"That kid is too old by far."
Who: Wrex, Kasumi and Alma What: Wrex and Alma hide out at Kasumi's for a bit. Alma reveals her secret, and Kasumi and Wrex have DISCUSS When: Like the 9th or 10th Where: Kasumi's house Rating: PG-13 Status: Complete!
Wrex parked in front of Kasumi’s house, and got out of the car. They’d only packed for a night or two - he knew Alma wanted to go back to Shepard’s, which he found both annoying and sweet. Getting along with the Shepard was generally required, but he was her father, damn it.
Alma pulled out a back pack. She could sense Wrex’s nervousness, and even a bit of Kasumi. This could be awkward, but the woman deserved to know her boyfriend’s daughter was going to have a magic baby.
She walked up to the door and knocked, while Wrex came up after her.
Kasumi wasn't sure when (or even if) Wrex was coming over. She'd extended the invitation, but everything seemed rocky lately. Maybe it was all in her mind, but it was hard for Kasumi to tell where they stood. When she heard the knock, she actually looked out the peephole for once, to make sure it wasn't someone dying of the plague on her front porch. Apparently she was more paranoid about this flu than she'd realized.
She opened the door when she saw it was Alma. "Hey, come in." She was a little confused. Alma had definitely gained some weight. She almost looked.. Not that she would say anything.
"Hey," she said, turning to Wrex.
"Hey." Wrex stood a little awkwardly. He wanted to hug Kasumi(and more) but he wasn't sure if he should. He ushered Alma in, then turned towards Kasumi. "Uh. Thanks. I promise we won't bug you for too long."
Alma rolled her eyes. She'd picked up that expression and grown fond of it ever since. "I am sorry about Wrex. He is a dork."
"It's fine," Kasumi told Wrex, running a hand through her hair. She looked mighty awkward herself. She wasn't sure what she wanted, much less Wrex. "Not like I have anything to do, anyway, with the bar being closed."
It was weird for Kasumi to be the one doing the closing. Jimmy had gradually been giving her more and more decision-making responsibility while he was on vacation, but now he was completely out of the picture. She didn't think he was in the state anymore. She pretty much knew how to run the place, but still, it was weird being the responsible one.
She smiled a bit to Alma. "It's fine."
Wrex put an arm on Kasumi's shoulder and squeezed. "How's that working for you? The bar thing." He couldn't believe that Jimmy would just take off like that, but maybe he'd run away with his woman. That sounded nice, sometimes.
Alma smiled back at Kasumi, the expression nervous.
“Hm?” Kasumi shrugged. “Couple day’s vacation isn’t a bad thing. I need to hire a couple people. Brick was just supposed to be temporary until Raynor came back, and I don’t think he’s interested in a full time thing. And I need somebody I can trust to cover the bar for at least a couple nights during the week.” She needed a break every now and then, especially if she was taking over the books now.
“We don’t have to just stand here, sorry.” Kasumi was distracted, and not the best host tonight. “You can put your bags down. I made up the couch for you, Alma. And you can help yourself to anything in the fridge.” Normally she’d add on ‘Not beer’, but there actually wasn’t any in there.
Too bad none of the older kids was quite old enough to drink, though they might be old enough to serve. So he suggested. “We could check the laws, see what age you need to be to serve. Some of the older kids could use the responsibility.”
Alma wasn’t so sure about that, herself, but she said nothing. She set her bag down next to the couch and then sat on the edge of it. She was feeling a little queasy. “Thank you. Can I make us some tea?”
"I'm pretty sure they have to be twenty-one," Kasumi said, sounding a bit unsure about the idea herself. She really didn't want to deal with any liability issues, and it seemed a bit awkward for Ranch kids to be working at a bar, especially since she knew some of the kids had substance abuse issues to begin with. "I think it's a great idea to encourage them to get jobs, but.. Probably not at a bar."
"Once things quiet down, I'll put out an ad or something."
Wrex nodded. Kasumi was right of course, he'd only really offered out of a sense of obligation for the kids. There was only one he thought could handle it, but probably not at a bar.
