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Chapter Twenty-Five

“I’m nervous,” Sky declared, as though her nervous pacing hadn’t been enough to give that away. “Why am I nervous?”

 “You don’t think we’re going to show you up, do you?” Jenny joked, glancing down at Anwen, who was sitting in her lap and playing with a plush toy. “She’s ashamed of us, Anwen!”

 Sky waved a hand (though her sweater sleeves were so long that it was more of a flapping of fabric), fondly annoyed. “You know that I’m not.”

 “There’s no need to be nervous. You’ve known Emma for months. I’m sure she’s a good friend.”

 “I think it’s just because she doesn’t know me outside of school. To her, I’m just the girl who’s good at science.”

 “Is Emma good at science?”

 Sky nodded excitedly. “Especially Physics.”

 "Well, if all else fails, you can talk about Physics,” Jenny smiled. “Isn’t that right, Anwen?”

 The toddler, who was inclined to agree with most anything, nodded.

 “You’re sure you’ll be all right?” asked Gwen as she breezed past, stopping only to kiss Anwen's forehead. “I mean, Emma could be …”

 "We’ll be fine. But will you be?” Jenny frowned. “Are you sure you don’t want someone to go with you?”

 Gwen laughed. “Have you been reading articles on the internet again? I could do a scan myself in the hub, if anything this a courtesy to my doctors.”

 “Bring us back a picture?” Sky requested, a hopeful smile breaking through her worried demeanour. Having lost the chance to be a baby herself, she was fascinated by the chance to see Gwen’s child develop, be born, and grow up.

 "Count on it," she beamed. “I’ll see you later. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

 “That gives us quite a lot of scope,” said Jenny, raising an eyebrow until Sky laughed. “What are you planning on doing?”

 The Flesh Kind gave a delicate shrug. “Talk, watch TV. Maybe we could go for a walk, it’s a nice day.”

 That much was true. In February, it was technically spring, but pleasant days were few and far between. When the sun fought through, however, it was beautiful, and Jenny revelled in it.

 “So, do you want us to get lost?”

 “Of course not,” she smiled, turning to Anwen. “She’s trying to give me a bad name. Isn’t she awful?”

 Typically, Anwen agreed.

 Emma was a slim girl, slightly taller than Sky, with dark hair and shining green eyes. She easily accepted Jenny as a family friend, and greeted Anwen excitedly.

 They watched How I Met Your Mother together, discussing the characters and plotlines. Jenny, who in turn had been persuaded by Anwen, persuaded the two girls to make chocolate chip cookies. Once they’d them, they needed something to go with them.

 “Shall we go to Cadwaladers?” Sky suggested.

 “What?” Emma frowned, looking between the two of them, and Anwen, who was clapping her hands. She loved the toffee pudding ice cream Gwen sometimes bought her from there.

 “It’s a shop on Mermaid Quay,” Jenny explained, cleaning off the table where they’d made the cookies. “They do the best coffee and ice cream in Wales, apparently. I can’t attest to that; I’ve never been anywhere else in Wales.”

 “Let’s go, then,” Emma beamed.

 Anwen immediately set off ahead of them, tipping her head up toward the sunlight, though she knew not to go too far, and sporadically glanced over her shoulder to make sure the other three were close behind.

 “You don’t usually come into the city very often, then?” Jenny asked Emma. “Apart from school?”

 “No, not really. I live in Leckwith. It’s not too far away, but still, it’s easier to stay at home most of the time.”

 “Huh. I guess we’re lucky we’re so close. Well, Gwen and Jenny need to be, for their jobs.”

 “You work in the city centre?” Emma asked, smiling at Jenny.

 “Yup. I’ll show you, if you want. Anwen, c’mere, we’re gonna cross the road.”

 Jenny pointed vaguely towards the tourist centre entrance of the hub as they passed. “That’s it, over there. The Tourist Office. Not many people drop by nowadays, what with the internet and everything. But we do okay. Or maybe the boss just takes pity on us.”

 Sky snorted. “Jack wouldn’t do that.”

 She shrugged. “You never know, he’s a big softie underneath it all.”

 “Sounds like a nice place to work.”

 “It is.”

 Sky went into the shop to buy the ice creams and coffee, while Jenny, Anwen and Emma waited outside, admiring the sea.

 There was something about the open waves that comforted Jenny, even though she had never taken to them. It reminded her of space, of that feeling of freedom she’d had while she travelled. The whole universe.

 Someday, she decided, she’d take a boat ride.

 “What did you get me?” she asked Sky immediately, infected by Anwen’s excitement when it came to ice cream.

 “Chocolate fudge,” she smiled in return, passing over the tub. She’d gotten coconut for herself, and raspberry ripple for Emma. Anwen had the toffee pudding, which she was delighted with. There was also a tub to put in the freezer for Gwen when she returned.

 “And coffees,” Sky tipped the tray over slightly, not enough to spill any of them. “C’mon, let’s get back and eat our cookies!”

 When Gwen came back, they were seated around the kitchen table, eating ice cream with crushed cookies and drinking coffee. Anwen had an ice cream moustache, and she beamed at her mother.

 “Ice cream!” she announced.

 “I can see that,” she laughed, accepting the offered cookie. “So this is what you girls have been up to?”

 “There’s a tub of rocky road for you in the freezer,” Sky smiled. Gwen kissed the top of her head.

 “Bless you!”

 “How’d it go?” asked Jenny, leaning back in her chair to catch Gwen’s eye.

 “Very well,” she assured. “Baby’s healthy, normal. And another scan in a few weeks.”

 “Did you get a picture?”

 Gwen merely smiled, moving over to the fridge. When she stepped away, the sonogram had been pinned in place with a magnet.

 Jenny and Sky scrambled to their feet immediately, abandoning their ice creams. The shape could be distinguished as a foetus; they could see the head, and one fist.

 “It looks like a kidney bean,” mused Jenny, interested, while Sky waved a slightly awkward Emma over.

 “Look at my baby sibling,” she beamed.

 Gwen, who had been examining the cookies, looked around, the touched surprise evident on her face. Jenny shrugged. It made sense.

 Her phone rang, and she moved into the sitting room to answer it, smiling when she saw who it was.

 “Hey, Martha. What’s up?”

 “It’s bad news, I’m afraid,” said Martha, sounding tired and defeated. “I couldn’t get a hold of Jack, is he all right?”

 “As far as I know,” Jenny frowned, glancing back into the kitchen. If something was wrong, he would have contacted Gwen, surely. “I haven’t seen him today.”

 “I’m in Brighton,” she continued. “UNIT sent us down here to deal with a Sontaran platoon.”

 Jenny balked. “An entire platoon?”

 “Yes,” Martha sounded grim. “Whatever … this is, it’s not good. I think we’re going to need your help on this one.”

 “Whatever you need,” she promised, adding grimly, “provided there’s no crisis down here.”

 “Provided that.”

 “I’ll talk to you later, take care.”

 “Who was that?” Gwen smiled, as Jenny re-entered the kitchen.