Eris sat on the couch in the living room; the TV was on, but she wasn't really paying attention as her eyes kept drifting towards the front window which looked out on the front lawn and the street beyond that. Jim was sitting across the room for her and Martha was working on another clothing pattern for Eris. She had really latched onto the idea of making clothing that was comfortable for her, which Eris appreciated immensely though she wasn't sure if she'd be confident in wearing them.

People would think she was weird.

She glanced out the window again, hoping to see a car pull up.

He said he would be here today sometime in the afternoon. She knew it was only 11, but she desperately wanted to see him again despite her nerves and her continual feeling of isolation. Why did she care about this man so much? Yes he had saved her life, yes he had provided half of her DNA, but no, he hadn't chosen to have her, no she hadn't grow up the normal way with him as a father figure, and no he still wasn't really in her life.

He was a busy man.

He was important.

And what was she to get in the way of that?

Nothing, that was the answer. He was big, important and successful, and she was a violation of his privacy.

These thoughts rolled around in her head as she sat on that couch. She knew the vast majority of them were irrational, made by her own mind to make herself feel inadequate, but she just couldn't push the thoughts away. She wondered when she had turned into this person, someone who wondered about their adequacy and worried about their appearance. Once upon a time she remembered being powerful and terrifying to the people who had wronged her and her little family.

She remembered being confident in what she was doing.

Perhaps it was the loss of her goals and purpose that had driven her to this.

Once the others started getting adopted and brought into new families her work had grown less and less, and she became obsolete and lost in a universe that was vast and unknowable. The others were being taken care of, but no one had returned for her.

No one had seemed to consider that she was just like the others.

She had been created against her will and had never been given time to grow up.

With all the responsibility of other people's thoughts in her head.

What was she doing?

It was only then that a sudden thought from Jim jogged her from her spiraling self doubt. With his human hearing, he could make out a car pulling into the driveway. She quickly got to her feet and turned to look at the window as the car stopped and the door opened.

Her heart jumped in her chest as Adam stepped out into the early morning sun. He was a little different than she remembered. He stood straighter and held his head higher. He still wore the eye patch she remembered and still had the same messy hair, but there was something about him that changed in the months since she had last seen him.

Behind him, a large blue shape exited the vehicle as well and stepped onto the pavement.

It was him, Sunny, the little doctor named krill, and Adam's dog.

The dog's mind was very very strange, driven by impulses and instincts as she snuffled around in the grass, but when she turned back to look at Adam, there was such an intense feeling of love and admiration, Eris had to pull away.

Adam rubbed the dog's ears and walked up towards the house as the other two followed behind.

Martha got up to grab the door and Jim turned in his seat.

The door opened, and the group of them stepped inside, waffles, the dog, running in to greet Jim, who she had an unusual affinity for.

Martha hugged Adam tight, "So good to see you." She pulled back hands to his arms, patting them with a frown on her face, "You've been working out."

He smiled slightly, "Thank the Neo-Spartans for that."

He reached over and shook his father's hand, as his arms were busy with the pile of dog that had scooted her way halfway onto his lap, "Looking good."

He nodded to Sunny who stood behind Adam, "I heard about your Sainthood. Congratulations. That's a big accomplishment."

Eris felt the pride radiating from Sunny as she lifted her head into the air, "Thank you Jim."

Martha nodded, "You've come along way since we first met." She gave sunny a hug too

Martha's thoughts, once cold towards Sunny had warmed up over the past year. A small part of her even began to see Sunny as another daughter, thought that was the fact about Martha Eris had come to notice. She tended to adopt any little lonely thing she happened to meet; even the little doctor who walked in last.

She smiled, "Dr. Krill I see you haven't died of complications relating to stress yet."

The Vrul's antenna twitched a little and he hummed his amusement, "Not for all of your son's trying." Despite how calm the little creature seemed, Eris could see in his head as a myriad of emotions flew through him. He thought that this place was a complete death trap, and had to constantly remind himself that humans were more durable than they looked.

In a way she thought it was kind of cute that he would worry about his companions so much.

Then Adam's eyes turned to her.

She tried not to listen in on his thoughts, really tried. She didn't like to pry into people's minds. A lot of people didn't like that when they knew what she could do, but she couldn't help as the flood of strange emotions came pouring from the man's head. He was a little different than other humans, he had a lot going on in there, and his thoughts and Emotions hit him hard and fast.

What did she expect.

Anger

Bitterness

Betrayal

annoyance

She was invading his privacy, injecting herself into a family she had never been invited into. WOuld he resent her for that?

But instead she felt.

Excitement.

and...

Nervousness?

What did he have to be nervous about.

