by NB Blackbell
"Am I dreaming?" Jasper shook her head, "Nope. But I wasn't expecting that one. Both of you have children. What the hell?" Jesse called out, "Isabel! I think the cats are hungry, can you feed them?" Isabel grabbed the cat food, "Yup." She poured the food into the bowls and then fed Buddy too. Nookers and Buddy scooted across the floor and out to the kitchen. The kitten followed closely behind them. Jasper reached out to touch the kitten but ended up frightening him by accident. The kitten freaked out. He lay squirming on the floor with four extra legs suddenly grabbing at her foot.
Jasper laughed as she picked him up. "Well, well, well, we're not the only half-aliens around here. I think I'll call you Squidward." She looked over at Isabel, "Did you know he was like us?" Isabel shook her head. "No, I thought he was just an ordinary kitten." When Jasper put the kitten down, he ran over to the food bowl and started to eat. "It was like it was meant to be." Isabel laughed. "I run a household for half-aliens." Jasper laughed then looked over at Faith, who sat there watching the little girl, "My memories are all coming back," she said, as she looked over at Jasper.
Jake wandered into the kitchen. "That guy texted me, you know the army guy, he says that the army has been watching this city all week. They've gone door to door doing searches, trying to figure out where all the people disappeared too. They're going to blame it on a gas leak so that the rest of the world will move on. I told him I would tell him what I know if he keeps us in the loop, but not today." Jasper picked up her phone to make a call but proceeded to speak to Jake. "Has anyone tried to get a hold of the Colonel or the people in Mexico? We need to know what happened, where did they fly to when they took the devices to Europe. Are any of them alive? Even more, do they remember?" Jasper continued, "I'll speak to John about that. He and I can find them this week sometime, make sure they're safe and see what they remember, if anything." Jasper placed her phone back down, "All right. We have to remember Loretta and Chris are down there. I want to know if they survived. I also want to know every detail about the war and what happened. I plan to write a book about it."
A few hours passed, several vehicles pulled into the driveway. While others honked as they drove away. John, Billy and Nick jumped out of the car, four young children followed them. Jasper's eyes widened. Hmm, I wonder what's going on, she thought to herself. The men strolled in the door, "We're back." Jasper walked to the top of the stairs and smiled. Nick smiled back as he motioned for the children to go upstairs and play. The two men walked up the stairs and stood in front of her. Nick looked at her, "We couldn't expect others to adopt orphans if we're not willing to do the same." She gazed over at the children. "We're adopting kids?" He pointed at one of them. "Just the little girl, the other one is John's and Faith's. He wanted to surprise her," Jasper's eyes widened as she turned and headed to the kitchen. "She's about to surprise him too." Jasper watched John's face turn to shock as he glanced over at the little girl, "For real?" She nodded, "Yes, for real." He smiled at his loving wife. "Well, now, we have two children." He laughed. "You thought we would never have any." He got up and leaned against the table. "Nick brought Jasper home one too." Faith looked over at her and smiled. "Do they have names?" John glanced at Nick. "What did they say they were called?" Nick paused."Laura and Fredrick." Faith grinned. "Those seem like reasonable names." Jasper pointed over to the other two kids., "Who are the two sitting with Billy?" Nick smiled, "Billy took both home. That's Thomas and Ellie, they're twins. He figured why stop at one. Guess his house is feeling a little empty." The kitten ran across the floor and grabbed Nick's ankle. He looked down, "Who do we have here?" The kitten freaked out and grabbed him with his many legs. Nick gently put him down, then glanced at Jasper. "A little souvenir?" Jasper laughed, "Yeah. He found us couldn't have found a more perfect home for him. He fits in with the rest of us half-aliens."
A few hours later, John and Faith gathered their kids. "Come on, Guys. Let's head home, we have tons to do. We have to get your rooms ready, so you'll have a place to sleep." The kids got up and headed out the door with them. Faith smiled as she headed out to the car. Jasper went to shut the door. Billy headed down the stairs with the twins, "We need to get going too. I have to get them set up too, I might need to find a bigger place now." He laughed as he headed out the door and motioned for John to wait up. Jasper shut the door and headed up to the living room. She looked at Nick.
"So, um; we have a beautiful moment, and now we have kids." Nick stood up, grabbed hold of her, and quieted her up by kissing her. She grinned as she playfully pulled away, "Okay, fair enough." She laughed as she turned and motioned for the kids to come and eat. Nick stared at Jake, "What do you make of all of this?" Jake sat down on the couch with Nick alongside him. "I worry that it's not over, but I don't want to upset the girls." Nick shook his head. "Don't worry about Jasper; she already suspects that it isn't over." Jake glanced at Nick.
