As always thanks for reading. The end of this chapter contains smut. Sorry, not sorry.
Pandora turns one with little to no fanfare, now walking and talking. Mama, Mommy, and Dada are the only real words she knows: but she's learning as fast as she grows, a little more each day.
Her diet no longer consists of milk, now relying solely on algae to fuel her tiny bones. She's understandably not a fan, but eats it all the same. Emori and Murphy both know about the strange purple blood Isla saw in the umbilical cord. Understanding that Pandora may in fact be a nightblood, but mutually deciding they don't need to know for sure.
The little girl, with skin a shade lighter than her mother's, kept her father's blue eyes and nose; for which he often told her, 'sorry kid'. Her hair, the color of Emori's, is growing quickly into soft curls. She's fascinated by the lights of the rocket simulator and more often goes to work with Emori. For the simple fact that the lab is full of things she can't eat, but wants to more than anything.
Murphy made a sling to carry her out of an old sheet, but Pandora is growing out of it too quickly for his liking. It fills his chest with something between sadness and joy. Their daughter was a spitfire. She even managed to put Harper and Monty's baby fever to rest after just a few short months of life.
"Where's P?" John says playfully, as he dresses her for the day. Her shirt caught over her head, hiding her tiny face from view. Murphy and Emori never understood the appeal of baby talk, they speak to their little girl the same way they'd speak to anyone else. Isla on the other hand was known for using a ridiculously high pitched tone, going on about her 'sweet snookem bookem' which made Pandora giggle wildly.
"Dada," her little voice carries out from beneath the fabric.
"There's P!" He pops the shirt over her head.
She screams rolling away from him.
"Come on kid, we've gotta drop you off with Mama."
"Mama," She repeats.
"Today is a big day. Today we find out if we're going back to the ground." Murphy tells his daughter, lifting her off the bed. Blue eyes staring up at him as her left hand toys with the neck of his t-shirt. "If our hard work pays off we can rest easy. Mommy and me will have more time to play with you."
"Mommy," she cooes fondly.
"I love you." He kisses her chubby cheek. Pandora slaps her hands together in response, squishing his face between her palms as he walks them down the long hallway. Laughing endlessly at the way his lips stick out because of it.
"Good morning, co pilot." Raven greets Pandora when she sees them emerge from the door of the control room. "You're hanging with Mommy and Dada today." The mechanic shoots him a, 'what the hell are you doing here Murphy,' look.
"No can do, we're testing out the hydrozen substitute." He attempts to hand the toddler off to her. "Sorry Raven, today we get to make it go boom."
"Emori's suited up for a spacewalk. Do you want to be the one to tell her she can't go?" Raven challenges, not accepting Pandora into her arms. "Didn't think so. Maybe Bellamy's free." She kisses the child's outstretched hand.
"Ok P, say bye to Raven. I guess you're coming with me." John huffs.
"Bye babygirl." The mechanic blows Pandora a kiss.
Pandora opens and closes her left fist several times, attempting a wave. It's interesting that her 'special hand' also appears to be her dominant one.
"Mama! Mama!" The little girl exclaims, pointing her tiny fingers out the window.
"Mama." Murphy nods, spotting Emori on the opposite side of the air lock. "She looks pretty silly huh? She's going on a space walk, that funky looking suit and helmet keeps her safe." He waves his arm to get her attention.
Emori looks away from the tether attachment she's fiddling with, smiling at the pair of them. Doing a little shimmy that earns a giggle from Pandora and a suggestive nod from John, tapping the glass lower, right where her ass is. Emori gives him an exasperated look with a single eyebrow raise; thanks a lot Isla for teaching her to do that. After all the time she's been spacewalking he's never been able to bring himself to watch the outside doors open on her, even if he knew she was safe. The idea of getting floated always plays at the back of his mind.
"Everything ok?" Emori asks.
The doors are sound proof, so he can't hear her, but he can make out the shape of her mouth forming 'ok.' John gives her a thumbs up and their daughter follows suit. Emori returns the gesture, the two of them continuing down the hallway.
