A/N: Sorry for the wait, my internet's been acting funny. I think we finally got it all sorted out, so I updated as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I only seem to own the occasional weird character, but nobody else is mine. :( Even the chapter title belongs to someone else. (Tolkien is a writing genius!)

Family Relations

By Be Boring

Chapter 7: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

"It's not bad, but I liked my old neighborhood better," Krit commented as he wandered around the new apartment that Zack had gotten for him. Jondy personally liked it, but she didn't want to say anything to start an argument. The two men had burst out fighting every half hour during the long drive to get here over the fact that Krit had to be relocated. Of course Krit didn't want to move, but Zack insisted because of the fact that he'd been involved with all those deaths and that doctor knew about it.

"It's just not safe there anymore, even you must realize that," Zack growled, pulling over the car because he knew that soon he wouldn't be concentrating on the road. Jondy sat quietly in the backseat, just watching their tempers flaring and hoping she wouldn't get caught in the middle of it. How was it that Zack could insult someone at the worst possible time without even knowing what he was doing?

"Even me? What the hell is that supposed to mean? It's not like I'm a fucking idiot, you know. I know perfectly well it was dangerous back where I was, but I could have at least stayed in the general area. I knew every way there was to steal money there without being noticed, if I had been able to stay there even another year I'd be filthy rich!"

"Well, you obviously didn't know how to steal money from everybody without being noticed, otherwise we wouldn't have had to come out to save your ass!"

"It was a setback, but was it really that much of an inconvenience for you? Jondy, did you have a problem with coming to help me out?"

Her eyes widened as both men turned to look at her, waiting for completely opposite answers. "Guys, I'll plead the fifth on that one, ok?" They didn't even acknowledge her after that, they knew she wouldn't get involved. It didn't bother her though; in fact, she was grateful. Why pick sides with one of them? They would never let her forget it.

Now they were still ignoring her, so she just wandered around on her own, poking her head into the huge master bedroom, then the tinier guest room, and even the bathroom that looked like it belonged to a celebrity. Who would need a bathroom this fancy? How much did Zack pay for this place? She guessed he bought a nice place just to try and appease his fiery little brother, but it didn't seem to be working. Krit was still fuming as he tried to consistently keep at least ten feet between himself and Zack. She rolled her eyes at the overdone show of stubborn testosterone and reached into the tub to turn on the hot water. She practically squealed with delight when it almost immediately came out scalding hot. "To hell with you, Krit, I'm moving into this place! How many places can you find anymore that still have hot water?"

She turned around to see both guys standing in the doorway, argument temporarily forgotten, as they stared at her with eyebrows raised. Krit was the first to speak. "Do you always get so excited about hot water?"

"Hell yeah, at my foster home they deliberately cut off our hot water, and there has hardly been any hotels we've stayed at so far that had even remotely warm water. Why are you staring at me like that?" Neither one answered, they just looked at each other and shook their heads with smirks on their faces. "Sure, now we start with the secret stares. Don't think that I don't know what's running through your minds." She squeezed between them and headed back for the kitchen, which because of them she had avoided thus far. "Do you really need such a big fridge? How much can one person eat?"

Zack shook his head in disbelief. "This coming from the one person who has managed to out-eat every single one of the others? I'm still wondering where it's all going."

"He's not kidding, sis, you really have an appetite on you," Krit agreed, glancing down at her flat stomach and throwing up both hands like he'd given up trying to figure it out.

Unfortunately I know where it's going, she thought grouchily. Now she hadn't just noticed the increase in her breast size, but also in her butt. As Cassie would say, I'm going to have a ghetto booty. Maybe the guys are right, I should slow down a little with the eating. Still, her eyes were drawn once again to the refrigerator and she found herself wishing that there was some good food in there. "I'm just catching up on lost time," she muttered absently. She was damn lucky the guys considered it to be an adequate reply to their comments, because she didn't really feel like explaining what she really meant. She hadn't even intended for it to slip out.

