Disclaimer: I don't own the charming Sons of Ipswich, but that doesn't mean I can't try =
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Reid pressed his lips to Rebeka's forehead. "I say we call it a night," he said, his voice still weak. Rebeka nodded tiredly. Reid slowly pushed himself up to his feet, and then helped Rebeka. She staggered and settled for leaning against his side as he guided them back towards the others.
The Sons, Sarah, and Kate met them halfway. Caleb squeezed Reid's shoulder. "Congratulations, man."
"Thanks Caleb." And Reid meant it.
Sarah and Kate ran up and squeezed the tired couple in a group hug. "You did it!" they squealed.
Pogue rescued Reid and Rebeka from the girls. He pounded Reid's fist and planted a wet one on Rebeka's cheek, making her laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow guys." He stepped back, and he and Kate went back to the house to grab their motorcycle gear. Caleb took Sarah back inside after giving Reid one last handshake.
Tyler was the last to come up to them. "Well it's over," he said. Reid nodded, thankful. "Let's go," Tyler said. He patted Reid on the back and led the way back to the Hummer.
The only noise was the rumble of the engine in the early morning darkness.
"Oh," said Rebeka, mostly to herself, after a while.
"Hmm?" Reid mumbled.
"I just remembered I can't go home tonight. I told my dad that I would be with Sarah and Kate tonight."
"And you think we're going to dump you on the side of the road?" Tyler asked, smiling. "You're coming with us."
"Us? You guys don't live at home like Caleb and Pogue?"
"Hell no. Can't meet girls at home!" Tyler teased.
"Right." Rebeka smiled and settled back against Reid, who hugged her closer.
Tyler parked the Hummer in the student parking lot. The trio walked up the stone steps and into the dorms. "We're on the third floor," whispered Tyler. Rebeka nodded. They continued to the far end of the hall, went up the two flights of stairs, and stopped at the fifth door on the left in the third floor hallway. Reid took out his key and unlocked the door and they all stepped in.
"Home sweet home," Reid announced quietly.
Rebeka looked around the room. For being the habitat of two teenage guys, it was pretty clean. A few shirts and boxers littered the floor and the two unmade beds. Swim medals hung on the wall under the high-set windows, along with a couple of pictures of the four Sons doing body-builder poses in their Speedos. "Cozy," she said. She turned back to the boys and saw that Tyler was already in the bathroom and Reid was sprawled across his bed, looking for all the world like the only thing on his mind was sleep. He patted the mattress next to him sleepily and Rebeka obliged, curling up next to him. Seconds later, he was asleep.
Tyler came out of the bathroom and crossed quietly to his bed. "'Night Beka," he whispered.
"'Night Ty," she whispered back. Tyler snapped off the light, and the both of them fell promptly asleep.
XXX
It seemed like only minutes later when Rebeka was woken by Tyler. Pale sunlight streamed in through the windows as she rubbed her eyes and tried to get up. The attempt was foiled by Reid's arm draped across her torso. She squinted at the clock on the bedside table. There were fifteen minutes until the first class of the day started. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed, scrambling out of bed, and accidentally elbowing Reid in the chest in the process.
"What the hell!" Reid jerked awake, rubbing his chest.
"Sorry!" Rebeka said a bit breathlessly, already on her feet and searching for things she didn't have. She realized this, and dropped her arms to her side. "All my stuff is at home," she moaned. Rebeka didn't do well with almost no sleep. She flopped back down on Reid's bed and buried her head in the pillow. "I'm going back to sleep." It came out muffled, sounding more like, "Mm goon 'ak ta 'eep".
Reid nodded to Tyler, and, with a soft sound like a sigh of wind, Tyler disappeared. Reid went over to Rebeka and stroked her hair. "Bek? Not all hope is lost," he said, smiling.
"Very poetic," Rebeka commented dryly, slowly sitting back up. She looked around. "Wait… where's Tyler?"
Almost as if he was waiting for his cue, Tyler reappeared, holding Rebeka's backpack and a bundle of clothing that was her school uniform. His eyes faded back from black to their normal blue. He smiled at her shocked expression and tossed her the clothes.
