Chapter 25: inheritance

Julian.

It was growing more insistent. The pull, the suction into the dark. Or was it the light of the White Hot Room? He struggled
against the sheets, held back by invisible forces, sweat trickling down his skin. He arched upwards, fighting the space's
grasp. No…stay away. He shook his head.

You called me here. I am your inheritance.

I don't want it, go back.

I am part of you as you are part of me. He winced, his skin was on fire. He watched as it was flayed away from his muscles again
by Sooraya. It didn't stop there—it tore them apart, right down to the bones of his arm. He flexed his hand, the structures
glowing white in the dark. They were like the core of a star.

Listen.

He was somewhere entirely different now, in empty space, streaming across. Floating. He was colliding, surrounding an empty core,
breathing life. He was in every plant, every animal, every micro organism. Every eukaryotic cell, every archaebacteria. Every virus.
He was evolving, along with life. It seemed to take forever and yet no time at all.

Stop fighting.

Objects whirled around the room faster; they'd been in slow orbit, around his unconscious mind. He sat up.

"Julian," Laura said, her voice firm. "Wake up."

He looked at her, unseeing; a trickle of something akin to fear travelled down Laura's spine. His eyes weren't green. They were white, glowing white.

They were smoldering.

"Wake up!" She smacked him across the cheek.

Julian seemed to clear. He rubbed his stinging, burning face and groaned. The objects fell to the floor in a shattering crash.

…

"Whoa, dude. Nice shiner. Who gave it to you?" Santo asked.

Julian flushed. Laura's slap last night had been harder than both had thought; he'd bruised like a peach. Which was odd—considering
he had healed his entire skin just a few weeks ago.

"Abusive wife," he said flatly.

"Laura gave that to you? Holy shit. She's like half your size." Santo grinned. "You musta really pissed her off. What'd you do?"

"Don't remember. She said I was really blanked out. I was having the weirdest dream…apparently I lifted a whole bunch of shit with
my brain and did the orbit thing…only it was half the room."

"I'd hit you, too, if I saw you do that." Santo commented. "Fuck, I'd hit you just because." He grinned.

"Jerk," Julian mumbled, opening the fridge. "Fuck you."

"You wish."

"Oh—I thought up a good one," Julian said, grinning himself. "You and Cessily are literally a rock and a hard place."

"Dude, that's so wrong," Santo grunted. "And this from the guy that's doing a science experiment. I hope she doesn't make a clone of you."

Julian caught a movement out of the corner of his eye; Laura was turning away. "You asshole," he swore at Santo, slamming
the fridge and running after the upset girl.

"What? I didn't know she was there," Santo called after him.

…

"He called me a science experiment," Laura said angrily. "He said I was going to clone you." Tears were running down her face;
Julian vaguely realized that she had hit it—she was now officially hormonal.

"Laura—he was joking. Please don't get upset. I was being mean to him first."

Laura turned away. "Please, leave. I do not wish to discuss this."

"No," Julian said, trying not to sound exasperated. "You are not doing that to me. Please, listen to what I'm saying. Be as upset as
you want—but be reasonable about it."

"Reasonable!" Laura fumed. "I do not see how I am being 'un' reasonable. He accused me of performing science experiments
such as the one that created me."

"It was a joke," Julian pointed out again.

"I do not know what a 'joke' is!" Laura clenched her fists. "All I see is people not meaning what they are saying. What is the point of
that? Why tell a lie when it is unnecessary? I do not understand."

"Laura…we grow up knowing something is true…and we tell jokes about those things, because we all know how the thing really is.
For some reason, it's funny. Or something is really out of place. Do you remember the first time I made you laugh?"

"…" Laura looked at him, uncertain. "Yes."

"I said something completely inadequate and out of place in a bad situation. You thought it was funny…so you laughed. That's how people
joke. They do it purposely, sometimes…and it makes others smile. Didn't you feel good when you laughed?"

"I thought I had broken something internally," Laura said gravely.

Julian continued to watch her expectantly.

"Yes." Laura looked away. She felt that Julian was trying to point out something to her, something that would prove she was wrong to
feel angry, and she didn't like it. Her anger felt right.

"Exactly. People make each other laugh…sometimes out of affection. I like Santo…as a friend…so I try to make him laugh, sometimes."

