Part Seven: Phase Two, Part Four

"You're redecorating my room," she restated, "and you've dragged me along to help why?" She was not the type of woman to enjoy decorating a room. The room could be stark white for all she cared. As long as there was somewhere to crash in the room…dear god, she sounded like Kevin…

"You need to learn sometime…" her mother laughed.

"Learn what?"

"How to decorate beyond a bed set…"

"Okay, why in the world would I need to know that, a woman who doesn't know how to decorate…it isn't a fatal flaw you know…"

"What if you settle down, need to decorate a, oh I don't know, a nursery?"

"I've told you there'll be no kids from me and Kev."

They were walking down an aisle of blues and purples.

"Oh you never know that for sure; after all, you were an oopsie."

"Aliens have much better forms of contraception than humans…"

"Of course, but you never know what happens over the course of a lifetime."

"All the more reason not to; Mom, you know the jobs we do are dangerous. It'd be unfair to put a kid through that."

"Grandpa Max—"

"Grandpa Max got lucky; he's been lucky, the number of times he should have died are astronomical at best," she slouched against the shelving, arms crossing her chest as she gave her mother a grave gaze, "Not every Plumber is that lucky. Every time we have a mission we risk dismemberment if not death. We've decided we're not gonna put a kid through that sort of life…besides we're always partnered up, this way we'll probably both go at the same time."

"Well how do you know an enemy won't kill one of you and keep the other alive to suffer the loss?"

Gwen smirked, "Well they're too dumb too live if they try that. Me and him tend to go nuclear if the other's in danger. I'd hate to see what would happen if one of us were killed but not the other…"

"You're very pessimistic today; come help me pick out colors…"

"Fine." The younger redhead sighed, resigning herself to the task. She quickly perused the selection of color samples before picking out an array of purple shades.

"Here," she handed them to her mother, "happy now?"

"No, now we go to fabric…"

"Urrgggghhh, Mmmmoooommm…"

"Gwendolyn, act your age not your shoe-size…"

"In Anodite time I'm acting my age, I'm still just a toddler to them."

"Well in our time you're nineteen, act like it…what fabric?"

"I like silk, it's easy to clean."

"Silk's good, cotton?"

"Only hundred thread count or above…"

"He's spoiled you hasn't he?"

Gwen blushed, mumbling, "Maybe…"

Her mother chuckled, "C'mon now we go to carpeting…"

"Grrrreeeaattt."

In perusing the carpet samples, testing each out for comfort should someone stagger in and then fall to the floor from wounds, Gwen had fallen asleep on a sample. At least it was soft…

"Gwen, Gwen, Gwendolyn…wake up honey." Jen shook her daughter.

"Huh? Badge beeping?" with that non-sequiter Gwen woke up, sitting up with a groan and fishing her badge from her cloak pocket to check it drowsily.

"No, your badge isn't beeping," Jen sat beside her, "been getting a lot of calls?"

"No," Gwen put away her badge, yawning, "not the badge…"

"Then why are you so tired?"

"Have you ever heard someone beg for forgiveness when there is none needed, have you ever heard the screams of a tortured man as he pays for his crimes over and over again? Have you ever heard a grown man cry for his mother when she had abandoned him and his father, who's dead in the line of duty? Scream as his flesh mutates into a biological disaster? Or hardens into living stone and freezes everything but his mind?"

Her mother shook her head.

"I have, I share a bed with one who does…his nightmares…they go beyond nightmare level really. He doesn't know he screams while asleep…or cries…"

"He keeps you awake?"

"I can't sleep when he's suffering like that; it takes all my skill to soothe his mind but as soon as I break that connection it starts again…he only sleeps three nights tops. I get to sleep the other four…"

Her mother bit her lip and sighed, asking, "So you like the carpet?"

Gwen smiled thankfully, "Yeah."

"Color?"

"Red; hides blood well…"

"Right." Jen took out a notepad and copied down the brand and color's RBG numbers.

"Are we done yet?" Gwen whined childishly.

Jen laughed, "Yes we are. How's about lunch? My treat…"

Both women stood up, heading to the register.

"Nah," the younger one said, "My treat."

"But—"

"Mom, I make more in a month than you do in a year," Gwen laughed, "I can pay. Pick a place, I'll pay."