Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except new characters/plot. You know the drill.
Authors Note: If I got anything wrong, tell me! It's been forever since I read the books, and if I've got ages of characters or something wrong tell me. Of course, this does take place several years later. Whatever.
*~~~~*
Julian wasn't gone immediately after his name was cut from his runestave. Rather, he hung around for awhile, watching. It was a hard habit to break, after so many countless years. At the right moment during the dawn, whenever Jenny wished, she could see he was watching, by the color of the sky. But after a few years, her dreams for him started to reach him.
She dreamt many things. A new runestave being carved for him. Him going to heaven, or some sort of final rest where all was love. She had nightmares that he simply didn't exist anymore, that he'd gone out like a last precious candle.
Then there was the dream: that he was actually reborn, as a human. She dreamt of a newborn baby with eyes more blue than those of other babies, more alive. Growing up, innocent for the first time, learning slowly rather than suddenly being. A normal human life.
And he longed for that most of all.
*~~~*
"Oh! Dear! God!!" She screamed as another wave of agony poured over her. It hadn't been worth this, no amount of fun in Jake's car was worth this. Another contraction came, stifling her thoughts.
"Drugs, now!!"
She ignored the doctors scowl but sank happily into oblivion when the drugs entered her system.
*
"Hey, hey that's my kid!" Jake Duresco, an eighteen year old honor student and now father of one, was pointing in amazement at the baby behind the glass. Susan was sleeping now, but he felt sure she would feel just as awed as he did when she could finally see her child. Their baby boy.
Sleepily, the child opened his eyes, and Jake felt himself jump a little in shock. The baby's eyes were blue. He new almost all babies had blue eyes when they were born, but Jake had never seen a blue like this. Never thought it.
It was a wild, shocking blue, midnight blue and electric blue at the same time. He felt a prickling of unease inside him, because some voice in his head whispered demon and unnatural blue, but he squashed it quickly. This was his son.
A wave of giddiness washed over him at that thought--his son.
The funny thing was, he'd been so upset when Susan told him she was pregnant. He'd thought his life had ended. But he'd been wrong; it had been changed, undeniably and irrevocably changed, but that didn't mean it was over. Different was all, and now that he saw his son (he kept repeating that word to himself, son) he knew whatever happened, it was worth it.
What he didn't know was that, unfortunately, Susan didn't agree, and he would never have the chance to raise his boy himself.
*
"But if he wanted the kid why didn't he just take him? Why is Susan giving him to the orphanage?" Angela asked her best friend, Terry.
"Jake died on his way home from the hospital. Apparently, he was just getting some clothes; he was gonna stay at the hospital until the girl woke up. But he was in a car crash--completely the other drivers fault too, drunk--and he was killed. He would have been fine they say, but there was a freak accident. He rolled out of a car, and a third car ran over him, right over his head." Terry was engrossed in the tragic and bizarre story. Weirder versions were flying through La Brea high like wildfire, but Terry's little brother had known Jake. So she amazingly got the true story.
"Wow…poor baby." Angela felt sorry for the kid. What dumb luck! You're mother: a less than intelligent cheerleader slut with no kind emotions in her (Angela had had three classes with Susan last year, when she'd still been at La Brea) who had been held back both her sophomore and senior year; and your father: an okay guy with an over-stimulated libido who's killed hours after you're born in a freakish manner. Wonderful start out for life.
"Maybe he'll at least get good foster parents. You know how American babies go in the orphanages," Terry soothed her friend. Ever since Angela's semi-boyfriend and his friend disappeared four years ago, Angela had become a very sympathetic person. Very… sweet. It was strange, but everyone had chalked it up to handling a big loss very well.
"Yeah, maybe."
