A/N:
Revised rating. Nice sibling arguing.
Title:
Krit
Name:
Joy
Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com
Rating: R
"So your baby has
carried three other animal DNA sections into its genetic code. We need to try
some gene therapy on one of your siblings that has the same three animal DNA
sections," Dr. Spencer said to Max and Logan with Zack, Jondy, and Fiona
in the room.
"Which three animals?"
Zack asked.
"I'm sorry?" Jess asked.
"Which three… I know my
siblings…information, you might say."
"Shark, cat, and wolf."
"Well, I'm out," Jondy
said. "Shark, cat and bird. Isn't that weird? They made me with two
natural enemies," she commented with a smirk.
"I'm out too. I don't have any
shark… neither does Syl. Tinga has panther in hers somewhere. Zane…No… Wait,
Krit… Krit has those three," Zack said in excitement.
"Makes sense… Krit, Jondy and I
never slept. Oh god… please let my baby sleep," Max said in dismay. Logan
kissed her head in slight amusement.
"I'll get Krit here and we'll
go from there," Zack said kissing the top of Max's head. Logan only
slightly flinched. Fiona was pinching his hand as to remind him to behave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zack and Jondy left the room to make
the call while the Cales tried to relax. "Good job Logan. Your sister's
fears were unfounded," Dr. Spencer said.
"What?" he asked.
"I didn't think you would be
good at letting Zack be this hands on in helping. To be honest I didn't want
you here," Fiona said from behind her brother.
Shock permeated Logan's being,
"You got to be kidding… This is my son!"
"Yes and in the past you have
been known to let feelings of inadequacy and jealousy prevent you from doing
what was best for your family," she said calmly, almost angry.
"What the hell are you talking
about? I would never endanger my family!"
Max grabbed Logan's hand as he stood
to face his sister, "Logan… You did that with Fi."
The level of stress in the room rose
greatly as Zack and Jondy returned. "This isn't a good time," Jessica
said quietly, trying to usher them out before Logan's rage exploded at them.
"Why?" Zack asked.
That was all it took. "Why?!
Because my sister thinks so much more highly of you then of me. She believes I
would risk my wife and child over keeping YOU out. How did you manage this?
How? I spend months working on my relationship with her and then you show back
up. It takes less then a couple weeks for her to think the world of you. How
did you do it?"
Zack stood stunned at Logan's
tirade. "HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" erupted Fiona. "You are as
moronic as I thought. It isn't Zack's fault that we don't have the relationship
we used to. WE… you and I… don't trust each other the way we used to. We were
getting better at it for a while there…but now too much is at stake… I will not
let you make the same mistakes with Max that you made with me. You don't get
the option!"
Fiona and Logan stood in the
hospital room facing each other with great fury. "Jondy, go get Bling.
Jessica thanks for your help. Zack, you don't need to be here for this,"
Max said calmly. The three at the door bowed out. Jondy pulled Zack out the
door since he seemed to have no intension of leaving.
The entrance of Bling ended a minute or two of
silence. "So I hear my two favorite Irish wills are clashing again,"
he said glibly. Max frowned and shook her head. It was much more serious then
that. "Are we back at the shooting? Or is this about the hospital?"
he asked. Glares radiated from the two pairs of crystalline blue eyes.
"Fine, I don't care what set it off but let's get it on the table or these
last few months are going to be hell on everyone."
"Fine! Tell your husband how you didn't want me
here because you thought I wouldn't let Zack help. Tell him how much you love
the Wonder Boy and how much of a disappointment I am in comparison!" Logan
shouted loud enough for Zack and Jondy to hear outside the room without
enhanced hearing.
"Give me a break… Zack isn't really the problem
here, Logan. You aren't a disappointment because of Zack. You're a
disappointment because of you. You are who you are… Self absorbed, arrogant,
and oblivious to what is important around you," Fiona said with as much
venom as she could muster.
This was the fight Logan knew would come some day.
It was four years since his sister and her family had been gunned down in the
street, partially because of a mistake on his part. In one day she lost the
baby she was carrying, her husband, both of their parents, and nearly her life.
