“It’s good to meet you too-“
Jack froze as the tiny blue hand popped into view. He heard the laughter of a baby, and when he looked closer, he could see the top edge of Joey’s blue head.
A baby?!
Had Ulric and Mira … no, that was impossible. His son hadn’t been in the past long enough for that to have happened. Jack was relieved, but that still didn’t answer the question of how the young couple had gotten hold of a blue baby.
“… Is there something you want to tell me, Ulric?” he asked, quirking one gray eyebrow.
Mira smiled, beginning to relax. “Yeah, been wanting to meet you for a while, I––” She suddenly froze as Jack did, seeing that Joey was popping up into the frame. “J-Joey, uh!?” Mira quickly looked at Ulric and bit her lip. Had Jack not known about Joey?
Apparently not, with the the way he’d froze. And with that question. “He’s…” Mira turned to Ulric, giving his hand a light squeeze, letting him have the chance to answer to his dad.
Startled when Joey speaks up, Ulric automatically reaches for the little guy, picking him up with one arm and setting him within sight – he should have explained this way before now but had kept putting it off.
“Dad, meet Joey.” Joey himself was more interested in getting closer to the computer, reaching for Jack’s picture on the screen with both hands. “He’s, uh. You remember what you told us about how you arrived?” Having Mira here to help was reassuring, giving her hand a light squeeze in return.
“It’s, um … n-nice to meet you, Joey.” It was all Jack could think of to say. Meeting his son’s girlfriend was one thing – he’d been expecting to have that happen sooner or later. Finding out that the two of them had taken a baby in, however, was a complete shock. He could feel his old stutter coming back, and had to bite his tongue to stop it.
Ulric’s words caught his attention. “Yes, I landed in a space pod. My birth parents sent me to Earth, though I don’t remember it well-” He realized. “Wait, you mean he landed that way too? He’s … he’s like me?"
Jack Maple 