I apologise for the huge delay!
I was busy and I also had Spring Break which I spent with friends - as well as deciding to take a small break. I also had a problem with a very annoying Writer's Block which stopped me from writing and unfortunately caused me to not give you an update until almost two months after the pervious update! Sorry about that!
Hopefully you'll forgive me, as this chapter is an extra long one!
Once again, I apologise for the delay!
WARNINGS: SOME SUGGESTIVENESS THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS!
ENJOY
DISCLAIMER- I DO NOT OWN LOONATICS UNLEASHED, IT IS LEGALLY OWNED AND COPYRIGHTED BY WARNER BROS. HOWEVER, ANY CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT MENTIONED IN LOONATICS UNLEASHED, ARE OF MY CREATION!
SONG LYRICS AND ARTSTS, AS WELL AS LOCATIONS EITHER IN THE USA, OR INTERNATIONALLY ARE REAL AND ARE NOT IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM THE RESULT OF MY IMAGINATION.
***
Lexi looked up at the four taller males on the other side of the door. They were all the same peach-tan colour that she was, but were at least a foot taller than she was (measured by head height, not ear height).
"Lex!" One smiled as he pulled her into a hug, picking her up a little as he did so.
Lexi smiled and hugged him back, before embracing the others in the same way, "I missed you guys." She looked up at all of them, "Come in." She checked around the door as her brothers walked in, before turning back and shutting the door, "Where're the others?" She walked back from the door and further into the room, past her brothers, and closer to her team mates – but to the position where she was standing at equidistance from both groups.
One of them spoke with his arms crossed, "Dad couldn't get off work until five, and Leah's not gonna be able to get out of the hospital until five-thirty, so they're getting a flight down here at eight-thirty, so they might not get here until midnight or one-ish - sorry about that."
Lexi shrugged, "I'll stay up...hopefully." She looked up to think, "...Someone might be up...probably...hopefully...maybe..."
She turned back to the rest of the Loonatics, "Er...right, Guys," She turned back to her brothers before looking to her team again, "These are my brothers: Pete, Mitchell, Michael and Spencer." She looked to her brothers, "And guys, this is Rev, Tech, Duck, Slam and Ace." They all shook hands and gave small greetings to each other.
Spencer, the eldest of Lexi's brothers, who was slightly taller than the others – was clad in a chequered black and green shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and dark blue jeans, with Aviator sunglasses tucked into a pocket on his shirt. Pete, the second eldest – and the one who Lexi had hugged first – was only perhaps half an inch shorter than his older brother, and was clad in a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Michael and Mitchell were dressed similarly to Spencer, while Michael had a plain red shirt on over blue jeans, and Mitchell had on a T-shirt with 'Green Day' written on it, with a blue shirt left open over the top.
Lexi stood awkwardly in between the two groups, and put a hand to the back of her neck in an anxious manner – a habit she had picked up from spending so much time with the Loonatics. She wondered what to do, whether she should talk herself, and find out about her friends and family back home, or try to allow the two groups to make conversation so they could bond. She let out a small sigh and suddenly felt nine pairs of eyes on her – which made her uncomfortable; that and the pain she was starting to feel in her foot again because she had been standing up for a while now.
Ace walked up to her and addressed her brothers, "Er, do you want us" he gestured to the rest of the team (minus Lexi) "to go so you guys can catch up...Or..."
Lexi's brothers looked at each other, considering, before Pete spoke, "Well, it'd be nice to get to know you guys as well; you know, so we can meet the people that have been keeping Lex from seeing us." He smiled, allowing the somewhat nervous Loonatics to realise that he wasn't accusing them of anything, but merely making a joke.
Lexi half-smiled and gave a small chuckle, "I would've gone to see you, but....with the job and stuff...we can never firmly know if one of us left to go somewhere, that there wouldn't be some end of the world crisis happen. Besides, plane tickets are expensive, and I tend to spend my money on awesome tee-shirts and basic living essentials."
Michael scoffed and stood with his hands in his pockets, "Like what?"
"Books and tampons." She said simply whilst giving a firm nod, the last item she said made the males in the room widen their eyes at the information which didn't really need to be listed, "...and toothpaste...and soap, and...Well - the list goes on."
Ace smiled and shook his head, "Shall we sit down, at least...to talk." He gave a glance to Lexi as everyone headed to the 'U' shaped sofa arrangement.
