And here it is... the final chapter!
"Urgh, there are people here."
"That is rather the point."
"I suppose I was hoping it would be rather small. Not… this."
Sally and Cheng's spacious living room (and dining room) is populated with several dozen people, while synthesised pop plays on a nearby speaker. It's more adults than Quill has ever had to be around, in such an enclosed space, since arriving on this planet.
"Kalei!" Sally approaches quickly, looking relieved to see her. "Thank god you're here."
"I'd never abandon you to all of this," Kalei assures her.
Sally gives her a grateful smile. "You two both look great."
"Thanks."
Sally's gaze shifts to Quill. "So I… guess you've never been to a New Year's Party before, huh?"
"No, it should be an… experience," Quill says uneasily, and Kalei gives her hand a squeeze.
"Well, if someone steals Kalei away, you and I can hide in the kitchen and eat food," Sally suggests. "Team Not Keen On Socialising."
"That's an option?" Quill asks, stunned.
"Not for the whole night, just if things get a bit much for you in here," Kalei tells her.
"I wouldn't think you'd be willing to spend time with me," Quill says to Sally with surprise, and the short biology teacher just shrugs and gives her a funny, resigned smile.
"I'd rather trade insults with you than have to deal with crowds like this, to be honest."
"Huh."
"Kalei, there you are!" One of the teachers from school, the history teacher, whose name Quill has never bothered to remember, waves Kalei over, and Kalei gives Quill's hand a squeeze before leaving her side to go and socialise.
Quill and Sally watch her go, the latter tilting her head a little.
"Is it just me, or is she walking a bit..." Sally trails off, and makes a hilarious face of disgust as she looks back at Quill. "Jesus H Roosevelt Christ. Of course. I can't believe you. Except, I can. I totally can, that's why she's wearing that fancy scarf thing like that too, isn't it? Okay, I need a drink."
"Can I have one?"
"Sure, kitchen is this way, come on."
"So… you and Quill, huh?"
Kalei feels herself turn pink as Shah nudges her side and several of the other faculty members - the ones that Sally likes, anyway - laugh good-naturedly.
"Uh, yeah," Kalei says, biting her lip and grinning. "I mean, it's not like it's news, it got out a couple of weeks ago."
"Yes, I distinctly recall overhearing a conversation between a pair of sixth formers about whether you'd paid a visit to 'the sex dungeon that Miss Quill obviously has,'" says the English teacher, whose name Kalei thinks is Thomas.
Kalei feels herself blushing harder. "Oh my god."
"You're a lot braver than I thought," Shah says. "Was she all sort of… aggressive, about approaching you? Or did she actually try and be charming? Because I've been trying to work out her flirting and seduction methods, and I'm coming up blank."
"I was actually the one that kept approaching her. I brought her coffee to force her to talk to me until she liked me," Kalei laughs.
Shah's eyebrows go up. "Oh wow. Definitely braver than I thought."
"I bet the sex is good, though," Thomas says with a grin.
"We are not nearly well acquainted enough for me to be telling you anything about my sex life," Kalei tells him flatly. "And on that note, I'm going to get back to my girlfriend."
Quill and Sally are doing vodka shots in the kitchen when Kalei comes in, and Kalei just arches an eyebrow at them.
"You two alright? It's only just hit nine o'clock," she asks.
"Yeah, but like… there are people in my house, Kalei," Sally says. "Why does Cheng always have to do this? I don't like people! Why couldn't we just have you and Quill and maybe like a couple of his friends over?"
"They all seem to be having fun," Kalei says.
"I'm having fun, now that I have vodka," Quill tells her.
"Don't you dare get super drunk. I have high hopes for this midnight kiss, alright?" Kalei says to Quill sternly, making Quill cock an eyebrow and smirk at her in a a way that makes Kalei's mind go to the gutter.
"Yes, ma'am," she murmurs. "You should pull that authority voice more often. It's rather hot."
"Oh my god, can you two keep it in your pants for five seconds?" Sally exclaims, having another shot.
