"Please don't do this, Elena. Please."

As Howard Saunders gazed up into the two pitying blue pools above him, the continuous metallic rumble of the mostly empty train was the only response. With a lick of his lips and a nervous swallow, his gaze shifted from the large blue eyes above to the small, curious ones looking up at him. Howard struggled to force a sad smile as he met his six-month old son's gaze, his small form cradled in his arms and wrapped in a blanket. Mercifully oblivious of the decision being made above his head.

Oblivious to their oncoming abandonment.

"Please, love," Howard voiced with desperation, "please just think about this."

"I've thought on it plenty, Howard," came a reply from above, and the diminutive man once more looked upward from his position on a wide, velvety palm and into the solemn eyes of his wife. There was a sadness in those sapphire circles, in that beautiful face framed by golden locks, in the downward curve of those pillowy lips. But that sadness was paired with something else, something that was continuously pushing it to the side.

"For six months, I've thought about it," Elena continued stoically, "and this is the conclusion I've come to. I'm sorry."

"But you're his mother, Elena!" Howard nearly cried, straining to keep his voice low so as not to upset Corey. "How can you-"

"Well that's the problem, you see," his titanic spouse answered coolly. "It's why I'm taking you to Aegis, after all: I don't want to be."

"How..." Howard gasped out pathetically, gently stroking his son's hair as he did so. "How can you say that? After we tried so hard to have a child, Ellie...after we were finally blessed with such a wonderful, healthy little boy?" The couple stared at each other for a moment, Howard's desperate, pleading eyes locked with his wife's own increasingly aloof stare.

"Because 'little' is the stand-out term to me there, sweetie," she responded after a moment, and despite that affectionate term, Howard found that there was little of it in his wife's words

"I don't understand," he stated, even as his voice cracked and the bundle in his arms began to wiggle. Looking downward, Howard couldn't suppress a grimace as his son's pudgy little arms, now free of the blanket's confines, eagerly reached upward toward Elena's face amidst a spiel of excited babble in an attempt to get her attention.

His mother paid him no mind.

"Because there is no blessing in having a Beta for a child," Elena explained, and the chill in that voice froze Howard to the bone.

"And for a husband as well, I suppose?" Howard asked, his voice dead and toneless. To his surprise, Elena's face softened a bit at that.

"No," she stated with a soft shake of her head, "there's nothing wrong with you, Howard. Not in the least. You're a wonderful partner, and I don't regret a single second of the time we've spent together, of the love and care I've given you. That day when I received that container from that woman...when I ran home and locked myself up in my room, when I opened it up to find the Beta I had bought...when I found you...that will always be the best day of my life, no matter what."

"Then why can't the day our son was born be a day like that?" Howard asked, exasperated. "Why can't you give that same time to him? That same love? Why do you want to...to leave him?" And all at once, that softness that had peaked through his towering wife's visage disappeared, replaced instead by an expression that seemed terrifyingly familiar. He couldn't quite place where he had seen it, but he knew he had, and he felt as if Elena's comments about her...obtainment of him lay at the center.

"Because, Howard," she began coldly, "a child isn't a partner. A child is a legacy. You're everything I could want as a partner, you've done so much for me...helped me become the person I am today..."

And he had. When Elena had acquired him, when both had barely entered their teens, she had been a wallflower of a girl. Lacking in self-confidence and self-esteem, with parents who showed little interest in their daughter's life, she had been overcome with a desire to have someone...something invested in her, that she could keep all to herself. That's what she had bought and paid for that day, in the back of some little country store on the far outskirts of the city. She hadn't known at the time, how quickly the frightened little boy that had been in that container would shift from pet to friend, from friend to something so much more. They had spent so much time just...talking, about each other. Elena had been such a sweet girl, and Howard still remembered her crying face when he talked about how his small family had been found and taken as they had journeyed to an Aegis center. When he had told her about those awful cages...about watching his younger brother be taken away, then his mother, then his father. He had slept with her that night, tightly held against her abdomen the entire time. And of course, he had listened to her as well, as she talked about school and the bullies that accosted her there. Who put her down because all she did was read, because studying was all she was good at. Her parents, too, had been a frequent topic of discussion - they were conservative with praise, and more often that not bemoaned her lack of an outgoing personality instead of recognizing her scholastic accomplishments.

But with him, she had no need to worry about that, and it had made Howard so happy to be there for her even as she took care of him. And with each passing year the two had spent together, Elena had emerged more and more from her shell, until ultimately she had become the confident, successful woman before him, the premier graduate of her medical school. They had discovered, too, just how easily Howard himself could pick up on and learn her school material , and soon he had been able to talk with her as her intellectual equal. At 16, she had even taken him to register with Aegis in an affirmation of the equality she wanted with him. Of course, they had...omitted how she had come into possession of him, but the Alpha clerk that had later become his case worker had been a jovial man who had been deeply amused at their closeness. He had even arranged for the two to continue living together (with weekly visits to insure Howard was being treated as a guest and not a plaything, of course, and Elena's parents had become reluctant hosts. Howard had long suspected that his case worker provided something to them to insure a stable, safe environment), and had been instrumental in attaining permission for Howard to accompany Elena throughout her college career and through residency, and he was confident that he was her equal in medicine as well.