"Thanks." She whispered when she noticed him look down at her foot – offering for them to sit down was his way of wanting to make sure Lexi was able to stay off her foot, but without making it obvious that Lexi had hurt herself.
Ace knew from Alex, and from Lexi herself, that her brothers were protective – but he thought that they would understand and be okay with knowing that she had an injury because; things happen. But after seeing them, and noticing that they were taller than him, and more visibly muscular – he had second thoughts about how they might react to finding out that their younger sister had been injured...an injury which was caused by an explosion...which was caused by one of her own team mates...in their own home.
While everyone else sat, with Lexi and Ace taking up the rear – having not even sat down yet, Pete – who was also still standing up, spoke, "Er, hey, is it okay if I take a quick shower? I didn't have the chance to since we had to go or we'd miss the flight."
"How long does it take to shower?" Duck raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"Not long, but it's a four hour drive from our town to Salt Lake City." Lexi replied, she looked to her brothers, "I miss it there, it's pretty – but Phoenix is cooler...well....it's warmer....but it's more awesome."
"...Let me guess....because some of your favourite bands come from there that you and the others go there." Mitchell smiled.
"Pretty much." She smiled. "...And yeah, sure – you can shower, sorry, Pete, I almost forgot that you asked." Lexi smiled as she looked at Pete, turning around and walking up the ramp from the sunken living area, "I'll show you where your room is." Pete followed her, quickly grabbing his bag containing his belongings, and followed her through the corridor.
Ace sighed quietly, he didn't have a problem with Lexi wanting to spend time with her brothers while they were there, but she also needed to look after her foot or something worse could happen. But then he remembered Lexi telling him about the incident three years ago – and how Pete had been the one to find her. Ace considered that perhaps she had gone to talk to him, that or she just thought that she should be the one to show him where his room was.
Ace remained standing up as he thought, but after he was roused from his contemplation by Duck calling his name, he spoke, "Anyone want a drink?"
After receiving a number of answers saying 'Yes', and remembering what everyone wanted, Ace went across to the kitchen and set about making everyone their requested drink, while the rest of the team made conversation with Lexi's brothers.
"So what do you guys do?" Duck asked, "Lexi said you were pilots, is that like...airline, you know, commercial stuff?"
"No." Spencer leaned forward to talk, "We're in the air force."
"Well...training, anyway." Michael corrected his brother with a laugh from an apparent inside joke.
Mitchell remained focussed as his two brothers laughed about an unspecified thing, "We will be naval aviators, but right now we're in training so we can go over to California in January and start flying there."
"So are you learning how to fly, or is it technical stuff now?" Tech asked – it was obvious that the scientist wanted to know about this, with pilots having to know a lot involving mathematics and some general physics.
"Well..." Spencer looked up to think, "We've already been to flight school, now it's a case of...fine tuning the flying so that we know about air combat and stuff for when we go onto aircraft carriers and start doing patrols."
--
Lexi pressed a button on the door to one of the spare rooms causing the doors to open. A fresh scent wafted out of the doors towards the brother and sister as the pneumatic doors opened.
The room was themed blue and white. Some areas were a dark blue, while others were light blue, and other parts were white. The dark blue curtains which took up the entire length of the wall opposite to the door where the two bunnies stood, behind the curtains – which had been pulled back to reveal the window, showed the view of the city below them.
In the left corner next to the window was a door into the bathroom, while on the light blue wall to the right of the window was a framed photo of the Acmetropolis skyline at night, while two double beds were below it, separated by a white bedside table with a blue lamp on it.
The covers on the beds consisted of two dark blue pillows (one on either side of the bed) with a light blue pillow in front of each pillow. The bed covers were dark blue and light blue striped, while the sheets were white.
Opposite to the beds was a simple wall length white set of cupboards with a large TV set on top of it. A chair was pulled up against one table, with a lamp on the desk above it for reading and writing purposes. A fan also sat on top of one of the desks because of the heat lately.
Lexi stepped in and turned towards her brother behind her. "Is this okay? I hope you guys don't mind sharing beds." Lexi smiled at Pete.
"Its fine, Lex" He smiled as he looked around.
"Yeah, well...it's just that mum and dad need a room and Ace's parents will be here too in less than a week..."
Pete furrowed his eyebrows with confusion and turned to his sister, having just heard that piece of information. She, however, seemed unaware of his sudden confusion, and continued speaking.