Kalei, however, just finds herself grinning, and she approaches Quill, putting her hands either side of the counter behind Quill, trapping her. "Maybe if you're good," Kalei says, leaning up to kiss her.
Quill's eyes are dark and she grins, pulling Kalei's lip between her teeth.
"I could be good," she says.
"Please don't have sex in my kitchen," Sally interrupts.
That's when Cheng enters the room in his wheelchair, with Bolin at his side, and Kalei is quick to steps away from Quill, blushing. Cheng smirks while Bolin immediately runs to Kalei and hugs her legs tightly.
"Hey, Bo," Kalei says, giving Cheng a slightly apologetic look. "How have you been, buddy?"
"I've been really really good! I'm allowed to stay up and see the fireworks if I can stay awake!" He tells her excitedly, and she laughs.
"That's great!"
Bolin's eyes have moved to Quill, who is staring at him with vague curiosity. He glances back at Kalei and talks in a whisper, looking at Quill with a kind of fearful awe as he peeks at her from around Kalei's torso.
"Who's that? Were you kissing her?" he asks, sounding amazed and possibly a bit disgusted.
"This is Quill, my girlfriend," Kalei tells him. "And yes, I was kissing her, because she's very pretty, and I like her, and kissing her, a lot."
"Hello, little one. What's your name?" Quill asks.
"Bolin," he says shyly.
"Well, any friend of Kalei's is someone worth tolerating, so I suppose I'll be seeing you around," she says to him, and he giggles.
"You're weird."
Quill smirks. "Yes, I probably am."
"So you're the infamous Quill," Cheng says, grinning. "You don't disappoint. I'm Cheng."
He rolls the chair forward so he can reach his hand out for Quill to shake, and Quill hesitates as she always does when presented with this particular human tradition, but a moment later shakes it.
"I hate to think what Sally might have been telling you," Kalei says, glancing at her best friend, who has the decency to look a bit ashamed.
"Probably nothing that wasn't true," Quill says with a smirk. (Which is difficult to argue with, Kalei has to admit.)
"At least you're self-aware," Sally mutters.
"About some things, maybe," Kalei says, snorting.
"What she didn't mention is the totally awesome scar," Cheng says, staring at Quill with immense awe. "Which is probably super insensitive of me to mention, but I just have to say how badass it makes you look."
Quill smirks again. "I was able to crush a person's head between my thighs long before I got this scar, so it has very little to do with my level of badassery, but I appreciate the compliment all the same. The more intimidating I look, the better."
"Well, frankly I think it's ridiculous," Kalei says, earning several looks of surprise - Quill's look being also rather offended - until she adds, "you were already unfairly attractive and now it's even more of a problem."
Quill snags her by the waist and pulls her in, grinning. "You like the scar?"
"Far too much," Kalei says, "but anyway. Come dance with me, Quill, I can hear ABBA in the living room."
"There are several things wrong with that sentence," Quill says as Kalei steps away and tries to pull her towards the door. Quill snatches her hand back and instead uses it to grab a biscuit from a nearby platter and shove it in her mouth. "Firstly, dancing. I don't dance. Secondly, living room, where people are, and food is not. I'm staying here."
Kalei looks at her with exasperation, before noticing Cheng's chuckle and how he's bobbing his head. "Fine. Cheng, Bolin, may I have this dance?"
"I'd be honoured," Cheng says, grinning and making a show of kissing her hand, eliciting a delighted giggle from Kalei and a frown from Quill.
Now satisfied with her dance partner, Kalei heads back into the living room and is soon laughing at how Bolin spins her around while Cheng spins his chair around in a fairly impressive display of his capabilities with the chair's mechanisms.
"You're pathetic."
Quill scowls. "Shut up, Half-Inch."
"Just go and dance with her, if it bothers you."
"Can you really picture me dancing?"
"Well, no."
Quill is at the door, watching through it as Cheng pretends to dip Kalei by draping her over his lap, and Kalei lets out a loud peal of laughter. It's a strange feeling. On one hand, she loves hearing that sound from Kalei, under any circumstances. On the other, she's painfully aware of the fact that given Kalei's request, it should be Quill eliciting that sound from her.
