At first no one could move or speak. The daunting realization of just what Owsla's words meant slowly seeped in, weighing on them all. Joel spoke first.
"So... what you're saying is... you can't eat?" Joel demanded rather than asked.
Owsla nodded meekly at her father.
"Does that mean you don't need to eat?"
Owsla only shrugged but even as she did, her stomach growled loud and clear. The sound brought everyone around the table back to life.
"So, what does that mean?" Phishie blinked.
But really, no one had any illusions to what it meant. If she couldn't eat, she'd starve to death.
Owsla was going to die.
"Owsla, no!" Running over to her, Sonny held her against him in a soothing yet tight grip.
"Mom, calm down-"
"No! I'm not going to calm down!" Sonny refused. "You're my kid and I am allowed the right to be concerned about you're well being!" He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't stop his mind from racing with all the horrible possibilities. How could this new life he had just been blessed with be ripped from his hands?
Owsla blushed, embarrassed by all the attention her mom was giving her. "M-mom!"
There was a loud screech as a a chair moved across the hardwood floor, Joel standing up roughly. "There has to be more of it!" he declared. "Owsla! Who was the last person in charge of the goop?"
Owsla starred at her father, shocked by his apparent urgency. "Well... Nattie was, but-"
"NATASHA!" The house was silenced as he bellowed the words, echoing from every corner.
The girl in question was still in the hallway after forcing her girlfriend to eat something. Natasha looked at Jamie who was shocked just as much as she was. Quickly, Natasha ran to the breakfast table, Jamie right on her heels.
"Joel, what the hell is-" Natasha had barely gotten the words out when Joel began his verbal assault.
"Where the fuck is it?"
"Where's what?" Natasha looked at the obviously irritated man in front of her, puzzled by his erratic behavior.
"Don't play dumb, I know you had it!" he hollered back
"What are you talking about?" she inquired, a bit overwhelmed by the fierce look in the Mau5's eyes and his tense, taught form.
"You're in charge of the pod good, where the fuck did it go?"
"It's gone! We gave her the rest of it last night!"
"No." Joel shook his head.
"What?" Natasha looked at him stupefied.
"That's can't be right." he denied.
"Are you calling me a liar?" Natasha asked hostility. He was laying into her for no reason and now he's calling her a liar? Why would she lie about something like that?
Joel replied just as hostility, voice surprisingly loud, ready to go. "What I'm SAYING is-"
"Joel!" Sonny scolded. He had let go of Owsla to walk over to Joel's side, trying to calm down the Mau5's strangely perturbed state of mind. "Breathe. I get you're worried, but yelling at Nat won't help."
"I'm not worried! I just refuse to stand by and watch someone die!"
"Die? Who's dying?" Owsla looked at her parents curiously.
Everyone turned to Owsla at her words. Did... did she not realize that not eating meant-?
Sonny was quick to explain. "No one sweetheart, your Dad is just susceptible to random bouts of delusions."
"What?" Joel turned to stare at his friend, stunned. "I'm not delusional."
"Yes you are. You're being delusional right now. Let's go take your meds honey..." With a fake smile, Sonny determinedly shoved the Mau5 away into the game room. Confused and wondering what the hell was going on, Jamie and Natasha followed suite.
Immediately after shutting the game room door, Joel shoved Sonny off of him. "What the hell?"
"You are NOT about to tell our child she is going to die!"
"Oh no no no, she's your child, not mine!"
"Take responsibility for what you did Joel!"
"What I did? What did I do? I didn't do anything!"
"Oookay, both of you cut it out!" Natasha waved her arms to get their attention. "Would either of you like to explain what the hell is going on?"
"Owsla is going to die."
"Joel!" Sonny protested. "Don't say that!"
"Well she will, won't she? If we don't do anything."
Jamie, who had been silent up until now, spoke up. "How the crap did that happen? Did you poison her or something?"
"NO!"
"She has nothing to eat," Joel explained. "She said she doesn't know if she can eat human food because all she's supposed to eat is the pod goop."
"Well that's gone so just give her some human food anyway." Jamie suggested.
"No." Natasha shook her head. "If she's not meant to digest human food, she could get sick and die. It's just like dogs and chocolate. We can digest it easily but dogs can't. They eat too much and they die. Owsla is a different species, we can't just assume she can digest everything we can."
