The baby was beautiful. There was almost no other word to describe it. Physically, it was extremely good-looking, and the way it behaved was just stunning. It. Harper wished she would stop referring to the baby as it… she had to figure out the gender as soon as possible. If she didn't, the child would quickly become accustomed to being objectified, the trait Harper worked so hard to escape for so long.
"This is unbelievable," Alex breathed. "There's a baby at the door."
"Nah, really?" Justin questioned in his well-known sarcastic manner. "I thought it was a distinguished loaf of bread."
Harper found herself involuntarily chuckling at Justin's lame joke, but she'd always done that. It wasn't any different than it had been since she was but four years old. In fact, she assumed it was better now that things were… they way they were.
But she couldn't take her mind off this baby. Other than being gorgeous, the baby had so many traits that resembled her. To begin with, the child's eyes were wide and deep green, exactly mirroring Harper's. Occasionally, as the infant would give a small smile, Harper noticed that she grinned the same way. Almost everything on the baby was similar to that of Harper except for one thing.
The nose. It was slightly larger than the remainder of the child's face, but Harper was almost positive she'd seen it before. As she glanced up to see how Justin and Alex were reacting to the infant's presence, she knew. This baby had Justin's nose, which had always been a bit disproportionate compared to the rest of him. Her eyes… his nose… everything seemed to be tracing back to the two of them. It was impossible for the child to be theirs. But then why had the infant turned up there? And why were there so many similarities among the baby, Harper, and Justin?
Harper knew she was just looking at things the wrong way. This was merely a coincidence- the child was in no way connected to her nor Justin. But if not, why did whoever had the baby in the first place end up there?
Don't let yourself buy into anything too crazy, Harper, she warned herself slowly and carefully. Just because your best friend and now… boyfriend… are wizards doesn't mean everything has to happen for some magical reason. This is just totally unplanned.
"Well, somebody pick it up," Alex complained, rubbing her temples as if the baby who hadn't made a sound was giving her a splitting headache. "The last thing I want is for it to get me sick because it's been on the ground for too long."
Rolling her eyes the reluctant and lazy Alex, Harper bent down and lifted the baby off of the cold floor. As soon as she held the child in her arms, little arms were reached out to her, like the baby was trying to communicate with her… like she previously knew her. The sight took Harper's breath away, only briefly. There was no association between the two of them at all. This was just a baby who happened to look a little like both Harper and Justin. Other than that, there was no correlation. None at all.
"What do we do now?" Harper asked, worried. She wanted this baby to be safe. Not because they looked similar, but because all babies should be taken care of properly… knowing real parents.
"Personally, I think we should find out if the baby is a boy or a girl," Justin advised. "Saying 'it' is just weird."
"Right," Harper agreed. "Now, how do we find that out?"
Testily, both Alex and Justin stared her down like she was some type of idiot. She knew what they were going to say, but they just didn't get that she was purposely stalling.
"Are you shitting me, Harper?" Alex asked, keeping her voice at an almost-anger monotone. "Aren't you good at biology? Because even if you're not, I figured that was pretty basic, especially because I know the answer."
She extended her hand to see if her brother would give her a high-five for her obvious piece of knowledge, but he brushed her off, not wanting any part of her foolishness. Instead, he remained staring at his new girlfriend, preparing to say something to her.
"Well, I think it's best if you check that one," he suggested.
Frowning, Harper whined, "Why me? Can't it be you?"
"No! For one thing, I'm a guy. Guys don't have this 'maternal instinct', clearly."
"I am not this child's mother!"
Noticing that she had just bellowed, Harper's eyes widened in embarrassment and she clasped her mouth shut, shocked by what she had just done.
"Er," Justin stuttered, "not saying that you are. But you are a woman, and the baby seems to really like you. I don't think it would be that big of a deal if you were the one who, you know, looked for a hole or a pole."
Alex smacked her brother's shoulder and hissed, "Justin! I never thought you would be so immature!"
"Yes, but you are," he reminded her. "So why aren't you laughing?"
Like predicted, Alex performed her delayed reaction and chuckled wildly at the usage of slang.
"I was going to," she said in between her giggles. "But then I decided to piss you off, so I didn't. Then you told me I could, so I'm really enjoying this."
Harper rolled her eyes and ignored her best friend, who was now thrashing around the couch in a useless laughing fit. She instead looked the baby into familiar green eyes and said,
"Okay, sweetheart. I'm just gonna check to see if I can call you a baby boy or a baby girl, okay?"
