I'll just go ahead and talk cause honestly I don't know if I'll ever get to Elena again since Howard has obviously moved on and Corey ended up with a mother that will do pretty much anything for him to insure he has a future.

First, as to why she attempted to reproduce: A Beta child was not a certainty. Corey very, very easily could have been an Alpha (which is a bit of a funny thing to think about for me - what ifs typically are, in terms of wondering what kind of person he would have ended up as. I like to think he'd end up just as kind and compassionate, and simply not be quite so helpless in the world. Of course, I'll also add a "...technically" at the end of the sentence that preceded this parenthetical. Contract will give a bit of a...depressing insight into a constant of him across universes). 

But anyway. I think that what really set this off for Elena was the first time she looked at her infant son, about the size of an M&M in her hand, and then looked outside at the world around her and noticed how truly unkind it still was to Betas and their prospects for a real future. Looked at her husband - someone she does consider her intellectual equal - and how for all his knowledge and skill, he'll never be taken seriously as a professional. Because he truly has nothing concrete to show that he put in the time and work to attain those skills. He has the Betas he's able to help, sure, but the professional community won't care. And she started considering what she wanted from a child of her's, what a child was to its parents. She decided that a child was a legacy, that the legacy she wanted was a child that could be truly successful because she was. She saw what her child was, saw what the world was, and saw what she felt a child should be. She concluded that her son would never be able to be what she wanted him to be.

And then completely failed to make a maternal connection because of it.  Because that's who she is now - A person who has succeeded in life, who has confidence (arrogance) and the respect of the world around her, who demands that her child be capable of the same status while being unwilling to sacrifice her time to make it a true possibility for him. The one thing that got me the most while writing this part, the thing that hit me with the most unease, was her complete refusal to acknowledge her son's attempts to gain her attentions. Toward the end, even as she starts to get emotional, as her eyes start to glisten, she doesn't spare him even the slightest showing of affection. Everything she has is for Howard, and Howard alone. When she talks about how she wishes things could have gone differently, she's talking about just one little number in the genetic lottery that resulted in her son being a Beta instead of an Alpha. One tiny little thing, but it ends up being the most important to her. Important enough for her part with the love of her life, to abandon him.

I'd like to agree with you, a bit, on how her life will end, even if she succeeds in getting the child she wanted. Because in the end, I think that she won't truly love any future husband of her's. Not really. That she'll always wish she had Howard instead, that her first son could have just been born as an Alpha so that she never would have made the decision that she did. And then she'll realize that it isn't her son's fault she abandoned him - that belongs to her; her weakness, her cynicism, her unwillingness to try to make a future for him. I think that Howard's last comment to her will be the truth - that she'll never forget what she did the day this chapter takes place. What she sacrificed for a "better" child, and just how objectively wrong her decision ended up being as the Omegas pushed though their schools and universities directly parallel to Corey's aging. He's even going to become a doctor before Alphas typically do.

I think that the Elena of the time Consequences takes place in and Abigail actually have something in common: They both like to drink.

They're step-siblings, Corey labels her as such is chapter four of Consequences. That said, it's a distinction that they place little weight on.

Heheh, yeah, I'm in kind of a dark mood right now I suppose! Maybe next chapter can be a little warmer.

Yup, things were definitely still not particularly good for Betas at this point in time. They had protectors, but the Alpha public did noooooooot care for any of it. I wouldn't say that Marion is the norm, though. By the time Consequences has rolled around, there is a whole new generation of Alphas who aren't used to being able to do whatever they want to a Beta, and a lot of any antagonism is coming from the influence of the older generations that very much pine for the world of their youth.

That's certainly an interesting analysis on Elena. What struck me, when writing this, was her saying that Howard is everything she could want as a partner: That is, he is wholly dedicated and dependent on her. He dedicated a lot time to helping her fix her self-esteem issues, helping her become a more confident woman. He bettered her, and she very much credits his influence for her success. But at some point, that confidence did become something a bit more. She needed further validation and satiation of her now more developed ego, and that manifested in her views of what a child is to its parents. I think Howard has it right when he says that her confidence became arrogance, and it was not a flattering change for her character. She really did become someone that stood in stark contrast to the compassionate girl he fell in love with. But that's my reading of it.

Thank you for reading, and for your comments.

He might have a little less time alone than you might think. Remember: From Abby's comments, she's the one waiting at the top of that elevator for him.

Hm. Just remember that there are four characters that I've featured in Consequences that can be considered someone's sister.

The bigger immediate issue is exams taking up so much of my time >_>

Ideally I'd like to get that new chapter of Consequences up first, maybe do another addition to this (likely an immediate followup to this first chapter), then do a Contract chapter. Time, unfortunately, is an issue.

Thank you for reading and reviewing :)

Whoops, I feel I may have presented the wrong idea: Betas themselves arent any more intelligent, though Howard certainly is a smart guy. The point being made in here is that once they actually have opportunities to learn and to make something of themselves, there really is nothing that separates them from the Alphas on an intellectual level. There won't be anything objective stopping them from being qualified for a lot of positions, or stopping them from being able to beat out Alphas for some of those positions.

Thank you. I really am glad to see that this little short has gotten the reactions I'd hoped it would.

I'll say that at the time presented in this part, the Omegas have gotten a good chunk of power for themselves but are still a bit limited. Democratic countries are actually their largest obstacle worldwide.

Glad you enjoyed the worldbuilding, I always enjoy putting it to paper, so to speak, even if I do so at a controlled trickle.