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07:36 Hours

“Yes, Mr. Dawning, Sir,” Rosemary smiled into the landline phone she held, hoping the man on the other end could hear her earnestness. “I just really need your help with this, and I’m afraid the poor gentlemen might have their children any moment now—the situation is dire!”

Rosemary paused to wave her hand at Frederick, who was standing outside her office, pointing to his watch. She rolled her eyes and continued, “And you told us all you’d help every Boom Boom victim, did you not? I don’t want the company to lose business if these two decide to go public, and I think they would be a really good look on us if we do cover them. Don’t you, Mr. Dawning?”

Rosemary leaned back in her office chair and gently spun it from side-to-side as she twirled the coiled cord of the landline around her finger. The “liquid courage” really had been all she’d needed to narrow-in on her next task. She’d sent the email she promised the pregnant boys she’d write straight to the CEO of Superior Healthcare Insurance. Working for the company for twenty-one years granted her special permissions she normally didn’t utilize, but it was about high time she cashed in for once—and this just so happened to be one of those situations where privilege was a necessary advantage.

Frederick was still outside her office, but he had his back turned and was leaning over one of the representatives, helping them with a case. Good, Rosemary thought, maybe that’ll keep him busy ‘til I finish.

Mr. Dawning didn’t have too much to say to Rosemary after she gave him her two cents on the subject matter, and she was somewhat surprised he acquiesced at all. She supposed that he did sound tired on the other end, though, so he was likely over all the special cases lately.

“Send me their files after you set them up for coverage, and I’ll make sure their sex doesn’t affect the maternity coverage for the finalization,” Mr. Dawning had said when Rosemary observed Frederick. “Just give me a ping when you send it; I’m rather busy today.”

“No problem, Mr. Dawning,” Rosemary grinned. “I’ll be sure to let you know right away!”

“I have no doubt you will. Good talk, Rose.”

Rosemary tried not to gag at the nickname. The employees had to show their CEO respect, so she always felt it a little odd that he spoke so casually with them all himself. “You as well! Have a blessed day, Mr. Dawning,” she responded and let him hang up so she didn’t come off as rude (and in case he had any last minute words she could’ve accidentally cut off).

Now that the hard part was out of the way, Rosemary could call the pregnant men back and give them the good news.

And insist they take advantage of it immediately.

Trying to casually warn the boys of what was to come could, however, actually prove to be harder than talking to the CEO, so it warranted a need for a second cup of coffee.

Rosemary used the chair’s arm rests for leverage getting up and promptly stretched her arms high after, popping the air pockets in her back. Milly once suggested that Rosemary and Ambrose at least do some stretches in the morning before work, but that was a lot of effort Rosemary couldn’t bring herself to do. Plus, she hated waking up earlier than she had to. So she suffered the aches and saw a chiropractor when her insurance allowed it.

The Keurig machine was rather low on water since she’d made two drinks already, but there was enough to make at least one more cup. Considering the machine also hadn’t been used much recently, Rosemary decided she might as well clean it before refilling the tank. So, she set her empty reusable cup under the spout and picked up a cinnabon-flavored packet from the carousel. She then placed the coffee grounds cup into the Keurig, shut the top, and pressed the start button.

While the coffee brewed, Rosemary pondered just what all she was going to say to the pregnant boys. She couldn’t outright say the worst supervillain was after them—that could lead to them thinking she herself did something. How else would she know and not them? 

A wave of nausea washed over her, so she gripped the edge of the table and squeezed her eyes shut, bending forward. She felt absolutely sick to her stomach over the whole ordeal, but what could she do to stop it? There was her daughter, sure, but now Waves knew where she lived and worked. There was simply no escape from the pickle she was in. Giving up the boys’ names really was the best option—at least, until she formulated a better plan for how to protect them. And she couldn’t just lie to Waves. He’d come back around and destroy her apartment building for sure!

The Keurig machine’s ding pulled Rosemary out of her spiraling thoughts, and the smell of the fresh coffee helped quell her nausea. She straightened up and removed the cup from the filter it sat on. She grabbed a couple packets of vanilla creamer and Splenda to decorate her coffee and got right to it.

Rosemary capped her new cup and returned to the desk. Thankfully, since it was still early as hell in the morning, her phone hadn’t rung once. She did have some voicemails to go through before she called the CEO, but they were all minor things she could save for the next day. Or while waiting for the boys to call her back, if they didn’t pick up. Lucky for them, Mr. Dawning didn’t care enough to want their doctor’s x-rays for proof of their circumstance. He’d never heard of a man trying to get maternity coverage before the incident, anyway, and it didn’t surprise him in the slightest given how different the world had been since the meteor crash.

