As time passed, everything settled in again.
Reese and Zander were just laying in the bed, spending all the time they could together—they were reading.
He rested his head on her lap; he started singing and kissing her belly from time to time when the reading got too boring. "My sweet angels..." He planted a kiss on the belly and then looked up at his fiancée. "You're wonderful, have I ever told you that?"
"Every single day."
"Because it's still true! I'd do anything for you two, no matter how stupid it is."
"You're just worried because of Seth, aren't you?" Reese asked him.
"Of course I am! He basically forced you into an abortion..."
She stroked his hair. "But Gelly talked him out of it, didn't she?"
"I'm not so sure about that. I don't trust either of them... And that Ellie spends so much time with that Gel Jark alone does not calm me down. I don't want her to get hurt; I don't want to lose Eric."
"Ellie can take care of herself. Also, Gelly isn't as evil as you might think."
"You really think so, angel?"
Reese nodded.
"Well... if you trust her... She might not be that bad..."
She smiled. "Glad you think so because I'm going to hang out with her, Ellie, Cretacia, and Laura today."
Zander immediately shot up. "WHAT?! YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"
"You just agreed with me," Reese reminded him with a frown on her face.
He jumped off the bed. "I didn't know you're about to spend time with that... with that... pudding!"
"Don't call her that." She sat up.
"Why not? She's the enemy after all!"
"The enemy?!"
"I just don't think she can be trusted-"
"So? She explained all her and Seth's reasons."
"You said yourself that reasons don't matter."
"And yet you excuse our actions by the relatable reasons." She took his hand. "I know that you don't trust Gelly or Seth, but you can at least trust me."
His ahoges hanged down sadly.
"Please..." She stood up and pecked his lips.
"Of course I trust you, angel."
"There's no need to worry about us."
"I guess..."
"I'll head out in a while; Sarah and Amour are in their room in full size. Could you take care of them while I'm gone?" she asked him.
"And what if I came with you? Minmi can take care of them instead," he suggested.
"I'm sorry, love, but this is ladies' afternoon. Gelly needs to spend some time with people and knowing how much you and your family despise her, it isn't the best idea for any of you to come yet." She stroked his arm reassuringly.
"Maybe..."
She smiled and went to change her clothes from her layback outfit to a more socially appropriate and warmer one.
"Wait! I think we should talk about our wedding; we still haven't planned anything-"
"I am not staying, Zan, no matter what you say."
"Is that bad that I just want to be with you?"
She glanced at her fiancé. "Of course not, but this just seems like you're trying to forbid me from going."
He shifted his eyes away ashamedly.
"I'm going to be fine, I promise."
"Angel..."
Suddenly the doorbell rang.
"Seems like Cretacia's here." Reese headed to the front door, seeing that Minmi answered the door.
The assistant was talking to the paleontologist when she joined in.
"Oh, hi Reese!"
"Hello. Alright, I'm ready to go-"
"Are you sure, my angel?" Zander slid behind her, holding her shoulders.
"Zan, I am still going; you can't convince me not to go."
He frowned.
"Let me guess; worried because of Gelly?" Minmi wondered.
"A little..." Zander admitted.
"Understandable. I would honestly love to find out more about her. How her body functions and so on."
"You can come with us then," Cretacia told Minmi.
"Really?"
"Hey, that's discrimination!" Zander objected.
Reese sighed loudly. "Just no. Your view of Gelly is just going to scare her. It's better for both of you, at least until she gets more used to us."
He nodded reluctantly.
"So, Reese, Minmi, ready to head to the HQ to pick others up?" Cretacia asked them.
"I am," Reese replied, looking at Minmi.
The brunette jerked quickly. "Um... Y-yes...!" She took on a jacket.
"Then I'll go with you at least to the HQ," Zander stepped in again.
Reese rolled her eyes, knowing that there is no way she'd convince him to stop. "Alright, alright. But only to the HQ."
Zander hugged her from behind, wrapping a scarf around her neck. "Thank you, my angel. I just wanna make sure you're okay."
"I know..." She smiled softly. "And what about Sarah and Amour?"
"I'll head back immediately."
"Okay."
—
Around the same time, Ellie was already prepared, however, she was dealing with the same suspicion from her partner as Reese.
"Everything's going to be alright," she reassured Ed.
He nodded. "You say that all the time..."
"Because you always worry, but so far nothing bad happened."
"I know... It's not that I don't trust Gelly; I don't trust Seth. I'm not sure if you should get too attached to his assistant. Plus you shouldn't go anywhere like this, you're near the due date."