The baby gurgled in response, and Harper took that as a positive answer. If it weren't fine, there would have probably been crying already, without the action even being done. Babies are smart like that, and all of them deserved to be treated with respect, despite their mild inabilities and size.
Quickly, Harper pulled down the child's jumpsuit and dry diaper and looked for a verdict. When she met the requirement, she hurriedly buttoned the outfit at a faster speed than she had removed it.
"Well, congratulations," she stalled. "We've acquired a baby girl."
Harper was thrilled to have a girl in her arms, even if she wasn't her daughter. And she wasn't. Still, it would be nice to have a little girl for a while. She could try to teach her so many things, like how crafts were fun and not stupid, and that being a good girl was most often the best thing to do. She would make an excellent stand-in mother, making up for all the mistakes.
As Harper announced the gender of the baby, she saw Justin's face light up. She hoped he knew that he could do wonders raising a girl (if that was what it came to), especially because he was a sensitive, smart guy who loved challenges and dire missions. Being the parent (or parental figure, in this case) of a female definitely fell into the category.
"A girl, huh?" Alex mused aloud, while Justin was too enraptured with the idea of the little one to speak. "Sweet! Now I've got a niece!"
When Justin heard Alex call the baby her niece, he snapped out of his fantasy mode and glared furiously at his sister.
"What did you just call that baby?" he asked, seeming overly defensive.
"I called her my niece," Alex repeated. "Is that horrible or something?"
Sighing, Justin replied, "No. But I mean, come on, Alex. She doesn't even look like me. She looks like Harper, and unless you're a twin of some sort, and I hope you're not, Harper isn't your sister. This isn't my baby."
"All right, fine. I was just trying to have a little fun. And she does look like you. Did you see her nose?"
At Alex's remark, Harper chuckled, and Justin embarrassingly covered his nose, which he had always been perceptive about.
"It's not a birth defect!" he shouted. "You're a bitch!"
Before Alex could give her brother any kind of rebuttal, Harper interrupted. She didn't want the two of them to argue before she and Justin told Alex that they were a couple. Being the hothead that she was, Alex would blow up even more dramatically than necessary if she was already pissed off at Justin.
"That's enough!" Harper screeched. "There is a baby in the room, and I doubt she wants her first memory to be two of the people she will love the most fighting."
Shamefacedly, Justin and Alex glanced at the ground. For not having much in common, the siblings did share one very important quality: guilty consciences.
"Sorry, Harper," Justin apologized. "You're right. We shouldn't upset the baby. But now that I think about it, there's another thing we should do with her. She needs a name."
Justin's idea made Harper soar inside. She already felt such an attachment to the girl that naming her would just make everything even more special. For years, Harper had imagined giving her own little girl or boy a name, and now she was getting the chance, even though the baby wasn't hers. This girl may never find her biological parents. It could be only fit that she and Justin and Alex gave her a name to call her own.
"You're right!" Harper cried excitedly. "Oh, this will be a lot of fun! Do you guys have any ideas?"
"I like the name Elphaba," Alex recommended.
Justin and Harper wrinkled their noses at Alex's offer.
"You've got to be kidding, Alex," Justin frowned. "Elphaba? What the hell? Did you get that name from where I think you did?"
"Wicked? Yeah. It was the only book I ever read without being told other than Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type. And I only read it because the title sounded a lot like who I am."
"Yeah, I think we're going to ignore that one," Harper stated plainly.
She looked once again at the baby girl and noticed her cap. D.A.R. They had to be her initials- if they weren't, it would definitely be a strange print to wear on a hat. The three might as well consider her given initials.
"Well, all we know about her actual name is the first letter of every word," Harper said. "Wouldn't it be bad if we didn't think about the fact that she's clearly been named before?"
"Yeah, you're right," Justin agreed. "But what if she's already used to being called another name? Wouldn't we just mess her up by calling her something different?"
"She's a human, Justin, not a dog," Alex reminded him sternly. "And I think Harper's right too. We should totally keep what we know in mind."
"Thank you, Alex. Now, since I don't exactly trust you with the naming of this baby, I think I'll turn to Justin. Do you have any logical and better ideas than the name Elphaba?"
"Her first name started with a D," Justin thought aloud. "So, I'm thinking about D names for girls. What about Danielle?"
"Yuck," Harper said. "That name is so common and girly. I want her name to have more of a zing to it. As a matter of fact, I've always wanted to name a girl Destiny, and this whole D thing really helped that one out. What do you guys think of the name Destiny?"