"Some states allow you to serve at 17. I do not know about California." Alma had gone head to make some tea, mostly for herself, but she thought that both of the adults could use something to calm them. She glanced at Wrex, as if asking him to be the one to say.
He scowled briefly, then sighed. "How're you feeling, Kasumi? About...things?"
Kasumi shrugged. Even if the state did allow it, she'd be nervous as hell to leave them alone with all the liquor. It wouldn't be pleasant turning down someone Wrex recommended to her, so she hoped he wouldn't push it. God, even this type of conversation made her feel incredibly tense. It wasn't really about hiring people, she knew.
She sighed when he brought it up more directly. "I don't know, Wrex," she said, more quietly. "Not great."
He wasn't going to push it. He knew it bothered her, and had only wanted to help. His head lowered a bit at her response, and sighed. They hadn't really talked about the pregnancy test, and he didn't know how to proceed, especially with Alma's situation hanging over his head. He didn't dare hope that Kasumi wanted to keep it. Wrex didn't want to think about that at all.
Alma brought them mugs of tea, then disappeared into the kitchen again, to give them privacy.
Wrex looked down at his, and wished it was coffee. "You know..however it goes..."
"Thanks," she told Alma, feeling a little guilty for not paying more attention to her. She liked Alma well enough, but had a hard time bonding with the girl. Kasumi just wasn't maternal. Not even remotely.
She sipped at the tea, buying time before responding. "I don't know, Wrex. Everything's so vague, and generic, and 'Well, you know,' and we can't even talk about our feelings without one or both of us," running away, "freaking out." She was trying to keep her voice down. She wasn't angry, just... Well, maybe a little angry, but mainly frustrated and panicked. "So no, I don't know."
Wrex looked down at his cup, wishing Alma had thought to spike it. He could use a bit of the edge taken off. His voice was quiet, with a gravelly sort of edge to it. He tried not to sound resigned, or hurt, or anything other than supportive. It came out kind of awkward. "However it goes, I'll support you." It was mostly his fault, after all.
Kasumi wished they could just have a frank conversation. It was hard, but they were getting closer, at least. She ran a hand through her hair and sat down in the armchair. "However it goes," she repeated, her voice sounding a little hollow.
"I.. Honestly, I thought about it. Getting rid of it, or whatever." That sounded really harsh. She didn't want to have a kid, but still. She guessed there wasn't really a nice way to talk about it.
"You really want this, though, and you may not get another chance." Probably wouldn't. She couldn't do that to him. "So.. um. Whatever happens between us, I'm going to make sure that you have it. Raise it, whatever." Kasumi knew she would be terrible at that. She didn't even know how to talk about it properly.
"That doesn't seem fair to you, though." Wrex was almost too quick to point out. As much as the thought hurt like a knife in the chest, he could see Kasumi's distress at the situation. He couldn't do that to her. They could talk about it like adults, right? Right.
"I know this whole thing freaks you out. Freaks me out too. It's not the kind of thing you're ever ready for. Kids, white picket fences, normal crap like that were never on the docket for me. I'm kind of...blown away that we're even in the position to have this conversation."
"Whatever we decide, I don't think it's going to be fair to everybody." Maybe not to anybody. Kasumi sighed. "I don't think fair is part of it. I think we're just.. figuring out what makes sense."
"Yeah." She couldn't see white picket fences either. She and Wrex.. They were supposed to be fun. Sure, she was fond of him, he was protective of her. There was emotion, and there was an unspoken understanding that they were there for one another, but it was just supposed to be fun. It wasn't supposed to be... this.
This wasn't fun. This was something else. Conflict, and pain, and life-altering themes. Wrex didn't have a word for it. He wished things could go back to how they'd been, before Christmas, when they'd approached normalcy. Before the wish, which he was kicking himself over. He'd managed to knock a woman up and he couldn't even celebrate it.
His ex-wife would laugh her bitch head off.
