A/N; In the story, Biggs never got killed, he's still alive and Cece's mate.

And guys seriously 1 review for last chapter?...Don't be lazy *pouts*...I need to know if you want to read this...at the moment i have been kind of setting the whole thing up, you know giving background and family/nation details, but the actual real story is starting nxt chapter as this is a story of Cade, M/A's son, but with the family and nation playing a huge part...

Chapter 2 –

Max and Alec both walked into the command centre together, glaring daggers at each other. The transgenics in the command centre weren't surprised one bit as it was a daily occurrence anyway.

'I can't believe you let the girls miss school and go see Lyla instead.' Max shouted.

'Max, keep it down. God, you're so embarrassing.' Alec looked around at the transgenics apologetically. The transgenics were all looking at them with amused expressions and their ears perked up. Max had a habit of not giving a shit about who listened into her latest whine so she dismissed their interest.

'You asshole. You're sleeping on the couch tonight.' Max smiled triumphantly as if she had won a battle when she saw the panicked look on his face.

'Lyla is their best friend and she wasn't feeling well. So what if they miss one school day. They can catch up. They can ask one of the other kids what they missed. No big deal.' Alec reasoned, not liking the prospect of sleeping on the couch. Though, it certainly wouldn't be the first time if he had to.

'They might be all faking it. We are trangenics, Alec. We never feel ill. Even Cece, her own Mom, was saying she might be faking it.' Max scoffed.

'I know we don't get ill but the second generation kids feel ill sometimes. You know that Max. Last month, Lima got a stomach problem. And Mila's been sick a few times too.' Alec argued.

Max huffed and dismissed Alec. 'Whatever. I need to check out my schedule. I am going in the office.'

Alec followed her closely behind. They shared their office. It was big enough to fit many people if they ever needed to. The room had a huge wooden table in the centre with two comfortable arm-chairs behind it for the leaders. Other strategically placed cushioned chairs and couches sat near the table on both sides and a massive television screen was mounted up on the wall opposite them. They had state-of-the-art technological gadgets lining the table and shelves for communication and other purposes. It was their little luxurious hide-away from the rest of the world. And they were happy to share it. At first, they had shared because it had been good strategically to have them both working in the same place but as time went by it had become a home from home. They felt better when they had each other in their sights. The animal in them wouldn't rest otherwise.

After another bout of arguing over trivial stuff, they got to work and didn't realise how long they had been making calls and doing paperwork when a knock sounded on their door. They were brought back from their intense concentration on their workload when Mole barged in. He walked over to the couch on Alec's side and sat down, shoulders sagged.

'Princess, put the tele on, will ya?' He barked around his cigar.

Alec gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes at Mole's nickname for him and instead of doing what the lizard man instructed, he retorted, 'Something happen to your boob tube?'

'Alec, just put it on and tune into the news.' Mole replied seriously in a grave tone.

Alec and Max, both were taken aback by the sad and defeated expression marring the lizard man's face which was usually a pretty emotionless face. Alec quickly put the news channel on and immediately the screen filled up with images of inexplicable destruction. The news reporter began her story.

'You are listening to the Global News Network. Today's breaking news is one of utter devastation and tragedy. The transgenic Island nation of Scherzo has been swamped by a volcanic eruption. The lava is flooding the island. The nation was formed when some the transgenics had fled to European countries and then later were given recognition and human rights due to the efforts of the leaders of the other transgenic nation, Deania. Scherzo had been formed on a non-active volcanic island with no recorded history of eruptions, off the coast of Scandinavia. According to our latest reports the volcanic island erupted this morning at 8.45 GMT. The country which had a population of 271 transgenics, is fully emerged in lava as you just saw in the images. At last count, only 43 survivors have made it. They were rescued by boats nearby.' The reporter looked around and as in confirmation nodded her head. 'Now, we will be taking you to the Press Conference which is being held in Geneva. The President of the United Nations will be addressing the press and telling us about the current situation regarding the island and the survivors.'

The camera cut to an image of the disaster before the screen filled up with the set-up of a typical press conference. The President of the UN, Rafael Silva, looked around at the various media representatives and cameras and then began. 'Today, we are gathered here because a tragedy struck a nation close to our home. A nation who we had great relations with. A nation who was our friend.'

He gave a heartfelt sigh before continuing. 'Some of you will not treat it as a major catastrophe because I am aware that not all of you are accepting of the transgenics but please for a moment think before you decide that this didn't affect you. These transgenics were part of humanity and they shared the same aspirations, hopes and dreams as you and I. Today, the few survivors who remain have lost everything dear to them. Most have lost their family members but all have lost their homes. Tomorrow, there will be a one minute silence for those who lost their lives, who did not make it. This will take place at 8.45 GMT.' He paused and shuffled some papers on the table as he looked through them for something.

He looked up again after pausing for a moment as if reading something. 'As far as we know, we have rescued all survivors. We are sorry that it was only a small number but the volcano is still active so we can't go near it for full investigation. The survivors will be staying in our French facility until we hear from the leaders of Deania. We assume the CO and SIC will be happy to welcome the survivors into their nation.' The old man looked ahead as if trying to see Max and Alec through the camera. 'This meeting is dismissed.'

Alec grabbed the remote and switched the tele off. He looked over at Max and wasn't surprised when he saw a shocked look on her face and tears falling out of her chocolate brown eyes.

'Maxie?' He started softly. She looked at him and then wiped her tears before nodding.

