"You asked Mommy to marry you at a candy store?"
"Yup."
"That is so cool!"
Adam chuckled. "Yeah, I think so, too," he said.
"Is it the one close to where Grandpa Robin lives?"
"Yes, actually. Mommy was helping me pick out what to get for Aunt Bree and Uncle Chase when I visit them. She didn't know I was going to ask her the question right there," he said.
"That's awesome. I'll ask Grandpa and Grandma to take me there when I come visit."
"You should. They have great caramel and fudge there. Maybe you can get some for you and your brother."
"Okay," she said. She tilted her head inquisitively. "So, you got married after that, right? No more dragons?"
"No. No more problems at that time. Your mom and I got married December of that year. December 12, 2020."
"Was it a big wedding?"
"No. It's pretty small actually. Besides a few of our friends, Grandpa Robin, Grandma Elyse, Pop-pop, G-Mom, and then your aunt and uncles, that was it. In fact…" He took out his phone from his pocket then pulled up the wedding picture that had them and their families. Showing it to her, he continued, "These make up most of the people at our wedding. Dani is Mommy's maid of honor, and Bob is the best man. That just means they're our closest friends, the ones that had helped us throughout." He pointed to the picture of his wife, beaming and breathtaking in her elegant white dress. He smiled. "See Mommy? Isn't she beautiful?"
Karina nodded. "She is. She looks like a princess," she said as she stared bright-eyed at her mother's photograph. She looked at the faces of everyone there. Soon, she was moved to ask, "Why did you pick Bob as your best man?"
"'Cause he's a good friend of mine," he responded. He frowned. "Why do you ask?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. It's just that since you met Mommy, the person who had been with you a lot is Uncle Leo," she said.
Smart girl, he thought with a smile. "I really wanted him to be there," he explained. "I did ask him to be my best man, but he said he couldn't come."
"Why not?"
Because he said he knows him being there would only create problems for us. It was the honest answer, but he withheld it. "He couldn't do it," he said instead.
"Oh, is that why he's not at the wedding?"
A knowing smile came to his face when he recalled what his younger brother told him months after the wedding. "He's in there, somewhere. We just couldn't see him," he said.
"Okay," she said. Her brows furrowed a moment later as she hesitated about something. Finally, she spoke. "Do you miss him?"
Sadness dimmed his smile as the memory of his brother weighed down his heart. "There's not a single day I don't," he said.
"I see his pictures in Pop-pop and G-Mom's house. Uncle Chase and Aunt Bree have some, too, the ones with all four of you," Karina said. She smiled. "Mommy told me that he was really funny."
Adam nodded. "He was. You and your brother would have loved him," he said. And he would have loved you both, too.
"Did he get to meet me?"
"He knew of you," Adam agreed. Recalling the events of that night, he said, "He did what he could to save your mom and I and you. He cared about the three of us very much. That's why Daddy owes him a lot."
-X-
What was supposed to be a dinner between the three of them became one of the most nightmarish nights of his and his wife's lives. Armed men had stormed into the restaurant, first taking his wife then forcing him and his brother to come along with them. They didn't have time to call for help nor were they able to afterwards. The only hope they had of getting backup was that of people calling in to tell the authorities what happened. Though that wasn't a guarantee that their family and teams would be alerted, it was the best that they had.
The abandoned cement factory was as cold and dark-cored as the men who had taken them. He tried to recall who they were as they shackled him and his brother together in one of the rooms, but nothing came to him. He attempted to break out of the chains, but for some reason his abilities wouldn't activate. It occurred to him then that, like the man from the recon mission almost a year ago, these men had been prepared. They had a failsafe in place to make sure their plans wouldn't go bust.
He demanded to see his wife, but they only gave him somber stares. The only person to speak sneered. No, he can't see his wife. Not unless he gives them the information they wanted.
Information for what?, he had asked.
No, not you. That thief beside you.