The man walked over, and to her surprise picked her up into a crushing hug lifting her feet completely off the floor. She marveled for a moment at how strong he was, forgetting that humans tended to be on the strong side, second only to drev. He set her down smiling, and she felt a jenuine well of happiness wash over her tinted slightly with guilt, though he did a good job at keeping that to the back of his mind.

"You know what, I think you've gotten taller."

She smiled, "Or you've gotten shorter."

He laughed, "That is a complete possibility." She continued to smile as he patted his chest, "I am getting old after all." He looked over towards Jim, "Aging like my old man."

"Shut up." Jim harumphed, "I can still kick your ass."

Martha frowned, "Are you implying that I am old Adam."

He turned to smile at her, "Not a day past 21 mother."

Martha crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Someone is looking for brownie points."

"That depends, did you make brownies?"

She rolled her eyes, "No, I did not make brownies."

He frowned.

"But I did muffins."

"Score." He said flopping down on the couch next to Eris as Krill floated to sit in the chair next to Jim.

The two of them watched the game, Jim seeming to enjoy Krill grimacing at every play and screaming at the TV for letting the humans knock each other out. He especially seemed to enjoy the medical descriptions of all the horrible issues they were probably having from all of that running into each other.

"So, how are you liking earth." Adam asked, draping one of his large arms over her shoulders. Eris was struck with how nice the gesture felt and looked up at him, his head tilted to the side.

She smiled slightly, "I like it, it's so warm and bright, and you have good food."

"You can eat human food huh?"

She smiled and nodded, "We haven't tried everything yet, but I really like strawberry ice cream."

He snorted, "Lord she developed David's poor taste in cold flavored delectables."

For a moment she worried she had really upset him but was soon proven wrong when she could tell he was just teasing her, "So how are you a herbivore or a carnivore."

Eris felt herself blanch a little bit. If her blood had been more visible through her marble Starborn skin, she might have gone pale.

"I uh.... I haven't tried eating..... An animal yet." She shivered at the thought. How could she? How could she eat something that used to be alive?

He smiled seeing the look on her face3, "Don't worry, no one is going to force you too, though I dare say meat is good, your probably won't regret trying it at least once."

From across the room she could hear dr. Krill's thoughts. He was more similar to a plant than he was to an animal, and the thought of consuming something that was living also baffled him, Though a part of him admired how "metal" It sounded. Eris frowned as she looked at the little doctor.

She had red the mind of Vrul before.

They had been strange to her, very alien in their processes, but Krill.

Well she might have thought he was just a very strange human had she not been able to see him.

The humanizing phenomenon perhaps>?

She couldn't be sure.

"So Eris, how about my offer from earlier, how would you like to go see where I grew up."

She turned to look at Adam, who was staring at her expectantly.

She shuffled her feet awkwardly, "I would like that."

"I will show you all the great and wonderful places I got beaten up. It will be a grand time." She looked inside to see that he was just joking again. He did have some bad memories associated with the town, though the vast majority of them were good. She could see and feel the vibrant joy of fireworks and colorful parades as they passed through his memory. She could see cold calm lakes and feel wind blowing through the forest.

She nodded.

Martha turned to look at Sunny, "I'd like to keep you and Krill behind tomorrow if you don't mind."

Sunny looked up from here she was staring intently at the TV yelling over Jim's shoulder at the reff who, to her, had made a very poor call.

"Of course, what do you need us for?"

"Alternative clothing designs for aliens. I think there is a large untapped market, and I want to see what I can do with it."'

Adam grinned across the room at sunny, "Ah, she has finally roped you into being one of her guinea pigs. Enjoy."

"Adam was such a good little guinea pig, and looked so good in a dress."

Adam snorted and waved a hand, "I rocked the regency period as I have said before and so I shall say again."

Eris leaned her head against Adam's side as she listened to the ongoing banter between the group of people.

She tried not to pry but couldn't help soak up the memories that popped to the surface of his head. Warm sunlight through an open window, the sound of a sprinkler, and the yell of children's voices in the distance.

For a moment she became jealous of it before hiding that away in the back of her head.

THere was no use resenting others for something that wouldn't change.

She would make the best of what she had.

That night, Eris slept in the same room as Sunny, whose memories were remarkably less pleasant than Adam's, while Adam got his old room back. He would have shared with Krill, though Krill didn't sleep, and spent most of the night watching late night television, which he found both strange and haunting in ways he wasn't so sure was good.

She drifted in and out.

She wasn'[t entirely sure if her sleeping patterns were normal. She needed to recharge like the humans did, but seemed to go into a trance rather than into real sleeping. She dreamed, but hose dreams were more hallucinations which appeared about the room around her. Occasionally, she learned that she was able to share the dreams of others, and so took a ride along with Adam as he was joyfully able to fly without the need for a jet or a jetpack.

