Effervescent ||Tsu'tey||

A peek into the future

"Did he like the flowers?" Alva asked. "I heard babies like vibrant colors."

Miles jr cooed from his place in his mother's lap, a bundle of large neon blue petals held tight in his chubby fists.

"I think that's a yes." Paz Socorro chuckles. "Ain't that right, Miles? You like the pretty flowers?"

Paz and Miles share a standard sized room, perhaps the bathroom was a little bigger and the fridge a little taller but otherwise it was just the same as Alva's. Not one for sentimentality, Paz had little decorations apart from little trinkets Miles had created or picked up, some jewelry from Earth and a sonogram of baby Miles. Alva smiles at the image of little bean-shaped Miles, so much smaller than the absolute giant of a baby he was now. He had grown quick, a little progeny in the making with all the learning resources a budding genius could ever wish for.

The bedroom door is closed. It always is when Alva comes to visit, but she knows Paz keeps all of her personal things in there as well as the badly put together cot that she helped build. Alva briefly wonders what else Paz is hiding there.

"Can I hold him?"

"Oh? You want to-" Paz' hands froze where she was tickling the child on his stomach. Miles is laughing and writhing in her hold, red-faced and oh-so-adorable. "Absolutely. Just remember to support his neck."

Alva accepted the baby with sweaty hands, doing her best to give Paz a smile, though it wavered and shook as Miles settled in her lap. He was so soft, and squishy and she was so stunned by him that she almost forgot to adjust her arm so his head fell into the crook of her arm. He was all fatty folds and wide smiles and pale blue eyes staring right through her. A bundle of innocence and bubbling laughs freely given without fear of judgment.

"He's so pretty," Alva breathed out, holding her breath in fear that it would hurt him. Fragile as he is, soft skull and even softer bones. "Hard to believe half of him is Quaritch." Miles' face scrunched at the words and she laughed at the sight. "Now I see it. That frown is all him."

If Paz reacted to her words, Alva didn't see it. She was too engrossed in memorizing every little bit of Miles' face, wholly convinced she had never seen a cuter baby than the one she was currently holding. He had a mole next to his lips and another just above his elbow. He must've been napping before Alva interrupted the two based on the criss-cross pattern matching Paz's knitted sweater on his left cheek. She traced the mark, giggling when little baby Miles caught her finger in one of his hands.

"He's very strong." Alva said.

"Yeah, that's also from Miles." Paz said. "He'll grow up to be a good soldier."

The room felt cold.

"A soldier?" She asked, voice no higher than a whisper.

"Just like his father." Paz confirmed. "He's got big boots to fill but I don't doubt that he'll be twice the man his father is."

Alva looked down on Miles. The cute lines now reminded her of wrinkles, the blue of sharpened icicles and the grip suffocating. She looked into his eyes but it wasn't him that she was seeing. Alva's grandfather had never gotten to hold her like this, like Quaritch got to hold his son.

"I-" Alva stammered, pulling her finger back from Miles' grip. "I have to get going now. It was lovely seeing you both."

There wasn't much grace to be found in the way Alva pushed Miles into his mother's arms, ignoring the stunned look on her face before she left. Alva didn't look back.

:-:

Despite the early hour, Alva found Max pouring over another stack of research papers and dimly lit screens. He was dressed in yesterday's clothes and his hair was slick with grease and his face glistened with sweat, or tears. The several cups of cheap coffee suggested he had been here for several hours already.