FSE

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The days had been much calmer lately. It was now into mid September, and there hadn't been any more signs of the agents or other humans getting involved in Erik's life. Life was still busy, though, between planning for the future, committing himself to his wife, and still trying to help around the farm. They had been out on another scavenge, and had just returned, with another two bags of stuff. Opening the front door with a creak, they put down their bags in the living room and sat down with heavy sighs.

“Ah, home at last...” Erik groaned, sitting on the hard floor. “I probably just reek.”

“Don't be silly, you smell just like me!” Kelsey snickered, sitting down on the couch instead. She didn't care about spreading smells to the furniture.

Down the hallway, a giggle and gekkering erupted, as both of the twins ran down the hall, no pants, with Shirley right behind them, trying to collect the troublesome tots. As she grabbed one, the other ran up to Kelsey and Erik. He pointed immediately to Erik, and proclaimed, “Smelly!” There was no hesitation or wind-up to his delivery.

“Kevin! Behave!” Shirley demanded, swooping in to pick him up, with his brother. “Welcome home, you two, sorry about the little monsters, they're not feeling sleepy it seems.” She said in a light-hearted tone, looking at the kids she held under her arms like lumber. “Find anything interesting?”

“We mostly went for books this time. We found some, but took a lot of old blank ones. Water damage. And some writing instruments, don't know if they're any good anymore.”

“Water damage? What's the point of keeping those?”

Erik responded. “I can probably write over what used to be there. That'll be helpful for when - if - I can start doing some proper education.”

She hiked the kids back up for a moment, trying not to drop them. “Oh, good, I was worried you had given up trying to be a teacher, what with everything else going on.”

Erik shook his head as he began taking some of the books out of the bag. “Oh, no. I'll be a teacher and a husband, and if I can, a farmhand. It's a busy life, but... boredom can be worse, right?”

One of the twins, Erik could never be sure which, immediately picked up on the last syllable of 'boredom'. “Hehe, boreDUMB! Dumb dumb!”

The other one spoke up. “You're dumb!”

“No you're dumb!”

They immediately began to fidget and try to claw at each other.

Shirley groaned and rolled her eyes. “Oh, I wish these two were as quiet as you and Kerry were...” She turned to bring them back down the hall to their room. “Well, good luck, I'll be back out soon.”

Erik chuckled. “Those two... I never remember which one is which.”

“Ken got the floppier ears. Kevin got merle on his paws and tail.” Kelsey explained. “Don't worry, I mix them up too sometimes. Ken puts his ears up by hand and pretends to be Kevin, runs around saying 'I'm dumb, I'm dumb'.”

He couldn't help but laugh. The little ones were quite the handful, no wonder he wasn't introduced to them earlier.

There came a knock on the front door. It was odd to have a visitor like this, but Kelsey answered anyway. “Hel- Jenny! Hey! Come in, come in!” She energetically waved her friend through the doorway. A fuzzy brown rabbit walked in, wearing a sleek flax skirt and surprisingly clean white blouse, and wearing a dark brown leather purse. Her yellow eyes looked into the room, then suddenly focused on Erik, sitting on the wooden floor of the house.

“Oh! I hope I'm not interrupting anything.” She said, looking back to Kelsey as she closed the door.

“No, no. We actually just got home.”

“Oh, well that's good timing. Sorry I haven't been by to congratulate you earlier, things have been really busy in town lately. But, hey, congratulations!” She laughed, and looked back to Erik. “So, I finally get to meet the man, after all this time.”

“Thank you, and yes! Jenny, this is my wonderful husband Erik. Erik, Jenny O'Meara.”

Erik stood up and bowed a bit. It struck his memory: this was the bunny she initially thought to hook him up with. “A pleasure, Jenny.”

“Well, you are much more pleasant than I thought you would be in person. You know the stories about humans and all, and after seeing you stand up against Colton and then fight to death in that ring, and fight with a couple more humans... I would have pegged you as more of a rough sort.”

Kelsey intervened. “Heh, you don't think I only hang out with tough guys, do you?”

She grinned. “It doesn't take a scientist to know your lifestyle needs an active kind of guy. And they're not usually the nicest...”

Erik tried to get involved and lower the drama a bit. “So, Kelsey tells me you two go back a ways.”