He looked at his brother, wondering what the man meant by that. The man told them that their boss would come see them soon. Meanwhile they should get cozy for a bit; tomorrow would be a long day. On his way out, he tapped a metallic cart with different tools then shot them a predatory grin before leaving with the others.
He swallowed hard when they were gone. Something told him that it was not going to be used either on him or his brother. "What does he mean, Leo? Why did he call you a thief?" he asked.
Leo looked away. "Because, in a way, I am," he admitted quietly.
"What?"
"I was helping out with an ops a few months ago. They were digging for information to bring down these…lovely people and to stop them from carrying out a massive cyberattack," Leo said. He shook his head before adding, "They were able to capture most of the members, but they couldn't find the guy behind the whole thing. So we dug for things we can use to lure him out. We found out that he's working along with this hacker. He paid him to create the master key to set everything in motion. We intercepted it, but the file was locked up, protected like nobody's business. So one of the agency's top computer geek and I worked together to open it up.
"We were close to cracking it when the guy I was working with vanished. The team thinks he received a threat, got spooked then fled. It's been a while; he hasn't been found yet. That's not good, because that means I may be the only one now who knows what the code is."
Adam stared, blinked. "What did you just get yourself into?" he asked angrily.
"I can't just let them have it, okay? Many people will die," Leo said.
"No, I mean this! These things that you do. Is this what you've been training for? A job that puts you into situations like this?"
"This is the same as what you do, Adam!" his brother reasoned. Calmly and quietly he added, "The only difference between us is that with me and my team? Everything's more real. There are no bionics, no abilities we can use to complete the ops. Just what we're given with. Those are the only things we have."
"Then, why don't you just come back home?" he asked sympathetically. "To us? I'm sure you can get things straightened out with Mr. Davenport. I'll make sure to talk to him about being placed back in a team with you. Chase is doing something else now, but maybe you, me and Bree can team-up again. It will be like old times."
Leo smiled, but it was riddled with pain. "There's nothing more in the world I would like than for that to happen, but, it's too late, Adam," he said. He looked down at the cold floor they were sitting on. "These are not the kind of men that let their prisoners live."
The hopelessness in his brother's face terrified him, not because he worried for his life but for the life of his wife. "What do you – what do you mean?"
A long moment passed before someone spoke again. Leo's chuckle broke the silence, but there was something dark and final about it that scared Adam more. "I was there during your wedding, you know," he said. "I was outside the gallery. Everyone looked super nice. I saw Chase's girlfriend, too. She's so pretty. Kira has grown so much. Daniel's gotten taller. You and Ayanna looked great. You two looked like those couples in the wedding pictures that you get when you buy those picture frames."
"Stop it, Leo. We're gonna make it out here alive," he said firmly. After that, he started looking for ways to escape, starting with a means to free themselves from the chains that bound them.
Leo only glanced at him with a small smile. "Do you remember the first day I met you guys? You, Bree, and Chase were fighting over that music player, and I was hiding behind the barrels. How long has it been? Nine years, right?"
"Leo, shut up. You need to help me find a way to get out of this."
"It seems like it was just yesterday. To me, anyways," Leo continued. He looked at his brother with a smirk. "Now you're married, and you're about to have your first kid."
He stopped struggling then. He swiveled towards him with a frown. "What?"
Leo scoffed a laugh. "C'mon, man. Don't tell me you didn't notice," he said. "Ayanna's highly sensitive with smells. She's sick every morning. Physically, she's a little different, and her cravings are as wild as yours. Your wife is pregnant, Adam."
Everything stopped then. Pregnant? Ayanna was pregnant? He was going to be a father? As he realized that all of what his brother said was true, a protective instinct washed over him, causing him to magnify his efforts to escape. He couldn't let his wife get hurt. He couldn't let the baby get hurt, not if he could help it. "We need to get out of here," he said desperately. "We can't let them touch Ayanna."
"They won't." When he looked up, Leo assured him, "You, Ayanna, and your baby will make it out of here safely."
