Disclaimer: I don't any of the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show, Dark Angel, which are owned by James Cameron. I do, however, own the original characters featured in this story. If you wish to use them, please ask me.
Summary: Don't ask me!
A/N: I don't think there is going to be any Max and Alec in this chapter. Like I said, I want to take all my characters a step further before ending this story. I really want to get this over with because I have a cool idea for the next (and most likely last) installment. Max and Alec will return for the next chapter, which will most likely be this story's closing chapter. This chapter (or at least the B/Z part) is inspired by "Running Away" by Hoobastank.
A/N 2: In case you're confused, the part of this chapter involved with Brin is directly related to my other story, Little Almond Eyes. Not that you guys care or anything… ;)
A/N 3: Hearns, my muse, suggested a lot of this chapter. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Happily Never After
By
Brin"Love is friendship set on fire." - Jeremy Taylor
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Chapter 8: Running Away
Brin jerked awake as Ben started wailing in his crib. The clock said 6:00 AM. She slowly sat up and dragged her hand down her face, rubbing the sleep from her blurred eyes. After sitting there for a second or two, slightly disoriented, she stood up and looked into his crib, which was pushed up against her bed. Ben stopped crying when he spotted her, but his tiny fists were flailing around in the air angrily.
"Ohh, what's wrong, baby?" she cooed quietly, picking him up. It was then that the stink hit her. "Ah, I see. You decided to wake Mommy up with a nice mess for her to clean up?"
Ben giggled and grabbed her hair with small fingers.
"Alright, let's get you changed," announced the X5 as she walked out of her bedroom into the living room. She gasped in surprise and nearly went into soldier mode when she spotted Zane sitting on her couch holding a MacDonald's bag. "Zane! What are you doing here this early?"
He shrugged and held out the bag. "Breakfast?"
Brin sighed to herself and smiled bemusedly. "I, uh, need to tend to my son at the moment. Be with you in a second." She turned to head into the bathroom, but before she could take a step he was up and had a hand on her shoulder.
"You look exhausted. Let me take care of it for you," he said quietly.
The female X5 let out a breath and turned around. "I can take care of myself, but thanks for offering."
Zane opened his mouth to protest, but she turned and walked out of the room hurriedly. "Smooth, Zane, real smooth," he thought out loud. "Damn it." He took a seat on the couch and waited for her to return, all the while studying her apartment curiously. It was relatively large and in pretty good condition compared to most places he had seen since the Pulse. The carpet, which he assumed was once white, was now an interesting shade of gray. The walls, which were probably once a deep ocean blue color, were now a light blue shade and went well with the carpet, making it look like both were that color on purpose. Her furniture was well arranged and the place was squeaky clean. It was a stark contrast to his apartment, which consisted of old pizza boxes for carpet and cans of beer for walls.
"Zane?"
The male X5 looked up as Brin came back into the room, now holding a happily gurgling baby Ben. "Uhh… yeah?"
She shifted her son in her arms. "Still up for that breakfast?"
Zane smiled and put the bag on the table. "It might be cold now."
"That's okay. If we can run through below freezing temperatures in bare feet and a paper gown, I think we can handle some cold food," joked Brin, gently placing Ben in his high chair.
"Alrighty, cold food it is," replied Zane, his smile widening. They sat down at the table and he pulled from the bag two cups of coffee – still steaming hot. "Ah yes, hot coffee. Can't do without it."
"Decaf? I'm afraid I'm going to get back onto my former caffeine addiction."
"Of course," replied the male X5. He removed a few more Styrofoam cups from the bag and opened them. "Your choice: biscuits and gravy, 'pancakes deluxe,' or sausage egg McMuffin."
Brin eyed the food warily. "I'll take… this." She grabbed the biscuits and gravy tray and pulled it in front of her. "Thanks."
"Anytime." He chose the pancakes and dumped three packages
of syrup on them. "So how've things been?"