'Alec, Mole, I'll make the calls. And I want you guys to gather as many boys as possible who don't have other jobs. That'll probably be the 15 to 16 yr olds who are in school because the older boys have jobs. I don't care if the boys miss school for a few days. I want you to split them up in groups of five. Preferably, send five groups. So, you'll need 25 high ranking boys for this job. Their mission will be the retrieval of the survivors. You two will brief these groups. Do I make myself clear?' Max plastered her military emotionless look on as she barked her orders.

Max was the highest ranking female and the strongest Alpha female in their nation as she had never encountered another female who had a higher status. But she knew there were many males who out-ranked her and would have questioned her authority if she wasn't Alec's mate. Although Alec was of the highest rank in the nation and The Alpha, he had never pulled his rank on her. She knew he didn't mind being her SIC because it meant he had her back and no male could question Alec.

'You mean we should send the second generation transgenics for the mission.' Alec asked surprised and when Max nodded, he raised his eyebrow questioningly. 'Really? I know we have been training all the kids in case of an emergency but how will we know who should be the CO to each group. I have only had them trained in the situations where they would have us adults with them. We can't send them alone.' Alec argued.

'Pretty boy's right, Max. I should go with them. Or I'll send some of our older transgenics.' Mole puffed out the smoke of his cigar making swirling patterns with it.

'We won't need to decide on who should act as CO. We'll tell them to go with their instincts and let them rank themselves according to who is more Alpha than others. It'll work out.' Max crossed her legs at her ankles after placing them on top of Alec's as the touch gave her comfort.

'Yeah, you're right. That will work. They will be able to tell who is more Alpha than them. Okay, I'll round the kids up and I'll call you Alec when it's time for briefing. When are we sending them?' Mole got up to leave.

'We'll send them out tomorrow morning. It takes really long to get to Europe from here. And they'll have to be driven to Sydney first because they can't fly out of here. That does remind me, Max, we need a plane and something which can resemble a mini-airport.' Alec said looking at her and placing a hand on her leg for comfort.

'Right.' Mole muttered and rolled his eyes at his leaders' display of affection for each other. He was about to let himself out when something occurred to him. 'You guys do realise that Cade might need to go?' Mole saw Max's mouth form an 'O', but Alec just nodded.

'Does he have to go?' Max asked wide eyed.

'Well, Maxie, we can't expect to send other transgenics' kids and not our own. It's not right to do that. Cade has to go. He's our son. He's well trained. He'll be okay. Trust me.' Alec gave Max a reassuring smile and she nodded in response.

A couple of hours later, Max and Alec made their way home with their daughters following them. They had picked them up from Cece's home, on the way from command. The girls had protested but Max had said that they needed to see off their brother. Alec and Mole had already briefed the chosen 25 boys. There really hadn't been many to choose from anyway. They only had 31 boys of that age range who didn't have jobs and went to school. Alec had decided to assign the remaining 6 boys the task of handling communications and organising the others for the mission. It had been crucial as the 6 boys had started arguing about their desire to be of use. And Alec had thought it would keep them out of trouble and out of his way.

Cade was already at home watching tele. The kid practically jumped in excitement when he heard the rest of the family come in. 'Mom, did you hear? I'm going on my first mission.' He gave her a hug and a kiss.

'Yeah, it was my idea.' Max ruffled her son's hair affectionately as he grinned. It always amazed Max to think how much their kids looked like her and Alec. Cade looked exactly like Alec but with dark brown hair and honey-coloured skin like hers. And her daughters looked exactly like her but had their Dad's eyes and his complexion. Max was glad she had a fine specimen of a mate, at least her kids turned out to be good looking and intelligent. Hell, she should probably thank Manticore for that. That thought was enough for Max to mentally kick herself and tune back in to what was happening around her.

Max noticed Alec had already moved into the kitchen and was cooking something with Mila and Lima sitting on the kitchen counter on either side of him. Mila was talking a mile a minute and Lima was chiming in every now and then to argue a point with her. Alec looked amused by his daughters' antics. Cade had gone back to watching tele. Max walked over to the couch and sat down beside Cade. She looked over at Alec and he looked back at her smiling when he felt her eyes on him. 'You need any help, Alec?' She asked, already knowing the answer. She wasn't good at cooking anyway, that's why Alec cooked most of the time.

'Nah, Maxie. I've got my girls helping me.' Alec rolled his eyes when his daughters giggled at his sarcastic comment.

After dinner that night, all the family sat together watching the news on tele. They were hoping to hear more about the eruption.

When it was bedtime for Mila and Lima, Mila got up and trudged over to her big brother. She sat herself down in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Nuzzling his neck to fill his scent in her senses, she kissed his cheek. Giving him a final hug, she got up. 'Please be careful, okay. I love you.' She walked over to her parents and hugged and kissed them good night before leaving to go to bed.

Cade was surprised and taken aback by the show of affection from Mila and he wasn't the only one. Seeing the surprised looks on his family's faces it was obvious that they were as shocked as he was. Everyone knew their sibling dynamics. Although he loved both his sisters equally, he and Mila didn't get along and were usually found fighting and arguing with each other. Their fighting was common knowledge. His other little sister, Lima, on the other hand, did get along with him. But today Mila had changed his opinion of her. At the mention of him leaving for the mission, Lima had seemed fine, going as far as to say she wanted some presents from France if he could get them but Mila had looked panicked and sad.