A/N: Okay, so here's the fourth chapter! I hope you enjoy. And don't forget to review, beloved readers! It let's me know if the story is good enough.
Chapter 4-
The days wore on, and Ace and I settled into life with the Flock, Dr. Martinez, and her human daughter, Ella. In a couple days the rest of the flock found out what was going on with me. Then there was much fussing, and gushing (especially from Nudge) and hovering. I got to the point that I had to chill and dump water on Nudge, Angel, and Ella saying that I didn't know if the twins were girls or boys yet, and no I didn't want to name them until I found that out. I was also just planning on winging it and naming them on the spot once they were born. Crossing my arms over my chest and leaning my forehead on my fingertips I said, keeping my eyes closed, "Look. I'm sixteen. I'm more worried about being able to eat enough to keep myself alive, than I am with a bunch of letters and sounds. Oh, and on top of that, I have to keep from having an anxiety attack! Too much stress isn't good for me or the twins, comprende?"
"Oh…" Nudge said, looking sheepish like the other two culprits next to her. Then they were shivering from the air conditioning that was blowing on them.
Angel looked up at me pitifully, shaking from the cold. I sighed gustily. Then I warmed the water on them and called every last drop back from their clothes letting it disperse into the air. Walking out of the room I had been in, I walked directly into Fang. I looked up at him.
"Pardon me, tall, dark, and silent. I'm off to go get away from Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee, and the Cheshire Cat. You think Blaze'll actually let me fly around for a while?" I lifted a dark eyebrow questioning.
He looked down at me and his mouth quirked fractionally to the side. "Um, probably not, Saph." I nodded pursing my lips.
I put in, "You're right. As over-protective as he is? I ask him if I can fly, or go on my own, he'll try and take all the fun out of it by carrying me the entire time. Huh…" I tapped his shoulder twice. "Thanks for the input big guy. You're pretty talkative today. Glad we could have this little chat. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a box of Cheez-Its." I nodded, winking, and smirking, only slightly, as he had. We were similar. He was quieter than I, but we had hit it off all the same. Neither of us liked to show emotion, and both of us kept logic and emotion separate from each other. He understood me and I him. Simple people, simple actions. We weren't that complicated.
I did just as I said I would, moving to the kitchen and grabbing the Cheez-Its. Taking the Cheez-Its with me, I walked outside and into the woods behind the house. I sat with my back to the house against the tree and looked at the sky, munching the little cheese crackers. Soon I closed my eyes and sat the box of crackers down, one hand on my stomach which was about an eighth of an inch wider after four days of living with Dr. Martinez. The woman was a saint, I swear. She took me and Blaze shopping, and let us stay with her in her loft upstairs. I couldn't believe that someone could be so kind, not asking many questions, just doing. We'd gotten lucky as all hell.
Of course, my good luck just had to end somewhere, didn't it?
I heard a snap and a growl. I spread my thoughts and found that the minds around me were feral, hungry, malicious and completely bent on retrieving me. I gasped and stood up, then climbed the tree behind me. I leapt to the air and quickly caught a wind as I reached the top, just as a strong hand grabbed my ankle. I screamed and kicked at him, sending ice shards at his face. The eraser screamed, letting go of me. I soared up and away from the house casting about with my thoughts to the house.
Get the hell out of the house! There're erasers all over the place. They're after me, but that means nothing if they've been after you since you escaped.
I felt affirmation. The Flock and Blaze were flying away from the Erasers. Then Angel spoke to me from her point behind me. Blaze wants you to loop back around toward him or wait for him. And he wants you to contact him.
I did so and practically fell under mental pain from the volume of Blaze's thoughts. God! Blaze I'm fine! Just, hurry! If they come after me, there isn't much I can do.
Why the hell were you out on your own? You should have been here where I could protect you!
Why? So I can be smothered and stressed? I don't think so. I needed some space. And I would have left anyway so I didn't lead the erasers directly to the house. Hurry up. I was getting tired. Since I realized what the lab lackeys had done, I also realized I hadn't been sleeping as well. It's been gradually getting worse. So resting and sleep? Not easy for me. Added weight didn't help when flying, either. I was anxious, too, so, I did what I usually did, and rubbed my stomach.
Suddenly I felt a grunt and arms go around my middle. I screamed and thrashed, hearing a hiss of pain. Then, "Ow! Saph, it's me, it's okay. Jesus. Put your wings back." I complied and he carried me bride style. "Max, Fang, and Iggy were scouting the attack area, and Nudge, Angel, and the Gasman were coming this way. And… oh there they are. Let's go." Blaze sped up and flew above the youngest three members of the Flock. Ella had left for a friend's house after I had gone outside.
"Okay… so… What do we do now?" I looked at Blaze.
He bit his lip, frowning. "Wait for Max, Fang and Iggy to come back here." He paused, red-hazel eyes looking behind him.
I grabbed his chin, directing Blaze's eyes back to my face. "They need help. Otherwise they would have been here by now. I am not going to just sit and wait here while they risk their lives. We have elemental manipulation on our side, they don't. Think about it, Blaze. Are you really being smart?"
"Yes. I'm not letting you go down there. There's always the chance they can capture you and high tail it. I'm not taking that chance, Saph."
I rolled my eyes. "Let me go. I'm going whether you like it or not."
"No."
"Blaze! I don't have time for this! They don't either! Not let me the hell go, so I can do something and not feel useless," I yelled, fuming. "Don't make me do it."
He narrowed his eyes at me. "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me, pyro." I chilled my hands while pushing against his stomach. It was his weak spot against me. It was where he got his core of heat from. One blast of cold would shock him, and he'd drop me.