It was within the last year of Elena's residency that they had married, with Howard taking Elena's last name, and the proceeding year had been spent trying and failing to reproduce. Finally, though, they had succeeded, and Corey was their wonderful reward for their patience. So why? Things had been going so well, and their son had a safe, stable environment to grow up in. Howard was confident they could raise him to be a fine, intelligent man, so why-

"...but a legacy is different," Elena continued, breaking Howard's happy recollections, "a legacy is a different kind of investment. An investment that carries who you are into the future, long after you pass away. And Howard, I just can't...do that. With him. I cannot invest that time in a child with no future. A child who will never be able to become anything, who will never be able to do anything. That's the realization I've come to over the last six months, Howard. I'm sorry, but I just can't do that for him."

"No future?" Howard repeated, dumbstruck. "But...Elena, the Omegas are trying to build that for...for him. They're hoping to start schools for us soon, and everything. And...and not being able to do anything? That's not right, I mean, I'm a-"

"A what?" his wife interrupted with an arched eyebrow, an element of condescension entering her voice. "A doctor? Please don't lie to yourself, Howard. I won't disparage your knowledge or you skill, I would never do that, but the simple, honest truth is that you're nothing. Because it doesn't matter how smart you are, how skilled you are, or whatever else, if no one else recognizes it. And as awful as it is, as unfair as it is, that's not something I see changing. The Omegas can open all the schools they want, but this country is still a democracy. A democracy in which Betas have no say whatsoever, in which ninety percent of of our senators and representatives get elected on a platform of fighting back against every single thing the Omegas try to enact."

"It's a battle I don't think the Omegas are going to win, Howard, not anytime soon. Almost every Alpha in this country is going to fight tooth and nail to make sure you are given nothing, that you can do nothing. Because the moment Betas are recognized for their skills, the moment they have an actual voice...that's when things are going to get truly nasty. When Alphas are pushed out of their jobs by more qualified Betas, when Betas outnumber them at the polls, shit is going to hit the fan. So they are going to do everything they can to protect the status quo, to protect themselves, and that means denying you and our son any sort of future. And I can't deal with that, not with how I am now."

A ping sounded through the train then, punctuating the end of Elena's statement as husband and wife locked eyes. Corey's wiggling started up once more, along with his incoherent attempts at gaining the attention of his mother that were once again ignored.

"The train will be arriving at the Aegis Facility in three minutes," a soft feminine voice sounded. "Please prepare any Betas not in the specialized seating for the impending stop, assuring that they are safely secured. Thank you."

Howard gritted his teeth as he continued to glare into Elena's eyes in silence. Her face had reverted to the visage that had stuck out to him earlier, the one that had seemed so familiar, and it had finally struck him as to why: It was the same face that had been on that woman's face, when he and his family had been abducted and caged, when he had been yanked out of that cage to be given to a shy little girl. It was an expression without care, without love.

And for the first time, as two soft fingers of Elena's free hand began to wrap securely around him just below his cradling arms, as he took another look down at his son (who had quietly given up on his attempts at gaining the attentions of his mother and gone back to looking at his father, and giggled loudly as their eyes met again), Howard wondered just how long that uncaring face had been there for the boy without either of them ever noticing it. He wondered, as well...

"When did you become such an awful person?" Howard asked of his wife, not bothering to hide his contempt, his anguish.

"Excuse me?" she asked incredulously, as if in shock that he had said such a thing.

"You heard me," Howard declared, his brow furrowed, "A legacy? Really? Since when is that something you care about? Since when is that something you just...discard a relationship for? That you abandon a child for?"

"People grow up," Elena remarked with a darkened expression, "and priorities change."

"And I want to know when satiating your own ego became such a high priority for you. Because we've spent over half our lives together, Elena. I remember watching your confidence grow, and being so proud of you as it happened. So I want to know when that confidence turned into this disgusting arrogance that demands you throw your fucking child awa-."

"Enough," the towering woman demanded in a raised voice, her lips curling into a sneer as her words easily drowned out her husband's own. Howard instinctively pulled Corey in closer to him as his body was rocked by a slight tremble, and neither response went unnoticed by woman holding him. Her eyes widened for just a second, and that sneer melted as her expression softened a bit. "I think this situation is severe enough without your petty nastiness dragging things down further, Howard."

"Doubtful. I'm pretty sure you already put us at rock bottom," Howard spat. Elena's eyes narrowed this time, but there was no tremble from the smaller man this time. He met her gaze unblinkingly. and soon the large orbs closed. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, washing father and son in her minty breath and drawing an excited squeal from the infant.

"I said that was enough," Elena remarked, her eyes opening once again even as they all felt the train begin to come to a halt. "So no more, Howard. Please. Nothing is going to change, and there is no going back. So just...enough." Howard himself could only sneer, but he relented. He had pushed as far as he was comfortable with this woman he wasn't even sure he truly knew anymore. That sweet, caring Elena had turned into this...this thing that now held him and his son...

It disgusted him, it terrified him, and it saddened him.