She took her purse off and sat on the couch, with Kelsey next to her, and Erik sat back down on the floor. “Oh, sure. I've spent a lot of time trying to study books and inventions the humans left behind, and maybe get to tell others how things worked. Kelsey used to sometimes ask me if I've figured out what some things are, but I guess now she has you for that.”

“Ah, yeah. Sorry to take the wind out of your sails there.”

“Oh, it's fine. I wouldn't survive a day in the bush following Kelsey around anyway. She's a bit more... athletic than I am.” She shrugged as Kelsey grinned. “As for that knowledge, so much is lost, but Vera has been talking to people about things a lot more lately.” She smirked. “I hear you had a hand in that, too.”

“I did, and I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure she has enough knowledge that she's still sitting on, waiting to get out there.”

“But what about you? Surely, you have lots too.”

He nodded. “I never thought I did, but here, I do. I'm planning currently to start teaching anyone in town who wants to learn things, but there's a lot of things I need to write down. Notes, lesson plans... I can riff off the top of my head, but that won't work for everyone.”

“Oh? Well, that's good to hear, we could always use more educators in town. What are you going to teach?”

“Anything I can talk about, really.” He chuckled awkwardly. This was all still in the planning stage, it seemed. “For example, I've been making plans in my head for teaching people how to make a windmill, or a waterwheel. But I'd have to explain them first, I think.”

“A windmill?” They both asked.

“Right. So, how does the town get its flour for bread?”

“Old Gibbs runs the wheat farm, and he grinds it down with a mill. I've seen it.”

“By walking around it and pushing, right?”

“Right.”

“A windmill is a big tower that uses wind power to move a millstone, so someone like Gibbs can spend more time doing something else, like harvesting more. Or a waterwheel, could be made to do the same thing, but using flowing water instead. It all works on a series of gears and axles.”

Jenny was intrigued. “That's... a good idea.”

“Erik's a smart guy.” Kelsey nodded proudly. “I bet he can come up with all kinds of great new things to help the town out.”

He shrugged off the compliments modestly. “Well, I'm just copying what my ancestors did, long ago. Not an original idea, at all...”

Kelsey put her arm over his shoulders, and rest her head on one. “Don't be bashful, love. You've got a gift, whether you want to admit it or not.”

Erik kissed the top of her head. “Alright, alright.”

Jenny smirked at the affection. “Heh, aren't you two just adorable.”

Before they could answer, Will entered the house, followed by Kerry, in crutches.

“Oh, good day, Jenny.” He responded, taking off his cap. Kerry thumped behind him, swinging herself off the wooden crutches she was stuck with.

“Hello, Mister Decker, and - oh Kerry dear, what happened to your paw?” Jenny looked to her with concern.

“When that crazy guy attacked the town, some of us got hurt. He stabbed me in the foot.” She looked to Erik, still not entirely pleased with him. “This came at a bad time, harvest is coming in a month, I have to get walking again by then.”

Erik patted his chest. “I'll help with the harvest, Kerry, don't worry.”

“Help? If I can't walk, you're going to do the harvest. We trained you for it, after all, you can't just marry your way out of it.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

He merely chuckled, not knowing what else to do. He knew she was mildly joking, but also knew Kerry still had a chip on her shoulder about Erik's possible involvement in her injury.

“Well, uh, I'm glad you're okay, Kerry. A paw will heal, in time.” Jenny replied, turning to a noise in the hallway. Shirley finally left the twins' room and came to the living room, where everyone had seemingly gathered.

“Oh, hello Jenny. Looks like there's quite the gathering here now.”

“Sure is. I was just stopping by to congratulate Kelsey and Erik on their marriage, but I don't wish to be a bother...”

“Oh, no, you're no bother. Maybe we could even keep you for dinner.” Kelsey waved her concern away. “Oh, first. Uh, mother, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“W-well of course.”

Kelsey got up unceremoniously, and walked off with Shirley, speaking quietly.

“Uh, well.” Jenny shrugged a bit, and looked back to Erik. “So, Erik. You're going to teach people about human inventions?”

“Some, sure. Things to help people improve their lives. I'll also try to write instructions, if I can, for things like making a furnace to use scrap metal, or making coal. We have thousands of years of human ingenuity to cover, hopefully, without making the same mistakes other humans did. History, geography, science... anything I can.”

