There was no such thing as a full night of sleep in that house for either of the adults, and there hadn't been for years, not with all the children that they had around them. Some nights, the four kids would behave and try to let their parents rest for once—only for the unborn child to cause problems, giving the night the same result as all the others. But on one particular night where the stars must have aligned in the perfect way, everything seemed to be absolutely perfect and maybe, just maybe, for once there would be a night where both of them slept through the night with no interruption.
If it hadn't been for what events were meant to follow the next afternoon, they just might have, but due to the fact that the resolution to that fight that had happened over Thanksgiving dinner was finally upon them, it wasn't going to happen. And that was why, in the early morning hours after being shaken awake, Alejandro was playing the role of a loving and supportive husband as he listened to Heather nearly crying about how she didn't want the following day's events to happen, that she wasn't ready to see him be right yet again, that she just didn't want things to go the way they inevitably were going to. While he didn't appreciate the fact that this was happening while he could have been getting some beauty sleep, he did take comfort in her saying that he was right, and that she knew it, and the revelry they were going to have to endure in a matter of hours was nothing more than a delusional choice and a waste of time.
Or, at least, the words that were being spoken through almost-tears amounted to something along those lines. He wasn't really sure, only being mostly awake for the event, and whenever he was expected to give input into her problems, he made sure to remind her that he wasn't fully aware of what was happening. "I do not understand why you feel the need to get into this at this early hour," he said, stifling a yawn as he did. "By all means, you are allowed to admit to me that you know I am right and always have been, but why must it happen now?"
"Because right now's when I realized it, okay?" she snapped back, clearly not anywhere near as tired as he was. "Or not exactly right now, but earlier. When we were talking about what all is going to happen tomorrow, or later today, or whenever it is! It just kind of hit me that you've always been right about all of this, and I've just been so stupid to even think to deny it, not just to myself, but to anyone who's asked about it."
"Oh, do not consider yourself stupid for wanting to believe in one of your dreams, even if it has been a foolish decision on your part." Even though it was dark, and all he could see was outlines of everything, he knew that she was rolling her eyes through her tears. "Now let us just go to sleep and let fate take its determined course when the time comes. Which, unless you want to call off the celebration and solve this problem right now, will be later."
"I'm not calling anything off just because I've realized it's dumb. We're still going to do this, in case I'm somehow right in the matter." A deep sigh followed a few sniffles. "I know I'm not right, but you know what? That's okay. It's just how things were meant to be."
A silence fell between them, and he took it as a go-ahead to try and fall back asleep. But as he started to let his eyes close and return to his slumber, a forceful backhand connected with his arm, jolting him back awake. "What was that for, mi amor?" he asked, rubbing at where she had smacked him. "You stopped speaking, and I am quite tired."
"You can be tired all you want, but you aren't sleeping yet. Since we're here, and both awake—" he groaned and she smacked him again, getting him to apologize a few times in Spanish "—we're going to take the time here to discuss a few things. I'm not just crying because of realizing you're right, just so you know."
"Yes, yes, how would I assume that you are only crying because of that? This is not our first time going through this experience, and even then your uncontrollable bouts of crying did not come as much of a surprise to either of us." His tired chuckles were quickly silenced by the outline of her hand appearing in his line of sight. "Oh? Are you saying that there is a reason outside of you being with child that is causing this dramatic display at this hour?"
"Of course there's a reason besides that. Why wouldn't there be? You know that if that was the case, I wouldn't force you to be awake because I can handle some stupid mood changes. No, we're going to lay here like real adults and talk about how you've seriously got to fix something, and quick." Now that his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, he could better see that she was on her side, looking at him with her head propped up on one hand, as the other hand was still hovering over him slightly. "There are going to be a lot of people over here for this 'party' and I don't want you making our oldest child looking like he's terrible in front of them. You got that?"
"It is not my choice to make him look terrible. He does it rather excellently on his own, if you ask me." Fully expecting to get smacked (and rightfully so) for that response, so Alejandro was surprised when instead he was given a simple sigh in return. "What, do you not mind that I just said that he is very good at making all who see him dislike him? I would have figured you would have taken a lot of offense to that."