Of course, Quill has absolutely zero idea how to dance in any way humans would find socially acceptable, so that really isn't an option.
"Who'd have thought that I'd be spending my brother's New Year's Eve party cooped up in a kitchen with you?" Sally asks. "Talk about a plot twist."
"Life is full of unexpected turns," Quill says seriously, taking another handful of crisps while not taking her eyes off Kalei through the crack in the door. "The fact that I was born in a nest on a planet thousands of light years from here, and now find myself in this particular kitchen, watching this particular woman while talking to another being in a conversation without any death threats being involved, is proof enough of that."
"True," Sally says. "... you were born in a nest?"
"Yep."
"Huh."
Quill keeps watching as the song finishes, and Kalei is approached by another man as Cheng moves off. This one's smile is different to Cheng's cheerful, friendly one. It's more charming, and whatever he's saying to Kalei has her ducking her head in that embarrassed but pleased sort of way.
It takes a while for Quill to realise, as she watches them keep talking, but he's flirting with Kalei. It's hard to tell if Kalei is responding in kind or not, from here. She can't see enough of her face.
"Someone's - who is that?" Quill asks, frowning. Sally sighs and moves to join her at the door, muttering about how juvenile the whole thing is.
"I think he's called Fred? He works with Cheng."
"He's flirting with Kalei."
Sally lifts an eyebrow. "Alright. And?"
"And I… don't like it," Quill says. "It's weird. I'm getting an urge to punch him in the face. Not that it's an unusual urge for me to get about anyone, but it's weirdly strong."
Sally laughs. "Yep, that would be the green-eyed monster."
"What monster? Where?" Quill asks, alarmed, turning to look at her.
"Okay, shit, it's just a saying," Sally says, rolling her eyes. "Jealousy. I'm talking about jealousy. You're sounding jealous. Which is pretty weird coming from someone who isn't supposed to believe in monogamy structures."
"Oh shut up, I'm busy trying to work out if I should be punching him," Quill says, rolling her own eyes in turn and directing them back to the view of the living room. "Alright, he just touched her hair, that's it, I'm going in."
"Wait, promise me you won't actually punch him," Sally calls after her.
Quill pays the comment little mind and strides through the room until she comes up behind Kalei, and puts her hands on her hips and leans in to nuzzle her nose against Kalei's cheek.
"You're cute when you're dancing like an idiot," Quill murmurs.
"Hey," Kalei says, with an audible grin. "Done hiding in the kitchen?" Meanwhile, the man - Fred? - looks wonderfully bewildered by Quill's appearance. She smirks smugly at him, and presses a kiss just underneath Kalei's ear.
"You looked bored," Quill says, and delights in the look of offence that crosses Fred's face.
A tiny giggle escapes Kalei before she coughs. "I wasn't, I was having a very nice conversation with Frank here about-"
"My name's Fred," he says, frowning at her, and Quill snorts.
"Oh," Kalei says, sounding a bit put-out and only a little apologetic. "Oops. Sorry? Well, Fred, this is Quill. My girlfriend."
Fred sighs. "Well, it was worth a shot." With that, he heads off into the group of people dancing to Whitney Houston.
"Was that really necessary?" Kalei asks Quill, turning around in her arms so that she can give her a disapproving look. "He was nice."
"He was flirting with you. I didn't like it."
Kalei lifts an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't care about monogamy. You always say it's stupid."
"It's stupid to have as a societal norm amongst a people who clearly struggle with it," Quill corrects. "If you ever met someone else you wanted to see in addition to me, I'd be alright with that, obviously. But here and now, I very much intend to steal all of your attention, then glare at anyone who tries to make moves on my girlfriend."
"Why don't we say monogamous for now, but that it's open for discussion at any later date?" Kalei suggests, with a fond look in her eyes.
"Meaning that right now, you're mine? Yes, I like this plan."
Ignoring Kalei's confused questions, Quill starts dragging her through the room, into the dim corridor and then one of the bedrooms, shutting the door and pressing Kalei against it with a firm kiss.
