Author: Allia Rose
Rating: Um...I think PG-13
Summary: Tinga and Zack are leaving behind their old lives, including Max, but it seems that Tinga isn't quite ready to give up her sister.
Author's Notes: Ok, I'm trying something different. I'm more used to writing sappy schmuck, so this was kind of an experiment for me. Feedback (good or bad, but flames will be used to heat my freezing basement, where the computer is) would make my day!
Tinga looked at Zack questioningly, but he was staring at the road, the dash, anywhere but at her. She continued to stare in confusion, and he stubbornly set his jaw, refusing to meet her gaze, but she knew that he could feel her eyes, and would have to meet her silent query eventually.
Sure enough, he began to talk. "You could've argued with her until Lydecker showed up and dragged all three of us back to Wyoming, but she still would've insisted on going back to Seattle."
Tinga started to protest, "Lydecker knows where she is! She knows better than to--"
"Of course she knows! Do you think that matters? I put myself back in Manticore because I thought that she'd realize the danger, but look at where that got me!" Zack finally turned his head to meet Tinga's eyes. "She's learned nothing from all this."
Tinga was silent for a few moments, letting Zach's outburst sink in, before insisting, "She's my sister, I could have convinced her to come."
"Yeah, only for her to run back to him less than a day later! I've been through this! I put myself through hell for her, and how does she repay me? She runs back into his arms!"
Recognition dawned in Tinga's eyes. "Sounds like baby sister is in love."
This was obviously the wrong thing to say. Zack's jaw clamped and he glared fiercely at the road ahead of them. "And from the looks of it, she's not the only one."
Zack sat quietly for a few minutes, concentrating completely on the stretch of highway, before replying to Tinga's observation. His voice was soft, and devoid of the antagonistic edge he had had up until now. "I just wanted Max to see that I really care about her."
Although it took a lot of will power, Tinga wisely chose not to comment. They made the rest of the drive in silence, each contemplating the situation that their little sister had gotten herself into, and how they were going to survive it.
It was quite a few hours later before they stopped to rest on the other side of the Canadian border. They had ditched the stolen car on the American side, only to "pick up" another one as soon as they had gotten across. They checked into a dingy motel in the middle of nowhere, to spend what was left of the night. They could have found better, but each found the dreary dankness of the motel to be comforting, familiar. A life of running would do that to a person.
As Tinga flopped down, exhausted, on one of the filthy beds, she couldn't help thinking of Max. She would have insisted that they kept going all night and far into the next day. She was one of the few that didn't need to sleep. Although Tinga admitted that the modification would come in handy, she didn't know how Max went day to day without an outlet to escape to. Maybe that was why she felt the deep need to be loved and have a place where she belonged. Then again, each X-5 had it's own strengths and weaknesses, and maybe those were just Max's.
She looked over at the bed that Zack was lying on. He had his eyes closed and was completely still, but Tinga could hear from his breathing that he was still awake. Thinking about Max had brought another question back to the surface of her mind. She decided to bite the bullet and go for it.
"What was the first miracle?"
Zack's eyes snapped open, but he didn't move or look over at her. "What?"
"You told Max that she'd better hope miracles come in twos. What was the first miracle?"
"The last time I saw him," Zack emphasized the word "him" with a note of strong resentment, "he was in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. He wasn't ever supposed to walk again."
Tinga couldn't help but think that that little piece of information changed everything. She couldn't even fathom the idea of Max, strong, fast, capable, Max, putting her life in danger for a cripple. A man who couldn't help her, couldn't run, and could never really satisfy her as a whole man.
"What's his name?"
Zack finally snapped his head up, looking at her sternly. "Why do you want to know?"
"I just want to know everything I can about the man who knows everything about us and where we come from." 'And who is in love with our baby sister', Tinga added wordlessly.
"Logan. Logan Cale." These words were said with the same distaste.
"And how long has she known him?"
"At least a few months. He wasn't in the picture when I made one cycle, but by the time I got back to Seattle a few months later, she was hanging out at his apartment. I decided to stay for awhile, see what was going on, but she discovered who I was."
Tinga was shocked. "You mean you hadn't contacted her before? Didn't she have the number?"
"She's dangerous and reckless and never did anything that gave her the right to have the number. She would have put everyone at risk."
"So you let her grow up alone, not even knowing if we were alive?" Tinga was angry. She was the second oldest in the group, after Zack, and tended to be protective of her younger siblings.