The train soon ground to a halt, and that soft voice returned, informing them that it was safe to disembark. Elena wasted no time in rising from her seat, the fingers that had secured Howard quickly removing themselves as she steadily disembarked into a well-lit tunnel. Above him, he watched as her eyes briefly scanned the immediate area before apparently finding what she was looking for and continuing on.

"You should know," she began, "that I've already taken care of the divorce paperwork. I expect the separation to be finalized within the week. If you wish to keep my last name...that's fine. If not...well, that's fine too. I'll mail your wardrobe here tomorrow, as well."

"How generous," Howard remarked sardonically as his now apparent ex-wife approached the far wall. He could make out a platform jutting out from concrete, large enough to hold a literal handful of Betas, with what looked liked small elevator doors built into the side. He supposed he had found their destination, and Elena confirmed it herself as she came to a halt just before it, the platform level with her neck.

"Howard," the giant woman said, and the disowned Beta turned for face her once more as the palm he stood on began to rise up until found himself level with the baby blues he had admired for so many years. He couldn't help but notice that they now seemed glazed with a slight wetness that had not been there moments before. "I am sorry...for doing this to you. For ending things like this. I meant it, earlier, when I said that meeting you will always be the best day of my life. Even beyond that, you will always be my first love...and I wish that things had gone just a little differently, so that you could have been my only one." The hand lowered then, just a bit, and for just a moment Howard felt the familiar sensation of Elena's lips pressing into the top of his head. Another excited squeal and a new burst of wiggling came from Corey at his mother's sudden closeness, activity that continued even as she pulled away. He didn't even realize it, why his mother continued to ignore his pleas for attention, and simply thinking about it seemed to hit Howard with the force of a hard blow to his gut.

"I hope you stay safe, Howard. I hope that you're able to find some measure of stability, moving forward." Howard regarded her, for a moment, her and those words. Considered them, considered the words that had come earlier. The years that had preceded this bastard of a day, the time they had spent together, the moments they had shared.

"And I hope, Ellie, that you're able to create the legacy that means so much to you. I hope you can have the child that you truly want, that you can give them the love that you feel Corey isn't worth. But I hope, too, that you never forget what you did today. I hope you never forget that you threw away a husband and a child to attain that desire, that it follows you for the rest of your life."

"And I don't say that, to be spiteful," Howard continued, his eyes watering, nose leaking, "I say that because then at least it would mean that some semblance of the Ellie I knew...the one who opened that container that day, that I grew up with...that I fell in love with, is still there. That she isn't gone. Because she never would have done something like this."

Elena's eyes closed once more, and Howard watched through blurry eyes as she took a hard, audible swallow. Then those blue eyes were visible again, just in time for the hand he stood on to begin a slight descent. Within seconds it rested level with the platform he had noticed earlier. Taking the hint, he slowly transferred himself and his child from the formerly welcome, comfortable flesh of Elena's palm and onto the metal protrusion. Taking a sniff, he turned around to face Elena Saunders for what he knew would be the last time. They stared at each other, for just a moment, as Corey casually played with his shirt. He couldn't help but note that Elena wasn't even looking at her son, not truly.

"Goodbye, Howard," she suddenly said, her voice soft and raspy. "I don't expect I'll see you again."

And with that, the love of Howard Lindon's life turned away and walked, right back onto that train. He stood and watched as she sat, her back to them. Watched as the doors slid shut, as the train began to slowly pull away. Watched until she was out of sight.

Watched as she never looked back.

Howard supposed that he should have been more concerned after watching his son disappear under a fingertip the size of a building, but for the life of him, all he could do was chuckle. A quick glance upward, one that netted him a view of two sparkling rows of enamel, and he supposed no longer. Laughing once more, one of his hands found and grasped the small pair of sandals that rested to his side before he hopped to his feet. Breaking into a soft sprint, the tanned flesh below him yielding ever-so slightly with each quick step, he began to move to the center of Abigail's palm. Approaching the mighty leaning tower currently burying itself into the veritable field of skin upon which he inhabited, he really couldn't help but admire it, something he had found to be the case increasingly often over the last three-and-a half years. The appendage was impressive, of course: The finger dwarfed even Alphas, made even them look small. Truthfully, though, there was little about Abigail that wasn't impressive from that sort of standpoint, and as awe-inspiring as she could be on that front, there was another upon which she dwarfed even that.

As if on cue, the mushing digit began to rise as Howard moved to within a few inches of it, and no sooner had it lifted and began it's ascent than he was greeted with yet another example of what impressed him more than anything else.

"Dad, she cheated!" a child's voice called from before him, and the newly freed four-year old sat up and looked indignantly at him before standing to meet him.

The tenderness with which Abigail could act probably entranced him more than anything else. That she could exhibit such practiced, precise control to the point where she could press a finger down onto such a small form and cause no harm other than annoyance...she really was an amazing woman and, over the last few years, a wonderful friend.

Taking a look down at his son, panting heavily after his run across Abby's palm, he was reminded that there was one more role in which she excelled, a role he hoped she would accept more...formally, soon, along with another.

