((Continued from Close Encounters of the Awkward Kind))

Where were they walking? Jude didn't know. He was just been happy to be walking. For a while there, he'd thought Ami was going to break his legs.

He swung their hands between them. That was one crisis averted that he hadn't forseen. "Zat could have gone worse." Jude adjusted his sunglasses on his nose and grinned at Svetlana. Yeah. He was totally getting away with something. He had somehow managed to snag the most fun girl on the block.

"Did you eat already?" Now that the rush of triumph was wearing off, the initial reason for him wanting to find Svetlana today was settling back onto his shoulders.

"I sought it'd be nice to talk..." He had a few things on his heart. Poems about her eyes and lovey-dovey stuff yeah, but some heavy stuff too.

>>"Zat could have gone worse."

"You have no idea" Sveta giggled, swinging their hands. From the outside, they probably looked almost normal. Boy and girl, walking hand in hand. People had no idea either. Or if they did, they kept it to themselves.

>>"Did you eat already?.. I sought it'd be nice to talk..."

"Yeah, I ate" she nodded. She just changed out of her pajamas, that must have thrown Jude off. She smiled "I was wondering when you will show up." tilting her head, she looked at his bruises "Are you feeling better? Doc always does that. He could heal you completely. I guess he was trying to teach a lesson..."

Probably none of it went through, though. Good old Doc. The right lessons at the wrong time...

"I'm okay so long as nobody iz touching it." Jude adjusted his sunglasses again. They weren't slipping, he just really, really didn't want them to slip. "I can hardly complain. It iz a much better improvement."

It was probably better that Svetty had eaten already. Jude didn't really have the cash to be spending as much as he wanted to. He would have if she'd wanted to, anyway, but it was better to save when he could. For the next time maybe.

Well, here they were. And he had so much to say he really didn't know where to begin. "Did you know zat Ghost was, uh, is pregnant?" He tried to stay on the positive side and that was as positive as anything to start off with.

Jude kept them walking aimlessly, but slowed the swinging of their hands to a more respectable and grown up sized swing.

>>"I'm okay so long as nobody iz touching it. I can hardly complain. It iz a much better improvement."

She nodded. He looked way better than he did right after being trampled. Nobody could blame the Doc, really, he did almost pass out after he healed Jude. She was just glad that Jude was feeling better.

>>"Did you know zat Ghost was, uh, is pregnant?"

Sveta stopped and stared.

"What?!" she looked up at him, shaking her head "B-but... what.. how do you know? Did you find her? Is she okay?..."

Maya? Pregnant?...
Well, it was not like that was impossible. But how did Jude know?...

She stopped their progress and her jaw just about hit her knees. Jude took that as a good, solid "no."

He shook his head at her questions. "Katrina told me. She... well, I wasn't zere when zey found out." It was clear that he really felt bad about that. "We went to see if zere was anysing ze police may have missed. Asked Shin and Kealey somesings... I just... I don't know." They had checked it out and ultimately the trail led nowhere.

"We didn't find her. But... we found Sebastian." If Jude looked uncomfortable before, he looked really out of it now.

>>"Katrina told me. She... well, I wasn't zere when zey found out. We went to see if zere was anysing ze police may have missed. Asked Shin and Kealey somesings... I just... I don't know."

Sveta sighed. Something was off. Jude looked worried, and distracted. That defeated the purpose of walking hand in hand, so she pulled on his hand untul she found a bench out of the way of most people who walked on the streets, and pushed him to sit down. They needed to have a decent conversation before they continued walking.
The shades bothered her a bit. She wanted to see his eyes...

>>"We didn't find her. But... we found Sebastian."

She forgot about the shades.

"What?..." she gasped "Where is he? Is he okay? How did you find him?..."

Ghost was pregnant and missing. They found Sebastian. The whole thing made no sense. She looked at Jude, waiting for him to explain what just happened...

He was benched. Jude normally would have slid his arm along the back of the bench and left himself open to the city air and some snuggling. For now he sort of huddled in on himself.