The feeling was so vivid she jolted awake when it was all over, sure she was going to find herself hurtling through the air.

That morning they had muffins, which melted in her mouth and made her insides growl. They weren't as vocal as human innards, but apparently the smell of the muffins woke something deep within her.

Sunny was presented with a bowl of dandelions Jim had picked from the backyard that morning.

He was a little nervous that it might seem rude or degrading, but Sunny definitely seemed to appreciate the gesture. Krill didn't need anything other than a glass of water, though Martha opened the curtain on the back sliding door to let in the early morning sun.

It fell across both her and krill, and her body hummed with its energy.

Adam stood and turned to look at his father when breakfast was over, "Can I borrow the car keys."

Jim looked over at him skeptically, "You... drive... I don't know about that."

Adam frowned, "Oh come on, I fly spaceships for a living."

Jim snorted, "yet, somehow every time you get in a vehicle that has wheels on it, you turn into my granny with a led foot."

"Promise I will be safe."

Eris smiled, his memories reminding him of all the jokes about being a bad driver .

Jim just rested his hand on his forehead and looked at Eris, "Lord knows I have never known a man with such poor command of motor vehicles. Ans you see if have seen this boy fly a jet in formation with seven other jets four feet apart and his hands are rock steady, but put him in a car, and he overcorrects into the ditch."

Adam frowned, "That was my FIRST time driving."

Jim finally relinquished the keys to him, "take the car, it's an automatic. Everyone knows you shake her brains out if you tried to take the truck."

Adam grumbled and took the keys, "Its the 41st century dad why do you even still need a stick shift."

He crossed his arms, "If we are ever attacked by an EMP burst, that car is the only thing that is still going to be running, now get out of here."

Eris followed Adam out the door, her little black cloak swishing behind her.. She hadn't wanted to wear anything to obvious yet, so martha had grudgingly decided to at least make her something that looked better than her old ratty sweatshirt. It was a short cloak thing with a hood, and she thought it looked kind of nice, though she kept the hood low over her face. Adam slid into the driver's seat of the car and Eris got into the other seat clipping on her seatbelt as he turned and began backing out of the driveway.

They jolted a bit as he moved into first and he glanced over at her, "Don't tell my dad."

She smiled somewhat as he inched forward and then began to pick up speed. The look of concentration on his face, and the white knuckles of his hands almost made her laugh. She could see him flying in his memories.

But for a man who loved to fly, he sure hated to drive.

"I'll show you around the two first, than we can get lunch and after that we will find places to get out of the car and take a look around. Does that sound good?"

She nodded, though she wouldn't have argued with him if he wanted to ride in circles all day. It was nice being here with him. Since they had last met his thoughts had calmed down significantly.

In the back of the car, his dog waffles sneezed and then rested her chin on the console.

Eris looked sideways at her sensing that the animal was looking for attention. She reached out a nervous hand and stroked the dog's ears. In the back seat her tail thumped against the upholstery, and she grumbled happily.

"And out your right side of the window is the local high school or what I like to call the department of corrections against happiness. Eris winced, there was a lot of thought coming out of that building, and none of it very pleasant.

"Thank goodness I only went there for like a year." he grinned, "I was flying planes after that." He tapped his chin, "I can never decide if it counts as me dropping out of high school or graduating early, or transferring schools." he shrugged and kept going, "That's the middle school on the left, arguably just as bad as the high school but with younger people, and right next to that is the elementary school."

"So many?"

He shrugged, "Yeah I have no idea why they do it this way, but that's the way it has been done for a very long time."

Eris had obviously never gone to school. She didn't really need to.

She could know anything she wanted to know as long as someone else around her knew it. She could read and write and do math well enough. It was a little harder with muscle memory as that wasn't something she could read. So, while she knew how to make most of the clothes that Martha could make, she might not be so good with a sewing machine.

"That's the park. I used to like climbing up to the top of that tree in the middle, and down over there is the drive in movie theater. It's one of the only ones left in this country, kind of more for nostalgia than anything.." he was able to lift his hand rom the steering wheel and point over at something else, "You have the grocery store over there and then that parking lot is where all the redneck kids used to go to get drunk."

Eris leaned forward feeding off the memories those strange places gave him. He showed her little hidden spots down by the rivers where his brothers and him used to go swim. He showed her places of significance for the town, and even those locations where he had been sure he had seen an alien. The thought made her smile considering he had one in his car now.

Eventually he turned away and pulled into a small diner on the edge of the town.

He looked over at her, "Best place to eat in town, I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me get yourself a milkshake at the very least."

