When eye contact was broken and deciding to peer down to see what the matter was, Ithil merely smiled. The shock was beginning to wear off with Jack’s words and she crouched down to coddle the little bulldog. “Well hello sweetie,” she greeted as Stella licked her cheek. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Still her eyes strayed back to Jack to take him in – to see what her child had become; a grown man. And how it sent her heart soaring. “Forgive me..for appearing so suddenly. I just..I’ve been searching for a long time for you – on many planets..the shock must be quite intense for you.”
She wasn’t as shy as people thought, her stare intense yet gentle on his features as her eyes roamed the contours of his face to soak up every little detail.
Under her gaze, Jack could only fidget in silence. Those green eyes, and that face … they brought only the faintest images to mind, like memories from a long-ago dream. The voice stirred something too, but he couldn’t remember what it might have said in the past.
He did remember her, but by images and feelings only. He didn’t know her name, and he barely associated the idea of “mother” with her. When he thought of that word, Bonnie Maple was the person who came to mind, just like Aloysius was who he always thought of as “father”. Meeting Vycter hadn’t changed that.
“Y-you could say that,” he admitted, with a nervous chuckle. “But you … you’ve been looking for me?”
He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“Yes,” came her breathless answer, wishing she could just pull him into her arms. Yet at the same time she feared his reaction and rejection. She couldn’t help wondering if chatting with him would help. “For many years..After your father and I sent you off, we escaped in our own pod except we lost track of you somewhere and I had no idea which planet you ended up on.”
Giving Stella one last pat on the head, Ithil straightened herself back up to be level with him though how he had grown. He was a few inches taller than she. “The sonar of your pod was lost and I had to search through several planets for you.. until I came upon Earth.”
She took another step closer to him though tried to keep her hands in check to not scare him off. “I know you must have your own life here but I would still at least love to chat with you..to learn about your life and how it is faring if I may? It was all I wished for – that you were safe and happy.”
… Oh, why of all times did she have to find him now?
Jack did want to talk to her. There were so many things he wanted to find out; it didn’t usually bother him, but there were times when he hated being the only one of the blue people (in his own mind, at least) who didn’t remember their homeworld. And, like any orphan, he wanted to know where he had come from. Who had his parents been, back on their planet? Why hadn’t they sent a minion-fish with him, when all the other blue orphans seemed to have one? What had their world been like?
But, at the same time, Jack couldn’t help feeling a sting of resentment. Why couldn’t she have found him twenty years ago, when he was a bullied and frightened child who would have given anything for a family? Even ten years ago, he would have leaped at the chance. And now … why couldn’t she have come just a week ago, when Katelynn was still there?
He swallowed nervously again. “Y-yes, I’d like that. W-we can go back to my place.” Jack managed a shy smile. “I’ll tell you everything.”
Jack Maple 