Reworking "Only Human"

Last night, while I was struggling to get to sleep, I think I may have figured out why I keep having problems whenever I try to work on Only Human, my long-planned Thorn Birds-inspired Helios/Chibi-Usa/Perle fic. You see, when I first began planning the story, I decided I would make it an alternate reality story in which Chibi-Usa never traveled to the present. I thought it would be easier not to have to deal with all the time-travel stuff and more fun to give everybody a clean slate, so to speak, but, honestly, it was actually making things harder, namely because it meant I had to write not only one, but two, "falling in love" parts (Helios and Chibi-Usa, of course, and Perle's one-sided love for Chibi-Usa). If you know me well, you know that I always have difficulties writing the "falling in love" part. It's why romance is always such a struggle for me to write. I have more fun writing about the "after" than the "before", but I usually try to build up my romances because I'm definitely not a believer in "love at first sight" either. (Lust, sure. Love? You gotta be kidding me.)

Well, anyway, back to last night. I got this idea: Instead of ignoring it, why not embrace the whole time-travel thing? In fact, why not use my own time-travel theory to my advantage? That way, I can kind of have it both ways. Using my theory, this would be a new future in which Chibi-Usa still never traveled to the present, but since there existed a past in which another version of her did travel to the present and the past cannot be changed, Helios and Perle would still have their memories of (and feelings for) her. Only Chibi-Usa wouldn't have those memories, but I'm thinking maybe I'll have her hit with some kind of deja vu thing in regards to her feelings for Helios. (So, kinda "love at first sight", but not exactly. *laughs* Really, it'll probably start out more like "lust at first sight", and develop it from there. I think I can handle writing one character's "falling in love" part. It was just the three of them together that was making things difficult.)

I'm also thinking maybe I'll have Perle and Chibi-Usa engaged right at the beginning of the story and have them in Elysion preparing for the wedding. Maybe even have Helios be giving them pre-marriage counseling, since, of course, he'll be the priest to marry them. (Ooo, delicious torture!) But I don't know... I'm not sure I can see Chibi-Usa being engaged to Perle without good reason. In the original plans, she marries him because she's pregnant with Helios' baby and she knows they can never be together, but why would she accept an engagement to Perle before she even "meets" her true love? I can't see Chbi-Usa settling for less than her Prince Charming if she thinks he's out there and available, and I don't think Usagi and Mamoru would ever force her to marry out of duty... Maybe she can think she's in love with Perle? Then again, I really liked how in my original plan Perle takes responsibility for the baby, even knowing that it's not his and that Chibi-Usa is in love with another man. Plus, if Chibi-Usa cheats on him during the engagement, she's not going to come off very well. Hmm... Maybe it could work if she confesses everything to Perle before the wedding? That's better than letting him marry her under false pretenses and believing Yumemi is his, right? But Perle finding out that Yumemi actually isn't his could be a yummy twist as well...

Oh, well, I'm just babbling now. *laughs* I'll have plenty of time to work out the kinks since I'm not going to start working on Only Human again until after I finish with Melting Ice.

Any thoughts? Hate it? Love it? Confused? (If you don't know about my time-travel theory, here's a link to the explanation.) I'd love to hear your opinions, especially concerning the possible Perle/Chibi-Usa engagement.