Author's Note: Sure Alexandra Bruderlin, feel free to use this story on your site. What's the address for it so I can take a look around?

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I never owned DA.

Family Relations

By Be Boring

Chapter 8: Travel Time

"You've got to be kidding. I'm not doing it." Jondy crossed her arms and glared at Blake defiantly.

He looked at her pleadingly. "Is it really that big of a deal? Besides, I beat you by a landslide, it's time to pay up."

"If it was money you wanted, I wouldn't have a problem, but this is suicide!"

He laughed and handed her the shaving cream. "Come on, it will be funny!"

"He'll never forgive me, and I have to live with him for two more years!"

"It won't be that bad, now just go in there and get it over with!"

She was incredibly tempted to hit him over the head with the shaving cream, but restrained herself just in time. Blake stood behind her grinning as she opened the guest room door and slipped into the bed-filled room as quietly as she could. I'm never betting against Blake in blackjack again. Zack appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but she knew perfectly well that with Zack, things weren't always as they seemed. She sprayed out a large pile of shaving cream into her hand and very carefully placed it in his outstretched hand. His fingers twitched slightly and she froze, never taking her eyes off his face. When she was convinced he was sleeping soundly, she became a little more daring and spread some over his forehead. Shit, I don't have anything to tickle him with, she realized. She didn't want to take the risk of going back out of the room to get something, so she leaned over him and used the ends of her hair to tickle his nose. The second she knew he was about to swing up an arm, she tore out of the room and slammed the door. The bang was followed shortly by Zack's yell, then a second bang as simultaneously Zack tumbled off the bed and Jondy and Blake ran out and slammed the front door.

Blake was laughing so hard that Jondy thought he was going to hurt himself. "I'm glad you're finding this so entertaining, because I'm leaving it up to you to arrange my funeral. Please make sure they reattach my head correctly."

He rolled his eyes and ducked under the stairwell as Zack came out of the apartment. "Don't worry, sis, I've got you covered. Gee, it doesn't look like there's enough room for you under here."

"Make room," she growled and shoved him as far in as she could, struggling to cram herself into the tiny space next to him. Once they were packed inside and equally uncomfortable, Zack showed up right next to them.

"You are both in deep shit," he snapped, forcing them both to crane their necks to peer up at him. It didn't take more than one look for Blake to burst out laughing, but Zack rubbed a shaving cream smeared hand over his unprotected face. Jondy bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from cracking up as well, but even though she didn't laugh, Zack rubbed shaving cream on her face too. She grabbed the edge of their little cubbyhole and pulled herself out, then wiped the mess off of herself.

Blake was still chuckling as he crawled back out and stood up. "Has anyone ever tried that on you before?"

"You're the lucky first," Zack replied. "If I had actually believed any of you would be stupid enough to do something like this, I would have expected it to be Krit."

They all headed back up to the apartment, Blake and Zack trading insults every few steps. It wasn't until they went into the bedroom to get some fresh clothes for the day that Zack spoke to her. "I'm guessing it was a bet, right?"

"Yeah, but you have to admit, it was a little funny. Nobody else has gotten you with something like that before. By the way, when are we going to be moving on? Not that it hasn't been great to visit with Blake for a few days, but there's only so long that I can put up with Peter. He's always trying to get close to me, and I can't say he smells the greatest. Do you think we could go see Kiera again?"

"Why don't you go see her? I would go with you, but Blake wants to move. Since he's thinking about living in a busier area, I was thinking I might take him to New Jersey, so we'll be occupied for a while. After that I'll probably go see Brin, so maybe we should meet up again there."

