Once again, I apologize immensely for not posting any new chapters. I have almost no time to write anymore, but that will hopefully be rectified soon. To compensate for the extreme amount of time I'm posting a longer chapter twice as long as the longest one I've written previously.
I hope you like it, and thanks for sticking with me. - Ahsoka1996
It was time. After many long hours of planning it was finally time.
Fives stood there, snickering quietly to himself, waiting for his victim to walk through the door, completely oblivious to what awaited them. There was a click as the lock disengaged and the soon to be victim, Laseema, walked through the door with three bags of groceries, flicking on the lights as she made her way to the island counter top.
This was it, he thought from his hiding spot behind the cabinets. Laseema place the groceries on the counter, grabbed the crackers and opened the main cupboard door...
... And screamed, dropping the crackers, and backing away from the now open cupboard.
Fives tried to keep his laughter under control, but failed miserably, bending over and holding his stomach he came out of his hiding place.
This turned out to be a big mistake.
The sound of someone yelling "Laseema!" was the only warning Fives had before Atin burst through the door and ran to his wife who grabbed his shirt tightly and pressed her head to his chest.
"Are you alright!" He demanded. She didn't respond, instead opting for a quick shake of the head and gestured wildly to the cupboard.
Still holding her Atin turned to look at the now open cupboard, his long white scar standing out obviously from his rapidly reddening face. There sitting in the cupboard was Fives' pet Python Krell, named after a previously abusive foster parent.
Fives froze as Atin turned towards him, fury on his face.
"Oh snap," he cursed before turning and taking off, Atin's angry voice floating along behind him.
"You flaming idiot! Just wait until I get my hands on you!" Atin roared.
Fives let out a very girly shriek as he felt a hand close around the back of his jacket. He shrugged it off, leaving it dangling in Atin's hands, and darted down the main hallway to the living room where Kal, Echo, Etain, Jaing, Fi, Rex, Darman, and Corr were.
Kal was sitting in his favorite recliner reading a book and sipping a glass of brandy, Jaing was working on what looked to be a destroyed computer hard drive, Fi and Rex were making a list of what equipment needed to be replaced, and Darman was sitting on the couch, Etain next to him, playing poker with Corr while Etain helped Echo out with his homework. Ordo was currently in town on business for Kal.
Fives dived behind the closest person, which happened to be Echo, startling all except Kal and Etain, who seemed to have a sixth sense about these kinds of things.
"Fives! What are you doing?!" Echo demanded.
"You need to save me, Atin's gone crazy!" Fives said, his eyes widened even more when he heard Atin yelling again.
"Get your butt over here right now, you little turd! When I catch you you're going to be sorry!"
"What did you do now?" Echo asked, resignation in his voice.
"Nothing, I swear... well, I maybe, perhaps, kind of, possibly, probably hid Krell in one of the kitchen cupboards for Laseema to find," Fives said sheepishly.
"You did what?!" Echo exclaimed.
Etain sighed and rubbed her face. "Fives, you know Laseema has a problem with snakes, and you also know how protective Atin is of her."
"Come on, it was a joke, Krell wouldn't have hurt her and Atin can't take a joke... Kal, help me out," Fives turned to Kal who hadn't closed his book despite the drama.
"You brought this on yourself, Fives, though, I'd have thought you'd learned a lesson from your previous encounters," Kal said, not looking up from his book. He was refering to a previous prank Fives at played at Laseema's expense involving dye and shampoo... neither Laseema nor Atin were amused with the outcome.
Fives desperately searched for help from anyone in the room, but didn't see anyone willing to lift a finger, so he looked to the one other person who might understand him.
"Fi, please, you prank everyone too, help me out here." Fives was almost begging now.
Fi sighed before turning to face Fives. "It's true that I'm a prankster Fives, but if there's one thing I know it's not to tease Atin's wife. He will not take it well. Sorry buddy, but you're on your own."
Fives turned to Kal once more, seeing his last remaining lifelines being cut one by one.