She used to panic at the thought of Pandora being out of her sight, of John being out of her sight. Because all her life she lived in a world where people didn't come back, but here they do. She has a job and friends and a family, Emori has a home for the first time that isn't only with John. She's happy here, she's important to her people, she's useful, she's thriving. She misses her brother; but she doesn't miss what was before.
Murphy however does, miss what was before. When Emori needed him. It was nice, to feel that security, like she would never leave. With Isla it was different, she never needed him, not really. She would come and go, but they circled around each like two planets in geosynchronous orbit. Sometimes out of sight, often out of reach, but always there. Always existing, always coming back around, but never really belonging to him. Never being his to lose, Emori had been his, and somehow she wasn't anymore. That resignated deep inside his chest, deep inside his mind, and he hates himself for it.
Emori loves to spacewalk, to feel like she is a speck amongst the stars. She doesn't want to disappear forever, she just wants to be free. And she is, until Raven starts barking orders at her.
"Where's Bellamy?" John asks when Echo opens the door. Leaning casually against the frame like she owns the place. That's new.
"He went to check on things in the lab." Echo tells him. "I hear you may have finally done it, if that's the case congratulations. We found this to celebrate." She produces a half empty bottle of alcohol.
"Thanks." Murphy eyes her indifferently, "is this gonna be like a thing now?"
"It's no secret...but because of what happened with Octavia on that cliff-"
"Bellamy and I took turns hanging eachother." From the look on the spy's face, John realizes this is news to her. "He was cool with us. Isla will be cool with you. That was a long time ago; bygones. Anyway, I need someone to watch Pandora for the next half hour before I get my ass chewed out. Are you game?"
"I'll take her." Echo nods, holding her arms out.
"There's diapers in here, they're prefolded. For the love of god, do not unfold them, the smaller cloths are wipes. Wet them if you need to, toys are in here too." He hands the bag off to Echo. "If there's an emergency, bring her down to us in the lab, Emori's spacewalking."
"Murphy, I've got it. We'll be fine." She's the only person on the Ring who's never baby sat Pandora before. But she's helped plenty over the past year, she has a good idea as to what she's doing. The little girl reaches up, with her deformed hand, tugging at one of Echo's braids.
In Azgeda, she would have been killed at birth. Frikdreina were useless, or so they were told. The former Ice Nation spy wonders how many wonderful children, just like this one, had been slaughtered simply because they didn't know any better. Echo smooths the little girl's hair down, pushing those dark times away.
"We doing this or what?" Murphy says, strutting into the lab as if he's not tremendously late.
"Took you long enough." Isla narrows her brown eyes into slits, watching him dawn his goggles to match the other occupants of the room.
"Yeah, well, your girlfriend neglected to mention her early morning spacewalk." Girlfriend; that didn't sound quite right anymore.
"No she didn't," Isla argues. "I told you last night, you were getting Pandora dressed and dropping her off."
"You didn't tell me I wasn't dropping her off with Emori." John explains patiently, "that's kind of an important detail."
Isla shrugs, clearly preoccupied, "sorry. You want to do the honors?" Isla holds out the white cube of sulfate to him. They've talked about what should happen when he drops it in the red liquid. It will dissolve into the compound and cause a reaction, between bubbles and foam. But something should happen and when it doesn't he knows, it doesn't work. Isla is gone from the lab in a flash, whipping off her goggles and tossing them to the floor.
She has never felt so utterly defeated, pulling the sheet of paper with the formula on it from of her pocket. Ready to tear it into shreds, until John stops her.
"Hey," he puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey baby," he tries again to get her to face him. When she won't, he continues anyway. "It could be off by just a number."
"Which number?" She cries hopelessly, spinning on her heels, and thrusting the paper into his face.
He doesn't understand the sequence, just a bunch of numbers and letters jumbled together. "I don't know," he takes it from her, drawing her to his chest. "I don't know, but we'll figure it out."
"How the hell are we gonna do that when this took me over three damn years? I don't know how to do this. I'm not smart enough, I don't have the experience I need to-"
"You need to breathe," Murphy cuts her off. "You're limited to what we have access to, you're making a hydrozen substitute out of substituted properties. Maybe some of the ingredients can't be substituted, and if that's the case-" He grabs her chin, forcing her to make eye contact, "if it is, then it doesn't matter how smart you are. You can't get blood out of a turnip."
