"It's a girl," annouched the doctor. "A very healthy girl." Within a few minutes, the newly born girl was cleaned up and placed in Andros' arms, who gently placed his beautiful baby daughter in Ashley's arms.
"She's so beautiful." Ashley held her daughter close to her, smiling brightly.
"Yeah, just like her mother." Andros caressed Ashley's cheek gently and kissed her softly and then planted a gentle kiss on his daughter's head. "What should we call her?"
"How about Mora?"
"Mora?" Andros smiled, thinking about it for a moment. It was short and simple, but a little girl that already had a complicated life. She was a daughter of two worlds. "I like that."
"Then Mora it is." Ashley smiled as she watched her young daughter yawn and drift to sleep in her arms.
"I can't wait to get back to Earth, to show Karone and Zhane their niece," he couldn't wait to proudly show off his daughter to the rest of the family. It was a time of new beginnings and one he wanted the others to share in.
"Yeah. It'll be great to get back home." Ashley yawned heavily. "All this traveling does me in."
"You're tired. Not surprising after what you've been through." Andros gently picked up his daughter. "Here, I'll hold her a bit, you get some rest."
"Thanks. I love you, Andros."
"And I love you." Andros watched as Ashley closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep. "And I love you as well, my little Mora." He cradled her in his arms until she too fell asleep. "Sleep well my little one."
Everything seemed perfect. He was happily married. His wife had just given birth to their first child. He had everything going for him and believed that there was nothing in this universe that could change all that, but unbeknown to him, life would have some life altering effects. And things would never be the same again….
Elsewhere, back on Earth, it had been close to a year now since Sky entered into Wes's life. And things had been going well for Wes and Sky, as well as for Wes and Lisa, who were moving steady in their new relationship, just one day at a time.
As for Eric and Hayley, who had been married a little over five months now, their marriage had seemed to be moving along quite nicely. Due to the fact they both had frustrating jobs, that did put some weight on the marriage, but together they were able to work around their schedules to spend time together to make things work.
"Okay, and kick!" Wes held the foamy kick pad in front of his son, and felt it as Sky kicked the pad as hard as he could. Wes jokingly fell over. "Man you're strong. I think you almost broke my hand."
"Dad, come on. I didn't kick it that hard." Sky knew full well that his dad was just messing with him.
Wes sat up. "You sure?" He laughed and threw a few fake punches at his son. "Because I'm pretty sure you did!" Wes grabbed his son and began tickling him.
Sky laughed. "Dad stop!" Wes laughed and continued to tickle his son and roll around on the grass with him.
"Now here's something I thought I'd never see, Wes rolling around in the dirt."
"Hey Eric, what are you doing here? It's Sunday." Normally that's when Eric and Hayley were able to have some alone time.
"Hi, Uncle Eric." Sky managed to pull himself away from his father and stood up. Wes stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off his pants.
"Hey bud." Eric then glanced to Wes becoming very serious. "I just got a call from the base in NewTech City, they need us to check out something, a disturbance of some sort."
"Oh okay." Wes knelt down in front of his son. "We'll finish your workout later. Dad's got to go to work."
"Okay. You go get some bad guys, Dad!"
Wes laughed and hugged his son. "I'm going to try. Be good for Philips and your grandpa."
"I will. Promise."
"Catch you later, Sky." Eric waved goodbye and followed Wes out to the front of the driveway.
Later that night, Sky was lying in his bed. It was late and his father still wasn't home, he had started to worry at dinner time, but both Philips and his grandfather assured him that his father was fine and would be home as soon as he could.
Sky heard the slamming of a door. He looked out his window and saw Eric's truck and his father standing outside of it. He jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs as quickly as he could.
Wes walked in limping slightly. It had been a hard fight, mostly of gangs. "Dad!" Wes turned around and quickly stood up straight, not wanting to let his son know he had been hurt. "Hey, kiddo." Wes picked his son up, as Sky came running into his arms. "How's my boy?"
"Great. Did you get the bad guys?" He asked excitedly.