"Please, Kal..." he began but was cut off.
"There you are!" A voice growled. Fives snapped his head in the direction of the doorway and paled considerably at the sight of a very angry Atin.
"Kal, please do something, I'm too pretty to die young!" Fives all but wailed and Kal sighed.
"Atin..." Fives breathed a small sigh of relief, leave it up to Kal to have a heart... "don't damage him too badly, he's got chores and school in the morning," Fives paled even more, though he didn't know if it was because of Kal's words or the dangerously unfriendly grin crossing Atin's face.
"Sure thing, Kal," Atin said.
He mock lunged sending everyone, including Kal, into a flurry of laughs as Fives jumped and dashed out the door, almost running over a very surprised Walon Vau and his pet pit-bull, Lord Mirdalan/Mird.
"WhoopssorrySergeantVaucrazymadmanaftermegottarun!" Fives shouted in a rush as he zoomed by followed closely by a supposedly 'crazy madman' shouting about all the things he was going to do when he finally caught up to the troublemaker.
Vau walked into the living room, chuckling slightly, and approached Kal while holding out his arm.
"Let me guess, Fives bit off more than he could chew and is now paying for it," Vau said and laughed and Kal nodded, swallowing the last of his brandy before taking the offered arm and standing to greet the Sergeant.
"How are you, Walon?" Kal said.
"I'm well, I hear you're going to be getting some more guests," Walon said.
"Yeah, couple of severely troubled teens, one suicidal and another with extreme anger issues," Kal said as they walked towards the kitchen.
When they arrived Laseema was putting away the last of the groceries.
"Walon," she said with a smile. "It's good to see you, how are you doing?"
She embraced Vau before turning back to the groceries.
"I'm doing well, Mird is going to be a father soon," Vau stated proudly.
"Glad to hear it, when the puppies are born bring them on down, we could use one or two more around the ranch," Laseema said.
"Sure thing, Vau said, following Kal to the liquor cabinet in a side room. Only Kal, the Nulls, and Laseema had keys to the cabinet for security reasons.
"So, what brings you here? You aren't scheduled to visit us for another two weeks."
"You mean I can't just pop up unexpectedly and visit my surrogate nieces and nephews?" Vau said, Kal raised an eyebrow in disbelief while handing Vau a glass filled with Jack Daniel's
Vau held up his hands. "Alright, you caught me," he said, his expression becoming sorrowful, before swallowing the all contents of the glass at once. "It's Delta, they were in a Humvee and ran over an IED."
"How bad?" Kal asked, refilling Vau's glass.
"Boss and Fixer are fine, just some bruises and lacerations from glass and minor burns..." Vau trailed off.
"What about Sev and Scorch?" Kal pressed gently.
"Scorch was driving and Sev was riding shotgun, Sev's side went over the IED and was caught directly in the blast. The Humvee flipped over, Boss, Scorch, and Fixer managed to get out but Sev was trapped. Scorch went back for him just as the Humvee caught fire and managed to get him out before it exploded," Vau sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
"Sev and Scorch were airlifted to HQ's Medical Center, Scorch sustained second and third degree burns on 98% of his arms, especially his hands, and 10% of his face. Sev however got the worst of it, he has a broken arm, a severe concussion, a broken collar bone, chipped vertebrae, third degree burns over his chest and legs, both his legs were broken in multiple places, and lacerations over 50% of his body. He's being discharged from service and sent back to Corrie Medical Center, Scorch will be accompanying him and stay just long enough to recover before being sent back.
"I thought that maybe you'd be willing to host them until they recover adequately enough to make their own way?" Vau asked.
Kal downed the rest of his glass and nodded. "Sure, Vau, it's the least I can do for them, I know that you raised and trained them, but I still see them as my boys as well."
Vau nodded and finished the rest of his glass before placing it in the sink. "Thanks, Kal, you don't know how much this means to me."
"Vau, you know you can count on me for anything. Laseema, could you come here please," Kal called.
"Yes, Kal, what is it?" Laseema said as she appeared in the doorway.