"I do take a lot of offense to that, actually. I just know that trying to convince you to see him in a better light isn't going to end well, so why should I try?" She sighed again, resting her hand on him and gently tapping him with her fingers, as he looked at her with the full intent to answer her question, but she wasn't meaning for him to answer her. "I should try because he's not a bad kid, and you need to realize that. He doesn't deserve all the hatred you throw at him, and while I know you don't care, it's starting to really get to him."
He shook his head, the sound of his hair hitting the pillow the only indication that that's what he was doing. "What do you expect me to do about it? Go up to him and tell him that I do not find him as much of a failure to our family as I let on? I have a feeling that doing that will just cause him to complain to you, which will lead to this happening again. I understand that you want me to fix this, but…"
"But what? Come on, tell me what sort of excuse you've got for this. I know you can fix it, somehow, because it's you. That's what you do. Manipulate people into thinking better of you, even though at the end of the day everyone knows you're terrible." Patting him a few times before pulling her hand away and tucking herself up to go to sleep, there was one last thing Heather felt that she needed to say: "I know it's probably hard for you to even imagine being nice to the kid, but you can do it. If there's anyone out there who can go from being a complete asshole to being a great person, it's you."
He couldn't come up with any response to that, and even if he had been able to, she was asleep too quickly for him to have been able to say it. Laying there in the unusual silence of the middle of the night, he was really able to think about what he had just heard, and as he thought on it, he realized that she was completely right. Something needed to be done about the situation that had been going on years longer than necessary, and it needed to be done sooner rather than later. That meant that, instead of taking advantage of the rare peaceful night for some sleeping, he stayed up trying to come up with the best plan possible to get his oldest child to not hate him to the extent that he did. There was also the occasional pause to listen to what had to be the wind outside, making noises that, to him, sounded much like both his and his wife's names were being called.
Mornings when people were coming to the house were always the hardest, especially in terms of getting everyone ready and eager for what was to happen. For three of the kids, after the well-behaved night they just had, they were more than happy to go along with every order that they were given. For the other child, the one who was only expected to be the difficult one, there was no such luck. In fact, after he had gotten his brothers up and ready for the day, he had disappeared back into his bedroom, unwilling to interact with anyone else unless he absolutely had to. After being asked nicely multiple times by his mom to come out of his room to no response, there was only one person who could possibly give getting him out a shot, and as if things were falling perfectly into place, he took that chance.
Knocking to ask for permission to enter? That was one thing that wasn't going to happen in this situation, no matter how polite and correct of a gesture it was. The sound of his door flying open visibly startled Andres where he lay on the floor, and he scrambled to get up, shut off the music he was listening to, and back himself up against the wall to get as far from his father as he could. "Uh, h-hi there," he stuttered, trying not to look at his father at all. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
"I would not call it trouble, but we do need to speak about some things." Closing the door behind him, Alejandro made his way to his son's bed and sat down on it, motioning for the boy to sit next to him. After a tense moment or two, he did, making sure to keep his injured arm, still in its cast, as far from potential danger as he could manage. "Why are you being so hesitant to come near me?"
"Because you don't like me and I know you're in here to punish me," Andres replied, giving all the honesty he could. "I bet this is something my dear mom set up, to get you to come in here and punish me for…" His words lost their momentum when he saw that his father was looking at him with an unsure look, as if he didn't know what was being referred to. "Great. Mom did keep her word and didn't tell you about what happened at school, and here I go, telling you all about it."
"I must say, you have made me curious as to what could possibly have happened at school when you are such a bright child, but if you felt that I had no place in the matter, I will keep it that way. Besides, I am sure that your levelheaded mother will better at handling whatever situation there is." Not trying to pry into the situation that was clearly worrying the boy was one of his ideas for making things between them better, and when he saw the smallest of smiles appear on his lips, Alejandro knew he was doing something right. And that meant it was time to get answers on what had brought him into the room in the first place. "So, might I ask why you retreated back into your room today when you knew that there were things to be done before guests begin arriving?"
