JKA: Ho-ly crap, this took me FOREVER to finish. Seriously, this story hasn't been updated in three months! If it wasn't for FES, I probably wouldn't have written this chapter until December at the earliest.

FES: Pfft, no kidding.

JKA: Eh heh heh. ^^; ...I take no responsibility for my own laziness/busy schedule. But anyway, this is the final chapter of this story, written by yours truly, so I'mma shush now and let you all read on. Oh, but I have to apologize if this doesn't seem as well-edited as usual, because I was anxious to put it up so I didn't go through and revise as much as I normally do. Usual disclaimers apply. Read, review, and enjoy the maddness!

FES: And slap fights. Don't forget the slap fights.

Chapter 4: Of Family and Anger Issues

The neon-splattered building reverberated with the high-pitched squeals of toddlers and the many different clangs and whistles of ticket-spewing arcade games. In the case of a certain world-saving elf, however, the chaos fell on deaf ears. He was far too concerned with losing himself in two glittering pools of the deepest emerald to notice the explosion of noise around him.

Allowing a gentle smile to grace his features reserved only for the woman he loved, Jak brushed his fingers through Keira's hair, pulling her in for a tender kiss. A queit sigh escaped Keira's throat the second their lips connected, sending a light shiver cascading down Jak's spine.

Quite abruptly, Keira separated from her fiancée, ignoring the disappointed scowl she received in response. Her eyes were wide with surprise, her hands flying to her abdomen from where they'd previously been draped around Jak's neck.

"Keir, what's wrong?" Jak demanded immediately, having noticed her movements and automatically assuming the worst. He wound his arms around her in a protective embrace, his expression radiating concern. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Jak," Keira soothed him, her forest-green gaze sparkling with excitement as she met his ocean-blue. "Better than fine, actually. Feel right here."

She picked up one of his hands as she spoke, placing it lightly atop her swollen stomach and covering his fingers with her own slender ones.

A beat of silence passed between the two, and then Jak started slightly when he felt a faint nudge against his palm. He glanced swiftly up at Keira, a slow grin tugging at the corners of his mouth and his cerulean irises alight with a dazed kind of awe.

"Someone's an active little guy, isn't he?" Jak pondered aloud, his tone mirroring the wonder written all over his face.

"Yes, our little girl certainly is," Keira laughed, beaming at her dumbstruck boyfriend. This was one of the rare moments when Jak actually let his guard down and allowed himself to loosen up a bit, an event that only occurred when he was around her. It made Keira feel content and humble as one to know that he was comfortable displaying his softer side with her — one of the many reasons why she loved him.

Rather than respond to her retort verbally, Jak simply pressed an affectionate kiss to Keira's forehead, inhaling her familiar scent.

Wait a second… Jak mused to himself, his smile fading and his eyebrows furrowing in suspicion as he realized that something seemed a bit… off. Something's not right. Normally Aleighna or Chris would have jumped in with a sarcastic remark by now.

Lifting his head, Jak shifted his focus to the opposite side of the table, intent on discovering why his siblings were acting as if they'd suddenly gone mute. Some distant part of his mind sensed Keira stiffen unexpectedly in his arms, but that particular detail was shoved forcefully from his thoughts when he realized that the booth across from him was completely vacant.

Jak blinked once at the spot his sisters had previously occupied, and then he turned back to Keira, a trickle of foreboding snaking its way through his veins. He struggled to convince himself that the twins had merely run off to play a few arcade games, but all of his finer instincts told him he was kidding himself.

"Keira," he began, his voice ominously smooth — the calm before the storm. "Where are they?"

The young mechanic bit her lip uncertainly, the urge to tell her future-husband whatever she knew clearly at war with something Jak couldn't quite identify in her eyes.

I don't like where this is going… Jak thought, gazing at the she-elf beside him warily and noticing her shift uncomfortably.

"Maybe they just went to explore, pick on a few little kids," Keira hedged, breaking away from the force of the dark warrior's stare before she could be compelled into telling the truth. "You know how they are."

"Keira," Jak repeated more forcefully. He tilted her chin upwards with his index finger so that their eyes reconnected, his expression hard. "I know there's something you're not telling me. We've known each other too long for me to not be able to tell when you're lying."