"Interesting," she replied around a mouthful of biscuit. "Well, more so than usual… What are you doing in Olympia, anyways?"
Zane swallowed a large bite and shrugged. "Came to see how you were doing, that's all. I mean, you came to visit me, I thought I'd return the favor."
Brin pursed her lips, didn't reply.
The male X5 turned his eyes to little Ben, seven-and-a-half-months-old, who was looking bored in his high chair. "Hey there, little fella," he said, gently lifting the baby from his crib. "What's up?"
Ben cracked a smile, his few teeth showing, and giggled. "Fooovooooo!"
"You know, I retract my previous statement. Ben looks more and more like you every time I see him," commented Zane nonchalantly. "What… what was he like? The father?"
Brin gave him an unsure look. "Why'd you want to know something like that?"
"Sorry, that must've sounded rude," said the male X5 quickly, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Forget I said anything."
"No, it's okay," replied Brin with a coy grin. "Cats are, after all, naturally curious animals."
Zane chuckled, unsure of what other reaction he could give.
Brin leaned back in her chair, content with a full stomach since finishing her biscuits and gravy. She watched Zane squirm in his seat for a few moments before beginning, "He was a lot like you. In fact, he was your clone."
That Zane wasn't expecting. His jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out in shock.
"His designation was X5-204; your older brother. The alias he used most of the time was Wolf, and he had a pet one that followed him around the woods outside the building. That stupid mutt of a wolf wouldn't hurt a fly, and neither would his master… Come to think of it, Wolf was a lot like you, but a lot different too."
"Is that good or bad?" asked Zane cautiously.
"Mmm, good, mostly. I could not stand it when Wolf went into one of his metaphorical, inspirational speeches. In fact, I was annoyed seventy-five percent of the time I was around him."
"And the other twenty-five percent?"
"Sex."
"Oh. I see." A look of relief passed over his face. "Well, at least you got something good out of it." He gestured with his chin to Ben pointedly.
Brin looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, I guess I did." She held her arms out. "I'll take him."
Zane moved to hand Brin her son, but the phone began to ring. "Oh…"
"Hold that thought," said the female X5, jumping to her feet and yanking the phone from the wall. "Hello?" … "Lisa?"
Ben grabbed Zane's finger with a pudgy little hand and made a few high-pitched sounds, trying to get the young man's attention, but Zane's eyes were fixated on Brin as her expression changed from pleasantly surprised to confused to scared.
"He's… Okay, Lisa, calm down… Yes, Lisa… I promise… I'm on my way." Brin hung up the phone and staggered back against the counter behind her, the color draining from her face.
Zane carefully placed Ben into his highchair, then blurred over to Brin as she began to collapse, catching her before she hit the ground. "Brin," he whispered, brushing back her hair. "Brin, what's wrong?"
Tears shimmered in her eyes as she explained in a quiet, strained voice, "When I got out of Manticore, a family took me in. I… I have to go… I have to go see them."
"What? Brin, why?" asked Zane.
"He's dieing!"
"Who? Who's dieing?"
"The man who raised me, Zane. I have to go see him!" She stood on wobbly legs and started walking away.
"I'm coming with you," announced the male X5, making a beeline for her bedroom door and cutting her off. "You're going to need me."
"Why?"
"I know you, Brin. I have known everything about you since we were kids, no matter how much you wanted to believe that Ben knew you inside and out. I know that when Ben was killed and his body was brought in you had to go to psy-ops."
"Who told you that?!" demanded Brin, eyes flashing.
"Lydecker."
"That ass."
The side of Zane's mouth twitched. "That's beside the point. The point is that I know you will need me there. I know how you grieve, and it's not for your benefit."
Brin stared at him long and hard, then finally caved and said, "Alright."
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Four hours later, after a trip on one of Max and Alec's emergency helicopters, they were standing in front of a Californian hospital with Ben wailing in Brin's trembling arms. Zane took the angry infant from his companion for fear she would drop him, she was trembling so hard.
