Disclaimer: See Part 1

A/N: Love reviews. Love those who review. ^_^ Why do I continue this story despite my need to finish The Siege? Brin's the best, that's why! :-D

Summary: Zack stops by to check on Brin, but she refuses to leave her newfound home and gets acquainted with the Lopez family. The Pulse occurs.

Little Almond Eyes Pocos Ojos De la Almendra

By

Brin

"The only thing worse than not getting what you want in life, is getting it." –Oscar Wilde

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Chapter 2: Pulsating

The rest of Brin's afternoon was spent marveling at the television. It had 257 channels and a remote control! Back at Manticore, their televisions had shown nothing but police videos and what Ben called 'brainwashing material.' Of course, it had taken her awhile to figure out how to turn the darn thing on with all the little buttons and switches, but she handled it a little better than the shower.

When she finally turned it on by pressing the green button at the top of the remote, she was quite amazed to see little figures jumping around the screen dropping anvil's on each other's heads. So surprised, in fact, that she dropped the remote and jumped to her feet in alarm. However, she soon realized her foolishness so she sat down and regained her composure. After awhile, Brin decided these things must 'cartoons' since the channel was apparently called 'Cartoon Network.' Some of these 'cartoons' were quite funny, and she was content to watch them.

The clock on the nightstand said 6:30 PM when Brin heard tapping on her window. She pulled herself out of the grips of the overstuffed couch and pushed the drapes aside, nearly screaming in surprise when she saw Zack's stern, chiseled face right outside the window.

"Open the window," he instructed, his voice deep and full of authority.

Brin quickly opened the window, marveling at how he had climbed three stories up to her window unseen… on that note, how did he know she was here? "How did you find me?" she asked, hugging him.

Zack stiffly hugged her back and replied, "That's no concern of yours. What are you doing here? This is obviously a high-profile family, and I told you to lay low."

She took briefly looked him over, momentarily ignoring his comments. His sandy hair was long enough to droop down into his blue-green eyes now. Back at Manticore, he had always gotten the most haircuts because his hair grew very, very fast. He had grown a bit taller and currently towered at least a foot and a few inches above his sister. His clothes—a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoody—were just as torn and tattered as hers had been before she had received her new clothes from the Lopez's. She felt sorry for her big brother and his situation. He could never relax; it was genetically encoded into his DNA to be a paranoid person. That's what made him such a brilliant strategist.

"But they're very nice, Zack," protested Brin, coming out of her reverie when she noticed that he was waiting for a response from her. "They fed me and gave me clothes and I had a hot shower! This is just like the Good Place Ben talks about. You would love it here."

"It may seem nice, but what happens when Lydecker rolls into town and finds you here? Will you be able to leave?" asked her CO seriously. "You can't stay in one place for too long."

"I know my duty, Zack. If you tell me that Lydecker knows I'm here, I'll leave. I swear as a soldier. Okay?" reasoned the young girl, her almond eyes full of hope. "I will be safer here than on the streets, Zack. Please, just let me stay. You know I can't handle it out there like you guys."

Zack stared at her for a long, long time, his face a thoughtful scowl, before saying, "Okay, but when I tell you to evacuate the premises, you will do as I say without question. Understand?"

"Understood, sir," said Brin. She gave him another big hug. "You're the best, big brother."

"I've got to go now. But I will be watching," he said. Then, as soon as he had come, he was gone again out the window again.

Brin hurried over to the window and looked for him, but he was nowhere to be found. It was just like Zack to do that. He always took being CO very, very seriously. That's why he was their CO, after all. She sighed sadly and closed the window.

She knew that the only reason he had let her stay was because, out of all the X5s, she was the smallest and most fragile. The only reason she was older than Max was because she had been born three and a half months premature. She had barely survived through her first year, suffering from a distant form of pulmonary tuberculosis due to a genetic malfunction. She never won in sparring matches, but had a knack for escape and evade since, when needed, she could squeeze into tight spaces her brother Zack could only dream about.

Once, Zack had broken her arm during a practice fight because her bones were almost as brittle as a human's. He had never forgiven himself for it. Lydecker had ordered she be given extra calcium pills. On top of that, she was given a bone transplant from Jondy. It was painful, but worked well and her bone strength shot up to a normal X5 level.

Another time, she had come down with the flu. None of the other X5s got the flu. She had nearly died from it since her body produced antibodies slower than even a human's. After that, she had had to spend a few months in genetic rehab where they filled her immune system with fast-reacting antibodies that were able to mutate to fight new and old strands of diseases. That's how life was for her at Manticore—always one step ahead of dying, yet always one step behind the others under the disappointed gaze of Lydecker.

She shook her head free of these thoughts and sat down on the couch to resume her cartoon-watching. When 6:55 finally rolled around, Brin set off in search of the kitchen. She assumed it was on the first floor, so her first goal was to find the stairs. It didn't take her very long, since the stairs were two doors down from her room. She descended to the first floor and was surprised to find a man dressed in a tuxedo standing there, smiling at her.

"Lady Brin, welcome. Dinner is just about ready; the family is waiting for you," said the man, gesturing to the large, open doorway where Brin could see the Lopez family sitting around a long table.

