Disclaimer: and we find ourselves here…once again…for the thousandth time. If I don't put one of these up on the next chapter do you think someone would sue me? Do you think some one would come along and read the 12th chapter and go…"gee, she didn't say this was someone else's work, she must be trying to claim the characters for her own." What do you think?

Author's Note: Ever had one of those days where you wanted to crawl into a corner and either ball like a baby or scream like a madwoman? Well, welcome to my world. Oh yeah, buddy. Make it one of those weeks. But my sense of humor has managed to win out even though I'm about to explode. Fun fun fun, for the whole family. OK enough with my pity party. They get boring after while…I need more upbeat music on. I was reading my reviews awhile ago and one of my wonderful reviewers said that my story was better than chocolate and without missing a beat I started singing Sara Mclachlan's Ice Cream. And since then I've been waiting to put it in my story. HeHe.

Fluffy's life hangs in the balance once again…Review or he's toast.

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 12: Raspberries!

"Four and twenty virgins came down from Inburness and when the ball was over there were four and twenty less. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all." Jondy's voice sang through the apartment a brogue, which could have been Irish or Scottish, giving it an interesting lilt. "And there was doin' in the parlor there was doin' on the stones but you could not hear the music from the wheezin' and the groans. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all."

She had come in that afternoon from her very long run a smile plastered across her face and a late breakfast in hand. Zane had just watched her sadly as she talked animatedly, making good on her earlier words of wanting to pretend nothing had happened between them. It was the first time he had realized that he would never really know she was hurting unless she wanted him to. She was a great actress. "The undertaker he was there, all wrapped up in a shroud swinging from the chandelier and peein' on the crowd. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all."

She came skipping into his room suddenly smiling like a madwoman with her blond hair flying out behind her. She grabbed his hands and swung him around still singing. "Mrs. Mary McFearson was standin' way up front some posies in her hand and a carrot…" She coughed quietly into her hand, "singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all." She was laughing loudly and it was infectious. Zane couldn't stop the chuckles that were suddenly bubbling up from his throat. "The village magician he was there, he gave us all a laugh. He pulled his foreskin over his head and he vanished up his ass. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all." She stopped singing but couldn't stop laughing; her face beaming brightly she let herself fall to his bed with a bounce. He sat next to her still smiling and shaking his head in wonder.

"I'll never get you."

"What you don't like Croce?"

"Who?"

"On my God, you poor deprived child!" She clapped her hands over her mouth and looked at him aghast. "Jim Croce's like one of the best pre-pulse singers slash writers."

"Jim Croce, huh?"

"Roller Derby Queen? You don't mess around with Jim?" She was waving her hands in the air trying to jog his memory.

"And that was one of his songs?' An eyebrow rose to kiss his hairline gently.

She fiddled with one of his pillows and bit her lip on her smile, "well, not exactly, it's a Scottish folk tale that he sang but it wasn't really his writing."

"Scottish?"

"They're a fun people," she said with a laugh.

"Crude is more like it."

"Fun," she insisted lifting her chin stubbornly, but couldn't hide the sparkle in her eyes.

Zane wanted to kiss her more then anything just then, just lean over and press his lips to hers gently. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was a tangled hallo falling around her that glowed a startling gold in the lamp light electric blue shooting through it vibrantly, and her lips were stretching a grin that seemed more inviting then anything else he'd ever encountered. He felt his body tense to lean in and instead he stood so suddenly that Jondy tipped; slightly unbalanced. "I'm going to see Max, maybe cheer her up, do you want to come?" He asked quickly, running a hand through midnight black hair. It fell back down in his eyes but he ignored it to watch as she stood up.

"I think maybe you two should have some alone time."

"You two were always the closest," he said his brow furrowing in confusion.

"A lot has changed, not that but other things," she smiled and tried to finger comb her hair. "I just think we should have alone time with her. You get her tonight, I'll steal her away soon enough."

