11th to 23rd Nov 2003
Unwelcome Ties By Western Blakehawke.
Set after LATR. 2021.
Ames meets the first human looking transgenic. Alec is reunited with a sibling and takes a road trip.
Chapter 7
Day Six.
6:01am.
"I'm hungry!" Ryanne cried as she entered the lounge.
She was followed by Robyn, Danny and Jay who all echoed her cry.
Their cries woke up the others and resulted in pillows being thrown at them by Cassidy and Nikita; the four youngsters easily dodged them and moved into kitchen.
"Hey, you needn't have woken the rest of us!" Cooper grouched as he and Bret came in behind them. "You're all capable of getting your own breakfast!"
"Want Mom or Uncle Alec to make mine." Jay responded pouting.
"Yeah!" The others echoed.
"Mom! Come feed the brats so we can go back to sleep!" Cassidy yelled glaring at the youngsters.
"Geeez they're behaving like proper kids already!" Alec groused sarcastically as he and Will emerged from the cab. "Make 'em stop! Turn 'em back into nice obedient quiet soldiers!" He whined to Will.
Will rolled her eyes and looked at the kids, face impassive. "Toast and cereal are all that's on offer today, I'll make pancakes tomorrow."
"But I wanted pancakes today!" Jay whined pouting.
Will just shrugged her right shoulder. "Tough!"
"I'm telling Dad!" Jay threatened glaring at her while he pouted.
"There's the phone go ahead." Will replied pointing to it.
"Will are you mad!" Alec cried as he grabbed the phone before Jay could. "His dad is Ames White!"
"I'm well aware of that fact Alec." Will sarcastically told him. "Maybe I want to be put out of my misery and after all if I'm dead whose gonna make Jay pancakes, his school teachers, the school cooks, oh I forgot they only serve toast or cereal."
"Damn! I hate arguing with you you're just like Dad!" Jay huffed and pouted again. "You win!"
Will grinned at him and ruffled his hair. "I always tend to." She told him.
Jay endured the hair ruffling and grinned at her. "Daddy does too."
Alec was about to make a snide comment regarding Ames, but quickly thought better of it.
"Yeah, I noticed the similarity in arguing when we met through his work." Will blandly stated and started getting out the cereal boxes.
Alec looked at her, not believing that she could be so calm when discussing the fact that Ames had captured her. "Dack! Trixy!" He called as he grabbed their leashes from the hook and then swiftly placed them on the dogs when they came to him. "I'll walk the dogs." He said as he and the dogs exited the motor home.
Cassidy and Nikita had got up and were making themselves some toast and cereal, Bret and Cooper had both opted for cereal as had Robyn.
"You've met my Dad?" Jay asked then remembered their previous conversation. "Yeah of course you know him otherwise you couldn't have given an opinion."
"Yes to both." Will replied as she took over the toaster after Nik had finished with it. "Okay Jay, Ryanne and Danny you want toast?"
All three said yes.
"Okay since it's a six slice toaster you get two pieces each this round." Will informed them as she put in the bread.
Twenty seven minutes later.
Alec and the dogs returned, everyone else had eaten their full and were now clearing up or waiting to use the shower room and get dressed or feeding the animals.
"Alec do you want toast?" Will asked.
"Yeah please." Alec replied as he released the dogs and flopped onto a seat.
Will quickly served him then since the shower room was now free, she went to change into clean clothes etc, since both she and Alec had slept in theirs.
"Kids there's a play area, I'll supervise you for an hour after I've eaten , then we'll be on our way." Alec told the youngsters.
"Uncle Alec you don't need to supervise us." Nikita told him. "Us older ones will watch the youngsters."
Alec thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay, just stay in the play area and no using you skills, even if the place looks deserted it might not be." He warned.
"We're not dumb!" Cooper informed him with a glare.
"Hey I know! But as you're uncle, I need to point out the obvious!" Alec replied grinning. "Now scat!"
The kids did as commanded and made for the play area with the dogs. Alec finished his breakfast and while Will went outside and played with the kids and dogs, he showered and changed, then grabbed the drivers seat and sat there listening to the radio.
07:12am.
Everyone was back aboard the motor home and they were soon off again.
"Mom can you play the guitar?" Ryanne asked hopefully.
"Yes honey why?" Will replied.
"We want you to sing to us like Maria in The Sound of Music." Robyn informed her.