For a heartbeat it appeared as though Keira were about to argue, and then she heaved a reluctant sigh, hating to admit that he was right.

"I promised them I wouldn't give them away, so you're going to pay for making me go against my word, Jak Mar," Keira warned him, her lips twisting downwards in obvious displeasure. "They left a little while ago to go to the movies with a few friends."

"They did what?" Jak growled, anger finally starting to leak through the careful composure he'd restrained it behind.

"Well, can you blame them?" Keira questioned rhetorically, arching one delicate eyebrow at the blonde incredulously.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Jak snapped, his infamous temper flaring dangerously as his self-control began to crack.

"Look around you, Jak!" his pregnant girlfriend shot right back, waving her hand toward the bright, childishly decorated walls encompassing them. "They're turning fifteen, and you brought them to a place full of screaming toddlers and talking stuffed animals! Didn't you ever stop to think that maybe they didn't want to come here in the first place?"

A pang of guilt seized Jak's chest briefly as it dawned on him that Keira might have a point, but his stubborn pride wouldn't allow him to acknowledge it.

Venting his rage — both self-directed and not — in the form of a snarl, Jak leapt to his feet, pausing only to offer a hand to Keira.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked flippantly when she didn't move, watching her with irises like chips of solid ice.

After a second's hesitation, Keira resigned to permitting Jak to help her stand, looking none-too-thrilled about doing so. She really didn't want to be a part of the argument that would no doubt ensue between the Mars when Jak caught up with his siblings, but seeing as how the former was her ride home, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Exhaling wearily, Keira trailed behind Jak as he stormed out of the nauseatingly colorful building, on a warpath for two blissfully unsuspecting teenagers.

Aleighna's foot drummed against the floor of the cruiser agitatedly, her fingers curling and uncurling as she stared blankly at the buildings whipping by her.

"Precursors, Aleighna, relax," Chris huffed from beside her twitchy other half, exchanging an eye-roll with Lizzy. "You're jumpier than a spooked crocadog."

"Easy for you to say," Aleighna muttered, gnawing on her bottom lip nervously.

"Jak will be fine without us," Chris insisted, laying a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "And besides, with Keira distracting him, he won't even have time to miss us."

"I don't know…" the auburn-haired girl sighed, turning to face her twin with anxious jade irises. "This just doesn't feel right to me."

"Ah, quit being paranoid," Lizzy chided her lightly, reaching around Chris to tug on one of Aleighna's wavy locks in what was supposed to be an affectionate gesture. "You need to loosen up once in a while. Nobody can be perfect all the time, you know."

"And would you really rather spend your birthday in little kid hell with your overprotective older brother, anyway?" Jay piped up from the passenger seat, twisting around to throw the three she-elves a crooked grin.

"I… suppose not," Aleighna surrendered grudgingly, not quite able to suppress a shudder at the mere thought of it.

"Alright, guys, we're here," Jay's mom announced cheerfully, either having completely missed the last several minutes of conversation or choosing to ignore it. The group of friends glanced around themselves in surprise as the vehicle pulled up outside Haven's only cinema; they'd been so intent on their discussion that they hadn't even noticed they'd reached their destination.

"Wow, that was fast," Lizzy stated the obvious, earning herself three distant nods in return.

"Let's get this party started!" Chris cheered, clambering over Lizzy's lap and stumbling out of the cruiser before anyone else even had time to blink.

Aleighna watched her sister race away for a moment, and then she shifted her attention to Jay's mother, grinning sheepishly.

"Thanks for the ride," she offered gratefully, a sentiment that was echoed by her two remaining companions.

"Anytime," the chipper woman replied, smiling kindly as the teens began to file out of her vehicle. "Oh, and don't worry, I won't tell Jak where you've gone."

The more docile half of the Demolition Duo paused mid-stride, throwing Jay's mom a stunned look over her shoulder. She shook herself quickly an instant later and scurried after her friends, not wanting to be left behind.

Perhaps the elder she-elf hadn't been so oblivious to their plans after all.

Jay, Lizzy, and Aleighna — panting a bit as she caught up with the others — pushed open the glass entrance doors of the movie theater, immediately spotting Chris leaning against the ticket counter. They headed over to join the over-excited Mar sibling, Aleighna's eyes narrowing suspiciously when a flicker of relief passed over her opposite's face.