A knock on the door made them all jump. After they all stood there for a few seconds, Krit headed for the door and answered it, his body tensed in case it wasn't a friendly visit. As it turned out, it was a very friendly visit. A beautiful young Latin woman was standing in the hallway, smiling sweetly and holding a basket of the most delicious looking cupcakes Jondy had ever seen. "I heard that I had a new neighbor, so I thought I'd welcome you to the building." Watching the woman give Krit a complete once-over with her eyes, Jondy could have laughed. Bullshit, she saw him as he was coming in and thought she might get herself a good-looking bed partner. Those cupcakes aren't even homemade. Still, she didn't want to say anything to spoil it for Krit, because she knew he wouldn't complain if that really was why she was here.

Zack nudged her with his elbow as he came to stand next to her. "Let's get out of here, I'm really not interested in watching this."

There was a quick set of goodbyes, then they left Krit and his neighbor to their own devices. Jondy couldn't help but be in a good mood since the tension had ended. "Were you not interested, or were you jealous?"

Zack was so stunned by this that he stopped dead in his tracks to stare at her. "Jealous? Why would I be jealous?"

"Oh come on, like you don't know what I'm talking about. That girl could be a model, and she had her sights set on sweet little Krit. I think if we weren't there, she would have had a very different greeting for him."

"You're really dirty-minded, you know that?"

"We were both thinking it, I just happened to say it out loud. So, where are we headed next?"

Zack pulled out the list of addresses and replied, "Montana. You haven't seen Blake yet, and I know it's only a matter of time before you ask. Just to let you know, he's had the same roommate for about a year now, and the guy can be a little hard to tolerate. Hell, it's almost impossible. I probably visit Blake the least out of everybody just so I can avoid Peter."

