A Way Home

Chapter 4 – Baby Sister

"Little sister, don't you cry for me/ Little sister, it's as plain as can be/ Little sister, I'll be fine/ But what about you/ Will you be okay/ Just give me some time/ I'll show you the way/ The way home."

- Little Sister, Fuzzy-Pamplemousse

-

Joey handed the little baby to Henri, and he took her in his arms. "There, you see?" He demanded to the crowd. "The child is fine, and her mother will return soon."

"Well, until she does, we need to get rid of the monster!" Someone yelled. The crowd cheered in agreement, and surged forward like a tidal wave.

Henri and Joey stepped back in fear. Henri because he wanted to protect the child, and Joey because, for a moment, she thought they were talking about her. But before she could voice this concern, a shot rang out into the air. People scattered, and fell to the ground, almost in one swift motion.

A policeman stood at the edge of the crowd, a pistol in one hand, pointed to the sky. "That's enough!" He thundered. "Everyone who does not live here will leave immediately, or I will start arresting people."

The people in the crowd murmured about how unfair it was, and began to pick their ways home. When there was no one left but Joey, Henri, and Dominique, the policeman, putting away his gun, came up to them.

And who are you?" He demanded of Joey

"My name is Joleen," Joey replied, giving her full name.

"What business do you have here?" He demanded.

"I am a friend of Erik's wife," she replied, "and came here to give the child to Henri to take care of until such time as her mother returns." She folded her arms across her chest challengingly.

Henri put a hand on her shoulder to calm her. "She is welcome in my home," he said pointedly.

After a moment of glancing back and forth between Joey and Henri, the policeman turned and left.

Joey breathed a sigh of relief, and Henri turned to go back inside. He beckoned for Joey to follow. She did, and was quite surprised at that.

"So this is where Rebecca has been living for the past few months," Joey mused aloud.

"Months?" Henri asked, turning to her as they reached the living room. "She has been here for several years."

"Oh," Joey replied, not knowing what to say as she realized that she had just given away Rebecca's secret.

Henri smiled at her. "Relax," he said, "I already know all about it."

"About what?" Joey asked, trying to pretend she had no idea what he was talking about.

"About the time machine," he replied, placing Dominique in a small cradle.

But before Joey could reply, and ask questions, a little girl ran into the room.

"Is mommy home?" She asked eagerly, looking up at Henri adoringly. She had curly black hair and blue eyes. Her skin was quite pale, and it reminded Joey of Erik for some reason.

Henri knelt down so as to be level with the girl. "I'm sorry, honey," he said, "but mommy hasn't come home yet."

The little girl's face fell.

"But this nice lady here brought your baby sister home," he added, and the girl's face lit up at the prospect of someone to play with.

"Can I see? Can I see?" She asked, almost jumping up and down with eagerness.

Henri led the girl to the edge of the cradle, where she peered over and gazed at Dominique in wonder, her mouth forming a little 'o', and her eyes wide. She reached a little, chubby arm into the basket to touch the baby.

"Careful," Henri warned gently. The little girl gently stroked Dominique's cheek.

"She's so small," the girl said in a voice of wonder.

Henri smiled and then turned the little girl to face me. "Charity, this is Mademoiselle Joleen. She is a friend of your mother's."

Charity smiled at Joey and waved timidly. Joey smiled back and crouched down in front of her. "Don't worry," she said, "your mommy will be coming home soon." She smiled even more broadly.

Henri caught her eye and frowned.

Joey had just promised something that she had no control over. She didn't know if Rebecca was even going to be coming back. If Rebecca didn't return, they would have a very disappointed little girl on their hands.

-

I wiped my eyes and smiled at my mother, feeling silly that I was crying, even though I was already a mother myself.

My mother brought me inside and sat me down at the small kitchen table. AM2 and David were invited in as well, – albeit icily – but before AM2 could accept, David stopped him and politely declined.

So I sat down with my mother, and she prepared a pot of coffee. "Actually, mom," I said, "if you wouldn't mind, I would prefer a coke to coffee." I smiled sheepishly. "I've spent about five and a half years without a coke, and I'm practically dying here."

"Five and a half years?" My mom asked, opening the fridge door and pulling out two cans of Coca Cola.

"Yeah," I said. "Didn't the Council tell you?"

"What?" She asked. "Some crazy story that I had to rip out of them about you being sent into the past to retrieve some deformed, masked murderer?"

"Erik is not a murderer," I protested, opening the can of coke with a nail file that was sitting on the table. Then I thought for a moment about that statement. "Well, at least, not anymore," I added.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," my mom said pointedly, holding out her own can of coke to me. I sighed and smiled. Then I handed her the nail file. She took it with a small smile and a sigh, and opened her own can. "Now then," she began after she had had a sip of her coke, "explain to me everything that has happened to you in the last few months."

"Years," I corrected.

"Months, actually," she said.

"Maybe for you, but not for me," I said. "The Council didn't lie to you," I added, taking a deep breath before continuing. "They were telling the truth. I did go into the future to retrieve a deformed man" – I stressed the word 'man' – "and in the process, accidentally got involved in the timeline."

That was when my mother noticed me tapping my fingers on my enlarged belly, which had not completely shrunk after Dominique had been born.

"Gained some weight, did you?" She asked, not making the connection.

I would have held out my left hand, but I had given my wedding ring to Joey to prove to Erik that she was my friend and of good intentions.

"Mom," I said, taking a deep breath, "I'm married."

She nearly choked on her coke.

"What?" She asked after she had stopped coughing.

"I said, I'm married."

She glanced at my left hand. "Where's your wedding ring?" She demanded.

"I gave it to a former member of the Council when she took Dominique into the past to be with her father," I replied. Under normal circumstances, if our roles had been reversed, I would have shit a brick if someone like Charity had disappeared for six months, and then showed up to say, "Hi, mom. I'm married with two kids, but they're in a completely different century, so I have to leave you again and break your heart so I can go be with them." That would have scared the crap out of me. As it was, I was quite surprised that my mother was taking it so well.

"Who's Dominique? My mom asked cautiously.

"My daughter," I replied. "She was the reason I returned to the twenty-first century."

My mom's mouth hung open like a codfish.

"Stop looking at me like that," I said. "I'm an adult now, mom, a wife, and a mother of two. I can take care of myself. Heck, I traveled back in time, for Pete's sake"

"Two?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah, the other one, Charity, she's already in the nineteenth century. She's five, and a beautiful girl with a head of black curls, and blue eyes. She beautiful, and one of the three most precious things to me."

My mother just stared at me for several long moments.

"Say something," I said.

"Who's the father?" She asked quietly. "And please tell me that you're at least married to him."

"I told you I was married, mom," I said. "Of course I'm married to the father. His name is Erik," I said, a little nervous. My mother didn't seem to be making the connection. "He was the one I was supposed to retrieve for the Council," I said.

"The murderer?" My mother asked, her voice high and squeaky.

"He's not a murderer anymore, mom!" I protested. "How many times to I have to say that." I lowered my voice. "I love him, mom," I said.

"You love him, or you're in love with him?" She demanded, knowing that I knew the difference.

I smiled mischievously. "Both," I said, a twinkle in my eye.

My mom sighed. "You'll have to start from the beginning," she said, settling down into her chair while I began to explain everything that had happened since I left for France several months before.

A/N: Well! There is another chapter, within just a couple of days. Yay! Review, please, and let me know what you think.