Pressing Concerns [IC]

[Cyroa]

Dark Star nodded to Max, telekinetically taking the receiver from him. He wasn't sure who would be calling him here. Stesha just used the broadcast number, so it couldn't be here. "Thanks Marcus. We'll resume in a few minutes? We'll go over the terraforming possibilities and the wavelengths after lunch." He moved over to the phone, holding it aloft. "Hello? This is Dark Star."

[angrydurf]

Aces voice was clearly recognizable across the line as he spoke, "Derrick, Hope I'm not distracting you from anything important." Ace was fairly certain he wasn't, though on second thought it did seem a little odd that Derrick was still there. Then again He did have a strong duty ethic and Stesha may well have just told him to finish up before heading home.

"I just wanted to offer my congratulations on the happy event." He finished in a jovial tone.

[Cyroa]

"No no. We're working on adjusting the regenerative properties of regeneration and seeing if we can apply them on a macro scale. It has amazing possibilities for curing major global crisis not to mention terraforming possibilities. But it's a project that will likely take years for them to produce massive effects or the equivalent energy levels without my participation. Short breaks are a given." He was happy to help with their research but he wasn't about to try and solve their problems for them. Humanity could learn and do things on their own. but he was happy to help them learn.

He paused as he heard Ace's congratulations, not understand. "Hmm? I'm sorry, come again?"

[angrydurf]

Ace paused at that, it had never occured to him that Stesha wouldn't have told him keeping a secret like that even until the afternoon wasn't in her character. "Uhm, well I seem to have been misinformed that'll teach you to listen to rumors." Ace covered with less than his usual aplomb. "Have you talked to Stesha this morning? If you have time you should go see her I, uh, think." he added as if changing the subject. Ace wasn't certain what was going on but figured the two of them could best work it out face to face. It was rare that Ace was caught misinformed in such a manner so he was less refined in his covering for the gaffe than usual. Hopefully Dark Stars trademark naivete would cover for the confusion.

[Cyroa]

He blinked. "Rumors? What rumors are you talking about? I'm not exactly in the loop where those things are concerned." He got a little concerned at Ace's next words. "Is she ok? Is something wrong with Stesha? Has something happened?" He wasn't even sure where she was. He thought she was working at the flower shop. She was capable of taking care of herself of course. But Ace had connections and contacts that would pick up everything, no matter how minor. Had he heard something about Stesha? Dark Star's mind was already calculating that it would take him just under 1 second to get to that shop...or anywhere on Earth, if something was wrong.

[angrydurf]

'Or not.' Ace thought as Derrick began to panic. "No, No, nothing like that." he assured his friend.

Well no point in diggging the whole deeper, "She called asking for some advice about a delicate situation this morning. I assumed that she would have told you by now." Ace explained. "She was looking for a doctor specializing in meta-humans, particularly for, ahem, ladies issues." He didn't really feel too comfortable discussing the matter with Derrick and realized this may have been why Stesha put off the conversation to have it face to face. "So nothing to worry about but you should probably go see her. I didn't mean to but in, its a personal matter between the two of you." He assured his worried friend. "She probably just wanted to tell you face to face."

[Cyroa]

He paused and blinked. "Ladies issues," he queried, a little confused. "Um, ok... I haven't heard from her since I saw her this morning. But if you think it's important, I'll go see her right away. Thanks for the head's up Ace. I'll talk to you later." He hung up the phone and shot out of the building in a flash. The scientists would understand. He often flew off at a moments notice when emergencies arose. He was at the Flower Shop in a blink before he recalled that she had the morning off. Still, he scanned the building to double check before turning and rocketing off to her home. He was more than a little concerned, but not panicing. Ace's call had him worried. He didn't even pause in the threshold like usual (despite his spending most nights there). He let his senses extend, searching for her as he called out. "Stesha? It's me. Is everything ok?"

[Electra]

"Derrick?" Stesha called curiously from the shower, hands stilling momentarily as she paused in the laborious task of washing her hair. "I'm in the shower, I'll be out in a few minutes!" He was done awfully early today. She'd thought to grab a shower while Taylor was likely to be busy dealing with Jack, just so she'd be ready for any new surprises the day decided to throw at her. Not ready enough, it seemed. At least having Derrick around on her morning off was a nice surprise.

