FIC: Observable Universe
To: @UmbreonxZE
From: @interabangs
Happy Holidays! I saw that Sigdi is one of your comfort pairings and they’re one of mine too, so I wanted to write something sweet for them for you. Hope you like!
(Warning: minor panic attack at the beginning of the fourth section)
Read on Ao3
A light breeze blew around Diana, tousling her hair as she gazed up at the apartment. The outer walls alternated between a soft orange and cream color that made her think of sorbet.
“So this is where you lived,” she said, her hand grazing against Sigma’s. “But I guess I should say you still sort of live here, right?”
She turned to look at him, and he was, as usual, deep in thought. His eyebrows knitted together as he studied the apartment building he had referred to as his ‘place at school,’ but when he said it, it sounded like it was far away.
“Yeah,” he murmured, as if he were lost in a dream. “I guess I do technically still live here. It’s just strange seeing it in person again, after all these years.”
Diana didn’t blame him for his demeanor. The past couple days had been a complete whirlwind for both of them. It didn’t feel like mere days had passed since Diana had entered D-Com. All the timelines that had slammed into her at once, like a freight train filled with memories, felt like she’d lived in that place for years, and only for a day simultaneously. For Sigma, that feeling must have been on an exponential scale. They hadn’t had much time to catch each other up, what with the aftermath of the D-Com experiment, and the whole group trying to figure out what their next step was after escaping from the facility.
Once they found a van and got out of that hell hole, Diana and the other ‘participants,’ for lack of a better word, went right to the Crash Keys facility at Akane’s insistence. There, they began to draw up plans to locate and stop the fanatic whom Delta – my son, Diana thought – had mentioned.
It had all passed by in a blur. So Diana could see why Sigma seemed a little out of it.
“One step at a time,” she reminded him gently, slipping her hand in hers. He shook out of his thoughts and glanced down at their hands.
Then he looked at her, and Sigma’s lips turned up into a tentative smile.
“Yeah,” he said. “Okay, let’s go.”
She took his hand in hers and they walked up to the front door with the number matching the address Akane had given Sigma before they left.
When they stopped in front of the door, Sigma glanced at Diana again, and she nodded.
He reached out with his free hand, and, after hesitating for just a moment, pressed the buzzer to his apartment.
“Call me anytime you want,” Diana said as she hugged Phi.
“I will,” she said, her voice strained, but Diana didn’t think it was because she was gripping onto her so tightly. At least, she hoped she wasn’t. She almost didn’t want to let go.
It had only been two days since the realization of her connection to Phi had slammed into her like a truck. She still couldn’t explain how she knew Phi was her daughter, but Diana didn’t really care about the how. She was just glad that Phi was alive, and that they had found each other again.
When they’d all had some time to recuperate in Crash Keys – surrounded by its sleek walls that felt just as sturdy, but thankfully nowhere near as oppressive as D-Com’s architecture – Diana sensed a mutual sense of relief from Sigma and Phi. The logistics of how they came to be a family were strange, sure, but Diana found their presence comforting. They were all nervous about what the future held, especially having to find and stop the radical terrorist who was planning to destroy the world.
But Diana had found hope again, and not just in the meetings with all the other D-Com participants, Akane leading the search mission. But also in the way Sigma’s hand gently squeezed hers under the table in their meetings, the way he bent down to kiss her cheek and she noticed his flushed face before he awkwardly turned to head to his room two doors over. They had decided not to ‘indulge’ themselves, agreeing they had more pressing matters at hand. Diana suspected that, even though Sigma had hesitated when he agreed to sleep in a separate room during their stay at Crash Keys, he also didn’t want to upset Phi. She had told Diana and Sigma that she didn’t blame them, understanding that they were the reason she was alive. But she seemed to radiate disapproval when Sigma’s hand lingered on Diana’s shoulder too much at lunch, or when Diana saw Phi caught her staring at Sigma for too long.
After two days of meetings and planning, Akane announced that all the D-Com participants should go home and gather their belongings to return to Crash Keys. Diana’s anxiety had surged into overdrive upon hearing the announcement. She didn’t have a home to return to; she’d been staying with Rebecca before heading to D-Com. Diana hadn’t considered any of the things she left at Rebeca’s necessities. She’d called Rebecca on the safe line in Crash Keys when they arrived, assuring her that she was all right. But a part of Diana didn’t want to go back.
So she opted to go to Sigma’s place, the off-campus apartment he had lived at before everything with D-Com and Rhizome-9 happened. He explained everything he could to Diana, keeping some things brief that she knew he didn’t want to talk about yet, like Luna and K, and filling in the blanks about their time together on the moon that Diana had caught snatches of when all the memories of her other selves slammed into her.
“You sure you don’t want to come with us?” Sigma asked as Diana finally released Phi and stepped back. He gave Phi an equally warm hug. “You’d get to make fun of my room.”