"That's why I don't go alone." She pecked his forehead.
He frowned up at her and she smiled back.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, when he looked back he saw Laura standing behind him. "I'll keep an eye on her."
"I'm still not sure..."
The pink-haired folded her hand on her hips. "What's the worst that can happen?"
"That's what I ask myself on every mission and you know how those end," he replied.
"Oh, come on. Not everyone has the luck of you three."
"True."
Ellie suddenly rushed to Gelly who just walked in with Seth. She hugged the Gel Jark woman tightly. Gelly just stood still, not reacting physically at all. "Hello, Ms. Ellie."
The blonde let go of her soon.
"I apologize, I did not remember to return the embrace. Again," Gelly excused.
"Just call it a hug and it's alright, you'll get used to it," Ellie reassured her.
"I am not a physical type if you know what I mean, so Ms. Jark doesn't have enough experience with such greetings," Seth told her.
"Do you need a hug too?" Ellie asked him.
"No." He turned away from her.
"You do need a hug," she murmured.
Soon everyone from the D-lab arrived at the HQ.
Ellie gasped happily when she saw them. "Guess we're ready to go then-" Her delighted face was quickly replaced by a surprised frown. "What are you doing here?" She glared at Zander, knowing exactly what he was trying.
Zander jerked nervously. "I-I was just-"
"Zan only wanted to be with me as long as he can before we head to the BPW bar," Reese explained, getting her fiancé out of the awkward situation. He thanked her with a soft smile.
"Alright then." Ellie shook it off.
"Um, is it okay if I come with you?" Minimi asked.
"Of course!"
Ed pouted. "Wait, how come Minmi can go and I can't?"
"I tried already," Zander told him.
"Oh well..."
Laura walked past her uncles. "You're overdramatizing everything; we're just gonna hang out."
"Ready to go?" Ellie wondered. The women nodded and she and Cretacia immediately pulled Gelly outside.
"Is that usual-"
"You'll get used to that," Reese reassured Minmi and they headed out with Laura as well.
The brothers sighed defeatedly and glanced at each other.
"What now?"
"Don't know..."
They headed away together.
"I still don't have a good feeling about it..." Seth heard before he made his way to the laboratory.
As they were walking through a corridor, the brothers were suddenly pulled to the side.
"What the-"
They were faced with their mad sister, which made them both back away a few feet.
"I can't believe you let them go with that slime!"
"We tried!" Zander replied.
The one to notice the strange source Ursula's anger was Ed. "Why are you so concerned about that?"
"Tch! I'm not concerned! I just don't trust that pudding girl!"
"Again. Why are you of all people concerned?" Zander asked this time.
Ursula gulped, clearly not being sure by her reasoning. "Because... Because Laura's close to that thing and if anything happened to her, Dr. Z would kill us because we let Seth's pudding girlfriend get close to her."
"Good point."
She grabbed their clothes and pulled them away.
"Where are you taking us?!" they asked her.
"You'll see."
—
"You want me to come with you and stalk on Cretacia and the others?" Trias frowned confusedly at the trio.
Ursula dragged her brothers on board of the Black Pearl just to recruit him as well.
"It isn't exactly stalking," she tried to explain, "just making sure that Gel Jark doesn't try anything."
"I am worried too, but I trust my wife."
"So, you're just gonna let that slime hurt them all? That thing has been influenced by Seth!"
He frowned at her. "You have a point there."
"Great!" She suddenly grabbed him and dragged them all away. "Time to get ourselves disguises!"
Trias just glanced at Zander and Ed, they shared his defeat and distress.
—
Right as the women walked in and sat down at the bar, Jeremy was ready and tossed a bag of salty chips to his sister.
Gelly actually wasn't in her own form, this whole time she took on an appearance that strangely combined all women with her.
"You don't have to hide like this, Gelly," Ellie reassured her.
"Do you think so? I might freak people out."
"You are yourself and you shouldn't be ashamed to show that; no matter what people say. Be whatever you are comfortable with. Be like this, be in your original form, be in your human form, just be comfortable."
"Ms. Ellie..." Gelly transformed into her human Gel Jark form.
"Better?"
"A little..." She frowned as she got weird looks from people around.
"Don't worry about them," Laura told her.
"Yeah, some people just don't handle someone's transformation well, too bad for them; it's none of their business," Jeremy chuckled as he gave them all their orders and sat to them, "may I join, ladies?"
"I thought this is meant to be a female-only meeting." Gelly titled her head.
Jeremy burst into tear and a wide smile crossed his face.
"Did I say something wrong?" Gelly asked him.
