apparently whatever version of me married Kayto had similar tastes to me, to the point that what little time I spent with my wardrobe had only revealed clothing I actually quite approved of.

I had been about to pick up and look at a photo album when this distraction had arrived, though my natural irritation at being interrupted was put on pause when I looked down at his face.

I do not use this word often, but he is...well, cute. And it makes sense that I think that, since seemingly he is my son of indeterminate age, maybe seven or eight, and even though I felt no older I must have spent years caring for him. My own flesh and blood.

"What?" he questions me, confused why I answered his request with something other than yes or no.

I smile as I correct his grammar, "May I play. Can is the ability to do something, may is asking permission."

My son looks down sheepishly, as if he is embarrassed by his mistake and like he had done something wrong.

"Sorry mother."

I look over at the living room's desk where atop I see a few different computer game boxes, all of which I recognize as titles belonging to those series Kayto used to play when we were younger when he should have been helping me in our student government duties or doing his homework.

Kayto is one of the most brilliant strategists I have ever met, something one would never have guessed from how he was back in school, but I have read somewhere before that strategy games help make those who play them smarter...from chess to these video games, it seems to have a positive impact on the mind, and while Kayto may not be a typical example I would not be too surprised if the countless hours he wasted on them had some part to play in him becoming the genius tactician I know.

With my hand placed on his shoulder consolingly, I decide to grant my son permission to partake in the pastime, "It's okay. You may play, but take regular breaks so you do not strain your eyes."

My response seems to actually surprise him, and after a moment of said surprise he hugs me around my waist and then rushes off to turn the computer on with a zeal I see every day through his father...

How did I manage to get by those eight years? After spending my entire life with him, I don't really know how I could have done it, just leaving without any proper goodbye like I did and never looking back.

"Thank you mother!"

Back to this child actor most certainly hired by Claude to mess with me, I watch him boot up the computer and game and he wastes no time in diving right into the actual playing of it. The speed at which he types and the movements of the mouse in his hand surprise me, since it all seems so easy to him whereas I'm sure if I tried it would be a pathetic display...I can command true fleets of ships and Ryders, but this is beyond the scope of my talent.

Still, seeing a seven to eight year old do something you cannot is disheartening if you are as competitive as I am...though at the same time I feel an odd sense of pride at seeing how focused and intent he is on his game. He may be Kayto's son, but he seems to have picked up my focus.

Since the photo album in my hand may reveal things, I do want to go through it, but right now I have a living and breathing spawn of my own creation only feet away and I am curious about them. How much is he even like me? What is our relationship? He seems to respect me as his parent, but do I normally indulge him in his hobbies? He and Kayto look so alike, but do they get along? What even is his name?

Part of me just wants to be around him, a part I cannot explain except through the thought that this is my son.

"A strategy game…" I smile at him as I take a seat beside him and watch his screen where even I with my limited video game knowledge can tell he is succeeding quite handily against quite difficult odds, "You are quite young for something like this. I'm impressed."

I don't know why I am surprised. I am intelligent, Kayto is intelligent even if he doesn't always act like it, so of course any child we would have would be well ahead of the curve.

My compliment drives him to grow quiet and sheepish as he had been before, his father's enthusiasm fading into some of the shyness and doubt I once possessed, "You usually don't like it when I play games."

Oh...so I already acted out of character for whatever was going on here? At least I have a justification for my actions, and so I smile down at my son while patting him on his mane of wild silver-white hair.

"Everyone needs to wind down now and again. Your father taught me that."

Kayto indeed had taught me the importance of taking a break here and there, though that advice was largely ignored by in the many years since he had shown mehow to do something other than work. I had become quite the shut-in when it came to doing schoolwork and fulfilling obligations when we got to high school, and it grated on Kayto that I no longer was willing to just hang out with him and have fun. Perhaps that was the first step I took towards leaving him behind...I pushed him away by just making myself unapproachable and by sanctioning my time spent in specific ways.

Each day though, as stalwart as I could act, burying my head in homework and paperwork regarding the student council had been killing me inside. If Kayto had not been there to help me through all of that, I am not quite sure I could have reached the end and been able to forcibly change my environment like I had. Even I have a breaking point, and without Kayto I may have well burned out. Even the occasional bits of fun I did allow myself to have with him kept me from that crushing loneliness I had placed upon myself.

So, if here I am married to Kayto, I don't see why I should not impart the same wisdom he granted to me to our shared offspring.