Rebeka looked at Reid and then back to Tyler. "You can do that?!"
Reid just laughed. "Come on, we're going to be late enough as it is."
The day seemed to crawl by, and Rebeka was having trouble concentrating. What was worse, she didn't have any classes with Reid. She did, however, have lunch with Tyler, Caleb, and Kate; Physics with Sarah; and English with Caleb and Pogue.
Finally, the last bell rang. Rebeka followed her usual routine unthinkingly, walking through the small part of Ipswich that passed for downtown.
"Hey Beka," called Tom, coming out of the real estate office just as Rebeka was walking up to it.
"Hi Dad." She tossed her backpack into the back seat and climbed in the front next to her dad.
"So, how was school today?" Tom asked after the sleepy silence became too much.
"Fine." She stifled a yawn.
"Are you alright? You're not getting sick are you?"
"I'm fine, Dad. Sarah, Kate, and I just stayed up a little later than planned."
Tom nodded. After a moment, he said, "How's the, uh, love life?"
Rebeka tried to act nonchalant. "Everything's fine; Reid's really great."
The car pulled into the driveway and they got out and went inside. Tom began to search through the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?" he asked, sticking his head in the refrigerator.
Rebeka shrugged. "I don't know. I might be going out with the others tonight." She slipped a pop tart out of its package and began to nibble on it.
Tom stopped his search for food and looked at his daughter. "Beka, I've hardly seen you the past few days. I'm glad you have these great friends," he said quickly when he saw her about to interrupt, "but I think, as your father, that I deserve a dinner with you every once in a while."
Rebeka gave in. "Alright. We're getting together later tonight any way." Tom rolled his eyes and Rebeka grinned.
After a couple hours of homework and web surfing, Tom called Rebeka down to eat. "Pasta a la Aarons," he declared, sitting down to the spread on the kitchen table.
"That doesn't have much of a ring to it," Rebeka chuckled, sitting down, and served herself and Tom the spaghetti.
Dinner was quiet, except for the clink of silverware on plates. A couple of conversation attempts were made, but there's only so much they could say about the weather or the quality of the spaghetti.
After dinner, Tom plodded off into the living room while Rebeka loaded the dishwasher. Her phone rang on the counter next to her. "Hello?" she asked, drying her hands off.
"You didn't come to Nicky's," Reid complained good-naturedly.
Rebeka escaped to her room. "I couldn't. My dad guilt-tripped me into staying home for dinner."
Reid laughed. "Well, you didn't miss much, just the usual ass-kicking Abbot gets at pool. You're coming to the colony house right?"
"Of course. When is it?"
"Uh, about half an hour from now. I'll come get you in about fifteen minutes?"
"Sounds good. I'll get ready."
"Alright. Bye Bek." He hung up.
Rebeka threw her phone on her bed and searched through her closet for her sexiest sweatpants; which was one hell of an oxymoron.
She was coming down the stairs when she heard her father exclaim, "Holy mother!" She ran down the rest of the stairs and into the living room, fearing the worst. Her father was staring out the window.
"Dad! What is it?"
"What a beauty!" Tom said, apparently oblivious to Rebeka's alarm.
Rebeka looked out the window. Sitting in the driveway, a sleek sports car glinted brightly in the setting sun. The darkly tinted windows obscured the driver and reflected the midnight blue gloss paint. "Who—" Her question was answered as the driver's side door opened and a familiar blonde stepped out.
His hand came up to his face, and a second later, Rebeka's phone rang in her hand. "Reid?"
"Hey, you ready? I've got something to show you." Reid sounded insanely excited, more than she'd ever heard.
"I know; I'm looking at it," Rebeka said incredulously.
"I thought he had a Hummer," said Tom, still staring awestruck at the car.
"No, that's Tyler's," Rebeka told him. She spoke into the phone again, "I'll be right out."
Reid met her at the door and walked back out to his shiny new car with her. "She's a Porsche 911 Turbo," he said proudly.
Rebeka walked to the passenger's side and saw the small silver chrome words Porsche 911 Turbo scrawled in metallic cursive on the door. They climbed in, and Rebeka gave a low whistle. "This is nice. When did you get it?"
