1.21 - The Unexpected

*radio static*

“Verhat, come in, Verhat”

“This is Verhat. What can I do for you, Aldor?”

“What is your position?”

“I'm in front of a house in Roaring Heights, USA on Earth. I'm getting ready to go scan the mother-to-be and see if this human baby fits our needs for the experiment. I just inputted the coordinates into the computer.”

“Oh, its coming up now. Remember, if the human has the right chemical make-up, then you have to reverse the scan immediately for it to work,” Aldor said as he signed off.

Verhat sighed. Yes, he knew all of this and he'd been doing it for several years now. He'd been very successful in that time and had won awards for his work. He enjoyed his job and felt he was making a difference for his people.

He lived on the planet, Tetor. He loved living there and they prided themselves on their successful experiments. The experiments themselves weren't very aggressive or invasive nor were the effects dangerous or harmful. They were just fascinated by human social behavior. They needed the results from the experiments as their society thrived on and used them to help make their civilization better.

He got out of his ship and walked up to the front door. A human was standing there, covering his ears. He seemed to be in some kind of distress.  He stared at him for a bit longer, but then got to work by pulling out his scanner.  

He scanned the house and found the mother-to-be upstairs. He stepped backwards into the lawn and pointed his scanner towards the mother while pushing some buttons. It made a few noises and finally some numbers came up on the screen.

He smiled and quickly pushed another button to start the reversal process while keeping the scanner pointed steadily at the mother-to-be. The numbers were even better than he expected. This baby would be one of the best specimens he'd ever come across. His brain power must be getting stronger at detecting the combination of human genes needed to be successful, which promised less trips and failure. Also, it meant this would be his last trip for awhile. He couldn't wait to get back to his family.

After the process was complete, he ran back to his ship, plugged in the information from the scans and set off for home.

***********************************

Another wave was coming. I could feel it. I tried not to scream as I clutched the curtain next to me. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't rip it right off the wall. I was a little worried, too, as Caitlin was in the same room. However, when I tried to leave, she protested, so I stayed. She really didn't seem to notice my pain and discomfort as she continued to play her with her toy. Thankfully, Dylan was there to help if Caitlin needed to be moved elsewhere. As the labor progressed, there was less time in between the waves and more pain, stronger pain. Sometimes I could barely think.

Marvin was at work. I had called him and he said he would leave immediately. However, this birth was going much faster than Caitlin's.   So fast, in fact, that Marvin didn't even make it home in time to see his new baby boy welcomed into the world.

At first, I was so overwhelmed, what with the birth and all, I didn't notice. He seemed healthy enough when he let out his first cry and when I counted his fingers and toes.

Suddenly, my world was turned upside down!  I took a second look, it was undeniable. What would Marvin think?

***********************************

Marvin's POV

I came home from work and dropped my stuff off at the door. Dylan met me there and said the baby had been born a few minutes before I came home.

I rushed upstairs and found Justine in the hallway closing the new bedroom door. She looked so overwhelmed and tired. I felt horrible that I couldn't get home any faster!

“Justine, honey, I'm so very sorry I couldn't be here.  Are you ok? Do you need to lie down and rest? How's the baby?”

At that last question, she looked sharply at me. “Everything is fine,” but she didn't look me in the eye.

I gently pulled her into a hug, but she resisted. “Honey, what's the matter? Is there something wrong? I know I couldn't make it, but the baby just came far faster than we expected.”

“No, it's not that. Look, I just want you to know that I love you and you know I'd never be with anyone else, right?”  she asked with a scared look in her eyes.

What? I thought. She was worried about that right now? “Honey, I know you'd never cheat on me. We love each other and I can't imagine being with anyone else, " I said softly. Then, I smiled, "And, anyway, in this town, I can't imagine either one of us getting away with that. Someone always seems to be watching.”

She glanced at me, with a relieved look, and smiled. “Yeah, that's so true.” After a moment, she seemed like herself again. Then, she intertwined my fingers with hers and looked at me with excitement. “We had a boy!!” I couldn't help myself, picked her up and twirled her around, gently, of course. “That's awesome!!” I yelled.

Justine shushed me and I put her back down. “Is he sleeping?” as I headed toward the bedroom door. However, she rushed ahead of me and stopped in front of the door, looking nervous. “We have something we need to talk about before you see him.”