"I did no such thing," a gleeful voice thundered from above as Howard rested a hand on his son's head, ruffling his blonde hair. Father and son turned their attention skyward, to the radiant visage of their frequent hostess. Her dark hair was brushed behind her shoulders, and the tender blue pools of her eyes focused lovingly down upon the two even as her cherry-painted lips curled in a triumphant smirk at catching Corey yet again in their frequent game.

"She pressed down and made me fall!" Corey pleaded as he caught his breath. She had done that, of course, after the boy had passed the halfway point of her palm. Howard had gotten a good view from his perch along the side of Abby's hand as her pursuing digit had pressed down into the soft palm upon which Corey had been running, depressing the skin around it and tripping the child up as the surface below him had suddenly inclined, leaving him helpless as his pursuer proceeded to smother him with victorious affection.

"Ah, but did you two actually make that against the rules?" Howard playfully questioned, knowing full well the answer.

"Um..." Corey responded, pursing his lips and looking down at his feet, acting as if he were thinking it over. "No..." he quietly added a moment later.

"Then it's just something to be ready for next time, then, isn't it?" Howard asked, kneeling down to his son's level and pulling him in for a quick hug against his side.

"I guess," came the answer, and while a bit of a pout over losing persisted in his voice, one look at Corey's face made it clear he intended to not let it effect him again.

"And besides," Abby's pleased voice added from above, "you made it so much farther this time! I have to keep things interesting or I won't be able to keep up with you at this rate!" A smile crept onto the little boy's face at that, accompanied by a slight giggle. Howard brought a hand to his mess of hair once more to give it another ruffle before handing the child his sandals and standing up once more. If his internal clock was right, it was about time for-

A soft ping echoed through Abby's home, confirming Howard's suspicions.

"Alright, champ, looks like it's time for you to get going," he said with a smile, and Corey seemed to get his second wind as he quickly fell to his bottom and hurriedly put on his sandals.

"Excited to go to the game?" Abby inquired sweetly from above, and Corey nodded vigorously as he finished with his footwear. "That's good, I'm sure you'll have a great time." With his minor preparations done, Corey stood once more, and Howard wasting no time in lifting his son up onto his shoulders even as Abby began to slowly stand, leaving the mountain range that was her couch behind. As usual, the speed at which Abby rose, the levelness she held her palm at...everything was perfect. To the two Betas, it was as simple, comfortable elevator ride. In no time the Omega had left the sofa behind and closed in on the monolithic gateway that was her front door, casually opening the oversized slab of wood and taking a relatively small step outside.

From her palm, Howard could see Abby's eyes cast downward and beyond her upturned palm. She exchanged short pleasantries with the Alpha chaperone he knew to be down on the walkway that had come to pick up Corey for his trip, asking how she was, all that fun stuff. Soon enough, though, those orbs focused on the two once more.

"All ready to go?" she asked with a pleasant smile, receiving an excited "Uh huh!" as her answer.

"Do you want to say bye to Ms. Abby first?" Howard asked, grinning softly to himself given that the question posed only ever had one answer.

"Yes!" Corey exclaimed, and his grin gave way to another chuckle. Looking up into Abby's face once more, those cherry cushions parted in another wide smile that showed off her immaculate pearly whites even as it began to lower in tandem with her now rising palm. Her beautiful face, which for most of the day had been like a far-off moon, descended upon the two, her lovely features filling more and more of their vision. Reaching up, Howard grasped Corey underneath his arms and lifted him slightly, shifting him over until his son was perched on his arm with Howard's hand supporting him to his side.

Abby's face continued to close in, and as expected, it soon became apparent that the tip of her nose was aimed squarely at them, dropping closer and closer until finally it halted just a hair's breadth away from the two. Leaning into the cartilaginous protrusion, Howard's action soon found itself repeated as Corey eagerly leaned forward on his perch with arms wide, affectionately embracing the tanned skin before him and nuzzling into it, his small eyes closed.

Howard's heart melted every time he watched that, and it made him so happy to know that he wasn't the only one who felt that way during these moments. He was thankful to Abigail for so very many things, but nothing could compare to what she did for Corey, what she was to him despite how dramatically small he was to her. Something he had once thought would be lost to his son forever.

Corey's eyes opened, and ever-so-quickly he delivered a small peck to the target of his embrace before leaning back into his perch.

"Bye, Ms. Abby," he stated energetically, "thanks for playing with me! I'll win next time though!"

"Any time, sweetie," Abby responded with the gentlest of whispers as her face began to ascend once more, allowing her cinnamon-scented breath to cascade over them as her head tilted back. "But we'll have to see on that, won't we?" she added playfully, drawing a giggle from the child. "Alright then, going down."

The world blurred a bit as Abby descended, though with more than enough restraint to prevent their stomachs from rising out of their mouths. Or the two of them from flying right out of her palm, for that matter. Still, Abby's hand soon hovered (as much as a thing so large COULD hover, he supposed) above the ground, and Howard found himself looking up into yet another pair of icy blue eyes.

"Hey, Tricia," Howard called up to the smiling Alpha that loomed over the side of Abby's hand, and the two exchanged pleasantries of their own as he walked to meet her, and soon Corey was seated comfortably in a smaller yet still larger palm.

"Now, you be good for your chaperones and to the other kids, okay?" Abby commented from above and behind, and a "Yes, ma'am!" followed from Tricia's hand.

