Domestic Energy Vampires

by UberNerd121

Moving this out of the crossover section to reach more readers! Collection of short stories centered around a couple of background characters as they strive for their own happily ever after. (Mostly domestic fluff.) Includes elements from another Disney cartoon and a handful of original characters. Not in chronological order, but you can find a detailed timeline on my profile.

32. Okay

"Are you okay?" I ask. What kind of question is that? Just something to break the silence? We only got the news yesterday, and neither of us knows how to talk about the fact that she's... that we're going to be... that we're going to have...

Eve looks me dead in the optics. "Are... you okay?"

I squint at her impenetrable expression. "I asked you first."

"But it was a pretty dumb question, don't you think? We're both Energy Vampires now. If we really wanted to know how we felt, we could just focus and see for ourselves, right?"

I let my optics wander. "Of course not... I don't know how you feel any more than I know how I feel."

"You don't know how you feel?"

"Do you know how you feel?"

"No," she frowns.

We fall back into silence. That pretty much sums it up. Maybe we'll be able to wrap our minds around it once she starts to show. She doesn't look pregnant, she doesn't seem pregnant... who knows whether she feels pregnant? I certainly don't feel any more like a father. Based on the fuzz of fleeting emotions whirling around her processors, her motherly instincts aren't really kicking in, either.

My optics settle on the flat surface covering her containment chamber. Right now, the baby is nothing more than swarms of nanobots sorting through data. Next week, we'll go into the lab for the first of many material implants, and the nanobots will start actually designing the motherboard and hard drive. Next week, even though it will just be on the most basic level, our child will physically exist. The world seems to fall away around me.

Whether Eve notices my line of sight or feels the frantic pulse of energy I just released, she reaches out and takes my hand. I scrabble for my composure as I lace my fingers with hers, meeting her eyeforms once again. Her eyeforms... those soft, blue pools of light that make me certain that I know nothing, while still providing me a world of comfort. Seeing her grapple with the same shock, anxiety, confusion, and wonder provides me some relief.

She squeezes my hand and I squeeze hers back. "I think we're going to be okay."