"Oh, he can't be that bad."

~~~~~

Four hours later, Jondy was sitting in a dank living room watching a young white man with the largest afro she'd ever seen burp the ABCs. Zack was sitting just behind him, rubbing his temples and looking like he would love nothing more than to reach forward and snap Peter's neck. It had occurred to her a few times as well. "I don't suppose Blake will be home anytime soon?" Zack asked irritably.

"Not for a while yet, dude. Hey, why don't you two just go in the guest bedroom and chill for a little bit while I make some spaghetti for supper, ok?"

Jondy and Zack were all too happy to comply, any chance to get away from him was welcome. The second they stepped into the extremely large guest bedroom, Jondy's eyes popped out of her head. "What in the world does he need with all these beds?" After counting, she realized there were ten beds sitting in the room, the vast majority being king-sized. There was hardly any room to even walk.

"Didn't I tell you? Peter thinks he's some sort of charity worker from God, so he steals stuff from retailers that most people these days can't afford and sells them at dirt-cheap prices. Every month or so he switches items; he must be working with beds right now."

"You weren't kidding when you said this guy was weird. Does he really think he'll be able to sell these?"

"He usually manages it. Besides, this isn't the weirdest thing he's ever done. You should have been here the time he thought that everyone should have a pet. I don't think I even stayed an hour that time."

She wandered over to one of the beds and flopped down. She had to give him credit, they were comfortable beds. "What does Blake do, anyway?"

"He's a DJ for a radio station. He works practically fifteen hours a day, but he makes pretty decent money. I don't think he's ever asked me for financial help before."

"I don't blame him for working so many hours. Why would he ever want to come home if Peter hardly ever leaves?"

"Actually, they get along together really well, which I just don't understand, but I'll put up with it as long as Peter isn't a danger to him. I think the worst that could happen is that someone might find out about just who is stealing all the crazy things in this town and the police might get a glimpse of Blake's barcode when they come to arrest Peter. I keep telling him he should laser it off regularly, but he never listens."

"Why would he want to? It just keeps coming back, and I've heard it hurts like hell to remove them. Why put yourself through that every few weeks?" Just as Zack opened his mouth, she rolled her eyes and said, "I know, I know, to prevent exposure."

"Speaking of that, we should probably think of getting yours removed."

She sat up and crossed her arms. "Sorry, I'm not interested. Why would I want to hurt myself like that every few weeks?"

He could tell she wasn't going to back down, so instead he said, "Well, you should at least get your hair dyed and cut, Lydecker knows what you look like. We should have done it a lot sooner, but I got so caught up in other stuff that your hair was the last thing on my mind. Tell you what, since it'll get you out of here for a while and you won't have to put up with the human Chia pet, why don't you go do it now? There's a hair salon just around the corner, go do whatever you want with your hair." He pulled out a wad of cash and threw it to her. "While you're out, pick us up something to really eat. I've had Peter's cooking, it's not even edible."

Jondy took the money gladly and slipped out of the apartment while Peter was completely wrapped up in making his sauce. She noted with some amusement that she could smell the noodles he was boiling burning at the bottom of the pot. Her amusement left however when he lifted a leg and farted loud enough to wake the dead. Pleasant. Once she was outside, she took in a deep lungful of air and let it out in relief. Finally, she was in a world where people were at least a little saner. The hair salon wasn't a very big place, but it was cozy once she was inside. A portly little woman smiled at her from where she was cutting another customer's hair. "Sit down, dear, I'll only be a minute." Jondy sat down in the nearest chair and made herself comfortable as she watched an old rerun of something called the Jerry Springer show, watching a woman beat her cheating husband over the head with a rather large purse.

By the time her turn came, she already had a pretty good idea of what she wanted her hair to look like. "I'd like to cut it shoulder length, but layered so it flares out, then dye it that brownish-red that's in the picture here, but put in some blond highlights. How much will that cost?"

The woman stood there and thought it over for a minute, then replied, "$30." Jondy couldn't help thinking that was extremely cheap, even just haircuts cost a fortune these days, but she wasn't about to complain. At least now she had enough money left to buy a really good meal.

When everything was done, Jondy couldn't help thinking that her hair smelled funny, but she liked the look. In fact, she didn't think she had ever looked better. She handed three ten-dollar-bills to the woman and thanked her quickly. Just as she headed for the door, an announcement came over the television. "We interrupt your current television program to bring you this breaking news story. Citizens of Cohagen have been warned to stay inside their homes or workplaces and lock the doors, and at all costs stay out of the woods. Roadblocks are being set up all over the perimeter of the city. Not more than an hour ago, the body of 38-year-old Brittany Heilis was found in the woods north of the city, displayed on a hill that could easily be seen from Highway 59. Heilis's sister claims she saw Heilis leave the local church with a man in his late teens this past Sunday and hasn't been seen for the past three days. The suspect is said to be around six feet tall, with light brown hair. He was last seen wearing a denim jacket and jeans. Ms. Heilis sustained several cuts and bruises that the police say are attributed to running through the woods. It is believed that she had escaped from her kidnapper and was killed by him no more than an hour after her escape. Pictures from the crime scene show that her neck was snapped, possibly with only one hand from the finger marks that have been left, and her left arm was broken. It is believed that this last injury was given to her post-mortem, along with the removal of the victim's teeth. Even stranger is a tattoo that her family claims she never had before. It appears to be a twelve-digit-" Suddenly, the screen filled with static and a couple groans could be heard up and down the street. Lydecker is here, Jondy realized. Ben.

The drive from Rock Springs to Cohagen didn't take very long, but she did end up spending a lot of time sneaking past the roadblocks. She hated dumping the SUV she had stolen, but she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't very well sneak past these cops in a vehicle like that. A few times she wondered if she should call Zack, but she decided he most likely wouldn't come unless there was something wrong with her. He had cut Ben off, why would he come? Once she was in the city, she had no idea where she should look for her brother. The church would be too obvious, wouldn't it? Still, she had to check it out. It wasn't a very easy task to sneak to the church, but she eventually made her way to it without any cops seeing her.