When Brin walked into the room and they all turned around to look at her. She recognized Alex, Luis, Hernando, Carlos, and Mama, but there was also a teenage girl, a middle-aged man, and an elderly couple present.

"Brin! We were just talking about you! Please, have a seat," said Mama, gesturing to the empty chair next to Alex.

Brin sat and stared down at her hands where they rested in her lap. She really didn't like being stared at. Lydcecker never allowed the guards to stare at 'his kids' for fear one of them would beat the guards to death. When she was on her own, she could avoid being seen if she wanted to. Right now there was no escape and the young girl felt like going back to her room and hiding underneath the covers of her bed.

Alex, sensing the girl's discomfort at being scrutinized by the Lopez family, reached underneath the table and touched her leg. "Brin, let me introduce you to everyone," he said, glancing at Mama for permission. When she nodded Alex continued, "This is my sister Lisa. She's going to college soon."

Lisa was about eighteen years old and a younger version of her mother. The only differences between the two were her hair was streaked red instead of gray, her eyes were green instead of brown, and she was a little bit shorter than Mama Lopez. She smiled at Brin with genuine friendliness and they nodded their hello's.

"Then there's Abuelo and Abuelita. They live with us during the summer, but they have a home in New Orleans and will be going home soon," continued Alex, gesturing to the elderly couple at the end of the table.

Abuelo and Abuelita were gray-haired and frail, but their hazel eyes were full of life. Abuelo was paunchy and his hair was almost white. Abuelita, on the other hand, was slender and still had a few locks of black hair mixed in with the gray, pulled back into a neat bun.

"Welcome to the Lopez family, little one," said Abuelita warmly.

"Thank you," replied Brin quietly. This was another thing she wasn't used to—manners. Sure, back at Manticore they had been taught manners—but that was only training for outside missions. She had never really used them before with anyone besides her brothers and sisters.

"And this is my Papa. He takes care of us," continued Alex, gesturing to the middle-aged man sitting next to Mama.

Papa, like Mama, was a very dignified and proud person. He sat straight as a board with his forearms resting against the edge of the table. His hair held a little more gray than Mama's did and his face had a few more wrinkles. It was obvious that the Lopez children had gotten their eyes from him, for his eyes were the lush green color of emeralds. There was a lot of knowledge and wisdom behind those green orbs.

"Just as Abuelita said, welcome to the Lopez family," said Papa, smiling underneath his bushy mustache.

Hernando and Luis made gagging sounds, breaking the moment.

"Man, a new girl comes into the house and suddenly we're the Brady Bunch. Next we'll move to mountains and start singing 'The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Music,'" said Luis disgustedly. "You guys are lame."

"Luis Maurice Fernando Rodriguez Lopez!" said Mama sternly. "You and your brother go up to your rooms! iAhora!" Right now.

The twins shrugged and left the table, making sure to grab pastries from Nana as she came out of the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," apologized Papa. "Those two have been trouble-makers from the start. They aren't as bad as they seem."

"It's okay," said Brin with a shrug, her eyes suddenly fixing on the hot food being placed in front of them.

"This poor child hasn't eaten in days! Let's begin!" suggested Carlos, grinning.

They said grace and then dug into their meal, laughing and talking amongst themselves about anything from how good Brin looked when she smiled to the weather this summer. The appetizers were bacalaitos, crunchy cod fritters; surullitos, sweet plump cornmeal fingers; and frijoles negros, black-bean soup.

After that, the main dishes included a beef stew called carne guisada puertorriqueña by the members of the Lopez family. It was flavored with things like onions, garlic, potatoes, and freshly-grown green peppers. There were also meat pies—salt pork or ham filling cooked in a caldero. Arroz con pollo, chicken with rice, was served somewhere in-between. Dessert was custard and nisperos de batata, sweet-potato balls with coconut, cloves and cinnamon.

By the time everyone had finished, Brin felt like a lioness who had just gorged herself and all she wanted to do was sleep. She had envisioned this as the perfect meal in her dreams. And now her dreams had come true—she had a family.  It would the first of many, many perfect meals.

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Later that night, Brin was changing into pajamas—a pair of boxers and one of Alex's oversized t-shirts. Alex was thirteen; only three years older than she, yet he was nearly a foot taller and looked old enough to drive. She admitted he was pretty good-looking for a human, with his father's emerald eyes and his mother's angular face. Carlos had to be at least twenty or somewhere around that age.

Brin sighed contentedly as she pulled the covers back and melted into the feather mattress. This was much better than Manticore's bunks or the cold, hard ground of some big city—her usual sleeping choice for the past three months. It was either that or keep moving.

Max and Jondy had never slept very much back at Manticore due to their shark DNA. Brin would try to stay up with them at night, but she was neither a nocturnal creature nor was she a morning person. No matter how early she woke up in the morning, Max and Jondy were awake first. Besides that, the rest of the day she would be groggy and miserable from her foolish attempts to be like Max and Jondy, Zack's favorites.

