[SG] Mason's Mazin' Mob Mosaic #7

Fri Oct 26 08:36:52 PDT 2007

  ____ ____ Issue #7
/ _ \ / _ \ ASON'S Sometimes You Don't Need An Announcement
/ / \ \ / / \ \ AZIN' by Mason Kramer (masonlk at gmail.com)
/ / \ \/ / \ \ OB
/_/ \___/ \__\ OSAIC

Tim always woke up first.
In the old days, that bothered him a bit. When he was fragile, and 
afraid of being alone. After so many years, he knew he only need wait a 
few minutes, and Samantha would be with him again.
After so many years, it had become a ritual. He would wake up, and he 
would carefully unwrap his arms from her, and get out of bed to tend to 
needful things. First the bathroom, then check with Jenny to see if any 
emergencies had come up. The answer was usually no; if something were to 
come up, odds are they’d have been awakened, or at least that Tim would.
Waking Samantha was almost always an exercise in futility for anyone 
other than Tim.
Then he would move across the room and open the drapes, to let the sun 
in. Or the gray, even odds. Then he could finally do the part he 
enjoyed; sit on the bed and watch his wife sleep.
Age had not diminished her beauty at all. She had been sixteen when they 
met, and now she was thirty and looked twenty. People often mistook her 
as older sister to the twins, now brushing up on eleven, and were 
astonished that she had children that age.
It was something they’d have to get used to. Tim knew her uncle to be 
over a thousand years, and he appeared maybe middle-aged. For himself, 
he’d looked 18 when they first met, and he still did. An accidental shot 
from an aging beam had frozen his physical age at that state, though his 
mental age had far surpassed that by now.
If the girls followed in their mothers’ footsteps, then it wouldn’t be 
too many years before they’d be thought to be triplets. Though it might 
take awhile, just as it took so long for an apparent four years to be 
added to Samantha.
And there was enough of him in the girls that he was sometimes thought 
an older brother. And, again, it would just get worse.
It was time for him to admit to himself something that had been building 
for years.
He saw Samantha start to stir and revised that thought. He could admit 
to things later. He spoke softly, “Good morning, sunshine.”
Samantha murmured, “Be with me all day,” not sounding very awake at all, 
but still music to his ears.
Tim shifted to lay down next to her again. “Just don’t let the rain pass 
you by,” he continued with a smile, then stopped her from giving the 
next line by kissing her softly.
Some time later, they drifted down the stairs. The girls were apparently 
already up from the sound of things, which they confirmed visually upon 
entering the kitchen. Toni was floating in mid-air, reaching a mixing 
bowl down to Terri. Tim gave Samantha an amused look. “Oh good! Here I 
was thinking we’d have to make breakfast, but it looks like the girls 
are a step ahead of us!”
Samantha nodded, hiding a smile. “We’re off the hook,” she said, heading 
instead for the table and ignoring mild glares from the girls. They 
looked at each other, then shrugged and continued what they were doing, 
which was hopefully making pancakes.
Tim got the chair for Samantha, making sure she was positioned so she 
could keep at least one eye on the girls, then took a seat so that he 
could keep one out as well. “So, I’ve been thinking.”
“I know and it worries me.”
“Bah. Just because our minds are linked, you think you know when I’ve 
been thinking. I’ll have you know I think far more than half the time.”
“Now I am truly frightened.”
“And yet you love me anyway. I think it’s time for me to give up my 
secret identity.”
Samantha looked at Tim, expression unreadable. “Oh, no. No, you’re very 
wrong about that.”
Tim blinked. “I am?”
Samantha nodded. “Absolutely. You’d have to have a secret identity in 
order to give it up.”
“Hey now, wait a minute…”
Samantha grinned a bit. “No, I’m serious. Look at the facts. First off, 
there’s the people that know. All the former Mob. My brother and sister 
and brother in law. Everyone in Team M.E.C.H.A., the Adjusted League, 
half the ALA students, the Sentries, Aurora… extended families I’m 
probably forgetting about… And then you get into the fact that you, Tim 
Ward, are married to me, the hero known as the Dreamweaver, even though 
I’ve been romantically linked to one of my teammates, that Mental Dude.”
Tim rolled his eyes reflexively. “It’s just–”
Samantha held up warding hands, grinning more. “Sorry. But I mean, come 
on. You’ve been photographed in an embrace with me three times in the 
last month, and only one of those was out of costume.”
Terri piped up from where she was carefully stirring batter. “Show and 
tell.”
“Oh yes. Thank you, dreamling, I forgot. There was also the time that 
Mental showed up for show and tell for the girls.”
“So, what you’re saying is…”
“You had a secret identity fourteen years ago. Today, not so much.”
Tim sighed. “I hate to admit it, but… well, now, that’s not true. I’m 
glad to admit that you’re right, even though that’s almost… that is, 
that’s always the case.”
“Nice save, Daddy!”
“Thanks, munchkin. Don’t turn the burner all the way up. Only 
three-quarters.” He turned back to his wife. “So, really…”
“There’s not much need for you to make an announcement. A press 
conference is even more unnecessary. I’d say just tell your friends to 
stop worrying about it.”
Tim took Samantha’s hand into hers. “So, you’re not exactly worried 
about it?”
“Not exactly. In a way, it’s kind of a relief.”
“How so?”
“Well, now those few who don’t know the truth won’t try so hard to 
kidnap you to get to me.”

---

Author's Notes:

It's all Eric's fault.