"We knew it was a long shot from the beginning," Isla nods in agreement, "but I really thought this was going to work."
"Who knows, maybe I just mixed it wrong." John shrugs, he hopes that he has. "I've been known to do that."
"Isla! Murphy!" Bellamy yelling from the lab has them sprinting back down the hallway.
"What's wrong?" Isla demands.
"Is it gonna blow up." Harper asks, pointing toward the bubbling vat of magenta liquid.
"Oh my god." The chemist breathes.
"Everybody get out." Monty instructs.
"No Monty! Monty...it's working." Murphy says in disbelief.
For the first time, in what feels like forever, Isla allows herself to think about her sister. About what was waiting for her on the ground. While she wouldn't see her for nearly two more years...she would see Octavia someday. Someday was more than she had allowed herself to hope for in a very long time.
Once Pandora is sound asleep, Emori takes the baby monitor down to the common area; where they indulge in the victory vodka. Bellamy waits until Isla is sufficiently buzzed before breaking the news about Echo.
"Are you happy Bell?" She asks, her voice louder than it needs to be.
"Yes," he tells her truthfully.
"Then I'm happy for you." She tosses an arm over his shoulder, and the other around Echo's. "Listen Echo I don't judge, people change. People wanna talk shit because you stabbed a girl and pushed her off a cliff? Screw 'em. They want to hold a grudge because you helped blow up a bunch skaikru during the summit? They can float themselves. It was for your people and I respect that. I tried to put Emori into an oven once for my people. Now she is my people, that's life. What are you gonna do besides move on? You're useful now, you've helped us all, and more than proven yourself, plus my kid likes you and I trust her judgment more than Bellamy's."
"Alright kid." The older boy laughs, "I think you've had enough to drink. We can keep P for the night if you want."
"Oh, we want." Murphy over hears them.
"Johnny-" Isla begins to protest.
"We could have actual sex." John says none too quietly.
His statement sparks Emori's interest. "What about the baby?"
"Bellamy and my girl Echo," Isla gives her an exaggerated wink. "See what I did there? Are gonna take her for the night."
"Welcome to the family," Emori holds the bottle out for the former Azgeda spy.
Echo accepts the offering, taking a small swig, both her and Bellamy abstaining from getting drunk like the rest of them. Monty and Harper leave shortly after Echo and Bellamy, presumably to have some 'actual sex,' of their own. Raven stays until she can't keep her eyes open any longer.
Leaving the three of them to stumble back to their bedroom, stripping as they go, a trail of clothing abandoned in the hallway. Occasionally pausing for a kiss, and sometimes tripping over one another. But eventually they make it, falling naked onto the mattress in a sea of laughter.
Emori almost forgot how much fun they used to have, in the beginning. Before work and responsibilities and Pandora. Not to say she wasn't grateful for her life now, because she was. But once upon a time, they were just a threesome of horny eighteen year olds, exploring eachother...she misses that. Tonight, she feels eighteen again.
She watches the way John smooths his thumb over the perfect 'o' of Isla's pink lips, how her tongue darts out to taste the pad of his finger. The way John leans over to meet Emori's mouth right after. Isla nudges him away after a moment, with her nose to his cheek, so that she can do the same. Emori now touches her with both hands, kneading her breasts, in a way she was too self conscious to do in the beginning. Emori's way of saying, I love you, I trust you, with all of me.
Murphy watches, sucking at the sensative skin of Emori's neck.
"John," Emori says breathlessly.
"Hmm?" He hums.
"I want you to fuck her." The brunette leans forward, sucking one of Isla's nipples between her teeth.
"My pleasure." Murphy grins.
"You want that too, don't you, love?" Emori turns her attention to Isla. Running a finger over the blonde's lips, the same way John had.
"Yes," Isla sighs. "I want to taste you. Can I? Please."
