"Athena, any word from Tracer?" Winston stood by the table at his laboratory, located at the base of Watchpoint: Gibraltar, attending to a circular electronic device, soldering wires together. The base was once an outpost for Overwatch agents to gather, but now that Overwatch has disbanded, it was nearly abandoned up until recent times, as Winston, being the hopeful and optimistic genetically-engineered gorilla that he is, has used the place as an orbital launch facility and as a way of restoring the team's communication network back online.

"Nothing, Winston," the feminine voice responded through a silver electronic tablet. Athena was an artificial intelligence that Winston created, not only to act as his assistant, but also to keep him from losing his sanity. Most everyone knows that if you're alone for an extended period of time, isolated from contact with anybody, you can end up going nuts over your own thoughts. Winston had spent most of his time alone in his laboratory, and he thanked the gene therapy he had went through years ago for giving him his brilliance and his ability to speak and understand the English language to be able to create an AI with a human-like personality. It was the closest thing he could get to having company, since Lena Oxton wasn't around much.

"Well, she's probably just running late." Several monitors were glowing with different news, one of which was reporting a heavy snow storm landing in England, another indicating that the Overwatch recall Winston had initiated months earlier was still active. He paid no mind as he took a screwdriver and started twisting it in one of the holes on the device. "But I wonder what's keeping her..."

More time had elapsed. Still no sign of Lena. Winston tinkered around with the device some more before he went to the light switch in the laboratory. "Well, I guess there's no point in waiting. Here goes nothing!" He tapped the switch, causing the lights to illuminate the entire area in a nostalgic orange color. He changed from his full suit of armor to attire more akin to the holidays; a giant green sweater that seemed to fit snugly over his ape body, with the logo of Athena (which looks similar to the letter "A") printed in red horizontally in a pattern across the chest section and the middle part of the sleeves, and white sweatpants. He went to work decorating the place, clearing the table he was working on and putting a white cloth over it, setting red ribbons on each side and placing a hot turkey fresh out of the oven on it, as well as a few wine bottles, glasses, plates, and some silverware. He added a few bendable chairs and set Athena on a separate table, then added wreathes, decorated with lights, across the walls. Lena was supposed to help him with this, but since she wasn't here yet, he went ahead and did it himself.

After cleaning up the place, his laboratory looked like it was a five-star hotel. He watched the steam emit from the turkey before he walked over to a picture frame and looked at the photo encased within. It was him in his younger years, just a little over infancy, his head pressed against his beloved human caregiver, Dr. Harold Winston, who had his arm wrapped around the young ape, both smiling at the camera, although Winston looked a little more enthusiastic.

As he looked at the picture, the gorilla's mind flashed back to the times when he was at the Horizon Lunar Colony – a location in space designed for the renowned exploration of said world, where he was under the supervision of Harold. A group of genetically enhanced gorillas were sent there for experimentation – specifically, how long they could endure up there. Winston happened to be one of them. Being the curious young creature he was, he often glared through the window in his room, through space and at the blue sphere that's called Earth, and fascinated himself of the things he could do there. But like any child, he made his mistakes, like stealing Harold's glasses and using them for himself to look at the earth. Naturally, he was ashamed when his caregiver found out, yet he loved him for his patience in disciplining him, which usually involved some sort of trade, like Winston's favorite – peanut butter. He had never looked up to anyone so much in his life. Someone who actually cared, someone who actually had feelings, someone who actually loved.

Looking at the picture again, he noticed the glasses he was wearing.

The same glasses he was wearing today, some twenty years later. From the mentor whom he so proudly looked up to and named himself after.

Then there was the time when the gorillas led a revolt against the scientists, of which Winston would rather not recall. They ended up killing their caregivers and claimed the colony for their own. He was disgusted that they would take advantage of such caregivers, who only wanted what was best for them, and as such used his superhuman intelligence to his advantage to build a rocket and escape to the earth.

There he found himself in the company of Overwatch. This organization was everything Winston wanted and then some – to instill peace around the world.

Until Overwatch was torn apart.

Now he was in Gibraltar, located near Spain, at what used to be an Overwatch outpost, and made a laboratory out of it, still hopeful in his chances to bring Overwatch back to its good ol' days.

Yet the gorilla sighed as he wiped a hand over his black hair. "Holidays are supposed to be a time for friends and family. But I'm short on both now. Still," he pondered, "I can't help but wonder how everyone's doing..."

He let go of the frame and walked back to the table. "I think it's just you and me, Athena."