"Quill, we're meant to be socialising," Kalei protests.
"Don't care," Quill says, kissing along her jaw urgently, her knee between Kalei's legs and making her moan a little. "Mine."
Kalei kisses her back automatically every time their lips meet, but keeps pulling away a few moments later. "Quill, you realise I don't actually have any interest in seeing someone else? Do you actually think I'll be looking away from you long enough at any given time to notice anyone else?"
Quill stares at her for a moment, and then kisses her harder, the hunger for Kalei driving her hands to seek out skin wherever they can find it, hitching up Kalei's skirt and -
"Quill, hands off, we're not having sex in Sally's bedroom."
Quill groans. "Why not?"
"Because I said so."
"... please?"
"No."
Kalei kisses her after saying that, so Quill is able to set her sex drive aside and let herself enjoy the wonderful, wonderful kissing. She never gets tired of kissing Kalei, of how soft her lips are and how she leans into every touch of Quill's hands.
Eventually they rejoin the party, and Quill actually makes conversation with some of the other teachers. Or rather, they make conversation and she actually makes an effort to give halfway decent replies, if only because she knows Kalei would want her to try.
Right before midnight, the TV gets turned on, to the news channel where there's some kind of countdown happening.
Kalei's arms are around Quill's waist, her eyes a bit brighter for the wine she's consumed. She's achingly beautiful as she looks up at Quill with excitement - this midnight kiss thing is important to her, for some reason. Quill is determined not to disappoint.
People around them start counting down, shouting out ten! then nine! and so on until everyone starts shouting 'Happy New Year!' in celebration.
Quill figures this must be the moment, and so takes Kalei's face in her hands, meets her eyes for a moment, and bends to kiss her as gently as she can.
"Happy New Year, Kalei," she says as she pulls away, and Kalei's eyes are shining.
"Happy New Year, Andy."
"Just for the record, in regards to what you said earlier," Quill says, tucking a few stray curls behind Kalei's ear, "I don't have much interesting in looking away from you long enough to notice anyone else, either."
With that, Kalei throws her arms around Quill's neck and kisses her decidedly less gently, and Quill is more than happy to return the favour.
Kalei insists that they have to go and see Rogue One, which she had gone to the premiere for with her father, because it's Star Wars and that means it is essential. It's set right before the first Star Wars movie that was made, the first one Quill had watched, and is about the rebellion still, so Quill is interested enough.
With Kalei's hand to hold, Quill manages to get into the movie theatre without having a panic attack this time, and Kalei is immensely proud of her. The giant bucket of popcorn Quill's got in her lap seems to helps her mood too.
As she glances over at Quill towards the end of the movie, she sees tears running down Quill's cheeks, and reaches out to take her hand and give it a squeeze.
Quill is still crying when the movie ends and the lights come up. She must be holding it in to some extent, because it's not the noisy, unstrained hurt Kalei's seen in her before. It's just tears silently falling while Quill's eyes are open and so unbelievably melancholy that Kalei's heart pangs.
"Hey, are you alright?" Kalei asks her, cupping her face in her hands.
Quill nods through the tears. "I just… they got to die for their cause. I never got to do that. For so long I wished that I had, that I'd been able to. All that time I was a slave, I just wanted to have been able to die for my people."
"Oh, Andy," Kalei whispers.
"But now I don't know what to feel, because I don't, anymore," Quill continues, brow creasing. "I'm free and with you, and I'm actually happy, and I never thought I would be this happy, ever. I couldn't even have imagined it. But how is it fair for me to be happy when they're all dead?"
Kalei kisses her softly, on her forehead, then her scar over her eyelid, and finally her lips. "You fought hard for them. You tried so hard to make it so that they could be happy. I'm sure they'd want you to be happy, after how hard you tried."
Quill cries harder, and Kalei pulls her into her arms, which is a bit awkward when the armrest is between them, but they manage. They get a few weird looks from other moviegoers who are getting out of their seats, but Kalei ignores them.
"It's okay," Kalei murmurs, stroking Quill's hair.