"Sure did."
"Yeah. I knew you would." Sky smiled brightly. There was no one braver or tougher then his dad. "You always get the bad guys. No one's better than you, Dad."
Wes smiled. He had come to love this, coming home from work and having Sky to always welcome him home. He looked at his watch, it was 2 AM. "It's way past your bedtime buddy," he told his son. "Come on, I'll tuck you in."
Wes started towards the stairs and began to walk up them with Sky in his arms, but Sky could almost sense that something was wrong. His father looked to be in pain. "Dad, are you okay? You didn't get hurt did you?" He looked at his father with concern.
"Me get hurt?" He smiled faintly. "Nothing can hurt me," he lied. After that Sky didn't answer, his eyes became heavy and he was already asleep in his father's arms by the time they came to Sky's bed room.
Wes gently placed his son back into the bed, pulled the sheets on top of him and kissed him on the forehead. "Goodnight son." Wes walked out of the room, and silently closed the door behind him, but not before taking a glance back, watching his son sleep soundly and praying that there would be many more nights like this one.
Wes walked into his bedroom and sat down on his bed, taking his shoes and socks off; he winced in pain as he pulled one sock off. He rolled up his pants a little to reveal a small gash wound. The bleeding had mostly stopped. He got up and limped into the bathroom to rub some alcohol on his wound, wincing in pain as it stung and burned a little. He wrapped a bandage around it and then got ready for bed.
"Eric, it's too high. Sky won't be able to reach that," announced Wes, as he and Eric were hooking up the junior punching bag for Sky out back of the Collins mansion.
"He's a growing boy, Wes," Eric turned to his young nephew. "Right, Sky, show your old man what you can do."
Sky went up to it and did a jump side kick, kicking the bag right on target. Eric grinned, crossing his arms against his chest. "See, the kid kicks better then you."
"Very funny."
"Looks like someone has been having their own training sessions," announced Lisa.
"Yeah. Now I know where you were all those nights you came home late," added Hayley.
"Hey, the kid's got promise. I'm just helping him along the way," answered Eric who wasn't going to shy away from the fact that he had been giving Sky extra lessons on the side.
"Ah huh." Hayley leaned closer to Eric. "I wish you'd give me that much attention."
"I promise I'll make it up to you later tonight." Eric leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips.
"Okay that's enough, we got a little one around," announced Wes.
"I don't mind. It's not like it's nothing I haven't seen," grinned Sky.
Wes turned to his son, smiling. "What do you mean?" He laughed and started to tickle his son and mess with his hair. "Have you been spying on me and Lisa?"
Sky laughed. "No, Dad." He laughed again. "Stop. Dad!" Sky found an opportunity and broke away and went running right behind Eric. "Uncle Eric, help!"
"Okay." Eric grinned and whipped around and slung Sky right into his arms. "I got him, Wes!" The two then began to tickle him.
"Hey no, fair!" Sky laughed. "No double team!"
"Yeah guys. Very childish." Hayley started to lean towards Eric and began to work her magic on him. "Picking on the little guy."
"Yeah, two against one, not very fair odds," added Lisa as she wrapped her arms around Wes, kissing him gently on the cheek.
"Hey no fair, no girls intervening," protested Wes.
Eric loosened his grip and Sky dropped back down to the ground on his two feet, as Hayley tightened her arms around Eric's neck and kissed him deeply. "You're going to pay for that."
She grinned. "I know."
Wes smiled and wrapped his arm around Lisa and kissed her lightly on the lips, and let her lean into him laying her head on his shoulder. Sky moved closer to his dad, looking up at him. He was happy to see his father happy. It felt as if life couldn't get any better than this. He had the perfect family, a father that loved him, someone who he thought of as a mother and the best aunt and uncle anyone could every ask for.
Wes and Eric were out on patrol; everything had been fairly quiet in Silver Hills, and they hadn't gotten any calls from NewTech City, needing any assistance in a while.
"So when'd you find out?" asked Wes breaking the silence that had occurred once Eric told him his big announcement.