“Hmm. Well, hopefully you can. I wish you luck.”

“Thanks. Just a matter of figuring out where to start wi-” He was interrupted as both Kelsey and Shirley let out excited yips and practically giggled in the hallway. Kelsey clattered down the hall, with Shirley behind, covering her mouth.

“Erik!” She barked, “I'm probably pregnant!”

It came so suddenly as a topic, everyone was a bit surprised. She sat back down with him, cuddling up to him, her tail flailing around. They were all about to excitedly congratulate her, but held off on the keyword 'probably'.

“W-what do you mean, probably?”

“Well... I haven't quite felt myself lately. Little nausea, feel a little funny down there.” She explained.

Shirley jumped in. “Same things I felt. It's early, but...”

That seemed proof enough for them.

“Whoa! That was so fast!” Kerry almost dropped her crutches.

“Oh! Congratulations, you two!” Jenny nodded happily.

Will crossed his arms. “Rot, you kids waste no time. I figured there would be a period of attempting.”

Kelsey was too excited to really sit still or mind her manners. “Oh, we've attempted everything!” She grinned as she looked to Erik. “But I think it was the first time that did this.”

Some light cringes from the others were emitted on the implications of 'everything'.

“First try, huh?” Erik huffed, smiling back to her. “Guess I didn't even have to try.”

“Nope! Was the power of love, I swear! Hehe.” Her tail wagging wiggled her around on the couch, she could barely sit down, eventually just hovering over the couch and fidgeting. “Ah! There's so much to do! What are we going to name it? Where are we going to put it? We have to get clothes and-”

“Kelsey, sit.” Erik commanded. She immediately did it, looking to him curiously, maybe even asking herself why she did it. “Calm down, dear. We'll figure it out. We have months to do this stuff.”

“Winter months.” Will interjected.

“Right, long winter months. We'll figure it out one bit at a time. We'll have to do the harvest, and I have to get educating people. If all goes according to plan there, I'll start acquiring baby stuff.” Erik was trying to plan this all out as maturely as possible.

“Ah... you're right, you're right.” She calmed down enough to really think about things. “I guess I can't put myself at risk much anymore, can I? If I'm carrying a child...”

Erik shrugged. “It's not really a good idea, I don't think. At least in these early stages, you'll still be active. But come winter, that's it.”

“Mm... what am I going to do, then? Being a scavver is all I know.”

Shirley pointed to her with a smirk. “I have just the job for you to learn.”

“What's that?”

“It's time to learn how to be a wife and mother.”

Everyone else responded with wise, but light-hearted nods. They knew it was a big job.

Kelsey responded with a nervous chuckle. “Me, a mom... heh, for some reason, I never thought I'd be there.”

“Hey, you'll do fine, Kelsey! You're tough, you're crafty. You'll grasp it in no time, I'm sure.” Jenny reassured her.

“Yep! I'll teach her all the mom stuff. How to knit, sew, cook, some other fun things.” Shirley was proud to finally have her daughter in the right position to be teaching her these things.

Jenny finally stood up. “Well, I should get going. You all sound like you have a lot of things to work on, I don't want to be a bother for your dinner.”

“Oh, alright. Well, I'm glad you were here to hear the news, Jenny. Stop by any time, it sounds like I'm going to be here a bit more often...” Kelsey laughed.

“Heh, alright. So long, everyone.” She bowed her head, collected her purse, and left, latching the door with a click.

Kelsey sighed and looked to her mother. “So, where do we start?”

Shirley seemed surprised Kelsey was interested right away. “Oh! Well, uh, I hadn't planned for right away, but... okay, come with me. We're going to start on dinner, give Kerry a bit of a break from helping for a change.”

As the two of them left, Erik was now left in the living room with Kerry and Will. A moment of awkward silence filled the room as Will looked to Erik. He felt like he was in the fishbowl, and saw Will's stare. Will's eyes were full of a couple of different emotions. One, of surprise, one of joy, and one of judgment. Erik returned a look of knowing and understanding, as if to simply say 'yes, I know'.

Kerry finally spoke up. “Will you two quit it and just talk? I can almost hear you staring at each other.”

“So... you've already gotten Kelsey pregnant.” Will finally said, slower and more thoughtful than usual. He got up and began pacing slowly across the room.

“It seems so.” He responded.