"Hey, Aleighna, oh wonderful sister of mine, would you —" Chris began sweetly, slinging her arm casually over Aleighna's shoulders, only to be cut off by the latter before she could finish her sentence.

"Whatever it is, no," Aleighna grumbled, ducking out from under the blonde girl's semi-embrace and folding her arms over her chest.

"Aw, come on," Chris implored, gazing at her brunette doppelganger with wide, innocent blue orbs. "I don't have enough money to get in. Can't you pay for my ticket just this once? Or would you rather I sit out her all by my lonesome while you go off and have fun for our birthday without me?"

"What do you mean, 'just this once'?" Aleighna huffed, fixing a stern glower in place in order to hide the fact that Chris' pitiful expression was chipping away at her resolve. "I always end up paying for —"

Her words broke off suddenly as Chris clasped her hands pleadingly in front of her, looking for all the world like an abandoned crocadog pup. The duo stared each other down in charged silence while Lizzy and Jay observed from the sidelines, evidently amused.

"Ugh, fine," Aleighna gave in eventually with no small amount of reluctance. "But you owe me."

"I knew you'd come around," Chris laughed, capturing her twin in a headlock and mussing up her hair fondly.

"Would you two quit arguing like an old married couple and buy your tickets already?" Lizzy snorted, fanning herself with the receipt she'd received upon purchasing her own ticket in over-dramatized boredom.

"We'll miss the movie at this rate," Jay added rather testily, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Alright, keep your pants on," Chris snorted, releasing her chokehold on her sister and sidling up to the front counter. Aleighna followed a step behind, muttering darkly under her breath.

Once the gang had all been granted access into the main lobby and paid a visit to the snack bar, they ambled into the theater labeled for 17 Again and claimed a few seats in the topmost row.

"Lizzy, you're gonna choke on that if you're not careful," Aleighna warned, shaking her head as her best friend tossed up a piece of popcorn and caught it in her mouth.

"What are you, my mom?" Lizzy joked, repeating her earlier actions and breaking into a violent coughing fit not a second later.

Rolling her eyes in an "I told you so" manner, Aleighna wordlessly handed the spluttering girl her soda.

Meanwhile, Chris was in the midst of an animated popcorn war with Jay. The two of them laughed uproariously as bits of kernels got stuck in their hair and ended up tumbling down their shirts.

Just as Jay reached for another handful of buttery ammunition, Chris snatched the half-emptied bag away from him. Without giving him the chance to register what she was doing, Chris dumped the entire thing on her opponent's head, burying him in a salty landslide.

Jay blinked at Chris in blatant shock for the length of heartbeat, and then they both busted up laughing again.

"I feel sorry for the guy that has to clean this up," Jay chortled, shaking the clumps of popcorn from his dark locks and smirking.

"Yeah, no kidding," Chris giggled, grabbing a fluffy kernel from the mountain that had sprung up where Jay's lap had once been and popping it in her mouth.

Before Jay could even think of a response, a deep, horrifyingly familiar voice rang out from somewhere far below them, raised in a level of fury that the twins knew all too well.

"CHRISTELLA AND ALEIGHNA MAR!"

None of the quartet had to ask to know that a certain pair of teenage fugitives was most likely about to be murdered. They all sank down low in their seats, praying that Jak hadn't been able to spot them from the floor.

"I know you're up there!" Jak called impatiently, confirming his sisters' worst fears. "Are you going to get your asses down here quietly or am I going to have to come get you?"

The crowd assembled in the theater had fallen chillingly silent, all eyes trained on Jak where he stood in the main doorway, visibly fuming. As if on cue, those uneasy stares all shifted as one, landing on Chris and Aleighna as the duo stood shakily from their chairs. Their footsteps seemed to echo unnaturally in the frozen air of the expansive room as they made their way to where the irate warrior waited, their hands clasped between them in a soundless gesture of support.

"Jak," Chris greeted the eldest Mar coolly, her tone much more composed than she felt.

"Just what do you two think you're doing?" Jak demanded evenly, his words an icy calm that was equally more dangerous and more terrifying than if he'd started yelling again.

Summoning up a spark of courage before she could crumble beneath her brother's glare, Aleighna straightened up to her full height, her gaze hard as solid jade.