"Fine!" He let me go easy, and I swooped back to the sounds of fighting, telling Angel to tell Gazzy and Nudge to stay and wait with her. I dropped through the trees, shooting ice shards at the visible erasers. Blaze did the same with flames.
I sat on a high tree branch and surveyed what was going on. Max was fighting two, Iggy was fighting three, no, make that two, one just dropped, and Fang was fighting three. One was coming up behind Fang, though. Some manipulation and bodily fluid freezing later, Fang was helping Max, and Blaze was helping Iggy. I focused on taking out erasers until one that I hadn't seen grabbed my leg and attempted to pull me out of my perch. What was it with erasers and my legs today?!
I kicked at the wolf-man's face and forced the blood in his veins to all rush to his head, away from his heart and lungs. Without blood in his tissues, he couldn't function. Then he fell from the tree, and cracked his head on a rock, dizzy from too much blood in the brain.
There weren't any erasers in sight, and I asked everyone how they were with my thoughts before checking my mental radar for any more erasers that were in hiding. Seeing none, I motioned the rest of our little combat team up and away.
Max and Fang led the way to a cave on a mountain not far away. We stayed there for a while hiding, resting, whatever.
"Is everyone alright?" Max asked. Everyone nodded, but I wasn't paying much attention. I was thinking about things. Staring out at the red rock below us I lost all connection with the world, except my thoughts.
I couldn't impose on the Flock and Dr. Martinez and Ella. Not after that, if they knew where we were, then they would keep coming after us, and I'd led the erasers right to the people who'd been so kind. I wouldn't be the cause of the end of their happiness. I'd come back every so often for checkups with Dr. Martinez, but that was it. I was going to take Blaze and leave. If I had the twins in the wild, so be it, but I wasn't going to drag the Flock back into the thick of the world they'd escaped. I sounded like a broken record, even in my own inner monologue, but that's what I decided.
I was tempted to just drag Blaze out of the cave right now, and fly away, but I couldn't do that. I'd make sure the Flock got back safe, I'd grab our packs and some clothes, then I'd get out of dodge.
A small hand touched my arm. I looked down to see Angel. She looked on the verge of tears. She moved the hand to my belly. She stared up at me with her blue eyes. And mentally she begged, Please don't go Saph. We'll miss you. I'll miss you. We want to meet the twins. And we'll miss Blaze too. Don't leave. You just got here! The little girl hugged me tightly, and I held her. The first tear spilled over, and it was like the flood gates opening.
Sweetie, I don't really want to but I have to. And I need Blaze to come with me. We'll come back and visit, don't worry bu--
"Angel? Saph? What's wrong?" Max looked at us worriedly. Crap… I didn't want to have to deal with this now.
Angel looked at Max tearfully and said, "Saph thinks she has to go. She thinks that if she stays she'll put us in danger. That… that she'll ruin things for us. But… I don't want her and Blaze to go."
The Flock and Blaze stared at me. Sad and incredulous gazes on Nudge and the Gasman, and an unhappy one on Iggy's to a slightly confused, possibly angry one on Max's. Fang was actually showing emotion and it didn't look happy. Blaze looked at me, a bit confused. I smiled apologetically.
Still hugging Angel, I looked at Max as she said, "She's right Angel, her being here does put us in danger but we can't let them leave." Max's steeled brown eyes met mine. "Sapphire, you can't just up and walk out. What will you do when the twins are born? What happens if you have to give birth alone in the wild, with only Blaze to protect you? No. You aren't leaving. It's out of the question. You may have only been here for a week, but you're like family, now, already. And we don't let family leave. At least not anymore." She glanced sourly at Fang who rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, Saph. We like having you guys around. Blaze heats food up better than a microwave! And I haven't seen an explosion like that since we set off that bomb back at the old house in Colorado!" Gazzy put in. He and Iggy had taken Blaze out for some explosive testing somewhere secluded. Blaze smiled at that.
Nudge put in, "And we want to meet the twins! I mean, like, they're going to be so cute! And what if they have elemental powers, too? That would be so cool, and you could use the help! And even though you can get kind of mad and stuff, you're a lot of fun to play darts with. You can keep the ice cream cold, too!"
Iggy put in, "Who's going to be the living refrigerator, and microwave/detonator if you guys leave?"
I sighed still a bit unconvinced. I couldn't argue with Max's logic, though. If I did end up having the twins, and erasers attacked us, we'd be toast. And I really didn't think we'd be able to defend ourselves on our own.
My face was a mask. I knew it for a fact. Yet Fang still pointed out. "She's giving in. They're going to stay."
I looked at him. "I do have a voice you know, Fang. I can tell people what I will and won't be doing, you know." He just shrugged.
Blaze touched my shoulder. "So we are staying, Miss I'll-Decide-What-We-Do-Without-Telling-Blaze?"
"Hey, I was going to ask you about it, but little Miss Psychic intruded on my inner monologues." Pointing out Angel, who had stopped crying and was still hugging me, Blaze nodded in understanding. Angel wiped her eyes and sniffed. She looked at me. Hope dawned in the little bird-girl's eyes.
"So you really aren't leaving?" I nodded. "Yay!" Angel hugged me the tension dissipated in the cave. So this is what it was like to have a family. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved, or annoyed that I could no longer decide things and go with it.
I felt like this sufficiently summed up my future life at the moment: Take out all freedom and ability to decide for self. Add a whole lot of domestic life, a dab of chaos, and don't forget to liberally add in the crazy science corporation bent on kidnapping pregnant bird kid and friends for experimentation. Sounds great, right?