He opened his mouth to say that he would make it out, too, all four of them, when the sound of a car pulling in at the lot outside took his attention. Soon after, it was followed by the clanks of the gates to the factory opening, words spoken and low voices trailing it.
"Can you do one thing for me?" Leo asked, his voice slightly breaking. "Can you tell Mom and Big D that I'm sorry? Tell them I'm sorry for leaving and never coming back. Tell them I don't hate them. The things that happened to me was not their fault."
The footsteps outside were getting closer.
Leo looked at him, tears of both fear and courage glazing his eyes. He smiled. "I'm glad that I met all of you. I'm glad that I had you as my friend. It's been a roller ride." He nodded. "I hope one day your kids would get to experience crazy, fun things like we did. Make sure they do."
The door to their room suddenly swung open, and in came a man that Leo easily recognized. The man said nothing, only stared and smiled a cold smile at them both before nodding to one of the people behind him to take the younger of the two.
Adam fought hard against the restraints, even against the men that held him down, but it was to no avail.
"Take care of them," Leo asked of him as the men took him away. Soon, the door was slammed shut behind them.
Those were the last words he heard from his brother.
He woke up the next morning due to the piercing chill pressing on his skin and the soft sobs ringing from a distance. Looking around, he saw that, with the exception of him, everything was frozen. Ice clung to the walls, the ceilings, the pillars that held the building. The chains that held him in place. The men that were assigned to guard him, their skins were pallid and solidified with frost.
He shivered as he gazed upon their faces, his breath fogging as he breathed out.
Dead. They were all dead.
He yanked the chain wrapped around his wrist, and it severed in half. He got up, stumbling slightly because of the glazed floors and because of his shaking, and then made his way out to the source of the sobs.
The sight of the room where he found his wife was much more curious and terrifying than the one he just left. The ice was thicker, and more bodies were rigid and unmoving. One of those was of the man's who had come into the room last night, the mastermind of the whole operation. Like his men, he was gone, too.
Turning his eyes on her, he saw that his wife was on her knees, slouched over as her shoulders hitched while she cried. He took a step but halted when he noticed another person lying immobile on the floor.
He was face down, head slightly turned to the side. His right hand was outstretched, while his left was on his side, slightly tucked under him. Under the fingertips of his right lied the fringes of the sheet of ice covering the whole room, the entire factory. There were no rise and falls at where his lungs were.
You, Ayanna, and your baby will make it out of here safely.
"No. No," he said, his voice coming out hoarse. He rushed to his side then turned him around. "Leo. Leo! Wake up! What did you do?"
He lifted him up to check his heartbeat, hoping it was there.
Nothing. All rhythm had stopped a long time ago.
He hugged him tightly. His brother was still somewhat warm, but even that was starting to leave him, too. "No," he said, tears spilling as he realized his little brother was gone. "What did you do?"
They found out at the memorial a week later that Leo had managed to find a way around the block put by his uncle and stepfather. His teammates said that the 'kid' was determined not to use his abilities unless it was absolutely necessary. "Actually, Hunter, our team leader, was finding a way to get everything fixed for him," Ariadne Baxter, a good friend of his brother's from the agency, one of the people who came with him to the jungle, informed them. "We were trying to talk him into getting it taken out. He was smart; he didn't really need those abilities in the field. But he said he'd keep it for the meantime, in case he gets into a situation where he needs to make a way out."
After investigating, Douglas somberly told them that Leo had used energy transference to absorb the heat from everything and almost everyone in the cement plant that night. The extent of this put a strain the damaged system in his arm, and subsequently the wires wrapped around his heart constricted it until it stopped.
The night after they spread Leo's ashes at his favorite place, Adam and Ayanna stayed up, holding each other as they sorrowed over the friend and the brother they had lost. Adam never stopped thinking about him, especially when his daughter arrived six months later, wailing with a lungful of breath, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Take care of them, Leo's words rang from the back of his head as he held his daughter close.
He smiled. I will, he promised his brother. I will take care of them.