She leaned close to me and whispered in my ear the "something".  I almost laughed at the absurdness of it. However, her face told me she was not lying or joking.

I slowly walked into the bedroom and crept up to the crib. What I saw made our conversation about infidelity make more sense. However, I knew we'd never be unfaithful, plus there was no one in town that looked like our new son.

So, the question that remained: why was our baby.......blue?

***********************************

Justine's POV

After the initial shock wore off, Marvin seemed to regain his composure.  He counted all the fingers and toes and checked the rest of his tiny body almost to reassure himself.  I understood as I had done the same thing.  It helped to calm our fears a little. We decided to wait to call the doctor's office since it was after hours. He was acting normal; he just looked different.

After we spent the evening with him, we decided to accept him as he was. We couldn't do anything less. We made him and he was ours, even if we didn't understand what had happened, we still loved him.   Our decision helped us finally choose his name.

Introducing London Michael Johnson!

The next morning, we called the doctor's office and told them what had happened. The nurse was quite shocked and I'm amazed she didn't hang up on us. We were told to come in right away.

Dr. Winters was an excellent doctor and we thought highly of him. The first thing he asked, after he saw London, was if someone could go to our house to take environmental samples. We hadn't thought of that, but agreed quickly.  Anything was possible.

He then proceeded to give London a thorough examination and did lots of tests. He said he needed to wait for the results of everything before he could voice any opinions of the situation. Once the results were in, he would call us. However, he did reassure us that London, besides his coloring, seemed as healthy and normal as any other newborn.

So, while we waited, we tried to live as normal as we could.

London loved bath time and seemed especially fascinated by the bubbles.

He smiled and cooed when we played with him.

Even Caitlin seemed fascinated by him.  “Bruder” she'd say. Then she'd sweetly kiss his head.

We even went on a walk to the park. They both seemed to enjoy it.

While we were at the park, we had a lovely lady take our new family photo.

She was very picky about the picture, though.  She took so long that Caitlin started getting cranky, so we went home.

As we walked in the door, my phone rang. It was the doctor's office requesting us to come in at our convenience. We left immediately.

We were ushered into an exam room and Dr. Winters came in shortly followed by a few others. It was a bit intimidating, but he quickly introduced them as a group of doctors and scientists who wanted to help us discover what had happened to London. I got Caitlin settled with some crackers and London slept as the doctor started his explanation.

“Marvin, Justine, the results are in and besides his skin color, he is a perfectly normal baby like I first thought. It seems during your pregnancy, the pigment of his skin was genetically altered. It has been altered completely, so there doesn't seem to be any lasting effects and he will always remain blue. The science labs also ran tests and we both agree on this.

“When we ran the tests on your property, we found high levels of space rock particles. Our best guess is during your pregnancy, you had an alien visit.  We have heard stories in the last few years that aliens have visited several parts of the world. Most of the public knows nothing about this.

“The aliens have done similar mutations to other babies around the world. The children who have been subjected to this kind of experimentation have all grown to be normal healthy human kids. It doesn't hurt them, leave any scars or cause them any physical issues other than the pigmentation. We're unsure how or why the aliens are doing this, but I know the science facility is continuing their quest to find answers.”

Marvin and I looked at each other in disbelief. Aliens? Experiments? It was a little hard to believe, but everyone across from us looked quite serious. They continued to explain that he would need to be brought to the science facility once a year to be monitored. They had high hopes of a normal life, which relieved us immensely.

We thanked the group and the doctor was kind to let us sit a little longer after everyone had left. It was a lot to take in and we just needed a moment to breathe.  When we left, the staff seemed unfazed by London's look as they cooed over him and Caitlin. We hoped others would accept him as well as the staff did.

After the diagnosis, our lives slowly developed into a new normal, which can be forced upon you by a toddler and baby. London showed us that he was a typical cute, cuddly baby and as time went on, our shock and fear gradually disappeared.

Marvin got promoted to Vegetable Slicer and he celebrated by getting us a shuffleboard. I always thought it was just an old people game, but we actually had lots of fun playing it. Of course, some might think us old...

While Marvin watched the kids, I combed through more garbage and wrote another report.

