33 Apocalypse Ave., Saturday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had skipped out on prom the night before. Watching children fumble toward each other in formalwear simply didn't sound very appealing, and anyhow there was a certain club in Baltimore that seemed much more deserving of his still-somewhat-one-note attention. (There were .... dancers. Very talented dancers. Though none, he had to admit, quite as flexible as Navaan.) He was on the hazy line between hungover and still drunk when he stumbled downstairs this morning.

He poured a mound of coffee into the brewer, turned it on, and sat at the table, trying to decide if the pleasure of a hit of nicotine was worth the trouble of figuring out where he'd last left his cigarettes. A small pink feather fell out of his hair and landed just beyond his fingertips, and he looked at it stupidly. He didn't remember getting that close to the stage.

[OOC: For housemates, visitors and AU kiddoes. Navaan link NSFW.]

Comments

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

There was a tiny person at the door - actually, there had been one for a little while now. Since no one had answered the door the first time around, Hannah had taken a seat by said door and wasted some time messing around with her datapad.

Now, though, she could hear some noise inside. She got back up and rapped on the door again.

[bitten_notshy]

Oh god, why was somebody visiting this early? Jack cursed, then pushed his chair away from the table and lumbered toward the living room. He opened the door a crack at first, then wider when he saw it was just a little girl.

It was, apparently, One of Those Weekends, since the few children on the island never turned up on doorsteps any other time. He didn't know which precise type of One of Those Weekends it was, but he figured the girl would let him know soon enough.

"... hello," he said. "Are you looking for someone?"

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

Hannah gave him a little wave, accompanied by a wry smile that brought some deadpan to her answering, "Hi, dad."

Better not to dance around that and waste time.

[bitten_notshy]

Dad. Right. That kind of One of Those Weekends.

The girl couldn't be one of the triplets: Her hair was far darker and curlier. And she didn't have Felix's accent, either.

Which meant Jack had absolutely no idea who she was.

"Hi," he repeated, slightly wryly. "I don't suppose you remember your name, do you?"

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

"No, I must've lost it," Hannah said, her deadpan now only slightly marred by a measure of good cheer.

"That was a joke," she added a beat later. "'m Hannah Alenko."

[bitten_notshy]

Hannah. Well, at least they'd given her a decent n- Oh, hell.

"I figured. It's good to see you, Hannah," Jack said, keeping his composure somehow as he stepped back from the door. "Come in and I'll get your ... other dad."

He didn't bother asking if the other parent was in fact Kaidan. There were only so many Alenkos in the world, and even fewer in Jack's orbit.

"Kaidan?" he called up the stairs. "We have a visitor."

[not_a_whiner]

"I don't really have time," Kaidan called down - a moment later he was coming down the stairs. "Alliance just sent over a new representative to deal with our Portalocity connection and I have to help her move i-- uh, hi."

Child. Okay then.

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

"Hi," Hannah said laconically.

[bitten_notshy]

"This is Miss Hannah Alenko," Jack explained. "She called me Dad."

His tone was calm, but from his expression it was clear he hoped this was as weird for Kaidan as it was for him.

[not_a_whiner]

Yeah, don't worry about that, Jack: Kaidan looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.

"...Excuse me?"

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

Hannah heaved a sigh. "You're both my fathers," she said. "There's a big portal out in town - I hung around for a while, there were a lot of other kids. Some from the same parents but different places. Don't worry so much."

[bitten_notshy]

"I think this is a perfectly normal amount of worrying," Jack said. "If anything we aren't worrying enough."

He ran a hand through his hair, dislodging what he hoped was the last feather. "So -- how did you decide to go jumping through a portal?"

He hadn't been surprised by that fact about his previous children: Emma's daughters would never have listened to reason, and any child raised by Sebastien would have a skewed sense of danger. But Kaidan tended to be more protective.

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

Hannah shrugged. "It was interesting," she said. "And EDI was watching me."

EDI, sadly, could accidentally be an enabler.

[not_a_whiner]

"...Right," Kaidan said, leaning against the railing of the stairs. "I have no idea who Edie is," he added, glancing at Jack.

[bitten_notshy]

"She's not one of my friends either," Jack sighed, returning the glance before he turned his attention back to Hannah. "I'll guess she's not someone our future selves should trust with babysitting too often."

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

"Oh, don't. EDI is great," Hannah said. "She said this would be 'an interesting experience', and so far she's right."

She looked at Jack. "You both look really different-- and not just because you don't have wrinkles."

[bitten_notshy]

"Uh-huh." Jack sounded unconvinced on the topic of Edie, whoever she was. "And -- how do we look different? I wasn't planning on getting wrinkles anytime soon."

Though some part of him was pleased to know there was yet another world where he lived long enough to get them.

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

"You're not in a uniform yet and it makes you carry yourself differently," Hannah pointed out. "You also seem looser. Not quite like my dad yet. He can carry more."

She looked up at Kaidan. "And you are going to get really grey."

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan immediately reached up and ran a self-conscious hand over his hair. "...I have been getting a few grey hairs. I mean... what?"

[bitten_notshy]

"They only show because your hair's so dark," Jack told Kaidan. "I'm trying to imagine what made me put on a uniform. Your people must have been persuasive."

In theory it could have been another military, he supposed, but ... come on. That was as likely as Hannah's other parent being another Alenko.

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

Hannah shrugged. "You're good at what you do," she said, which was reason enough in her book. "But the reasons aren't that important. I just wanted to see the island."

[not_a_whiner]

"Welcome to the island," Kaidan said, sighing.

He finally got all the way down the stairs, rubbing at his arm. "Uh..."

Sorry, Jack. This was his first time.

[bitten_notshy]

"It's not a bad island," Jack echoed, laughing a little at how strange this still was, then glanced back to Kaidan. "Did we warn you this might happen? I feel like I've mentioned the triplets."

[not_a_whiner]

"You did," Kaidan granted. "But this is, uh. Running into it is... uh, it's different."

Especially since the kid was with Jack who, sex pollen week notwithstanding, he saw as a friend. (Hell, he was trying to figure out how that would even work, because he was completely incapable of being anything but monogamous, and Jack was... well, definitely not that.)

[alliance-brat.livejournal.com]

"You told me it probably would, if that's a consolation," Hannah said. "He told me to stay away from portals."

Futilly. But Kaidan had tired.