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let-it-raines · 5 years

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Second in Command - Extra

Original story can be found | AO3 | or | Tumblr |

Here’s 2,100 words of a little scene that happens in November 2026, which means that Andy is five, Sutton is about to turn three, and Emma is pregnant with Linnie. I’ve been watching the news and how insane it is that reporters are being sent to watch day and night for baby Sussex, and somehow this happened, even if it’s not like that at all! I hope you enjoy!

PS: If there’s an extra scene that you want at any point in time of the original story, the sequel, or sometime in the future, don’t hesitate to ask me | here | ❤️

“Mummy,” Andy prods, pulling at her shirt as they walk through the park, “why are there those people again?”

She stops pushing Sutton’s stroller and looks to where Andy is pointing. There’s a group of photographers just outside the perimeter of the park, and as much as she knew they were going to be there, she was kind of hoping to avoid them today. She’s kind of hoping to avoid them every day, but she knows that isn’t really possible. Mostly, though, she’s not interested in having to explain to her five-year-old why people are always trying to take pictures of them when they’re out in public. She and Killian had just gotten all of the craziness at Andy’s school to stop when her bump finally started to show and all of the craziness began again.

More people are interested in her reproductive system than she ever thought possible, and honestly, it’s so much worse now than when Andy was born, which is not something she ever thought was possible. But she’s also more used to it, understands it more, and isn’t quite so terrified of everything. It doesn’t mean she’s not terrified at all, but she’s prepared for the fact that people are going to ask her a million invasive questions and try to get pictures with her stomach protruding. Really, it’s a little weird, but she understands that her face (and her stomach) makes money.

That doesn’t mean she likes it.

And it really doesn’t mean that she gives everyone easy access to it. She spends more time in the privacy of their home in Bucklebury than anywhere else, but when they’d been visiting her parents today, Andy and Sutton had decided they wanted to go stroll in the park. And by stroll, she means that Sutton is asleep in her stroller while Andy alternates between running around like a madman and complaining about why he can’t be pushed around. It’s normal for her and for them, but she’s kind of fatigued today and wishes that Killian were here instead of working.

“They want pictures of us,” she answers simply. They still haven’t told Andy why exactly, wanting to keep him as normal as possible for as long as possible, but she knows that they have to tell him sometime in the near future. She just doesn’t know how.

“Why?”

“Because you’re the most adorable little boy in the entire world.”

“I guess that’s true.”

She laughs at that and reaches down to ruffle his hair. He needs a haircut, but she’ll get that done once they’re on Christmas holidays. He also probably needs to be wearing a hat today, but it’s kind of unseasonably warm for it to be late November.

“It’s definitely true, and Sutton is the most adorable little girl in the entire world.”

“But what about the baby in your tummy?”

She clicks her tongue, buying time for her to think of an answer as they walk across a bridge, the water babbling beneath them and Thomas following behind them. “Then it’ll be a tie whether it’s a boy or a girl.”

It’s a girl, but she and Killian aren’t telling the kids that.

Killian is so dang excited even if she is constantly complaining to him about how much her heartburn is bothering her or that she has to pee a lot.

Like, a lot.

This is a not so fun time…even if she is so damn excited for her daughter to be here.

And maybe she’s a little extra annoyed because everyone has called this a geriatric pregnancy, and she is so not on board with that term.

“Can I go swimming?”

“It’s cold, Andy,” Sutton mutters, obviously waking up from her sleep. How she can be sassy even in her sleepy states Emma will never understand. It’s like she’s all of her personality and Killian’s personality combined in a little body and multiplied. “Swimming is for summer.”

“Not if the pool is inside.”

“We’re outside.”

“Guys,” she sighs, pushing the stroller with one hand while reaching out to intertwine her fingers with Andy, letting him hold onto her, “be nice to each other. Do you guys want to keep walking or do you want to go home so we can get something to eat and see Daddy?”

“Can we get something to eat and not see Daddy? He saw me steal a biscuit last night.”

“Andy,” she laughs, tugging him closer to keep his face out of the view of the photographers and because she wants to, “you know you’re not supposed to do that.” “But they’re yummy.”

“How’d you even get to them, kid? They’re up high.”

“I got a chair to get on the counter so I could get them.”

“You evil little mastermind. What if you had fallen and gotten hurt?”

“I still would have had a biscuit.”

Priorities.

She slowly makes her way back to her parents’ house and loads all of the kids into the car so that she can drive the thirty minutes home. The walk really wore her out, and she could use several cups of coffee that she can’t have right now. It’s worth it, she reminds herself. It is.

Killian is in the yard raking leaves when she pulls up, and she knows before she even unbuckles the kids from their car seats that they’re going to run into that pile of leaves. And they do, Andy getting their first and jumping into them before Sutton’s small body follows him. She can’t imagine that falling on the hard ground is comfortable, but they bounce back from a lot of things that would hurt an adult. It terrifies her, but they’re fearless.

Last week Andy tried sliding down the banister to the staircase, and she’s so glad she stopped him beforehand.

