My Autumn and My Winter

"Yeah," said Deathslayer, staring at the bundle in the backseat "I know."

** *

Steve didn't bother hiding his disdain when he swung open the door and found Iorich standing there. He crossed his arms over his massive chest and sneered down at her.

"Well?"

"Where's Autumn?"

"Taking a shower to avoid me, thanks to your bullshit reality show. Come to tell us we're fired?"

Iorich nodded, chewing on her thin lower lip. There was a light in her eyes he had never seen in them before, a glimmer of...guilt?

"What's the deal? Spill it already."

"I'm afraid that some footage may have been leaked online."

"So? That's a problem for your marketing team, not me."

"Actually, it affects you as well." Iorich produced a phone from her purse and spent a minute tapping on the screen. When she found what she was searching for she turned it around so the screen was facing him.

"What is this..." Steve felt his heart skip a beat as he realized the dark, shaky video was of the tryst he and Autumn had with Iorich. "How did...I thought there were no cameras in the bedrooms?"

"There weren't supposed to be," said Iorich, sighing. She sat on the bed and looked at her hands. "I'm losing my job over this, you know."

"Wait a second," Steve said, growing angry "you're not surprised at all by this. You."

He walked over to her and jabbed a finger in her face, the phone forgotten in his other hand.

"You knew about us being filmed all along, didn't you? What, you leaked the video to drum up some extra ratings?"

"It's not like that," said Iorich. Then she laughed without mirth. "Well, I guess it is, but the video got leaked too early. We were trying to wait until the competition was actually over."

"What difference does that make?"

"It's going to look like a conflict of interest. That I was showing favortism to you and Autumn because of our...involvement."

"So your last act as producer-"

"Co-executive producer."

"-is to fire our asses. Nice."

"Hey," said Iorich, standing up and brushing her hand on his cheek "you can't say you didn't have fun."

Steve grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand from his skin.

"Don't touch me. Get out."

Iorich closed her mouth and went out the door. At the last moment she turned to him with a wicked grin.

"You'll end up thanking me, Steve. There's no such thing as bad press. You'll see."

After Autumn got out of the shower, he gave her the news. She seemed to have mellowed out, so much so that she greeted the news of their leaked video with a shrug.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?"

"Who cares if we have a sex tape on the internet, sugar? Does that even have any meaning anymore? I mean, Tommy Lee, Hulk Hogan, Paris Hilton-"

"Russel Crowe and that playmate," Steve added with a chuckle.

"-right. It'll blow over, just like your Transvestite tumble."

"Ha ha. At least we can go home now. I'm sick of this fucking place."

"Me too." Autumn snuggled up next to him. "You know what would be the perfect revenge?"

"What?"

"Breaking the bed..."

Epilogue

"Do you think I can hold her for awhile?"

Autumn glared up at him from the rocking chair hastily bought from a thrift store hours before, the bundle in her arms sucking greedily on the nipple of a bottle. Steve held up his hands.

"Okay, okay."

"No," Autumn said, smiling "it's okay. You can feed her if you want."

Steve carefully took the baby from her arms, disbelieving how tiny and perfect she seemed. The girl's eyes opened just a bit, staring up at him as she continued to feed.

"Hey there," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper "I'm sorry about your name."

"Hey!" Autumn winced and then lowered her own tone. "Hey! What's wrong with Summer? It's a pretty name."

"Summer Winters-Borgia," Steve said "do you WANT her to get beat up?"

"Pfft," Autumn said "she's our daughter. We'll raise her to be TOUGH. Just like me."

"You mean like us?"

Autumn giggled and kissed him on the top of his head.

"Sure sugar. Whatever you say. After Summer goes to sleep, I could put on the maid outfit..."

She toyed with his hair while he smiled up at her.

Just a perfectly normal, American family.

The End