Chapter Text
“Barry Bluejeans, you... you own my entire heart, you know that?”
Lup’s voice is full of love, happiness, adoration.
“I know you didn’t want me hearing these. You wouldn’t want me to worry about you. But, babe, I had to. I had to know what you went through in those years. I’m sorry. Forgive me?
“Anyway. There is a reason I’m recording this. It’s a promise, from me to you, here and now. Recorded for posterity. You ready? I’m never leaving your side again. Going after that gauntlet alone... It was the biggest mistake of my life, and I regret it with every fibre of my being. I missed the first two years of my daughter’s life, and that’s something I can never get back. I missed a decade with you, Barry, and I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry that you had to go through that alone. Words can’t express how much I wish...
“But listen. It’s... it all worked out, right? We’re together, now. Finally. And we’ve got the most beautiful daughter ever, babe. You said she looks like me, but I think you need your glasses checked, cos that natural beauty is all yours, Bear. She’s got your face, your hair. All the best bits, which is all of them.”
The smile in our new speaker’s voice is obvious, her delight brimming over.
“I do have one more thing to say. We, uh, we always wondered if I could get pregnant. Magical hormone therapy isn’t exactly well-documented, right? And so it’s not exactly unexpected that Ellie was born... let’s say nontraditionally. But, Barry Bluejeans, love of my life, it’s my turn to spring a surprise child on you.
“We should really have expected this after that night I got my body back, huh?”
She laughs, and it’s a sound that’s so different to any on the recording so far, so filled with joy, delight, unrestrained excitement for the future.
“I love you, Barry Bluejeans, and I can’t wait to raise our children with you.”
With a final click, the coin stops recording.
They keep it. They both like to relisten to the last recording, and some of the others, in which their daughter appears more prominently. But they never record on it again. Now, they can talk to each other, whether it’s over breakfast with their daughter, or the son who’ll eventually join her, or during their workday, or pressed together at night, clinging to each other like a lifeline. They’re never apart again.
And they’re happy.