One Last Chance

"You're just such a cute little baby. You know that? Did you come to help Granny with her work? Huh?"

"Ah, Valencia. Your ability with children never ceases to amaze me."

The woman's blood ran cold as the voice hit her ears. Glancing behind her, she wasn't shocked to find Jeb standing in the doorway of the laboratory.

"What are you doing here, Jeb?"

"You know since Max has had the child she's been more…lenient with me."

"The hormones, I think," Valencia said then, shaking her head. "You know you shouldn't take advantage."

"Me? Take advantage of someone? Never."

"Jeb-"

"So this is the offspring? Hn." He came further into the lab, staring at the child. She was all wrapped up in a baby blanket, settled in one of those baby carriers. "Where'd they get this?"

"Last time Fang left the island, he picked up a few baby things. When Max was first pregnant."

"I haven't seen it up close before," Jeb said, coming closer still. He just stared down at the little baby, who was mewling softly. "Not at all actually."

"She, Jeb. And I don't think Max wants you around her."

"I wish it had been a boy," he said simply.

"You wanted Max to be a boy as well if I recall."

"I did," he agreed, staring down at his granddaughter. "It would have been easier to get her to procreate for us when the time came for that, had she been male. None of that motherly attachment, no love at all. Just have him fuck experiments at will, get what we needed while he got what he needed." The man laughed slightly without a hint of humor. "Alls well that ends well, yes?"

"Mmm." Valencia shook her head when he moved to touch the child. "I don't think-"

"I'm not going to hurt her," he assured the woman, stroking the baby's cheek gently. "Wings?"

"You don't know?"

"Max has made sure I know nothing about her life. I didn't know until she was seven months along that she even was pregnant." He snorted. "And on such a little island too."

"She resents you."

"I made her. Literally and figuratively."

"Either way, Fang's the father and he's made it very clear that you are to have no contact with the baby. If he finds out about this-"

"He and Max are preoccupied, no? That's why you're taking care of her, yes?" Jeb smiled when the baby yawned before closing her eyes. "We're fine."

"I do not understand what sort of enjoyment you are getting from this."

"And what enjoyment were you getting, Valencia?"

"This is my first grandchild. My granddaughter-"

"Same as me."

"Oh, Jeb. You never had a parental bone in your body."

He kept stroking the baby's cheek, smiling at it. "You know what they say. Horrible parents make great grandparents. They mellow out by that time. Are more loveable."

"You can't be more of something you never were."

"Oh, don't feel bad, Valencia. It's only natural you would have been attracted to me in those days. Your superior."

"Don't you-"

"And I would have liked to have kept you on the side, had you not gotten so jealous when that woman had my son. Ari. He wasn't nearly as important to me as Max anyways." He laughed then, a dark one. "That other child you have, Ella is it? If she had been mine…well, she wouldn't be the boring human she is now. She'd be part avian. Just like Max. She could have been something."

"My daughter is something. Both my daughters are."

"Yes, well, delusions are best left for mothers." He finally removed his hand from the baby's cheek, causing it to cry. Before Valencia could get her, he picked the baby up, cradling her in his arms.

"Wings," Jeb whispered. "I can feel them."

"Give her to me."

"No." He stared down at the baby, amazed with her. "She'll be much to this world. Regrettably, I wish it had been Dylan's sperm, but no matter. Just being of Max's body is enough for me. I-"

"Give her to me now." Valencia almost snatched the baby from her, flashing back for a moment to the old days. How different would life have been had she taken Max with her when she left? Fang and Iggy too? Then what would have happened to the other three, when they came later, without their fearless leader? Had she done the right thing? How would she ever know?

"You're just as bad as me," Jeb told her then, angry. "You hurt Max too. I have just as much a right to this child as you do."

"No, you don't." She turned away from him slightly, looking down at their granddaughter. "I won't let you hurt her."

"We could have had so much, Valencia," he whispered then, coming up behind her to look over her shoulder at the child. "We could have done so much. If only you hadn't gotten so jealous-"

"You honestly believe that's all it was? We were killing children, Jeb! Mutilating their bodies. Ruining lives. And for what? So you could play daddy to children with wings?"

"No," he said slowly. "For the better of the whole world."

"Yeah. This is so much better. Island life. A vacation everyday of your life." She snorted. "You told me, Jeb, that we would be saving the world. I believed you."

"We made something great, Valencia. But you let your emotions get in the way of what was best." He snorted. "What should I have expected? Getting involved with a woman, they'll screw you in the end."

