Who: Kyle Valenti & Isobel Evans What: It's a Girl! Where: Isobel's house When: backdated to first day of kidplot Warnings: nope Status: complete
It was really time for Kyle and Isobel to get serious about finding a place together because the whole sleepover thing was getting annoying. When Kyle woke up, he pulled on his boxers and t-shirt, wishing he had clean ones to wear, and headed down to the kitchen with the intention of putting on a pot of coffee and making whipping up some eggs for Isobel and River before he headed home for a shower and fresh clothes for his clinic shift.
When he heard cartoons on the television, he assumed he was going to find his girlfriend’s ward in the living room. Instead, he was greeted by a tiny blonde girl waving at him from the sofa. “Uh… hello?” he said, wondering who she belonged to and how she got in here.
“Morning, Daddy,” she said. “I want pancakes. Are we gonna go home soon? Or do we have to stay here a while?”
Daddy? All Kyle could do was stare at her. “Uh… what?”
She huffed a sigh and rolled her eyes in a gesture that reminded him a lot of Rosa. “I said I want pancakes.”
“Yeah, right, okay, got that,” he said, hoping that Isobel had pancake mix in her kitchen because he didn’t think he could handle doing them from scratch. “Did you call me daddy?”
Another sigh. “Yessssss,” she said. “Did Uncle Mikey mess with you or something?”
Uncle Mikey. Well. That answered one question. “Something like that,” he said. “Help me out here.” She was very well spoken for her age, which he was guessing was around five, and surprisingly calm about this whole thing.
“My name is Louise Michelle Valenti. I’m five years old. My dad is Dr. Kyle Valenti and my mom is Isobel Evans-Valenti. My uncles are Max, Mikey, and Alex and my aunts are Rosa, Liz, and Maria. We live in Roswell, New Mexico.” The recitation was clearly well rehearsed and Kyle was equal parts impressed and confused.
He stood there for a moment, watching her, and then tapped out a quick text on his phone. You need to get down here. Right now. It wasn’t meant to panic Isobel, but he definitely wasn’t equipped to handle this alone.
* Isobel was more than happy to allow Kyle to slave away in the kitchen while she lay in bed, catching up on some extra sleep after last night’s activities. However, unlike most mornings, the smell of coffee didn’t slip in through the open door. Was that the television? Since when did Kyle watch…cartoons? Unless it was River? The young woman was still learning a lot about Madison Valley and maybe she’d taken an interest in something she didn’t have access to growing up: cartoons. The thought was enough to almost send Isobel back into slumber. Until she heard her phone go off. Grumbling, she rolled over and proceeded to knock it over before finally managing to retrieve it from the floor. Pushing messy blond hair out of her eyes, Isobel looked at the screen, frowning when she saw a message from Kyle.
“You couldn’t just walk back to the bedroom…” Isobel trailed off before she opened the message and skimmed through the text. Immediately, Isobel felt a flutter of panic in her chest and she pushed aside the covers, tugging on her nightgown and robe before rushing from the room. It was one of the times she wished she could communicate with Kyle telepathically as she could be Michael and Max.
“Kyle-” Isobel burst into the room and stopped. Kyle was fine; he was just standing there looking at…a little girl? Isobel shot him a confused look. Who was the kid? How did she get here? Any annoyance she felt at being made to think they were potentially under attack was extinguished at the sight of the child. A child with very familiar features.
Offering the little girl a smile, she stepped closer to Kyle. “Uh, what is going on here?” she whispered. “Whose the little girl?”
The little girl beamed from her spot on the sofa, completely unaware of the effect she was having on her parents. Kyle managed to keep his tone steady despite the fact that his heart and thoughts were both racing. She said they lived in Roswell so did that mean he and Isobel ended up together at home? Part of him wanted to think it was a good sign, but another part of him was afraid to get his hopes up.
“Mommy, tell Daddy to make pancakes,” she said. “And when do we get to go home? I hate when we have to hide out.”
Kyle frowned at her reference to hiding out. What the hell was going on at home that this small child had done so multiple times?
At the statement, Isobel’s eyes widened and she looked over at the young girl again, beaming at her from the sofa. Daughter? What the hell is going on? For the first time in what seemed like forever, Isobel was struck speechless. She knew Madison Valley did weird things sometimes, but depositing children randomly? It felt unreal and yet, there she was, Louise, sitting on the couch, and looking over at her with pure love in those all too familiar colored eyes.