"...So, had they not been coming...you would've gotten your own bed...it's just that, yeah, we...need to fit everyone in." She noticed how he looked, "What?"
Pete furrowed his eyebrows, "You said Ace's parents were coming..."
"Yeah." Lexi replied, "Ace is the other rabbit..."
"...Yeah, I can remember who he is. But...why are they coming too, was it just coincidence?"
Lexi felt her heart thud again, she hadn't anticipated they'd ask that; and so she hadn't been able to think of an answer. Now she thought of it, it would seem weird for two families to come at the same time...especially the families of a male and female member for the team. Lexi wondered whether it would be obvious or not that they had been asked to come because of something such as a proposal or...pregnancy. Lexi grimaced.
She shrugged, feigning repose, "Yeah, I guess." She sighed, she didn't want to have to lie to her family too much for the next week, it would only make it worse when she told them – as she would have to explain why she covered lots of things up, and then her family may feel betrayed – and would feel as though she felt she wouldn't have been able to tell them.
"Weird." Pete said, looking through his bag as he pulled out various belongings.
Lexi sat on the bed where his suitcase rested, "I swear you guys just keep getting taller." She smiled.
Pete chuckled to himself, "Nah," he ruffled her hair, "you're just short."
Lexi groaned, "Hey," she said, smoothing down her hair, "its bad enough I know dad'll do that, I don't need you doing that, too."
Pete smiled, "So...have you been okay here? You stopped calling home after a while – the others assumed you must have settled in better...but...I couldn't help but wonder if everything was alright...you know..."
Lexi half-smiled, "The guys are really nice, you'll see. They look after me, we all look after each other, Duck's kinda arrogant, but...he's okay , you know, he cares and is a great member of the team, he just...enjoys making snide comments that can be...annoying sometimes." She looked down at the bed, remembering several occasions where Duck had been a jackass to her, but when he had also helped her out as well.
"So they don't...mistreat you or anything?"
Lexi's eyes widened, "What? No! Of course not! I would've told you guys if they did. I'm second in command, they don't...they don't bully me, or make me do all the work...or...what you're thinking – they definitely don't do that!"
Lexi sighed, "Pete, listen...the guys are my friends, they're like family – they'd never do what that guy did, they never would." She looked down, and then up at him, "Pete...I'm...I'm starting to get over it, maybe you should as well – I don't want you thinking that I constantly need looking after, 'cause that's just gonna make you stressed out. And I don't want that." She fiddled with one of his shirts on the bed next to her, "The guys helped me, Pete. And I know that it affected you a bit, too, but if I can start to get over it, I really think you should as well."
Pete sighed, "I don't want to forget what happened..."
"...I'm not saying you have to. All I'm saying is that you, and everyone else, including the guys back home, need to stop beating yourselves up over it. With hindsight – yeah, I should've gone the next day or...I shouldn't have gotten distracted...or...I should have gone with someone. But, Pete, hindsight is such a useful thing - but only when you have the ability to change what happened. There's no point dwelling on what should've, or could've been done – no one knew that would happen. The least we can do, is move on, and be aware of stuff like that in the future, but not dwell on it." She searched his blue eyes for an answer.
"Yeah," he sighed and sat down next to her, "I just didn't want anything like that to ever happen to you, or anyone! I never wanted to see you like that...all alone...upset, I never wanted to have you be afraid of us after it happened, and I never wanted you to decide to leave home because it was the only way you could get closure..."
"...But I have had closure, Pete." Lexi sighed, "Not fully – I doubt that'll ever happen...but, the guys have helped me...when I told Ace, he was supportive, and - the guys have always known about stuff like that and when I've said I'm going out, they act like dad: they always want to know where I'll be, when I'll be back, and sometimes one of them would come with me, too – and that was before I even told them. Now they know they're even more cautious; which I'm thankful for – it makes me feel safe...well, safer than I normally would be with them."
"Why'd you tell them?"
Lexi shrugged, "They're my team mates, and they deserve to know if it could affect my behaviour...which it did when I first came into the team, but you know about that. It took a while before I could tell them, it was only a week or two ago that I did, but it feels better that they know, then have to hide a...." She gulped, suddenly feeling nervous, "...it's better than keeping a huge secret from people I care about." She looked down at the sheets and felt her heartbeat rise again.
Pete rubbed her back, "I'm glad you're okay, anyway." He pulled her into a small hug. He kissed the top of her head and stood up with his spare clothes in hand for him to wear for when he got out of the shower, "I'll see you in a little bit."
