After New Year’s night Erwin moved in - technically he already did by himself, but now he had Cassiopeia’s blessings - and the couple outgrew the plane. There was no enough space for them and Trash, and so they started renovating the house.
A few weeks later, when spring started to roll in - and StrangerVille’s weather felt like a boiling hell -, the house was almost done.
And, surprise, Circe was fired after the StrangerVille mess… So Cassiopeia got her position as Lab Leader (Level 7) just after a couple of weeks back on Earth!
Life was simple and calm. Life was good.
Maybe life was too calm.
One night as Erwin was getting ready for bed he noticed a weird green light seeping into the room from the outside, and obviously he decided to check on it. What he found was the last thing he expected.
"What the…?"
In the dead of the night Erwin had his first intergalactic trip while Cassiopeia slept peacefully in their bed. You know what the say about curiosity and cats...
Erwin came back feeling great! He couldn’t believe he met Cassiopeia’s people… although there was no much talking and he couldn’t remember clearly what happened.
Next morning though he woke up feeling awful.
Whatever those Sixamnians did to him, it left him very uncomfortable. He wondered if he should tell Cassiopeia, because she maybe knew what was going on… But… he didn’t want her to know her people was here last night. What if she missed them? What if she wanted to go back to her planet once she found out…? Probably it was nothing so why worry her anyways?
For now he would keep it secret.
The stomach ache didn’t go away no matter what, even after he made a trip to the bathroom, and it got worse after he ate.
"Ugh…"
And of course Cassiopeia noticed his groans right away, not that he was being subtle anyway "Are you alright? Does your tummy hurt? We should take you to a human repairing station!"
"To the hospital? No, no!" Erwin panicked. Who knew what the doctors would find. And he never trusted doctors anyway, it would go away by itself Erwin was sure "Don’t worry, it’s just… gas!"
During the evening Jess dropped by. Cassiopeia and her had been pretty busy with their jobs after Cassiopeia came back to Earth and she wanted to catch up. Also she didn’t have the opportunity to check how the house came out after the renovations yet, so she decided to pay a visit that day.
"You should host a housewarming party, I’m sure Hayley would love to visit" Jess suggested.
"You know Erwin doesn’t like that kind of thing. It would drive him insane" Cassiopeia shook her head as she poured some jitter liquid for her friend.
"We both know he is always like that" She said, rolling her eyes in amusement. Cassiopeia couldn't deny that... He had been acting especially strangely lately as a matter of fact.
In the next couple of days Erwin got even weirder than usual and his tummy got so big that even Cassiopeia noticed it.
"Are you sure you are ok?" She kept asking "From what I know about humans this is not normal! We should really take you to a human repairing station"
"Ye–yeah! It’s totally ok, I don’t need to go to the hospital" He ensured and put his hands on her shoulders to redirect her towards the door since it was time for her to go to the lab "I told you, it’s just gas…! Besides you are worrying too much, it’s because you are stressed with work. Why don’t we go out for dinner to Del Sol Valley tomorrow? It’s night on the town and we can eat fancy food for free!"
Cassiopeia wasn't that convinced, she couldn't shake her worries off... but maybe Erwin was right. Maybe all the shenanigans with the Mother and now being suddenly in charge of the lab and the mess left behind was making her wary of everything "Ok, if you say so! Tomorrow then. Have a good day!"
"Great! You too!" Erwin said, seeing her off. But even himself wasn't even sure anymore what was going on in his body was gas...