Jeremy shook his head and walked back behind the bar.
She glanced at the others.
"You didn't upset him," Ellie said, "he's just happy."
"Why?"
"That's a story for another day."
"Alright..."
Ellie opened the bag of chips and started eating.
Gelly pulled away as far as possible.
"Something wrong?"
The Gel Jark could not look away from the bag; she didn't reply.
Laura realized what's the issue. "The salt... Of course, Gel Jarks melt at contact with salt."
"Oh..." Ellie frowned and put the bag away from Gelly.
"Body melted by salt; that is interesting," Minmi said, typing into her tablet, "I wonder what Earth material could be compared to this. There might be a way to make such a synthetic material and possibly recreate-" The brunette looked up at the others, her cheeks turned red in embarrassment. "I talked too much again, didn't I...?"
Reese smiled softly; Minmi got so lost in her thoughts sometimes.
"Recreating my species is not needed," Gelly told her. She shook her head and looked at Cretacia and Laura. "I would like to take advantage of this to apologize for what I have done to you."
"That's alright."
"Yeah! It's not a big deal!" Cretacia patted Gelly's back.
"I don't understand. How are you okay with me while some others hate me?"
"Humans are strange," Reese murmured, sipping her coffee.
"Can confirm," Minmi agreed.
"The Alpha Gang just have a different view on this," Laura exclaimed with a slight chuckle, "they can be a little judgemental and also very very annoying..."
"That doesn't mean they're bad people," Ellie stepped up for the former villains, "the trio is sometimes mean, but you discover that they're big softies when you get to know them. They just need to get closer to you."
"Of course, that requires a while," Reese added, "Ursula hated me for a long time; now she manages to put up with me."
Ellie smiled cheekily. "She's the softest one of the three."
"Are we talking about the same woman?"
"I feel confident enough to say that I'm the only one who saw that side of her. She opens up a lot on later dates."
"Dates?!"
"Does that mean that you two actually dated?"
Ellie nodded. "Yep!"
They heard a glass hitting the floor behind the bar. Jeremy was caught so off guard just like others.
"That's a twist no one of us expected," Laura admitted.
"We were just 18 or 19 and it isn't important now, is it?" Ellie blushed. "The point is that all of them can be nice, you just have to get used to each other."
"I suppose..."
As they were talking, a group of four walked in and sat to a table nearby.
"I hate you, Ursula," Trias murmured, his mouth and nose covered by a face mask.
"And I don't care." She grinned at him, wearing a crimson wig.
Zander and Ed just glanced at each other sadly; they wore hats, trying to hide from others.
Back at the other table, Cretacia asked the most important question. "What's the deal with the triangles on Seth's face?"
"Oh, those. They were drawn by his son. After he lost his family, he paints them every morning."
Paints them every morning...? They remind him of someone important... Related to his family...
It sounded so familiar to Laura. She's heard this before.
Wait, that's it-
"Hoshi, Lenna!" Laura smiled, seeing her classmates.
"Oh, hi, Laura!" The two of them were just about to leave.
They started a small talk. The aquamarine-haired caught others' attention, especially the blue-painted streak on her right cheek. Gelly couldn't keep her eye off Lenna.
The Gel Jark woman suddenly got up, still staring at the girl.
"Gelly?"
The silver-haired jerked quickly back to the table. "I apologize," she mumbled; her voice strangely glitched with Seth's as it usually does with voices of people that were the last ones to experience a certain emotion in front of Gelly.
Lenna's eyes widened as she heard the glitch, but she decided to brush it off.
Laura noticed her friend's reaction and pieced together s theory from what Hoshi told her about Lenna the first day they met; it sounded awfully familiar and with what she just found out, it would make sense.
"Anyways, we're gonna go now. Bye, Laura."
"See you!"
Laura waved at her friends as they left and then looked at Gelly just like everyone.
"Did something happen?" they worried.
"I am not sure. My scans of her unexplainedly fitted someone else's," Gelly explained.
"Considering who you met in the past, she could simply be a descendent of one of the D-Team members," Reese theorized.
"That's right! It's not a big stretch that my baby boy's children's children would still live in Sanjo," Cretacia agreed, "Minmi here is actually related to Max."
Gelly frowned at her. "This is different. Ms. Minmi's DNA is significantly different from Mr. Max's due to so many generations in between. But this girl, Ms. Lenna resembles someone, similarly to Mr. Rex and you, Mrs. Cretacia, or maybe as closely as Ms. Reese and Ms. Zoe."
"Who is this someone?" Minmi wondered.