"Are you having a seizure?" he asked, just to be sure.
"I don't have seizures. Manticore fixed them," replied Brin coldly as she shuffled up the steps and into the building.
Zane rolled his eyes and followed her, whispering to Ben, "She's a grumpy one, isn't she? Well that's okay. She's sad. We can forgive her, right?"
Ben giggled and kicked his little legs happily.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Zane laughed and tickled his feet as he followed Brin inside.
When he got inside, he found that the hospital was fresh and white, much like the ones found in Pre-Pulse TV dramas. There weren't much like that anymore, and usually they were only available to the richest of the rich. He looked left and right for Brin, only to see her disappear around a corner at the end of a hall. He followed at a quick pace, dodging an old man holding a paper cup and a pregnant woman screaming curses at her husband. By the time he turned the corner, he had lost Brin.
"Hm… your mama is good at this," he said to Ben idly. He walked down the hall, looking both ways.
About halfway down the hall, a door abruptly opened and Brin's hand shot out, dragging him inside before he had a chance to react.
"Hey!" he protested as Ben was taken from his arms. He looked regained his composure and looked up, startled to see a stranger staring at him warily.
"Is this our little nieto?" beamed a tall, gray-haired woman, peeking at Ben, who was staring back at her with a bewildered look on his face. "He's beautiful! And he looks just like you!" She directed the latter comment at Zane.
"Uhh… He's… I mean… I'm not," stuttered Zane nervously.
"Zane doesn't think baby Ben looks a thing like him. Isn't that right, honey?" said Brin pointedly.
"Umm… right. Yeah, sweetheart," he returned with a hint of sarcasm.
Brin discreetly elbowed him in the side. "Mama, this is Zane. Zane, Mama Lopez."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, hijo," said Mama Lopez, giving him a big hug.
Zane awkwardly patted her on the back. "The pleasure's all mine."
"Let me take that baby from you," suggested Mama as she gently pulled Ben from Brin's arms without waiting for a response. "You go talk to Papa. He's been waiting for you."
"Yeah. That's a good idea," said Brin, growing solemn. She walked towards the a curtain at the back of the room. Before she went in, however, she turned and looked at Zane, who was standing there with his hands shoved into his pockets uncomfortably. She gestured for him to come over and, though he was a little surprised, he joined her. "Papa Lopez has cancer," she told him quietly.
Zane nodded. "Alright."
Brin took a deep breath to steel herself, then entered the curtained area. A woman in her early thirties was seated next to the bed, holding the hand of a shrunken old man who was nothing more than a bag of bones. Two identical young men in their mid twenties stood nearby, heads hung in silence. Sitting on a chair in the corner was another young man, about the X5s' age, whose eyes lit up as Brin walked into the room.
"Pequeñas ojas de alemendras," Little almond eyes, said the young man, standing.
"Recepción detrás, mis Pequeñas Ojas de la Almendra," Welcome back, my little almond eyes, said the old man quietly. "Le hemos faltado mucho." We missed you a lot.
"Apesadumbrado no he escrito," Sorry I haven't written, replied Brin, moving to the bed and taking his hand. "How is he, Lisa?" she asked the woman next to the bed.
"He's weak. The doctor said he could leave any time," replied Lisa sadly.
Brin turned and nodded her head at the twins. "Hernando. Luis." They returned the silent greeting, and she turned to the last young man. "Alex."
He smiled at her. "How you been?"
"Great," she answered quickly.
Alex stood and embraced her, placing a light kiss on her cheek. Over Brin's shoulder he spotted Zane scowling at him with a fiery look in his eyes. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Zane," said Brin, making a vague gesture towards the other X5. "Zane, this is Alex. The twins are Hernando and Luis, and she is Lisa. They're my family."
Zane felt a pang in his heart at that one. Her family. Generally, the only 'family' the X5s had were each other. Guess Brin had been more successful on the Outside than he thought.
"I'm going to go wait outside," he said gruffly.