Lexi smiled and sighed as he left to go to the bathroom situated in the spare room, and shut the door behind himself. Not long after that she heard the water turn on. She stood up, hearing commotion coming from the main room – her brothers and team mates laughing,
She left the room, only to be met with the sight of Ace. He gave her a weak smile, "Hey, Lex."
Lexi gave him a confused look, "Did you hear all of that?"
"No." Ace smiled and took her hand, "I just came to talk to you," He led her into his room and shut the door, they remained by the door to speak, "Are you gonna tell dem dat we're together?"
Lexi gave him a confused look, "Of course!"
Ace half smiled, "You sure they'd be okay with dat?"
Lexi furrowed her eyebrows, "Ace, they're not axe wielding murderers." She smiled and started to leave.
Ace moved in front of the door to stop her from leaving, "I just...I know they're protective of you, and I don't want dem to worry...or..."
"...Ace." Lexi stopped him, "if we don't tell our families we're together, how do you think they'll react when the find out...that...I'm..." She whispered, "You know...."
Ace frowned, "I just don't want dem to act...weird, you know...dey might be really...funny about it because dey don't know me...and...after what happened to you..." He put his arms around her, "Who knows how dey might act, and I don't want to lose you!"
Lexi frowned, "Ace, they won't go weird around you. I'll make sure they don't – They need to stop getting so worked up over me. I want them to know that I'm not incapable of everything!"
Ace half-smiled and kissed her, "Sorry."
"Don't be." Lexi smiled.
Ace kissed her again, "If dey ask you somet'in', and you don't know how to answer, I'll step in; I'm good at t'inkin' quickly." He gave her a smile.
Lexi smiled and kissed him, "Thanks." Ace smiled and kissed her back.
"I guess we won't be doin' dat for a while." He sighed.
Lexi rolled her eyes and smiled him and pressed herself closer to him, "You guessed wrong," She kissed him again, "Just 'cause my family are here doesn't mean we can stop doing anything we'd do if they weren't here – the guys live here too, they don't complain."
Lexi smiled at him and left the room. Ace stood there for a while, and eventually leant against the door and let out a sigh. He felt awkward, he didn't want to hang around with Lexi and kiss her with her brothers around, and he would feel especially awkward with them getting up to any activities during the night with her brothers staying in the same area. He grimaced, it would be annoying, and difficult for him, not to mention embarrassing and potentially dangerous for him as well.
With that thought, he let out another sigh, rubbed his eyes, before regaining his composure and leaving the room. He began to walk towards the main room, when Tech approached, looking as though he was headed for the lab based on his direction and speed.
The coyote stopped when he saw Ace, and walked over to him, "Hey, chief, you got a sec?"
"Yeah, sure." Ace replied, as they walked further down the hallway to ensure that no one would hear them, "What's up?" Ace looked at the coyote.
"Do you know what's up with Lex? She seemed to be acting pretty weird around me this morning – she won't make eye contact with me, either, and if she does, she glares."
Ace gave the coyote a confused look, "Huh, weird. She's probably just stressed out, with not seein' her family for a while...with da news we've gotta tell dem, and she's worried dat we won't get along."
Tech let out a small chuckle, "She does like to worry."
Ace half-smiled, "Yeah, last night she was wakin' up every half hour after t'inkin' of somet'in' to do with her family, and she'd start getting' really freaked out and worried."
"That'd explain her falling asleep at the table this morning, then."
"Yeah." Ace stiffled a yawn, "I wonder how we'll do with stayin' up to wait for da rest of her family, after a night like last night."
Tech gave a small smile, "Well, I've got a lot of cleaning to do in my lab, you guys could crash, I'll probably still be up by the time they get here, and I'll let them in."
Ace rolled his eyes, "You were goin' to da lab right now weren't you?" He raised an eyebrow.
Tech knew that the question was rhetorical, all his friends knew of his unhealthy obsession with his lab, "Yeah." He sighed, defeated.
Ace shook his head slowly, "Not dis time. You will not step foot in dat lab today, tomorrow, or da day after dat – or at least not until I say you can; I am your leader, so dat's an order."
Tech frowned.
Ace sighed, "Look, you might t'ink it's unfair since it's not dat important to you, but I t'ink you should get to know Lexi's family, and mine too. Besides, you'll seem anti-social if you always disappear off to your lab whenever we have company – it'll be good for your reputation."