"I...I..." Gelly stared blankly at the table.
Could this mean that Gelly met Lenna's family before she lost them...? Something was sure strange about Gelly's obvious refusal of telling who that someone is.
Meanwhile, Ursula was peaking over a drinks list, spying on the female table, as the men around her were irritated by the situation she literally dragged them in.
Jeremy approached their table to get their orders.
"Oh, hi, Ursula."
She jumped at his sudden words and immediately snapped at his quietly, "how the hell did you recognize me?!"
"Dear, you're clearly spying on Ellie's table while being dressed as my favorite anime character; there's no way you'd be anyone else than the queen I know. Although, that cosplay is pretty accurate; you even sound like her."
"Get out of here before she gets you too."
"Run for your life," Zander and Ed mouthed at him.
Ursula took notice and glared at them.
"So, what's the deal with your little AnimeFest here?" Jeremy wondered.
"We were dragged into this by Ursula because she thinks that our significant others could be in danger," Trias explained.
"In danger? What could endanger them in here? Apart from my sister's gluttony of course."
Ursula grabbed Jeremy's collar and pulled him closer. "You see that pudding over there?" she pointed at Gelly.
The Gel Jark woman suddenly stood up, looking around.
"Gelly?"
"I think I just heard somebody call me a pudding..." She sat back down.
"And I thought I know only one person with that sensitive hearing to certain words," Laura chuckled.
"She seems okay," Jeremy pointed out.
"Maybe, but she's just pretending to be nice to trick them. She's with Seth; she can't be trusted."
"You sure about that?"
"Do you want to risk your sister for that?"
"I don't..."
"Then shut up and join!"
"Wha-?!"
—
After some time, the women left ...and Ursula's group followed slowly behind.
Jeremy found himself a disguise; a shoulder-length lavender wig.
"Why do you have to match my disguise?" Ursula asked him, "We really just need a cat."
"Because 1) you're already cosplaying my favorite character and 2) I pull this off so well!" Jeremy posed, winking.
They followed the women, listening to their conversation.
"I still don't get why you out of all people insist on all of this," Trias told Ursula.
"I just don't trust that pudding," she replied strictly.
At her word, Gelly once again looked around.
"This sounds familiar."
"Yeah... We heard the same thing about Reese for the first month..." Ed and Zander got a sense of deja vu.
"I turned out to be right about her, didn't I?!" she snapped at them, making her brothers try to hide behind one another.
"And yet you weren't mad at her or rude to her when the truth about Reese was revealed," Jeremy stepped in, "at least from Ellie told me. Why is that?"
"I don't know!"
"It's way easier to forgive someone you care about then a traitor, isn't it?"
"The hell are you talking about?"
Jeremy chuckled softly. "You care about them all, that's why you're worried when Seth's assistant's with them." He folded his arms on his chest. "You dragged Zander, Ed, and Ancient with you so when the girls notice you, it doesn't seem like you actually care about them."
"Oh, shut up."
They heard laughter from the other group; Gelly's voice glitched once again, this time with Ellie's.
"That's just...unsettling..." Ed admitted.
"Just look at her; she doesn't seem like someone who'd betray the ones close to her," Jeremy said, keeping his eyes on Gelly, "from what I saw today and what Ellie told me about her, she only wants to be loved and accepted even if it means being someone she is not."
He smiled grimly, reminding himself of the same situation he was in when he was 14. For years he dressed up as someone else just for people to like him, just like that other person. It was his sister who supported him to be himself.
"Right as they walked in the bar, Ellie told her not to do that because that's not who she really is. Ellie wants everyone to be comfortable with themselves, not for others to be the ones comfortable. She's always put everyone before herself, even while she's pregnant. She thinks that we all deserve the best lives we can live. Everyone should be treated equally. She gave Gelly a chance and accepted her, just like she gave a chance to you, guys, just like you accepted me. You aren't angels either, no one is."
"You might have a point."
"Ellie tried to tell us the same," Zander and Ed agreed.
"If she and Seth plan of betraying you again, you'll cross that bridge when you get to it; you three were never that good at planning into the future anyways."
After a while, both groups found an ice ring ahead of them. Of course, being the enthusiastic woman she is, Cretacia immediately suggested going there.
The other group was dragged behind them.
The borrowed skates and got ready to go on the ice.
Reese and Ellie stayed behind so there isn't a chance of them hurting the babies.
Gelly didn't get herself any skates and rather formed her feet into ones. She wasn't afraid of losing balance like Minmi was. Due to her lack of experience, Gelly's first step on the ice resulted in her crashing to the ground.