"Sev was injured overseas and is going to be needing medical attention, I need you to send a message to Mij asking him to come back to the ranch as soon as he's finished with his business?" He said and Laseema nodded.
"Sure thing, Kal, I'll have Etain and Fi ready the infirmary as well," she said.
"Thanks Las'ika," Kal said and she disappeared again.
"Atin's a really lucky young man to have a woman like that," Vau commented and Kal nodded.
"Yes he is, she's such a good girl, you wouldn't believe how she was when we first brought her here, she was so shy and flinched at every loud noise, when we rescued her Atin was the only man she would let get within five feet of her. She's grown so much since then," Kal said, thinking back to when they had brought home the scared Latina woman with a scarred chin who had been abused her whole time working at a sleazy nightclub called Qibbu's Hut.
The overweight owner owed Kal a lot of money and Kal had used that as a bargaining chip to free the young woman from what he felt was slavery. Laseema had opened up some time later saying that her family had sent her to America to help pay off a debt and that she tried to go back multiple times but her family just kept sending her back. Kal had become like the father she had never had and even more so when she had married Atin.
Kal walked Vau outside to his car. "So are you going to stay for dinner?" He asked, though he knew what the answer would be.
"Sorry, Kal, I can't, I've got some business in Corrie as well as making arrangements for Sev's transfer here," Vau said, opening the passenger door allowing Mird to jump in.
"Well, the offer's still on the table," Kal finished, grabbing Vau's outstretched arm and pulling him into a hug.
"I know, see you later," Vau climbed in, started the engine, and drove away, leaving a cloud of dust behind.
As Kal stood there watching him leave, he heard the cruch of footsteps on gravel as someone approached. He knew who it was before they reached him and didn't turn as he spoke.
"Did Mij respnd?" He asked.
"Yes, he says he'll be here by tomorrow evening so Laseema's preping his room, when is Sev coming?" Etain asked.
"He's being shipped back to Corrie Medical Center and then transfered here, so about four days, the hospital will be keeping him until he's stable," Kal replied.
"In the mean time everyone can prepare for our other guests, Ordo will be picking them up tomorrow evening," he turned to Etain and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, walking her back to the main building.
"You have the least threatening presence here so I'm going to need you to help the teens adjust properly to their new home," he finished.
"Sure thing Kal," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.
"Ouch... warn me a little before you start pulling wires!" Anakin snapped at Dr. Nala Se as she jerked slightly on a loose wire inside his mechanical arm. Qui-Gon and Shmi had brought Anakin in for his monthly checkup early to make sure his prosthetic was working properly.
"My apologies, Anakin-San," the Japanese Biomechanical Engineer said, her voice smooth and apologetic. "The wire connecting the index finger to the central circuit board had come loose, I have reattached it, it was not my intention to cause discomfort."
She closed up the top panel and placed her tools to the side to be cleaned. "Wiggle your fingers for me, please," she said and Anakin obliged. There was no stiffness or whirring electronics as he did so and he smiled.
"Thanks, Dr Se," he said. "Now it hopefully won't get stuck again."
Two days ago Anakin had been tinkering with his '67 Mustang Impala when his mechanical arm suddenly froze up almost causing him to drop part of the engine he was working on. After a massive amount of tinkering he had managed to loosen it up a bit but it was still stiff, so Shmi and Qui-Gon arranged to see Dr Se.
Dr Se is the head of the Biomechanical Research Department at the Kaminoan Medical Institute of Genetics and Technology in Tipoca City, about 200 miles from Corrie.
Just then Senator Palpatine walked in, his bodyguards taking up positions outside the door to the room.
"Ah, Anakin, it's good to see you again, my boy, how are you," he said, smiling and shaking Anakin's good hand.
"Everything's fine, Senator, I had some minor malfunctions with my prosthetic, but Dr. Se had working them out," Anakin said.
Palpatine nodded then turned to Qui-Gon and Shmi, shaking each of their hands in turn.