"Sounds good to me."

~~~~~

After all was said and done, Jondy was headed to Lenoir, North Carolina to see Kiera. It was a good thing she didn't need much sleep, because the trip took just over twenty-four hours, and she drove it straight through. She was sore by the time she reached her sister's house, but her pain was forgotten when Kiera stepped out onto her tiny front porch. If there was anything that Jondy envied about Kiera, it was her looks. Kiera stood at about 5'10", with her thick, kinky black hair in a tiny afro, but not even half the size of Peter's. It suited her well, especially when she put it in a headband to keep her hair from getting in her eyes. She had a very deep chocolate color to her skin, so rich that it almost didn't look natural, and extremely dark, nearly black eyes. Then she had very exaggerated curves that made every male look up when she entered the room, but she almost always wore dark colors to try and make the curves appear smaller. She claimed she was embarrassed about her figure, but Jondy thought she would give her right arm to look like that.

"I didn't think I would be seeing you so soon. Didn't you stop at a hotel? It's not like there's an emergency."

Jondy just smiled and grabbed her bag. "I don't sleep, remember? Besides, I didn't want to waste any of the money that Zack gave me. This isn't a bad time, is it?"

Kiera opened the front door to let her through. "No, I'm just looking over a few more things that the lab sent me. How are things going with you?"

"It's pretty good, it was great to see Blake again. I can't say I liked his roommate much though."

She laughed. "Peter? I've heard stories about him from Zack. About five months ago I was really sick, I don't know what it was, but Zack really cheered me up by telling me stories about that guy. Isn't Blake ever going to get away from him?"

They walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. "As a matter of fact, they're out looking for a new place right now, otherwise Zack would have been here with me. How's that boyfriend you refused to let me meet the last time I was here?"

"Actually, he's in the back right now, so we might want to be quiet. He's sleeping like a baby. You'll meet him when he comes out."

"Could you at least tell me a name?"

"David. No nicknames either, he really likes being called David. It's one of the ordinaries' religion things. Apparently there was a David mentioned somewhere in the Bible."

"You don't know that story? You can't tell me that you've never heard of David and Goliath. Even I've heard of that story. If he's named after a different David, I don't know of any."

"Now that you mention it, I might know the David and Goliath story. I think he would remind people more of Goliath though, at first glance." They both laughed, then fell quiet as David stepped out into the living room. Once again, Jondy had to be extremely jealous of Kiera. The man standing in front of them was definitely gorgeous enough to be a model, and his muscles were so defined that he could easily pass for an X5. He seemed surprised to have a visitor, but he didn't comment about it. Kiera introduced them, and then he had to leave for work, but his image was still burned in Jondy's mind.

"If you're not careful, I might just try to run off with your man," Jondy joked. "Does he have a six-pack?"

"It's more like a twelve-pack. The girls at his job always hang around him, trying to get his attention, but he's a good guy. He's nuts about me, so I guess I shouldn't have to worry about you taking him away. So, any boyfriends in your future?"

"You mean after Zack gets through with all my prospects? Not likely. Don't get me wrong, I love living with Zack since it means that I get to go around and see everyone, but it also means that I have a big brother watching me all the time. He gives me plenty of room to breathe, but I think that if he saw me talking to a guy my age that he'd suddenly pop up between us like magic. Maybe he's got this radar that lets him hear every inappropriate thing that we say. Do you think if I say 'orgy' right now that he'd call me? Well, I'm having an orgy, Zack, what are you going to do about it?" She nearly shouted the last line, tilting back her head and throwing out her arms in emphasis. Kiera was cracking up on the other side of the table, and then the phone rang. Both girls sat bolt upright, their eyes wide. "You don't think…?"

"No, it couldn't possibly be him. Should I answer it?"

"It's your phone. It might not even be him."

Kiera looked at her doubtfully, but got up and picked up the phone. "Hello? Yeah, I've looked it all over." She turned and mouthed "lab" before launching into her explanation of what she thought the lab should do. Jondy sat back and listened with one ear as she thought over everything she wanted to talk about with Kiera. She hadn't told anyone about her encounter with Ben, mainly because she wanted to talk in person and not over the phone, and she really wanted Kiera's opinion on everything. Now that she thought about it, she had a lot of respect for her older sister. Kiera wasn't the oldest of her sisters, far from it actually, but she seemed to understand so much. She was extremely intuitive, and if she had a bad feeling about something, then you'd better not do it. She was also very good at reading people, she always seemed to know how they were feeling even if she wasn't looking them in the eye.

After she had hung up the phone, she reconfirmed Jondy's perceptions of her. "So, what did you really want to talk about? I don't think David was your main reason for coming to see me over anyone else right now."

"You're right. Actually, it's about Ben. I saw him the other day."

Kiera sat down, giving Jondy her undivided attention. "Really? How did that happen?"

"I heard about another one of his killings in the town next to Blake's, so I went over to check it out. I found him in the church, and I found out something kind of disturbing. He never actually said it, so I can't be sure, but I think he's the father of Shayna's baby. He asked me how she was, why else would he have done that? I also think she killed with him a few times."

Her eyes widened and she leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. "I think I get it now. Ben's been going all over the country, not only to keep Lydecker from catching him but also, I think, to find someone else who would kill with him. He eventually came across Shayna, who I think is the only other one out here that doesn't feel completely comfortable without four stone walls around her. With a serial killer, murdering leaves them with a feeling of power, and they do say that power is one of the greatest aphrodisiacs. Neither one of them probably expected it to happen, but we can all see what condition Shayna's in now. My guess is that Zack showed up shortly afterward and found out that they had killed together, and that's why he cut Ben off. He's too afraid that Ben will influence the rest of us, especially since he succeeded with one. I doubt he knows that they slept together or that Shayna's pregnant, but that's what makes it so easy for her. I'm sure that Shayna is pissed beyond belief that Zack got rid of Ben, so as soon as you showed up she did her best to turn you against him to get back at him. Zack never touched Shayna inappropriately, she just wanted you to think that. Think about it, you're in a position of power now. If she convinced you that Zack could be a danger to his sisters, then you'd pass it around to them to protect them, and it would eventually get back to our brothers, so everyone would know. In the end, if we didn't kill Zack, we'd at the very least desert him. Either way, she'd have gotten back at him without hardly lifting a finger. What do you think?"

Jondy couldn't believe what she was hearing. For some reason, she'd always thought that things would all be great once she was with her family, but Krit was right, some of them were very screwed up. Had Krit known that something was wrong with Shayna? When she voiced her question out loud, Kiera replied, "Jondy, we've all known for quite some time that something was off with her. Most of us have talked to Ben at least once, and there is a definite similarity between the two. You didn't notice it? It's all in the way they look at you, and how sometimes they don't seem to comprehend how serious something is. You can ask them a question two or three times before they realize they have to answer it directly. Maybe Shayna isn't as seriously insane as Ben is, but she's not normal, either."

"What should we do about her? I'd rather not tell Zack about all of this if I can help it, I don't know what he'd do."

"Do you want to confront her straight out?"

"No, like you said before, she doesn't fully understand how serious all of this is. I think we need to let her think that her plan is working so far. We'll go and talk to her acting like we're scared of Zack, but want to know more details about what happened before we tell everyone else. Maybe she'll slip up enough to disprove everything she's been telling me."

Kiera nodded. "That sounds pretty good, it would probably work with her. I don't have to be in work today, so how about it?"

"There's no time like the present."