They make their way out with Kalei keeping a tight grip on Quill's hand, while Quill wipes at her eyes and looks a bit embarrassed about her breakdown.
Kalei decides to let her have some peace and quiet on the drive home, at least until -
"Can you talk?"
Kalei glances at her. "Talk? About what?"
"Anything," Quill says, leaning her head back against her seat and watching her with soft, tired eyes. "The weather. Whatever song comes on the radio. The movie. I really don't care. I just like listening to you talk."
Kalei bites her lip, her heart fluttering obscenely in her chest, and finds herself talking about the sassy droid from the movie and how he reminds her of Quill, how her father had laughed heartily when she had told him so after they'd gone to the premiere.
Quill is smiling fractionally, watching her with those impossibly big eyes.
"Have I mentioned how much I love Darth Vader?" Kalei says as they get out of the car and head into the house. "I mean, first you have the choking pun, which is so great because it's so Anakin, he's such a little shit, and you know, I could totally imagine you saying something like that."
Quill snorts as they come into the kitchen, and Kalei is relieved to see that the sadness is gone from her eyes, at least for the moment, replaced by fond amusement.
"It was a good line," Quill agrees.
"And then, the bit where he just… comes at those guys in the dark," Kalei continues, too excited to slow herself down, her hands gesturing wildly. "I mean, it's ridiculous, because he has lights on his suit, he must have actually stopped to turn them off, he might have caught up to the rebels if he hadn't done that!"
"You've thought about this a lot," Quill says, looking impressed.
"It's important! He let the rebels get away because he was being melodramatic!" Kalei cries. "It's the stupidest, funniest, greatest thing I've ever seen!"
Quill starts laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a giant nerd," Kalei says, embarrassed.
"You care a lot, about everything, and you enjoy everything," Quill says. "Don't ever feel like that's a bad thing when it's almost definitely one of the reasons I'm as stupidly in love with you as I am."
"Yeah well, that's-" Kalei stops, staring at her. "What?"
She can't have heard that right. Her heart is pounding against her chest while her mind tells it to stop, that it was wrong.
Quill frowns. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You just said you-"
"Am in love with you, yes," Quill finishes, nodding once. "I don't understand your confusion, here. It's not a new thing."
Kalei starts laughing, albeit a little hysterically. "It is to me! You can't just say that to me out of nowhere and then act like it's ridiculous that I'm reacting to it!"
"I thought it was obvious!" Quill retorts. "I've been doing my best to tell you for weeks!"
"Oh," Kalei says.
"But I'm not exactly good at talking about my emotions unless I'm having a complete meltdown, so I've been, you know, doing my best to get it across without just saying it like that," Quill continues, rolling her eyes, "but you're an idiot who kept completely misinterpreting everything I was saying! One time, you thought I was talking about the baby! So yes, I can just say that out of nowhere, because you're an idiot, and frankly, I'm out of patience with you."
They stare at each other for a moment as Quill catches her breath.
"Are you… done shouting at me about how you're in love with me and how much of a moron I am?" Kalei asks, an odd laugh escaping her.
"Yes, I think so," Quill says seriously, after apparently giving it a moment's thought. "God, if you're even a little bit surprised by this information, you really are far less intelligent than I've thought all this time."
"Shut up," Kalei says, stepping closer, "you're a ridiculous alien that I've been trying very hard to not make assumptions about in any way, alright?"
"Alright, fair point, but still-" Quill's words are muffled by Kalei's mouth as Kalei kisses her eagerly.
"I love you too," Kalei says, feeling herself tearing up, and god it feels so good to finally get the words out. She laughs a little. "I love you so much that it terrifies me. And I've wanted to tell you, but I was worried about how you'd react, and now that I think about it, you're right, that was so stupid, but-"
Quill kisses her. "Yes, yes, we've established that you're an idiot, but you're my idiot, and I love you very much, so it's alright, and we've finally got this all sorted out."
Kalei smiles at her and reaches up to stroke Quill's face with her thumb. "I love you, Andra'ath Quill."
