AN: Hey, I'm not doin' too bad lately. It hasn't been a year since the last time I updated! I'm very excited. Thank you to all the people who emailed me, reviewed, and the chick that checked out my live journal. I just thought that was infinitely cool. I apologize for this chapter, its awkward and the writing is substandard. On the plus side when I started writing this Jondy kept telling me the story out of order, not very good for my sanity, we're at the part where she actually started talking to me. And soon we'll have fun with Alec. (All kinds of fun, there's a bathtub involved if you're wondering.) so don't abandon me yet it gets better soon. And those who love Zane, he'll be around in like three chapters. So yeah, good times. Going now.
Review! If you don't I might loose inspiration and where would we be then?
That's Enough for Me
Chapter 10: Sibling Reunion
~*~
Some stories are magical, meant to be sung
Song from the mouth of the river
When the world was young
And all of these spirit voices rule the night.
-Paul Simon, "Spirit Voices"
~*~
It was at least an hour later, when they were already back at Terminal City with Rich in tow, when the whole conversation finally hit Max.
"Wait…Syl's what!?"
Jondy suddenly brightened and looked over at Rich with a smile as she kept walking, "I forgot to tell you. Syl's preggers."
"I'm gonna be an uncle?" He shook his head in disbelief, as he handed a backpack to her. "Krit's been a busy boy. I must now formulate plans on how to spoil the kid rotten."
"Krit's the father!?" Max yelled, looking from Jondy to Rich like they were crazy.
"Yes, I mentioned that part to you earlier…right before the 'we're going to be aunts' part." Jondy cocked her head to the side, "weren't you listening?"
"I was…ok maybe not completely. But that's…its…how?"
"Aww, that's so cute." Jondy looked at Rich wiping away a pretend tear, "I've never been able to tell someone about the birds and bees."
"I know…the how," Max ground out, "the technical parts, at least. I mean Syl and Krit?"
"They were paired together for the break out," Jondy said quietly. "They managed to stay close after that."
"In the same city and stuff," Rich supplied trying not to look at anyone.
"They're very cute together."
"But they're…its like incest," Max's lip curled as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well, look who's all judgmental." Jondy lifted an eyebrow, and nodded her head toward a ladder leading to the top of a building.
Rich made a jump for it and started to climb throwing over his shoulder a, "it's not like they're blood relations."
Max followed after him, "it doesn't bother you even a little?"
Rich stopped and looked down at her, "why should it?"
"There are lines," she slapped at his foot to get him to keep going.
Jondy made her way up after them, "lines can be erased." Rich disappeared over the lip of the roof. "We are not line friendly if you haven't noticed." Max disappeared after him; her head reappeared for a second, long brown hair falling in a veil across her face. Jondy joined them on the roof.
"Just don't think about it," Rich said clapping her on the shoulder, he grinned at his sister and wiggled his eyebrows. "If you hadn't noticed the only ones of us who actually look alike are you and Krit, and Brin and I."
The three transgenics sat down, and Jondy slid the backpack from her shoulders. "What did you pack for us, Richie baby?"
"I got Cheetos, Skittles, I'm keeping all the red ones for me…"
"You can't do that, I want the red ones!"
"Too bad, I brought the Skittles the red ones are mine," Rich clutched the bag to his chest and glared at her.
His eyes went wide as she lifted and eyebrow and scowled. "Don't make me kill you."
Max blinked at her, full lips puckering in confusion, "how come you get to make death threats?"
"Because he's stupid, and I have that authority," Jondy gave her a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, she's the C.O. now."
"There was a party," Jondy explained happily, "I got a crown and with sparkles and everything."
"She was very cute even though she grossly misuses her power…and I brought sweet tarts and drinks."
"There's no nutritional value in any of that," Max said looking over his shoulder.
"I love it, gimme!" Jondy pulled the bag open wider and pulled out a bag of Cheetos and an unlabeled bottle. "So Maxie, dahling, tell us what you've been doing lately." She twisted the cap off her bottle, took a swig, and waited.
It took a minute and then Max started talking. Jondy and Rich listened as they were told what it had been like back at Manticore, how she'd met Alec, and the time since then. By the time Max got to the part where she met a transgenic with the power of telecoercion Rich's mouth was hanging open and Jondy was finished with her Cheetos and moving on to Skittles.
"I was punching and kicking him the whole time and I was all like 'that's for the virus' and then 'that's for getting paint on my research paper.'" Max was talking about her fight in the ring with Alec, "'That's for making Joshua deliver your packages' and then 'that's for loosin' my baseball' I kicked him in the chest after that and was like 'that's for the next stupid thing you're gonna do.' That was when I distracted him with the promise of the ring girl being top-less and I kicked him in the balls…it was great!" She beamed as Rich suddenly went completely white, a considerable accomplishment seeing as how he had such tan skin.
"You kicked him in the…ow," Rich sank down and covered himself up.
"This is the guy that Logan thinks you're going out with?" Jondy asked her brow furrowing.
"Yeah, so?"
"He believes you?" Jondy blinked, "I mean, he actually thinks that you and Alec…"
"Why not? I'm gorgeous and Alec's genetically engineered to be easy on the eyes."