Brin watched him go, but didn't say anything until he had exited the room. She turned to Papa Lopez. "How're you feeling?"
"Terrible," he croaked with a rueful grin. "Ah, Pocas Ojas de Alemendras, you have grown into a beautiful woman. We saw you on television. You are famous now."
"I don't exactly get begged for autographs," joked Brin wryly. "I should have been around more. We have cures for this now. All you need is a little transgenic medicine…"
"I have spent all the time I need here," explained Papa quietly. "You, on the other hand, have some time ahead of you yet."
Mama Lopez slipped inside. "Your grandson, marido."
Papa's eyes glittered. "A grandson, mi'ja?" He lifted a gnarled hand and touched Brin's cheek. "You see? You cannot be sad. I have lived to see my children's children. Now I can go in peace, and you will continue to shape the world."
Brin shook her head. "No, Papa…"
Mama came to the side of the bed. Ben was perfectly still, seemingly sensing the seriousness of the situation. "It is his time," said Mama sadly.
The family gathered around the bed and bid their farewells as Papa Lopez grew weaker by the second. On his last breaths he whispered, "Live well."
And then he was gone.
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Zane was sitting outside the room on the floor, his head resting against the wall, his arms on his knees. His eyes drooped and he was nearly asleep when the door opened and Brin stepped out, her face pale and haggard.
"He's dead."
Zane quickly stood up. "Oh, Brin…" He reached out to touch her, but she shrank back from his hand. "Brin…?"
"I… I need to take a walk," she said, then huffed and started off.
"Brin! Brin, wait!" He followed her through the busy hall, avoiding crashing into the same old man as he walked back across the hall with his paper cup of water.
She pushed her way through a crowd of people in front of the door and bolted into the night, disappearing before Zane could even take a breath.
"Great… just great," he grumbled, looking right and left for her. "Brin?! Brin, come back here!" he shouted.
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He didn't find her for awhile, but when he did she was sitting in an abandoned train station, knees pulled to her chest, bottom lip quivering. She looked like a little kid, and he would've passed over her if she hadn't hiccupped, which she usually did when she was trying not to cry.
"Hey," he said nonchalantly, coming to sit down next to her. "Nice place you've picked out here."
The train station roof was covered in cobwebs, as were the walls and the rusty old tracks. It looked like a giant spider web.
"He was always such a nice man."
Zane turned his eyes to Brin, who was staring into space idly. "Tell me about them – your family."
It was hard for him to understand Brin's love for an Ordinary. All his life he had been beaten and abused both physically and emotionally by the 'normal' people of the world. He had never experienced loved outside the love that was given to him by his 'brothers' and 'sisters' of Manticore. For Brin, however, it was a different case. She seemed to love these people as much or even more than her Manticore family, and he had to know why.
"Lisa is brilliant. She makes lots of money and has five cars. She bought them all legally. One of them is this Benz that is voice-activated and has caller I.D." Brin's eyes lit up. "I crashed it into a tree once, when I was sixteen. She never even raised her voice to me about it."
"Hernando and Luis run their own practical joke production company that specializes in whoopee cushions and fake hands. A lot of people think it's stupid, but they're filthy rich and will be for the rest of their lives as long as there are young boys out there who love a little bit of mischief."
Zane put his hand on her shoulder. "You must've loved them very much… Tell me about Alex."
Brin's lip curled. "Ah, yes, Alex. My first love… my bane."
"Your… bane? Isn't that a little melodramatic?"
"It's true."
"Really. Explain."
"Ah, that's too complicated."
Zane threw an arm around her shoulders. "Keep talking. It'll make you feel better."
"You know, I haven't cried. I can't cry. The tears won't come," rambled Brin, her eyes glazing over. "I feel like a bad person for not crying. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you're sad? Cry?"
"It's okay. Don't do this to yourself. Don't torture yourself," whispered Zane. He could see her crumbling before his very eyes. "Tell me more about your family."