"Yeah sing!" Cooper ordered handing her his guitar.
"I said I could play the guitar not that I could sing." Will drolly pointed out as she took the guitar.
"Oh c'mon Will sing for 'em you actually don't sound half bad!" Alec called then burst out laughing.
"What's funny Uncle Alec?" Jay asked and the other kids and Will echoed the query.
"I was just thinking that if Will's Maria, and you kids are the Von Trapp children, guess who that makes Captain Von Trapp!" Alec said through his laughter. "Hey Will maybe you should marry Amsey, get him of our backs!" He continued to laugh as he drove.
"Very funny Alec." Will told him totally un amused by the notion.
Jay started bouncing up and down. "Yeah if you married Dad it'd be so cool!" He yelled. "Then I'd have a Mom, a Dad and seven brothers and sisters!"
"Yes we'd like a dad and Jay's dad sounds fun, he told us of all the cool stuff they did together." Danny told the two shocked adults.
"Yeah, he does sound great!" Bret added. "And if he was our dad he wouldn't be trying to kill us."
The others all verbalised their total agreed with Jay, Danny and Bret.
"Hang on a minute guys!" Alec called shocked that the kids were taking his jest seriously even the X6's who knew exactly were transgenics stood with Ames White. "I was joking!"
"There's many a truth spoken in jest!" Nikita quoted. "Why don't you and Ames try it Mom?"
"Because I'm not suicidal and neither is he!" Will replied trying desperately to hang onto her calm and collected attitude.
"Besides he'd never agree!" Alec added.
"I'll call him and ask!" Jay responded and dived for the phone.
"NO!" Will and Alec yelled as Will grabbed the phone first and held it to her chest.
"Jay you are not going to call you father and suggest we get married, that combined with the shock of your calling me mom and seven transgenics siblings, plus that you call Alec uncle would probably kill him!" Will told the pouting boy.
"Let him…." Alec didn't finish the sentence realising that it would upset Jay and from the odd way they reacted to his jest, the other kids as well.
"But you and Dad have so much in common!" Jay wheedled. "You both love me, you both like giving orders, you like ……"
"Enough! The subject is closed!" Will said and moved into the cab still holding the phone, she pulled the sliding door shut and then sat and glared at Alec. "Thank you so much for putting the idea into their heads." She sarcastically said in a fake sweet voice. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't snap your neck!"
"Because then you'd be alone with them plotting to marry you off to Ames." Alec replied looking nervously at her.
Will just growled at him.
"Look I'm sorry! How was I to now that all of 'em would take the jest seriously and approve!" Alec pretty much whined at her. "I didn't know Jay had been talking about the stuff he did with Ames to them, did you?"
Will sighed. "No, I didn't want them to dislike Jay just because of who his father is, but agreeing with him about me and Ames marrying!" Will stopped to shocked to carry on speaking.
Neither transgenic adult spoke for the next eighty four minutes.
In the back the kids had moved into the master bedroom and were discussing strategy for getting Will and Ames married. The first thing they had decided was that as far as the adults were concerned they had decided to drop the subject. They agreed to continue to plot in secret. That decided they each started doing different things so as not to arouse suspicion.
Nikita had finished repairing the CD player and she remained in the master bedroom listening to a Shania Twain CD and reading one of Will's fantasy books.
Cooper was teaching Danny and Jay to play chess in the lounge, they were seated on the floor.
Robyn; Ryanne; Bret and Cassidy were playing Clue on the lounge table.
9:41 am.
"Will you want to go check on the kids?" Alec asked her.
"No." Will replied and refused to budge from the relative safety of the cab.
"Will you're going to have to face 'em sometime." Alec pointed out with a slight sarcastic edge.
"Don't wanna and you can't make me!" Will snapped at him. "You and your dumb jokes!" She added glaring at him.
"Look I'm sorry about that! Who would've thought that the X kids would decide they liked the sound of Ames as a father!" Alec beseechingly replied. "God I know we had a weird upbringing, but that never crossed my mind!"
Will undid her seat belt and stood up squaring her shoulders, then she pulled back the door and went through into the body of the motor home.
The kids looked up as she entered, Jay came forward and hugged her. "Don't worry Mom I won't call Dad or mention you marrying him again if it makes you unhappy." Jay told her.
"Yeah Mom, none of us want to upset you." Cassidy said as she joined the hug.
All the other kids including Nikita, Bret had fetched her, joined in the hug and added their reassurances.