"All right."

"So go have fun and I'll just spend the night vegging," she gave him a gentle push and grinned sweetly. "When ya leavin'?"

"Now-ish."

"Ok then. Be good and enjoy yourself." She fluttered bright blue eyes at him before walking from the room.

"Bye, J."

He made his way past her to the front door and just before he closed it he paused. He could hear her soft voice as she sang to herself. "Your love is better than ice cream, better than anything else that I've tried. Your love is better than ice cream and everyone here knows how to cry. It's a long was down. It's a long way down. It's a long was down to the place where we started from." He didn't move for a long time. "Your love is better than chocolate, better than anything else that I've tried. Your love is better than chocolate." Jondy's voice was beautiful when she was singing the usual light hearted songs but this was probably the first time he had heard her singing something soft and without the normal flamboyance that was just Jondy. Her voice faded off and with a sigh he closed the door behind him and left to meet Max. Her voice stayed with him through the walk.

~*~

Max sat looking down at her folded hands on the table in Crash biting at her bottom lip nervously. She bounced her leg against the table and jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Zane standing behind her smiling sweetly. "Hey there, Maxie."

"Hey, Zane, how ya doin'?"

"Ah, you know the same old same old."

"The same old doesn't look to good on you," Max said with a small smile.

"Yeah well, life's rough. How are you?"

"I thought it would hurt more," she said so quietly he almost couldn't hear her over the music.

"What should?" He sat down next to her, letting his shoulder rest against hers, "and why do you think it should hurt more?"

Chocolate brown eyes rose to meet his dark green ones. "Why do you think?"

"Why does every woman in my life have to answer a question with a question?" Zane laughed and shook his head unhappily.

"Trouble with Jondy?" Max asked with a laugh.

"There's usually trouble with Jondy," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair and poured himself a glass of beer from the pitcher that Max had gotten before he came. "So answer me with a non-question type answer. Why do you think it should hurt more?"

"The man I love cheated on me. I should be heartbroken right now."

"Maybe you didn't love him." Zane offered tentatively, not sure if she would hit him for the suggestion. She just stared at him for a long time already large eyes going wide.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard a lot of the story, but I haven't been around for it so maybe I'm completely off on this theory…" he shrugged his shoulders and stared down into his glass. "You don't hurt because you were never in love with him…yes, you loved him but you weren't in love with him." He grimaced and met her eyes that sparkled softly with confusion. "None of us really deal well with emotions so maybe its almost impossible for us to tell the difference, but I know there is one."

She opened her mouth to say something then let it snap shut before she took a long swallow of beer. She blinked several times licking her lips slowly. When she did speak it was slowly and deliberately. "Maybe you have a point."

"Maybe I do."

"How do you feel about Jondy?"

The question took Zane by surprise making him swallow quickly so that he didn't accidentally spit beer from his mouth. "What?"

"I've been wondering…though I think I already know." She looked skyward with a soft smile still speaking slowly. "Which one of those do you feel for Jondy?"

"I don't know." He mumbled down to his hands.

"Zane…"

"I tell I want her and she does this thing that she always does when she's uncomfortable she walks away, usually to the kitchen. I figure that's fine I can follow her to the kitchen without too many complaints. Then I kiss her and she decides to go for a run…"

"What?"

"Three in the morning and she wants to jog. It makes me wonder if maybe I'm the only one who feels anything."

"I…have no idea what to tell you," Max said grimacing sadly. "I can't read my own sister, I'm pathetic."

"That's the thing, no one can read Jondy. I've known her my entire life, I've been with her constantly for four weeks and I still don't know what goes on in that head of hers."

"You love her…" Max said quietly her lip forming a soft pout. "This whole inter-sibling dating thing still kind of freaks me out."

"Yeah, well, I figure who better to understand exactly where I'm coming from than someone who was there. Kind of like Alec is for you."

