Family Ties

So there Erica Jade sat, looking over her sister's shoulder to the place where the portrait of all three sisters sat on the fireplace. It was one of those family pictures that made everyone look like they could actually stand the sight of each other, but in reality, they were all squirming and wishing they were elsewhere at that moment. Jade could distinctly remember not wanting to take the picture; both of her sisters were getting on her nerves that day and she should have been in the lab instead of pretending to be happy with them. Her eyes settled on Nina, who at thirteen was just beginning to NOT like being around her sisters. Up until age thirteen, Jade couldn't have shaken Nina if she had tried. They were practically tied at the hip even though they were two years apart in age. But a couple of months back, Nina had traded in admiration for Jade and turned it into a dangerous obsession to be around Kiana.

"You killed her," Jade said weakly. She still hadn't cried; she had no intention of giving Kiana the satisfaction of seeing how desperately she hated her for Nina's death.

"Why would you assume that?" Kiana asked dryly, not even blinking at the accusation from her little sister. "Nina was in an accident…"

"What kind of accident?" Jade questioned immediately.

"The kind that you die from I supposed," Kiana said still looking her sister directly in the eyes. She knew that more than anything, Jade wanted to believe her, even trust her; but the fact that she had entangled herself with known gang members made trust impossible for Jade. "What happened to Nina was not my fault…I'm just as upset as you are, Jade."

Jade smirked. "Whatever," she stood and was ready to leave before Kiana grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Out," Jade jerked back her wrist. "Does that bother you all of a sudden?"

"We should be processing this as a family," Kiana offered after a few seconds passed between them.

"We're not family…we are stuck with each other until I move far far away…"

Kiana stared at her sister, but refused to let this comment upset her. "Why were you at the police station?" she questioned as if she didn't already know.

"They picked me up from the lab…something about my experiments being used for evil…" Jade shrugged as if this wasn't something unusual.

"You weren't thinking about telling them anything were you, Jade?"

"What could I possibly tell the cops?" Jade managed to smile innocently. "I don't know anything."

"Well…they say ignorance is B-L-I-S-S, Jade." The statement sounded more like a warning than anything else. Kiana stood up too and walked in front of Jade. "I'll expect you home tonight…"

"You're actually going to leave here? You practically live with Alex now…"

"I'll be home tonight, Jade. And you better be there too…" Kiana repeated this time a bit more firmly.

"Your wish is my command," Jade said flippantly.

"Listen…don't test me, Jade." Kiana outright warned this time. "You want to stay blissful, don't you…" she kissed her sister on the forehead and patted her on the back.

"What if I do?" Jade couldn't help poking the bear that was her sister.

Kiana laughed without any real humor. "Jade, if I am as horrible as you think I am … let's just say, I actually loved Nina…what do you think will happen to you?" she headed to the front door and opened it for Jade. As Jade passed Kiana, she knew that her time of actually being safe around her sister was very limited. Kiana waited until Jade was outside and the door was closed behind her before making a phone call. "Yeah Alex…send whoever…I don't trust my sister to keep her mouth shut. Tell them to do their worse…but keep her alive. She can make this thing work."


Erica Jade's bed was hell to sleep on, but at the end of the day, that wasn't really important. Yes, she was probably killing her back at the tender age of 15, but the bed was heavy and clunky and no one would think to move the damn thing to get the floorboards underneath it. Jade held back tears as she tried once again to push the damn thing towards the wall and was stopped by the sheering pain coursing through her ribcage and wrapping around to her back. She tried desperately not to vomit from the pain, and the fact that she was almost positive that her lungs could be filling with fluid.

Her sister had done her in…Kiana Reyes was the only person diabolical enough to call a "mild hit" on her sister, and have her beat up just enough to send a warning. Jade had gotten maybe a mile down the road away from Alex's home before four or five of his gang members confronted her. Her first instincts was to run…she was fast and crafty, but Alex's gang members weren't much on talking. They had almost immediately swung on her, and things had gotten progressive worse from that point. Still, they had stopped, after numerous kicks to the ribs when she was down and one girl who took distinct pleasure in punching her in the face.