"So I left, big deal. You-"

"Not you," he said, shaking his head as he took a step back, away from her and the child. "That woman. The one I fathered Ari with. God. She just left me with that…runt. Then told you about it."

"She was younger than me. She thought she was in love." It was Valencia's turn to laugh. "She thought you were in love."

"Just like a woman. All the same."

"No," Dr. Martinez said then, sighing. "I never once thought you loved me."

"I know. You were sleeping with that other man. Ella's father."

"You didn't care."

"Not in the slightest."

"Maybe that's our curse, Jeb, not caring." She looked down at the baby in her arms, smiling softly. "If you recall, Jeb, I left Max years before Ari was even born."

"I recall. But I also recall you hanging around the Schools, other Schools, until he was born. Keeping tabs. What you were best at."

"You were right about one thing. Mother's care. Always."

"Not always. That woman left Ari rather easily."

"…What happened to her? She was so young. In her twenties, was she not?"

Jeb chuckled slightly. "I wouldn't know."

"There are few people I feel sorrier for than your boy. Ari."

"Don't. He was a terrible soul."

"You made him that way."

"Max was my only concern. And Angel. The others? Just toys. Ari was a complication with no benefit. Truly useless."

"And you think that you'll make good grandfather?"

"I've mellowed."

"You're still just as heartless as ever."

"I've never denied it."

Valencia shook her head. "You've never loved anyone other than yourself."

"And I never will."

"Dr. Martinez, do you have Drew- Hey!" Fang quickly came into the lab/cave, a glare on his usually impassive face. Quickly crossing the room, he snatched his baby from her grandmother, making the baby cry out again.

"'Fang, you must be gentle with-"

"I told you that he is not allowed around my child." He kept his eyes on the man in question as he kissed his baby's head gently, in a poor attempt as soothing her. He was still new at this baby thing and, obviously, wasn't very good at it yet.

Still, he had far more passion for his daughter than Jeb ever had for his, or so the older man observed. Jeb was in love with what Max could do for him, the power she could bring him. Fang just loved his daughter. Period. It was rather shocking to Jeb too, considering the man's usual demeanor. Not to mention, the child was only a couple months old. How could he have already forged a bond with her so quickly? It seemed unlikely, but the way he was holding her… Why was it that Fang could love something with no abandon, yet Jeb couldn't?

Jeb grew up with a family. A mother and a father. Brothers. A sister. Aunts and uncles. Love from all sides. Yet Fang grew up in a cold, dank place where all he ever received was pain. Torture. All the agony and anguish he suffered should have led him to a future of broken relationships and ultimate misery. He had no one in his life to teach him how to be a man, to be a father. He just knew.

It wasn't fair.

"Believe me, boy, the good doctor here tried to get me to leave." Jeb smiled at Valencia who quickly looked away. "Drew is the baby's name, then?"

"That's none of your business." Fang shifted the baby in his arms before looked to Valencia. "This is not to happen again. If it does, I'll be forced to tell Max about it."

"I understand. I'm sorry."

"Don't be that way, boy." Jeb smiled brightly, hoping to get Fang to respond somehow. He just kissed his daughter's head once more before turning and walking away.

"He left the little baby carrier," the man pointed out, nodding at the counter.

"He won't need it. I think he just got worked up, seeing you here. I'll return it to one of the Flock tonight. Max more than likely."

"Max. Hmmm." Jeb rocked on his feet, his hands clasped behind his back now. "Drew, huh? That's a male name, is it not?"

"Max named her."

"I suppose she doesn't fair much better in that department."

"What do you want, Jeb?"

He thought about his little granddaughter, with her dark hair and dark eyes. All traits of her father. Max didn't resemble Jeb in the slightest. Then again, he didn't even claim her for the longest time. And now she doesn't claim him.

"I got what I wanted," Jeb told her, knowing he'd attempt to see the child again, another day. Drew. He'd seek Drew out, another time. Maybe eventually he'd work his way up to babysitting. Max couldn't expect him to stay away forever.

"There has to be grandparents rights or something," Jeb muttered to himself, walking deeper into the cavernous system of tunnels down below. "It's not fair for them to think I should never get to see her. A second chance. Yes. …Or third, I suppose, considering Ari. Just one more try. One last chance. This time will be different. I can love someone. I can. I can love someone. If Fang can, I can."

Couldn't he?

My timeline about Ari's birth and Dr. Martinez leaving the School might have been a little off, but hey, that's what this site is for, right?