Out in the living room, Derrick was left on his own for a few minutes. Stesha often let a bit of clutter accumulate, but there was more of it than usual. Cups and plates on the table, as well as a white plastic indicator stick sitting on a napkin, and a sheet of instructions. Even without getting too close, he could see the line "-CTIONS FOR USING YOUR HOME PREGNANCY TE-" visible across the top of the half-crumpled paper.

[Cyroa]

He heard Stesha's voice, sounding rather calm and normal and he was instantly relieved. He would have breathed a sigh of relief if he could have. He noted the words on the sheet...combined with Ace's words... and then time seemed to stop as things suddenly began to click and he began to understand the situation. There was a LONG LONG LONG pause as he struggled to get his brain moving. He could idly hear her shower continuing though he floated there, immobile, frozen out of time almost.

Pregnancy test.

Stesha.

Doctor.

Woman's issues.

Baby.

Parenthood.

Fatherhood.

Baby.

With Stesha.

Pregnant.

....How the hell did Ace know?

Baby.

Parenthood.

Fatherhood.

Baby.

With Stesha.

Pregnant.

Baby.

Stesha.

Pregnant.

He was going to be a father... For the first time in who knew how long, Dark Star exclaimed quietly in shock. "Holy shit..."

[Electra]

He was still standing there a few minutes later when Stesha finished up in the shower and came out, one towel wrapped around her body and another futilely trying to contain her hair. She caught sight of him, still floating in the middle of the room in his energy form, on her way to the bedroom. "Take off your coat and stay awhile," she invited teasingly. Sometimes, when he was caught up enough in work, Derrick could zone out a little, just hanging in one place like a really odd, dark shadow in a bright room. "I'm just going to get dressed."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star couldn't have changed back to being human at that point even if he had thought to do so. He was so distracted by his impending fatherhood he was having trouble concentrating on anything really. He moved over to her. "Are you ok? Are we going to the doctors now? I mean I'm not sure what happens next. I mean I understand the biological aspect of course but not the social or even what do we do next. Is there a schedule we should be following? Wait, wait. Shouldn't we talk about this first? I mean, this is really massive. Good though, right? But wow, this is huge. A giant step for us. I mean, I love you and everything. More than I anything. More than I ever imagined it would be possible. I wasn't sure we were ready for something this big. I don't even know what your thoughts are on this. I'm sure it'll work out fine of course. I've no idea how this will change our lives but it obviously will. That's a given. But I want you to know I'm going to stand by you. No matter what. I'm a little off guard here obviously but that doesn't change anything of course. Right? Unless...you don't think so? Or maybe you're worried about everything? How it's going to work out, what will happen next and all that? Nah, you're probably more aware and ready for this than I am. How could you not be right? But I just wanted to say I love you," he said, finishing his ramblings.

[Electra]

Stesha stared at him while the words came tumbling out, trying to figure out what on earth he was on about. Whatever it was had him so excited that she could only catch about half of it, and not the half that made any sense. It didn't help that she couldn't see the expression on his face at all when he was like this. "I love you too," she told him with a smile, since that seemed like the most important gist of it. "Can you slow down and say most of that again? I think I missed something."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star nodded. "Um...ok," he said confused. How could she not know about this or being more...anything really? "Well, you're pregnant," he said, pointing to the evidence. "I know this is huge and not something we've talked about. I'm not sure where you stand or what your thoughts on this are. But I love you and am going to be here, no matter what. I'm not sure where we go from here or anything of course. But I came over as soon as Ace called me. I was a little worried at first since he was rather vague with the details."

[Electra]

Stesha followed his gesture, her eyes widening and her mouth opening in surprise. "Ace called you?" she echoed faintly. She was going to have to have a couple of words with Ace next time she saw him. Taking a deep breath, she ran a hand over her hair, knocking the towel to the floor. "Sweetheart... it's not me. I'm not pregnant. It's Taylor. I was helping her, I called Ace to help find a doctor for her, because she didn't want him to tease her. He must have jumped to conclusions, but I didn't realize he would call you and scare you." She wanted to reach out and touch him, but that reflex was finally starting to fade when he was in his energy form. Her lips curved a little. "I promise, if it ever does happen for us, I'll call you before Ace, or anybody else."

[Cyroa]

"Oh..." He honestly wasn't sure if he should be relieved or disappointed by that. At the moment, he felt both surprisingly enough. That would bear some thinking about. "I...That's good. I was wondering how he knew before me," he said weakly. "Well, we should congratulate them or should we wait until they make the news public? Wait...I didn't think it was possible for Jack to have kids. Given that he's, well, dead and all."