To add insult to injury, Logan hadn't been able to deal with his sister's fate
so he ignored her…leaving her to be cared for by her in laws. Once the injuries
healed, the rejection was so bad she had left the country. In the last year
they had been working hard to repair the damage that occurred between them and
for the most part it had been successful. Now with a high-risk pregnancy of Max
that put Fiona on the defense and the threat of Zack being a better brother to
Logan, both siblings were up in arms. The pain was still very real and alive just
below the surface and now it was bubbling over into life.
"Enough!" Bling yelled. "Neither of
you mean this stuff! Fiona I know how responsible you think Logan has become
and how glad you are to be back. Truth is your arguments are rooted in fears
that are long over." Bling walked over to Logan and put his hand on
Logan's shoulder, "No one can take your place in Fi's heart. You'll always
be her big brother. Yeah, you screwed up in the past so now you're all worried
about the time she's spending with Zack. You're worried that he's a better
brother… Truth is he's just more open then you are. Weird as it may sound, Fi's
getting to be the big sister she always wanted to be. But see you're screwing
up again by letting this insecurity get in the way of you two. You block up
your heart, she'll do the same on instinct."
Bling crossed over to his wife, "You, my dear,
are out of control. I know you're scared for Max and the baby, but you got to
cut Logan some slack. You're right he gets jealous and acts nuts, but it's not
your call whether he is involved with decisions or not… it's Max's. If you had
tried to keep him out, I'm sure Max would have fought you on it."
Max nodded in confirmation. "Besides, I can
manage my husband pretty well… frustrations and all."
"So each of you is going to come back to the
present time and remember the progress you've made… or Max and I will kick you
Asses," Bling said with a laugh hugging his wife while Max caressed
Logan's hand with a smile.
"You may actually need to have Jondy fill in
for me due to my present state," Max wisecracked.
"Nah… then we'd both be toast," Fiona said
with a slight smile trying to meet her brother's eyes. "Logan," she
began. "I'm... I'm so sorry… I had no right to… I shouldn't have…"
"It's OK… I forget sometimes that you're
allowed to have hang ups too. It never even occurred to me this would be hard
for you… I guess that's one reason you and Zack are bonding so well…it's hard
for both of you," Logan said as he reached for his sister. "I'm
always going to be scared of losing you again or failing you that much… I have
to say hearing you say you feared that I was going to fail Max cut deep,"
he stated clutching Fiona for dear life.
"I don't think you're going to fail her,
Loggie… I'm just scared you might…there's a big difference. I'm just setting up
roadblocks so you can't… I forget how ashamed you are of what happened back
then and would do anything to not repeat the same mistakes," Fiona cried
on her brother's shoulder.
"Why does this have to hurt so much?" he
mumbled.
"Because we're family. Only family can love you
and hurt you like this."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a few days, Max was released from
the hospital to the overly protective family that surrounded her. Jondy and
Zack stayed with Original Cindy as they all made back and forth visits to the
Cale residence. Zack had made contact with Krit who was carefully explained the
situation and what it would mean for him to come. Zack didn't want Krit to come
only not to be able to handle the tests and the research. It would be too hard
on everyone, but especially Max.
The three-day journey to Seattle was
a drop in the bucket to what Krit was willing to go through for family. For his
part, getting to see two of his sisters was prize enough for the blood and
tests he would endure for his new nephew.
His arrival brought Logan face to face with a male
version of Max. Krit had the same eyes and eye color, hair color, skin color,
and even her cute nose. Logan was sure if Krit let his hair grow it would be
curly as well. Jondy and Zack looked just alike so he didn't understand why he
was surprised at the resemblance.
"Well damn! A male version of
my boo… I'd never thought I'd see the day," said Original Cindy, as the
Seattle fam gathered around the dining room table in Logan's penthouse for
lunch. "We gotta take him down to Jam Pony to scare the crap out of
Normal, Sketchy, and Herbal. I can't wait to see their faces!"
"Boo?" Krit asked Max.
"Nickname… Don't worry about it.