"And you be sure to thank Mr. King for setting this up for all of you," Howard appended, receiving his own affirmation in response.

Goodbyes were said then, and Abby rose again to her full, mountainous stature as Tricia went on her way.

"It really was great of Greg to set this up for the kids," Howard commented as he fell backwards into the center of the comfortable palm. "I bet they'll have the time of their lives today."

"Mmhmm," Abby uttered as she crossed the threshold back into her home, closing the door behind her. "I know he's been pushing the owner for a long time to get something like this set up. I guess when your All-Pro tight end suddenly becomes your Super Bowl-winning, All-Pro tight end, he becomes a lot easier to listen to if you don't want him bolting to another team. "Face of the Franchise" and all that."

Howard chuckled a little. Greg King really was a good guy, something he hadn't really expected when he had met the Alpha during one of his frequent visits to the Facility as a volunteer. He had been surprised to learn that he had shown up there within days of being drafted to see what he could do for the city's Beta population, and his support had only furthered after scoring his first huge payday. Truthfully, Howard worried for the man a little. He poured so much money into charity, he might not leave enough for himself.

Apparently, though, he was dating another Omega. And one thing Howard had learned over the last few years was that money didn't really seem to be an issue to the protective titans.

Other things had been learned to, of course, and looking up into the distant sky at the underside of Abby's chin, they really were wonderful things.

Abby eventually plopped back down upon the couch, and wasted no time in spreading her length across it, becoming a mountain range all her own. On her back now, reclining against a pillow that rested upon the furniture's arm, Howard's city block-sized bed tilted to the side. Not altogether unexpected, of course, now that they were alone. He had no qualms with allowing himself to tumble gingerly down the squishy incline as Abby made adjustments here and there to keep his speed under control.

Eventually, he tumbled onto his destination, and it really was his favorite place to be when they were alone. Shifting his prone form into a sitting position, he once more looked into Abigail Everett's oceanic eyes from atop one of her massive breasts, the only thing separating him from the supple flesh underneath being the cotton fabric of her blouse.

He avoided noting, of course, how effective a barrier that actually was.

"So, Mr. Lindon," Abby began, her voice and narrowed eyes making her the very picture of slyness, "I believe you have a couple of hours before your shift at the clinic. Any ideas on how to pass that time?"

Howard smiled. There were plenty of ideas, sure, and on any other day he'd probably suggest them.

Not today, though. No, today he had resolved to do something much different than when they usually found themselves alone.

"Actually, Abby, I do," he began, his voice wavering somewhat. A waver that did not go unnoticed by his hostess, and her sly visage shifted into something a bit more curious. Wavering wasn't really the norm for Howard, and he knew that. Hadn't been for quite some time. But this was something a bit different than having some simple fun. This was far more important than that.

"Abby," he started again, this time with a deep breath, "can we talk?"

Leaning over the walkway guardrail, his forearms digging into the black length of metal in order to stop himself from tumping right over, Howard Lindon felt a warm smile form upon his face as he surveyed what lay hundreds of feet below. A mess of long black cables rested immediately below, splayed in just about every direction possible upon a light blue plain. Further beyond the reach of those silken cables stretched a fabric landscape of rolling hills and sharp valleys, all dyed a dark blue. It was a landscape that periodically rose and fell, a subtle (at this distance) reminder of what actually lay before him.

By Howard’s measure, in itself a quick glance at his watch, it had lain there for just a bit too long.

“Rise and shine, sweetheart,” he called down gently, and yet with a firm authority that he still hadn’t quite gotten used to over the past two and a half years. His voice, magnified by a wonderful little piece of technology, travelled downward and through the jungle of black hairs and into ears that were all too receptive to it. Ears he could stand in. Ears he had stood in. Almost immediately, their owner began to stir, the rolling hills taking on all manner of different formations as she did so. A small, sharp whine rose up from below, and the mess of hair began to undulate as the head it masked began to nuzzle into the soft pillow. Howard had to fight the urge to swipe a hand downward to stroke at that head, instead lightly simmering over what a futile gesture it would as one reality of his family’s makeup asserted itself upon him somewhat painfully. So he masked a sigh, and watched as the form below continued to slowly stir.

Then the head jerked around, spurred by sudden realization. The hair that had covered the face of the sleeping giant whipped around, giving up its role as a cloak, and allowed Howard to gaze downward into twin widened saucers hued with the darkest of browns, their black centers contracting by the second. Beyond them, thin lips began to crack in excitement.

“Daddy!”

