[ WP ] Within a year of birth every parent receives a small gift or note from their 18yo child via time travel . You do n't .

Day 364. 
 
 `` Did your parents ever tell you what you sent back?'' 
 
 
 `` You mean the future me right?'' 
 
 `` Yeah, I figured'you' know what you sent.'' 
 
 `` Just giving you a hard time, Jess, and no they never did; they were convinced it would change how I grew up and then change what I would normally send back and THAT would change what the next me?... or what the me in the past... would... send...'' Maggie rubbed her head, her mind trying to catch up with what she was saying. 
 
 Jess placed a small kiss on her temple to calm her. `` It's ok, I'm pretty sure no one understands it.'' She set her tea cup down on the cool ground so she could flip around and lay her head on Maggie's lap. The wood of the bench dug into her back until she squirmed around, just the right amount until she found comfort. Reaching with her toe Jess tapped the mailbox and wondered aloud, `` Do you think Frank is keeping us waiting on purpose?'' 
 
 `` Would that mean it's a good or a bad thing? He could be trying to build suspense. Or, well, if it were me I'd wait only if the note was still not here. That way I could deliver our mail last then bolt back to the office.'' 
 
 `` Sorry, I did n't mean...'' 
 
 `` No, no, you're fine and you're probably right, but I just hate this.'' Jess sat up again to look at Maggie, tears already starting, `` I ca n't help but think, is he going to die somehow, someway?'' She collapsed in Maggie's arms. 
 
 `` No, James will be fine. He's fine now and he'll stay that way. I wo n't let anything happen to him. And even, even if something does, if the worst happens, we will love him up to and beyond that moment. No matter if we get the gift or not, we will raise him as best as we can and give him a healthy, happy life.'' 
 
 Jess sank, bit by bit until she was back laying in Maggie's lap. Still no sign of Frank and his bag of mail. Over the last week or so he and Henderson's had gotten to know each other since Jess convinced Maggie that they should start waiting outside for the note from'future-James'. She had argued that, `` It will be so much better this way, instead of finding it in some metal box, it'll be handed to us straight away. We'll be given our future, we wo n't just find it laying around.'' 
 
 The tea Maggie had brought out was growing cold and she set her cup down to stroke Jess's hair. `` I had sent a note apparently.'' 
 
 `` What? I thought your parents never told you.'' 
 
 `` My brother told me, about a week before my 18th birthday. It said something like'The drops were terrifying but the climbs exhilarating.''' 
 
 `` What does that even mean?'' 
 
 `` I do n't know, though it explains why my parents forbid me from going on rollercoasters. I did n't even include a note with MY gift, after hearing about future-or-whatever-me's riddle, I could n't chance being misunderstood. I just sent a small baby toy shaped like a gavel. You know, to represent how since I was a kid, all I wanted was to be a lawyer.'' 
 
 `` Well, I hoped the toy at least made squaky sounds.'' Jess quipped as she rose to kiss Maggie. `` Why did you brother tell you? Did he know your parents kept it from you on purpose?'' 
 
 `` He knew. I think he was actually the reason they did that. His'gift' was a small book of van Gogh painting and with the phrase'Truly one of my soul' in it; teenagers and their pretentious crap sayings... Anyway, I was very young during all this, but my brother, as a kid, all he wanted to do was paint. He thought the book meant he was to be an artist. I guess my parents were afraid he'd end up like van Gogh or that the future-him was having suicidal thoughts, or something close to that. They forbid that he become an artist. Our house was not very pleasant during those years. Matt moved out as soon as he was able.'' 
 
 The sun started to dip beneath the trees and the early-autumn air began to find it's bite when Frank the mailman finally made his sad trip to Maggie and Jess's street. One day left to get the letter; it had, just had to be the next day. Even though neither Maggie nor Jess knew of a single person who has recieved it on the last day before their child's first birthday. That would be too cruel a trick, even for an 18 year old. 
 
 `` Maybe it's a good thing,'' Jess started `` I know what I'm saying, but just think what it would mean if we did n't get anything. No assumptions, no weird poetry, no symbolic gifts. We get less time, but it's all our time.'' 
 
 ``... and who knows, maybe James did this on purpose.'' 
 