London received a special doll named Peep from Tiberius. His wife, Charlotte and him had just had a baby girl named Maggie.

We had a nice visit with them and promised to invite them over soon for dinner.

As the days flew by, Caitlin continued to learn skills and read books. She was doing very well and I couldn't believe how big she was getting.

London was growing like a weed, too. He rarely cried and very much enjoyed anyone who would talk to him.

Before we were ready, Caitlin and London's birthday arrived. They happened to be on the same day.

London went first.

He seemed very perceptive and noticed things before most of us.  However, he frequently ran into walls and fell over. He never cried, thankfully, but we could tell he was quite the clumsy one.

Caitlin's cake caught on fire before she could blow it out. 

Marvin was concerned that London would get too close to the fire, but surprisingly, London didn't seem interested in it.

Finally, it was Caitlin's turn.

She definitely liked to perform for us and soon started showing her diva side. 

The next evening as I was working on dinner, Marvin came up behind me and kissed my neck.

“Marvin, I'm trying to cook dinner,” I protested with a blush.

“I don't need dinner. I just need you,” he whispered by my ear, sending shivers through me.

I finished stirring the food and turned around. He pulled me into a kiss, which made the butterflies start in my stomach. I couldn't believe after our time together, he still did that to me.

“What is that for?” I asked as I snuggled into his arms.

“We have been through a lot lately and I just appreciate how you've handled this whole thing. I couldn't imagine loving you more than I love you now," he said softly.  "Oh, and you are sexy barefooted in the kitchen,” he growled as he pulled me into another kiss.

I kissed him with such passion that I think we forgot where we were for a little bit. I'm not sure how I snagged this wonderful man, but he made me feel loved and I was so thankful. Then, I whispered to him that he should join me in the bedroom after the children were asleep so he could show me more appreciation.

***********************************

Caitlin and London seemed to be inseparable.  They had their moments of fighting, of course, but mostly they played together well.

Playing with London's favorite toy...

“Look, London! I found your boat!” said Caitlin excitedly.

“Boat,” said London. They'd been looking for it all over the place since London had started crying a few hours before. We had tried to distract him with other toys, but he loved that boat and could not be consoled. Caitlin finally found it in the toilet of all places.

She loved to give London hugs and I think he really enjoyed the attention she gave him.

They played peek-a-boo for hours...

Before long, I was craving another little one. London was a toddler and Caitlin was a child. I missed that baby smell....again. 

Marvin agreed and soon enough, we were making another little one.

*lovesstorm's notes*

Well, what do you think?

First, Justine had a wish to cuddle with him before he was even in her arms.  He looked weird, but the picture was SO small.  I had to wait until he appeared.  Then, I was completely SHOCKED!  :-O  He was BLUE!!  At first I laughed....then I laughed some more, then I laughed again.  I could NOT believe it!  =)) =))

Anyway, after my laughter, I looked at Marvin in CAS.  I have said that I use custom skin tones.  Well, I guess I hadn't paid attention (or forgot, which is more likely) because Marvin's custom skin has FOUR different colors.  A pale peach, green, blue and the darker peach.  So, the game gave London Marvin's skin tone and just picked a place randomly on the slider.  :))  

At first, I was going to change his slider to the darker peach, like Marvin.  However, I thought about it and decided against it.  The game gave me this little twist and I decided it could make my story even more fun.

Once I decided to keep the blue, SOOOOO many story lines seemed to pop in my head.  The alien did appear a few minutes before London was born.  It was another plot twist that I could NOT leave out.  I had my options written down and I've spent this last week working on a couple of them.  Finally, after MUCH help from my sisters (thanks, ladies!), I settled on my story.  

Obviously, because this is still a wishacy, I had to be careful with the story line.  It took awhile for it to come together, too, but I feel like it was definitely worth the wait and time I took to make it work.  This has been the HARDEST chapter I've written in this story so far.  @-)  I wish I could have looked at your faces as you read this chapter.  :P  I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!   :D

Poses

Baby Love Poses by Traelia

Cutie Pie by Forever Hailey

I'm the Big Sister by spladoum

Doylegirl's Family Portrait Pose Pack by Doylegirl

Coupling Pose Pack by Skylar

1.22 - Growing Pains