Night rolled around. Spider was sitting across from Venus. Neither spoke a word.

"There's something I have to show you." Venus blurted out. Spider stopped eating in the middle of a chew.

He gulped down his food. "Um- okay?"

She sighed and set down her bowl. The guilt of keeping the pictures a secret for even just a couple of hours was eating her alive. "It's important. I should have told you earlier, but I didn't know how to."

Spider nodded and looked down. In some corner of his brain, he had a tiny hope she was talking about something different. Like, for example, reciprocating his feelings. The idea was stupid and it would probably never happen, but he couldn't help his hope.

Venus stood up suddenly, holding her hand out for Spider to take. "Come with me."

This was how Spider ended up in Venus' bedroom. He stood near the doorway, taking in the space. For some reason, the lack of dust and a potted plant in the corner suited the girl. His gaze trailed her as she lifted up her pillow and grabbed the stack of photos.

When she turned around, she met his eyes. She was oblivious to the speechless look on the boy's face.

Slipping the top photo out of the stack, she handed it to him. "Spider," she started. "I thought you might want to have this." She sucked in a breath. "I think it's your mom."

A silence passed over them. Venus nervously waited for his reaction. She didn't know what to expect. Spider ran his thumb over the face of his mother. He hadn't seen other pictures of her.

"Venus, where did you find this?" He looked up with his brows furrowed. "Do you have more?"

She nodded. "I found a lot." She held up the stack. "I wanted to wait until you were with me to look at them. Just to get a real reaction, you know?"

Spider took the stack from her hands and pulled away the rubber band, which Venus had took and put it around her wrist to keep. He flipped through some of the photos, others with scientists or marines they didn't know.

After a couple of random people, Spider stopped at a single one. His mother was holding a little baby in her arms. She was clad in a hospital gown, face glistening with sweat. Still, she was smiling at the child in her arms.

It was him.

Venus peered over and let the corners of her lips perk up at the sight. Her eyes flickered up to Spider's watching his face contort to a more peaceful look. He was happy, which made her happy, too.

"I can hold the ones you wanna keep for you," she whispered. His head snapped up. "If you'd like." She quickly added. He handed her the photo and looked at the next one.

This time, his mother looked younger. She had a drunken look on her face with a glass bottle in her hand. Her eyes were filled with joy as she looked at the camera, positively beaming. 

Venus, from in front of him, gave him a soft smile. She kept her gaze on Paz. "She looked so beautiful." Spider looked up with a faint blush on his cheeks, due to their proximity, and nodded.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "She was."

She took the photo from the stack. "Look more," she beckoned. 

It had been a couple he shuffled through before he stopped at one. His eyes widened as he glanced up. The look in his eyes told more than words.

"What?" Venus peered over to look, but Spider tilted it away. "What?" She tried again.

The boy stayed silent as he shifted his gaze between the photo and her. "Holy shit," he mumbled. After getting impatient, Venus finally took the picture from his hands as nicely as she could and furrowed her brows at the face in the photo.

Her anger washed away at the sight of Celeste Oberon, whose head was lifted from a microscope with her lips perked up and glasses over her face. 

"Venus," Spider murmured. "That's-"

"-My mom?" she finished for him. The name didn't have a face until now.

Celeste was a beautiful woman. She had thick black hair in a long braid and a slightly hooked nose. She had a deep tan and thin framed glasses. In a way, she reminded Venus of the sun. Her profession as a scientist seemed like a waste when looking at her pretty face.

Spider watched Venus. The girl's emotions had never felt so confusing until now. "Is everything okay?"

It wasn't and he knew it. She looked like she was about to cry in happiness.

Instead, Venus took a deep breath and kept her composure. For the first time of seeing her mother's face, it sure was anticlimactic. "I think I'll keep this under my pillow."

A note from the future: She would keep the picture under her pillow for the rest of her life.

"Are you okay?" Spider asked, raising his hand to put it on her shoulder before stopping himself midway. "I- um,"

"I'm okay," Venus smiled. Spider could see the glint of the tears in her eyes. "It's okay, I promise. I swear,"

Everything was not fine.

Here's a little thing about Venus: She was one of the "fatherless" births on Pandora. It was another phrase for saying she was an accident. All her life, she had been told her mother was great and just like her (mainly by Max.)

If Celeste Oberon was so talented, why did she have to die?

itty bitty short chapter, i really wanna write more in these but idk it's not working <3