"That's not the point—what man in his right mind would let you anywhere near him again after that."
"I wouldn't," Rich added helpfully.
"He's your friend…kinda, but I would think the family jewels would be off limits. Not to mention you blame just about any bad thing that's happened to you on him."
"I don't just blame it on him," Max scowled at her. "It's really his fault."
Jondy screwed up her face and bit a fingernail, "uh huh."
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing…much."
Max opened her mouth to say something else when Rich quipped. "Don't worry about her, she just—"
"Wants to hear her dear brother sing!" she yelled.
Max turned to her looking hopelessly lost, "what?"
"You're not serious!" Rich yelled back waving his hands in the air, "I'm not just gonna sing!"
"You're right, you're gonna dance too." Jondy clapped her hands, "chop chop."
Rich ground out from between his teeth, "what song?"
"Why is he singing?"
"He was a bad boy and must be punished, and amuse me in the process." Jondy smiled at her sister, "there in lies the reason I love being CO." She turned back to her brother, "I want 'Hero' from the musical 'Footloose'…proceed."
"I hate you."
"Dually noted, now…" she waved a regal hand, "amu-use me."
"Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?" he started his voice a tenor, "Where's the street wise Hercules to fight the rising odds?"
"He actually knows the words. I'm impressed…and I'm thinking he might be a little gay."
"Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery stead? Late at night I toss and I turn, and I dream of what I need."
"Dance!"
Rich raised an arm theatrically, "I need a hero."
Jondy sang softly, "Do do do doo," she slapped Max's arm playfully, "we're back up baby. Do do do doo," Max joined in as softly as possible, "Do do do doo ahh."
Rich was grimacing, but he didn't stop singing. "Somewhere after midnight, in my wildest fantasies, somewhere just beyond my reach there's someone reaching back for me." Jondy motioned with her hands and he started twitching, hoping it would pass for dancing. "Racing on the thunder, and rising with the heat. It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet. I need a hero."
"Louder!"
Rich was yelling now. "I'm calling out for a hero 'til the end of the night. He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light. He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life."
Rich finished out the song, lunging forward with an arm up in the air waving spirit fingers galore. "I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light. He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life." Jondy and Max clapped and hooted. Jondy made vague references to Kevin Bacon possibly donating some DNA while Max laughed wildly.
"That was fun," Jondy said motioning for Rich to sit back down.
"I despise you," Rich told her before getting another bottle of nameless liquid.
"Right," she turned from him to Max. "So everything is Alec's fault?"
"What was Rich saying about him earlier?"
Rich waved his arms trying to stop her, "please don't. I don't want to sing anymore songs!"
"Okay." Her brow furrowed but she let it drop and turned back to Jondy. "Yeah, he's completely unreliable." She warmed up to the subject quickly. "I mean, Logan was dying because he touched me…completely out of concern for me, and he needed a blood transfusion from a transgenic and I called Alec and he never showed."
"Why not?" Rich asked wide-eyed. It didn't seem to fit with what he knew of Alec.
"He got arrested for something Ben did," Max rolled her eyes.
"Ben?" Rich asked.
"Why would he get in trouble for something Ben did?" Jondy asked at the same time.
"He's Ben's clone." They both looked at her with mouths open in o's of understanding.
"Well, that sucks for…wait, how did he have control of that?" Jondy tilted her head to the side, as she looked at Max in complete confusion.
"Just trust me, he could have."
"O-okay." Jondy nodded. "So, bad Alec."
"What did I do this time?" A deep voice asked from behind them. Turning around they found Alec on the ladder leaning back and holding the bars lazily.
"Nothing yet," Max informed him.
"That's reassuring."
"What did you want?"
"There were some of us down there wonderin' why someone was singing about heroes up here." He blinked and looked at Rich, "I take it that would be you."
"Yeah, about that…" Rich started but Jondy cut him off.
"He loves 'Footloose'. Gigantic Kevin Bacon fan, keeps telling up that he donated DNA," Jondy beamed at her brother. "He knows all the dance moves and everything. It's the coolest thing you ever did see." She motioned for Alec to come closer. "He loves performing it so if you have the urge spread that around."
"Have I told you today that I hate you?" Rich asked calmly.
Jondy looked at him with wide innocent eyes, "why would you say such a horrible thing to me?"
"Just answer the question."
"I dimly recall once or twice."
"That's it?"
"Uh huh."
"Then, I hate you."
"You'd feel bad if I started crying."
"Probably."
"I'll keep that in mind for next time."
"Please don't." She wiggled her eyebrows at him and he groaned.
"Let me guess, another sibling?" Alec asked Max.
"Meet Rich…and Jay's actually Jondy," she explained.
"Huh..." he turned to Jondy. "When you're done with the reunion, I'm gonna be heading for my apartment for a while before we go on a supply run, if you wanna come."
"Sure, that sounds good." She waved at her siblings. "I'm gonna go before he serenades you with his favorite ever, 'Let's hear it for the boys'." She went to follow Alec down the ladder still talking. "He's really good at it and all, but it's still disturbing."
"You are so wrong!" Rich yelled after her.