[Electra]

"We should wait, definitely," Stesha told him, picking up her towel from the floor. "I don't know exactly what happened, or how, or why, but it's going to be very complicated, I'm sure. That's one reason she needed to find a good doctor right away. We're just going to let them announce what they want to when they're ready to talk about it." She smiled ruefully. "Announcing secrets that don't belong to you just causes confusion and trouble, as I guess we've just seen. Are you okay?"

[Cyroa]

He nodded. "I can understand that. I hope everything works out for them. But I agree, it wouldn't be right talking about it until they are ready." He paused, thinking. "I'm just a little...out of sorts I suppose. Off balance. I was kind of reeling there for a little bit. How are you? You were with Taylor for all of this. Is she ok?"

[Electra]

"She's upset," Stesha told him with a little shrug. She headed into the bedroom, raising her voice to continue the conversation. It was unlikely that Derrick would compose himself enough to solidify while she wasn't dressed, so putting on some clothes was really the best idea. "You're right that they shouldn't even be able to have kids, so it was a heck of a shock. I'm okay, I'm just worried about her. It's hard to know what I can do to help. I almost feel bad that I got her to take the test, when the result was something she really didn't want to hear."

[Cyroa]

He was just calming down enough from the shock to realize that she was still naked. Or maybe sink in enough for him to notice. Either way, her looking like that, while definitely an incentive to be solid, was not conducive to him concentrating on something else. Not that he wanted her to walk out of the room, but it did make it easier for him to change. A few minutes later, after some false starts, he was Derrick again.

"I can imagine the surprise. But at least you were here for her. That's something. We'll just be there to help out as much as we can. That's all we can do I suppose."

[Electra]

Stesha returned to the living room, now dressed in blouse and slacks and with her hair in a long wet braid down her back. She immediately went to Derrick and hugged him. It made her feel a little better. "I think you're right," she agreed. "I just hope she will ask for help when she needs it. I know this isn't something she was looking for, or part of her plan. I was wondering how I would feel if it were me and not her. Scared, I imagine, but excited too. But then, I have different plans for my life. I hope she'll be all right."

[Cyroa]

He returned the hug with enthusiasm. "We'll be here when we're needed and offer when we can. I don't know how this will affect her or her 'job'. I was given to understand it wasn't exactly something she could quit. I'm sure they'll find a way to make it work and they can rely on us as well. We all have different plans. And there are some things that we never see coming," he said with a smile.

[Electra]

"I guess that's true," Stesha said, resting her head against his shoulder. "I hope Jack isn't really horrible to her about this. I mean... it can't be his, but it had to come from somewhere. I'm sure Taylor didn't cheat but... that just makes everything really confusing. If he hurts her or makes her feel bad... well, he'll regret it," she decided, with a frown that fell somewhat short of ferocious, but tried hard at it. "I kind of wish she'd call, just so I'd know what's going on."

[Cyroa]

"Stranger things have happened. Anything is possible after all. But I'm certain Jack will treat her just fine. How could he not?" It would never occur to him that Jack would treat his wife and love poorly. Jack was a good man, despite his 'issues' and wouldn't do such a thing. At least, not in Derrick's mind. "Well, they still need to go see a doctor and all that. We'll likely hear from them after that. Not to mention, they probably need a little time to adjust to the news."

He paused. "So...about those plans... I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and all. But perhaps we should talk about it now that we've sort of brought it up. Before I have another panic attack," he said jokingly. Mostly.

[Electra]

Stesha chuckled, looping her arms around his neck and trying to let go of her worries about Taylor's predicament for the moment. It wasn't as though there was anything either of them could do right now. "Maybe we should," she agreed, smiling up at him. "It's a new year, after all, a good time for making plans, about all sorts of things. And if you have a panic attack," she added teasingly, "I'll find you a paper bag. What exactly did you have in mind?"

[Cyroa]

Derrick bent down and kissed her lips softly. "Honestly...I don't know. But I think it's something we should talk about. I mean, we've sort of talked about the future a couple times. Well, I have about the whole heroing thing. And I didn't really have a lot of plans since I'm going to be around forever practically. But we've never really talked about you and me and the future. And I'm not saying we have to have the answers right now or anything, because I know I don't have the answers or ideas on them. But, all of these recent events have gotten me thinking about them and you."