So Jade knew what she had to do, which was why she was trying to move the heaviest bed ever. Jade pressed her back against the headboard one last time and got the final push she needed. "Perfect," she sputtered, wishing the pain in her body would subside. She lifted the third board from the wall and pulled out a small Beretta handgun. She pulled out the clip and made sure that it was fully loaded. She wouldn't be jumped again, she decided that moment. She was willing to do… her chain of thought was stopped by a pounding on the door. She stopped for a moment, deciding to put the gun back. It was probably some of Kiana's assholes, and as much as she wanted to shoot a few in the face right now, it would be a bad move at this point.

Jade stood, which took more energy and effort than it should have and almost dragged her body into the living room. "Who is it?" she asked weakly, even though she had pulled one of the kitchen table chairs to the door to stand on to look through the peephole. "Shit," she moaned, seeing the cop from before.

"It's Gail," the cop answered as if she wasn't a cop. Jade pushed the chair back and opened the door with the chain still on the door. She peeked around the door.

"What do you want?" she wanted to sound brash, but it came out as a weak gargled sound.

"Open the door, Jade," Gail implored lightly.

Jade looked at her through the slit in the door for a moment and then backed up to unchain the door. "You are going to get yourself killed in this neighborhood," Jade tried to sound menacing.

"Are you serious?" Gail countered. "This is nicer than my neighborhood," Gail informed her about the middle-class neighborhood Jade lived in. "May I come in?"

"Why?" Jade asked, always suspicious when people were nice to her.

"Jade…" Gail said lightly. "I'm sorry about your sister…"

Jade watched Gail for a moment before opening the door. "Why do you care?"

"Because no one should find out terrible news like that…" Gail said sadly. She couldn't explain how bad she felt about the situation, but she knew how important it was apologize. "Can I come in?" she asked again. Jade nodded her head, and moved to the side this time. "I'm so sorry, Jade," Gail said again. Coming closer to the girl, she paused for a moment, "Jade, what happened to your face?" Gail questioned with a strike of fury racing through her veins.

"Long story…" Jade offered unconvincingly. It wasn't a long story, her sister had set up her up to take an ass whupping, but no matter what, Jade knew better than to tell a cop that.

"Long story?" Gail said, the fury building a little more. Anyone who would touch a kid was trash, even worse than trash actually, and she wouldn't tolerate it. "I have time…"

Jade moved past her and waved her hand…"Doesn't matter," Jade clenched her teeth trying not to cry out in pain. "Can I ask you a question?" Gail nodded yes. "What happened to my sister?"

"I can't answer that Jade," Gail said regrettably. "It's official police business…." Jade plopped down on a nearby chair and Gail came closer to Jade to examine her face. The side of her lip and her right eye and cheek was beginning to swell.

"Tell me who hit you…"

"It's irrelevant… I don't even know their names…" Jade said honestly. She rested her head on the headrest. Jade wanted to tell Gail the truth. She felt like she could trust Gail, but at the same time, she knew better than to cross her sister too much.

"Then why did someone want to hit you?"

"When someone thinks you know something you don't …you become a liability," Jade said absently. Jade touched her eye and realized it was become heavy and closing up. "I need ice," she said standing with a little too much effort. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out a bag of frozen peas. Feeling the weight of her eye closed, a tender disgust with herself began sinking in. She was protecting the assholes who had beat her and played a big part in her little sister's death. She stared at Gail for a moment before saying, "The Brixton Crew…they did this. They think I know something I don't know." It was partly true, because her sister was as much Brixton Crew as her boyfriend at this point. And Kiana had had her beaten because she assumed she knew exactly what happened to Nina and now was poised to tell the cops.

"How do you know the Brixton Crew?"

"My sister is dating Miguel Alexander Ortiz…"

"Who is that?"

