It lurks. Oh how it lurks.
"So with a little math: January 3, 1985. And I don't plan on aging much past thirty, but by the time that starts getting really obvious, people are going to be used to immortal Martians. In the meantime, we can fake you some reasonably accurate documents."
"My world's Bella founded her empire on Mars," Libby says serenely. "It's very pretty there. I'll show you sometime."
"O-okay," he laughs. "Wow. And Martians are immortal?"
"There weren't pre-existing Martians, but she plans on eliminating death eventually and she's starting with her subjects. Who are all emigrating from Earth. Including us, eventually, but I have too many responsibilities to abandon my planet just yet, no matter how enticing the alternative."
"Oh. Okay then. Wow. Her Majesty's working on death too but her plan doesn't involve Mars anytime soon." He grins a goofy grin. "Heh, I'm gonna live on Mars in the past."
"By the time we live on Mars, it might not be the past anymore," she says merrily.
"Barring catastrophe, yes," she says. "This alternate universes thing does have its upsides."
"Have you been to lots of them?" he asks. "I've been all around the world but I've never seen the inside of Milliways. Everything I know about it is secondhand from Jake."
"I haven't gone visiting like this before, but I've had some bizarre encounters there. The most bizarre was definitely the time I met Elspeth, though."
"Just because her mom is a duplicate of your Empress of Mars?"
She grins reminiscently.
"At which point I told Elspeth that she had been unknowingly interviewing for world dictator on my Bella's behalf, and had passed. Oh, and then we found out Elspeth's dad's mom was probably an alternate of me. Which is why you may occasionally hear Elspeth call me Grandma."
"Biological," she explains. "Her name—well, her maiden name—was Elizabeth Kirsch, same as me. And she looked reasonably like me and acted reasonably like me, as far as I can tell."
"Oh. Interesting. But you don't actually have a little His Majesty running around at home, do you?"
"No," she confirms. "No kids. I am toying with the notion of naming a hypothetical eventual son after him, but he probably wouldn't like the idea, so maybe I won't."
Orfeo laughs. "I don't think he would, no. A few supernaturals have named kids Isabella - I think there are three, now, a puppy and an adopted human and a quarter-vampire - but no one has tried naming anyone after Edward."
"Haven't really thought about it," he said. "Would be up to my - well - heh. I didn't exactly forget you were my imprint when I started that sentence, but I have a script for this kind of question, you know? And wolf guys are pretty much not supposed to date apart from imprints. Too much potential for predictable heartbreak and drama. So I've always figured if I ever had kids at all..." He shrugs. "Then by that point I would be pretty thoroughly bossable on that or any other question."
"I don't intend to be particularly bossy," says Libby. "I never exactly said why I run a massive international organization, did I?"
She smiles slightly.
"Does that make sense?"