Future Threat

36

“You’re…” Adam starts, but his voice is as uneven as mine. “You’re our daughter? Mine and Elena’s?”

“Yeah.” She looks back and forth between us with a grin, but there’s something hesitant on her face too. It’s an expression that reminds me so much of Adam it makes my heart clench. “You both look so young. It’s so warped.”

“Is everything okay?” Paige asks, glancing back and forth between us and Ava.

“Yeah, just…give us a minute,” Adam says.

Paige nods, and she and the others get into the white car. They close the doors, giving us some privacy.

“Ava…” I can’t seem to form any other words except her name. My daughter’s name. I say the word again, letting it roll off my tongue. Did I name her, or did Adam?

She studies me with wide, brown eyes. My eyes. “Damn, everyone told me I look like you when you were younger, but I had no idea, Mom. We could seriously be sisters.”

Mom. She called me mom. I’m going to throw up. I can’t have a daughter. I’m too young, I’m not ready for this, I can’t I can’t I can’t.

Adam adjusts his glasses, like he’s not sure of what he is seeing. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen.” She brushes back a lock of her dark hair, and I spot Mamá’s watch on her wrist. My watch. She catches me staring at it, and touches it with a gesture that’s all too familiar. “You gave it to me for my birthday.”

I look down at my own wrist, at the same exact watch. Proof that Ava really is my daughter, and that this is actually happening. “Sorry, this is just…” I shake my head, unsure of the right word. Overwhelming. Confusing. Amazing.

I never imagined myself as a mother. Never thought I would have kids. Hell, a few months ago I didn’t think I’d make it past eighteen. Now I’m standing in front of my own flesh and blood, this perfect combination of me and Adam, and I don’t know how to react.

I want to know everything about her. What does she like to do for fun? What’s her favorite color? Does she eat strawberries, and is that why Future-Elena has them in the fridge? Does she get along with her parents—with me?

But the question that comes out is, “Did you name our dog ‘Taco’?”

She laughs, and it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. “Yeah, I did. Hey, I was nine. Give me a break. I named Cookie too.”

Adams glances at me. “Taco? Cookie?”

“Our dogs,” Ava says.

I wonder if this moment happened in the timeline Future-Elena went to. When she was my age, did she meet her daughter too? Or is this encounter a result of us changing things?

“How did you know we’d be here?” I ask.

“I got home, and Mom was cleaning up bloody clothes but wouldn’t tell me what was going on. I checked the house’s security records and saw that it had logged two instances of her in the house at the same time, and I realized today was the day. From there, it was easy to track down the car, since it’s owned by Future Visions.”

Our daughter is as smart as Adam and as stubborn and strong-willed as I am. I’m oddly…proud. And very sympathetic to my future self. Ava must be a handful.

Adam’s staring at me with a frown, and he must have realized there’s a lot I didn’t tell him. But he turns back to Ava and asks, “So you knew about time travel already?”

“Yeah, I overheard you two talking about it when I was fifteen, and I made you tell me everything. For the longest time I thought you were making it up, but sometimes you would know things…” Her eyes dart to the watch on my wrist, and she smiles. “Now I see you were telling the truth all along.”

I open my mouth to ask her one of the millions of questions running through my head, but another car pulls up beside us. The door slides open and Wombat jumps out. “What are you doing here?” he asks Ava. “Your parents gave you strict orders not to get involved with this.”

She plants her hands on her hips. “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t miss this for anything. Why should you have all the fun?”

“You shouldn’t be here.” Wombat rubs his forehead and groans. “Elena is going to kill me.”

“I’ll tell her it was all my fault. She’ll be mad at me for five minutes, and then she’ll get over it.” She moves close to Wombat and takes his hand. “Don’t worry. You won’t get fired. I promise.” She gives him a kiss, and I swear my eyes almost bulge out of their sockets.

“Are you two together?” I ask.

They break apart and jump back, like they’ve been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. “Um, yes,” Wombat says, his face going bright red. “Please don’t be mad.”

I’m in motion before I know what I’m doing. I grab hold of his shirt and slam him back against the car, hard. “If you hurt my daughter, I will tear you apart limb by limb.”

Wombat takes one look at my face and then bursts into laughter. Beside me, Ava rolls her eyes and says, “Oh my God, Mom. Please stop.”

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

“The other Elena had the exact same reaction when she found out Ava and I were dating,” Wombat says.

I release his shirt and step back, looking down at my hands. Damn, that protective instinct was so strong it was hard to control. I want to lock her up in our house and never let her outside. And have armed guards posted at every window and door. How does my future self deal with it all the time? And with Ava dating?