"I look around, and we have our home back. Who's to say they're not out there? How do we know we killed them all?" He sat back and shook his head, Nick leaned back too. "I don't think we did, I'd be naïve to think that. I'm happy to have our home back. It's nice to not be in the dark anymore. But, until I get used to it, I'll worry every time the sun leaves the sky. I'm sure Jasper will feel the same way." Jake sighed, "Yeah. It's almost scarier this way. We now know what they can do. If they're out there, they'll hide better, and it'll be harder to find them." Nick got up, but not before peering at Jake. "They may hide, but I plan on hunting each one of them down till they're all dead. I won't stop till that day comes, Jasper stated the same thing too. Being home is superficial if it means we have to walk on eggshells wondering when or if they'll come at us." Nick proceeded to the kitchen to see if they required help with the kids.
Jake took a deep breath. He thought to himself, Nick is right. This isn't over until there's not a single alien left in this world. Jake got up and went to the kitchen. He watched as the kids sat at the table, eating the food Isabel prepared for them. "You're right, Nick," he said. "I think we need to keep the group together as much as possible and keep an eye on the situation at hand. It was us that recognized them to start with. That leads me to believe it'll be us that will know if and when it will start up again." Isabel looked over at Jake. "You don't think it's over?" Jake shook his head, "Not fully. I know we're home, and that's great. Now we can find some normality to life. But that was too easy. Plus, where are all the bodies? It's like when our world came back, they all disappeared. The people who were slaves are here, though, and so are the women they used as breeders."
Isabel walked over to Jake, "Shh, not so loud. We don't know what they know, and we have to remember they're still children." Jake peeked over her shoulder at them as they sat munching the sandwiches. "They sure do love those sandwiches, don't they?" Isabel smiled as she let herself fall into his lap. "Yes, they do." She smiled as she turned and looked at them. "Hard to believe they're mixed up in all of this." Jake reached down and took Isabel's hand. She smiled and squeezed his hand lightly. "So, what's next, Jake? What do we do next if this isn't over?" She turned and looked him in the eye. He took a deep breath, "You leave it up to me. I'll keep an eye on things and fill you in if we see anything strange happening. Don't you worry about any of it." He reached over and kissed her softly, pulling her closer. His warm breath tingling against her lips as he ran his hand down her back." She smiled as she pulled away slowly; I love you, Jake. Perhaps we could continue this later?" She got up and walked over to the fridge. "Want anything?" He smiled and shook his head, “No."
A few hours later, Jasper stood, tucking Laura into bed. "I'm glad you're with us," she told the little girl. The small girl smiled at her. "Can I stay forever?" Jasper smiled. "Of course, you can. We're going to be a family now, you, me and Nick." The little girl smiled, "I like Nick; he's funny." Jasper reached over and kissed the child on her forehead. "Yes, he is." Nick cruised by and peeked his head in the door. “Goodnight Laura. I'll see you in the morning."
Jasper walked out o
f the room and grinned at him, "She loves you. She thinks you're so funny, almost as much as you think you are." She laughed and walked down the hall. "Hahaha," said Nick. "Very funny," he followed her to the room. She plopped down on the couch and patted the seat next to her for him to sit. "So, what do we do next? Do we move on with life and try to forget? Or do we investigate and see what happened after the flash of light?" Jasper hesitated before proceeding. "Speaking of that, what was that?" Nick leaned back against the couch. "I'm not sure what it was, it was weird, though. What if it was the sun breaking free?" Jasper looked puzzled. "Perhaps, I guess it could be. It's not like I ever experienced the sun breaking free before. Do you think that's all it was?" Nick shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I don't see any damage from it, and the sun is finally shining again." She shook her head in agreement. "That's probably what it was then." She laid her head on his lap and looked up at the ceiling, then at him. "I wonder if I'll ever feel the same about the moon." Nick began to laugh, "I doubt it. We'll always be paranoid of the moon after what we've been through, but I don't want you to worry anymore about it. Whatever happens from this day forward, we'll face it as a team." Nick reached down and kissed her, then whispered, "You're stuck with me." Jasper smiled as she answered her phone on the second ring. She put it on speakerphone and listened. A voice spoke in a gruff tone,
"You really think you won? You seriously can't be that naïve. You and your race will pay for what you've done," then the phone went dead.
Jasper sat up straight and stared Nick in the eyes, "You still think we're safe? What do we do now?" Nick wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. "Like I said, don't worry about it today. Let's make that tomorrow's worry." She smiled and rested her head on his chest. "You're right, let's just live for today. We'll deal with them tomorrow."
Afterword
Not everything is as it seems. We tend to see what we want to see and sometimes that means not trusting ourselves.
Just when you think it is all over, it only just begins.