"A few days ago."
"You don't sound too thrilled."
"I'm happy. It's just-" Eric shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know if I'm the right guy to be a father to anyone. I didn't exactly grow up in a stable environment." He had spent the better part of his childhood in and out of foster homes and then in his teenage years he go the scholarship to attend the same prep school as Wes, but he ended up dropping out. He would then age out of the system, get his GED and spend a little more then a year in the military, before applying for the Silver Guardians.
"Come on, are you kidding me? Eric you'll do just fine, you're great with Sky." Wes knew that although Eric had a tough childhood and had no real role models growing up, that Eric would make a great dad. He's seen how Eric is with his own son, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Eric wouldn't be the same way with a child of his own.
"Being an uncle and a father are two entirely different things," answered Eric. He knew that being a dad came with a lot more responsibility, not to mention the fact he had zero experience when he came to babies. When Sky came into their lives he was way passed the baby stage. "Not to mention I don't even know the right way to hold a baby, I might break it."
"True." Wes joked as patted Eric on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it; besides, I'm always around if you need to talk. I'm not exactly far from being new at this myself." He wanted Eric to know that he would be there for him, just as Eric had been here for him. They can figure things out together.
"Thanks." Eric knew he wasn't alone in this, the whole experience of being a father. Wes had only been a father for a year, but it seemed almost longer then that, as if Wes had always had it in him. "So…..have you asked her?"
"Knew you were going to change the subject."
"You've been going on about this for the past week, why don't you just ask her and get it over with?"
"I still need to double check with someone."
"Oh, you know Sky's crazy about her."
Wes sighed. "It's not Sky I was referring to."
"Oh..." Eric smiled faintly, knowing now who Wes was talking about. "I'm sure she'd want you to be happy."
"Yeah, I know, but…"
"Yeah." Eric understood well enough to know what Wes and Jen had was special and nothing would ever change that. They shared something that bonded them for eternity.
"So is it a boy or a girl?"
"Now who's changing the subject?"
Wes walked along the beach alone. It had been a while since he was last here, in fact he hadn't been here since he and Sky spread Jen's ashes. And yet, it seemed just like yesterday he was here. This place would also hold a special place in his heart.
"Hey Jen. I don't know if you can hear me, well at least I think you can; hope you can." Wes bit his lip, he still felt a pang of hurt in his heart every time he thought of her, and said her name. The undying pain of what could have been… "I want you to know Sky's been doing great, he'll be starting Kindergarten soon. I promise he won't go to any of those big boarding schools, maybe a nice private school close to home. Haven't decided yet." He sighed heavily watching as the seagulls swung above the water.
Wes sighed again, hoping that doing this would take the feeling of guilt off his shoulders. "He would have come with me, but Dad wanted to show him around Bio-Lab today." Wes smiled. "Don't worry. I don't think he has any hidden plans of planting the idea into Sky of taking it over or anything like that. My dad's actually been great through all of this, helping me. I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for him." Wes put his hand into his pocket and pulled out an engagement ring, playing around with it. He looked up to the sky, feeling the cool breeze. "It's not yours. I'm planning on giving Sky your ring, someday." He smiled faintly. "Maybe he'll have better luck with it."
"I guess the reason I came here, is to make sure you're okay with this. Lisa and I, we've been together for about a year, moving slow, but I think it's getting to that point." Wes bit his lip. "I know in the letter you said you wanted me to be happy, move on. I just don't want you to think she's replacing you, because she's not, and she knows that." He sighed heavily. "I'll never love anyone the way I loved you, Jen, no one could ever take your place." He looked up again. "You're okay with this, right? Maybe you could give me some sort of sign, or something. Anything?" A few moments passed and nothing happened. Wes was about to head back up towards his bike when a pigeon flew down next to him.
Wes smiled. "A pigeon?" He laughed. "I guess it only seems fitting; after all, that's when I knew I would really miss you." That was back on the rooftop of the clock tower, back before they told each other how they really felt about each other. "I love you Jen. I'll always love you, no matter what happens."