"Yeah..." Tech sighed as he followed Ace down the corridor towards the main room, "but my reputation came from being the youngest student in Acmetropolis' history to receive a PHD in astrophysics."
Ace sighed and turned around, "Yeah, well I did physics and math too at college, but you don't see me cooped up in a lab all day long, I like to get around, and spend time with my friends."
"Yeah, the amount of time you spend with your 'friends' in incredible, you even have sleepovers with your second in command!"
Ace turned around upon hearing the unfriendly, yet amazingly familiar voice of Duck approaching them. Ace gave the mallard a stern look, "Don't test my patience, Duck. And where are you going? Don't tell me you're gonna go and disappear too?"
Duck scoffed, "I thought this was a free country, is a man no longer allowed to leave the company of his friend's family to pee? I'd do it in the living room but I'd be afraid to offend Lexi." He continued walking to his room where a bathroom was located.
Ace sighed and rolled his eyes, as he walked back towards the main room, with Tech following.
Ace sat down beside Lexi on the sofa, while Tech sat near to Slam; apparently they had walked into a conversation regarding some of Lexi's friends from Utah – a conversation in which Lexi was talking, with her brothers, Rev and Slam laughing.
"...and then he fell out of the tree, and landed on Mikey, but his guitar got stuck up in the tree. So then they all started throwing stuff like rocks up there to dislodge it so it'd fall out, but since we all suck at sports....they missed the branches of the tree but hit his guitar – and that's how we killed it!" Lexi laughed to herself, "Its actually astounding how attached all of them are to their guitars, seriously – if you want Sam to do anything, just grab her guitar and threaten to cut the strings and she'd do anything!"
Her brothers, as well as the rest of the Loonatics laughed, "I'll remember that!" Mitchell smiled.
"Hey, Ace." Lexi smiled at him after she had finished speaking, and moved closer to him, perhaps a more subtle approach would be best to show her family that she and Ace were together.
--
"So you're still not gonna tip me...?"
Duck slammed the door on the pizza delivery boy, the same one who they had rescued when he had become possessed by a parasite during the same time that Rev's family had come to visit. "We saved your butt, yet you still expect a tip." Duck muttered as he walked back holding a stack of pizza boxes.
"Pizza!" Slam shouted in delight as he spun himself over to Duck to take half of the pizza boxes which he would eat, while Rev helped Duck to deliver the correct boxes of pizza to all team members, and Lexi's brothers.
Lexi walked over with a stack of plates in hand and placed them on the table in the kitchen, so they could put their slices of pizza onto the plates. Since there were not enough seats for everyone; plates, drinks and pizzas were placed on the table, while everyone stood around it to eat, leaning against the counters which surrounded the table.
"So how's everyone back home?" Lexi asked as she distributed plates to everyone while Ace and Duck placed the pizza boxes on the table. Ace stood next to Lexi, but not as close as he would normally.
"Pretty good." Spencer replied, "Teresa's been bullied a bit at school lately, though."
Lexi frowned, "That always used to happen to us – people just seemed to hate anthros at school. Did any of you guys notice that?" She looked around at the group.
"I was discriminated against at the university, but not much in school." Tech replied, though Lexi didn't look at him when he answered her query.
Mitchell looked up, "We," he looked to his brothers, "never did. Why were you and Sam bullied?"
Lexi shrugged, "We're dorks, and kids are mean – especially girls," she looked down at her plate and then back at the group, "girls are generally mean...and bitchy, seriously you shouldn't hang out with them." She smiled.
Ace half smiled, "See I never had a problem with kids at school – there were never many anthros...but, still I wasn't bullied."
The rest of the males in the room agreed.
Lexi raised an eyebrow, "Lucky you, pretty much every lunchtime at school people would throw food at us – sometimes it was still edible, other times it really wasn't; and it turns out that apples really hurt when they hit you in the eye."
"Go figure." Duck rolled his eyes while everyone else laughed at Lexi's remark.
Lexi glared at him and glanced at the time, it was almost eight O'clock, but she was already starting to feel the effects of sleep deprivation – she had missed out on a lot of sleep the previous night.
Within the next few minutes, everyone finished their food, the dishes were put into the dish washer, and the table cleared; while everyone disbanded to do their own things – including Lexi's brothers, who went to their room to sort out their belongings from their bags.