"I don't know what he's doing. We followed and there's another woman and..." And a whole lot more questions. It was weird. On some level it was like he was going through his parent's break up because of an affair. On the other hand, he hadn't heard a thing about Ghost or the baby and that made him feel like she might really be gone.

"Did he..." He couldn't even say it the first time. His throat closed in to stop the words that he really didn't want to be true. "Did he replace her?"

She sat down next to him, still holding his hand. She felt like snuggling closer to him, but they were in the middle of the city, and she didn't really know what his current power was just yet. So, she sat close, and held his hand. He said he found Sebastian, but did not sound thrilled about it. Somehting was not right...

>>"I don't know what he's doing. We followed and there's another woman and... Did he.. Did he replace her?"

Sveta's eyes widened. No way.

"That's... what?" she shook her head "Sebastian would not do that. And if Maya is really pregnant... that... just... doesn't make sense. What other woman? Did you see who it was?... Do you know where Sebastian is now? Maybe we could talk to him..."

She had been living with the Csendes family, but she didn't know Sebastian all that well. But what she knew about him, he was not the kind of person to just replace his pregnant wife. But then... where was Maya?...

"I don't know her." He was already shaking his head at the thought of confronting Sebastian. "He saw me, but it was like he didn't know me. He knows I'm grown up. We had zat fight not too long ago..." So he had to be giving him the cold shoulder on purpose. It felt like he was blatantly being ignored.

"Ze police sink she's dead, you know. Like he killed her." Jude was not a psychic, but Svetlana's face was clear. She was wondering where Maya was in all this. He was wondering too. If she wasn't dead, she would be strangling Sebastian right about now.

Again. All Jude could think was that Ghost was gone and that Sebastian, maybe in grief but maybe just because, had replaced her.

He pushed his sagging sunglasses firmly back into place.

>>"I don't know her. He saw me, but it was like he didn't know me. He knows I'm grown up. We had zat fight not too long ago... Ze police sink she's dead, you know. Like he killed her."

Sveta kept shaking her head. No. That was not true. That did not happen. It could not happen.

"Sebastian would not do that" she said firmly, looking at him to show how much she meant it. "Dey are wrong. Something else must have happened."

There had to be another explanation.

"You had a fight with him? Why?..."

Why would they fight? Jude grew up, sure, that was unexpected... but wasn't that the age he was meant to be?...

"Because." He squirmed because he hadn't thought she would follow that line of questioning. In fact, maybe it was time to change the subject... or at least try for a different angle of approach.

"Remember when I texted you about ze fight? And how I work for a fortune seer?" These things were related really. He hadn't wanted to tell her since the last time he had, it hadn't gone over so well. This time, at least, he had proof.

"Zey just let me off work because nobody wants to see zere future from someone who looks like zey got slugged in the nose for it. So long as no one looks into my eyes, I'm 90% sure I have a safe power." couldn't be 100% until it was tested... but that wasn't why he'd wanted to see her. Okay. Not the only reason he wanted to see her.

"In ze future, we saw Sebastian end ze world." And it was already starting. His behavior degraded already. "He... didn't like what he saw." And had wanted to take Jude home, grown or not. "I don't sink he would ever mean to. At least, I didn't sink so before..." And that was his main point of misery. Was the Sebastian they saw now, the real one? Had they all been duped?

>>"Because... Remember when I texted you about ze fight? And how I work for a fortune seer? Zey just let me off work because nobody wants to see zere future from someone who looks like zey got slugged in the nose for it. So long as no one looks into my eyes, I'm 90% sure I have a safe power."

This was getting very confusing very quickly. So Jude had the fortune-teller's power now? But what did it have to do with Sebastian? Sveta tried to wrap her head around the whole thing, but the fact that Jude looked quite confused and was jumping from one topic to another, did not help at all.

>>"In ze future, we saw Sebastian end ze world. He... didn't like what he saw. I don't sink he would ever mean to. At least, I didn't sink so before..."