"A dude that is in over his head, but my sister would do anything to provide him a solution; even it means trying to transport drugs through my vessels." Jade was a smart kid, perhaps too smart for her own good. "I've been gone for a week …and when I got home my prototypes were missing and today you showed up. I don't believe in coincidences."

"You shouldn't," Gail agreed.

"So should I assume that Nina sold me out? Because she's the only one that knew where I kept them," it was a bitter realization that maybe her sister wasn't just an innocent bystander in all of this either. Pressure was mounting and Nina had been trying more and more ways to impressed Kiana. "Gail, they are going to want me to fix it," she turned and walked down the hall, coming with a black lockbox. "I ran into the same issue…the vessel would release the islets too quickly, which essentially when have been an entirely new problem if implanted. So I made the made my vessels stronger…"

"Strong enough to withstand swallowing?" Gail questioned realizing that Jade had unwittingly fixed the problem that the gang so desperately needed her to.

Jade looked at the content inside the lockbox and then closed it and slide it the side of the table where Gail now stood. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone …I just want…I wanted to do something that matter."

"This is not your fault, Jade. You can't control other people. And you will do something that matters. You have your entire life ahead of you. "

Jade didn't feel the same way Gail did about having her entire life ahead of her, but nodded to appease Gail. "Can you take this somewhere…maybe the police station?"

"What are they?" Gail asked.

"The new ones …and formula. I can't keep them here. They'll do better if you can keep them in somewhere cold …"

"I'll just take them to a friend; she works in the morgue, where they at least have a lab," Gail nodded. Gail folded the box under her arm and headed towards the door, but stopped. "You should just come with me. I'd feel better if you came with me." She didn't want to sound like a worried parent, but if the gang had gotten to Jade before…

"I can't; Kiana is expecting me here tonight and if I'm not here, it'll look suspicious."

Gail stared at the girl for a moment. She would have felt better if Jade had just come with her, but she couldn't insist. "Will your sister protect you?"

Jade dropped the bag of peas on the table. "She can't afford to let anything happen to me," Jade assured Gail, although she wasn't so sure of this fact herself. Gail couldn't help, but to frown. Jade managed to smile. "I have your number Gail…" Gail's eyebrows inched a bit higher. "I'm very resourceful," she reached down in her pocket and pulled out a card. "You keep these on your desk…I didn't know cops had cards. If I need anything…I'll call you first."

"Promise?"

"I swear," Jade said finally taking a seat from the pain being too much. "Just keep them safe please. The combination is 3264128."

"I won't let anything happen to them, promise." Gail took one final look at the girl before heading out of the door and back to the police station.


"Gail, we don't have anything!" Steve said a bit louder this time. "You want me to arrest someone because some kid says he's in a gang! They are all in a gang! I can't arrest someone when they haven't committed a crime."

"The gang stole her experiment and used it to kill three people," Gail said through gritted teeth. "Why can't you understand that Steve! They are not going to leave her alone…"

"Okay, so she gave you one name…I can't go arrest this guy for nothing."

"Steve…they beat her up…" Gail said almost pleading. "Do this one thing for me…pick up Miguel Ortiz. He dates her sister…he had to be the one."

Steve threw his hands up and shook his head. "You want me to arrest someone for dating a kid-who-got-beat up big sister? Go home, Gail. Get some rest…enjoy your two days off and let this drop."

"I'm glad you can let things like this drop, Steve," Gail said disgusted with the entire situation. She turned to walk away from her brother, but Steve stopped her.

"The kid was beat up?" he asked again.

"Yes…" she shifted the lockbox to under the other arm.

"Bring her in and I'll have someone pick up this Ortiz clown. But I can't hold him for long," Steve warned.

Gail smiled in relief. "Okay, fair…" she lookedd at the clock behind her brother. It was a bit after three so Holly would most likely still be in the lab. "I have to get this to Holly but…"

"Holly huh…how is that going?" Steve asked genuinely concerned.

"I don't know," Gail shrugged. "How are you and Traci going?" Steve looked past Gail to where Traci was standing. Gail punched her brother in the shoulder. "Talk to her…and apologize."