-X-
Adam smiled at his seven year-old. "Do you know why we named you Karina?" he asked her.
"Mm-hm," she responded with a smile. "Mommy said that Karina means 'lovely' in Italian."
"That's right," he said. "Listen to your mother. She's a very smart woman."
"Mommy said I should listen to you, too." Karina smiled up at him with sleepy eyes. "She said you're smart, too."
A shy smile pulled at his lips. "Well, that's very nice of her to say," he noted.
Karina yawned. "Did you name my baby brother after Uncle Leo because of what he did for us?" she asked.
Adam nodded. He smiled wider when he recalled the day his son was born, when he told his wife that he wanted to name him after his brother and she wholeheartedly said okay. "It's also our way of saying that he's never forgotten, and that I'll always remember the promise I made to him," he said. He then added, "But you know, Karina and Leo? They're names of something else too."
"What?"
"Constellations. Stars."
"Really?"
He nodded. "Mm-hm."
"That's cool," Karina said blearily. Then, she leaned back further into her pillows.
Adam chuckled. He stood up. "It seems like you're ready to go to sleep," he observed.
The seven year-old mustered a groggy smile. "Thank you for the story, Daddy. That's my favoritest one now," she said.
"You're welcome, sweetheart," Adam said. He walked out of the room, and then turned off the light. The glow in the dark stars stuck on the ceiling painted with the colors of the Milky Way lit up. "I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."
No response came, only soft snoring.
Adam grinned. After making sure his daughter was sound asleep, he gently pulled her door close, leaving it slightly ajar in case she woke up in the middle of the night. He started to head towards the next room to check on his son when footfalls ascending the stairs, then the guardrails unlocking then locking back in, caught his attention.
Soon after, Ayanna appeared from the corner, garbed with the sharp professional clothing she always wore to the firm. She was evidently tired but very happy to be home. "Hey, baby," she said, smiling at him.
"Hey. How's work?"
She rolled her eyes as she made her way towards him. She stood on tiptoes then gave him a quick kiss. "Glad it's the weekend," she said. She peeked into her daughter's room before asking, "Kari's asleep?"
"Just fell asleep." He grinned at his wife. "You know what story she asked me to tell her tonight?"
"What."
"How we met," he said.
She smirked. "Did you get all the details right?"
"Don't know. You can ask her in the morning," he said.
Ayanna chuckled at that. "I'm just gonna take a shower," she said as she made her way back to their room.
"Okay." Once his wife was gone he decided to continue on to the next room. Carefully, he opened the door until he could see his son.
The two year-old was huddled at the corner of his racecar bed, away from the wall that was made cold by the winter weather outside. The baby blue blanket that Bree had given to him was gingerly draped on his torso, minutely moving along with his every inhale and exhale. Adam couldn't help but grin as he recalled how hard his son played earlier. As he had predicted, the boy had completely wiped out. Though, honestly, he was wiped out, too.
As he thought of his two children, what his younger brother said came to mind. Hopefully they'd get to live the crazy, fun life that the four of them lived when they were younger. Adam wanted that for them, too. Minus the dangers, of course, because he wanted his daughter and his son as safe as they could be. But yes – they deserved lives filled with many memorable and happy things that maybe, one day, they would get to share with their children also.
Content with the warm and comfortable conditions of his children, Adam decided to turn in for the night. He walked to the opposite side of the hall, to the room closest to the stairs where the sound of water rushing into the shower echoed, and then pushed the door mostly close. He sat on their bed, set the alarm on his phone and waited for his wife. After an hour of talking about their day, they turned off the lampshades on their desks then went to sleep.
END.
Ladies, please don't think I was ignoring your reviews. They were very much appreciated! Was just trying out this one format that I've seen around. :) Susz, LRW, EmeraldTulip - I will send you guys correspondences soon. Thank you for reading!
Many thanks to Stardust16, too, for issuing this challenge and granting an extension. It turned into a colossal mini-novel. Sorry! It was so much fun, though. Thanks!