--
Lexi sighed and flopped back onto the bed, finally feeling a reprieve from the pain in her foot that had ailed her for some time. Ace sat down next to her, and pulled her into his lap before beginning to play with her hair.
Lexi shut her eyes, "God, I'm tired." She rubbed her eyes, "I doubt I'm gonna stay up long enough to see the rest of my family get here."
Ace frowned, "I might be able to stay up, I'll just tell dem dat you got tired and went to bed, dey'll understand – dey'll probably be tired too, dere is a two hour time difference between here and Utah – if dey get in at midnight, dey'll be feeling as though dey were awake at 02:00AM."
Lexi nodded, "Yeah I guess, they haven't seen me in three years, what's another day – I mean, I'd like to see them soon, but I doubt I'll be in the best of moods if I'm really tired."
"Exactly." He smiled, and leaned over to kiss her, but winced when he felt pain in the centre of his back – where he had been blasted into a table earlier in the day.
Lexi sat up and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Ace." She furrowed her eyebrows, "Your back's really bothering you." She bit her lip when he nodded. She looked around until she remembered something. "Stay there."
She carefully got off the bed, not wanting to hurt her foot whilst doing so, and quickly left Ace's room and went into her own, avoiding the fold-out bed in her room which her sisters/Leah would use that night, and went into her bathroom and opened a cupboard.
Moments later she returned with a bottle of a gel-like substance. She sat next to Ace as she unscrewed the cap on the bottle, "This stuff is really good for back pain, it relaxes the muscles."
"How so?" It was obvious Ace's back was causing him some grief.
Lexi frowned at how much pain he seemed to be in, "I'm not sure, but it's some sort of warming stuff, it gets into the muscles and warms them and relaxes them. You have to apply it every few hours, and it works really fast."
"Okay." Ace was using his enhanced vision to read the product's description from the bottle while Lexi was still holding it, "When have you had to use it? After tough missions? You never complained of back pain."
Lexi let out a small smile, "Umm...not so much for tough missions as womanly stuff."
"What?"
Lexi sighed, "Back pain, dude, one of those lovely little side effects that come from that once a month thing – this stuff works wonders, especially when I'm trying to sleep...but it does smell a bit funny, though."
Ace chuckled to himself, "It explains why you never complained to us about back pain."
Lexi smiled, "I prefer to skip the hairy details. Anyway, can you take off your shirt, please, so I can put this on you."
Ace did as instructed and Lexi moved to sit behind him. She put a small amount on one hand before asking him where he felt pain – as it was difficult to see any bruising because of his fur.
"Umm...Just under my shoulder blades, probably like...waist level."
"'Kay." She rubbed the gel into the area described as well as listening to him when he told her where else to put it. Eventually she finished, "You should feel that start to work soon." She smiled at him.
"Yeah, I can now." He pulled a funny face, "It's..kinda weird..."
Lexi let out a small laugh.
"T'anks." He pulled her over to him and kissed her. He then looked down at her foot, "Do you t'ink it'll work on your foot?"
Lexi looked at him for a moment before looking to her injured foot, "Nah, I doubt it – probably not enough muscle if you think about it. Besides, this foot goes weird sometimes anyway, I'm sure it'll be fine in the morning."
Ace furrowed his eyebrows, "What do you mean 'your foot goes weird sometimes'?"
Lexi shrugged, "I don't know, I've fractured it a couple of times, and every now and then – not too often – it just gives way, if you get me. It....goes dead, I think that's what happened this morning, I think I tripped a little on the wires, but it might have also been my strange foot." She frowned, "It's actually the same one that...that guy grabbed when he was trying to get me back in Utah."
'She jumped up, grabbing hold of a branch, wincing in pain as her aching shoulder felt her weight on it, swung back, and kicked him, the force giving her enough momentum to swing forward and run.
But he grabbed her ankle as he fell
She fell onto her stomach, letting out a gasp of air and pain.'
Ace frowned at her, "Hey, don't get upset..." He made a movement to hug her, but she moved away.
"Ace, I'm fine, I'm not upset." She smiled at him, "Honest."
Ace gave her an unconvinced look, "You're not usually dis okay when talkin' about what happened."
Lexi sighed and slumped her shoulders, "Look...I want to try and get over this, I don't want you and the guys, and everyone back home thinking it still gets to me, that I'm still this vulnerable little girl who can't look after herself anymore."
Ace frowned at her, "Lex, you know we don't t'ink of you like dat."