"Have you apologized to Holly?" Gail didn't really know how to answer that question. "It's like a Peck curse isn't it? Knowing exactly what you should be saying, but absolutely no ability to actually say it."

Gail didn't even need to comment on that one. "I'm going to take this to Holly and then I will swing by and pick Jade up, okay? Get that bastard off the streets please!"

"You know you don't do this much work on your actual days of work?" Steve yelled behind his sister, but she was already out the door.

"What does Gail have you doing, now?" Traci said coming over and actually smiling at Steve.

"Saving the world, one child at a time," Steve said returning the smile. "She said that that Erica Jade kid got beat up…by her sister's boyfriend's gang."

"Kiana Reyes? Who is her boyfriend?"

"Miguel Ortiz …some punk that used to run guns, now it seems like he's running drugs."

"And using creative and unusual ways to transport it I see. So he knows about the girl's experiment…"

"Steals the experiment and tries to use it to transport drugs, but it backfires and people die." Steve surmised. "That's enough to bring the bastard in for some questions…"

"It sure is," Traci nodded. "Can I ride along?"

Steve couldn't help but smile. "I'd like that…"


"I'm not stalking you or anything… I promise," Gail said putting the lockbox down in front of Holly. After what had happened earlier, Gail really didn't want to face Holly again that day, but at the same time, Holly was the only person she truly wanted to be around. Holly only smiled softly. "Anyways, these are Jade's; she said they need to be somewhere cold."

"What are they?" Holly asked readjusting her glasses. Gail punched in the numbers on the lock, opened the top and turned the box to face Holly. "She gave you her vessels?"

"Temporary…her sister's bastard of a boyfriend had her jumped. She thinks Nina gave them the first set…"

Holly grimaced. "How is Jade?"

"She's a strong kid," Gail twisted her mouth a bit. "Can you keep these…I'm actually going back to get her. I should have never left her…but Steve agreed to at least pick up her sister's boyfriend."

"Why did he have her beat up?"

"She won't say exactly, but he is a known gang member of the Brixton gang. Jade's still protecting someone, and it's definitely not herself…so I'm going to do that."

"You are great at protecting people, Gail," Holly said closing the lockbox and opening one of the high-powered fridges. "They should be safe in here." A small silence fell between them before Holly looked at Gail. "I should have protected your feelings, Gail. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" Gail questioned with confusion etched on her face.

"I screwed up too. Lisa had no right to say anything about our relationship and I was stupid for letting her. We've just always let her say whatever and ignored it, but the second she hurt you…I should have corrected her. You aren't just fun for me, Gail, and I've been trying to…I don't know, get over you. But it's not working and I miss you so much."

"I miss you too… but it's not that easy is it?" Gail asked leaning against the desk.

"I'm terrified that you are going to walk away when things get hard," Holly admitted sadly. She moved closer to Gail. "But if anyone was ever worth it…you are worth the risk of a broken heart, Gail."

Gail leaned in and kissed Holly softly. "Really?" Gail could feel her cell phone vibrate on her hip. "This is not happening," she whispered against Holly's lips. She pulled her phone from her hip. She didn't readily recognize the number, and then it dawned on her that it may have been Jade. "I have to take it, but can we finish this later? Dinner…I'm buying?" Her phone buzzed louder.

Holly smiled. "Okay…I'll be here until seven probably."

"I'll pick you up from here," she kissed Holly quickly again. "Hello," she picked up her phone. "Hello…" she said again, but soon only heard a dial tone.

"Who was that?" Holly questioned. She was still close enough that Gail could feel her breath on her neck.

"I don't know, but I'm going to pick up Jade. I have an off feeling. I wanna make sure she's safe," she leaned in and kissed Holly one last time. She didn't want Holly to feel like them talking and getting back right wasn't on the top of her priority list though. "I'll be here at seven o'clock no matter what though…promise." She backed out of the door and looked at Holly before turning and jogging to her car.