Emori nods, she never could say no to her. Emori moves up to rest on the pillows, face up, legs apart, waiting for only a second before Isla's mouth is on her. John gives Emori one last, lingering, kiss before moving away. Leaning down, brushing the wayward curls from Isla's face and whispering something Emori can't hear. Pecking her cheek lightly and slinking down the bed.
John fucks into their lover without preamble. Gripping her hips harshly, his finger tips biting into her skin. Isla likes that; a little bit of pain with her pleasure. She didn't always. John has his suspicions that Roan had made her that way, but he doesn't like to think about it too much. The same way Isla doesn't read too much into the fact that he's taken a liking to being lightly choked from time to time.
John stretches over the woman between them, in search of Emori. One of her hands find his. She likes the noise Isla makes when John tells her that she's 'such a good fucking girl,' pressing kisses into her spine. Emori likes that, almost as much as the vibrations that noise sends straight into her cunt. She likes that the most, fisting her free hand into Isla's locks, so she can see her properly. Isla's tongue stutters against her clit.
"She likes that, right there." Emori pants, John's eyes now boring into hers.
He smirks, "yes she does." He can feel it too, Isla's inner walls clenching at his cock, trying to pull him deeper. Murphy bites down on his bottom lip as he watches Emori's right hand leave Isla's hair to cup her own breasts, rolling her nipple between her thumb and forefinger. "Yeah baby," he encourages, "so pretty."
Emori cums soon after, Isla's tongue darting in and out of her. Seeking out every drop of her wetness, until it's too much and she pushes her mouth away.
Isla reaches her climax next, crying out against Emori's thigh. Sending short puffs of air across her skin.
John picks up the pace then, ready to follow.
"Wait." Emori hums, "let me."
He listens, withdrawing himself from Isla's still pulsing wetness. His erection jutting out painfully between his hips.
"Stand up," Emori demands, sinking to her knees on the floor.
"Fuck," Murphy swears, she's so perfect. He stands in front of her, waiting impatiently. "Please Emori."
The brunette leans forward, sucking him deep into her mouth, her cheeks hollow out as she sucks him. The sweetness of Isla's cunt still clinging to his skin.
"Love you baby," John tells Emori, stroking his thumb over her cheek, "love your mouth." It doesn't take him long to finish, she swallows all he gives her.
"I love you too." Emori says, smirking slyly as she pulls away, sinking back on her heels and swiping the back of her hand over her mouth. Then moving to her feet and back onto the bed with Isla.
"That was amazing." Isla notes from her position against the wall, making room for John on the opposite side and Emori sandwiched happily between them. They haven't done anything so sexually elaborate since their daughter was born, and that was pretty tame compared to some of the bedroom acrobatics they used to perform back in the day.
Emori and John laugh in agreement.
"We should have another." Emori suggests, the effects of the alcohol still running rampant in her system.
"Another?" Isla giggles.
"A sibling is a best friend for life," Emori say, almost as if she forgot that her own brother was no longer around, "...they're supposed to be."
"I wouldn't know." John shrugs, tapping his fingers against Emori's skin.
"You're not wrong," Isla kisses her shoulder sweetly. "I'd love another little you guys running around."
"Maybe a little you and John." Emori hesitates at the way she freezes, then completely withdraws herself.
"Me and John?" A half sibling, just like her and Octavia. Isla knows that this is different than what happened with her parents and Aurora. This wouldn't be a child created on a foundation of lies and infidelity. This would be a child created out of love, a child the three of them decide to have together. A child that would be wanted and loved, raised by parents who loved each other. Not like her and Octavia at all.
"A baby with these dimples, blonde hair, and John's eyes. Or dark hair and your eyes-" Emori has thought about it. Especially after Pandora had first learned to crawl, she assumed Isla would want to carry that child, maybe she was wrong.
"Ask me again when we get to the ground." Isla says, she'll be ready then.
"You owe me at least one; for the oven." Emori says jokingly. Isla knows that Emori would never force her to do anything she didn't want to.
"When we get to the ground." The chemist agrees, "one. Just one."
"Jeez Isles," Murphy scoffs, "try not to sound so excited about it."
"I am, just surprised me, that's all. I'd love to have your baby." It's true, she would, "just not right now."