"You guys might not, but my family and friends do. Alex doesn't trust you as my boyfriend – I would've thought that everyone would understand that I'd be cautious about stuff like this – that's why I trust you so much, Ace, you'd never do that. But my family and friends...they...they just think I can't make good judgements anymore, somehow I doubt they can either." She sighed, "I also told Pete today, when I went to show him where his room was, that I'm getting over it – I mean, I'm not miserable like I used to be, it still gets to me sometimes, but not so much, not nearly as much as it used to. And...I want to make sure I'm true to my word, I want to get over it, so much. I'm not gonna let it get to me anymore."
Ace looked at her and gave a small sigh; somehow he knew that it wasn't possible.
--
09:57PM
Lexi knocked on the door to the room that her brothers were staying in, having taken a pain killer to stop the pain in her foot, and sitting in Ace's room with ice on her foot for over an hour while they watched TV – the ice had almost completely stopped the swelling, but it still hurt slightly despite the pain killer that she took.
"Guys, it's me." She said through the door.
"You're good." She heard one of them say from within their room. She wasn't sure who it was, though, maybe Michael – she had been away from them for so long she started to forget their voice pitches, she could always tell with the Loonatics because of her advanced hearing, but also her musical ear also helped her to distinguish who was who by the depth of their voices. With her brothers it was difficult, being related their voices were similar....that and she hadn't seen them in three years.
"Hey." She smiled as she walked in. She received a number of "hey's'" from her brothers, but noted that Spencer wasn't present, "Where's?"
"If she comes in, tell her I'm not naked." She turned to the bathroom upon hearing the missing person's voice.
Her brothers burst into laughter while Lexi was left with a confused, and somewhat disgusted, look on her face. "Umm...what?" She turned to Pete.
"Showering." He replied with a smile.
"Riiiiiiiiiiiight..." She raised an eyebrow before shouting towards the bathroom door, "I could've lived my entire life without that image in my head!"
"Hey, you shouldn't be thinking of stuff like that, preserve you innocence."
Lexi chuckled to herself and sat down on the bed that Pete was lying on, reading. She looked across to her other brothers, Michael and Mitchell – the latter was still unpacking his belongings into some of the draws in the room, as well as taking out his toiletries, while Michael was reading some pieces of paper.
Lexi felt somewhat awkward, they were all busy, but she wanted to talk to them – Ace was catching up on some sleep so that he could let Lexi's family into HQ without falling asleep while waiting for them – and Lexi had to wake him at eleven O'clock to ensure he didn't sleep all night long – so she didn't have much to do, considering Slam, Rev and Duck were watching sports, and she didn't want to spend time with Tech.
She looked around the room and drummed her fingers on her leg, before Pete sat up next to her. "Sorry, I only had a few pages left of this chapter, I wanted to finish it – I started reading on the plane over, got stuck into the book."
Lexi smiled, "It's okay."
As Pete moved over to sit next to her, as she was currently only sitting by his feet, a chain around his neck came loose from underneath his T-shirt. The chain was fairly long, perhaps reaching down to the breast-bone area, and at the bottom held two small tags – his 'dog tags' chains containing information that all military personnel had to wear.
Lexi looked at the chain, "Do you have to wear that all the time?"
Pete looked down at his dog-tags, and then back to his sister, "Umm...probably not when I'm off duty, but I'd rather keep them on than loose them – you know what I'm like." He smiled.
Lexi smiled back, "So..." she looked around the room and then to the floor beneath her feet. There was a long pause. "I really missed you." She hugged him, and he put an arm around her with a smile, "I missed you, too."
Lexi looked back up at Michael and Mitchell, "I missed you too by the way." She then turned towards the bathroom door, "and you Spence!" She shouted.
"Have you seen Alex at all?" Mitchell finally spoke as he looked over at his brother and sister.
"Yeah, I saw him the other day – he says he's working one day while you're all here, but other than that he's free. I could show you guys where he lives, or I could ask him if he wants to come over here sometime." She looked between Pete and Mitchell.
"Yeah, cool." Mitchell spoke as he finally finished his unpacking and placed his suitcase underneath his bed.
"Mikey, what the hell are you doin'?" Mitchell said as he lay back against the pillows on the bed.
"Readin'"
Pete and Mitchell exchanged glances, "About what?" Mitchell continued - Michael normally wasn't so closed off.
"Training – Did you know they drop stuff out of cargo planes while they're still in the air?" He looked up at his siblings.
