Kapitel 27: Differences Between Worlds

"You're right," Penelope said humbly, knowing she was in the wrong. Her situation was complicated and she had reacted in a not-so-great way. "I'm sorry. I'll be better about telling you when something is bothering me."

That was a lie, of course. She couldn't tell Roman what was really bothering her because he would never believe it in a million years. But she could stop actively avoiding him once her research was complete.

All that was left was home videos and dissecting his wife's cell phone. She was confident it would be done before Monday at this rate and then she would (hopefully) be sent away for work for a little while.

By the time she came back, she might have a better handle on all of this. She needed to adjust to her new life properly since it didn't look like she would be going back any time soon.

There was nothing she could do about the other fight. She couldn't get pregnant with his child in case she got sent back at some point. Not that she would even want to anyway; that would be too weird.

Penelope would act like a wife in name because of Percy's threat but she wouldn't be like a real one. That would be messed up on so many levels. Bringing that up now would only cause more problems. She fervently hoped Roman wouldn't bring it up either but she had no such luck. Typical.

"Good. You know I have your back no matter what, right Penny? We can put the topic of children on the shelf until you're better. The doctor said you had to wait until he gives you the all clear before we can even have—"

"I get it," Penelope cut him off quickly, wanting to scream. Her virgin ears did not need to hear this. "Putting that off is a good idea. Thank you."

Roman shrugged it off and paused a moment before speaking again. "Do you want to do something fun this weekend? That won't aggravate your incision, I mean."

"Like what?"

His smile grew mischievous. "How about I surprise you?"

Penelope had no idea what his version of a surprise would entail but she agreed easily enough. As long as it wasn't too strenuous, she didn't mind. She was supposed to get her staples out tomorrow.

"Alright," she said.

Roman's arm went around her shoulders and he pulled her closer to their thighs were touching. He seemed much happier now that the air had been cleared between them. She had nearly forgotten how touchy-feely a person he was. This would definitely be a problem.

She tried to put that out of her mind and enjoy the sunset. Neither of them said anything but it wasn't as uncomfortable a silence as the ones between them the past few days had been. If she ignored how weird it was having a virtual stranger's arm around her, it was actually kind of nice.

===

Getting her staples out didn't take terribly long in the morning, though Roman did come out of his office to check on her afterward. Penelope insisted she was fine and that she was going to head home and get some lunch before taking it easy the rest of the day so he would let her go.

The doctor said her incision was healing nicely and she was relieved. She had followed all of the discharge instructions to a T but you could never be too careful.

Once she got back to the house, she decided to go through those home videos and photo albums. Scrolling through the phone would be an easier thing to do when Roman was around because no one would be suspicious of a person checking social media.

Out of curiosity, Penelope watched a couple of videos before the move to Brentwood happened. They were consistent with her own memories, as she suspected. The results of that dig in Athens being different were what switched everything.

Yet there were differences that had absolutely nothing to do with her family. She had noticed during her conversation with Percy the other day.

Different scientific discoveries being made, a different president, the most popular photo posting app being Mypix instead of Instagram…these were only a few things she noticed. Apparently her family wasn't the only one affected by slightly changed events in this world.

Part of Penelope was curious about other potential changes and how they came to be but she wasn't enough like her brother—who had to know how everything worked at all costs—to waste more than a passing thought on it. She had more important things to think about.

Roman didn't appear in many videos for the first few years of their friendship. It wasn't until later when the Logan and Cross families were closer that there was more footage around holidays or during summer vacation.

He always smiled at young Penelope with his heart in his eyes, the exact same way he did now. It twisted her insides. That smile was meant for someone else.

These home videos had primarily been shot by Iris so there was a very good chance there was extra footage Penelope had taken after she and Roman got married somewhere. Maybe on her laptop? She didn't know the password though so she hadn't even tried looking at it.

But the videos she did manage to watch answered the question from seventeen-year-old Penelope's journal. Roman had definitely been happy based on the way he smiled at her on film. He was happy simply being around her.

She sighed and turned off the TV. She really should try getting into that laptop…

Sitting down and opening it up, she tried every password she could possibly think of. Absolutely nothing. She was lucky the computer didn't try shutting down or something for too many wrong password attempts.

They might be the same person but she and her other self had very different life experiences. People tended to choose passwords that meant something to them so they would be easier to remember so it made sense none of hers would work.

AUTORENGEDANKEN
Mcllorycat

Drop your power stones on my contest submission I Fell For My Nemesis until August 3rd! If I win a prize I'll do a mass release here and I know you all want that ;)

Kommentar Kommentar von 4

Abstimmen

GESCHENK VERSENDEN

Load failed, please RETRY