"Papa always took care of us. Even after the Pulse, he made sure everything was alright all the time. We were never hungry or without electricity. Even when… even when I had to leave… when Zack told me to go… Papa was strong. I loved him so much. Remember at Manticore, when we had wondered what it was like to have adults who loved you? The Lopez family loved me like their own. It's hard to believe he's really gone."
Zane pulled her close so that her head rested on his shoulder. "We transgenics have dealt with and endured more torture than most Ordinaries will experience in their lifetimes… I mean, they say time heals all wounds, but look what time has done to us! Tinga is dead, Ben is dead, Jace is gone. You were forced to have a child, though I admit that that certain scenario came out very well. The point is, Brin, that the only way we can get through this is with each other. They made us and they trained us to support our comrades in their times of need. It's okay to cry, Brin."
"When did you learn to be a philosopher?" replied the female X5, her voice riddled with sadness despite her attempt at humor. "Remember when I said I got annoyed with Wolf was philosophical…"
"Tears have been scientifically proven to heal the human mind."
Brin first began to laugh, then her peals of laughter turned into sobs and she buried her face against his shoulder, tears streaming from her eyes. She wrapped both arms around his neck and cried freely, the sobs sending shudders through her body. He merely hugged her back, making comforting sounds that only someone who was part animal would understand.
They stayed for the funeral, which was held two days later, and then returned to Olympia, where they made a decision.
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"Well I'll be damned," said Syl as she read the mail.
"What?" asked Jondy, coming to stand beside her.
"Brin and Zane ran off to Europe to elope!" exclaimed the blonde X5 in shock. "I thought they were still in the beginning stages?"
"Guess not."
"Hey, what's that?" called Krit from the doorway.
Syl looked over her shoulder at her husband. "Brin and Zane eloped!"
"You're shitting me!" Krit hurried over and snatched up the wrinkled piece of paper. "Wow. Didn't think Zane had it in him." He smirked.
"Shut up, Krit," growled Jondy. "It's sooo romantic! Europe!"
Zack entered the room and froze when he saw them all smiling like drunken idiots. "What?"
"Brin and Zane eloped," answered Jondy with a dreamy look in her eyes. "They ran off to Europe! Isn't that romantic, Zack?"
Zack chuckled nervously. "Uhh… yeah…" He quickly looked for a change of subject. "So what else does the letter say?"
"Says… 'We hope you aren't too angry that we didn't have a big wedding like Max and Jondy are going to have, but we needed to be alone and have a nice vacation. See you later; we'll be back for the weddings! Love, B and Z.' Aww, isn't that cute?" squealed Syl.
"Adorable," grumbled Krit.
"Touching," added Zack.
Jondy and Syl glared at them.
"Fine, be that way!" barked Syl. "You can have the couch tonight."
Krit's eyes widened in horror. "What…? No, I didn't mean…"
Syl tapped her foot impatiently.
"I'm sorry, baby," said Krit, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Forgiven," replied Syl with a smile. She then proceeded to kiss him.
Jondy looked at Zack expectantly. "See? That's what a couple is supposed to be like. You need to spend more time around Krit, Zane, and Alec."
Zack rolled his eyes. "Jondy, why d'you always do that?"
"Do what?"
"Compare me with them."
"'Cause I have no idea what I'm supposed to expect."
Meanwhile, Syl and Krit were still locked in their kiss, moving towards the couch.
Zack sighed. "Look, Jon, it's not gonna work if you keep doing this to me. We've known each other since we were born. You know I'm slower than the others at this whole orthodox thing."
Jondy ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay. Sorry. I guess I have been a little hard on you… How about a truce?"
"Sounds good." He smiled. "But lets get out of here before Syl and Krit conceive their next kid."
Jondy briefly glanced over at the other two X5s, who had reached the couch, and frowned. "Yeah… that sounds like a good idea…"
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A/N: This could quite possibly be the second to last chapter in this story. Yay! Almost done with another story! ^_^