Also, a selfish part of me is interested in having this son of mine be as smart as he can be, so if he wants to have a hobby that cultivates a brilliant mind like his father's then I am quite supportive of it, even if the whole concept of suddenly having a child is still settling in my mind.

"Additionally, I hear strategy games are good for the mind rather than rotting it."

"Maray likes the Ryder ones, at least I think…" my son murmurs as he focuses on his game, "Are they any good?"

Maray, Kayto's sister...

Kayto's dead sister, killed along with the city she was in the day Kayto became the Captain of the Sunrider. He left home behind to chase after me, and in leaving her behind he lost her...but if he had not decided to become a member of the military and rise through the ranks to join me one day, he may very well have been killed along with Maray.

My son's tone and the way he spoke implies that the Maray he speaks of is not Kayto's sister but rather a sibling of his own, for I would like to think this well mannered child would have called her 'Aunt Maray'. Kayto had said 'kids', and I would not be surprised if he did actually name one after his lost sister. A tribute to the family he lost.

Maray...you were always an annoying brat, like many a sibling I hear, but you meant the world to Kayto. That PACT would be so ruthless as to attack innocent civilians like yourself is why we fight. If we were only moving forward for the sake of survival we may not have gotten as far as we have, for as strong as survival instincts and the desire to live can be, outrage and the power one can draw from grief can overpower that. The Sunrider's crew wants to take its revenge in one form or another, for our lost friends, our lost families...for all that PACT has taken from us.

I wish that smiling, white-haired teenage girl I remember was still here. I do not have a sister, but she always was like one in a way...she always wanted to tag along with her dear brother, which meant the times he was trying to spend time with me resulted in the three of us being together.

I suppose it makes sense in a way then that Kayto and I would name our daughter after her. I wonder how much she looks like Maray? Is she her spitting image thanks to her father's hair or just what does she look like?

Now, back to the young child expecting an answer from me. Ryder video games, yay or nay? I actually have no clue.

"I would have to look into it."

He's so much like his father…but not entirely. I can actually see pieces of myself in him, even if outwardly he is a near clone of his father.

"I am going to go see your sister."

He makes no argument as I stand up to go search the house for his sibling, his eyes glued to the screen before him as he destroys an enemy fleet with his own far smaller one. He is smiling though, and I think I made his day by agreeing to his request.

My son, of whom I do not know the name and am unwilling to ask for obvious embarrassing reasons, is so...nice. He's polite too, not like his snarky father or his...less than diplomatic mother.

So he is kind, and well-mannered...and apparently quite intelligent if he is playing those complex strategy games at the level he was at his age. Eight...maybe seven? Whatever his exact age is, I can't help but feel proud of him. My son...

I grin as I think about that fact. Somehow I have a son with Kayto, and he's perfect. Not only that, Kayto is a loving husband to me by the looks of things, caring for my health and bringing me breakfast. This is a family life completely unlike any I have experienced, and to feel it makes me feel as if I am being spoiled.

How many times have I thought about being with him now? How many times have I, since we met again, wished in part that things were different between us...

This…this is nice. Even if the fact that I am seemingly in some alternate world is freaking me out on the inside. This can't be my own, I realize. I must be dreaming, because I am no older now than I was when I went to sleep on the Sunrider, and yet here I have a family that is years in the making.

There did not appear to be any looming threat of PACT here if how comfortably we all are living in this house is any indication, a house I have come to realize is quite large and spacious in my brief experience with it so far. Kayto and I were together rather than estranged, and it seemed that I had never left him behind if my son's age was any indication.

I have to be dreaming. That's the only way I can explain any of this.

The question is then if I want this to be a dream or not...

"Maray?"

Unlike her brother, my daughter has more than my eyes and looks just like her mother. She has my hair the same way and length I had it in when I was that age, maybe four or five, not to mention it being the same color. If my son is a near clone of his father, Maray is a almost perfect clone of me, and she now has her small arms wrapped around my leg.

"Mommy!"

She has just come inside as if she had been out without my knowledge, though I suppose Kayto could have let her out into our yard after he fed her. I was in bed a fair amount of time, so he had ample time to do that, and if his warm smile greeting her in meant anything it was probably that since he did not appear at all worried by her having been outside the house. And that he loved her, as he bent down to pick her up in his arms and give her a loving hug as she giggled and cuddled up into him.

"Mother."

Maray looks back from her father to me, seemingly used to me correcting her use of language since she instantly went to trying to mimic and use the word I said.

"Moth-her?"

"Mother. It is the proper manner in which to refer to your female progenitor," I explain, wanting to be referred to in the correct manner by her and my son both. I grew up in a very strict home and I doubt my parenting is too far off that, though I doubt I use the same...extremes my father did to emphasize his lessons.