"Oh." Laura avoided his gaze. "Do you try to make me laugh?"

"Yes," he said. "And smile. Which you do a lot more than you used to." He touched her cheek, his thumb running over her lips.

"I love seeing you smile, beautiful. I hope you know that."

Laura flushed slightly. "Yes," she said quietly.

Julian pondered on how complicated their relationship could be. They were married now, with a kid on the way, and here he was explaining
the concepts of jokes and laughter to her—and she was angry because she had misunderstood him. Sometimes he felt like they'd gone right
back to the beginning, and he was standing outside Laura's door all over again, rubbing his neck and wondering if he should be doing this—
trying to tell her he liked her. But if he didn't, it'd eat away at him forever, and he'd never get any sleep.

He took her hand. "Come on. Santo's going to apologize to you, and then we'll go out somewhere for dinner. Okay?"

"Okay," she said.

…

"No way! I am not apologizing, Keller. That was a well-deserved burn."

"Santo…to Laura, not me," Julian said, Laura watching with folded arms. "Look, I'll go first. 'Dear Santo, I'm sorry I aggravated you by labeling you
and Cessily. It was wrong and I am going to hell for it. The End.' Good? Your turn."

Santo grinned.

"Okay, okay, fine, Jebus. Laura, I said it to Keller, not you. I don't really think you're cloning him or anything. I'm sure your baby will be all pink and
wiggly and loud like normal, and won't inherit his daddy's mutant powers of gigantic ego and power trip. Thank God for M-day."

Julian smacked Santo on the back of his head. "Shut up," he said. "There, Laura, happy? He said sorry."

"Technically, the word 'sorry' was not amongst the fifty-two words used," Laura said. "However, it is sufficient. You said we were going for dinner, Julian?"

Julian cleared his throat, trying to ignore Laura's reaction.

Santo shook his head. "You married her, dude," he mumbled. "The whole reason I came to this little super-hero team is just to watch you guys.
You're more entertaining than the Sopranos. Oh, yeah, and I keep vaguely hoping we're going to go up against the young avengers and the
Hulkling. I still think that'd be awesome."

…

"My, my. Quite advanced for just three-and-half months along," Hank murmured, studying Laura's latest ultrasounds. The pictures showed a
large white curl in the center of a black space, complete with limbs, a developed head, and a almost completely shrunken tail.

It was a girl.

Julian rubbed his neck. "You think…you think it's coming out soon?" They were sitting around the kitchen table, he, Laura, and Hank, each
with a steaming mug of tea on a coaster (according to Cessily's insistence; she still was not talking to them, so the orders for coasters
had technically come from Santo).

"It is entirely possible," Hank said with raised eyebrows. "However, at the rate it has been developing so far…you have at least another two months."

"Shit." Julian put his face in his hands. "Not good." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Laura's hands were under the table,
and her shoulders were moving. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, jerking it away with a scolding expression; Laura looked away guiltily.

Hank ignored it, assuming it was an inside thing.

"You should increase your calorie intake, Laura, by another 300 daily. Perhaps more; I suspect your healing factor consumes energy
just by being active. An additional 500 daily calories would probably be wise. And double your zinc."

"Okay," Laura said.

"Guess we have some shopping to do," Julian said, hating himself for speaking the thought aloud.

"Shopping?" Laura asked.

…

"I haven't been in a place like this since I was five," Julian said, feeling embarrassed to be standing in the baby department of toys 'r us.
Laura looked just as lost; she was holding a list that they had made the night previous. She'd been unaware of babies requiring anything
else than what she was naturally equipped with, since the only thing she had as a child was a barren white cell.

She'd been surprised to discover the infant would require clothes, for another thing. Or toys. She'd had nothing but a hospital gown as a child, let alone toys.

"What is the purpose of this?" she asked, holding a rattle.

"Um, kids like noise?" he asked back, at a loss himself. Laura examined the rattle, then put it back on the shelf. The assortment of bright objects
with strange smells confused her; she was worried it would also confuse the offspring—baby.

But if other babies had these sorts of things, hers would, too. The evil Social Services facility would not have her offspring—child. She picked up a
ring-shaped thing with keys on it and added it to the cart. Julian raised his eyebrows, leaning on the cart handle.

"It might be useful in future training," Laura explained. "I will teach it to pick locks."

"This kid is fucked," Julian sighed.