Phi’s usually cool façade slipped and she patted Sigma’s back before they separated. “No, thanks. I figure this is probably the best time for you both to, well, become reacquainted. For lack of a better term. Might as well get it all out of your system before we come back and you go back to your coy high school flirting.”
“We haven’t been flirting!” Sigma protested, but Diana laughed. As nervous as she was to accompany Sigma back home, she couldn’t help but find her daughter’s dry humor amusing.
“Oh, please,” Phi said, rolling her eyes. “You’ve both been insufferable about it. I know you’ve been trying to keep your hands to yourselves so you don’t gross me out. It’s been making me even more uncomfortable than if you both just made out in our meetings.”
Heat rose in Diana’s cheeks. “I thought you didn’t want us to –”
“– I understand people have needs, Diana. I’m not a child. I’m not even a virgin,” Phi said, shooting Sigma a smug grin as he gaped at her. “That’s right, ‘Dad.’ I’ve had my fair share of girlfriends in this timeline. So I know what it’s like. I guess I’ve just been wary about what could happen if you both end up with another kid. I don’t want another… me popping up and ripping apart the fabric of space and time.”
“We aren’t going to have another kid,” Sigma said, having found his voice again, but he looked at Diana as she raised her eyebrows. “Uh, I mean, we aren’t now. But I don’t think you’ll have to worry about a paradox baby, or anything.”
“Yeah, Phi,” Diana said, wiping a tear away, “The only way we could make you was in D-Com. It was a horrific place, but you were the one good thing that came out of it.”
“Thanks,” Phi muttered, looking at her shoe, but Diana could see tears welling in her eyes. Phi straightened up and got in the Crash Keys car Akane had sent to take Phi to the airport.
“Stay out of trouble,” she said, and Diana laughed again.
She wasn’t laughing as Sigma rang the buzzer. In fact, her heartbeat was racing by the time they were let in the apartment’s front door. Things were happening so quickly, and she suddenly wasn’t sure if she should be here with Sigma. It felt like she was intruding.
“Home sweet home,” Sigma said, giving her a lopsided smile. She liked seeing him smile more; it reminded her of the flashes of the Sigma that she spent time with in D-Com. She had caught glimpses of him when she was in her first trimester, and he did whatever he could to keep her at ease. In the later flashes, his smile had faded, so she clung to the snapshots of him that showed her his softer side.
This version of Sigma was a lot more like that. When they left D-Com, Sigma was caring and attentive. He didn’t overstep any boundaries, but he always checked in with Diana, even when they were in a meeting. He had become like her rock, in a way, when the entire world felt like it was spinning off its axis. Diana appreciated his warmth and attention, but there was still something in the back of her mind that caused her heart to race, her stomach to feel like it was dropping out underneath her.
“Oh, shit! Guys, Sigma’s back!”
Diana felt like a deer in headlights as three other college-aged men came to the door, engulfing Sigma in hugs and clapping him on the back. Diana stood off to the side, wondering if she didn’t say anything, they would just forget she was there.
“Dude, what the hell happened?”
“We filed a missing persons report and everything!”
“I was starting to think Cynthia’s dad killed you, man! Like, hid your body in his house, or something!”
Cynthia? Diana thought. She looked over at Sigma, but he appeared just as puzzled as she was.
“Did you at least get to submit your paper? We weren’t allowed to ask about that.”
“Guys, guys, I’m all right,” Sigma said, backing out into the apartment. “Everything’s fine. I just… needed some time to recover after that paper, is all. And yes, Aaron, I did submit the paper.”
His roommate scrunched up his nose. “Uh, it’s Andrew, remember?”
“Right, yeah, Andrew. Sorry. Guess I took too much personal time off,” Sigma offered a weak smile, but his roomates had all fallen silent.
“You think?” one of the other roomates asked. “You’ve been gone for a week.”
“Longer,” the third roommate said. The relief on all their faces was turning into confusion.
Sigma chose that moment to hold out his hand toward Diana, who was still standing awkwardly in the foyer behind all his roommate. “Guys, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
“So,” Diana said as soon as Sigma closed his bedroom door behind them, “that could’ve gone a little better.”
Sigma sighed, running his hand through his hair as Diana stepped forward into his room. “Yeah. Guess I should’ve paid more attention to my records when Akane showed them to me.”
“I think you did fine,” she assured him. “They’re just glad you’re safe.”
“Yeah, but Andrew probably thinks you’re an alien in disguise and you abducted me.”
Before she knew it, Diana’s vision went blurry and it was hard for her to breathe all of a sudden. She threw a hand out against the wall to steady her, and started to breathe in slowly through her nose.
“Diana!”