“Emma, love,” Killian calls, looking over at her as she walks his way, “I seem to have lost the kids. There were here, and then they disappeared.”

“How did that happen?” she laughs, playing along with him as she steps into his side and meets his lips for a brief kiss. “Do you think they went inside?”

“Maybe. I’m simply not sure. I think it’ll be okay if we lose them for a little while, right? We can go eat all of that cake inside by ourselves.”

She gently slaps Killian’s chest, looking up at the cheeky smile on his face before she glances down to look at Andy squirming in the leaves, the thought of cake obviously on his mind all the while Sutton stays still, likely plotting some kind of revenge or something else insane that a three-year old should not be able to do.

“Don’t we have some chocolate cake, babe? I could go for some chocolate cake.”

“I could too, but I think I’m going to have to pack up all of these leaves first. I’m thinking about throwing them in the lake.”

“Daddy, no,” Sutton shrieks, scrambling up from the ground and running to his legs, hugging onto his calf, “it’s too cold to go into the lake.”

“What about the cake?” Andy asks, popping his head up, leaves stuck in his black hair, and staying sitting up on the ground.

“Oh Buttons, love,” Killian sighs, reaching down and scooping her up and holding her to his chest while her arms wrap around his neck and he rubs his hand up and down her back, “I’m not going to throw you into the lake now that I’ve found you.”

“Andy wanted to swim at the park.”

“But it’s too cold for that.”

“I told him swimming is for summer.”

She laughs at that, especially when Killian raises a brow at her, and she can simply shrug. This is all very much like their conversations in the park, and she wonders if Killian knows just what he’s stumbled into.

“Swimming is for summer,” he agrees, kissing Sutton’s forehead. “Andrew, get out of that leaf pile, and we’ll talk about this cake.”

“Yes sir,” he mumbles, quickly getting up and rushing inside, leaving a little trail of leaves behind him.

Andy does eventually get his cake, even though they need to cut back on his sweets a little for the rest of the week, and after running through their evening routines of making sure that everyone is bathed and their clothes are set out for the next day, they do get Andy and Sutton to bed. Sutton is always easier, mostly because of her age, but Andy exhausted himself so much today that he was out like a light.

She enjoys those nights.

When she closes Andy’s door behind her, Killian is resting against the hallway wall, his arms crossed over him and his legs crossed at the ankle, an expectant smirk on his face.

“What?” she whispers, stepping over to him.

“Nothing. I’m just damn excited to kiss you right now.”

“Oh my God,” she laughs, stepping into him and wrapping her arms around his neck while pressing up on her toes so that she can reach his mouth, their lips slowly gliding over each other. He tastes like the chocolate of the cake they just ate, and she’s really kind of craving some more. She’s definitely craving some more. But right now she’s going to let Killian’s kiss cause gooseflesh to break out over her skin while his teeth gently nip at her bottom lip before he soothes it with his tongue.

Damn he’s a good kisser.

“I missed you today,” she whispers when she pulls back, and Killian simply nods his head in response while his hands stay steady at her hips, thumbs rubbing circles into her skin over her sweater. “Mom and Dad did too.”

“I’ll call them tomorrow, yeah?” he asks, dipping his head to kiss her nose, making her eyes flutter closed for a moment. “And I missed you all too. Did you have a nice time?”

“It was good. We went for a walk in the park afterwards, which was nice. There were some photographs, though.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“Isabelle told me,” he answers before moving his hands and nudging her to turn so that they walk down the hallway to their bedroom. “She showed me a few of them. They’re mostly of you, but they got some of Andy’s face.”

“He asked why they were there again.” She sits down on the bed and unbuttons her pants, which may very well be the sweetest relief. She’s about three weeks of this pregnancy away from completely switching to dresses and leggings even though it’s about to be winter.

She’ll freeze. It’s fine.

“Yeah?” Killian asks, bending down to kiss over her belly, whispering a few words to their daughter, before sitting down next to her. “What’d you say?”

“I said it was because he’s cute, but I don’t think that excuse is going to work for too much longer. Maybe a few years. I’m just kind of scared that one of the kids at school, or maybe even Alex or Lizzie, are going to spill the beans before we can explain it the way that we should.” “Aye, but…let’s not quite yet. Let’s give him more time. I don’t think it’ll change anything, not for who we are, but I want him to be a bit older so that he can better understand who his family is. He doesn’t need to know he’s a part of history just yet. Neither does Sutton. She’ll likely try to overthrow my father or parliament or something.”

“She really will,” Emma laughs, twisting her head to the side. “So you don’t think we should tell him?” “Not yet.” Killian reaches over to grab her hand, bringing her knuckles up to his lips and kissing over her wedding ring. “But if you want to go talk to Liam and Abigail about it, I’m sure we could pawn all of the kids off on my mother so that the four of us could talk.”

“I like that plan. Will you go get me some more cake to eat?”