The seven-year old Omega’s exclamation was paired with a quick, rough roll onto her stomach. For his part, Howard was somewhat surprised his step-daughter hadn’t managed to wrap the sheets around herself in the process of it. Then those rolling blue hills began to grow and steepen as the girl rose up, transforming from a landscape of hills and valleys as the comforter began to fall away and collapse in a heap behind the newly-sprouted mountain. Granted, a mountain clad in sky-blue pajamas, but a mountain nonetheless. One that easily dominated his vision, even while already resting on her knees and hunching over just a tiny bit. Had to keep her eyes level with him, after all, though that was more to keep him from resting below her nostrils. Speaking of which…

The Beta calmly held out an open palm, which promptly received a mass of skin and cartilage as the young girl gingerly brought the tip of her nose to bear against him in greeting. A few loving rubs punctuated with a quick peck, and the affectionate protrusion was suddenly on the move as the moon-like head before him began to rotate. A new object, then, began to press into his still extended hand, and his palm sunk lightly into the girl’s offered cheek. Another affectionate peck, then, one that earned him a pleased coo as the enormous wall began to back away, to be replaced by the return of Claire’s dark eyes that now glittered with the radiance of the morning sun as it finally peaked through the window from behind a cloud.

“Good morning, Claire-bear,” Howard stated softly, the use of his little nickname for his not-so-little daughter earning him a thundering giggle. He wasn’t sure where the name had come from, honestly. He supposed it had been from something he had seen or heard years ago. But upon his first usage of it over a year prior, the young Omega had instantly become enamored with the little name, and that was fine by him.

“Morning, Daddy,” Claire chirped with warm excitement, filling the air with a pleased rumble at clearly not having expected to be woken up by her tiny step-father. “What are you doing here? Where’s Mommy?”

“Taking your brother to soccer practice,” Howard informed, and he could see the beginnings of a pout in his daughter at being told her older brother was already gone for the morning, “and I think she’s going to sit and watch today. So I decided that since she’s spending the morning with him, I’d spend the morning with you.” Another pleased giggle erupted from below, eliminating that pout almost immediately, though it tapered off surprisingly quickly. Howard had an idea as to why when he caught Claire’s irises shifting slightly off of him – almost imperceptibly so – and instead focusing on the bicycle resting against the painted-while wall at his back.

“Daddy,” she started, in a questioning tone that suggested she already knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, “how did you…?”

“Pedaled my way over here after your mother left,” Howard informed her gently, putting special effort into applying the same firmness of tone that had accompanied his bid to awaken the young titan. It was important to do that in this case, as the orbs in front of him began to widen. Claire was…well, she was an immensely sweet girl. An immensely protective girl. And at times, that protectiveness could be a bit…

“Daddy!”

Overbearing, Howard thought, as his step-daughter’s concerned voice exclaimed from below, her rumbling voicing pitching just a bit higher. It amused Howard to consider the tone as an almost scolding one – but that was the point of remaining firm, after all.

“Daddy’s that’s…that’s really far! You shouldn’t have done that…you should have waited for me to get up and come get you…”

“Nonsense, it was just a little exercise,” Howard replied calmly with a shake of his head, that firmness being a bit harder to apply suddenly as the massive girl sitting in front of him gave voice to her concerns. Not out of any amount of intimidations, heavens no. That feeling had passed only a few months after being introduced to Abby’s daughter. No, he was simply trying not to laugh at Claire’s ever-present enthusiasm for helping her adoptive father and brother around the house in the wake of finally attaining her handling clearance. “Besides,” he continued, flashing a warm smile, “I think the trip was more than worth it.”

“It’s…it’s still far,” she murmured, though her voice now dripped with an adorable pacification of her worries, and a certain bubbliness was clearly taking hold of her if the tight little smile forming on her face was any indication.

“So did you have a good night’s sleep?” Howard inquired, taking the chance provided to shift the burgeoning conversation away from a matter he found rather silly. He meant what he had said, after all: It had been a long trip, sure. But seeing his daughter’s face light up at his presence had made it time and effort well spent.

“Um,” Claire started, still with that same pacified mumble, “not really.” As if to give proof to the answer, her eyelids slowly shut and opened again. Her initial excitement, it appeared, had worked to mask her drowsiness.

“I’m sorry,” How responded, holding his hand out once more in invitation. Almost immediately, his open palm welcomed the bridge of Claire’s nose as she arced it below the walkway, eagerly receiving the empathetic pats from her smaller parent. “Could you not go to sleep?”

“I kept waking up,” his daughter told him with a new tiredness in both her voice and her eyes, the brown surfaces seemingly losing their luster as the sun retreated once more behind a cloud. That wasn’t going to do.

“Hm,” Howard sounded, pulling his arm away, “how about this, then. Can I get a lift?”

“Yes!” came the eager reply, and the cliffside of a face pulled away to make room for a relatively slender fingertip to dock with his walkway. With practiced grace, he casually vaulted the guardrail, and landing amid the warm swirling flesh of his daughter’s fingerprint. “Where do you want to go?”

“Absolutely nowhere. For the most part,” he answered calmly, and the young Omega gave him a confused look at that. “Go ahead and lie down again, sweetheart. And then put me right here.” He gently tapped at his right cheek.

“Um. Okay,” Claire said, obviously a bit confused. Slowly, with all the care that had been taught to her by her mother and her instructors, she turned in place, her body descending back onto the bed as she continued to carefully hold her father aloft, eyes focused unwaveringly upon him. It took a mite longer that it would have taken her mother, but soon enough she was resting again on her side, and the finger that held Howard slowly approached her cheek before contacting with it. With that same grace as earlier, Howard calmly departed down the ridged surface, eventually leaving it behind for the smooth bronzed surface of Claire’s cheek. Her sensitive skin detecting his arrival, the digit and cheek parted ways.

