Chapter 1 – Reminiscence

Matt Ishida was looking through the glass of his study window. His mind wandered through an undefined sadness.

'Dad!'

His son's voice broke the comfortable silence. A boy with red-brown hair came up at the door. He had a round face and an innocent but worried look.

' Can you come play with me now?'

'Sure, Nick, in a minute.'

Those steady blue eyes turned to the desk again. In it was a plan of a space mission, one of those he hadn't take part in a long time. What a surprise had been to his dad, when he said he was considering going to an Astronaut department in college. He wasn't particular interested in physics, but discovered he was not bad at it. a bit of help from his doubtful friend Izzy, and it was easy to carry on with it. of course, that part of his life hadn't been easy…Sora and him had broke up, because they guessed the relationship wouldn't handle the distance. And besides, they had been in bad terms before that…maybe bitter was a better word. She wanted independence; she didn't want her high school sweetheart to keep her in the same place.

Oh yes, the pain, the desperation he had felt. He was so accustomed to her presence, that sweet smile, smooth skin and the warmth of her touch, that losing her gave him a powerful shock. The tears in her eyes had told him it wasn't easy to take that decision. Maybe she still felt love. But he had felt betrayed. Terribly weeks passed on, in which he experience drugs, alcohol and women in a rhythm that shocked all of his friends. The most loyal of them, Tai, rescued him out, an difficult and evil task that almost cost their friendship. Not that had been the first time. Then after that time, sora and him gradually became friends again…not sure how it went through. Maybe they hadn't been capable of staying away. She in fact pushed him to go to that college with the astronaut course. To her, that interest of his hadn't been a surprise.

That had been long time ago. Well, he thought smiling, not that long. Thirteen years, it seems. How different he was back then. Of course now he understood, quite well, that Sora had made the right decision for both of them. She always seemed to know what was right for everybody, which in the beginning made him quite suspicious of her gift. Sora, the 'older sister' of a group of 8 children between 8 and 11 years old, who couldn't possibly have saved the world without her. She then had little importance in his life, maybe because of the fact Matt was a complete selfish person, thinking of only his brother and himself. That changed in its due time, and so the feeling he had towards her.

A hand touched his neck.

His wife was looking at him, her soft hand on his face.

'What's the matter, matt? Nicky is waiting for you.'

He smiled at her. 'I know.'

'is it the mission? Does that make you sad?'

'No, of course not. I am where I want to be.'

'All right.' She kissed his lips in a very subtle touch that made him feel more loved than she had given him a long kiss. 'Do you want me to tell him you're busy?'

'No…'

They looked at each other closely and guessed what the other was thinking. Her eyes win a light melancholy, without losing the affection deep inside them.

A loss of a child could take most marriages to an end. That was not the case, since Matt completely assumed a role of anchor in their lives, keeping everything moving, unlike their usual routine, where she took the most important role. But his wife was a person of deep attachment to other people, something he always appreciated in her, as much as he hated it. it could bring her up or down, which made his task of nurturing her most hard and vital.

It was nevertheless, the reason of their union. Her necessity for giving affection and his desperate necessity of getting it, both completely settled on their childhood.

'Sora. Don't be sad.'

Too late. She was already thinking about her baby. Their baby.

'Come here.'

He put kisses on her neck, on her face, which really always made her better, since they were fifteen. The physics of their relationship had always been important.

'Come on, let's play with Nick and Willow.'

She smiled and agreed. He took one last look at the window, the rain starting to touch it slightly.

'Kain…'