"Thanks again for everything you do," Shmi said.
"Oh, I assure you Mrs. Skywalker, it is my pleasure," Palpatine said. "Though I wish I was here on a social visit, I'm really here to speak to Chief Jin."
"Oh, I hope it's nothing serious," Shmi said and Palpatine waved his hand dissmisively.
"It's nothing you should concern yourself with, just some added security measures," Palpatine said.
"Very well, Senator, shall we step outside?" Qui-Gon said.
"When the two of them were out of the room Palpatine turned to Qui-Gon.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news, it seems as though Sidious has made a move on the Crime Lord Jabba's territory," Palpatine said seriously.
"That isn't good," Qui-Gon rubbed the back of his neck. "That could start an all out war between the factions."
"That isn't the worst of it either, my sources tell me that Sidious has employed a mysterious hitman to take out Jabba and Jabba has retaliated by hiring Cad Bane for protection," Sidious finished.
"Do we know this hit-man's identity?" Qui-Gon asked.
"No, unfortunately not, though we do know he is a part of the Sith Order," Paplatine gravely said.
"Qui-Gon froze. "You mean Sidious has hired a hitman from the most notorious assassination organization in the world?!" Qui-Gon said, suprised.
"Yes, and my contact said he will contact us when he has more information," Palpatine said. "And I want you and your men prepared to make a move when that happens."
"Yes, Sir," Qui-Gon said.
"Thank you Chief Jin," Palpatine said, turning and walking away.
"Qui-Gon, is everything alright?" Shmi said, coming out of the room with Anakin, who was adjusting the sleeve of his shirt over his prosthetic.
"Yes, Dear, eveything's fine, want to get something to eat?" he replied.
"I'm game," Anakin said and his parents laughed.
"Of course you are," Shmi smiled while Qui-Gon ruffled his hair affectionately.
Tup was nervous, he had been taken by a social worker called Ms. Keller from the hospital after he had recovered to his current home where he found out he was being transferred to yet another foster home.
And he wasn't the only one, another kid he only knew as Tallisabeth would be going with him. The Ms. Keller escorted Tup to the airport where a girl was waiting. She had red hair, green eyes and freckles all over her face.
"Tup, I'd like you to meet Tallisabeth Enwandung-Esterhazy, she will be accomanying us to our destination, Tallisabeth, this is Tup," the Ms. Keller said omitting his last name, since Tup had gone into the system he had blatently refused to use his mother's last name. He saw her death through her selfishness as an abandonment of him.
Tup just nodded and sat down between Tallisabeth and Ms. Keller. At first he ignored her, but then he noticed she was wearing an over-sized sweater in the hot Arizona weather.
'Probably just a weirdo,' he thought.
Soon it was time to get on the plane and take off. Tup once again found himself seated between the girl and Ms. Keller.
"Hi, I'm Tup, but you probably already knew that," he said. She didn't look up or even acknowlege his presence, but Tup wanted somebody to talk to other than a social worker who didn't care what happened to them as long as she was paid. It was a ten hour flight from Phoenix to Corrie so he might as well make himself comfortable.
"... and that's why I'm being sent off again, what's your story?" He asked.
Tallisabeth didn't say anything and Tup huffed in frustration, it was going to be a long flight and he was just trying to make conversation. "Look, I understand if you don't feel comfortable talking to me, I really do, so if you don't I'll leave you alone."
Tup turned away and pulled out a well worn book, a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring, it was his only possession from his life before, he had been six years old when he taught himself to read and had noticed the book in the trash, the front cover had been ripped of and on the ground outside the trash bin.
He had taken the book and, after stealing some superglue from a gas station, had glued the cover back on. He had read the book many times and knew parts of it by heart, his favorite part was the battle in the Mines of Moria but he was sad when Gandalf fell to his death, he had imagined that was what a father figure should have been like.
Tup was so engrossed with his book that he never noticed the hand reaching for him until he felt something gently take hold of his arm. Startled, he looked up and saw Tallisabeth looking at the book in his hand, she made a motion which said that she wanted to look at it, Tup was reluctant at first but carefully handed over the book.