The dead silence that filled the church made her stomach feel heavy with dread. It was like watching a scary movie and knowing that something bad was about to happen, but you just couldn't warn the character because they couldn't hear you. In this case, she couldn't do anything because she honestly didn't know what would happen. If Zack had stopped going to see Ben, then what had her sweet, storytelling brother turned into these past years? She slid along the pews, staying low in case any cops were around. She had a hunch that they were just outside, not in here, but she had to be careful anyway. She wasn't even sure she wanted Ben to see her before she got the chance to see him.

The appearance of a priest up by the front of the church took her completely by surprise. She could only see his back, but from what she could see he was fairly tall, young, and appeared to be strong. The hint of muscles underneath the cloth made her duck quickly into a pew as he turned around to look down the aisle. Somehow she knew that wasn't a priest, it had to be Ben. It was a perfect cover too, why would there be any cops in here if they believed that only the priest was here and the place was surrounded?

Jondy finally had to take the next step, she couldn't just keep hiding from him. Without even taking a breath, she crept up the aisle until she was only seven feet behind him. Now that she was this close, she could just barely see the top of his barcode over the collar of his shirt, which somehow made her bolder. She could have chosen her first words better, though. "How stupid can you be?"

Ben whirled around to face her, his eyes wide with shock. She noticed that his face was a lot thinner now than it was as a child, and his eyes looked so horribly haunted, but it was still the same boy she had known when she was young. His eyes ran over her quickly as he tried to place her, then he smiled vaguely. "Jondy?"

Why did hearing him say her name suddenly make her so mad? Now that she thought about it, she was furious. In order to protect someone who hardly deserved it, she had snuck past a police perimeter and was sneaking around trying to save the only person that Zack had ever given up on, knowing fully well that even once she sent him on his way, he'd go out and kill again. It made her completely livid. "Yes, and I'll repeat my question: How stupid can you be? You have a brother living not too far from here, don't you realize that killing so close to him could result with Manticore catching him instead of you?"

Ben shrugged, still studying her closely. "You've changed a lot, especially your eyes. You didn't know that your eyes became harder, did you?"

"Do you even hear what I'm saying? You could have put Blake in so much danger by doing this. What the hell is running through your head?"

There was a silence, but at least this time she had the sense that he was going to answer her seriously and not try to change the subject. "I didn't know Blake lived nearby, it's not like Zack ever told me. And as for what's running through my head, don't act like you don't know. Isn't it obvious?"

"You've gone completely insane, that's what is obvious to me. I'm curious though, what was it that made Zack drop you so fast? He just came out one day and said he'd cut you off, why was that? Was he unhappy about one of your victims? A kid, maybe? Or was it one of us that you killed? We haven't talked to Max, so maybe it was her." She didn't really believe that he could kill one of the X5s, but she was desperate to get some kind of reaction out of him, one that wasn't so childlike. He had such a dreamlike quality when he responded that she wasn't sure he knew what he was doing.

Just as she'd hoped, she got a reaction. Anger flared up in his eyes so powerfully that she felt a touch of regret for insulting him like that. "Do you really think I could do that? No, I didn't kill Max, and no, I would never kill a child. I only compete with people who have a full comprehension of what is going on."

"Compete? You consider this kind of thing a competition? Ben, we're genetically superior to every human being on this planet, you'll never find someone who could beat you in a competition. You're ten times stronger than any of them, not to mention faster and smarter. Are you looking for the Blue Lady to save them by some act of divine providence? It's not going to happen, you're just going to keep killing them and endangering all of us. None of us want you to do this, so why do you insist on killing?"

He fell quiet, but it wasn't the kind of quiet that meant he was seriously considering what she was saying. It was more like he was trying to figure out something about her, perhaps how much she knew about what he was doing. "If you knew what I knew, you wouldn't say that with so much confidence. You're speaking for yourself, not all of the others. How do you know that none of them have thought about doing exactly what I am? You know you had as much fun as the rest of us that day, so why sit there and try to not only deny the existence of that instinct in yourself, but in the others too? Do you know why Zack cut me off? It's because he not only knew that he had the same urges I had, but also because he knew I was starting to influence some others. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe someone else has gone out with me on one of my missions and watched me complete it? I can even tell you that I've seen some of our other siblings kill just I like have, and they enjoyed it more than you will ever know."

"That's not true," she hissed, her body tensing in preparation for the fight she could feel coming. "I've talked to all of them, none of them are capable of doing what you do."

"Now, that is what isn't true. I've seen it with my own eyes, and I'm not quite as crazy as you think I am. I just don't hide my natural instincts like the majority of you. How is Shayna?" The last question was so unexpected that she stood up straight and stared at him blankly, all thoughts of a fight forgotten. "Shayna? What about her?"

At that moment, she heard the voices of the cops out front. She could only catch pieces of their conversation, but she did know that they'd realized there were people other than the priest in the church. Ben had heard them too, and was already turning to run into the priest's study. She lunged after him, determined not to let him lock her out and escape while the police found her. The door scraped her side roughly enough to make it bleed, but she ignored it and headed for the window. It opened wide enough to allow her to slide out, still well hidden by the shrubs that surrounded the edge of the church. The cops were heading for the front, so she guessed that they expected to corner Ben inside. It wasn't going to happen though, Ben had crammed his way out through the window as well. She looked sadly at him for a moment, knowing that Tinga had been right, he was beyond their reach. "Can you take care of yourself from here?"

He nodded, then smiled briefly. "It may not have been the most joyous visit, but it was good to see you again. I still love you, baby sister."

She smiled back, feeling the tears burning severely at the back of her eyes. "I love you too, Ben, I just wish there was a way to help you so I could get the brother I used to know back." She didn't give him the chance to say anything else, instead she took off for the nearest house, knowing that the cops were all still inside the main church area and couldn't see her now. Ben took off in the other direction without looking back, which she supposed was for the best. She didn't want to have to look into his eyes again and see a completely different man from the boy she'd grown up with.