He continued talking as he approached a small, battered cabinet. “You don't sound too happy.”

“No, I'm just shocked it happened so fast, same as you. I'm actually really happy. But I'm anxious. I'm nervous. I'm... I don't know. I can't wait to see where life takes us now.” Erik answered, rather happily, but with a tinge of confusion. “I'm just a bit confused, I think.”

Will opened the cabinet and produced a half-empty bottle of some sort of alcohol. It was certainly rebottled, the previous label long since worn off to just scratched up glue remnants. “Well. I'll drink to that.” He brought a couple of small cups along with him and sat down next to Kerry. He popped open the bottle with a deep thump, and poured a bit in the glass, and pushed it over to Erik. Then he poured two more. One for himself, and one for Kerry.

She looked at it with surprise. “Me?”

“Sure, you're here too. You want one, right?” Will held off on handing her the glass for a moment as she thought.

“You never share this stuff. But, uhh... yeah, alright.” She took the glass with a sigh.

Erik had no idea what it even was. Some particulate floated about as the dark brown swill swirled a bit in the glass.

Will raised his glass, actually giving a toast, and looked at the two. “To good health.”

Kerry had done this before. “To prosperity.” She looked to Erik and her father.

Erik finally raised his, and looked to them. “To family.”

Down the hatch with the drink. It was sour, it was caustic, it was overwhelming for a brief moment. But a hint of apple breached the alcohol.

“Ah... Apples? What is this? Some sort of brandy?”

“Something like that. What's left of some apple booze the town made over last winter. It's pretty good stuff.” Will nodded.

“Yeah. Hits the spot alright.” He put the cup down finally. “Thank you, Will.”

“Uh huh. Now... what did she mean by 'everything'?” He turned interrogative quickly.

“BLEH! Father, come on!” Kerry stuck her tongue out grossly, making a fake barf sound. “None of our business!”

“I agree, that's between us. But I can assure you everything is just fine. I'd never harm her, and she's the image of good health.”

Before Will could go further, Shirley shouted out to him from the kitchen. “Hey! Are you two drinking out there?”

“No...” He called back. “Three. Heh heh.” He grinned stupidly.

Her head poked out around a wall and glared at him a bit while he chuckled lightly at his own dumb comment. Kelsey's head followed, but she didn't look as irritated. Both of them were wearing dusty aprons. “Aw, I want some too.”

“Nope, no drinking for the next year. What's bad for you is bad for baby! You need good food.”

Shirley pulled Kelsey along, back into the kitchen proper, to continue making dinner.

Left alone in the living room again, Erik tried to change the subject a bit. He looked to Kerry. “Kerry, uh... I want to clear the air, and apologize for your foot. I know you kind of hold it against me, and I really don't want that kind of bad blood between us. I didn't know that was going to happen.”

She sighed. “It's okay, Erik... I guess nobody really knew that was going to happen.”

“No. But I also want to thank you – all of you, actually – for trying to fight that guy off. You risked your lives for me. Like family should.”

She shook her head as she held up a paw. “Erik, don't worry about it. Really.”

Another call from the kitchen, this time, it was Kelsey.

“Erik!”

“Yeah?”

“Can you pull an onion for us?”

“Uh, yeah, okay, sure.” He shrugged, standing up. “Guess I'm going out for a second.”

Will chuckled as he took another drink. “Heh, she's already got you running errands.”

“Oh, I don't mind. Gotta keep the wife happy, right?”

He smirked. “Just wait for when she gets hungry.”

Erik eventually returned with an onion, fresh from the fields, and brought it into the kitchen. They both turned around as he entered the kitchen, as if he didn't knock first. He handed it to Kelsey and she took it in her paws happily.

“Here you are, hun.”

“Ah, thank you, dear.” She smiled and gave him a light lick on the cheek.

“Anything I can help with?”

Shirley took the onion by its remaining greens, and nodded. “Thank you, Erik, I know you two are super cute and like to be together, but... the kitchen is our domain.” She winked at him. “Do some writing or keep Will and Kerry company while we prepare dinner.” She hurriedly shooed him from the kitchen with her fluffy paws. “Go on, shoo.”

Erik left the kitchen and took one of the blank books and a pencil. “I guess I should try to write some of my thoughts down. I have to start presenting stuff to Jarvis soon, gotta put myself into the writing mood.”