Will being so relieved to hear them say exactly what she wanted them to say, paid no attention to her instincts which screamed con, as they broke the group hug.
"Good because Ames and me would never work, we'd end up killing each other, not that Ames would ever agree to try marriage to begin with." Will told them grinning.
"But if Dad did agree?" Jay pounced. "Would you?"
Will looked at all her kids rolled her eyes. "Yes."
"Okay." Jay said and went back to the chess board. "Coop's teaching me and Danny to play." He explained.
All the kids returned to their pastimes.
"That's good." Will stated still a little shell shocked, she took one of her books off the shelf and went into the bunk room to read, she took the top bunk since the cats were curled up on the bottom one.
11:50 am.
Will got up and started making sandwiches for lunch, the kids were still preoccupied with doing their own thing.
12:01pm.
"Lunch is ready." Will told them as she went to inform Nikita, she then took Alec his, since he didn't want to quit driving.
After their meal.
"Okay we need to make up a want list for our house." Will told the kids as she sat on a mattress and pulled out a notebook.
"A bedroom each!" Jay was the first to speak.
"Definitely!" Cooper agreed and this was seconding by all but the twins.
"We want to share." They firmly informed Will.
Will grinned at them. "Okay."
"Hey don't forget you were gonna get a place large enough so I'd have my own room when I come visit!" Alec reminded her from the cab.
"Relax Alec I hadn't forgotten." Will drolly replied.
"Good!" Alec responded.
"Swimming pool." Jay stated.
"Tennis court." Cassidy added.
"Movie stars!" Alec yelled.
Will burst out laughing. "Guys we're not moving to L.A, we're moving to the middle of nowhere, well as near as we can get anyway."
"Uncle Alec why'd you say movie stars?" Danny queried looking baffled.
"He referenced a very old television show." Will told him and the others since they all looked equally puzzled.
"They showed a marathon run a couple of weeks ago." Alec informed them. "It was a funny series about a hillbilly who found oil on his land and became an instant billionaire, he moved his family to Beverly Hills and bought a mansion." Alec sounded very wistful.
"Alec, it's kind of the reverse for us." Will pointed out. "We're sort of becoming hillbillies because I plan to be as self sufficient as possible."
"Well ma Wolfe you sure got the right number of kids to be a hillbilly." Alec quipped.
"Self sufficient, does that mean we get to keep chickens and goats and things." Bret asked his eyes aglow at the thought.
"I plan on getting chickens and ducks, yes goats are a definite maybe because we'll need milk, we need to find out how much they or a few cows cost to keep." Will replied.
"Could we have both cows and goats if they don't cost much?" Jay asked loving the idea.
"Yep!" Will confirmed grinning at them.
"What about horses?" Cooper asked. "I've always wanted a horse."
"Me too Coop so if we can afford 'em we'll get some." Will told him smiling.
"Great I've wanted to learn to ride since I saw a couple of westerns!" Cooper replied grinning.
"Okay I've got two lists then; house wants and animal wants." Will stated. "I'll tell you what I've put so far, tell me if I missed anything, oh some of these I added without mentioning 'em to you."
House
9 bedrooms
Swimming pool
Tennis court
Large kitchen
Lounge
Family room
Study
5 bathrooms
Utility room
Barn garage
Barn Animals
20 acres minimum
Wood
Stream
Lake
Animals
Chickens
Ducks
Goats
Cows
Horses
"Okay did I miss anything house wise, leave animals we'll add 'em when we acquire 'em." Will stated.
"Gym." Bret stated firmly.
"Workshop." Nikita was equally as firm.
"Games room, play room." Jay added.
"Okay………You do know that getting all that in one house for no money is highly unlikely." Will gently pointed out. "Kids you will definitely end up sharing."
The children looked at each other and shrugged.
"We know Mom, but it's a want list right." Cassidy reminded her,
"Yeah, okay as well as the animals we'll be growing our own fruit and veg; and hopefully have our own wood of sustainable trees for building and firewood."
"Will call Logan, he said he'd ask around about a suitable property." Alec reminded her.
"That was only a couple of days ago." Will replied.
"Hey, he's good at that kind of thing and he knows it's a rush job." Alec responded.
"When you're right your right." Will muttered as she dialled Logan's number. "Hey Logan, yeah we're gonna be in Canada in about twenty to thirty minutes." Listens. "You found a house, I'll put you on speaker, okay Logan go ahead tell us about it."