"Alec?" Max couldn't stop the snort. "Alec is not someone I keep around because he understands."

"Maybe you should." She glared at him and he held his hands up in surrender. "Think about it, Maxie, you don't have any confusing sibling feelings for him and he understands where you're coming from."

"And he's one of the most annoying people I've ever met. He's also the cause of half the problems in my life!"

"Max, he's your scapegoat…not a disease. Hey, maybe the virus thing was something of a favor." She raised an eyebrow and he shrugged his shoulders. "It showed you Logan's true colors. He's a great guy when it comes to saving the world but he's lacking in the loyalty factor."

"You're one of those annoying people who tells me the truth whether I want to hear it or not aren't you?"

He grimaced and smiled tightly, "'fraid so."

~*~

"Love is never easy. It's almost always out of your way. It's not the path of least resistance. It's not some words that you get to say. It's a stream running up a mountain. It's a wave rolling out from the shore. I wish I could say I never felt that way before," Jondy sang softly to herself as she scratched softly behind Sasha's ear. A knock sounded through the apartment stopping her. She stood quickly and padded to the front door smiling brightly when she saw Alec standing there leaning indolently against the doorframe.

"You're early."

"Admit it, you missed me." He smirked down at her and then laughed.

"Oh yeah, baby." She deadpanned before stepping back and letting him into the apartment. She grinned at him on her way into the kitchen, "raspberries!"

"Huh?"

"We have raspberries. Well, I have raspberries cause Zane knows nothing about finding things. I don't know how the boy ever survived without me,"

"We should go into business." Alec said with a laugh falling to her couch. "You could find stuff and I could sell it."

"Oh lord, no." Jondy answered walking back into the living room with a small carton filled with red berries. "I'd be horrible to go into business with, I'd eat all the merchandise."

"Not all of it would be food."

"Oh well, in that case…" She snorted elegantly and plopped down next to him. "Here have some."

"I've never actually had raspberries before," he shrugged and plucked one up.

"Really?" She cocked her head to the side and blinked. "You haven't been out of Manticore that long, have you?"

"Not really."

"You're still in that wonderful trying things out stage."

He grinned at her after popping the berry into his mouth. "Yes, I am. I think I'm in the stage of trying some more of those.'

"Heavenly, aren't they?"

"I wouldn't really call anything heavenly, but if I had to, sure." He took a handful from the pile this time. "These are so good."

"Why do you think I have so many? Cause I wanna puck everytime I eat them?" She picked up her remote and turned on the TV and wiggled her eyebrows at him. "So which horrible pre-pulse movie should we watch today? I saw a movie called Chameleon was supposed to be on in about ten minutes."

"What's it about?"

"A genetically engineered soldier, ninety-nine percent human one percent animal. She has the eyes of a hawk, can smell blood from a mile away, and she had chameleon DNA so she can change her skin and bio-engineered clothes to match her surroundings. She's learning how to have emotions."

"Sounds vaguely familiar."

"I can't imagine why."

Alec nodded his head and she turned the channel to wait for the show to start. He sighed softly and leaned back into the couch snagging more raspberries. "So, Jond, I gotta ask…you and Zack was there ever any sexual tension?"

"Nope. Despite the oh-so-popular belief, Zack and I never even thought about goin' there with each other."

"Really?"

"Best friends, the whole way. Plus, he was so totally into Max it was ridiculous."

"Aha! I knew it!"

"You must feel so important."

"I do sometimes." He smiled and then cleared his throat his smile falling. "Your act is better than mine," he said dryly not looking at her.

"How's that?" She glanced at him but looked away quickly when his eyes shifted to her.

"It's a lot harder to see through. You never seem to slip when anyone is around. Me it's like, 'oh he's gotta be ok he just screwed four complete strangers- thank god they were all female- and cleared out half the bar.'"