~~~~~

It was a relief to be back in Rock Springs, although she wasn't sure she wanted to go into Blake's apartment just in case he wasn't home yet. She also wasn't sure how she was going to hide the chicken dinner she'd bought from Peter. She didn't like him very much, but she still didn't really feel like hurting his feelings if she didn't have to. Finally she just sucked in a deep breath and opened the door. Peter was rushing around the kitchen looking frazzled, while the smell of burning filled the air. He finally groaned and shut off the stove in frustration, then plopped straight down on the floor and stared up at her. "Dude, I've never screwed up the chow so bad in my life. The meatballs are raw, the sauce is nothing but water, and the noodles are so burnt they look like black pipe cleaners. This totally sucks, we don't even have grub now."

"Sure we do, I picked some up." At the bright look in his eyes as the scent of the chicken reached him, she chuckled and headed for the guest bedroom. "Dig in, but save some for us."

Zack sat up when she stepped into the room. He had pulled three king-sized beds so they were side by side and was completely flopped out over them. Not a single piece of him was hanging off any of the edges, even though she personally felt he still could have pulled that off with only two king-sized beds. "What happened to you?"

She looked down and realized that she'd forgotten all about the scrape that Ben had given her with the door. "Nothing, some stupid kid just ran into me with a skateboard and I hit the sidewalk too hard. I'll go clean it up."

His eyes told her that he didn't believe that, he knew perfectly well that she was hiding something from him, but he seemed to shrug it off and he walked past her, pausing only to reach out and ruffle her hair slightly. "I like the new style, it suits you." She smiled as he left, but it oddly froze on her face as he disappeared around the corner. Something was bugging her, what was it? "How is Shayna?" Why had Ben asked that, and why was it bothering her again now? It didn't hit her until she was in the bathroom, using a washcloth to gently wipe away the blood on her side. The pregnancy-Zack wasn't the father, Ben was. Shayna's the one who killed like Ben did. No wonder Zack cut him off. Now only one thing still left her curious. If Shayna knew Ben was the father, why did she make it sound like Zack had raped her?

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A/N 2: It's weird, whenever I was writing Peter's lines I kept hearing the voice of Crush from Finding Nemo. Anyway, please review!