"Hi everyone, okay well its in New Brunswick, it's almost a three and a half hour drive to the nearest town, has 128 acres with woods, streams, a small lake, ponds meadows and grazing land; Chicken shed and large coop; Duck shed, pond and large coop; a large workshop; it has two large barns one with a tack room; a large vehicle barn that will easily accommodate the motor home and a four car garage." Logan paused as the kids started yelling and jumping up and down.
"AAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEE!" Will let out her ear piercing howl again.
This stopped the kids antics and she indicated that they should sit down again, they swiftly did so, the X6s' looked slightly embarrassed, Will shook her head slightly and smiled at them.
"Logan that was Will howling, it's the only way sometimes to get the kids attention." Alec explained.
"Oh uh right….. um okay onto the house…The ground floor has a two story entrance hall with two staircases leading to the second floor; two washrooms; large kitchen; utility room; pantry; formal dining room; mud rooms at front and back entrances; study; library; formal living room; huge family room; games room; playroom; gym; sauna; hot tub; and twelve meter long indoor pool." Logan paused for breath.
Silence in the motor home.
"The first floor has the master suite which contains a large bedroom; lounge; bathroom and two walk in wardrobes and dressing rooms; Four bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. The loft floor contains: three bedrooms with en suite shower rooms; four other bedrooms and two bathrooms."
All Logan could hear was the dogs breathing.
"It's fully furnished. All farm equipment is supplied including livestock a neighbour is currently popping in each day to care for them, since there are no farm hands. There's also a bunk house for farm hands and four one to two bedroom cabins. It's ready and waiting for you to move in." Logan finished telling them.
The children were sat in stunned silence as all their dreams for the house came true.
"Wow Logan how on Earth did you find it, it's perfect!" Will told him ecstatically grinning. "That must have cost a fortune." She added in a slightly worried tone.
"Actually it was left by a reclusive, eccentric and rich man, he has no close living relatives, you're the only kin his lawyer could find, according to the probate office you are to be granted legal possession of the farm and the bank account of Josiah Trevelyn as soon as you arrive, I've sent a copy of everything you need to know to your laptop, including exact details on the house." Logan reassured them.
"Logan how can I ever thank you?" Will asked sincerely. "Add us to your list of safe havens for transgenics okay, not just as an emergency refuge, I'm happy to take in more kids or adults."
"Will you are the one whose doing me a favour not the other way around." Sound of a pager beeping. "I've got to go, bye!" Logan hung up.
"Open the file Will." Alec ordered coming into the body of the motor home, he had parked whilst Logan talked, not wanting to miss the first look at his families new home.
Will swiftly complied and soon they were all admiring the photographs of the property.
"Horses!" Cooper yelled clapping his hands. "Now I just need to learn how to ride."
"I'll teach you all how to." Will promised. "I'll make horse riding part of your school syllabus."
"School!" Jay yelped pouting.
"Yes school!" Will replied firmly. "No child of mine is going to be raised a backwoods redneck! The subject is not up for debate!"
The transgenic children did not get why Jay was upset.
"What's wrong with school?" Cassidy asked puzzled.
"It's boring and you have dumb teachers and you have to be nice to them and the dumb kids!" Jay informed his siblings still pouting.
"Which is why I will be home schooling you." Will told them.
"Wh… you will cool!" Jay replied and started grinning. "Home school will be so much fun, with you as our teacher we'll learn loads of cool stuff like the easiest way to kill someone."
Alec started to have hysterics at this. "So like his daddy!"
"I will be teaching you how to defend yourselves and others, I'll make sure that you learn every useful skill that I possess." Will told her children ignoring the still laughing Alec.
13:02pm
The motor home was finally about to reach the boarder
"Now we see if our ID's were worth all those Bothan lives." Alec muttered to himself, misquoting Return of The Jedi. "Do or do not there is no try." He then called to the others, all of whom were grinning having got the references. "Okay kids everyone but Jay go and hide, Will you ready to ask the boarder guard dogs to ignore the kids?" Alec added.
"Already done little brother." She told him grinning as she and Jay settled themselves into the cab.
"You can communicate from a couple of hundred metres?" Alec asked astonished.
"Yep." Will replied.
The motor home slowly crawled along in the long line of traffic headed into Canada.
