Room 424, Saturday Morning

[notahostage]

Wendy hadn't really had any intention of going to Prom last night anyway, but at least staying in to look after Weechee had just provided a better excuse than trying to avoid anyone who might have seen her turn as Sabrina yesterday.

So, caffeinated and free of hangovers, Wendy picked up her copy of The Big Book of Post-Modern Art For Kids! and started explaining the finer points of abstract expressionism to the wokling, completely oblivious to anything unusual happening on the island.

[Open for one in particular, but also in general.]

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[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

Clarence had lost contact with Ida after going though the portal, but a quick perusal of a handy island directory had given him the information he needed. Squaring his shoulders and drawing himself up to his full height, he smartly rapped on the door.

[notahostage]

"It's open," Wendy called out, since she was too comfortable to get up right now.

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

Clarence came into the room, carefully closing the door behind him. "Hey Mom," he said, grinning at Wendy, before straightening to attention. "I mean good morning, ma'am, uh mother."

Much as he might try to imitate his father, it didn't really come that naturally to a nine-year old.

[notahostage]

Wendy blinked slowly, staring at the boy. The boy wearing a very familiar looking uniform. "Did you just call me 'mom'?"

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

Clarence nodded. "Clarence Watson. Born January 25th, 2021."

"There was a dimensional portal," he explained at Wendy's somewhat befuddled expression, then he quickly added "I didn't mean to go through, but it kind of happened. Please don't tell Dad."

[notahostage]

It was a combination of the uniform, the attempt at painfully correct manners, and the fact someone had thought it a good idea to name the kid Clarence to give Wendy all the clues she needed to figure out who exactly 'Dad' was.

That tiny little snapping noise was Wendy's brain.

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

"Mom?" The stiffness fell away in an instant. "Are you okay?"

[notahostage]

Ohgodohgodohgod. This was so much worse than yesterday.

Carefully putting down her book so she didn't drop it on Weechee, some part of Wendy's mind managed to get out "I'm fine. Great even."

Somewhere, an android was laughing.

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

Clarence relaxed and smiled at Wendy. "Good, you just have that look you get sometimes," he said. "Like when Aunt Lacey comes over to stay when she's fighting with Uncle Pip and we don't have to time hide everything."

[notahostage]

And somehow, the 'Uncle Pip' part pushed everything over into a kind of surreality that made everything so much easier to deal with.

"Well, I just wasn't expecting you right now." Or at all. Ever. "That's probably why."

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

"Sorry, Mom," Clarence looked at his shoes as he spoke. "But at least you don't have an eye-patch like Dad did that one time."

This wasn't the first time that Clarence had had problems with portals.

[notahostage]

"Eyepatch?" Wendy felt one eyebrow raise. "I hope for your sake that he was the visitor then."

Hey, apparently she had some maternal instincts after all.

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

Clarence was saved from answering by Weechee making a loud squeaking noise as he waved his furry hands in the direction of The Big Book of Post-Modern Art For Kids!.

"Are you teaching him about Art?" Clarence asked, a wide, boyish grin on his face. "Have you gotten to Pollock yet?"

[notahostage]

"As a matter of fact we were just about to start," Wendy replied. Actually they had already passed him, but Weechee was too young to really be paying attention to anything but the pictures. "Would you like to help me?"

That way her brain was unlikely to get more broken.

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

Clarence scrambled up beside Wendy, being careful not to dislodge the wokling. "You bet," he nodded. "You helped me do action painting for the last Art Crawl!"

He even did the fist-pump.

[notahostage]

Wendy pumped her own fist, holding onto Weechee with her free hand. "Art Crawl!"

Well, apparently whichever future version of her had had the completely insane idea of hooking up with her boss, at least she'd gotten that part right.

Wendy opened the book to the right chapter then handed it to Clarence "So you like action paintings, huh?"

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Clarence nodded. "Though I think I might be more of a realist, even though Uncle Tyler says you'll disown me for that."

He sounded so painfully earnest too.

[notahostage]

"You know Tyler?" Wendy asked, ignoring the small clench of loneliness in her gut. "And I wouldn't, just so you know."

[middle-jr.livejournal.com]

Clarence shot her a 'duh' look. "Of course I do, he lives with us," he said, tilting his head to one side. "Though Ida says we should move to Utah so you can make honest men of Dad and him."

[notahostage]

"Oh," Wendy managed to get out as the rest of her mind shattered into little tiny pieces.

If Future!Her showed up, she and Wendy were going to have Words.