The boy's shoulders slumped, and what flicker of happiness there had been in his face disappeared. "I don't want to be seen as a failure by everyone, so I came back in here because at least in here I'm not reminded that I'm bad. Or, at least, not usually. You'll change that though, won't you, father?"
"What? No, I am not here to punish you. In fact, what I have come here for is to clear up some things between us, before the guests get here. I do not have any intentions to make you feel bad at all." There was no return of cheer in the boy's face, and that meant that more reassurance needed to be made before things turned ugly. "While it may have seemed like I was going to scold you for coming in here, I was not. It is simply a fortunate turn of events that you came in here so that we could discuss things where no one would overhear us."
"So you're definitely not punishing me, then. You never punish me when no one's around to watch how great at being a terrible father you are." The voice that Andres used to speak was cold and harsh, one that didn't sound like it would ever come from the mouth of a child, and it caught Alejandro by surprise. When the kid continued talking, his voice had gone back to normal, and he acted like he hadn't just changed personalities completely. "I don't know what you're gonna say, but before you say it, I just want you to know that unless it's really good, I'm still not gonna like you. You can't expect me to."
"I know I cannot, but there is no sense in not trying to get you to like me at least a little bit." Raising his hand to show two fingers placed slightly apart, symbolizing just how little respect and whatnot he expected to come out of this conversation, it struck him as odd when the boy moved his own hand to mimic the gesture, with fingers more apart. "Oh, do you want to try for that much? I am not sure that would be possible with what time we have…"
"Anything's possible, I guess, if you really want it to be. Which if you're being nice like this, maybe you do want it to be like that." Andres looked at his fingers, then at his father's, before giving a small laugh. "I think I'd like having a father who actually treats me like I'm not some waste of his time, even though I'm just like him."
That was when he looked up from their hands and straight into his father's eyes. If there was one thing that had always been prominent about this child's appearance, it was that he looked like a perfect mirror image of his father, the only exception being the long braid that his hair was always in. And at that moment, that truth rang true, the two of them looking at each other as if the other was a mirror that showed them at a different stage of life—and it was almost surreal when they both smiled at the other. For every moment that passed, what felt like a million thoughts crossed through Alejandro's mind, each one about a different aspect about the strangeness of the situation he found himself in. Hadn't he come into the room trying to fix things with this child that he had alienated so badly, and yet there they were, showing that they were very much one in the same?
He had every intention to comment on that, to make a statement on the matter, but Andres beat him to speaking, and he wasn't going to throw away such progress for the sake of getting a thought out. "It's really great, knowing that I'm so much like you, no matter how much you've always said that I'm more like my mom. Sure, I've always liked her more, but that's because she just gets me. She likes me wanting to express my feminine side." He closed his eyes, exchanging his smile for a smirk as he did, and when he spoke again, it wasn't with his normal voice but with that rough one from before. "But, you'd know what that's like, don't you?"
Hearing such words, spoken with such confidence, coming from the boy's mouth was odd enough, but what really got more thoughts flowing was the fact that what was said was completely true. There was no doubt that Alejandro was well-versed in the ways of expressing his feminine side, although he went about it in much more discreet ways than this boy ever had. Which led him to wonder, how did he know that? "I do very well know what it is like to be in touch with beauty and whatnot, but you knowing that is news to me. I doubt that your mother told you this, because it would make you resent me more, so where did you find out about it?"
"Doesn't matter. After all, I'm just like you. If I do it, you have to have to." Moving his casted arm a bit, the smirk on Andres' face got a bit bigger. "Except this. I think this was more me wanting attention, less me being like you. I'm too young to do what you did for attention, aren't I? Can't go be on a show at the age I am, all to get people to see me for me, not for the family around me."
"How do you know these things?" He figured he wouldn't get an answer, but there was no harm in asking, especially since the boy was saying things that no one should have knowledge of. There would always be assumptions, but he wouldn't have been speaking like he had been told this like it was hard fact if it was a mere assumption. "Did someone say something to you about me when I was younger, because I would know if I had, and if I had I would not have brought up anything of that sort. What I did was not for attention, but for honor and breaking myself out of the shadow of my family, yes, but how are you aware of that decision?"
