Chapter 2
“Shit…” Miguel groans.
It’s hours later after he’s met you. He’s put away the small amount of groceries he bought before heading back out to pick up Gabriella from her daycare center. He stands now in a secret area of his apartment. Surrounded by screens and scanners, watching for any signs of potential danger. But none of that is on his mind now. His only thoughts are of you, a stranger he’d barely spoken to for over five minutes.
“Why does she look exactly like her?” He spoke through gritted teeth.
“Miguel, you know just as well as I do that variants from different universes can be exact replicas of each other.” Lyla said. She pulled up a diagram of you from this universe and then the other version of you from Gabriellas universe.
Sometimes in different dimensions the same person could look completely different. It was quite common in the Spider Society. Multiple different Peter Parkers bared no resemblance to each other. But not you.
The two of you were identical versions of each other.
He watched the replay of the orange hologram version of you. “She’s so beautiful.” The whispered words slipped from his lips.
“Well duh, where do you think Gabi gets its from.” Lyla joked, pulling up the live video of Gabriella from the other room, sleeping soundly on the couch.
Miguel rolled his eyes at the AI. Taking a quick glance at Gabriella’s soundly sleeping form, making sure she was alright before swiping it away.
Miguel had never met Gabriellas mother. But he’d seen her everywhere. When he came to Gabriella’s earth and replaced himself, he could feel her presence all around the apartment. Photos of the three of them littered all of the rooms.
She was long gone before he’d come to their dimension. But apparently the other Miguel had trouble explaining her passing to Gabriella.
One night she peered up at him, taking a break from her coloring to ask him:
“Is mama coming home tonight?”
“No, not tonight.” He’d said solemnly.
Gabriella got to her feet, grabbing the paper she’d been doodling on. “I made this for her! For when she gets back!”
She smiled brightly at him showing a drawing of the three of them.
“That’s great, honey.” He tries to put on a brave face for her. “Let’s put it up on the fridge so she sees it as soon as she gets back.”
“On the fridge?” She practically squealed with excitement.
He could only keep up this act for so long when he knew she was never actually coming home. What could he do now that she lived right across the hall?
And on top of it all, now he couldn’t stop thinking about you.
It was strange, the pull he felt towards you. Even in the brief moments the two of you were together he longed to spend more time with you.
Why?
Sure, in another universe the two of you were married and had a baby. But in this universe, you two had only just met. You were basically still strangers. And yet…
He stared up at the hologram of you again. What was this feeling in his chest?
“Well Miguel, look at the facts.” Lyla appeared directly in front of him. “In another dimension the two of you were happily married and have a baby before she passes away from a sickness.”
A sickness?
Lylas words sent a panic through him as she continued to ramble on.
“In this dimension, you two are obviously attracted to each other. Give it time and you two probably would have made a little Gabi of your own.”
“Does she have it in this universe?”
“Hm?”
“The sickness.” He was trying to calm down. “Does she have whatever- sickness in this dimension?”
“Umm…” Lyla pulled up some numbers. Accessing your medical records and breezing through them quickly. “Nope! I’m not seeing anything.”
He let out a sigh of relief.
“Woah there, Miguel. You almost sound like you care about this complete stranger you only just met.”
“She’s not a stranger, she’s Gabi’s mom, Lyla.”
“No, Miguel. She’s not.” The AI pulled up a photo of the version of you from the other universe, smiling brightly holding a newborn Gabriella in her arms. “That is her mom.”
Miguel punched a hole into the keyboard in front of him. “What the hell does it matter Lyla- that world is gone.”
“You should know better than anyone why it matters Miguel.” A hologram of the other version of himself glitched onto the screen. “Trying to replace someone never ends well.”
“This is different Lyla.” He pulled his hand from the keyboard, pieces of the now destroyed equipment clattering to the ground as he did so. “You said yourself, you haven’t detected any anomalies. Not even any potential threats down the line.”
“For now, Miguel.”