Tallisabeth took it in her hands, in a surprisingly careful way, and opened up to a random page, reading a bit before flipping to another page and reading that. While she was preoccupied he noticed her right sleeve had shifted down enough to see the scars covering her arm.
He was shocked and reached for the sleeve only to have Tallisabeth jerk away from him, she quickly pulled the sleeve back into place and glared at Tup, he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," he mumbled, trying not to make eye contact. After a few minutes he felt the hand on his arm again, he looked up and saw Tallisabeth moving her hand.
She was gesturing to him and making the sign for 'OK' before moving on to pointing between the two of them. Realizing that she wasn't offended by his lack of courtesy he smiled and nodded and she nodded back, though without a smile.
Tup suddenly realized that he had yet to either hear her speak or smile at all. She handed back the book and reached for her own bag pulling out a larger book and handing it to him.
Tup took it, slightly puzzled until he read the cover. It was the complete works of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and the Silmarillion. Before Tallisabeth had been taken away Rosalie gave her the book she had bought with the money she had been saving for Tallisabeth's present.
Tup looked up excitedly. "You like The Lord of the Rings?" he asked, Tallisabeth just nodded and gestured to it.
"You mean I can read it?" Tup couldn't believe it, he had only ever read the first book and had never been able to find copies of the other ones, people normally didn't just throw books away.
Tallisabeth nodded again and Tup smiled even bigger before opening the book.
Inside the front cover was a small message:
Dear Talli,
I'm so sorry about what has happened, and I hope that you can forgive me for what was done to you. I know you'll say that it wasn't my fault, but I can't help but feel that it is. I hope you know that I love you and will still love you as long as I'm alive, no matter what.
I miss you very much.
Love, Rosalie
Tup finished reading and guiltily looked up at Tallisabeth, but she wasn't paying attention to him anymore, so he turned to the first chapter of The Two Towers.
By the time they reached Corrie's airport Tup had finished the last of the LOtR trilogy and was made it a third of the way through The Hobbit before the two young teens had fallen asleep, Tallisabeth's head lolling onto Tup's shoulder.
The next thing either of them knew was the sound of the pilot's voice telling everyone that they were beginning their decent and should buckle up. The teens cooperated with the command and then put their respective books back into their backpacks.
Thirty minutes later they exited the aircraft and collected their luggage, one small suitcase apiece, before walking towards the exit.
"We will be meeting your driver shortly, make sure you have everything," she said crisply before walking away forcing Tup to hurry to catch up.
They made it to pickup and the social worker moved towards a man holding a sign that said 'Ms. Keller'. He saw them coming and held out a hand and shaking Ms. Keller's.
"Mr. Ordo Skirata, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said.
"The pleasure is mine, are these Tup and Tallisabeth?" he asked.
"Yes, they already have everything and this is a file with all the current information on them, I will be accompanying you to where they will be staying to do a final inspection," she said crisply, Ordo didn't like her at all, but Kal had said to behave so he nodded politely.
"Of course, Ma'am," he said before turning to the teens, offering a hand in greeting.
"Hey, I'm Ordo Skirata," he said.
Tup shook it, but when Ordo held it out to Tallisabeth she recoiled as if she had been burned and grabbed Tup's hand tightly. Ordo didn't look surprised but Tup certainly did, this was the first real physical contact she had made besides gently brushing his hand, and it felt as if she was afraid.
He looked at her face but she refused to make eye contact, instead opting to grip harder, what surprised Tup the most was that there was no other visible sign of emotion showing, not on her face nor in her body language.
He decided to reasure her a bit and squeezed her hand back, with that tiny gesture she relaxed her grip slightly. All this took place in around four seconds and Ms. Keller didn't seem to have noticed.