"Sometimes when I'd tell mom about how much you hate me, she'd let me know some of your secrets to make me feel better. She always said that having things to gossip about made her feel better about things, and I guess it works." The smirk faded back to the smile it had started as, and Andres turned his head to break the chain of them staring at each other. "But I didn't ever say anything she told me out loud until right now. It just felt wrong to think about saying any of this to anyone but you."
The amount of seriousness he spoke with made it seem like he was telling the truth, which made Alejandro feel some amount of pride about this boy. Sure, he was a disobedient, deviant-behaviored child, but if there was one good thing about him (aside from his looks), it was that he didn't have the heart to be a gossiper. "I thank you for feeling that way, because I would hate for my secrets to be out to the world. It is bad enough that several private matters in my life are for the world to know, so knowing that not everything is the business of strangers sits well with me."
"Yeah, yeah, I did a good thing. Not something I'm used to hearing from you." Laughing once more, Andres turned once more to face his father, but when he did he wasn't himself, at least, not in his father's eyes. There wasn't any room to say that the boy was almost a mirror image anymore—because now it was like looking into a life-sized old picture of the man looking at him. And when he spoke, it wasn't with either of the voices he had been using, but rather a third, one that only appeared in Alejandro's thoughts when he reflected back on his behavior when he was young. "Not something I'm used to hearing from anyone, not in this family."
There were two reactions that could have been made there, each one unique in its own way, but neither of them felt correct to Alejandro. The first one was to question what had been said, ignoring the fact that it was something that he could vividly remember himself thinking over and over again when his parents or brothers would give him any sort of praise, simply because this child had definitely had one parents who would compliment him whenever needed. The second was to question the way it was said, keeping in mind that he knew that voice very well because it was the voice he thought of his younger self with, the appearance of the child matching those memories. On their own, neither choice felt right, but there was no way to get them together without the chance that one of the two questions would have been answered. What did happen was a moment of silence, as what was going on tried to sink in, to no avail.
And just like that, everything went back to normal, or so it seemed. The only difference was that, rather than smiling and looking like his father's perfect replica, Andres seemed panicked, back to his normal self. "Hey, father, are you okay?" he was asking, his voice very much his own, shaking with worry. "Y-you were saying something about you wanting me to spend more time with you, and then you just sort of spaced out. Did being nice to me really take that much out of you?"
"No, not at all. Not getting much sleep must have affected me this time more than I realized." It was a lie, but there weren't words to describe what really had just happened. Was he hallucinating about the conversation they had been having, while a different one had been taking place? "Refresh me on what we were talking about before, so that I can make sure I am where I need to be."
Andres gave a small nod. "Right. Well, uh, I said that mom liked me expressing my feminine side, and you said that you did too, which was really weird because you don't! You hate me being more girly! But then you said why you didn't let me know that, and it made me feel better about things. Not much better, but a little bit."
"Remind me what that reason was, please."
"Spacing out must really have hit you hard, father, but okay. You said the reason was because when you were little, your parents made sure that you and your brothers were in touch with beauty and stuff, and you thought that was what made you such a 'bad' person, so when I started showing interest in that same stuff, you wanted to keep me out of it. But I broke the rules and went for it anyway, and you hated me for it until you realized that I was like you anyway, so why fight things anymore?" After taking a few seconds to make sure that he hadn't forgotten anything, the boy gave a bigger nod. "And then you were saying that you'd love for me to spend more time with you, but that's when you kind of went blank and scared me for a minute."
None of the previous conversation had ever happened, it seemed, but with no idea where to go in the one that had occurred, Alejandro needed a way out of the situation. But how was he going to manage that, especially when this was the first time that he could think of where he and Andres were actually getting along? "I do apologize for doing that. Like I said, it must have something to do with not getting very much sleep at all last night. How about we resume this conversation later, once I am more rested and aware of what I am saying?" He hoped the boy would buy into that, and he did, excitedly replying that he would love to get to talk more later, especially if it meant that they'd start to rebuild bridges that seemed to have been burned without a good reason.