"We're spending our birthday the way we want to for a change," she announced, her speech unwavering and her features unreadable.

"We've spent too many years doing what you want us to," Chris chipped in, her posture identical to her other half's. "And honestly, we're sick of it."

"So you think that being fifteen makes it ok for you to sneak around behind my back?" Jak hissed, baring his teeth in an almost animalistic snarl.

"Yes, because you never listen to us!" Chris snapped, her whole body trembling with suppressed rage. "We're not little kids anymore, Jak! You need to stop treating us like ones!"

"Mom and Dad trusted me to watch over you, so as long as you live in my house, you follow my rules!" Jak was losing his grip on his temper precariously fast; a crackle of Dark Eco flitted over the surface of his skin. "We're leaving, now."

"No!" Aleighna screeched, an enraged fire blazing in her green irises. She swore viciously at the top of her lungs, causing Chris to glance at her sharply in utter amazement. A collective "ooh" emanated from the transfixed audience, and several mothers covered their children's ears, shooting the brunette sinister looks.

That solitary expletive crossed the line far beyond Jak's breaking point. Without warning, he lashed out with an open hand, striking Aleighna square across the cheek and bearing her to the ground.

The reaction was instantaneous. Nearly everyone in the watching crowd leapt to his or her feet, firing insults and livid protests at Jak. Lizzy and Jay were amongst the loudest of them, their furious screams rising above the tumult of the theater.

Jak, meanwhile, had fallen almost disturbingly quiet, blatant shock plastered all over his expression. His wide stare remained locked on Aleighna where she sat on the dingy carpet, pressing her palm to her reddening face and gazing up at him with eyes brimmed in tears.

A heartbeat passed in which the siblings seemed to submerge in their own little bubble, the roar of the audience fading to a background murmur. Chris took one look at her fallen twin, and then whipped her focus back around to Jak, her anger spiking dangerously. So quickly that anyone who'd blinked at that precise moment would have missed it, the young she-elf brought her fist back and then launched it forward, punching her brother right in the jaw.

An abrupt hush fell over the theater, uncountable pairs of eyes widening in awe upon seeing a teenage girl take on the most famous — and infamous — man in Haven City without so much as a tremble of fear. Jak reached up and gingerly rubbed the spot where a bruise was rapidly forming on his skin, staring absolutely dumbstruck at Chris. The feisty blonde herself had deflated as swiftly as she'd retaliated, and she blinked numbly at her own fingers, appalled by what she'd just done.

Aleighna was the first of the trio to regain her composure. She hauled herself cautiously to her feet, the pain in her face from Jak's blow having already subsided thanks to her Eco-infused lifeblood.

"Maybe… we should go," she muttered, casting furtive glances between the other two. "We've made enough of a scene already."

Nodding vaguely in agreement, her family followed her as she led the way out of the spacious room, down a darkened hallway and out into the main lobby. Not a word was exchanged between them as they exited the building, immediately greeted with the sight of Jak's cruiser idling by the curb.

"What happened?" Keira demanded instantly as the others filed noiselessly into the vehicle, her attention flickering from one blank expression to the next.

"Jak happened," Chris grumbled under her breath, while Aleighna simply shifted her gaze to the parking lot, indifferent.

Keira frowned as if she wanted to press the issue, but obviously thought better of it and let the subject drop. She cast a sidelong look at her stony-faced fiancé, noticing the large violet blotch stretched over his jawbone and shaking her head sadly.

The ride home was uncomfortably tense. Nobody spoke the entire time, and agitation crackled in the air like a stroke of lightning. Jak's focus never strayed from the traffic ahead of them, his hands clutching the steering controls so tightly that his knuckles were bleached white.

It felt as if an eternity had passed when the four of them finally arrived at their apartment, the air surrounding them just as — if not more — frigid as it had been for the past several minutes. Jak unlocked the front door and stepped inside, his back to the three women as they filed in behind him. He didn't stop until they'd reached the living room, where the twins paused nervously a few feet from him while Keira sank gratefully onto the couch, her hands supporting her aching lower body.