Still, as she looks at me the thought that I made this little girl is still surreal to me. In my world, or my universe I should say, the thought of me ever having children is a forlorn subject...the one man I've ever loved is someone I cannot have, and I certainly am not getting any younger even if I am not too old yet to bear them. Factor in ten years to get over Kayto (as it took a decade to get this distant from him, though I am not sure I ever could truly forget him), a few for looking for a suitable husband, an engagement period, and then marriage, and I am well into my forties...

So having this sweet little girl who looks just like me in my arms is making me smile a smile I didn't think I would ever wear even as I correct her manner of speaking.

"Projenny?"

"Progeny is what you are," I raise a hand out to touch her sweet four or five year old face, "And boy do you look every part our child."

Maray again tries to copy what I was saying, "Prodigy?"

Kayto laughs as he kisses Maray on the top of her head, "I hope."

I hope too that she is like her brother. I am...not quite sure how I would deal with a stupid child. Or even an average one.

"Hey everyone, I'm hooome!"

That voice is familiar...

My eyes widen as I look up to see just why Maray had gone outside a short while ago: she was greeting a member of the family while her father finished some of his cooking.

Jaw slackened, eyes completely shocked, I look and see Kayto's should-be-dead sister standing here before us all.

"Maray?"

This can't be...this truly must be a dream or some completely different world I have found myself in, because I am seeing a ghost. A ghost which has such supernatural powers over me that I can feel my eyes watering and almost reaching the point of crying as I am shown a live and well Maray who is no longer a child but rather a full grown woman who hasn't been murdered in cold blood by PACT.

Maray rushes across the entrance to the house to join us, her arms wrapping around both my and Kayto's bodies as she tried to pull us into a family hug, "Hey, if it isn't my favorite big sis! How's the politics business?"

I still can't believe it...everything else I could try, though fail, to convince myself was all some elaborate ruse, like someone was pulling the wool over my eyes, but Maray...she actually is here.

"Maray?" I can't help but say to myself in a quiet voice as I feel her brush up against me.

Kayto's sister has seemingly changed her attention from me to the little girl bearing the same name as her in Kayto's arms, nuzzling up against her and speaking in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Awww, you're so cute!" she giggled at her own words, "What am I saying? Of course you do! You take after your auntie after all!"

My eyes narrow at Maray. No, she doesn't. She takes after me. All she took from you is your name.

"Hey, guess what? Your favorite aunt got you something!"

That is a rigged contest, given that Maray is Maray's only aunt. It also means that she is her least favorite aunt by the same standard. Still, Maray digs into the handbag she brought and pulls out a small gift of some sort. It mesmerizes my daughter as Kayto reveals just why I married him.

"You're her only aunt…"

I grin at our shared reaction. Kayto's mouth sometimes would get him into hot water, often times with me, but at this moment a serving of snark is welcome.

"Her only aunt who also gets her presents," Maray tries to amend as she hands off her gift.

Kayto isn't having any of it though, revealing the Captain side of him I know quite well from when he is on duty, even though I have a feeling this Kayto has never been one, "Maray, stop spoiling Maray. You always get her gifts, and if you just keep getting her things she'll come to expect them."

"Oh you're no fun, Kayto!" she turns to me to try and get my backing as our daughter fiddles with the present given to her to try and open the small box, "Ava, tell him to lighten up!"

…does she know who she is talking to?

The more she looks at me with that goofy grin, the more I realize who it is I'm dealing with. Still…

"Maray, listen to your brother. I will not have you spoiling her, or her brother."

This refusal to indulge her spoiling tendencies earns Kayto and I a displaced tongue, Maray making a face at both of us.

"Fun police, fun police!"

Annoying as she might be at times, I am glad to see her here and alive...Kayto deserves to have her still. He never did anything to warrant all that he lost that day, and yet PACT took it from him anyways.

My relief at seeing her aside, she's sticking her tongue out at us. Measures must be taken given that there is a child here.

"Maray, put that tongue back in your mouth this instant! I will not have you corrupting my daughter with such disrespect!" I snap at her, my hand on my hip now.

The drill sergeant side of me has slipped out and Kayto's sister instantly reels her tongue right back in and takes a step back in seeming fear, the child named after her doing something similar by burying herself in Kayto's chest.

"Mommy scary."

I…I suppose I am, haha. I'm the one who will crack the whip while Kayto goes and gives his inspiring speeches and the like to others.

