Wherever You Are

Thirteen: Children

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"This is your brilliant plan?" I asked Jack, as I came out of the bathroom to show him what I wore. A knee-length white dress and cardigan covered me, with white flats to adorn my feet. Atop my head, my hair was curled back into a ponytail with a single white ribbon tying it in place.

"You look great," he smiled, taking me in. "Now, no one will know you are any different than the rest of the citizens," he laughed, turning his back to me and going over to the apartment door. "Want to take a walk with me now?"

Wondering, I went to look at myself in the mirror of the bathroom once more, noticing now since I was changed out of my old clothes, I felt almost like a new woman. I wasn't restrained by the clothes of my past, yet had the clothes of the future- literally.

"Alright, I'm ready," I told, brushing off my dress that Jack had obtained from a changing room down the hall, and went over to join him. The doors to his apartment opened fast, a breezy air shooting through me as we exited the apartment and continued down the hall. It was odd going back from the way I once had entered with such confusion, but I was glad that I wasn't stuck in his apartment anymore.

Walking a fair distance to escape the hallway, Jack then directed me to a different one that overlooked the glass kingdom below. Excited to see the place of wonders once more, I leaned my hands against the two way mirror glass and looked down eagerly. 

The glass homes still stood as neat and orderly as they had before, along with the people who worked in all different parts of the town. I could tell each one played off the other and was needed for something or another. The only people who weren't productively accomplishing something were three small children that played near a large metal tree.

"How do they have children? I thought you said they are a different type of human?" I asked Jack, looking deeper at the small children's happy faces as they spun around the tree with each other.

"They are different, but they still have a lot of the same features we have. Women can bear children through conception, just like us. It does, however, take a longer time for the fetus to grow in the mother's uterus, hence children aren't seen nearly as often as they are above ground," Jack replied, looking down as same did I.

"How much longer does it take?" I wondered, since it amazed me to hear such strange things.

"An average woman here bears a child for around two years before giving birth. It doesn't age the baby, because giving birth to a two year old would be unbearable, but it does age the mother. Scientists are still trying to figure out why it takes so long compared to the average human. But it's totally healthy and natural, nothing out of the ordinary here. If we, on the other hand, had a baby and you were pregnant for two years, that might be something to look into," he laughed, making me look away from the glass screen and down at my stomach. The lights seemed to flash before my eyes, as I broke out of reality and into another memory...

"Would you want kids?" I blurted out to Jack, coming into our bedroom where he laid out on the bed reading a novel titled The Eden Plague. He was always reading some new book, so it was hard to keep track of them all.

Looking up from his book and placing it face down on his chest, he gave me a lopsided grin. "Shouldn't we be thinking about marriage first and then kids, honey?" he laughed, motioning for me to come over to him. Walking over to climb onto the bed, I was upset at his response, even if he was true.

"Honestly, I'm asking not because I want them now, but because I'm curious for the future," I replied, sitting next to him on the bed. Looking up at the ceiling, I could tell he was concentrating on the question and soon glanced back to me.

"Yeah, sure," he simply put it, bringing his book back to his eyesight and continuing to read. Sighing, I grabbed the book from his hands and placed it on the nightstand.

"I'm serious, Jack. I want to actually talk about it. Do you really want to have kids with me or are you just saying that to get me off your back?" I ended, my eyes not leaving his even if he wasn't looking at me directly.

Sitting up in bed and facing me, he spoke. "No, I'd like to have kids with the neighbor's wife. She seems like a kind woman, our offspring would definitely be well behaved," he laughed, making my face turn red with anger as I stood up from the bed and stormed out of the room. I hated when he joked like this with me...

"Wait! Charlotte, come back here," he yelled, chasing after me in the hallway until he grabbed my waist from behind and spun me around to look at him. Jostling around in his arms from trying to get away, he pushed me up against the wall and trapped me against him. "Charlotte, yes, I want to have kids with you. I'm sorry I joked, it's just a sensitive subject for me to talk about. I just feel like it's a bit too soon to even discuss."

Looking away from him I shrugged, since to me it was never too soon to talk about it.

"But, I realize this is something you are taking seriously, and so I will too. Yes, I would love to have kids with you. You know what I'd also like to do with you?" he asked me, making me look to him and smile.

"What?" I wondered, curious.

"Marry you. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be Jack and Charlotte Nethers?" he smiled back, unpinning me from the wall and grabbing my hand. "Just you wait, I promise it'll happen eventually," he smiled once more, before spinning me around and kissing my lips delicately...

"Charlotte?" Jack asked, bringing me back into the world and out of my past. Fluttering my eyes, I looked over to him instead of my stomach, noticing his confused look.

"What's wrong?" I wondered, making him laugh.

"You had another memory didn't you?" he questioned, making me tilt my head.

"I didn't know you knew when I had them..." I lingered, stepping back a bit almost as if he had found out some deep secret about me that I was ashamed of.

"Are they about us?" he wondered once more, smiling. Debating whether or not I should even tell him, I eventually nodded. "Good, I'm glad," he chuckled back, motioning for me to follow him for the rest of the stroll and leaving me wondering what his words meant the whole time...