Never once did the question of when resting would be able to happen be raised, because Andres was too busy rushing out of his room with spirits higher than they had ever been to realize that there logically wasn't any time for that. And it had only been suggested as a way to get out of the sticky situation that Alejandro had found himself in, so he had no idea of how it would really happen. All he did know was that something weird was going on, either in reality or in his head, and he needed answers in what little time there was before the festivities began, and if that meant laying down for just a few minutes to rack his mind for any solutions, so be it.
On his way out of that room (which, as he thought about it, he really hadn't ever spent much time in, possibly in relation to what Andres had said about not being punished in there) and back to his own, the wall of family pictures had to be passed. While looking at the beautiful images of the family he had worked so hard to create and support always made him feel proud of what he had accomplished, seeing them at that moment created a fear deep inside of him, one that turned to a worry he couldn't shake. Looking at the newest picture, the one that there had been so much struggle to take, several problems that Alejandro had never encountered before that very moment reared their ugly head, and he found his feet seemingly cemented to the floor before the picture, unable to move until he solved these problems; it wouldn't have been an issue to stay there and figure things out, had he not been hearing his name be called by someone in the distance, which the need to see what he was being called for weighed on him just as much as forgetting the names of his kids.
He could look at their faces, which he noticed really only looked like his and Heather's faces smashed together with different features of their prominent, but no names came to him, aside from the name of the child he had just been speaking too. Even then, was that because the kid was beginning to mean something to him, or was it because they shared the same name? After trying so hard to remember what they were named, and failing but chalking it up to being so tired, he moved on to one of the other issues he found with the picture that he never before had noticed. As far as he could think back, his face in the picture had looked like it always did, but now it was blurry and off, as if the picture itself wasn't sure what he looked like, and the same went for Heather's face. He could vividly see her in his mind, but what he could see wasn't reflected in the picture.
However, there was something reflected in the glass that caught his attention, amidst the confusion of what was going on with the image and him still hearing his name being called. As he focused on that reflection, the picture behind it seemed to fade away, turning what was inside the frame into a mirror, which was showing him what he had looked like years before, back when there weren't any children to worry about and the only people living in the house were him and his beautiful bride. Was this a sign that he wanted to go back to those times and live it all again? Of course not! So many wonderful things had happened in the time that had passed that going through it a second time would ruin the enjoyment, and besides, there was no way to go back and change things. He was just tired, and his mind was playing tricks on him. This was simply a reminder that it was the day where they inevitably replicated an event from almost nine years to the day beforehand.
He found the strength to pull himself away from the picture, but when he took a step in the direction he needed to go he didn't find himself a step closer to his bedroom, but rather a step into a crowded room filled with every single person he knew of from that stupid reality TV show that had changed his life forever. No one seemed to notice his presence, so whoever had been calling for him wasn't in there, but what he did notice about all of them was that they all looked like they hadn't aged a day in the years that had passed, which, judging by his reflection that he had just been staring at, he really hadn't either. The atmosphere in the room felt more like a birthday party than what the celebration really was for, which made him wonder if anyone around really knew how things were going to go down. There was going to be cake, like a birthday party, and there was going to be presents, also like a birthday party, but there wasn't any celebrating of someone's years in the world. Everyone was gathered for the results of a contest that everyone knew how it was going to end since it began, and there was nothing exciting about that.
In fact, had this not already have been planned for months, he would have loved to have called it off just because he didn't need a reminder that his family had some sort of curse on it in terms of births. There was nothing to cheer for in relation to that, yet it had become a spectacle that people wanted to come and celebrate, and it, on top of everything that had already happened that morning, didn't sit well within him at all. It just didn't, and when he felt like something was going to be a disaster, chances were that he was right about it.