She nodded and nervously got out of the car with him, walking by his side as he made his way across the parking lot and to the little building. A bell dinged as they walked in, and she found only a few people sitting inside this time of day. The two of them seated themselves at a booth and Eris looked around,

It wasn't like the many other buildings Eris had seen. It was old with a checkered floor pattern, and red upholstered bar stools. All of it looked new enough and clean enough, though something about it just felt old.

There was a jukebox playing music in the corner, something that had been obsolete for almost two thousand years. No wonder Adam and Martha liked this place. Martha with her doctorate degree in the information age, and Adam with his obsession over turn of the century rock music.

They were greeted just then by a pleasant faced portly little woman with grey hair.

Hermemory was a vibrant one.

She had worked here for a very long time, a sweet southern bell moved up from the south and married to a man in town. She had worked at this diner for over three decades and seen everything that passed through. Adam remembered her as someone who had been a fixture of the town, and his memories were pleasant.

When he had been alone and hurting, he had come here just to be in a safe environment, and this woman had had pity on him and made him a milkshake for free before sitting and talking with him when her shift would allow.

He smiled up at her and she lit up in surprise.

"Why if it isn't sweet little Adam!" She looked him up and down, "Not so little anymore, lord it was only yesterday you and your brothers were in here causing trouble."

He smiled, "And you angela, looking as beautiful as the day I met you.:

She snorted and waved a hand, "Oh stop, I'm old and wrinkly."

"Old, you don't look a day over twenty five."

She laughed again, "Your flattery won't work here dear. I know you have a penthouse on the moon."

He snapped his fingers, "Pity."

She turned her head to look at Eris, "And who is your friend."

He looked across the table, "I uh, this is Eris." Eris hunkered down in her hood a bit, "She's my.... Daughter?"

Angela looked skeptical, "Boy i've never seen you look at a woman sideways, so forgive me if I don't believe you."

Adam smiled a bit ruefully, "Well it's complicated.

Eris slowly raised her eyes towards the woman's curiosity and as soon as Angela saw her face she put a hand over her heart and held up a hand, "Lord have mercy!" Eris braced herself for the disparaging thoughts, but instead the woman sat down next to her, "Why dear, why don't you take off that hood and show us your pretty face." There we go, and look at that long gorgeous black hair. You know them fancy modeling places in the city might just eat you up."

She turned to look at Adam, "Aliens? Really?"

"She was grown from my DNA, but....." He paused mulling something over before deciding to speak.

"But I WAS dating a different alien for a while."

Angela did not seem surprised.

"For a while? Something went wrong?"

"I screwed it up." he sighed, "Still trying to see if I can get back in her good graces, but who knows."

Angela just smiled and shook her head, "You were never going to be normal, Adam, but not that that's a bad thin.: She stood and looked down at Eris, "What can I get for you."

Eris cleared her throat and in a small voice, "A milkshake""

Adam nodded up at her, "Strawberry, that's her favorite."

She nodded, "And your usual?"

"Yes please."

She smiled at them and walked off with a pleasant wave. When she came back Eris learned he was right about their milkshakes. It was so good and filled her mouth with just enough flavor. He polished off a milkshake and a Hamburger, and Eris really had no idea where iit all went. He was a black hole when it came to food.

Angela gave him a hug on his way out, and even spared one for Eris before commenting on her hair again, which Eris would have blushed at if she could blush.

Afterwards he took her just a little out of town to the top of a tall hill. On this hill there was a tree and a tire swing with a picnic table. Clouds rolled lazily over the sun as he sat down in the grass and she sat next to him. She could hear dogs barking in the distance, and somewhere the elementary school was out for recess.

Adam closed his eyes and leaned back in the grass.

"Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my love for space that I forget just how much I love Earth." He sighed and the two of them could smell freshly mowed grass and pine trees.

She lay back with him.

"I was thinking about maybe staying here with your parents for a while."

"Your grandparents." he corrected eyes still closed.

She felt her heart beat faster, "Yeah, if they're ok with that."

"I don't see why not. Mom always liked having someone around to help her with her projects. She uses dad when she can and he suffers silently for her, but I think she'd enjoy your company."

"You do?" Eris wondered

"Well I don't see how she couldn't. I enjoy your company."

She felt a thrill through her insides.

He turned to look at her, "I AM sorry I can't be.... more. " his words didn't say as much as his thoughts could, and it were those that helped her understand what he really meant. He would offer to take her in any day of the week, but that would mean her being alone more often than not while he was away, and he didn' want to do that to her.

He thought she deserved better.

She wouldn't argue with him about that, for she understood his reasoning and sentiment and tended to agree.

Both of them knew that his parents were a pretty great idea.

She could be happy here