"This is... confusing" Sveta shook her head, trying to arrange all the facts and questions into an order she could deal with them "So... you can see the future now? Is dat the power you have?" she tilted her head, looking up at him "If you saw Sebastian in the future before, can you maybe do it again? Could you see if Maya is alive?..."

"I can see ze future." He confirmed. "But only when I make eye contact." He jiggled the sunglasses on his face that made him safe to be around and touch. And he regretted the move since it tapped the plastic on his bruised nose. Jude rubbed his fingers across the tender bridge and continued.

"I can't see anysing I want to. It's only what relates to othszers. If I wanted to see Sebastian in ze future again, it would have to be his eyes. If I wanted to find Ghost... It'd have to be someone who was likely to see her again." Jude's eyebrows raised up over the top edge of his glasses.

Did she get it now? He was worried. And he needed to look into the eyes of someone really likely to see Ghost or Sebastian again.

"I can try not to see anysing else. And we don't have to at all if you don't want." Katrina was still refusing to see her own future. Which in some ways seemed really smart and in other ways seemed like a pain in the butt.

>>"I can see ze future. But only when I make eye contact. I can't see anysing I want to. It's only what relates to othszers. If I wanted to see Sebastian in ze future again, it would have to be his eyes. If I wanted to find Ghost... It'd have to be someone who was likely to see her again."

This was all very confusing, but Sveta was finally starting to get the gist of it. Jude couldn't look into his own eyes and see the future; he needed someone else. That brought up a series of questions of why he had not done it before whith whoever he borrowed the power from... but she decided she was going to trust him on this one. If he neede help, he needed help. Maya and Sebastian needed help...

>>"I can try not to see anysing else. And we don't have to at all if you don't want."

She considered it, but only for a moment.

"No, let's do it." she nodded "Sebastian and Maya cared for me when no one else did. I want to help them. We need to find Maya." if she was still alive. Sveta decided to believe she was.

Tilting her head to look at him, she was also kind of curious. Look into her own future? How many people would pay a lot to do that? It was scary and exciting at the same time.

"So... how does it work?"

He was both excited and terribly afraid. What if he wasn't good enough to go straight to the intersection of Ghost and Svetlana's futures? What if there was no Ghost to ever see again? What would happen to the viewing then?

What if he didn't see himself in Svetlana's future?

This wasn't about that. This was about finding the next time that Svetlana would see Ghost. Of all the people he knew, and all the people he would trust to try this, she was the absolute best option. Jude took both of her hands into his hands and breathed. "Are you really sure? Just seeing it... it could change in the knowing."

Once she was sure, he let her hands go. "All you have to do is look into my eyes."

Yeah. That's all she had to do. Jude was picturing Ghost. White hair. Tall and slender. She was alive. She was laughing.

Jude's eyes were brown. Brown and deeper than any pool. They pulled Svetlana in and in and in. Jude came too, his hand following Svetlana's string of fate.

It was easy. It was always easy, but it must have been the boost because he didn't have any trouble honing in on a scene in Svetlana's future. This was a moment when her path intersected with Ghost's. Which meant she was alive!

Svetlana sat on a white couch with one brown haired little boy on her lap in front of the TV. Jude didn't recognize the show, but he recognized the language. French. Was she in France?

"Momma?" A second boy approached the couch, a perfect replica of the first. Neither of them were very old. 4 maybe 5? But they were old enough to interrupt the easy flow of the viewing for Jude.

"Oh. My. God." That was Jude's voice breaking into the scene. The boys were talking about something and pointing out the window, directing Svetty's gaze to who-knows-what but it was muffled as the image receeded. Like drawing back from the end of a tunnel Jude was pulling the HECK away from that image. He... that was... far away. Very far away from now.

How-? The thread pulled and presented him with an answer. This time it was something much more close to present day, he hoped. Because that was definitely him. And that was Svetalana. And that was definitely how babies were made.

"Omigawdomigawdomigawd." Jude's eyes were closed now. Very, very, VERY closed. Not that he couldn't have watched a little longer, but... that was how BABIES were made. "Are you... are you sure zat in ze park we...?" As an added precaution Jude put his hands over his eyes.