At that, Sonny started to cry. "No! We can't just give up!"
"I didn't say give up!"
"I hate this!" Joel slammed his hands angrily on the coffee table. "We're fumbling blindly in the dark with no idea of what we're doing!" Although Joel would likely never admit it, he hated seeing his best friend cry: it really ticked him off.
Natasha was reluctant to admit he was right. They had easily accepted the responsibility for the little alien, but none of them knew how to care for it. They really didn't have a clue; it was frustrating.
"Natasha," Jamie said, a contemplative look on her face. "You said they probably sent her here for a reason, didn't you?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well if that's so, wouldn't they have left her instructions or something?" Bucky reasoned. "You don't waste all those resources on a mission without making sure you have the greatest chance for success."
"Well... yeah it would only make sense to give her instructions... or at least to Sonny, sine we're still going under the assumption there's a reason she calls him mommy." Natasha agreed, sending a glance in the goblin's direction.
"And the only thing that came with her is the pod..."
Natasha gaped a bit as she realized what her girlfriend was getting at. "That's still in your backyard isn't it?"
Sonny's eyes widened. "Oh shit! We've got to get it before Annie or Dad gets rid of it!"
Natasha gasped at a sudden realization. "And I think I know someone who can help us. My brother at UTA. They have the equipment there to analyze Owsla's biochemistry and find out if she can digest human food."
Jamie glanced at her girlfriend skeptically. "Are you sure? Your brother is going into aerospace engineering, he's not exactly a biochemist."
"Theodore's best friend is in the medical field, he knows more than you think. I'm sure he can help us." Theodore, Natasha's brother, was a freshman at UTA. Although only a freshman, he was brilliant. A sort of mad scientist if you will. If he couldn't help them in this situation, who could?
"I'll take Owsla to go see my brother. The rest of you can go see about getting that pod to a secure location." Natasha turned to leave, time was of the essence after all, but Bucky stopped her.
"Rose, I'm going with you." Jamie said firmly.
"But-" Natasha was about to protest but her girlfriend's look shut her up. She had the 'don't you DARE fucking protest' kind of look.
"So am I!" Sonny declared. "Owsla's my daughter, I'm going with you!"
Natasha turned to speak but Jamie beat her to it. "No, Natasha's right, you need to go get the pod before Annie or Dad gets rid of it."
The red-head beside her nodded. "Sonny, you're the only one with the resources to get it moved. We're not adults and we don't have the money either. You on the other hand could easily rent a storage space and a moving truck no problem."
"Joel is an adult with money too! Joel can do it and I can go with you guys!"
"Yeah but Joel doesn't have a whole team of trust worthy people to help him move it. We have to keep Owsla as secret as possible for her own safety."
Sonny starred between the two girls for a long moment but eventually sighed, knowing they were right. "Ok." he nodded regrettably.
Joel looked at his best friend, a flash of sympathy in his eyes that he refused to show. "I'll come with you to move the pod," he said, clapping his best friend on the back. "We'll move it and then meet up with you two at the college."
The girls nodded at them before turning to leave. Rose had almost gotten out the door when a voice stopped her.
"Natasha?"
The semi-red head turned to look at the voice. She watched the raven-haired man's throat swallow nervously. The words he wanted to speak were stuck there but his eyes gave it away. Natasha and Sonny had an odd relationship/friendship thing to say the least. But, what ever connection they did have was built on a shared understanding of one thing: passion. Passion was the one thing they both shared in the basics of who they were. In their own respects, the both of them were artists. Sonny had his music of course and Natasha, although no experience in the real world making a living off of it, had her own artistic endeavors in art and writing. To the both of them, their art was their life, what drove their every step. They had an unlimited sense of commitment and dedication to those overwhelming feelings. They were both passionate people that would go any length for what they loved, whether it was a thing, an idea, ... or a person.
Owsla had become one of those 'passions'. His family. One of the few people that he would go any length for. The fierce look she saw in his eyes left no doubt in her mind. Reflexively, her eyes wondered after a certain blonde packing up her stuff before refocusing back on Sonny.
'Will you protect her like one of your own?'
Natasha only gave him a nod. "You got it."
