Late Night P1 | Rough Draft | fin

Starting Over

"How's it going?" Jake asks, knocking at the open door frame. "Need help?"

You simply shake your head and reach down under your desk for a few boxes, before slamming them on top of your bed.

"No. It's just... harder than I thought it would be to do this."

He walks in and stands next to you, leaning in to kiss the back of your head.
"I know. I'm sorry we can't take everything."

"It's fine." You deeply exhale, fumbling through the different papers.
"Dr. kleiner is taking all my research for me, since I won't be here to finish it. He says he'll tack it on with Graces latest book and add me as a co-writer.
I'm grateful my years of work aren't lost."

You reach over for your bookshelf, finding a few baby books Grace had left from her old school.
Something you used when the kids grew up.
"I guess these can stay here."
You open the first one and your fingers stroke down the first page. Grace had printed her name on the inner jacket, so the kids would relate it with her. "-I'm sure Norm will find use for them."
You look up towards Jake.
"It's.. almost heart breaking to think we're done with this part of life."

"Hey." Jake rubs a hand against your back.
"We did a good job raising these kids. Now it's time for us to let them start figuring out where they belong."

You place your laptop in the suit case, only able to really bring a few things along.
"Max finished copying my things to the hard drive, so at least I can leave the disks and such behind."
He watches as you turn to face him, taking one last look around the room and bathroom.
"It's hard to let this place go.. all the memories."

"We'll make new ones." Jake shrugs a bit, and sits on the floor beside you. "-Better ones. Safer ones. This time with a stronger bond."

And there you go, crying again.

He reaches out for your hand, and wraps his fingers around yours. "Hey. It's gonna be okay. We will figure this out, and the kids will be safe."

You grab for the collar of his old avatar shirt as it covers your human body, and wipe a tear with it.
"It's crazy to think that I won't need this anymore. It always brought me so much comfort. Your human shirts, too."

"Actually, about that." Jake tugs on the lower part of the shirt, pulling you in.
"Norm said he was going to make us some ponchos for the ride out, and hes lining the inside of yours with a few of mine."

"What?" You sniffle, wiping the back of your wrist against your cheek. "-Really?"

"Yes." He pats your back. "I know how much it meant to you. I'm surprised you didn't notice that I took a few."

"That's so sweet, Jake. Thank you for asking that of him."

He holds you for a moment as you stand in silence.

"The kids are almost done getting their stuff together." He says after a while. "- Tuk is having the hardest time emotionally, though."

"She's the youngest." You respond. "I think she will be able to adapt the easiest, if not Kiri."

And speaking of Tuk—

"Mama?" She calls out. "Momma, I feel sick."
Waking you from the small day dream you were in.

"Oh, Tuk." You pull her closer to you, and stroke the back of her head. She wasn't used to flying as often as her older siblings, the motion sickness still getting to her from time to time.

The rain is coming down awful hard the further out you reach, and it's just by luck that there's plenty of land around when Tuk starts to whine.

"Jake." You call out as loud as you can.
"The kids are getting restless, and the Ikran's need a break."