Quill's little smirk melts away as her eyes soften, then well with a couple of tears. Quill swears under her breath and wipes at her eyes. Kalei leans up and nuzzles her nose, and Quill holds her tight.
"I love you, too," Quill says, and they stay like that, foreheads and noses pressed against each other.
Matteusz and Charlie come in to find them tearful and holding each other and laughing oddly.
"Is everything alright?" Charlie asks, concerned.
"Yes, everything's fine, we're in love, that's all," Quill replies.
"It's… exciting," Kalei adds, wiping at her eyes.
"Oh," Charlie says. "Is that all? I thought that was rather obvious."
"See?!" Quill exclaims, looking at Kalei with exasperation. "I told you!"
"I mean, admittedly it took a long time for me to accept you were actually capable of that sort of thing," Charlie adds, making a face. "But there's only so long I could keep denying the evidence of my own eyes."
"This is bad, Kalei. Charles is making more sense than you," Quill says to Kalei, who whacks her arm.
"Shut up," she says, still grinning. "Being mean to me is no good, I love you."
"And I love you, you idiot."
Then they're kissing again, and Charlie is making noises of disgust.
"Well, I am very happy for you," Matteusz says, and when they break apart to look at him, he is smiling wide at them, eyes warm and genuine.
"Thank you," they say in unison.
For a moment there is a silence filled with nothing but giddiness. Kalei stares up at Quill, her heart so full as Quill stares back that she isn't sure what to do with herself. She's not really sure why she does what she does next, because she doesn't really think about it.
She reaches up and boops Quill's nose, prompting a look of such bewilderment that Kalei falls about laughing.
"What the hell was that?" Quill asks, with faint outrage.
"She booped your nose," Matteusz says, laughing. "And you made very funny face."
"I don't know what a nose boop is other than incredibly undignified," Quill says, scowling and rubbing at her nose. "And just what prompted you to do that, I have no idea."
"I'm sorry," Kalei giggles, "I'm just… too happy to think straight. I didn't know what else to do."
Quill rolls her eyes, but there's a hint of a smile on her lips.
A crash out in the corridor followed by a yell makes Kalei wince where she's tucked underneath her desk, Athena clutched to her chest.
Athena starts crying.
"Hey, it's okay," Kalei murmurs, even though her heart is pounding and she's sick to her stomach with worry.
She thinks she hears one of the teenagers shout Quill's name out in the corridor. It's confirmed when she hears Quill's thunderous 'not now, Charles!'.
Kalei kisses the top of Athena's head. "She'll be okay. She always is."
There's knowing that your girlfriend and a band of teenagers are tasked with defending your planet from the potential alien terrors that might come through the space-time tear in your shared workplace, and then there's actually dealing with that reality.
The lizard incident aside, this is the first proper incursion that Kalei has been witness to. A trio of warriors from god knows what galaxy, and Quill had challenged them to a duel to the death, for the planet.
Dorothea and Sally had done a good job of getting the teachers who had still been in the school at the time out of the building. Quill had brought Athena with her to pick Kalei up and go for a walk somewhere - an experiment in taking Athena out of the house that had been worrying enough without three heavily armoured seven foot tall aliens getting involved.
Needless to say, Quill had shoved the baby at Kalei and told her to hide. Kalei hadn't needed telling twice.
Now, all she can do is wait, while a battle rages outside.
Finally it all goes quiet, and she hears the door open.
"Kalei?"
It's Matteusz, and Kalei feels some relief. Not an alien warrior. They've not lost. Not completely, at least.
Kalei gets out from under the desk, and he helps her to her feet. He's got a bruise on his jaw but is otherwise apparently unharmed. The two of them come into the corridor, where the trio of warriors are lying unconscious and Quill is standing over them, a fierce grin on her face, her lip bleeding.
"Everyone okay?" Kalei asks, looking around at the others. They all nod, despite looking worn out, looking to have been fighting a fair bit themselves, April especially. "Thank god for that."
One of the warriors stirs, and tries to sit up, and Quill moves like lightning, kicking him in the face and knocking him out cold. She draws her gun and Kalei is alarmed but Matteusz intervenes, putting his hand on Quill's arm and making her stop to stare at him.