“Then when you do detect something, you tell me.” He started to turn his back to leave the room. “But, I’m not going to mess this up just because you think something might go wrong.”
“Mess up what exactly, Miguel?”
He stopped at the door, his hand hovering over the keypad on the side of the sliding door.
“You know what.” He said shutting the door behind him.
____________________________
Two days after your official move in things were going pretty well for you. Your equipment had arrived for your new job, and it had been fairly easy to set up. You hadn’t seen Miguel again, but you’d run into a few of your other neighbors who’d all seemed fairly nice. The older woman down the hall, Mrs. Lin, lived in the apartment the movers had confused for yours. You introduced yourself and the next day she brought you a delicious dessert she’d baked too much of. She lived alone and said you reminded her of her daughter, so you spent a little time talking with her. It was nice. You were starting to enjoy your new normal.
You smiled to yourself as you pulled your groceries from your car. Your first grocery shopping trip for your new apartment was successful. You’d found a cute local grocery store that was much closer than the big brand name store. You locked the doors to your car and started to walk through the empty parking garage to the lobby entrance. You use the small chip on your keychain to unlock the door before using your hip to push the door open.
You hold the two bags of groceries in one arm while you hold a much lighter bag and your keys in the other. As you walk into the building you spot Miguel. A small grin begins to spread across your face without you even realizing. You lift your unoccupied hand and offer a small wave to him.
He glances up at you and looks down for a moment. He gives you a small nod of acknowledgment before quickly continuing into the elevator. He presses the button as soon as he’s inside, the doors closing soon after.
Your frown in confusion as you continue across the lobby. He could’ve at least held the elevator for you. You go into the other elevator, right beside the one he took, intentionally taking your time pressing the button so you don’t arrive at the same time as him.
As you were getting your key out of your pocket you heard the sound of Miguels door opening behind you. You resist the urge to immediately turn around.
“Sorry, about that.”
His words then make you turn around and see Miguel sheepishly coming out of his apartment. You try to act unbothered.
“Sorry for what?” You say innocently.
“I uh… I kinda shut the door on you.“ He rubbed the back off his neck. “And I swear, I never usually do that. I would’ve held it, I swear.”
“Miguel it’s fine. You don’t have to explain.”
“No, I want to.” He says, so you let him continue. “I had Gabriella with me. My daughter.”
“I remember.”
“Would’ve been a little awkward if she saw you. That’s why I was trying to get away so fast.” He sighs. “She was asking about her mom again, and then if she saw you...”
You tried to calm his worries. “No- no that totally makes sense.”
The two of you stand in silence for moment. You shift your weight on your feet before you speak again.
“So… you two were out early this morning.” It was an awkward attempt at making conversation, but it was an attempt nonetheless.
Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind. “Yeah, uh Gabi had soccer practice. She’s got a big game in a couple weeks.”
“A couple weeks?”
“Yeah, there’s not many teams on the youth roster this year so, one big game at the end of the season.”
“Well, at least they’ll be well prepared.”
God, were you trying to flirt? Was this how you flirted? Cause it sucked.
“Yeah, the girls don’t seem to mind.” He gave you a small smile and your heart stirred strangely. “Are you doing anything-“
Your ringtone went off and you switched your bags to one arms to pull your phone out of your back pocket. “Sorry.” You said as you pulled it out.
You looked at your phone and it was your boss’s number. Your brows knit together, confused looking at the screen and Miguel picked up on it.
“Everything alright?” He asked.
“Yeah… my boss is calling me for some reason…”
“On a Saturday?”
You looked up at Miguel, the worry written all over your face. “Um, I gotta take this.”
“Of, course. Talk later?” He said, his hand on his own door handle.
“Definitely.” You said. You used your key fob by your door, waiting for it to unlock before heading inside and closing it behind you.
“Hello?” You headed into your kitchen area.
“Hello (Y/N), I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”
You set your bags down on the counter. “Um, no. But is everything alright?”
“Well, not exactly. We need to re-discuss the terms of your position.”