'Not suprising,' he thought. Even though she hadn't noticed, Ordo most certainly had. Going by the slight tension in the girl's shoulders and her death grip on Tup's hand Ordo figured that she had probably been abused at some stage in her life for an extended period of time, the biggest clue to him was the fact that she had gripped the younger boy's hand and almost noticeably leaned away from Ordo.
"Alright, let's head over to the van and load up your bags, is this everything?" he asked, gesturing to the single suitcases and backpacks each of them had. Tup nodded but Tallisabeth didn't respond at all.
"Yes," Ms. Keller said, shouldering her own suitcase. Ordo nodded and gestured for them to follow, he lead them to a white 15 passenger van. Once everyone was situated; Ordo was driving, Ms. Keller rode shotgun, and the teens occupied the seat directly behind the adults.
Ordo pulled out of the airport parking lot and Tup had the feeling he wouldn't be seeing it again for a long time, the most suprising factor, of course, was that Tallisabeth still hadn't released his hand.
To his surprise though they drove past the turnoff for Corrie and straight into the country. 45 minutes, and many winding roads, later they drove through a gate with a sign reading "Kyrimorut" and ten minutes after that they pulled up to what appeared to be a ranch house.
The whole drive there was silent, the teens not willing to speak, Ms. Keller was on her phone texting, and Ordo was mulling over the girls behavior.
The driveway was like a large cul-de-sac with several buildings around it including a large one that looked like the main building. Standing just in front of the larger building was a small group of people.
There was an older man with gray hair and what looked to be a tough exterior, two women; one that looked Latino and another with red hair, green eyes, and was heavily pregnant, and two other men who each stood next to the women.
The van pulled to a stop and the older man approached. Ordo climbed out of the van and gave the older man a back-slapping hug before moving towards the back of the van where the suitcases were.
Ms. Keller climbed out of the car and opened the side doors, allowing the teens to climb out. Kal approached the woman and held out a hand in greeting.
"Ms. Keller I presume," he said more than asked and she nodded.
"Let's just make one thing clear here, Mr. Skirata..."
"Kal, you can call me Kal," he interrupted.
She just gave him a fake smile before continuing on.
"... Mr. Skirata, I'm here only to make sure the children arrive safely and do a final inspection of the premises, if I find anything in question in will go into my report to my superiors and go into your records as a foster parent, are we clear?" She asked, a fake smile plastered onto her face.
Kal just smiled and nodded. "Crystal."
"Good, now these are Tallisabeth Enwandung- Esterhazy and Tup," she said gesturing the teens forward.
"No last name for Tup?" Kal asked.
Ms. Keller shook her head. "He prefers that his last name not be used," she supplied and Kal nodded in acceptance.
"Well, Tup and Tallisabeth, welcome to Kyrimorut or the Homestead, I hope that you guys will find your stay here a pleasant experience. Etain, could you show each of them to their rooms?"
"Sure, Kal, come on guys," Etain said collecting the teens and directing them into the main building, Darmon following behind with their bags.
"After your inspection, you're more than welcome to stay the night," Kal offered but the woman shook her head, a slight sneer on her face.
"No thank you, Social Services has already reserved a room for me at the Ramada Inn in Corrie, I shall require transportation back however," Ms. Keller supplied.
"Of course, Ordo can take you to Corrie," Kal agreed, ignoring Ordo rolling his eyes behind the woman's back.
"Very well, let's begin, shall we?" She said then moved away without another word.
Kal followed behind and Ordo fell into step next to him, it wasn't that difficult though since Kal stubbornly refused to get his ankle fixed after someone shot clean through it during Kal's older days as a mercenary and soldier.
"Be nice, Ordo," Kal said, guessing the younger man's thoughts. "We don't have to like her, we just have to cooperate."
"Yes, Kal," Ordo said before chuckling slightly.
"What?" Kal asked.
"I'm just thinking about how she'll react to Fives' latest prank," he said and the two of them chuckled together as they entered the building.
A thousand apologies for any grammatical mistakes, I tried to get them all, but if I didn't let me know so I can fix them.
Thanks for reading, reviews would be awesome. Ciao for now! ;)
