I Will Follow You Into the Dark

"She is, uh." Jean-Paul hesitated. "She is visiting. From another world. Just as you are." That should suffice, right? "Did I ever tell you about Joanne?"

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"Oh," Jean-Luc said quietly. "Yes. A little." He turned to his mother and said, "I don't like the sauce from Holland."

...what?

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"Hard or soft yolk?" Lulu asked Jean-Luc, even as she deftly layered the egg and ham on halves of toasted English muffin for Jean-Paul's breakfast. If she didn't know by now how he liked his eggs, she might never learn.

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"Soft, please, Mommy," Jean-Luc said. Alternate dimensions with moms who didn't know how you liked your eggs were so weird.

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Lulu caught the egg before it turned hard, and layered it on another English muffin. "Here you go," she said, bringing it over to Jean-Luc. "Would you like anything to drink?"

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"Milk?" Jean-Luc asked. "Please? And thank you."

Jean-Paul? Still wondering where the manners had come from.

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Lulu got him a glass of milk, and then joined them at the table.

"What shall we do today?" she asked.

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"I wanna go flying!" Jean-Luc said immediately.

Then he remembered some people at the table couldn't fly. "Or...maybe not?"

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"You can fly? My son can fly!" Jean-Paul informed Lulu with a slightly dorky grin on his face.

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"I think, perhaps," Lulu said, "that the two of you should definitely go flying." She smiled. "It will be good... father-son bonding time."

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"Not like you fly," Jean-Luc explained. "S'different. I mess with gravity. And light." Second generation, early manifestation, as Hank McCoy would have put it, 'and then there's his mother to consider...' But Jean-Luc hadn't gotten that whole speech. Just the 'don't hide in plain sight, please, unless the bad guys are attacking' bit.

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"The mechanics are irrelevant," Jean-Paul assured him, not even thinking the child might not know those words. "We will go flying." Part of him really did not want to leave Joanne, but that was unfair to Jean-Luc, and besides, she was small enough to need naps, yes? They would fly then.

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"But first," Lulu said, pointing to their plates, "you must eat. We can figure out the rest of the day from there, I suppose." She considered. "... We might need to go shopping."

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Oh, yes, food.

Everyone in this room should be familiar by now with what happened when one presented Jean-Paul with delicious life-giving food. Except perhaps the one under the table, if he was there. The food tended to...disappear. Quickly.

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Lulu raised one eyebrow, but refrained from commenting. If she weren't used to it by now...

Okay, she couldn't resist. "Just once," she said, "I'd like to be able to see you enjoy the food."

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Jean-Paul shot her a look. "Just once," he retorted, "I would like to not be starving after eight hours without it."

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"Jean-Paul?" Lulu said. "I would be incredibly hungry after eight hours. You need to eat more frequently."

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"I also need to sleep. I cannot win for losing, believe me." He shrugged. "But I get to fly."

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"Yes," Lulu said, and if you knew her well, you might be able to hear just a trace of wistfulness in her voice. "You do get to fly."

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Jean-Paul could be pretty dense, but he wasn't completely oblivious. "I could take you flying," he offered.

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"Another time," Lulu said. "Today is for you and Jean-Luc, I think."

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"But you are his mother. Somehow," Jean-Paul retorted.

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Lulu laughed. "It's Fandom," she said. "I'll have tomorrow. And you have Joanne to think of, as well." She smiled softly. "You two should fly together," she said. "You can share that, in a way I can't. I'm sure he and I have something we share, that you don't."

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