“Ah, right. Well, good luck, kid.” Will half-heartedly saluted him with the glass.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Kelsey and Shirley continued to prepare dinner. Shirley was happy to be the teacher for Kelsey for a change.

“Okay, now that the chicken has been soaking in this garlic oil for a bit, we can start on the rest of the food. You chop up that onion, and I'll start on this.”

“What are we making anyway?” Kelsey didn't really know much about fancy food.

“Something rare and exotic. A little celebration of what you and Erik have accomplished.” She smiled, but her smile turned slightly off a bit in a moment. “Which is also rare and exotic.” She corrected herself, looking back to her happily. “Besides, this will make him happy, I'm sure. It's an old human recipe, they called it a 'stir fry'.”

“Kind of a dumb name, but okay. Why's it rare?”

She held up a small plastic bag, filled with white rice. “It uses a bed of this grain, called rice. It supposedly doesn't grow anywhere else around here for years of walking distance, except one town far south of here, that only grows it.”

“The only place?” Kelsey raised an eyebrow in surprise as she continued to chop up the onion, peeling off the skin and throwing it aside. “Why?”

“Well, our climate just isn't made for this sort of thing. The story is that it came from very far west during the Before Times, and the humans in this one area made an artificial area to grow it, that mimics where it's really from. It seems they passed on this knowledge to their surviving offspring, and now they keep the tradition alive there and live off of it, trading for other food.”

Kelsey nodded, taking in the explanation. “It's like that place to the west that only makes 'canola oil'.”

“Right. They specialized into that, and survive off of trade from places like Goldenmere.” Shirley explained the situation well, like she had made sure to memorize all of the details just in case it ever came up in casual conversation.

“Okay, onions are chopped.” Kelsey motioned to them, chunks of yellowish-white vegetables on a small plank of wood.

“Good. Now dice some peppers, and carrots, and throw them in a bowl with some peas.” Shirley carefully measured out the rice as she put it into a pot, adding twice as much water as she did rice. “Rice is very finicky to cook, so measurement has to be exact. Two cups of water, one cup of rice. You kind of want to steam it.” She placed the pot inside of the stove, which had a small fire burning in the bottom, leaving enough room on the side for the rest of the meal. Certainly, they did not know how, or have the means, to use a standard electric oven. A small sheet of leather wrapped around the top of the hood vent and draped over the stove, allowing smoke to rise out of the oven and funnel it out the vent, without having the ability to actually activate the vent. “So, when this starts to boil, we move it away from most of the heat, and put a lid on it, for about fifteen minutes and let it get soft.”

Kelsey chopped up some green peppers and carrots while she mostly paid attention to Shirley's handling of the rice. “How did you learn how to do this if it's so rare?”

“Found a little recipe for it in town once, with some history about it included. I'm eager to try it.”

“So you don't know what it tastes like?”

“Nope. I hear it's really bland, but we're going to have a lot of veggies and garlic in it, it should turn out okay. Right?” She chuckled. “Oh, and I have some this spicy sauce to add to it. So we should have a sort of spicy, savory sauce to put on a bed of this rice.” She wiggled her hips a bit while she explained her impression of what to expect.

Kelsey finished up slicing the final carrot. “So we're experimenting. Adventuring, even.”

“Right!” She winked. “You may be stuck in the house all winter, but it's these little adventures you get to take every now and then that will keep both you and your man happy. I guarantee it.”

Kelsey's face grew concerned again as she slid the board with the carrots over to her mother. “I'm... going on a really big adventure right now. I'm going to have a baby. Erik's. He needs me to do well on this, but... well, I'm not so sure I know what I'm doing. We don't even know what a baby will be like. What if it's... human?”

“Honey.” She tapped the pot with a flat, wooden spatula. “Unlike rice, a baby doesn't come with instructions. It will be a lot of work for both of you, yes, but you're not alone. Your father and I are here to help you, and so will the rest of the town. Whether the baby is fluffy like you, or bald like him, we'll all be here for you three.” She put down the spatula and hugged Kelsey. “You're going to be fine, I promise.”

“And Erik?”

“He will be, too. We'll look out for you, you'll look out for him and the baby, and him... well, if I know Erik, he's going to try to look out for everyone. He's a loving man.”