~~~~~

Brandon's car wasn't in the driveway, so at least they would have privacy while they were talking to Shayna. They didn't need him around to ask questions. Jondy could have sworn she saw a pair of green eyes staring out one of the windows, but when they entered the house Shayna was laying in her bed. "Hi, what are you guys doing here?" she asked innocently. Now Jondy could see what Kiera had meant about the similarities between her and Ben. That innocent, doe-eyed look that made it so hard to believe they could do something vicious was completely identical.

Kiera fiddled with her fingers nervously. "We wanted to talk to you about Zack. We're really worried about what he's capable of now that we know what happened to you. I know this will be hard for you, but could you tell us exactly what happened? How did it all get started?"

"Well," Shayna replied uncomfortably, "he came over about a month ago. I was in the backyard chopping some firewood because Brandon wanted to go camping over the weekend, and I thought I might be able to surprise him by having everything prepared. I heard Zack call for me in the house, so I went inside to see what he wanted. I thought it was just a regular checkup like he always does, but when I went into the kitchen he was holding up Brandon's wallet. I guess he forgot to take it with him to work, and Zack wanted to know what I was doing living with a man without telling him. He started yelling at me about how I didn't know whether or not he could be working for Manticore, or another agency that would like to get their hands on my DNA. I didn't get too upset until he went into my room and started trying to pack my clothes, which really pissed me off. We started to fight, and at one point he swept my legs out from under me and knocked me back on my bed. He held me down and said something about me not understanding how important it was to keep low and out of sight. Then the look on his face changed, he was really starting to scare me. I asked him to let me up, I would move if he really wanted me to, but he said he knew I was lying and I would come running back to Brandon as soon as I thought he wasn't looking. That's when he said that I couldn't be with Brandon, because I was his. He started kissing my neck, and then…" She broke off and started crying. The look on her face was so convincing that Jondy almost felt bad for her, but she shook her head to get rid of the feeling.

Kiera scratched her head like she was confused. "Did you try to fight back at him? Is there any mark that you might have left on him? It'll help us convince the others, because they might not believe you like we do."