She was helped up by Laura and tried cautiously again. She analyzed Minmi's slow, careful steps, and replicated them.
Zander and Ed weren't doing much better on the ice; they were holding onto the barriers tightly.
"I'd be such a disaster if I even attempted skating," Reese admitted.
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's never been my thing."
"Well, knowing how clumsy I can be, I possibly wouldn't even be able to stand up," Ellie joked, "plus I doubt I'd got into any skates because of my ankles."
"Nonsense."
The skating brothers moved right to the two as they were circling around the barriers, still holding onto them. Despite them trying hard to hide their faces, the blondes would swear they know these two.
Reese reached in and grabbed the tall man by the sleeve; Ellie did the same with the fat man.
"Don't we know each other?" Reese wondered teasingly.
"Wha-no! I've never seen you in my entire life-" He gave up as he saw her frown in the corner of his eye. "How did you recognize us...?"
"You're the loves of our lives, of course, we recognized you," Ellie replied, smiling at them.
"Aw, that's so sweet of you, darling," Ed told her.
Reese rolled her eyes. "And your disguises aren't the best. Gelly's scan saw through them immediately."
"Oh..."
"Can you explain yourselves?"
The brothers glanced at each other and started.
Meanwhile, Laura was helping Minmi and Gelly keep their balance on the ice and Cretacia was skating around, attempting some pirouettes in the process. She asked a few times people around to skate with her.
"Would you like to join me?" she asked Trias, moved his face mask a bit up, making sure she doesn't recognize him.
He still couldn't say no to her. She took his hand and sped up, almost dragging him behind her. When he caught up to her, they started dancing on the ice. He pinned her several times, but that one moment she did it, he ended up bent down in her arms.
"After all these years, you're still way slower than me, honey," she told him.
Trias didn't even pretend to be surprised; he just took off his face mask and smiled at her. "The eyes gave me away, didn't they?"
"You bet."
Jeremy, who was skating right beside Ursula with his hands behind his back, smirked. "Well, looks like the ladies are cool with this. I can't believe that you're going to get away with this so easily, Ursula."
The green-haired shrugged. "Maybe a reward for all the bad luck I have all the time with those two numbskulls."
"Maybe... I guess they understand all those worries and Ellie can't be mad at anyone for too long."
"And what about Sarah and Amour?" Reese questioned her fiancé.
"Jonathan's taking care of them, no need to worry."
"You're incredibly lucky, Zan." She glared at him.
"I know." He grinned and leaned to her. "Because I have you in my life." As he was about to kiss her he slipped on the ice and fell down.
"Karma," was Reese's first response to that. "Are you okay, love?"
"I'm fine...!"
As a light punishment, Zander had to sleep on a couch, Trias didn't get any cookies, and Ed's cuddles with Ellie were limited for a few days.
—
Dusk came very soon over the city.
Gelly was sitting on a bench, looking at the night sky. She was holding a baseball ball.
Ellie approached her. "It's getting cold, Gelly."
"I know," the Gel Jark woman replied, glancing at her, "I was only..." She shook her head. "Never mind."
"No. You can tell me." Ellie sat beside her.
"I do not know how to describe it," Gelly murmured, rolling the ball in her head.
"Can I ask what is the deal with the baseball ball?"
"Huh? Um..." She looked at it, squeezing it tightly. "It was the first step towards my humanity?"
"First step?"
"When Specter Space Pirates timenapped the Ancients and four other humans, my body started glitching, I started to feel. They used this to distract the guard Gel Jarks, including me. I imitated them and threw it at the other one; we were both very confused... I kept it because it reminds me of them and their different acting and strange rituals."
"Rituals...?" Ellie tilted her head.
"They bumped their lips onto other's face or even hands, however, each of them did only with one specific person, in pairs."
The blonde chuckled. "That's called kissing."
"Kissing?"
"Yep!" Ellie nodded. "It's an expression of love. Ed and I do it almost all the time, but he needs a stepping stool if he wants it to be a surprise." She blushed, rubbing the back of her head.
"I see..."
"That's another lesson for another day!" She stood up. "Come on, we should go warm ourselves." She reached her hand to Gelly.
The Gel Jark woman smiled back, taking her hand.
—
And with that, the 16th chapter's done!
This chapter's name comes from the lyrics of One Republic's song Counting Stars, which is Gelly's theme.
Not much going on, I know, but Gelly is learning and some cute stuff between couples happened. Yeah, and Gelly hearing whenever someone calls her a pudding is a thing too.
Also, what could be the thing Laura realized throughout?
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!