When they finally reached the boarder their papers were given a cursory glance and the guard dogs sniffed around inside, but made no indication of finding anything amiss. They were quickly waved through and Will telepathically thanked the dogs who wished her and her pack well.
14:31pm.
Quebec Canada.
Will waited until they were a mile away from the boarder then told the kids that it was safe to come out. "Okay kids out you come!" She called.
Jay undid his seatbelt and joined his siblings in the back, he turned on the laptop and they were soon pouring over the house plans again, this time deciding who would have each room rather than just marvelling at their new home.
"Leave one of the bedrooms with an en suite bathroom as my room!" Alec ordered them.
"Okay!" Bret yelled back. "Rob, Ry you want this large room in the loft right?"
"Yes please." The twins simultaneously answered.
Nikita marked that room as theirs on the plan. "Mom are you gonna get another computer with a printer scanner etcetera?"
"Check the house's contents list Nik." Will called. "See if there's already one on there."
"Contents list? We only read the livestock one!" Cooper replied.
Nikita called up the house contents list, quickly scrolled through it and grinned. "It says that there are two PCs and one laptop!"
"Cool what else does it say?" Jay asked the others echoing him.
15:28pm.
They pulled into Montreal.
"Will I'll call the guy who offered to fly me partway back to Seattle and tell him that I'll need the flight in a few days." Alec told her and the kids he grinned. "I want to see this house, since I get a half share as your brother." He stated referring to the lie that Logan had maintained for the probate lawyers.
"Cool!" Jay yelled and the other kids agreed.
"Will you want to get some more food, I'll mind the animals." Alec stated still grinning.
"Yeah, we do need more fresh stuff and to launder some clothes." Will replied. "Don't worry Alec there'll be plenty of stuff for you to use when you cook dinner." She grinned.
"Damn I was hoping you had forgotten about my lesson!" He groaned.
"The best way to someone's heart is through their stomach." Will told him patting his arm.
"No it's not it's through the ribcage!" Cooper argued then blushed realising what she meant.
Will stood on tiptoe, ruffled his hair and grinned at him. "Yep you're right, but wrong context!" She looked at the kids. "You all want to come shopping with me?"
They all confirmed that they did and soon they were warmly dressed and ready to go.
18:39 pm.
They returned from their shopping trip and slight exploration of the city, Will having decided that the kids should see it.
"Uncle Alec Mom took us to a neat museum!" The twins yelled dropping their bags as they pounced on him as soon as they entered the motor home.
Laughing Alec carried the two excitedly chatting girls out of the way, so that the others could enter the motor home and unpack the shopping.
Will laughing. "Kids I'll unpack while you all tell Alec about our site seeing."
With calls of thanks the kids all dumped their bags and all talking at once began to fill Alec in on what they saw.
"One at a time guys one at a time!" Alec told them laughing as he sat down with the twins on his lap.
For over an hour the kids excitedly told Alec about all they had seen.
19:44 pm.
Everyone was hungry so Will decided to let Alec off the hook and they had a party style tea with rolls; cakes; chips etcetera.
20:02 pm.
They topped up the gas and alcohol tanks and set off again, wanting to get to New Brunswick and take possession of their new home as soon as possible.
The next two hours were taken up with lively discussions on how each of the children would decorate their rooms. Wanting to be up bright and early the next day none of the kids complained when Will announced that it was time for bed, they didn't even mind that there hadn't
been time to tell them a story.
Day Seven.
5:03am
The kids woke Will up bright and early. She quickly started making up batches of pancakes as they excitedly discussed their new home and more ideas that they had had for their rooms and the playroom.
Will served the kids and ate her toast after the kids had finished their breakfast she made up a huge batch of pancakes for Alec, he swiftly pulled over and Will took over the driving duties after she'd walked the dogs, the kids were too engrossed in their discussions, she also fed the dogs and cats.
New Brunswick
Town nearest the Wolfe's new home.
13:34 pm.
The family had just finished their lunch of sandwiches when they finally arrived in the town where Will and Alec were to sign some papers and pick up the keys to the house.
The kids played in the park whilst Will and Alec spoke with the probate lawyer Mr. Anderson easily making him believe that they were exactly who Logan had portrayed them to be.
They could see the children from the lawyer's office window.
"Well everything is in order, Mrs. Wolfe, Mr. Newman welcome to MacGregorsville." The elderly lawyer spoke with genuine warmth. "I'm not surprised to hear that you hadn't known of him, that he had had a feud with his third cousin, your grandfather and broken off all contact. Well mustn't speak ill of the dead." He smiled at Will and Alec. "I expect the youngsters are keen to see their new home."