Hey… Thanks for coming," Max said with a hug and a kiss.
"No problem… I get to see my
sisters, meet my brother in law, and help my future nephew. Life is good,"
he responded. "Ya hear that Little One? I'm your uncle Krit and I'm here
to make sure ya don't get the shakes or a barcode or junk like that. In other
words I'm going through this junk for you so when ya get here I better be your
favorite uncle!" Max laughed heartily at her brother's attention to her
belly. Arguing with her unborn child about getting favorite uncle status
brought it all home to her that this was her family. They would still live and
die for her.
"Can he hear us?" Jondy
asked
"His ears are developing as we
speak plus since he's Max's I'd say he must have excellent hearing," Logan
said as he bit into his sandwich. "I talk to him all the time."
"Yeah, especially while I'm
sleeping so he gets one on one time with Little One," Max said rolling her
eyes. "You have no idea how many times I've rolled onto Logan at my
stomach."
"I'd think that might me
fun," Jondy raised her eyebrows a few times for emphasis.
"Yeah, but that's why I'm like
this to begin with," Max responded leaving Logan to nearly choke on his
sandwich.
"Ya
ok Loggie? Hate
for you to swallow your tongue… Yet another way to have aided in lack of
pregnancy…" Fiona commented hitting Logan on the back. He left the room
completely red and thoroughly embarrassed. All the women laughed heartily at
Logan's current state. "Just tell me you aren't going into heat
immediately after you give birth?"
Logan reentered the room with a
large glass of water. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out. Maybe this go
round you'll need to keep Logan and I locked up in respective closets or
something," Max commented biting into her sandwich.
Logan coughed. "Yeah well… It
can't be worse then watching my brother reduced to the state of a horny dog
like last time," Fiona said calmly. Logan coughed a little more. "I
mean the idea he could smell you from several floors below. Didn't think a blood
transfusion could have that much effect…then again he's got more of your blood
then his own at this point."
"You can smell when Max is in
heat? Wow… You are closer to one of us," Krit commented and ate quickly.
"It's amazing isn't? Even with women that aren't Manticore, I probably
know their cycle better then they do. And when their fertile, man, is it hard
not just to ravage them," Krit said with a sound that was more wolf then
man.
"That's it! I'm sorry. I can't
take this. I can't handle my sex life or drive being discussed over the dinner
table," Logan stated firmly as the table stopped eating and stared at him.
Fiona started laughing hysterically.
She turned to Max and said, "This from the man who lost his virginity to
two girl at once in the backseat of his car while a third drove."
"Wow… That's impressive,"
Jondy commented. "Nice car I hope."
"Fiona!!!" Logan yelled.
She smiled sweetly, "Relax…
We'll stop. I've tortured you enough for one meal."
Krit nodded at Logan, "If you
want to discuss it in private that would be fine… I'm curious cause I don't
know another male with wolf DNA. We could compare notes…" He smiled
wickedly.
"This is just wrong!"
Logan muttered.
"Please… Logan, I can only get
pregnant while I'm in heat. You got to know it would bring about interesting
conversations. Think of this as another thing to prepare to tell Little One
about. Krit, you will need to tell Logan about what it was like to go through
puberty… I don't want to know,"
Max said shaking her head.
"Or you could just send the
munchkin to me for puberty," he said with the same wicked grin.
"I think not!" Logan
stated firmly.
"Fine… Fine…" Krit said.
"Puberty was like death…"
Max cut him off, "I said I
didn't want to know. Tell my husband so he can prepare our son but other wise…
I don't want to hear about your sexual history while I'm eating."
"Oh but it was fine to have
mine brought up?" Logan asked.
"It was ours… And he's my
brother…it's just wrong to know about your brother's mating cycles."
"Yeah… I had to walk in on my
brother's mating cycles," Fiona huffed.
"Fiona!" both Logan and
Max yelled. Everyone laughed heartily while the couple recovered from their
embarrassment.
"So when do I meet the
Doctor?" Krit asked.
"Tomorrow," Max said calmly. "We start tomorrow."