Taking a swig from her coffee, Rosemary pushed her notebook closer to her keyboard with her free hand, and nudged her chair over with her hip. She set the cup onto her red heart coaster and cleared her throat. The notebook was already open to where she’d written down the number Elias called from, so she picked up the landline and punched in the digits.

As the line dialed-in, Rosemary slowly lowered herself back into her chair. She scooted it closer to the monitor, which now displayed rainbow bubbles bouncing off the edges of the screen overtop the Superior logo wallpaper. Rosemary smiled at the classic Windows screensaver style, hypnotized by its color-changing movements.

“Thanks for calling Blue Jay’s Comics,” Rosemary heard Elias’ voice say, but the tone was too lackluster to actually be him. “We are either closed for the day, or can’t get to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the tone, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks, and have a great day!”

“Fiddlesticks,” Rosemary sighed. She rolled her bottom lip as she waited for the tone, pondering just what she could say. This was a business line, so she didn’t want to give out sensitive information, after all.

“Hello, this is Rosemary with Superior Healthcare,” she said after the tone, releasing her lip. “This message is intended for Mr. Elias Nacht. I just wanted to make you aware that you and your friend are eligible for coverage, and I urge you to call me back as soon as possible,” she emphasized. “Thank you and I hope to hear back from you soon!”

Rosemary slammed the landline back onto its holder and flopped back into her chair. She spun around in a circle and glared at the ceiling. But then she shot forward, determined to keep herself busy until they returned her call. Given the time, the comic store probably hadn’t even opened yet, because what comic store opened before eight am? Rosemary pulled up a Firefox window to search for Blue Jay’s Comics and clicked on the business listing. 

As it turned out, the store didn’t open until nine am, so Rosemary would have to wait for another hour to hear back. She supposed it was better than ten am, when most retail stores opened, but it still sucked she had to remain in her misery longer. She groaned and glanced back over at the coffee table. Perhaps she could just clean the Keurig early?

The little Humane Society notepad next to her pink notebook begged to differ with all the voicemails awaiting her own return call. “Alright, might as well,” Rosemary chuckled and picked the phone back up, already punching in the first number on the list.

Unfortunately, the list only took half an hour to get through, so Rosemary decided to go clean the Keurig machine after all. She unplugged the machine and picked it up to take with her to the break room. There was no sense in filling up the tank when the machine was going to have to cycle soap through the lines regardless, so she’d just have to clean the water tank all over again if she merely replaced the water.

Mike was standing at the edge of the employee break room when Rosemary got there. She’d gotten there just in time to catch him tossing the disposable cup away. He nodded at her as she approached.

“Need some help with that?” Mike said, arms already open to take it from her. “Least I can do for that coffee. Thanks for that, Rosie. I really needed it.”

Normally, Rosemary would turn down the help, but she didn’t want to take away Mike’s opportunity to give something back for her kindness. So, she let him take the machine. “I thought she could use a little cleanin’ after sittin’ for a while, ya know?” she said to Mike as he walked it over to the break room counter, where the sink was. 

He removed the water tank for her then. “You mean to tell me that you made us dirty coffee?” he said, and Rosemary didn’t miss his smirk.

“Oh, heavens no!” Rosemary laughed and smacked his arm lightly with the back of her hand. “The water just ran out, and I’m waiting on a call for a while longer. Figured I may as well filter her, too!”

They both had a laugh and worked together to clean the Keurig machine in good-natured silence. There wasn’t much to talk about between them. Rosemary’s yawn, however, did give Mike pause once the machine was ready to be transported again.

“You doing okay, Rosie?” he said and raised one of his thick brows. “Something feels off about you. I hope you’re taking good care of yourself now.”

“Oh, no need to worry about little old me, Mike!” Rosemary patted him on the shoulder as they walked down the hall to her office. He decided to carry the machine back for her as well, it seemed. “I just couldn’t sleep last night and needed to work it off. I’ll be going back home soon, dearie.”

Mike looked at her with wavering eyes. “Okay,” he said and pushed Rosemary’s office door open. “Just let me know if you ever need anything, mmkay?”

Did Freddy say something to Mike? Rosemary thought as she stepped in after Mike.

But she didn’t have long to ponder over it because her landline rang the moment her office door closed.

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