Sissy had the strange urge to pack but what did someone pack for a trip into the future anyway? Besides she had everything that meant anything to her anyway. She had Harlan.
And she had Vanya.
It hadn’t taken Vanya very long to convince her brothers and her sister to let her and her son come along with them. Sissy had been a little concerned how easy it had been to convince them actually but then Vanya’s sister Allison had just hugged her and smiled a bright smile and Vanya’s long haired brother who called himself Klaus just laughed and welcomed her to the family.
And that was that.
“We’re going to have to all hold hands.” Vanya said softly. “Harlan can stand between you and me.”
“Will this hurt?” Sissy asked.
“I’m not sure” Vanya admitted, “I was unconscious last time.”
“it’s doesn’t hurt.” The big angry looking one who Sissy had only heard speak once and who had been concerned with one of the people attacking Harlan but who had disappeared soon after said, “If Five does it right this time you will feel nothing.”
“I did it right last time I just over jumped.” The youngest one who seemed to still be in charge said angrily.
“By forty years.”
Vanya shook her head and lead Sissy away as the rest of her siblings fought and Harlan played nearby. Sissy smiled as Vanya took her hand and kissed it gently. “You are doing the right thing coming with me. They will stop fighting in a minute. Five will send us back to my time and you me and Harlan can be a family. “
“I still don’t understand.”
“I know.” Vanya smiled at her “Forty years is a long time and in that time people like us can be together in the open. I can show you the world. I can hold your hand in the world.”
“And Harlan?”
“We can get him the help he needs so he can live in the world with us.”
Sissy felt herself taking a long breath she didn’t know she needed. She smiled at Vanya who she couldn’t have loved more. “I want to kiss you right now.”
Vanya kissed her without reservation and without caring that her siblings were fighting a few feet in the distance. They kissed like that for a long moment. Then Vanya smiled at her and at her still bickering siblings, “Allison would have taken her husband but he said no. He is a big civil rights organizer. I think she is sad he didn’t want to come with but she understood. Klaus couldn’t convince this guy he fell in love with not to enlist. I don’t think Diego has ever been in love before so of course he falls in love with someone who wants to kill us.” Vanya huffed under her breath, “Its not about you Sissy. My family is screwed up. But they....I....we will protect you. Love you with everything we are. If that means anything.”
Sissy smiled at Vanya and took her hand, “it means everything. I can’t pretend I am not afraid. Terrified really. I cannot even picture what the future looks like. But I can see you and Harlan and me happy. If that makes any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.” Vanya smiled and kissed Sissy again.
“If you two would stop making out. We have some time traveling to do.”
Sissy stood up and got Harlan from the game he was playing and went over to where Vanya and the others were. She smiled as Vanya took Harlan’s other hand. “He’s a beautiful boy. He will love my daughter.” Sissy smiled as she took Allison’s hand, “You’ll be fine. Focus on your son”
Sissy smiled as she looked around at all the people who began taking each others hands and marveled at how small her life had once been and how big it was now. She had been drowning before. Unable to breathe. And then she had accidentally run her car into a girl named Vanya and suddenly her world had become so much more then she could have ever imagined.
As the smoke engulfed her taking her to an uncertain future Sissy felt a sense of hope for the first time in a long time. Sissy felt excited. Sissy felt loved.
Sissy felt alive