“Our daughter…” Isobel trailed off as her gaze shifted back to Kyle. “From the future? Obviously. Alright then.” The blond took a deep breath. She could handle this; they had faced much worse than just a future child.
A future child they were hiding with? It caught Isobel’s attention too and her brows furrowed, eyes narrowing as she glanced between her daughter and Kyle. Hiding from what? Isobel’s stomach twisted. Louise was probably an alien like Isobel or at least half. Was that why they were hiding? Or did Madison Valley become dark and evil?
Gathering her thoughts, Isobel stepped into the middle of the room and turned to Kyle. “Yes, Daddy go make pancakes. Me and Lousie are going to talk about where home is and why she is hiding out.”
Isobel still hadn’t connected the dots that Louise was their child from home and not Madison Valley. She’d come in a little late and missed Louise mentioning Roswell. Isobel walked over and claimed a seat on the sofa next to her daughter. She’d try the human way first before utilizing the mindscape.
“Louise, I’m being forgetful. I know, silly mommy. Can you remind me where home is and why we are hiding?”
Kyle wasn’t sure how he felt being referred to as ‘daddy’, but he could handle making pancakes and was happy to leave the girls alone to chat for a few minutes. “Pancakes coming right up,” he said, heading to the kitchen.
“Roswell is home,” Louise said. “And sometimes we have to hide cause there are bad people who are ‘fraid of you and Uncle Mikey and Uncle Max.”
It was strange for Isobel to refer to Kyle as ‘daddy,’ but it felt appropriate given they were in the presence of their future daughter…from home? Isobel tried to hide her shock, but it was difficult. If she was from home, it meant that Kyle and Isobel ended up together at home. Happiness did course through Isobel, but also fear. If they didn’t come together at home, Louise would never exist. It was a lot to take in when there was already a ton to digest.
People who were afraid of Isobel and her brothers. Of course that should be expected, given what they were, but how did their secret get out? All the people that knew Isobel was an alien kept the secret…unless it was Liz? She was the only one Isobel could picture giving up their secret for science or whatever. Would she really betray Max?
“So someone spilled the beans on what we all are,” Isobel replied softly. “Well, you don’t have to worry about hiding here, sweetie. We’re in Madison Valley. It’s safe here and no one is after us.”
Given her young age, Louise didn’t know a whole lot of details about grown up things. She knew that her parents and aunts and uncles would keep her safe and that was all that really mattered. “How long are we staying here?” she asked. “Is everyone else here? Uncle Max and Aunt Liz? Uncle Mikey and Uncle Alex? Aunt Maria? Aunt Rosa?”
She had a huge extended family and loved spending time with all of them.
How long depended on Madison Valley. Louise might be here for just a day or a whole week. Isobel thought a moment before answering. She wanted to word it in a way that wouldn’t upset the young girl. At least she could tell Louise that some of her extended family was here.
“We’re not sure yet, but your Uncle Mikey, Uncle Alex, and Aunt Rosa are here,” Isobel replied, reaching out to brush some hair from the young girl’s face. “After breakfast we can go see them if you’d like.”
“Okay!” she said, seemingly placated by the offer. “DADDY, hurry up! I’m STARVING.”
In the kitchen, Kyle chuckled, wondering where their daughter got her flair for dramatics. He was pretty sure that hadn’t come from him. Maybe they let her spend too much time with Aunt Maria. Her existence gave him about a thousand questions, but he knew that it wouldn’t be fair for him to ask her. For one thing, she was so young that she probably didn’t know a lot of details about how he and Isobel got together.
“I’m hurrying,” he called back. “Iz, I’ll put on coffee.” He had a feeling they were both going to need it.
Isobel laughed. Aunt Maria certainly had rubbed off on Louise. The action only made Isobel wish Maria was here more. They two had become close back home, like sisters, and coming back here, she felt that absence even more. Plus, having someone around to predict the future might not be a good thing given how Isobel had a lot of questions right about now. Like how Kyle and her actually ended up together given they were apart back home.
However, for the moment, she knew she would have to be content with sharing pancakes with their daughter. Lousie wouldn’t have all the answers to her questions anyway.
Taking her daughter’s hand, Isobel started towards the kitchen. “Come on, let’s make sure daddy doesn’t mess anything up.”
The little girl beamed up at her mother as she scrambled off her chair. “He does need supervision,” she said, stumbling a bit over the big word. It was something she heard Aunt Liz say a lot.
“I do not!” Kyle protested, though he certainly wasn’t going to object to them hanging out while he cooked. As unexpected as Louise’s presence was, he was determined to enjoy it.