Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Chapter 11: custard

Esperanza stopped by Alcott's berth on her way home to check on her friend. She hadn't seen her since the appointment yesterday. Alcott answered the door quickly.

"How are you doing?" Esperanza inquired.

Alcott shrugged, letting her in the door.

"Today wasn't bad. People are starting to ask about the baby; I'm glad I know he's a boy."

She placed a hand on her stomach and shook her head.

"And this little moonshy boy is always active. I haven't drank black tea in ages, and I don't eat a lot of sugar; this one is going to be out in the world and running down the halls in no time."

"Sounds like his madre," Esperanza laughed.

"If he took after his papa, he would be sleeping all the time. Marcus loved naps." Alcott smiled. "You're welcome to stay. Levi should be back soon; he ran to his berth to get cards. We were going to make dinner in a little bit, but all Levi did this afternoon is eat tomatoes. I'm surprised that he has any appetite at all."

"I'm glad Levi's been around," Esperanza remarked.

"I am too, even though I know it's because Dylan has just, vanished for intents and purposes. I feel like we keep each other from drowning." Alcott sighed. "I spoke with Dylan yesterday. I can't imagine what she's going through, but I know that isolating herself isn't helping her heal. And being shut out is tearing Levi apart. I'm really worried about him."

"I'll talk to Lully," Esperanza promised. "And you know you can call or message us at any time, right? We're just down the hall. If you or the baby need anything, or if Levi starts to scare you, please let us know. Promise?"

Alcott nodded. "I will. Thank you."

The door opened behind them and Levi himself moved through the door. He grinned at the two ladies, holding a deck of cards. Esperanza eyed him critically. Despite the smile on his face, she noticed he had dark circles under his eyes and his shirt hung on him loosely. She made a mental note to get him in to see Madison for a check up so someone could scold him about taking care of himself.

"Care for a round?" he said.

"I should go; Lully will eat dinner without me," Esperanza admitted. "But have an excellent evening, you two. Alcott, don't let him cheat; he's been learning from Harper."

"I have not," Levi protested. "I am perfectly capable of cheating on my own."

Alcott rolled her eyes and Esperanza left the berth with a smile on her face.

Lully had pulled out his nano-printer and had set it on the table, watching it print the thin layers with a pensive expression. He glanced up when she came over to sit in his lap.

"What are you making?" she asked.

"A print for Levi," he replied. "He wants to send it to Dylan. It's a poem that I embellished."

"I just was over at Alcott's, Levi and she are playing cards," Esperanza said. "You know, on the Aeneid we could talk to the medical team about problems if need be. Here, Madison and the rest of us are usually too busy, but there should be someone, you know? Dylan and Levi shouldn't have to be alone on this."

"And they're not, petal. They have us. They just have to realize they have us." Lully sighed. "I'm not charging Levi for this one because I'm worried that Dylan's going to get it and smash it into a thousand pieces. But he wants to make more. He wants to do more."

"He could send her flowers," Esperanza suggested. "Dylan had always liked peonies. I'd say he could bake something, but he also needs to eat. What happened to all our friends? Why won't anyone talk to us anymore?"

She rested her head on Lully's shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"We didn't ask, and that's on us," he said. "But that will change. We're all going to be stuck in this base for the whole of the earthstorm and be forced to deal with a lot of unresolved conflict and stress." He winced. "Also, I may have got into a fight with Charles today. I picked up some more community service hours."

"Lully," Esperanza sighed.

"I know. He's just rotatedly unforgiving to the new printers and I don't like seeing him treat teenagers like they're responsible when things break. Broken printers happen. You can't get mad every single time."

"Neither can you," she pointed out. "You're going to be working full time for free at this rate."

"I only have thirty more hours," he scoffed. "And honestly, at least someone is looking out for people. Vertov just doesn't care anymore. He's more focused on resources than personnel. Which is fair; we are running out of everything. But during the earthstorm there is nothing we can do about that."

"Exactly," Esperanza told him. "There is nothing we can do and so we're going to stop worrying about it."

She planted a kiss on Lully's forehead and rose from her seat, pulling him up with her.

"Let's make custard," she said. "Levi sent me a recipe a while ago and I've not be able to try it."

"For dinner?" Lully questioned. "That's not healthy."

"Lully Brandt, since when have you ever been concerned about health?" she laughed as he looked in their refrigerator for ingredients. Before he could reach for the milk, his holo-rib chimed. He glanced at it and then frowned.

"It's Harper," he said, looking over message. "Seasons!"

"What?"

Lully laughed. "Harper and Cameron are having a baby. And he messaged me about it. I didn't realized we had become so cavalier about such things. Who messaged that out of the blue? Cameron's pregnant? I didn't know they were...I guess they're...I should send a reply."

Lully typed for a moment and then scoffed. He didn't say anything, and Esperanza wanted to bring up having children of their own. Of course, Lully always deflected. So she gave a thin smile as he pulled out milk and eggs.

"It's hard to imagine Harper as a father," he mused.

"I don't know why; he's older than you," Esperanza teased.

"That doesn't mean anything," Lully protested. "I'm just as capable. I eat vegetables, and I clean."

"When I make you," she noted with a grin. 

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Another short chapter, so it works to have a bonus update with it. Esperanza and Lully are the oldest couple (Though technically Harper is older) and I think in some ways the most mature. Sure, Lully gets into fights at work and such, but his relationship with Esperanza is much healthier.
One of my goals of this series is to demonstrate healthier relationships than often we find in science fiction. It worries me that our expectation is built up by fictional assholes.
Weird rant over. Thanks for reading!!