"Understood. Engaging party mode." A red holiday hat appeared on top of the Athena logo on the tablet screen, and snowflakes started to fall down the black background. The AI started playing holiday tunes softly throughout the laboratory. Winston, for some reason, chuckled.

"There's someone at the door, Winston."

The ape perked his ears up upon hearing the news and eagerly headed for the door. He tapped a button. The door opened and sure enough, there was Lena and her girlfriend Emily, both dressed up for the cold winter weather. Lena opened her arms wide, an enthusiastic smile on her face, Emily by her side also smiling and holding a round container.

"Sorry we're late, big guy! Shopping was murder!"

Winston said nothing as a big wave of happiness overtook himself. He grabbed both Lena and Emily with his wide ape arms and embraced them in a warm hug, happy as a clam that they finally arrived. He had almost lost hope.

They sat at the table after taking their coats off and began eating, talking away about their lives between mouthfuls of turkey. The container Emily brought was actually a chocolate cake for dessert. Lena had her chrono-accelerator – the device that kept her in the present – plugged in and charging, sitting some distance away from the group.

After some time, though, Lena started disappearing, then occasionally re-appearing before starting to vanish from thin air again.

"G-guys? What's going on?"

Both Emily and Winston were greatly puzzled and worried at the scene before them. Winston turned around from his seat.

The chrono-accelerator was no longer there.

"What? How in the -" Winston slammed his gorilla fist on the table, causing everything that was on it to jump. "Athena, where's Tracer's chrono-accelerator?"

"It should still be there by the set of stairs -" the monolithic voice began.

"It's not there anymore! Can't you see what's happening to her?" Winston looked on at the disappearing Lena with even greater fear, the only indication of knowing she was still there was the fork she was holding in the air. If the chrono-accelerator isn't on her or near her after a set amount of time, she may very well disappear forever.

"Winston! What are we going to do!" Lena cried, her voice crackling from her ghostly frame. Emily glared at Winston, fear also imminent in her crystal, almost red-like eyes, desperately hoping that he would have an answer.

That answer didn't take too long to arrive. It had to be, especially in a case like this.

"You're going to have to transport inside Emily!"

The idea sounded completely foreign to both girls, almost as if it sounded like a joke at a really bad time.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"No time to explain! Just do it while you still have what's left of the charge!"

Lena had to make a decision, quick. She was either going to have to disappear for extended periods of time, only momentarily appearing in the present, or follow through with Winston's insane order and hope for the best.

"It's okay, Lena, I'll be fine!" Emily chimed in, not really knowing what she was saying, only saying it just to make her hurry up.

A few moments had passed. A quick FWOOSH! sound was heard, and a blue aura had appeared where Lena was and then quickly vanished.

That was when Emily felt it. Felt it enter right into her gut.

Her pale white stomach only jutted out a little, though. She looked at her midriff and heard her stomach churn. She brought her hands over it, rubbed it ever so slowly.

"Lena! Are you in there?"

No response.

Emily looked up to see a sad, yet solemn Winston.

"She's alive, Emily. But she's going to have to go through the whole process of fertilization again." He hesitated before he spoke again. "You're going to give birth to her. As a baby."

Emily's eyes went wide with horror. The news she just heard, basically translated to her that Lena, the girlfriend she once had, was no longer going to be her girlfriend, that she was basically dead. She was going to be a mother to what used to be Lena. And now she was alone.

"You mean...I'm pregnant?"

Winston nodded.

She wanted to scream. So badly. Not only was her best friend gone, she was going to be a single mother. Not only this, but if she was out in public, people might think she cheated on her. Her heart almost stopped.

Fortunately for Winston, she took the wise course and instead took a deep breath. Then another one.

Then another one.

"It was the only way we can keep her alive," Winston said, "without having her teleporting all over the place. I'm going to have to make another accelerator in the meantime. And hopefully, we can make it fast forward her time to bring her back to the present, to her same age."

Emily was beyond relief when she heard that. Maybe she would get to see her girlfriend in the same time space as her after all. Maybe she wouldn't have to be a single mother. She let out another deep breath and looked at her slightly protruded stomach.

"So, you're saying she'll actually be my girlfriend again?"

Winston nodded again. "If we can the chrono-accelerator to do it."

While Emily examined her gut, thoughts flooded Winston's mind. If someone came into the facility, Athena would have warned him. But clearly the chrono-accelerator wasn't there anymore. Someone must have hacked and overridden the system.

Anger overtook the gorilla as his nostrils flared, piercing yellow eyes enough to strike fear into anybody, white fangs clearly shown off from his set of teeth, as he muttered under his breath, "Sombra."

To be continued...