Chapter Text
“You really want to hear the Space Boy story again?”
“Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!” pleaded a boy with his hands outstretched.
His mother was thankfully never tired of her son’s dramatics.
“Fine. But only if you promise you’re gonna go straight to sleep this time.”
As soon as the little boy’s mother turned to get his favorite stuffed bear, she could hear him shuffle under the blankets. The bear was dressed in an oversized space suit matching his owner's pajamas.
“All nice and tucked in?” she asked.
He nodded, waiting and waving a disheveled tuft of golden hair.
She nestled next to him making sure he was secured to– once again– hear his favorite story as they gazed underneath the make-shift constellation map of glow-in-the-dark stickers.
“Can you change it a little this time? Me and Billy need some more ideas for our space quests,” he asked, eyes gazing up at his mom.
“What? You don’t like the way I tell it,” she said feigning offense.
“No! C’mon mom. We’re just really stuck right now trying to find a way to fend off the alien militia trying to kill us.”
“Remind me to tell your dad to stop showing you and Billy his war movie collection.”
“C’mon! Please! Please! Please! Plea–” “All right! All right. How about we add someone new to help you boys fight the aliens… like a princess?”
“You mean like an alien princess?” he asked, almost disgusted.
“What’s wrong with that?” She asked, this time, actually offended.
“Nothing. It’s just that the aliens in our story are always the bad guys.”
“Well then, what if I told you this princess was a Space Mom?”
She predicted he would want to jump in surprise at the suggestion and set her hand down against his small chest before he could spring into more theatrics.
“Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! How is she going to help Space Boy?”
She settled him down again and pointed to the glowing stickers of stars scattered across the ceiling. “Well, let’s say there was a beautiful alien princess who wanted nothing more than to protect Space Boy as soon as he was born. Because not only was Space Boy a prince to his mother’s kingdom but also the son of a famous intergalactic hero.”
His eyes glowed from excitement as he brought the covers up to his nose. “Did he have powers too?”
“Yes my little Teddy Bear,” She said, giving him a teasing poke. “How do you think Space Boy got his powers? But you see, they were from different planets. Feuding families whose people forbid them from falling in love.”
“I bet they still fell in love, right?”
“Oh, you betcha. But they couldn’t keep it a secret forever, especially when the alien princess was expecting their baby soon. And so they ran away together hoping to find somewhere they could have their little princeling in peace without any scary aliens telling them what to do. But eventually, they found out and chased after them throughout space.”
“Did they find them?”
The boy’s mom released a quiet sigh and continued, “Yeah, eventually they did.”
Teddy devoured himself under the covers. “You didn’t tell me this story had a bad ending.”
“Who said anything about a bad ending?”
“Then how did she help the Space Boy if they were caught?”
She coaxed her son closer, “Come here.” She rearranged the covers enough to make sure they saw the stars above them. “You see before the scary aliens could get them, the princess gave Space Boy something that would help him find his way back home. Back to his family whenever he needed them.”
“What was it? Was it a cool weapon? Maybe an awesome sword!”
Once again, she got him to calm down and listen, “Well, you see, it wasn't something she gave him, it was something she said,” She clarified as she pointed to the largest rubber glow-in-the-dark star centered on the ceiling. “She said that when her son would finally grow up from a small Space Boy to a Space Prince, he’d know that to find his family, all he had to do was find the brightest star in the galaxy,” She fit her hand together with his small palm clasping the air reaching for the large star above them, “and never let it go.”
Awestruck, he asked, “Did they ever come back to help? His family?”
“See, Teddy Bear, that decision wasn’t up to them.” With a tender hand, she gently pinched her son’s cheek, “That choice was up to Space Boy and his partner, Wizard Boy, to brave the journey together to find the brightest star in the galaxy.”
“At least he won’t be alone finding them,” a yawn escaped him as his eyes drooped in favor of sleep as he heard the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.
“Mom?”
“Yes, Teddybear?”
“I think I finally know how to give our adventure a happy ending.”
“I knew you would, Teddybear,” Kissing his forehead, she could see her son’s eyes fall heavily. “I knew you would.”
Before he could hear his mother’s last words, he drifted off to sleep to dream about a prince and wizard searching for the help they need to finally bring about intergalactic peace and prosperity for their galaxy.