Samie Sands - Through Space and Time

“I’m sure Miguel has filled you in on a lot of it. Sweet boy. I’m glad he survived.”

Raegan couldn’t hide the redness staining her cheeks. She hadn’t expected to get into the depth of her relationship with Miguel quite yet.

“He told me some, yes, but we didn’t always have time to talk about the past.”

“Yes, so I’ve heard.” Raegan winched at the cagey way he said this. “You couldn’t focus on the past because you were working on getting Earth back and creating the True Ruler.”

As his eyes fluttered to her belly, Raegan found herself gobsmacked. How much did her father know about everything? Seemingly even more than she did!

“So, you know about the baby then?” Her eyes darted downwards. She couldn’t stand to see his reaction. This wasn’t the news she ever assumed she’d be greeting him with. “And me ruling, which I think is insane…”

“Oh, it definitely isn’t insane,” her father insisted. “I have heard all about you. I can see it in you as well. You are the absolute perfect person to rule this place, Raegan. That might be hard for me to say since you’re my baby girl and all I want to do is protect you. But you are the right person to be in charge. It has to be you anyway.” Raegan stared at him with confusion. “Because you need to be in place to train up the True Ruler.”

“What is this True Ruler you keep talking about?” Raegan demanded. “I should really know everything since I’m the ‘leader’, but this I have no clue about.”

“The angel didn’t tell you? About your baby…?” Raegan shook her head. “Your baby is the True Ruler, the one who will make the whole universe run smoothly once more. Probably even better than before because humans will have learned now. They won’t make the same mistakes as before. They will work with the other planets as well…”

“This is too much.” Raegan waved her hand to shut her father up. “I can’t wrap my head around it yet. You’re telling me my unborn child will rule everything?”

Her father extended his arms wide and smiled. “You know what they say, it is written. But for now, it’s your turn to rule, and the humans who have returned with me want to meet you. Miguel is greeting them all at the moment, but they need to see your face…”

“Miguel.” It hit Raegan hard. “Oh no, I haven’t told Miguel yet.”

“About the baby? Don’t worry, he will be over the moon. That boy loves you. I haven’t even seen you guys together and I know how much he adores you… thank goodness, or we might have had some trouble.”

Raegan nodded. Much as her and Miguel were young to be parents at only eighteen, everything was going to work out just fine. She knew that and not just because ‘it was written’, but because she had total faith in the love that they shared.

“Will you help me rule, Dad?” she asked as they walked down to greet the lucky humans who had finally made it home after a treacherous decade. “I can’t do it without you. I already have so many worries. I want things to be peaceful always, especially after what happened with Earth last time, but do we need to have a fighting plan of action in place in case someone attacks us? And how are we going to work with other species? I keep trying to plan…”

“Raegan, we will all help you with this,” her father reassured her kindly. “We aren’t going to leave you on your own to do this. You might be the leader, but the human race is going to show everyone else that while we might have had faults in the past, our core spirits are good, and when it comes to a situation such as this one, we can pull through as a team.”

Those words roused an unexpected confidence in Raegan. She had been so fearful about how she would make this all work, but within a few short moments, her father had strolled back into her life like a superhero and made her believe in herself once more.

He was amazing, she had never forgotten that, and now she was determined to never lose him again.

“Okay.” She nodded and smirked. “Let’s do this. The human race, we can make everything better somehow. We just need to be a team and never enemies again.”

Raegan sincerely hoped that wasn’t too much to ask.

“So, you have the building team on schedule,” Raegan said to her father through gritted teeth. She had her hands rested on her very swollen belly, wishing the child to remain where he or she was for just a little bit longer. There was still so much to do. “And the council have been communicating effectively with the other planets? I know they had some issues before and were working on it, but has that been straightened out? I need to find out…”

“Are you okay?” Alan asked, ignoring her questions. “You look like you’re in pain.”

“You sound like Miguel, Dad. I’m absolutely fine. I just want all of this to be running smoothly before I go into labor. I don’t want to be worried…”

She stopped walking, leaning forwards to clutch onto herself as the agony radiated hotly. Much as this wasn’t the right time for anything to happen, her body wasn’t listening. The baby didn’t care about the ‘right moment’ when everything was perfect.

“You would think if this child really is the True Ruler, he or she would wait for the right time…” she spat out as her head swam in a strange and very dizzying place which she needed to come back from. “I still need to make sure the school system is…”

“Stop, don’t think of these things.” Alan rubbed his daughter’s back, hating how helpless he was while she was in such a state. If there was anything he could’ve done to take this from her, he would. “You have delegated well. You have the right people in the right places. You only need to oversee, but right now you have something much more important to do.”

“I…” Raegan wanted to argue, but she couldn’t deny what was happening now. She needed help and she needed it now. “Get Miguel, please. I have to get to the hospital building.”

Thank goodness many medically trained people had survived the nuclear blast. It was also great that so many younger people wanted to learn, to have a place in the universe that mattered. Now the human race wanted to make Earth the best place it could be, there wouldn’t be any mistakes from the past, they wouldn’t become complacent again.

The lessons which came from the nuclear blast had been well and truly learned.

Other children had already been born on Earth since everyone returned, so Raegan knew the staff could handle what was to come, she wasn’t worried about their competency. The only person she was afraid for was herself. Not only was this giving birth, but she was also bringing the True Ruler into the world. There was a whole lot resting on her shoulders. It was a lot of pressure.

But she was Raegan Stevens, she could do anything. As long as she had the right people by her side. No longer did she only rely on herself, she never wanted to be alone again, and thankfully now, she didn’t have to be. She had a whole universe around her…

TALLULAH CAME INTO the world in a dramatic and noisy fashion, starting her life exactly as she meant to go on. She wouldn’t go unnoticed and she knew it.

“Oh wow,” Raegan laughed wearily as she finally got a look at the True Ruler… not that she could see her as that right now. Tallulah was just her beautiful little baby girl with her father’s eyes, her mother’s nose, a cry that was definitely going to keep them up at night… “She is perfect, isn’t she, Miguel? Can you believe that we have such an awesome child?”