The wind against the window broke Brin out of her thoughts. She shook the memories from her head and was just about to turn off the lamp next to the bed when there was a gentle knock on her door. "Who is it?" she asked, getting under the covers.

"Alex."

"You can come in."

The door squeaked open just a tad and Alex's head poked into the room. "Mama asked me to check on you before I went to sleep. Are you all settled in? My room's next door if you need anything."

Brin nodded. "I'm fine."

Alex stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. "Look, I don't know your story, but if you ever need to talk…"

"I will, Alex, thanks for worrying," interrupted the young girl, smiling. As he was turning to leave, Brin was overcome by curiosity and suddenly blurted, "So how does your family afford all this?"

Alex turned back around and walked over to the bed. "Well, we are a major supplier of fruits and vegetables in this area. Kingsburro doesn't have a Wal-Mart or anything like that, so we go into town and sell it ourselves. Los Angeles is a big factor, too. We get most of our money from selling to vendors and merchants there. Also, my papa is very active in the stock market and he's made some big bucks from that. But don't worry; we're not total rich snobs or anything like that."

"Never crossed my mind," said Brin, running her fingers through her hair. "Thanks. See you tomorrow."

"Okay. See ya, Brin," replied the young teen, exiting the room.

Brin yawned and turned off the bedside lamp. She then curled under the covers like a kitten and fell fast asleep.

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The next morning, Brin slept in a little longer than she should have, just because she could. When she finally did rise, she hopped downstairs to find the entire Lopez family sitting in the living room talking in hushed tones. They looked really worried and Papa was ghostly pale.

"What?" she asked nervously.

Carlos looked up. "The computers… they destroyed all the computer systems… The Kingsburro newspaper bad to be printed by hand."

"Who?"

"Terrorists," said Mama, wiping tears from her eyes. "They released an electro-magnetic pulse eighty miles above the earth and wiped out all the computers."

"That's bad, right?" Brin suddenly felt very small.

"It is very, very bad… but we Lopez's will make it through," declared Mama. She beckoned the young girl closer. "We have enough savings to last a very long time and we already own the house, the land, and the equipment. We will help the community."

Carlos hugged Brin, also in tears. "This is a tragedy, Pocos Ojos De la Almendra. It is lucky that you are with us at this time, and not on the streets. There will be chaos and violence out there. People do not understand what has happened."

Brin stared at the saddened family. They had no clue that she could take out a full grown man on the streets with a single punch. Yet… she was happy to be here, with a family that cared so much. It was an odd stroke of luck for Alex and Carlos to call her over in the marketplace.

"We've got to go on with our life. Carlos and Lisa, go to the marketplace like always. Alex and Brin, you two stay here in case anything bad happens," instructed Papa. "I'm going to go see if the stock market is down. The Kingsburro Phone Stations have patched everything together overnight. Thank God we don't live in a large city."

"I want to come to the market!" protested Alex. "Brin and I shouldn't have to stay here."

"Alex, my son, it's dangerous. We don't know what's gonna happen," said Mama gently.

"No! I'm not staying here! This is history! I'm thirteen years old, Mama, I can take care of myself. In fact, I can take care of Brin, too."

Mama sighed, her face weary. "Alex…"

"I'm going, Mama," he interrupted, grabbing Brin's hand. "And I'm taking Brin, too."

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When they got to the marketplace, things were a little…rowdy. The food carts were the most crowded; people seemed to think there was going to be a food shortage from the Pulse… and the more Brin thought about it, the more she realized that there was going to be a shortage since mainstream transportation had obviously halted.

Before they had even gotten the cart into its normal position in the marketplace, people were running over and holding out bills. Lisa collected the money and Carlos handed out the food, each of them surprised and disturbed by this show of panic and chaos.

All around the marketplace this was happening. People were buying entire cartloads of food, purchasing gallons and gallons of gasoline from the station, getting all their money from the banks—which, luckily, still filed its accounts on paper so nothing was lost, and things like that. People were doing insensible and crazy things to sum it up. They were bickering amongst themselves like wolves over petty things like apples and eggs. Others were purchasing huge locks for their houses and coal for heat in the winter. Some were even stocking up on clothes. It was pure madness.

Alex, still holding onto Brin's hand, quickly dragged her away from the confusion to an empty spot in an ally. "I don't know what's happening," said Alex worriedly. "It's like they don't know each other anymore."

"They've been thrust into a situation they don't understand. Everything will die down," reassured Brin, thinking of her first days out of Manticore and the confusion that she felt. "You'll see, Alex. Things won't be like they were before, but eventually people will stop acting like this."

"Yeah, you're right," replied the teen, surprised by Brin's wisdom. He put a protective arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry. These people are nice; they won't hurt us."

Brin nodded, trying to hide a frown as a strange feeling came over her. Having Alex's arm lazily laying on her shoulders was oddly… pleasant. She'd never felt this way before, not with any of her brothers—Jack, Krit, Zack, Zane… getting a hug from them never made her feel so good inside. She smiled up at Alex, who was nodding a 'hello' to some family friends. Yep, this was her place in the world. Right here.

TBC…

That was a disgustingly short chapter! But I ran out of things to say and I just thought it was a good ending point.