“What are we doing?” Claire asked quietly, and Howard couldn’t help but marvel at her control. Not just of her voice – loud, obviously, but nowhere near what one might think it would be given his current position – she even kept her mouth movements to an absolute minimum, so as to disturb him as little as possible. She really was her mother’s daughter in her complete consideration, even at this young age.

“We,” Howard started, sitting down upon the cheek before shifting into a laying position on his back, hands behind his head, “are going to catch up on our sleep, because I had a late night and then an early morning. So let’s tuck in for a bit longer. Until your mother gets home, at least.”

“But Daddy,” came Claire’s immediate answer, and Howard snorted as he marked the return of her protectiveness, “I don’t think I should…should sleep with you right there. Something might-“

“Nothing’s going to happen, sweetie,” Howard stoically responded, already closing his eyes. “I’ll be perfectly fine. I trust you.”

Silence, then, as the momentarily panicked Omega processed that. Her breathing, which he had felt accelerate at his declaration of intent, began to calm itself over the proceeding quiet minutes, before that silence was broken again.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Claire murmured out, with a voice so happy that he idly wondered if the little girl might actually be crying.

“It’s nothing, sweetheart,” he stated softly, removing one hand from behind his head to gently stroke at the field of a cheek he rested upon, “I don’t want you to worry about a thing. Just rest.” It really was nothing, he thought. Certainly nothing he shouldn’t do for the little girl he had adopted, nothing a father shouldn’t do for his daughter. If he couldn’t do this, couldn’t trust his child, then that title was meaningless. If he couldn’t be here with his daughter and comfort her and look after her, then there was no real relationship….no family, not to him, anyway. He was Claire’s father. Wanted to be her father. And goddamnit, he was going to act like one, even it meant shouldering a little bit of risk.

“Okay,” came the tired, but ever so thankful reply, and he could feel the head he rested on begin to lightly dig itself back into the pillow, utmost care being taken so as to not jar him. ”Daddy?”

“Hm?”

“I want to play soccer,” Claire stated, voice low and even a bit dejected. Howard watched idly as the hand that had carried him returned into his vision, resting in front of her face upon the pillow, and he fingers curled and dug anxiously into it. “Like Corey does.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“It just looks…really fun, when we watch him,” she murmured, fingers now gripping the pillow tightly. “I want to play what he plays.”

“Well,” Howard started, resisting a snicker given some information he had been made privy to recently, “you just might get to someday, and then we’ll have two little stars in the house.”

“Really?” the Omega asked, voice pitching higher. “Would you and big brother come watch me if I get to?”

“Of course we would, sweetheart,” Howard stated confidently and truthfully. “We’d both love to.” The skin beneath him began to shift, tightening up as a smile began to cross his daughter’s face beneath him, her head nuzzling a bit deeper into the pillow.

“I really want to play, now,” she chirped, and Howard did laugh at that as he closed his eyes, delivering another loving pat to Claire’s cheek before returning wayward hand to the back of his head. “You and Corey and Mommy…that’d be so cool…”

Mommy.

Howard’s eyebrow ticked at the word, even as the sentiment behind it added to the already considerable warmth that surrounded him. Abby…

Howard shrugged with a defeated chuckle.

God, Abby was going to kill him when she found him here.

“Oh, now where did this little guy come from?”

Nestled within a veritable forest of white-cotton reeds, Howard couldn’t hold back a nervously excited smile as that playful and very transparently rhetorical exclamation of curiosity boomed across the cityscape of his home.  From atop his admittedly comfortable perch, it was of little issue for him to spy across the grand glass plateau that he supposed was technically a coffee table - though he greatly preferred his own interpretation of it. Felt more honest, really. His gaze remained continuous, though, even across the great lake of beige that called itself the living room carpet – again, he preferred his words.

Waiting across it, then, towering above all else in his world, was the greatest of mountains, the most beautiful of peaks. It perhaps earned this special interpretation more than anything else, yet it was an almost singular case in which he preferred the more conventional term for the majestic sight that stood in the distance: Wife.

With hand upon hip, Abby began a slow, methodical stride into the room, her eyes not leaving the target of her attentions for even a second. Howard found that his own gaze was transfixed upon the approaching colossus, appreciating and marveling at her beauty. Despite the overall conservativeness of the garment, the snow-white dress his love wore clung tightly and with much flattery upon every curve, and the only movement of his eyes came from matching the sway of her hips. At least until he managed to tear his eyes away and cast them upward, allowing him to take in the soft, beautiful features of her face, framed as it was by her dark hair.

In just a few steps, though, that upward cast of his eyes transformed into a craning of his neck, the severity of which multiplied with each successive foot forward. Even at a purposely slow pace, Abby was upon him almost before he had even registered it, as lost as he had been in his admiration. He was leaning back, now, and in fact pretty much had to in order to continue looking up with any amount of comfort as his wife loomed overhead. For a moment, he briefly consider re-assessing his labelling.  Tilting forward just a bit, she was looking down upon his perch upon its perch atop the couch cushions with trademark cherried lips pulled into a rather adoring grin that meshed wonderfully with her youthful face – particularly with those electric baby blues a few hundred feet above them.