A hand latched itself to his shoulder, when he hadn't realized someone was standing next to him to begin with, startling him until he saw that someone was indeed there. "What's got you acting so weird today? You've been staring at everyone for a while now, and it's really starting to freak people out." With all the odd things that had happened so far that day, what Heather was telling him was completely expected, but as she continued to talk he realized that things were a lot worse than believed. "I mean, you walked in here looking like you were on something, which got Sierra super worried, which meant that I was stuck having to explain to her that no, you aren't doing anything illegal, you're just…well, I wasn't sure what to say you were. Because, honestly, I'm having a hard time convincing myself you're not at least experimenting with things." The playful tone she took was masking true concern, he knew, but what was more concerning wasn't so much what she was saying as it was the way she looked at him while she did it.
Not necessarily the actual act of looking, but rather the appearance she had as she did it. Had she always looked so young and nervous? "Believe me when I say that I am not on anything, except a lack of sleep I was unaware would bother me so much. Why, what was I doing that prompted that fear?" Honestly he had no idea what it could have been, but he wasn't worried so much with what the answer was so much as he was with the fact that he seemed to be staring down someone who looked just like she had years before—but when he tried to figure out anything about the sudden youthfulness he saw in her face, his mind drew a blank, the only thing coming to it a vague sounding of his name in her voice, although her lips were moving to a different set of words.
"Are you even listening to me?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face, and he shook his head in response. "What's your problem? I thought you'd get a kick out of me trying to tell you about how excited and happy the boys were, but spacing out on what their names were, but you just looked blankly at me. Are you getting lost in your thoughts?"
"Truthfully, it is more like getting consumed by them."
"Oh, if that's what this is about, that makes a bit more sense than you doing drugs or something weird. Lately I've been having the hardest time keeping reality and what I wish was reality separated, and I bet that's what you're doing right now." She took a step back from him and tilted her head slightly as she smiled at him. "Come on, let me know how it is. What's the version of me in your mind like?"
Taking the time to look at her carefully and try to think about where this image of her had come from, it was not an easy question to answer when Alejandro realized he knew where he was imagining her from. He'd seen the dress she was wearing before, as it had been hanging in the closet for a long time. Since before the first time they'd done this same thing, in fact, and he could remember two distinct times before the current one where she'd worn it: for those ill-fated pictures, and for their first one of these reveal parties. And he knew which version of her it seemed like was standing before him, and he had to tell himself not to say that truth to refrain from sounding insensitive. "She is exactly like the one that stands before me at this moment."
"Huh, that's odd. I was sure you were going to say that she's older, wiser, and become completely submissive to things she'd never go along with, but if you want to tell me that lie, go right ahead. I'll believe it, because that's what you want me to do." Her smile disappearing, Heather straightened her head as she narrowed her eyes to look at him. "You're always right, after all, and everything is the way you want it to be."
"I do not think I understand what you are implying there," he said, stepping a bit closer to her. "Everything is how I want it to be? I am fairly certain that everything is the way it is because we made it that way together."
"Yeah, you would think that, wouldn't you? Just look around! Everything's so perfect and fitting for you, not for me! Do you really think I'd have allowed any of this if it was my decision to make? Of course not!" She reached out and pointed a finger at him, touching the tip of his nose as she did; his mind told him that something like that had happened before, but he couldn't think of the specific situation. "Everything here is according to you. Every last detail of our lives is perfectly yours!"
He pushed her hand away and tried to come up with something that went against her words, but coming up with an example was easier said than done. As if he was summoned to the location at that very moment, the cat came strolling in, brown and white fur perfectly groomed and not showing even a trace of age, and he figured that it was a sign that he was supposed to use that animal as his evidence. "What about the pet I got for you? If it were truly my decision, would I have gotten such a creature?"
"I had no say in him being here. Although, gotta love his name, hm?" She smirked at him as he tried to remember the cat's name to no avail. "Funny how he's got the name of something so trivial yet so memorable. Who could forget a cat named after ice cream? Just like how no one could ever forget the dog I would never want around that you used one of the names I picked out for? Of course you'd use a name that you feel we didn't need around."
"What are you implying with all of that?" Now it was his turn to point at her, although he didn't go so far as to touch her with his pointed finger. "Are you trying to tell me that I have created this life we lead on my own?"