"Today, actually." Reid turned the ignition and the Porsche purred to life. "For my eighteenth-birthday-slash-Ascension gift."
They were racing down the darkening road towards the colony house. It didn't even seem like they were moving if Rebeka didn't look at the blurry landscape outside the car. The engine hummed quietly. It was very different from the roar of the Hummer. Rebeka smiled.
They parked next to Tyler's Hummer and, after one last fond look at the Porsche, Reid led Rebeka into the house.
"Seems like I'm going to have some competition," Rebeka teased.
Reid shook his head. "Believe me; it could never compete with you." They walked hand in hand down to the basement where the others had already started working.
XXX
Rebeka closed the dusty volume and sighed. Nothing. Unless the connections the Parry family had with the farmers were going to help them against Chase. Somehow, she doubted it. She put the old book back on the shelf and took down the next one, which was thankfully only
about one or two inches thick. She flipped to the first page and saw that it was a diary of some kind. The first entry read:
December 3, 1682
Jonathan and I have decided to meet at the church tonight. Soon, I will no longer be Isabel Drake, but Mrs. Isabel Danvers. Jonathan's parents don't approve of our marriage, but he said he told them that he would rather will away his Power than be unable to marry me. Needless to say, that shocked them. I have decided not to tell Mother and Father, for they would surely have Jonathan put on trial for being a witch. They enjoy persecuting the ones with the Power.
I believe that with my gift, Jonathan will be able to withstand the aging effect of the Power, unlike his father. We will be so happy together.
That last part sounded a lot like her and Reid, Rebeka thought. She remembered from the last meeting that the Drakes were one of the four Power-sensing families. And this Jonathan Danvers must be some great-great ancestor of Caleb. Rebeka flipped a few more pages.
September 21, 1683
The midwife says the baby will be along any day now. Jonathan is worried that something will go wrong, especially if it is a male, because it will have both my blood with the sensing ability and his Power.
Rebeka flipped to the middle.
November 14, 1696
Jacob has been thirteen for three months now, but he has not shown any sign of his Power. Jonathan believes that the two bloodlines' abilities cancelled each other out and Jacob is as normal as one could be. For some reason, Jonathan seems upset with Jacob's lack of Power. He uses in anger when he thinks I don't know. It hurts me, both because of my gift, and to see him so troubled. I think it makes him sad to realize that the Power in his bloodline has ended now that his first born male doesn't have the Power.
But Caleb was living proof that the Danvers' bloodline still had passed down the Power. Rebeka flipped to the final entry. The words, which were already hard to read because of age, were now splotched as if Isabel had been crying while she wrote.
October 15, 1701
Jonathan's parents have come to see to the funeral arrangements. Jonathan had been severely ill, but he wouldn't use the Power to help himself; he said he didn't want to hurt me. But he told me he had one last plan for Jacob, one last wish.
He told me that he would will away his Power to Jacob, to see if the bloodline would be able to continue. I knew that Jonathan would surely die if he did this, but he wouldn't hear a word against it.
It happened while I was in town. I felt it. I hurried home, and found my Jonathan lying on the bed, looking like he was only sleeping. But I knew he had already passed. Jacob was lying on the floor next to the bed, and I shook him, fearing that he had also perished in Jonathan's plan. But he awoke, and in his surprise, he used the Power accidentally. It hurt a bit, but I was so happy knowing Jonathan had gotten his dying wish and Jacob would be able to carry on the bloodline.
The funeral –
Rebeka closed the book, staring at the ground. At least it was a happy ending. She looked at Caleb, wondering if the de facto leader of the Sons knew how close he had been to being completely normal. Looking at Pogue, then Tyler, and finally Reid, she wondered if Caleb or any of the other Sons wished they didn't have the Power.
A/N: ok, I lied, there's going to be one more chapter than I originally planned. I think I'm going to break this chapter up into two parts. This way, I can get more out this week! The next part will be coming later this week (I love Spring Break!), so keep an eye out for email updates!! Oh, and you should know the drill by now – you are down here, and that means…. That's right! You get to review and make me feel special! Love you all!