“Did someone leave you here?” Abby asked affectionately, allowing just a little bit of concern to flow into it. Indeed they did, Howard thought with some playfulness. Claire had been her usual sweetheart self and done this favor for him, securing his little perch on the couch before depositing him atop it. Her adoring little giggles still rang in his head.

“Well someone must have,” Abby continued, lips threatening to part in impish glee and telling Howard all he needed through that alone. “But who in the world could leave such a little darling alone like this?” That hand parted from her hip then, and his wife leaned forward just a little bit more. Two hands, each capable of holding more than a hundred of him, began to move in toward him. Well, not toward him, per se, he corrected. Though he would be a part of it, and he gripped the nearby stalks of cotton in preparation as the powerful instruments of his wife wrapped lovingly on either side of the “little” white bear currently occupying the couch even as Howard occupied it.

“Whoever it was should be ashamed,” Abby smarmed with still playful care, continuing to amuse Howard with her dedication toward the little ruse. Of course, as her mighty arms began to easily lift a stuffed animal that was in itself a skyscraper of sorts to the Beta, gravity asserted itself upon him – only just, but a bit more than he was used to when comparing it to hundreds of past lifts. If  his stomach had dropped just a bit more, he surmised, he might actually be a little scared for himself, but there was so much care still evident that the thought quickly tucked itself away and he and his gift were brought before the Omega’s face.

“It looks like we’re in the same boat, though, little guy” Abby stated, this time allowing a sad little inflection into her speech that temporarily wrenched Howard’s smile away before he noticed the corners of those wonderfully plush lips still pulling back even as their owner kept up her little farce.  “I got left here all alone tonight, too. Kids off on dates, husband nowhere to be found when we were supposed to go out for Valentine’s…honestly, it’s enough to feel downright lonely.”

“But you know what?” she continued, smile returning and allowing Howard a glimpse of her sparkling teeth as it did so with force. “You showed up at just the right time, lil’ guy. Because I think I need a little hug right now; to feel better, y’know? And somehow, I get the feeling you’re just great for that.”

Howard’s bear-y perch began to lower, and his eyes immediately tracked to their shared destination. With more than a little appreciation he took in the rapid approach to Abby’s chest, two large hills currently masked by the snowy material of her taut dress. A light blush overcame him just as his wife’s breasts did, coupled with the arrival of her perfume as the stuffed head he sat upon was buried with forceful affection into them. He was passively aware that Abby’s hands had changed position from his gift’s sides, with one now crossing against its back and the other lightly pressing into the back of the bear’s head. From there, she forced it into a little nuzzle against her chest that threatened to dislodge the Beta from his position. Howard’s hands were strong, though, and this alone wasn’t sufficient to send him sprawling from his position and into the forward tumble along the tilt of the bear’s head that would be waiting for him.

Not that it wasn’t extraordinarily tempting to do so, of course, and a part of the Beta wasn’t quite sure how he prevented himself from just…letting go. He certainly had no qualms about what his destination would be, the immense hills waiting for him being more than enticing. But he controlled himself nonetheless, even as Abby increased the pressure of her loving embrace to the point where the poor bear’s face was pressed flat against those inviting orbs and Howard found himself that much closer, her scent becoming almost overwhelming in that instant. For just a moment there he thought he might give into that temptation, but this gift didn’t exist for him to cop a cheap feel.

So he controlled himself, and before long the pressure holding his host in place began to lessen, and those hands shifted back into their positions at its sides. His perch was pulled away slowly, and only slightly at that.  Looking upward, he wasn’t particularly surprised to see Abby’s beautiful eyes looking down upon him as he sat in his little forest. Him. And with an adoration that would put most lovers to shame.

“Such a little darling,” she murmured, no more play apparent upon her cooing voice as she acknowledged him directly for the first time since discovered his little present. Her face, his entire sky, began to lower, and in seconds that sky instead became one of bulbous cherry skin. Laying back with a smile that was the definition of content, he welcomed the fall of his wife’s considerable lips upon his miniscule body, asserting the love and affection of their owner upon him with all the care he adored. They pressed, and they pressed, and they kept on pressing – and Howard met them with a kiss of his own as much as he could, not really minding that he was being positively coated in his wife’s favored lipstick. Not really noticing as he ascended into the sky, stuck as he was to the moist skin.

By the time it did register, something new had arrived at his back, something a bit different than the fuzzy little gift he had been pulled from. Pressing oh so slightly into him, the always wonderful tip of Abby’s index finger skillfully collected him from his predicament. He was not taken far – just a few hundred feet, really, just far enough for him to take in the adoring countenance of Abigail once more while still being kept before her lips.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, love,” Howard stated lowly, to the point where he was almost certain the voice tag must have failed to carry it forth. But whether it did or didn’t was of little relevance – the wonderful woman that held his world in her hands had clearly picked up on it, as the lips that had first began to open in response closed once more.

Within a second he found himself pressed into those cherry beauties once more, his ears just barely catching three little but oh-so-big words emanating from far beyond them.

“Love you, too,” he responded, allowing himself to be absorbed into the inviting  cushions once more.