"Why would I do that? Oh, right, because you did exactly what you just said." The way she said it was forceful and slightly condescending, and as part of his reaction to it, he went ahead and touched her with one finger, which seemed to break whatever surreal illusion his lack of sleep had just put him through, because he wasn't touching her on the nose like he had thought he was. He had just poked her straight in the mouth while she was in the middle of some word, and she bit down on his finger, causing him to give a small yell in pain, pulling his hand back as she laughed at him. "That's what you get for putting your finger in there," she playfully said, watching him shake his hand to try and rid it of the pain. "Wasn't sure what you were going to do with that, especially since I was just talking about you touching me."
There was no way he was going to be able to do like he had done before when he had gotten lost in a fantasy while talking to Andres, and that meant that he was just going to have to respond blindly. Or, at least, that was what he intended to do, but then he noticed that everyone who had gathered for the occasion had surrounded them, and were looking at them as if they were expecting something. Then it sank in that he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, and there was no way he was going to find out easily. "What were you expecting me to do with it?" he asked, hoping she'd tell him a good answer so that he could figure out what he had missed while fantasizing.
"You're supposed to do a cutesy pose with your wife, that's what!" Sierra's voice, as loud and grating as always, was hard on his ears, but everyone around seemed to agree with what she had just yelled out, none more than the woman standing before him. As they stared at each other, with the crowd around them watching expectantly, Sierra once again called out what should have been happening: "Like the last time, you two! Just like everyone's been dying to see since you lovebirds decided to keep making babies!"
The position she was demanding was one of those things that he'd never be able to forget about, because it was one of those moments in life that he always found himself thinking back to. How could he forget how that had gone, where he had gotten down on his knees in front of the woman he loved so much and lost himself in the kisses meant for the unborn child within her until the only other person present had ruined the surprise of what gender said unborn child was? That was easily one of the best times in his life, where he had been proven right about his family being cursed in regards to only having sons…but, as he started positioning himself how he was expected to be, how many times had he been right? There was that time he'd never forget, which was forever ingrained in his mind, but there weren't any times after that, were there?
Somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, his name was being called by multiple voices. Were they trying to drag him into another illusion, where he was wrong all along and everything he had lived through up to this point was a dream? Or were they just calling attention to him desperately needing sleep? Either way, it was all in his head, and there was no sense dwelling on it, not when people (who had never cared and never honestly would) were waiting to witness a tender moment between two people in way over their heads and their child.
A child that was going to be loved and wanted, regardless of gender or interests or any aspect to them. He closed his eyes, trying to think about the other kids that came before this one but coming up with blank names to faces that were nothing more than renderings that one of those cheap phone games would come up with. Was that all they were? That's how it felt and while he knew that admitting to that was going to be hard, if anyone found out that he was losing touch with his children, who knew how much would be forgiven. The calling of his name grew louder, as he tried to just think, to focus on what was going on, but it grew to be too much, especially when he felt a hand on his head, running its fingers through his hair.
He opened his eyes, and the immediate sight was the same as what he had closed them to, the creamy color of the dress the love of his life was wearing giving him hope that he was still rooted in reality—but then the silence of the room hit him like a ton of bricks. The only sound he could hear was his name being called, by two different voices, and he looked up to see his wife's wide eyes, her face full of worry, but also young and tired and everything she was meant to be at that point in time.
"Fifteen minutes. You're telling me that you imagined the entire next nine years in fifteen minutes?" Sounding equal parts confused and impressed, Heather looked at Alejandro with her head resting on her hands, her elbows propped up on the counter before them. "I can't say that I haven't tried to do the same, but…"
"You at least make sure to limit where you fall into a fantasy," he responded. "I cannot believe that it happened like that. I do apologize, because it must have been worrisome for you both to witness such behavior." As the two women said that it was, explaining their thought processes on the matter, he took the time to look around the kitchen where they had relocated once he had snapped back into reality. The fridge was the first thing he saw, and looking at it so many thoughts about what he had just been experiencing came to him, first and foremost being the specific flavor of ice cream that was the answer for the hangman puzzle on the whiteboard. The second thing he made note of was their baby name list, held up with one of many letter magnets. While he couldn't remember the male names when the fantasy world he had built was crumbling, he knew they were safe and sound on that sheet of paper, even if the faces he had put to them were lost to the ages. As for the female names, there was only one he bothered to know, and he still strongly hoped that the only chance of use it would find would be for naming a pet.