"It's pretty," Justin remarked. "And it… never mind."
Harper had a feeling she knew what Justin was going to say, but she didn't blame him for not wanting to complete his thought. The two of them were in a fog about whether to believe that this could actually be their child or not. If it were or if it weren't, it certainly could be an appropriate name for the situation.
"Damn you, Harper," Alex sneered. "Destiny is a way better name than Elphaba."
Satisfactorily, she grinned and said, "What about her middle name? It starts with an A, and I've never given too much thought to an A name for a girl. When I thought of giving a Destiny a middle name, it was always Claire along the lines of that. But I don't want to depart from her original name. Help me out a little, guys!"
"Umm, hell-o?" Alex questioned sarcastically, raising her hand. "I can't believe you're not shitting me! I'm your best friend, and my name starts with an A. Alexandra, remember?"
Humiliated by her lack of discovery, Harper placed a sympathetic hand on Alex's shoulder.
"Sorry about that," she apologized. "I hope I didn't hurt your ego too severely."
"Oh, don't worry about that. This head is too big to be deflated."
"Yeah, metaphorically," Justin teased.
Laughing, Harper remembered being told about the love spell Alex had accidentally performed on herself. She became a narcissist, one even more vain that she had previously been. Girls truly did do stuff such as that, and so the first trial of raising a girl came into play. At least this one didn't have magic.
"Destiny Alexandra," Harper repeated, fond of the pretty ring the name had. "Lovely. And the last name starts with an R. Well, that should be easy."
"And a little weird," Alex muttered under her breath, but just evidently enough so that Harper and Justin heard her what she'd spoken.
"Alex, will you please drop it?" Justin begged. "Destiny is not my daughter, nor is she Harper's daughter. And she's especially not our daughter. What are the odds that she and I would even like each other like that?"
Slim, I thought, Harper mulled over inside her head, her insides becoming jumpy and thrilled with the idea that she was with him, after years of what she assumed was worthless pining.
Snorting, Alex didn't exactly reply with anything, but looked at Destiny and inquired, "Baby girl, do you want to be called Destiny Alexandra Russo? Does that sound like a good name to you?"
The baby grinned at her stand-in aunt, and Alex beamed at Harper and Justin at the little girl's action.
"She likes it," Alex stated bluntly. "I like it. We should call her Destiny."
Though he smiled at the idea of having a little girl around, Justin's facial expression changed quickly and drastically. He searched for words, but all he could utter was, "I have to go", and he bolted out of the living room.
*********************
"This whole thing is just weird," Alex pointed out as she and Harper tried to watch Cash Cab. "I mean, this baby shows up at my door, and she looks just like you and Justin. Her initials are the same as your dream daughter's. You don't think it could be a little possible for Destiny to be your kid?"
"Alex, I told you, it's not even remotely possible," Harper repeated for the umpteenth time in that hour alone. "I'm a virgin. Destiny isn't my kid, as much as she might look like me."
"Yeah, but who's to say it's impossible? Sometimes I think you forget that wizards exist and strange things can happen."
"Still, she's not my daughter, and she's not my daughter with Justin, if anything. Like he said, he doesn't think of me in that way."
"Oh, please. Justin's been drooling over you in the same way you've been drooling over him since you guys randomly became best friends and put me through that horrible silent movie."
Harper felt pleased to have been the object of her true love's affections, even if she hadn't been aware of it in the least sense until he told her. However, it didn't yet seem like Alex was going to be so keen on the idea of her best friend and her brother together. Therefore, Harper knew that when she and Justin finally let Alex know, they would have to do it at the same time. If she was going to kill them, they had to die simultaneously. It was love, after all.
"Well, I'll worry about that later," Harper spoke nonchalantly, which was, of course, false. "What I have to think of now is what I'm going to do with Destiny."
"Obviously, you want to keep her," Alex said. "And you'd probably do a good job. But where would you raise her? Your house is so far out of the question, and my parents don't even know."
"What don't we know, Alex?"
A new voice came from the back of the brightly colored family room. Slowly, Harper and Alex turned around to see Theresa, Alex's mother, staring at the girls suspiciously. It was definitely not the thing you'd want to hear come out of a rebellious, teenage girl's mouth.
"Mom, please, please don't assume anything yet," Alex practically pleaded. "You don't even know the whole story."
"Yeah, Mrs. Russo, believe us," Harper added. "Nothing bad or scandalous is going on. Well, not in the case you're thinking."
The tension rose higher, and Alex could only thing of one thing left to do.
"Justin!" she shouted.