Shayna shook her head. "I don't think so, he was holding my arms the entire time and he was already in position over me so I couldn't do any damage with my legs."

Kiera looked stumped now, so when Shayna wasn't looking she shrugged at Jondy. It was a good line, it left everything so that there was no proof other than the baby that anything had happened. There was also no way to disprove anything she said. Then something occurred to Jondy. "How did he get your pants off?"

"I was wearing a skirt."

While chopping firewood? Jondy thought skeptically. "Hey, we're sorry about giving you the third degree and all, so is there anything you want to drink? I'll go get it for you."

"A glass of water would be great," she said with a slight smile through her tears. Jondy slowly headed to the kitchen, not listening to the gentle murmurs of a conversation between Shayna and Kiera. For some reason, she didn't want to bring Zack into this. It was partly because she didn't want him to find out just how badly messed up Shayna was, but also because she wanted to take care of something on her own. Zack had put her in charge with him for a reason, and she wanted to prove she could handle the responsibility. She just hoped she didn't turn it into a disaster and have to ask Zack for help anyway.

As soon as she returned to the bedroom with the water, Shayna quickly said, "Brandon will be coming home pretty soon, and it might be dangerous if he sees both of you. I already found out that he doesn't really trust you." She gestured to Jondy. "I'm really sorry to have given you such bad news."

"That's okay, it's better that we know." There were some quiet goodbyes, then Kiera and Jondy left Shayna's house. Once they could no longer see the house in the review mirror, Kiera smiled.

"We got the proof we needed."

"What are you talking about? She didn't admit to anything, and even though the whole skirt thing was pretty lame, that's not enough to go by."

Kiera chuckled and shook her head. "That's not what I'm talking about. When you went to get her the water, I examined her. I've had a little bit of extra medical training since we left Manticore, so I convinced her to let me make sure she was completely healthy. I saw her last year by chance, and I doubt she's changed much since then. She sat up a little farther to let me examine her, and her shirt pulled a little tighter against her body. It's not noticeable enough for the human eye to see, but I could have sworn that her stomach was swollen just a little bit. I don't think she's just one month along, she's closer to three or four months. I found out from Zack a few months ago that Ben had killed someone in Chicago, and I know from Shayna that Brandon sometimes travels for teacher's workshops that are required every so often. My guess is that Shayna was hanging around with Ben then, and when Zack separated them, she hitched a ride with Brandon and ended up living with him. I don't doubt that Zack came out to confront Shayna after he found out that she was living with a man, but he never laid a hand on her."

It made sense, but there was one thing that Jondy just didn't understand. "If all of this happened a few months ago, why has Ben only been cut off for one month?"

Kiera cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I guess you're bound to find out sooner or later. The incident with Shayna wasn't enough to make Zack cut Ben off, even though he was really tempted. What really made him decide Ben was too dangerous was when he got me into it."

"Ben got you to kill with him? Why did you do it?"

"I was really screwed up at the time. David and I are doing good now, but we were having this huge fight then because I thought he was cheating on me. When Ben showed up, I was so pissed off that I gladly killed with him just to get rid of some of the stress. I killed two people with him, but I felt horrible afterwards. It's second nature to him, but I've become a little more adjusted to living by the rules, and I couldn't get over the fact that I was a murderer. I called Zack to come sort everything out, and that's when he told Ben he wouldn't protect him anymore. They had this huge fight, and he made me feel so guilty that I told him I wished he was the one who'd died instead of Eva. I regretted it right away, but he took it to heart. I think that's when he decided to have you be his SIC. He'd been thinking about it before, but I was the one who pushed him into it. He knows how to keep us hidden, but keeping us happy is a whole different situation. That's why he needed you. Didn't you notice that he was a little distant when you two were at my place last time?"

"I was so happy to see you that I didn't notice much else. Do you want me to talk to him? Maybe I could smooth everything out and make him see that you were just mad at the time."

"I'd appreciate it if you could just get him to talk to me."

Jondy tried to focus on a point as far ahead of the car as possible, wondering just what she had gotten herself into when she'd agreed to work with Zack. She was taking care of everyone's emotional needs, even his, and the weight of everyone's personal needs was just starting to make itself felt on her. They needed so much more than regular people in order to be happy, and they were so much more desperate for normalcy. How could she take care of it all? "I don't think it will be a problem. You'll be on the phone with him by tomorrow."

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Author's Note 2: Please review!