"Very." Will replied smiling. "They've been planning what to do with their rooms ever since we heard."
The three of them left the office and walked over to the park.
"Well I can tell you that everyone was mighty pleased when they learnt that a family with eight kids had inherited the place." Mr. Anderson informed them.
"I won't be staying I have a job that I need to get back to." Alec told him smiling. "I'll just stay a few days to see Will and the kids settled in."
"Yes, we wondered if you'd both be staying, the addition of nine people is a great boost to the town." Mr. Anderson replied smiling. "It's a long bus journey from your place to the neighbouring town where a lot of our youngsters go to school, a lot of the kids that live further out are home schooled."
"That's what Mom plans to do with us Sir." Bret stated as he and the others came over to the adults.
The children lined up in order of age, the twins were holding the dogs leads.
"Children I'd like you to meet Mr. Anderson, Mr. Anderson my children." Will introduced them.
Each put out their hand when Will said their name and politely shook the elderly lawyers hand and said hello.
Mr. Anderson was obviously impressed by the entire family. "Well I won't hold you up any longer, I know you want to get to the house and settled in." He handed Alec both sets of house keys and smiled as the children each bid him a polite farewell then raced for the motor home.
"Thank you." Alec said as he took the keys and shook Mr. Anderson's hand.
"Now remember if you have any problems or just want me to introduce you to the locals you can call me, if I'm not there my dear wife will be only to willing to help." Mr. Anderson reiterated as Will shook his hand.
"Thank you Sir, you've been so kind." Will replied genuinely liking the old man her wolf instincts said that he was completely trustworthy.
"You better hurry after the youngsters, even well behaved children like yours are bound to start getting impatient." Mr. Anderson advised.
Both transgenics nodded bid him farewell and joined the kids in the motor home.
17:50pm.
They finally pulled up in front of the house, the motor home had barely stopped before the kids leapt out and raced to the front door, the dogs with them barking madly as they caught the children's excitement. Will and Alec got out of the motor home and moved to the front door at a more sedate pace.
"C'mon!" Jay ordered. "Open it open it!"
The other kids echoed this command.
"Hey the house isn't going anywhere." Alec responded laughing as he pulled out the keys, he handed the spare set to Will then opened the door. "Hey you can tell that people have been airing the house and cleaning it."
"Yeah." Will agreed as both she and Alec followed the kids inside.
The family spent the next couple of hours exploring the house, barns and the land nearest the house, they made friends with all the animals, including the six dogs and eight cats that came with the place, luckily all the farm animals got on with the new animals.
20:04 pm.
"Okay guys, we need to start transferring our stuff from the motor home!" Will called standing in the courtyard at the back of the house.
The kids and Alec raced over from wherever they had been exploring.
22:34pm.
After a supper of baked beans and poached eggs on toast, the eggs were from their hens, they all tumbled exhausted into bed in their new rooms.
Day Ten
23:04pm
The kids had awoken at around 4:46am and had decided to wake Will and Alec so they could begin reorganizing the furniture in their rooms, trying to reason with them that since they'd be removing the furniture from each room before they painted it, so they should organize the furniture as it was replaced did not work, the kids wanted to design their bedrooms now that minute.
Luckily Will had the bright idea of using paper, she persuaded the kids that drawing a plan of each room, then measuring the furniture and cutting out pieces of paper to scale was the sensible option and after a little sweet talking and bribery the kids finally agreed.
They worked on the paper plans and by lunch time all eight were happy with their plans for their rooms.
After lunch Will spent the next few hours teaching the children and Alec how to ride.
Alec cooked an edible dinner for everyone, following a recipe in one of the houses cook books and with Will's helpful suggestions and quick response before he did anything dumb.
While the adults cooked the kids had watched a movie from the immense collection they had inherited.
The kids were in bed and fast asleep, totally worn out by their long and exciting day. Will and Alec were seated in the lounge, Will was sipping a mug of cocoa, Alec had a mug of coffee.
"So Will who taught you to ride and all about looking after horses?" Alec asked curiously. "That wasn't on my curriculum."