"Well, if Broadway was still around I could be in Rent." She smiled winningly at him and twitched her shoulders playfully and started to sing. "Do you go to the Cat scratch club? That's where I work, I dance. Help me look!" She smiled, "this is where you're supposed to go." She was singing again, "Yes! They used to tie you up." Alec couldn't stop the guffaw, "Then I go…It's a living." She batted her eyelashes, "Now it's your turn to sing…I didn't recognize you without the hand cuffs."

"I wanna see Rent."

"You'd love it." She laughed with him and rolled her eyes "I have the CDs somewhere. If I ever find them again I'll loan 'em to ya."

"Thanks." He opened his mouth to say more but she put a finger to her lips and shushed him pointing to the TV wiggling her eyebrows once again.

"Movies starting." Alec just grunted as he took another raspberry.

They watched quietly through the opening credits, and then the commentary started. "That's a really stupid helmet she's wearing."

"Did that sex scene just seem really unsatisfying to you?"

"Oh yeah, did she even take off those really stupid looking shorts?"

"Oh she blends in perfectly with the wall!" Jondy clapped her hands and bounced. "I wonder if Manticore made any transgens like that. They'd be a hoot at parties."

"I never heard of it, but it's very possible." Half way through the movie he gasped and looked down at the carton of raspberries. "They're gone!"

"Oh no, however shall we survive?" Jondy deadpanned as she stood up and made her way into the kitchen. Alec reached for the remote but she waved at him, "don't worry about it. It's just another sex scene it's not like anything good's gonna happen." She danced into the kitchen, bopping her head in time to music that no one else could hear. She came back in holding a large bowl and a can of coke. "See I didn't miss anything?" she said when she looked at the screen.

"You know, I think Kam has got to be a very unsatisfied transgenic."

"She kind of reminds me of Max," Jondy said and then clapped a hand over her mouth her cheeks going red. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Sure ya did." He threw his head back in laughter when she let her mouth drop as she looked at him. "She hasn't had any action since before she got captured by Manticore."

"That's a really long time." She said aghast the movie momentarily forgotten. "No wonder she turns into the uber-bitch to you. You have to be a source of frustration."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid, it doesn't suite you." Jondy laughed and opened started to open her coke.

Alec pouted, "don't I get a coke?"

Jondy batted her eyelashes at him and simpered, "no."

His mouth dropped open at the sight of dimples and he lunged at her reaching for the can. "Give it me!"

"No!" She screeched holding it out of his reach while trying to keep him from toppling her over. They couldn't seem to stay upright while they wrestled because neither could stop laughing maniacally. Jondy screeched again as she felt them both tip over off the couch and landed with a thud and a loud 'oof' that neither could really tell who had managed to get it out. The credits rolled as they did. Alec reaching for the can using mercenary tactics such as tickling.

Jondy almost couldn't breath she was laughing so hard but she didn't give up. She wrapped her legs around his waist so he couldn't climb up her body to get at the drink, or reach up any farther. He finally managed to wiggle so that their faces were even but she tossed the can so that it rolled back into the kitchen. She couldn't stop the cackle at his look of complete surprise. "I have foiled you!" He growled menacingly at her.

That's when the door to the apartment came open. They both froze still on the ground; Jondy's legs wrapped around Alec's lean waist as he held both her arms to the floor with his hands. She blinked up at him and bit her lip on the laugh. "Oh…shit," she whispered.

"Jondy!" Zane called out still not having seen them infront of the couch, which faced away from the front door.

"This doesn't look good," Alec whispered.

"Then get off me," she ground out through a smile. Zane came around the couch and looked down his mouth falling open as he saw the two wrapped up in each other. "Hey, Z, how's Max doing?" She unwrapped her legs from around Alec as he quickly got off of her.

"She feeling better?" He asked running a hand through his hair. Zane just stood there blinking not having closed his mouth yet.

"You ok, Z?" He looked at Jondy and turned sharply on his heel and walked into his room and closed the door with a soft click behind him. "I repeat once again, oh…shit."