For an immeasurable second, the group remained locked in an uncertain stalemate, Chris and Aleighna watching their brother's unmoving form warily. Keira, too, had her attention trained on the unusually quiet elf, chewing on her bottom lip unconsciously as she tried to unravel just what had transpired between the trio of siblings.

Just as Aleighna and Chris were sure they'd explode from the silence that seemed to be suffocating them with its weight, Jak finally found his voice.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, almost too softly for his companions to hear. His sisters exchanged a shocked glance, that simple sentence being the last thing they'd expected from the eldest Mar; he'd been completely irate with them not fifteen minutes ago.

"C-come again?" they stammered in unison, hardly daring to believe their ears.

"I'm sorry," Jak repeated more clearly, turning slowly to face them. His features were etched with the deepest regret, conveying the undeniable sincerity of his words. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did. I thought I knew what was best for you two, but I never bothered to consider that your opinions might be just as important as mine."

Utterly flabbergasted, the twins could do nothing but gawk at him; they'd been expecting a grueling tirade at the very least when they got home, not the guilt-ridden apology they were receiving now.

"I understand why you snuck off to be with your friends," Jak continued, encouraged a bit by the girls' response to his little spiel. "Really, I do. I guess some part of me just wasn't ready for the pair of you to grow up, but my selfish pride wouldn't let me see it." He paused, the corner of his mouth twitching as though he were fighting a smile. "Huh, and to think that for the past seven years I always told myself that I'd never turn into Dad."

"Jakky-boy, I think that ship sailed long ago," Chris joked, having managed to regain her equanimity. Without giving Jak a chance to react, she raced over to him and flung her arms around him, pulling him in for a bone-crushing hug.

"We forgive you, Jak," Aleighna piped up gently, joining her siblings in the middle of the room and winding her arms around them both.

"Thank the Precursors," Jak chuckled, ruffling each of their hair playfully. He fixed them with a stern look, the edge taken off of the expression by a teasing gleam in his eyes. "Just don't do it again, or I might have to put Keira in charge of you for a while."

"And what is that supposed to mean, Jak Mar?" Keira snapped from the sofa, while Aleighna and Chris cringed at the thought. The last time they'd been left in Keira's hands, she'd nearly taken their heads off with her trusty wrench.

"Nothing," Jak replied innocently, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace, his arms still slung over the identical she-elves' shoulders. "I'm just saying that you could do a far better job disciplining these knuckleheads than I could. I'm too soft on them."

"Pfft, tell that to my face," Aleighna grumbled, rubbing her cheek absentmindedly at the memory of her brother's earlier lapse of control. "I'm surprised you didn't give me a bruise to match the one Chris painted on your jaw for you, big guy."

"Wait a minute, what is she talking about?" Keira questioned sharply, her eyes narrowing to menacing emerald slits as they zeroed in on Jak.

"I have no idea," the three-time world-savior lied instantly, swallowing the apprehension that was beginning to bubble in his throat. There was only one person that had the ability to truly frighten him, and that person just so happened to be hauling herself to her feet, her bright green irises ablaze.

"You don't mean to tell me that you hit your little sister, do you?" Keira hissed, advancing on Jak as he rapidly backed away from her, tripping over his own feet in his haste.

"Keir, l-let me explain," he pleaded, bumping into a wall and cowering against it as his heavily pregnant girlfriend towered over him. Perhaps it was her unpredictable mood swings, but somehow the fact that Keira's stomach was three times its normal size only made her that much more terrifying.

"Listen here, dark boy, if I wasn't expecting your child, then so help me I'd impale you with a dull screwdriver!" Keira growled, placing her hands threateningly on her hips. Jak held up his arms defensively, a feeble attempt at protecting himself in case she happened to have a spare tool nearby that she deemed suitable for beating him with.

"Best birthday ever," Chris laughed from the sidelines, bumping fists with her other half and grinning broadly.

"Agreed," Aleighna giggled, flopping down onto the couch beside her opposite and getting comfortable to enjoy the mayhem.

The End

JKA: Wow, I just realized, this is the first one of our stories where I actually got to write the ending chapter.

FES: Meh, don't get used to it. I was feeling generous. :P

Well, we hope you guys enjoyed story number... *does quick calculation* four in our little series, and keep an eye out for more from us! Please leave a review, tell us what you thought, and we'll be seeing you around! JKA and FES, signing off~