Title: The Time Traveler's Wife
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Pairing: Hiro x OC
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: "Yes, that's right. You're going. You've been gone for ages. You're already gone. You're still here. You've just arrived. I haven't even met you yet. It all depends on who you are and how you look at it. Strange business, time."
Word Count: 1,009
Warnings: N/A
Disclaimer: Not mine. Summary belongs to Doctor Who.
A/N: I am pretending Heroes: Reborn doesn't exist.
This time he knows exactly when he is when he appears, but what he doesn't know is what he will find. Unclenching his eyes, he peeps around in apprehension. Then, when nothing untoward happens, he opens them wider and takes in his surroundings.
He had a year in his head when he traveled this time. 2026. Five years after their marriage. And his only thought had been of Jamie, so that, no matter where they were on this Earth, he would wind up there. So he had a when, and he had a who, now he needed the where.
The street was almost cookie cutter in its normalcy. The houses were not all exactly the same, but clearly built from a similar spread of floorplans. The yards were all landscaped and blooming, the cars all shiny and clean, the fences white and picketed. If the models of the car didn't look so brand new, Hiro would think he was in an American sitcom in the 1950s.
A cacophony of laughter makes him turn his head, eager, but it is a young mother pushing a stroller, while her blonde-haired, blue-eyed daughter skips in front of her. It isn't Jamie. And now he's suddenly unsure what to do. Should he knock on every door, until he finds the right one? And then what – tell Jamie he forgot where they lived? Should he wait here until she, hopefully, comes out or comes home, and sees him standing there like an amnesiac? Or maybe he should try to teleport again, closer to her. Would that be better or worse? What if –
"Hiro?"
He spins around, gasping, suddenly realizing he had been about to hyperventilate in the street from thinking too much. So when his gaze lands on Jamie, he is wide-eyed with the beginnings of panic.
She arches a brow at him in consideration. "You alright there, dear?" Her tone is fond and amused, clearly used to strange antics from her high-strung husband. She tilts her head in a beckoning motion at the house to her left. "Do you want to come inside or are you okay standing in the street?"
He laughs. "I'll – " He breaks off, suddenly realizing that she is hugely, beautifully, pregnant. He knows he is gaping, that he should pretend that this is nothing new to him, but he can't help it. She's wearing fluffy white slippers and a matching robe, her hair is wild – just-rolled-out-of-bed hair – her eyes are luminous in her pale face.
She shifts the handful of mail she's holding in her hand into her robe pocket, her brow beginning to crinkle with worry. Absentmindedly, she rubs a hand across her stomach. "You are okay, aren't you?"
Worried that she's going to get stress and go into labor right there in the street (he has no idea how far along she is), he reassures her and walks over. But he can't help the urge he has to cover her hand with his, to feel the life underneath her fingers. His. Theirs.
She lets him for a moment, before laughingly pulling away. "Come on, crazy, the neighbors can see you fondling me out here and I left Amanda in the living room watching cartoons. If a commercial comes on, who knows what she'll get into."
His heart stutters again. He has another child. He has a daughter.
Hiro tries to make it look like he's not hurrying into the house, but he isn't sure he succeeds, since he beats Jamie to the door by about a dozen steps. She muttering softly under her breath, but it doesn't sound angry, so he ignores it, because as soon as he opens the door his zeroes in on the noise of what is clearly a Teen Titans cartoon and, laser-focused, makes his way there.
The site that meets him, makes his heart skip a beat, and when it starts again it is loud in his ears. Amanda – his daughter – is lying on her stomach, head propped up in her hands, eyes intently focused on Beast Boy and Cyborg arguing about pizza. She's kicking her feet back and forth in a lazy, relaxed manner. When he steps further into the living room, he steps on one of the numerous action figures that are strewn about and turns towards the nice. He has one clear moment to think that she does have her mother's eyes, before he is attacked by a tiny bundle of energy.
"Daddy!"
He falls back with a muffled oomph and she is crawling on top of him, talking a mile a minute, so fast that he can't make heads or tails of it, but he also can't stop smiling, wide and bright. Her hair is a dark chocolate, and while her eyes are her mother's color, they are Hiro's shape. The quirk of her mouth is all Jamie, and Hiro can see his mother in the shape of her face.
"Are you staying for dinner?"
Something about the way Jamie says the question, something about the tone – not accusatory, just… curious – makes him turn his head. He had been opening his mouth to ask what made her ask that, to question it, but she is leaning against the wall, eyes soft and loving as she watches the two of them, her hands curled under her stomach, and he can't.
Instead, he stands and walks over to her. He's pressing a kiss to her forward even as he smooths his hands against that little life she's carrying. When he feels it kick against his palm, he smiles. "Of course I am."