"Look at what she's doing now, she might as well be suicidal! I couldn't allow her to kill everyone else out of her foolish need to have a family!" Zack sneered the last word, it was nearly as distasteful to him as Logan's name.
"And isn't that what we are? It's what we've always called each other, anyway!" Tinga was furious now, she got up off the bed and started pacing with restless anger. It was not in her nature to scream and throw things when she was angry, but she needed something to do to get rid of her excess energy. "Or maybe that's just been part of your act as commander, to keep us following you, even after all these years."
Zack was reaching her level of anger, and stood to meet her. "You think I don't care about you, all of my siblings? You don't know anything, do you?" His voice was steely cold, furious, as he looked her directly in the eyes.
Tinga glared back, seething. "You say that, and yet you've turned your back on one of us."
"Don't you ever dare accuse me of turning my back on Max. If anything, she's turned her back on us. I've spent all my time since the escape watching out for all of you. Running, fighting, lying. I've never been able to have a life of my own because you are my life! And don't you ever forget that." The look in Zack's eyes nearly floored Tinga. She could easily read, as well as the ever present anger, loneliness and desperation.
"Yeah?" asked Tinga softly, the combative edge in her voice gone.
"Yeah." he was just as quiet, almost asking for acceptance.
As she continued to look into his eyes, Tinga decided to take the leap and give him what he had been looking for for so long. She reached up and closed the slight distance between their mouths, taking Zack completely by surprise. It took him a few moments to realize what was going on, but was soon responding eagerly. He took control of the embrace, reaching up to remove the elastic confining her hair, and tangling his fingers in it. Tinga felt his tongue against her lips, asking for entrance, and she granted it, feeling drunk with desire as his tongue roughly stroked hers.
Suddenly, Tinga found her back slammed ungracefully against the filthy wall. She wrapped her arms more tightly around Zack's back and kissed him harder. Zack reached down and pulled her shirt over her head, dropping it in a heap on the floor. His hands moved quickly over her breasts, handling them roughly through her bra. Tinga moaned softly and started moving Zack in the direction of the bed. They collapsed onto it unceremoniously and Zack immediately moved, rolling on top of her. He began to take off his own shirt, and had to momentarily remove his hands and mouth from her. Tinga looked up at his face, and the familiar look in his eyes at that moment stopped her cold.
Pulling away quickly, and sliding herself out from under him, Tinga spoke. "You're pretending I'm Max, aren't you?"
Zack was breathless, and she could still see the desire coursing through him. He didn't answer.
"Listen. I can understand that you're hurting and need comfort, but I can't do this if you're just going to be picturing someone else. If you're going to fuck me, fuck me. Can you do that?"
Again, he didn't answer. Tinga shut her eyes in resignation for a moment, before reaching down to pick up her discarded shirt and putting it on. Wordlessly, she got up and stalked into the bathroom.
After spending nearly half an hour standing under the (thankfully!) hot spray of the shower, Tinga emerged to find Zack gone. She hadn't really been surprised, it was just like him to bail when things got too emotional. He had done his job, and gotten her out of the immediate danger, and now he was off to the next city to help the next X-5. Tinga began to move toward one of the beds, hoping to at least get a few hours of sleep before she would be off running again, when her attention was caught by a slip of paper lying on the dusty night stand.
There was simply a phone number, scrawled in Zach's writing, on the paper. The lack of any other message, or goodbye, spoke more about Zack than she ever could. 'Call if you're in trouble, and I'll be there. But until then, I don't want to even know that you exist.'
Tinga sighed. Despite her exhaustion, she knew that sleep would be a long time in coming.
Max had hastily scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her while they were in the car, making their getaway. She had forgotten about it until afterward, as she had been packing up her meager belongings, getting ready to move on to her next home. The note had a phone number, and the message, '-Max. PLEASE CALL'. Max was almost as telling as Zack was.
The phone rang once before a machine picked up. "You have reached the number you've dialed." Tinga instantly recognized Logan's voice, wincing slightly on Zack's behalf.
"Max. 607-555-5614. Don't call unless it's an emergency. He still doesn't trust you."
Tinga hung up the receiver and began to walk away. Max was still one of them, and she at least deserved the right to contact her siblings, reckless or not. And, from the look she had seen in his eyes as she had pushed him off of her, Zack wasn't ready to completely cut Max out of his life.
Smiling slightly, Tinga whispered to herself before she disappeared into the night.
"He may just thank me someday."
She stood at a pay phone, slip of paper in hand.
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