AN: I am on fire… in a non-toasty sort of way. Hi, I bet none of you thought I'd be back so soon. I didn't think I'd be back so soon. But, hey, I just had surgery and why shouldn't I take my recoup time to write, especially since my boyfriend and I have decided we need a 'break.' Life is fun. Did anyone miss me? I really hope so cause otherwise it would way suck. Thanks to the people that emailed me, I know some of you I never emailed back and that was really really horrible of me and I'm so sorry. If you email me in the future I promise I will email you back. But if you can tell anything from the itsy bit of stuff I just told you guys you can all guess that life's been a tad bit stressful. I know, I'm a horrible author and I slap myself on the hand. Whacks self with ruler. Have pity on me and review because I write more when I have people to write for. Just remember I'm getting back in the groove of things.
Review! Your comments are adored and loved beyond imagining.
That's Enough For Me
Chapter 9: Well, ya see…
~*~
Blind, oh, now I see
truth, lies, and in between.
Wrong, can't be undone.
Oh Slipped,
from the tip of your tongue.
~ Kenny Wayne Shepherd, "Blue on Black"
~*~
"Huh?" Jondy blinked.
"You said 'us'," Max told her.
"No I didn't." Jondy turned.
"You said 'he found us,'" Alec said softly, his arms uncrossing from his chest as he stood up straighter.
"You must be mistaken."
"I don't think so," Max shook her head.
"I uh— I meant us as in…unity of the transgenics. He found us, in that he found some of us transgenics." Jondy nodded her head, "Yeah, that's what I meant." She threw a fist up in the air, "Woo hoo, transgenic unity, baby!" She started backing out of the living room towards the front door, still smiling coyly.
"You're one of them," Logan's eyes narrowed, she opened her mouth for a scathing remark when a soft ringing could be heard coming from her jacket pocket. She grimaced and brought it out glancing at the people around her as she answered it.
"This is not a good time, boy…pants or arm?" She backed away slowly from where Alec was resting against the doorframe next to her. "Ok, so arm…WAIT! ARM? I'm not qualified to handle an arm conversation!" She straightened her eyes widening. "What's wrong!? What happened?!" Her breathing heavy Jondy listened silently her eyes turning to slits suddenly. Her voice was suddenly low and dangerous, "you…she's what?" Silence and then a sudden explosion of noise and hand movements that could barely be followed. "I can't believe you! How could you let something like this happen…oh, you didn't mean to. Well, that just makes me feel so much better! What, you were just sitting there one day minding your own business when it looked up at you and was like 'Ha ha, fast as fast can be you can never catch me' and then it threw itself at her?! Huh? Is that how it happened, it had a mind of its own!? You stupid…are you crying? You don't GET to cry! Stop crying right this…no you are not putting her on…"
Jondy was quiet again still seething, listening intently then she was talking almost pleasantly to whoever was on the other line. "Hi! Congratulations…crying? I have no idea why he would be crying. No! Of course I didn't yell at him, that would be…just… mean of me. He said what?" She was grinding her teeth, "the rascal. No. I'm gonna go now, I'll deal with you two later." She hung up and glared at the phone as if she would like to crush it into a billion pieces.
"You ARE one of them!" Logan proclaimed loudly.
"No, genius, I'm several of them," Jondy bit out, hitting the doorframe gently. "Meet some of the many people in my head. I'm an us all on my lonesome…and we can't keep our freakin' mouths shut."
"Which one are you?" Max asked as she followed Jondy's retreat. "Who was on the phone?"
"Bob at the moment, and that was George on the phone," she quipped before she turned and ran. Max took off after her without thinking and Alec start to follow but stopped before he made it out the door.
"Why aren't you helping Max?" Logan ground out.
"Not my place on this one," he answered dryly, he nodded over at Logan then left for Terminal City.
Jondy was running blind, not knowing where she was going or even why for that matter. All she knew was that she hadn't wanted Max to find out like that, not in front of Logan, not so soon. She heard the pounding of footsteps behind her and she knew Max wouldn't be far behind, for a split second she could see Max, as she had been, small and dark, a blur in training courses. Faster than all of them, except Eva. She would catch up soon but she needed time. She needed the chance to think because this was all wrong.
She skidded as she made a sharp turn, one arm thrown out for balance in a move she was sure looked really funny. A fire escape ladder hung down and she made a jump for it, needing the open sky above her instead of buildings.
Putting one hand above the other she didn't look down, knowing that Max was coming into the alley. She was catching up and Jondy couldn't really find it in herself to care to terribly. And then suddenly the walls fell away and she was surrounded by sky, blue and infinite and still reassuring.
Max surged to the roof ready to take up the chase, searching for the way that her sibling had gone and almost tripped over her own feet.
The other woman was standing in the middle of the roof, one foot resting on a metal box that she guessed was for utility work of some sort, her arms wrapped around her chest and her face turned up. Outlined by the sun it was hard to see anything but her shape, lean and strong and, for some reason, tired.
She watched as she turned towards her and forgot to breath, beauty was a given for them, the X5s, and the one standing in front of her filled that description no better then any other but there was something different about her. An aura, a feeling, something Max couldn't quite grasp but she was not like the other transgenics at Terminal City. It took a minute, her brown eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, before she finally put her finger on it.
This transgenic was a living memory, she was late nights sitting in the barracks giggling, funny faces made behind Zack's back, a hand that came out in the darkness to hold hers.
"Syl's pregnant," the woman said softly, more to herself then Max. She swallowed and shook her head in wonder, "Krit's gonna be a daddy."
"Jondy?" It was a whisper, barely loud enough for even her to hear, but the other woman smiled, a slow smile that stretched lips that had kissed her brow after nightmares.
"We're gonna be Aunts."
"Why?" And she couldn't manage to get anything else out, but it didn't seem as though she needed to get anything else out. Jondy knew, Jondy always knew.
"I wanted to tell you. It's just we were so worried about what it would do to you…having us here while you're doing all of this," Jondy explained softly, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. "I didn't want to rock the boat and see you fall out of it."
"We?" it was a soft question, and Max's eyebrow rose slowly.
"Remember me fighting earlier?" Max nodded. "That would be Rich, he sorta came without my permission…or telling me that he was here."
Max took a step forward and hesitated, "I can't believe…"
"That I'm here? It shocks me too sometimes, what with the not being able to be anywhere that isn't technically 'here.'"
"Do you always talk like this?"
"Pretty much." Jondy watched Max for a minute, biting her lip gently and waited for a sign that everything that was happening was actually sinking in. At the moment it looked like sinking in was a hard state of mind. Then all of a sudden two arms were wrapped around her hard enough to crush the air from her lungs but she didn't care, because it just felt good.
Max hugged her sister and rejoiced when arms came up to hug her back. Then she did something that she hadn't done since before the escape, she buried her face in the other woman's hair, remembering the scent from ages past, and breathed a sigh of release. It was good to have family again.