Wrex put the tea cup down, and got up. He walked over to Kasumi and sat next to her, and wrapped his arms around her.
Kasumi leaned against Wrex when he sat next to her, and closed her eyes as his arms wrapped around her. That helped. Maybe it was just using physical affection to replace emotional conversations--their modus operandi--but that was all right, right now.
They sat like that for what seemed like a long time. Wrex nuzzled Kasumi's hair, his mind wrestling with what he should say, or what he needed to say. Would he want to keep it? Yes. Would he force her to? No. Would it make him hate her or resent her, or lo-like her any less? No.
Alma thought he should just say that, but it wasn't her place to pry.
The silence stretched on, but it felt less awkward than it could have been.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe they weren't over the way she thought they were. "We'll play it by ear," she said after a while. She didn't feel much like making any major life decisions just now. Besides, she'd already made up her mind on that front. She intended to have the baby and give it to Wrex. The main question now was whether or not she would be there, too.
He'd want her there, for the baby. And for him. It was a selfish feeling, but that was the way he felt about it. He cared about her. It was like the cupcakes were becoming real cakes. (although that metaphor kind of broke down the more his mind pursued it.)
Rubbing at her back and kissing the side of her face, Wrex said, "Ear's good. I can play it by ear. Uh. On that note, there's something that might make things either more or less awkward."
The problem was that Kasumi really believed the baby would be worse off if she was in the picture. She cared about Wrex, but she wasn't sure their relationship could survive this. She didn't want them to end up resenting one another, but it was hard for her to see things working out.
She wanted to give it a chance, though. She looked up at him, tilting her head. "Hm?"
Wrex was never the most optimistic man, but he wanted to be optimistic about him and Kasumi. Aside from Alma, she was the best thing that had come into his life. Even the Ranch didn't make him feel this way. He just never stopped to think about that, preferring instead to reach with baser instincts.
"What do you remember about Asari?" He started, figuring it was a good way to ease into the subject.
"Blue, good with biotics, a little bit creepy." Most of her experience was with Samara, but she'd encountered more than a few commandos. Overall, her experience with asari was that they were dangerous. But that sounded a bit xenophobic--not that 'creepy' was any better.
"Huh. Okay." He frowned, then scratched at his head as he thought of how to break the ice. Alma saved him by walking in, and stating, "He is trying to say I am pregnant, but not through any normal means."
Kasumi blinked. "You're. Oh. What?" Normal means? She didn't guess hers was by normal means either, but with talk of asari, Kasumi was guessing Alma had her beat on the weird-meter. Kasumi didn't know much about Alma's personal life, but this was a surprise.
Alma nodded her head, and by way of demonstration, floated Kasumi's teacup over to her. "I did not set out to become pregnant, either." She smiled, trying to make that joke actually sound like a joke, instead of a somewhat creepy observation.
"This is..."
"Ironic?" Wrex offered.
"I, uh.." Kasumi took the teacup, still looking startled. Well, it could be worse. She and Wrex could be teenagers. She glanced over at Wrex. See? She was terrible at dealing with kids. She had no idea what to say. Well, who would know what to say to that? Honestly, Alma seemed to be the most mature one among them, right now.
"It is all right," Alma replied. She spoke with a subdued sort of happiness that belayed her true feelings. "Beth will help me raise her, and we will get married when I am eighteen."
Wrex started choking on his tea.
Kasumi’s eyes widened. Okay, yeah. Teenagers officially had it more together than they did. But to be fair, they’d had a little more time to figure it out, from the look of things. “Um. I. Well. Uh. That’s. You seem to be dealing with it okay. I mean, you seem happy.”
"I was terrified," Alma admitted, actually sounding her age for once. "Because of how things went in my dreams, I didn't want to..repeat all that. But things are different here, they are different now. I have people who care about me, who want me happy. I have a chance to make it different, that I would not have otherwise."
"You've got me, kid. And Shepard, and Summers. Everyone at the ranch." Wrex didn't want to speak for Kasumi.
