Chapter Thirteen: Doing What They Were Meant To Do

Zack drove in silence as they approached the New Mexico border. He hadn't said much, at least not since the talk that he and Risa had in the desert, in which they had revealed the somewhat, complicated feelings that they had for one another. Luckily for them, Ty didn't notice the difference, being as it was that Zack was known to be the strong silent type, at least until he had an order that he had to give. What was odd, in Ty's opinion, was that Zack wasn't saying anything to Risa either, and Risa didn't feel inclined to say something either. Zack always said more to Risa, and did more for Risa than he ever did for anyone else. As Ty watched the Arizona scenery speeding by, he faced forward for a split second, and was shocked to see Risa gently place her hand on top of Zack's hand that was clenched around the stick-shift. What shocked Ty even more however, was that Zack smiled at Risa, a genuine full-fledged smile, and then he gently lifted his hand from under Risa's, and laced their fingers together, before laying his hand down on the stick-shift again. Ty blinked a few times, trying to wrap his brain around what it was that he was seeing, if he didn't know better, he would have thought that Risa and Zack were involved. But, he had made that assumption once, when he had pissed as hell at Zack, and he gotten knocked around for it, by Risa. He sure as hell wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

Suddenly Zack stopped the car with a jerk, bringing the car to park, in the parking lot of some sleazy hotel, two miles off the freeway. Ty snapped out of his thoughts, at his brother's barked command to grab their meager belongings from the truck, and find the three of them a room, while Zack and Risa figured out how to get rid of the car. Zack tipped his head slightly in Ty's direction, as his younger brother took off in the opposite direction, asking his sister, whether or not she wanted to tell Ty about the status of their relationship. Risa's response was a simple shake of her head. Ty would find out soon enough about her involvement with Zack, as would the rest of their siblings. Risa didn't feel the need to explain her personal life to Ty, no matter who it was with. Truthfully, she knew that, from the way her brother's eyes were burning into the back of her head, especially after she and Zack started holding hands, stopping only when Zack needed both hands to steer the wheel. She figured that Ty knew that something had changed between her and their older brother, but, he didn't want to assume too much, considering how things had gone down the last time he'd made that same accusation. Risa just smirked to herself, then looked over at her brother, who was in the process of lighting the car on fire, in a really deep ditch two miles from the hotel, where Ty waited for them with their rooms. Zack looked up from his work, before returning Risa's smirk with one of his own, and he placed an affectionate kiss on her forehead, before lighting the match and throwing it oh the ground. The car immediately lit on fire, blue flames licking up the sides of the windows. Zack and Risa leaped from the ditch, and started running down the highway, as they heard the car explode. Zack grinned at her, as they ran the two miles down the highway, to the hotel, not even breaking a sweat.

Ty waited patiently for his siblings at the hotel, holding out the keys to their room, which his brother motioned for him to open the door with. As they stepped into the room, they knew in an instant why they had pegged the motel as sleazy when they pulled into the parking lot. The walls were white, but with patchy black stains, the carpet looked soiled beyond cleaning, and there was the disgusting smell of mold in the air. All three siblings grimaced, but then shrugged, each remembering that any place was better than Manticore. Ty stretched out on one of the beds, before absently flipping on the television set and checking out the channels. Risa grabbed a towel, and made her way to the bathroom to take a shower, depositing a kiss on Ty's cheek, and a longer, lingering kiss on Zack's lips, which he returned full force, and had fortunately gone unnoticed by Ty, who was preoccupied with watching a basketball game on the tube. As it got later, the siblings had all agreed to sleep early so that they could get an early start in the morning. As Ty climbed into bed, he noticed Zack was about to get settled on the floor, Risa shook her head, and motioned for him to share the second bed with her. Ty stared in shock as Zack smiled for the second time that day, and almost casually climbed into bed with Risa. Ty was sure that his jaw hung open, as Zack wrapped his arms protectively, and almost possessively around Risa, and Risa snuggled comfortably in Zack's arms like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. Even though Zack had used to sleep with his arms around all of them, at one time or another, back at Manticore to comfort them, Ty sensed that, as he had earlier, that Risa and Zack were involved. As he turned off the lights, Ty just shook his head in the darkness. Seemed like his siblings were just chock full of surprises.

 The next morning, the three siblings cleared out of the motel room, destroying any evidence of them being there, and they took off for Seattle. After picking up a new set of wheels, Ty noticed, with shock more than anything, how much that Zack and Risa were dropping little hints that they were in fact involved, but weren't going to say anything, as they were waiting for him to make the next move. And no matter how uncomfortable it made him to see his siblings together, as something more than family, he wasn't risking to get knocked around again by the one sibling who had stood by him, the last eleven years.

As they arrived in Seattle, Zack picked up his cell phone and called Max to meet them in an old abandoned warehouse in Sector Four. As they got to the warehouse, Ty and Risa were greeted with huge hugs from their long-lost siblings, Krit and Syl, whom they hadn't seen since the escape. Risa hugged Syl hard, unable to believe that she was finally seeing her sister again, after so long. "I'm missed you so much little sister, thinking about you guys kept me going all these years." Syl smiled tearfully at her sister's sentiment. "It's great to see you too, big sister, God, it's been so long." Risa then wrapped her youngest brother, Krit, in a hug, glad to see that her brother had survived the long years apart, as well as he did. Then Max walked into the room. Max shrieked as she spotted the five of them standing there, something that none of them anticipated that she would do, and practically flew into Krit's waiting arms. One by one Max hugged her siblings, expressing her happiness at being reunited. Then Max turned to Risa, her oldest sister now, since Tinga's death. "God, big sister, you have no idea, how long I've waited to see you again. It's been so long, God, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, that I couldn't save Tinga, I'm sorry that I failed you." Risa stared at her baby sister in surprise, remembering what Zack had informed her and Ty of when it came to the topic of Tinga's tragic death. "Why would you be sorry, Maxie?? I know you did anything and everything you could to save Tinga. It's not your fault that those fucking bastards took our sister from us. I don't wanna see you beating yourself up over this, and I know that Tinga wouldn't either. She wouldn't blame you, and neither will I. I'd never blame you for not being able to save Tinga."  Max hugged her older sister gratefully, glad to have her forgiveness, even if she couldn't forgive herself. "Thanks, big sister, I think I really needed to hear that." Risa smiled at her sister, before being brought to attention by Zack's voice. "Alright soldiers," Zack said, a cold, hard note in his voice, "Let's get those assholes back for taking our sister from us. Let's finish what we started eleven years ago, when we escaped. Let's finally do what we were meant to do."

tbc……………………………