When it had been time for Squadron One to move back intoorbit around Earth, Poppy had talked Wheaton into moving back into theirapartments. She figured that when the baby was still an infant, they couldhandle sharing the small space and one bedroom but once the baby got older,they would need to broach the problem of setting up a nursery.
“Hey, you still with me?” Pixie waved at the monitor tocatch Poppy’s attention.
“Sorry, baby brain has settled in. So what’s so importantthat we had to wait for video chat for you to talk to me about?”
“I’m just going to start at the beginning and I don’t wantyou to get mad, okay?” Pixie began.
Oh dear. With that start, Poppy braced herself, wishingWheaton hadn’t been called down to the sparring room, so he could be there. Shefound his mere presence had gone a long way in soothing her lately. The babyalso loved being around him, because the little bugger usually calmed down andtook it easy on her bladder when Wheaton caressed the skin stretched over hergrowing stomach.
“I broke up with Brian,” Pixie informed her baldly.
Poppy searched Pixie’s face for signs of sadness butamazingly didn’t see any. “Ummm, okay…why?” She thought about the man hersister had wanted to marry, and wondered what had happened.
“Well, here’s the kicker. Remember Brenda?”
At Poppy’s nod, Pixie nodded too. “He was fucking her. He.Was. Fucking. Her.”
“No!” Poppy was truly shocked.
“Yes! Not only that but the woman who I thought was a friendand assistant was messing with my work to make me busier so she could get meout of the way so they could meet!” Pixie spoke as if she could truly murdersomeone.
“When did you find out?” Poppy asked, so stunned that shecould only sit there with her mouth hanging open.
“I noticed mistakes that even an idiot shouldn’t be making withthe bookkeeping. One night, I decided to take home the extra work that she’dbeen making for me and found Brenda in bed with Brian apparently doing herextra work. Well, technically they were on the couch.”
“No! Fuck! I loved that couch.” Poppy made a disgusted faceat the camera. “Now I feel the need to go and dip myself in antibacterialsoap.”
“Yeah, needless to say that is one piece of furniture Ididn’t take with me when I left.”
“Fuck. Me.” Unable to believe what she was hearing, Poppyreached for one of the donuts that was ever present at her side. As she stuffedher face, she waved her hand to get Pixie to keep spilling the beans.
“Nope, it was Brenda fucking Brian. Plain as day.”
“What did you do?” Face stuffed with a donut, Poppy’s wordscame out mumbled but Pixie got the drift.
“Well, I told her she was fired and I told him to fuck off.”
“Wait…you asked me not to be mad earlier. What would I bemad about that for?” Wondering where this was going was making Poppy craveanother donut.
“After I cleaned house at work and at home, I realized I wasgoing to follow in my sister’s footsteps.” Pixie smiled at Poppy and seemedpleased with herself.
“I don’t get it.”
“I walked my happy ass down to the Intake Center and filledout a bridal application.” Recoiling back from the screen as if she werewaiting for Poppy to reach through and strangle her, Pixie waited a minutebefore opening her eyes and seeing what her sister’s reaction was.
“You what!” Where were more fucking donuts when you neededone…or five? Poppy thought.
“Okay, I thought this through. I’m single. I knew that withthe Brenda-the-bitch fiasco at work, my boss was not going to be okay with mestaying on since I let her get away with fucking up for so long. The biggestthing though is…I missed my sister.”
Pausing for a moment, Pixie seemed as if she were going tocry. “Poppy, I want what you have. I’ve never seen you happier than you areright now. You have a gorgeous man who adores you, a baby on the way, andyou’re living a life I’m truly jealous of.”
“I don’t know what to say, Pixie.” Poppy truly didn’t. Pixiehad always seemed to have her shit under control and thought everything throughto the point of obsession. Her path had seemed to be laid out from the time shestarted college: finish school, find a management job and marry the man she hadbeen dating for years. Her two planned kids were scheduled to follow threeyears apart after the honeymoon was over. This seemed so out of character thatPoppy hoped Pixie didn’t end up regretting her decision.
“But, Pixie, I thought Earth received the press release fromPhaeton that there would be a halt on bride matching. With the system down,they’re working hard to get it going as soon as possible but it could be awhile before you’re selected.” Feeling a tiny bit better that Pixie would havetime to rethink her decision, she calmed slightly.
“Actually the whole Brian/Brenda clusterfuck happened awhile ago and my application was matched before that asshole kidnapped you.”Seeing Poppy wasn’t understanding what she was saying, Pixie smirked andexplained, “I was one of the matches that was pulled before the system wentdown.”
“Oh.” Not sure what else to say, Poppy sat there quietly fora moment. “Do you know who your future husband is?” Trying to stay positive,she thought to make the best of a situation that was worrying her.
“Yes I do, and the good thing is you know him too.” Pixiehad that look on her face she got when she had a secret.
“Oh really?” Consumed with wonder as to who it might be, shewished Pixie would just spit it