He put a cautious hand on her back as she continued inhaling through her nose, acknowledging the memory of when they were stuck in the room with the pods and Delta was explaining that aliens had created them. Then, as Diana pushed away the memory, she exhaled through her mouth. She repeated that a few times, keeping her eyes closed, and after a few moments, she took her hand off the wall, and her vision was back to normal.
“Are you okay? Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”
“I’m fine,” Diana said, and when she looked at Sigma, his expression changed into a horrified one.
“Oh, no, it’s because I brought up… because of what I said, didn’t I?” he asked, shaking his head as if to rid himself of that memory too. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to –”
“– It’s all right,” she said, “I know you didn’t.”
“We don’t have to spend the night here, you know. Akane gave us enough money for a hotel room. Probably not a four star one, but we could get a room that’s actually clean.”
“I’m fine,” Diana insisted. “I wanted to help you get your stuff, remember? I asked if it was okay for me to come.”
“Okay,” Sigma said, nodding. “I’ll just be more careful about what I say.”
“The last thing I want is you walking on eggshells around me, Sigma.” Diana said, taking in the place for the first time. It was a typical apartment room, with a bed, closet, dresser drawer and lamp, and the desk was adjacent to the foot of the bed under the window, positioned so Sigma could look outside and see the sky.
But it was what was in the room that showed everything about Sigma to her. The most prominent part were the textbooks. There were so many of them, piled up on his desk, stacked under his bed – she even noticed one that looked like it had a thousand pages on engineering leaning against the closet. There were a couple sports pendants hanging on the wall above Sigma’s bed, a beer mug on the desk next to the computer, a couple dusty shot glasses turned upside down next to the mug, car magazines on the dresser drawer, and a poster of a supermodel taped to his side of the door.
When Diana looked at it and shook her head in amusement, Sigma stammered, “Uh, that’s for… research purposes.”
“Sure it is,” she said, reaching out and smoothing one of the corners back down, since the tape was peeling. “She must be pretty cold in that bikini.”
“Yeah, too cold,” Sigma said instantly. “Well, I know what I’m getting rid of first.”
“I’m kidding,” Diana said with a laugh, and Sigma gave her a sheepish smile.
She moved over to the desk, noticing the set of balls on strings. She lifted one up and watched as she let it go, hitting the set of other balls and causing the last one to lift up and swing back down.
Diana stared at the set, sensing Sigma shift over onto his other foot behind her. The first ball she’d set in motion swung up, then back down again. Over and over, the motion repeated itself, because Diana had started it.
“Do you think Phi’s right to worry?” she asked, giving voice to the darker thoughts at the back of her head. “I feel almost selfish, wanting to be with you. Do you think we were only meant to be together in D-Com, and on the moon?”
Sigma’s hand reached out and stopped the balls from hitting each other. The set stilled, and Sigma moved his hand to cover hers.
“My feelings toward you haven’t changed at all, if that helps,” he said, his voice low and comforting. He was standing behind her, almost towering over her head, nearly in the same position they were in before they got into the pod in D-Com.
But they were no longer trapped inside there.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” Sigma admitted, rubbing the back of her hand with his. Diana closed her eyes, letting the warmth of his hand envelope hers. “This is brand new territory for me. It’s scary to not know what to expect, for once. I spent decades on the moon trying to get back to you, and now that I’ve done that, I don’t really know where to go from here.”
Diana’s breath hitched a little as she inhaled.
“But I’m glad we made it out of there. I’m glad we remembered Phi. And I’ll do whatever I can to keep you both safe.”
Diana let out her breath slowly, reveling in this moment with Sigma behind her, his hand on hers, his chest strong and sturdy against her back. He had been so gentle with her since they left the facility. She knew, then, that she hadn’t been anxious about him, but about her fears that she’d never find a happy life with him. That they were doomed in every timeline.
But then she remembered what another version of her had said in another timeline, one that felt so far away and like she could walk right into it:
“Happiness is closer than you think.”
Diana turned around and wrapped her arms around Sigma, sighing in relief as she put her ear where his heart was beating. They were here. They made it, and they would work together to stop the fanatic. Phi didn’t judge them for wanting to be together. Diana had found a new purpose in life – she didn’t have to hide anymore. She could help people, which is what she had always wanted to do.
And she could do that with Sigma.
They stood like that for what felt like mere minutes and hours, at the same time. Diana knew they would have to start packing soon, and answer more of his roomates’ questions at dinner. They would have to back to Crash Keys and resume their search for the elusive fanatic.
But, for now, Diana could appreciate all that she had gained. She had to let Sigma go in other timelines, but not this one. They could stand like this for another moment longer. They could sleep in the same bed for the first time, and they would be at each other’s side every step of the search when they returned.
Diana wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love you, Sigma,” she said, her words muffled as she murmured them into Sigma’s shirt.
He embraced her as well, pressing kisses onto her hair. “I love you too, Diana. In each and every timeline, I always love you.”