"That's a really good way of looking at things," Kasumi told Alma, smiling softly to her. She didn't know details about Alma's dreams, but the girl really impressed Kasumi with her maturity. It gave her some hope. She felt kind of bad for Wrex, though, having to deal with both of them. Maybe he was more supportive than she gave him credit for.
He worked his best with Alma. She was a handful, and didn't always listen, but he tried. He nodded his head. Wrex had worked hard to give Alma everything she'd never had before. He really did view her as a daughter, and had the paper work to prove it.
It was probably to Kasumi's credit that that fact alone hadn't scared her off.
"Thank you." She didn't feel that she had a choice in the matter. It was look at it that way, or be horrified. Not entirely. But she didn't mind.
"Well, you should stay here, then. Or somewhere else where nobody's sick." Reports of the Ranch didn't sound good, with Shepard and others getting sick. Regardless of whether or not this flu was as dangerous as everybody seemed to be making it sound, being sick while pregnant sounded horrible.
Alma nodded her head. That was probably wise. She thought she should do something, but what? She wasn't sure yet. She'd have to think on it. She had training and experience, and could prove useful, if anyone would listen to her.
She gave Kasumi a light hug, then returned to the kitchen, leaving them alone. Now that that was out of the way, she could relax.
Wrex cleared his throat, when she was gone. "That kid is too old by far."
"She really is," Kasumi said, laughing softly. "I look like a three year old having a tantrum next to her, I think." Maybe she thought she'd outgrown romance somewhere along the way. Maybe it was easier when you thought you'd get married and everything would be wonderful. Kasumi wasn't even going there.
Wrex's low rumble of a laugh joined Kasumi's. He put his hand over hers. "There's robbing the cradle and then there's just wrong. At least I'm sticking with barely legal." Wrex was joking. Woman liked to think they were younger, right?
Kasumi rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "I guess age and 'knowing what you're doing' aren't related." This whole time she'd been telling herself 'at least we aren't teenagers', but maybe she was a little off base there. She let her fingers lace between Wrex’s. “I’ve been kinda freaking out,” she admitted
“God, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing.” He squeezed her fingers with hers, as if giving strength to her. “But that doesn’t stop me from trying. I don’t want you to freak out, Kasumi. Maybe talking about it helps.”
Kasumi leaned toward him, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. "Maybe it does," she agreed. Even Alma had Beth had to have talked about it, right? Nobody just knew when this sort of thing came up. "We can do this, right? We're better off than some people in this situation.. Aren't we? Maybe?"
It wasn’t that she needed to feel superior, she just wanted to feel like they weren't at rock bottom.. Like it wasn't absolutely impossible.
Wrex turned his head, and kissed Kasumi's head. He tried to sound reassuring. More reassuring than he felt he sounded. "Yeah, we are. Money isn't a problem, and we have a support group to fall back on. A family. As fucked up as the Normandy bunch is, they're still family."
"Yeah, I guess they are." Of course, family also had a tendency to make everything messy. If things didn't work out.. No, she couldn't think about that right now. At least there was a tie there for Wrex and Kasumi. "We should probably wait a little while before we announce anything.." The worry that something might go wrong was on the back of Kasumi's mind, and didn't seem to be going away.
"I'm fine with waiting a while," Wrex admitted. "I still can't quite believe it and I kind of want time to realize it's happening. And if it helps you come to terms, that's even better."
Wrex lifted Kasumi's chin up and kissed her. It wasn't passion or fire or lightning. It was something else entirely.
Kasumi wasn't worried about coming to terms with anything, although that might help. Her thoughts were more practical, wanting to make sure they didn't tell people too early. If anything went wrong.. "I just mean--" But then there was kissing. Sweet, comforting kissing that made her want him to feel safe and happy, too. If he wasn't worried about something happening to the baby, she wouldn't bring it up. As long as they stayed like this, it was hard to believe anything might go wrong.
Nothing would. Wrex would make sure of that. Not to Kasumi, or the baby, or to them. He'd screwed this thing up once, he wanted to make sure he didn't screw it up again. She was too good for him.