Will shrugged her right shoulder and thought for a few moments before answering. "Well I became fascinated with horses when I was about eighteen months and a couple of months after Sandemann sterilised me, Deck signed me up for riding lessons at a stable about fifty miles from the base, whenever I was in Wyoming Deck or my carer took me to the lessons." Will grinned at pleasant memories.
"Deck pretended to be my dad and actually behaved like a loving father rather than my C.O. he was very patient with all the retelling of what I did and about taking me to shows. When I won he acted like the proud father and he never made the lessons seem like Manticore lessons."
"Wait a minute, Deck Colonel Lydecker, Director of Manticore, hard nosed bastard, signed you up for riding lessons!" Alec was incredulous. "I didn't have much to do with him 'cause he was based in Wyoming…. But that still does not sound like him!"
Will shrugged again. "By the time you X5's were born he was pretty frustrated, I mean I had turned out exactly as he and Sandemann wanted, but all the other X's failed until you X5's were born, if you had been a failure as well, the project would have been shut down."
"You never said that in your debriefing." Alec stated puzzled by the omission.
"Alec the kids need to work with you X5's and I didn't want any resentment, you know like if you'd failed I wouldn't have been born been a soldier and now being hunted kind of thing." Will patiently explained.
"Yeah good point." He replied. "Still can't picture Lydecker playing the loving parent though."
"Oh he could be very protective of me." Will told him.
"So protective he let you be sterilised." Alec replied sarcastically.
Will got a far away look in her eyes. "A few days after the operation I awoke to arguing, Sandemann had seen Deck return home from his trip to one of the other bases, so he came to see him and told him what he had done." Will paused lost in her memories of that night.
"I heard yelling so crept to the landing to investigate and from my hiding place I saw and heard Deck in complete meltdown, yelling words in connection to me, my sterilisation, that I wouldn't understand their meaning of until about five years later, he was so mad at Sandemann that he actually threw a punch, it connected and Deck seized the advantage and went in for the kill."
Will paused and shrugged her right shoulder. "I didn't see it then, but with what I learnt later from experience, he would have killed Sandemann he was so incensed, Sandemann used his Familiar abilities and knocked Deck out, he then left him unconscious on the floor and went home."
Again she paused as she remembered. "I crept from my hiding place and got a cushion and blanket and made Deck comfortable, then stayed with him, curled up next to him until he awoke the next day. Relations between them were frosty to say the least for the next year or so, and Deck never completely trusted him again."
Alec sat in stunned silence at this revelation he did not speak for a few minutes.
"I can see why you got mad at me in T.C." He told her quietly. "Why you think of him as your father, he acted like a father to you even taking your side against Sandemann."
"Yes, I will always consider him to be my father, I know that to the Wyoming X5's he was a complete bastard and I did tell him exactly how much I despised his shooting Eva." Will paused as she flashed back to that fateful night and the next morning when she learnt what had happened.
"I was seventeen and I had my first and only teenage tantrum with him over Eva's death, he actually stood there and let me hurl insults at him, he took all my verbal abuse for over four and a half hours." Will paused and grinned at Alec suddenly. "I never repeated an insult and I used oh twenty odd languages. When I finally shut up, he just looked at me no lectures and asked me if I felt better." Will shook her head at the memory.
"That's why he figured it was you who freed Zack." Alec stated.
"Yes." Will replied as she stood up and stretched. "I'm going to bed, goodnight Alec." She kissed him on the head as she walked past.
Alec stayed up a while longer pondering on what he had just learnt, trying to picture Deck so incensed that he would hit Sandemann, try to kill him and even more odd, taking a four and a half hour tantrum from Will were she did nothing but hurl insults at him and all he did was ask her if she felt better, no lectures no punishments, just a fatherly kind of a response.
Alec shook his head in disbelief at the thought and the imagery it conjured up.
Day Eleven
The kids had not awoken quite so early, and had let the adults sleep until 6:33am, before they literally hauled them out of bed and reminded them that they had promised to buy paint today and decorate and rearrange their rooms, the kids had even managed to shift a lot of the smaller items of furniture, without causing enough of a disturbance to awaken the two adult transgenics.
Late evening.
Family room.
Everyone was relaxing in the family room after dinner, tired from their busy day of decorating, they had managed to paint all the occupied bedrooms; including the one that Alec had claimed; and the only guest bedroom that no one liked the colour scheme for, tomorrow they planned to return the furniture and organize it to everyone's own taste.
The family room's sofa beds were pulled out and made up as were the air mattresses, all the kids would spending the night in there, while Will and Alec used the two guest bedrooms, that had not needed redecorating.