He nods his head and smiles, his eyes crinkling in that way that she loves, in the way that always makes her heart flutter. “Of course, but you have to be the one to explain to Andy why it’s all gone when he wakes up in the morning.” “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

#second in command #cs ff #cs fic #captain swan fic

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 5 years

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WILL DART MAKE ITS TARGET ASTEROID GO WOBBLY? HERA WILL SEE There are models and simulations, but nobody knows exactly what is going to happen after NASA’s DART impactor crashes into the smaller of the two Didymos asteroids at 6.6 km/s – humankind’s first full-scale deflection test for planetary defence. It will take detailed telescope and radar observations from Earth to find out, complemented by a close-up survey to be performed by ESA’s Hera mission. The collision itself takes place in late 2022. Meanwhile, PhD student Harrison Agrusa from the University of Maryland – as part of a larger team studying the dynamics of the Didymos system – is among the most qualified people to make an educated guess. Harrison has been simulating the interaction between the fridge-sized DART spacecraft and smaller 160-m diameter Didymos asteroid hundreds of times, run on his university’s powerful computing cluster. His simulations recreate the 780-m diameter main Didymos asteroid and its orbiting ‘Didymoon’ as a collection of small spheres – like the rubble piles that researchers believe these bodies to resemble – then apply the equivalent force of the DART impact. “The interesting thing, depending on where DART hits and how hard, is that we can see a pronounced wobble triggered as a result,” explains Harrison. “We’ve compared four different simulation codes to study this post-impact swinging back and forth and seen the same effect recur in all of them, even with conservative estimates of DART’s momentum transfer.” In asteroid researcher terms this effect is known as ‘libration’ – the same term used for the wobble of the Moon as seen from Earth, which means that different parts of the lunar surface can be observed over time. Like the Moon, the smaller ‘Didymoon’ is expected to be tidally locked to its parent at the present time, although it has not yet been confirmed with ground-based observations. Long-range measurements of distant lightcurves – gradual patterns of light shifting over time – or radar imagery do not give enough detail. In the same way, any wobble imparted to the asteroid by DART’s collision will not be visible from Earth. It will take close-up observations after Hera’s arrival to be sure. Harrison has shown that this induced libration is closely related to the momentum transfer efficiency – in other words, Hera’s measuring of the libration can be used to constrain the asteroid’s deflection. Such a measurement is crucial to developing a usable, repeatable planetary defence technique. In addition, Harrison notes that the ability to measure any libration in the post-impact asteroid will also open up a valuable scientific opportunity: “The fundamental frequency of the libration will depend on the mass of the secondary, and how that mass is distributed throughout its interior – in the same way that the frequency of a pendulum's swing depends on its mass. “So measuring this effect will give researchers an important insight into the nature of Didymoon’s interior, constraining our models. However, it is essential to have a spacecraft on location to make such a measurement.” Harrison is part of the DART Dynamics Working Group, led by his PhD adviser Prof. Derek Richardson, tasked with performing dynamic modelling of the Didymos system before and after DART’s impact. “As an undergraduate I interned at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in northern California, where I encountered some researchers working on planetary defence,” explains Harrison. “I never even knew this was a field until then, but after that I decided I wanted to get involved.” This summer Harrison returns to LLNL, where he will take advantage of their supercomputer facilities to perform full-scale impact simulations, modelling the ejecta material thrown off of the asteroid by the DART impact. “Overall, it’s great timing for me,” says Harrison. “When the DART mission ends with its impact in 2022, then my PhD does too. We’ll get a first glimpse of the actual shape of Didymoon from DART and the LICIA CubeSat – provided by ASI, the Italian Space Agency – it will deploy before colliding. Then, within a few years Hera will be providing its data, so we can rigorously compare our models to reality.” The Hera mission will be presented to ESA’s Space19+ meeting this November, where Europe’s space ministers will take a final decision on flying the mission. TOP IMAGE....DART impacting the smaller of the two Didymos asteroids, as seen from the larger body. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test, DART, mission is due to be launched in late 2020. The fridge-sized spacecraft will fly itself to the Didymos system with a xenon-based electric propulsion system, steering with an onboard camera and sophisticated autonomous navigation software. DART will reach Didymos in October 2022 and steer itself into Didymoon at a speed of approximately 6.6 km/s. ESA's desk-sized Hera spacecraft would then reach Didymoon in 2026 for a close-up survey of the results. Copyright ESA – Science Office CENTRE IMAGE....NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test, DART, mission is the US component of AIDA, intended to collide with the smaller of two bodies of the Didymos binary asteroid system in October 2022. ESA's Hera mission will then perform follow-up post-impact observations. Copyright NASA LOWER IMAGE....ESA's proposed Hera Mission to the Didymos binary asteroid system will carry two ‘CubeSat Opportunity Payloads (COPINS)’ to support the science goals of the main spacecraft, as well demonstrate deep space inter-satellite link techniques. Copyright ESA - ScienceOffice.org BOTTOM IMAGE....Hera scanning Copyright ESA - ScienceOffice.org

#space #science #Astronomy #physics #NASA #dart #ESA #hera

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