"Yeah..." Lexi nodded, "I think we've done it before." She looked up to think, "that or I'm thinking about something else."
"You do army-ish stuff?" Pete raised an eyebrow.
"No...not really." Lexi looked up at him, "we've helped them out once, though – they had a problem concerning some super-powered kid at the military weapons lab."
"But...don't they have...weapons there?" Mitchell looked amused.
"Yeah," Lexi laughed, "But this guy could manipulate time, so they couldn't catch him – neither could we until we got some back up from some scientist dude.
Spencer finally emerged from the bathroom, wearing what Lexi assumed to be his pyjamas for the night, shorts and a vest top.
"Finally." Michael said, getting up, "I can change and sleep!"
Lexi looked confused, "Why couldn't you've done that here?"Michael raised an eyebrow and gave her a confused look, "...Cause you're in here. You know, we're fine with the whole....changing in front of each other thing, we have to do it sometimes at the air base – plus....it's all the same stuff down there – but you don't need to see that..."
Lexi shut her eyes, "Yeah, okay, Mike, I get it – I don't need the mental image." She stood up, "Anyway, I'll let you guys sleep, I know you must have gotten up early – I'll see you in the morning."
"Wait," Spencer stopped her, "What about mum and dad, and the others?"
"Ace is staying up – the other guys probably will too, I had a bad night sleep last night so I'm too tired to wait up for them."
"What kept you up?" Pete voiced his concerns about his sister's welfare – he didn't know the Loonatics well enough to trust them yet, and wanted to be sure that Lexi was being honest when she said they don't mistreat her.
Lexi paused for a moment, not wanting to say that stress kept her up as it would be insulting, "I...had a...nightmare." She didn't want to lie to them too much, but she was tired and didn't want them interrogating her all night about why she was stressed – she thought that lying at this point was okay.
"What about?"
"Pete..." Lexi was about to complain at him from stopping her from sleeping, and waking Ace, she sighed, "...I don't really remember- all I know is that it scared me and kept me up for a bit – that's it."
"Okay, well...sleep well then, Lex." He smiled at her.
She nodded, "Night, guys." She left the room.
--
"Ace....Ace...wake up."
Lexi gently spoke to the male rabbit, who was sleeping above the covers of their bed, she sat beside him, looking down at him, while rubbing is shoulder, "Ace?"
The moment that she saw his crystal blue eyes open, she smiled at him. "It's a little bit past eleven, sorry about that – I went to see my brothers and they barely let me leave!"
Ace sat up and rubbed his eyes and forehead for a moment, before looking at her, "It's okay. Boy, it's at times like dis dat I can see why you hate nappin'."
Lexi half-smiled at him, "Sorry."
"Its fine, Lex." He smiled at her and kissed her, "Hey, can you put a bit more of dat stuff on my back, it really helped."
"Sure." Lexi smiled, but checked the label of the bottle quickly to ensure that it was okay to use within a two hour time period.
As she rubbed it into his back, they made small conversation, they were both tired and so their fatigue affected their moods – and they weren't in a particularly active mood, which included talking and thinking.
"So what did you and your brothers talk about?"
Lexi shrugged as she squeezed some more of the gel onto her hand, "Random stuff not anything particularly interesting – just small talk....and I've never been good at remembering small talk."
Ace smiled, "It's fine. So are dey stayin' up?"
"Umm..." Lexi looked up to think, "I think they're going to sleep – they had to get up early."
"Okay." Ace looked at the digital clock, "So are you gonna hit da hay?" He turned around to look at her after realising that she was done.
"Err...yeah if that's okay...is it okay?"
Ace smiled, "It's fine – I'll try not to wake you when I come back in here."
Lexi smiled, "Who cares if you do."
Ace kissed her and gave her a hug, "Well, I'll go into da main room, I'll just watch some TV until dey get here."
"Okay," Lexi smiled, "And thanks – you don't have to be all formal, just tell them I'm asleep...perhaps tell them who you are, and show them where they'll be sleeping – Oh, and tell them that I'll try and be up early tomorrow."
"Alright." Ace smiled. He kissed her again and turned on the bedside light, and took out her pyjamas from one of the draws, and then turned off the main light, and handed her the pyjamas, "Have a good night sleep, dis time." He smiled and kissed her again.
"You, too." She kissed him back and watched as he left the room. She then changed into her pyjamas and brushed her teeth. She settled herself into her side of the bed and slept.