"You know, if it weren't for the fact that you've been doing that sort of thing for months, I'd ask what sorts of nonsense you imagined us going through. I mean, there's only so many different stories you'd be able to come up with, right?" He wasn't sure if it was possible for her to be right about that. He had elaborately imagined a large chunk of time, using all sorts of details from their lives, as well as idyllic ones he wanted, as his base, much like he had been for all the times he'd dreamed up the perfect future before. "But let me guess, like always, it was all boys, huh?"
He nodded, looking at the name list still as he tried to remember anything, even the smallest of details, about the four kids he'd been imagining. "There is simply no other way that things will end up. I have explained that to you many times now."
"Yeah, yeah, I know you have. I still think you're full of it about that. So what if it's been that way for everyone else in your family? We're going to be different, and that's just how it's going to be." He rolled his eyes, before turning to see that Heather was grinning at him, pleased by what she had said. "If either of us are going to get to live our fantasies, it's going to be me, and you'll just have to deal with it."
"Will I? I would much rather live through one of my fantasies than ever suffer through one of yours." It was then her turn to roll her eyes at him as he got the chance to grin at her, and watching the banter between the two, Sierra clapped and laughed, which reminded him of something that he did vividly remember from what he had just been through. "Ahem, Sierra, may I make a few requests of you?" he asked, causing her to pause all motion and implore him for what said requests were. "The top priority here, please stop talking so much about people we once associated with. My mind took some of your ramblings about certain people and decided it was appropriate to place them into my dreaming. Even though it was ultimately fake, I would much rather never think about my children interacting with such filth that you seem to appreciate."
"Oh, like Izzy or Noah, huh?" Sierra scratched the back of her head as she thought about agreeing to not talking about them, but shrugged the thoughts off. "I guess that's totally doable. Even though, like I've said before, they'd love to come see you guys sometime, maybe, if I'm around and stuff like that. Or maybe I'm thinking of different people." She gave a small snort as she laughed a bit. "I'm just too super excited for you guys to finally find out what this baby's gonna be."
Like they had at so many points before, they both replied to Sierra saying the gender they preferred, but this time there was no fighting afterward. There wasn't a reason to argue anymore, not when there was a way for them to finally settle the score once and for all in the room with them. The single problem with actually getting around to settling it was that both of them had invested so much in thinking about their side of the argument and what life would be like for them to be right, that so much as accepting that the other person could actually be right seemed impossible. What good would that fifteen minute fantasy do if there was no way it was going to become true?
Cutting into the cake that held the colored frosting was a moment to be photographed and remembered forever, the pictures showing not just the color that would change their lives but the look on both of their faces as they now knew which one of them was going to get to start living out their fantasy.
A/N: Okay, I fully expect everyone to be upset about this, er, turn of events. It was all a dream? A very, very elaborate dream that takes place over the course of a quarter hour, at that? Yes, and that's how it was intended to be from the moment I came up with how this story was going to progress. Some things had to be left out to achieve this goal, and other things were added in to help make it more plausible. Everything that happened had a reason behind it, and if it wasn't explained in the end, it's because I was working hard to get this chapter done for today. You're welcome to ask me for clarification on things, though.
But okay, let's get to the reason for why this is how it ends, on a revelation that it's a dream, followed by a cliffhanger that could go either way. I didn't want to make a definite answer and then disappoint y'all, so I've given you the ultimate choice: which one of them gets their way? I mean, they were both having these elaborate fantasies catering to their specific desires, and I chose to follow only one of them. (No, this isn't me saying I'm going to write what Heather's fantasy was. Don't get me started on that.)
Anyway, thank you for sticking around for this accidentally monstrous fic! What started out as a birthday present ended up being one of the most surreal fic rides I've ever created!
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