Robyn and Ryanne wandered over to the upright piano that sat in a corner of the room and lifted the lid, they started to play Chopsticks, Danny and Jay joined them and soon all four were playing the tune, the older kids just lounged on the sofa beds.
When the twins started to play Alec drew in a sharp breath and swiftly left the room, Will heard this and concerned by his reaction, she followed him to his temporary room.
Alec was sitting on the bed lost in thought, Will went into the room, gently shutting the door behind her, she then sat down next to Alec, he ignored her lost in his memories.
"What's wrong?" Will gently asked him after a couple of minutes.
Alec didn't speak for two minutes, then in a rush he poured out what had happened on one of his missions, how he had fallen in love with the target's daughter and how he had killed her, been responsible for the coma, that she finally died from a few months earlier.
As soon as he started to speak Will pulled him into a fierce embrace, he rested his head upon her shoulder and poured out his heart, told her everything he remembered about that fateful mission, and what had occurred a few months ago, while she gently rocked him.
Alec pulled himself from Will's tender hug. "I'll leave tomorrow." He stated.
"What? Why?" Will asked confused and concerned.
"I just told you I killed the only person I loved before you and the kids." Alec replied in a pained tone.
"What so you plan to leave early in case you kill us?" Will was incredulous.
"Yes." Alec stated looking stubborn.
"Alec don't be an idiot!" Will told him. "You did not kill Rachel, it was an accident!"
"If I hadn't told ……" Alec started.
"It was an accident." Will interrupted him speaking firmly. "Alec, you are not going to live in guilt for the rest of your life over an unfortunate accident."
"But…."
"No buts!" Will growled at him. "You did not set out to harm her, you were trying to protect her from being hurt, by telling her of your mission, so that she could warn her father, what happened next was an accident, and I will not have you blaming yourself for an accident!"
"You wouldn't underst…." Alec started then trailed off remembering Will's husband. "Damn Will I'm sorry of course you would."
Will shook her head and put her arms back around Alec. "No Alec you can't compare John to Rachel, they're two totally different scenarios." Will replied. "John was C.I.A he knew he could be killed, and the moment he decided to turn traitor, he signed his own death warrant, he was a walking dead man for fourteen years."
Alec and Will were both silent for a few moments Alec just sat in her embrace, thinking about what she had said.
"Will your debriefing said that you knew know the techniques Manticore used to block memories….."
"No Alec I won't block the memories." Will gently interrupted placing a finger on his lips when he was about to speak again. "If the memories resurfaced once, they will do so again, Manticore should not have blocked them to begin with, they should have had you work through them, that way, you would be able to remember Rachel without feelings of misplaced guilt."
"But….."
"Of course they couldn't because then you would have put the blame firmly where it belongs with Manticore." Will bluntly stated interrupting him again. "You are going to tell me again over the next few days what you did with Rachel and why you loved her….. none of the mission stuff, it's unimportant compared to your falling in love."
Will pulled out of the embrace and looked Alec in the eyes, she smiled gently at him.
"A lot of people believe, myself included, that for as long as someone remembers you, then you never truly die, so we will remember Rachel together, we will honour her by remembering her as the vibrant person you described, remembering her with guilt does you both a disservice, she was a good person, her memory should only be associated with good thoughts." Will gently but firmly ordered him.
Alec pondered Will's directive for about six minutes before finally realising that she made absolute sense, that Rachel would and should not be remembered with any bad connotations, that that truly did a disservice to the loving girl he had known, he finally nodded his agreement.
Will smiled gently at him. "So tell me again about the moment that you first saw her."
Day Fourteen
Alec stayed with them for four extra days, he had managed to okay the extra time with Normal.
Will and Alec had spoken everyday of Rachel and each time it got easier for Alec, he had decided to do as Will had ordered and let go of the guilt, to only remember Rachel as the carefree loving young woman with whom he had fallen in love. Just as Will had also ordered he put the blame for her death squarely where it had always belonged, with Manticore.
He spent the days helping to redecorate the entire house to the families taste. He then headed back to Montreal on a motor bike that they had found in the garage and that Nikita soon had working perfectly and looking great.
It was a very emotional farewell none of the children or Will wanted Alec to leave and he wanted to stay as well, after promising to return as soon as possible Alec started the bike and left for the first leg of his long journey back to Seattle.