"Let go of me, Matteusz," she growls.
"We throw them back through the tear," Matteusz says firmly. "This was the plan. We do not kill anyone we do not have to."
"That is not my way-"
"No, but it is our way."
Quill's jaw is tight as she stares at him, eyes fierce and unsure. Finally, she shoves the gun back into her pocket and sighs.
"Help me with them, then."
Quill and the teenagers haul the three warriors towards the ominous light at the end of the corridor, and manage to throw them into it. Kalei watches, quietly amazed. Eventually it's done, and Quill strides towards Kalei.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Kalei says, reaching out with her free hand to catch Quill's coat.
"I don't know why you were so worried."
"My girlfriend challenged three terrifying alien warriors to a fight to the death without so much as blinking," Kalei says, arching an eyebrow. "Of course I'm going to worry."
"I was obviously going to win. Besides, I don't need your worry-"
"Too bad," Kalei laughs, pulling her in for a kiss. "It comes with the territory. You're going to have to get used to it."
Quill grumbles and turns her attention to Athena, her finger tracing her cheek for a moment. "She alright?" she asks.
"She wasn't happy for a while there, but it was okay," Kalei says. "She probably picked up on how worried I was, what with the telepathy and all."
"Probably." Quill takes her daughter into her arms and holds her tight to her chest, letting out a long breath. She seems calmer now, with the baby in her arms, even if she still holds her stiffly like she isn't quite sure what she's doing. "I suppose this is us now, then. Two aliens, four human teenagers, a maths teacher. In charge of protecting the earth as well as making sure this baby neither dies nor exposes our secret to any unsuspecting humans...No way that any of this can end in disaster."
"Well, you know what they say about parenting: it takes a village," April says, where she's leaning against Ram, still out of breath.
"Or in this case, a bunch of vaguely traumatised teenagers and two of their teachers," Tanya supplies helpfully.
"Not as much said about what you need to defend cracks in space-time, though," Ram says, making a face. "Not exactly a manual for this."
"God help us the day something properly powerful comes through," Quill mutters, shaking her head and looking grim about the prospect. "We only had the one weapon of mass destruction."
"We'll work something out," Charlie says, with a determination more serious than his usual cheerfulness.
Kalei takes Quill's free hand in hers and entwines their fingers. "Whatever comes, you can handle it. We can handle it."
"All of us," Matteusz adds.
"We're a team," Tanya says. "That was always supposed to be the point. And finally, after everything getting so completely screwed up, I think we actually are."
Quill looks around at them all. Ram, with his arm around Tanya's shoulders, and April tucked into his other side - April looking at Ram protectively while he looks at Tanya in the same way. Charlie and Matteusz, hands linked, looking as ready to face down a whole army together as they always do. Athena, against her chest, blue eyes just like her own, open and curious about everything around her.
As she stares at them all, there's something new in Quill's eyes. A belief in those around her, an acceptance.
"A team," Quill says, and it's impossible to tell if it's disdainful or disbelieving in a longing sort of way. "Alright. It looks like I'm a commander again."
"Cool," Tanya says with a grin.
Quill finally looks back at Kalei. "You really didn't know what you were getting yourself into when you bribed me with coffee to get my attention."
Kalei laughs. "I really didn't."
"No regrets?"
"Absolutely none," Kalei says, before kissing Quill, eagerly but while being mindful of the baby between them. The sound of 'awww's surround them, along with a wolf-whistle that is probably from Tanya, and a protesting comment from Charlie. When a round of laughter starts up, Kalei cracks an eye open to see Quill has extended her free hand to flip Charlie off.
"Alright, let's go home," Quill says, looking at Charlie and Matteusz. "I need coffee. The universe can give us its best shot. Tomorrow."
And there we have it, folks. Not the end of their story, but the end of this story. Watch this space for connected oneshots and eventual additional multichapters.
Thank you SO much for reading and for the comments left along the way! Please let me know what you thought of the ending, or of the story if you haven't left a review before now!