Still, seeing my own daughter be afraid of me...a girl just like the one who lived in fear of her own father...it hurts me in a place in my heart I didn't know I had. My face must have really contorted, as I didn't think I sounded too harsh...or maybe I am just so used to sounding caustic that I don't even realize it when my tone takes a turn for the worse.

I would contemplate the issue more if not for Kayto's sister bursting out in laughter, having recovered from the initial shock of my response.

"Haha, that's the Ava I know!"

"My apologies, I suppose I overreacted."

I can go from 0 to 100 on a normal day when the situation calls for it, but I think that perhaps the maternal side of me, if I do actually possess one as I am learning I do, prompted that. I want the best for my children, even though it feels as if I only just met them.

Years back, isn't this the sort of 'happy ending' I wished for myself and Kayto in the back of my mind, a part I didn't like letting out even in thought? A happy, if mundane, life where I could live with Kayto and not be devoting every waking moment to some form of work?

"Haha, no worries. If you weren't such a stubborn stick in the mud you wouldn't be the Ava we know and love."

Something like that might hurt someone else, but it is actually kind of reassuring to me. It means that they understand who I am and don't really expect me to act differently, though the fact that Kayto is laughing makes me want to nudge him.

Come to think of it, I will.

"Owww!"

"Daddy have boo-boo?"

"Your father will have many more should he continue to laugh at his spouse."

"You're grinning! You want to laugh at me too!"

"Maybe a little."

We're having fun, and then Kayto's sister decides to jump back in...

"Is this your foreplay?"

Oh right. I forgot. She is obsessed with those romance games or whatever where you play as a character who can date other characters in the game. Or, in theory should be able, since I remember Maray complaining once when a game didn't let her choose and forced her character to be with one she despised and knew was actually evil. If I hadn't had the misfortune of hearing about it for an entire car ride once I'd have forgotten that too.

Maray has a filthy mind, and I think we should train her to not ever say something like that again in front of our children. Starting now.

"Maray, remember to watch what you say around those younger than you."

"Hehe, you're just mad I called you on it."

"You didn't call me on anything, you just are needlessly injecting your trash ridden mind into a perfectly normal situation."

"When are you going to learn that I don't learn?"

"You—"

We start to argue on the topic, but in my head all I can think about is the circumstances I currently am in. I know something is wrong, out of place, but I don't know what yet.

This is all so…it's all so different. Is this world just like my own, but divergent due to some decision I made? Is this what would have happened if I stayed with Kayto back at High School? But then what about PACT? Given what Kayto's sister said and some books and files around the house I think this version of me may be some kind of politician, so did something I do on that front change things for the better? The newspaper Kayto gave me with breakfast had no mention of any kind of war, so everything seems...better.

There are so many possibilities, and I have so many questions, but if I ask them all at once I will reveal my…foreign nature. This Kayto married his own Ava. An Ava who seemingly was willing to return his feelings and not abandon him. I'm not her…but I still feel an intense connection to this family all the same, as it is what I have wanted but have kept myself from having for years now. A hidden aspiration locked deep down in the deepest recesses of my mind, now played out right before me. The idea that I have children should be frightening, but seeing how happy everyone is…

Please, let this be real. I know it can't possibly be, but the thought of returning back to the Sunrider now is frightening. After seeing Kayto care for me as a husband should, seeing our brilliant son and our adorable daughter, and now also having Maray back, facing a world where Kayto is falling for another woman after I've turned my back on him, the world is at war, Maray and my father are both dead...it just is not something that sounds in the least bit appealing. Please let that have been the dream, and for this to be my life. It feels like I have picked up right where I once left off, ignoring the years I spent hiding from Kayto to try and abandon my past.

"Mommy, why are you crying?"

I notice that as I've been mindlessly going back and forth with Maray, my eyes have teared up completely. Kayto hands me our daughter and I take a moment to look at her, look into her brown eyes that are so similar to my own, and I find the doubts and pain wracking my mind begin to fade.

This is how things should be. How they should have been, if I hadn't left Kayto. If PACT hadn't destroyed our home.

"It's nothing, Maray. And remember, it is 'mother', not 'mommy'."

"Yes mothor."

I grin as I bring her into a hug, one which I feel as if I never want to let go, and over her shoulder I can see Kayto and Maray's namesake both smiling over at me.

This is too good to be true, and I know it, but that doesn't mean I can't hold onto it for as long as I can.

A/N: Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. If you have any thoughts they are most welcome in the review section below, and for any wondering, yes, this isn't a oneshot. Expect more to come!