Chapter 19

Leo's POV

How am I supposed to know what came over me? Sure, we had always heard about the heat, but had never experienced it first hand. The experiments with heat were always shut up in a different complex across the obstacle field. It was always hard for us to understand the idea of it as kids. We were so used to being in constant control, that seeing a respected older officer rubbing his wrists raw to get out of handcuffs and into the Copulation and Reproduction Ward was a terrifying sight. We feared the idea of that ever happening to us. But then I'm thrust into a room with a sixteen year old attractive girl in the throws of her first heat, willing and ready. I shouldn't be held responsible for any actions I partake in, much less be shot with a dart. Besides, I learned today that heat isn't SUCH a terrifying thing after all. Yet I'll admit a little unnerving.

But hey, it's fine, it's alright, because I recovered, didn't I? I'm back to my old, normal, controlled self - rest assured. Yep.

Bull. Who am I kidding?

I haven't recovered in the slightest, in fact I think it's gotten worse, and the side effects are rather strange. For instance - I have been appointed the honorable position of Commanding Officer of my successful X8 unit, home base Manticore, Gillette, Wyoming. During my first deep cover operation I am captured and detained by the enemy. I manage escape from the restraints, and prepare for reestablishing communication with my COs. But before I do, I catch a whiff of some fresh pheromones, have an intense encounter with the enemy of a sexual nature, and now I'm sitting on the floor of the enemy's office, drawing up a detailed plan of my home base, ready and willing to betray my life, career, and family. What exactly was in those damn tranquilizers?

But that doesn't matter anymore. I don't know exactly why, but I want to do this, for these people. Is it from being on the outside for an extended period of time? Maybe. Is it seeing so many happy people, with free will and smiles as they walk through their dirty, broken neighborhoods? That's a possibility. Do I want this all for myself, and my family back home?

Am I willing?

I suppose that's the main question in my mind. To abandon an entire lifestyle is a difficult thing. It isn't just Manticore, it's classic abuse-victim behavior. In our human sociology courses at age thirteen, we learned about basic human response to trauma, and we learned never to act that way. To be human was to be inferior. So why in hell am I acting so damn human?

"I don't remember that wing, the shapes all off." Zack criticizes me over my shoulder. I push away my mental musings for the time being.

"It was built ten years ago, you shouldn't remember it." I throw over my shoulder.

"Hmph." Is all I get. "What's its purpose?" I turn around and act annoyed, trying to get him angry again. Don't ask me, it's just entertaining.

"The few successful, more radical experiments. It's actually quite amazing, some of the things they've accomplished. A certain committee of scientists finally perfected their little 'Mermaid Project' as they like to call it. Successful breeding of a male and female who look like humans, except for the gills in their ribcage. It's not that surprising, I've heard that the Mer-girl is rather attractive... Oh, for awhile they had a weird desert-lizard guy in there. The most sour bastard I've ever met," I glanced at Zack arrogantly. "except you, of course. He was a good little soldier, but then got something of an attitude, tried to leave. ended up getting shot in the back twenty feet from the perimeter fence. He took four soldiers down with him though. Also there was a jungle-series they tried to start, tried a panther/human hybrid, but..." I stop, noticing the particular look of disgust on his face. So I just shrug and turn back to my work.

I hear mechanical footsteps approach, and smell old spice. Logan crouches down next to me and examines my plans, as if he knows what they all mean. I don't know why this man feels the need to prove himself to the rest of us, it's rather hopeless really. For a human to display any attributes superior to that of an X-series is...

He sets a tall glass of milk and a ham sandwich down next to me.

...Well maybe he's not that bad after all.

Eve's POV

I wake rather groggily in my own bed. My eyes are sort of watery, and my mouth feels strangely dry and rough. When I open my eyes my vision is blurred and all I can make out is green. For a moment I panic, previous events temporarily forgotten. Dry mouth, blurred vision, wet eyes, slight fever. I can hear Uncle Zack listing off the symptoms of being drugged in my mind. Next I hear someone saying my name, and something heavy and wet on my face.

I try to wipe it away, but my arm won't move. I can't lift it at all. What's happened? Who's prisoner am I? Trying to swallow, I blink furiously, finally getting the damn room into focus. Max is near, her dark hair and tanned complexion framed by my green wall at he back. She's holding a cold compress to my forehead. For a moment the motherly gesture strikes me.

"Eve? Hey girl, you're awake." She smiles gently.

"Thanks for clearing that up." I mutter, with a little slur. The gentle smile turns into a smirk. Silently she hands me a glass of cold water, holds it to my lips, and I realize I'm restrained to the bed. Once my tongue is moist again I exclaim, "What the hell? What did I... Oh, oh yeah." I feel myself blush as I recall what exactly I did to get in this position. How could I forget that... body, that... face, those eyes, lips, tongue...

Crap. I can practically feel my temperature rise and the flush return to my face as the heat wakes up inside me. I glance up at Max, seeing whether or not she's noticed, and she has. She leans back slowly, watching me like a hawk. Sighing, she rubs her forehead with her palm, scrunching up her face, distorting her attractive features. As she looks down at me, I feel ashamed of myself, even though I can't really decide if I should be or not. So I just shrug to the best of my abilities while strapped down.

"Hey Max..." Dad calls from the direction of his office. I am slightly startled, and suddenly I feel all my senses focus hard, searching... The one my body is trying to locate is in the office, eating some sandwich, smells like ham. And he's drinking milk. I can barely make out his individual breathing pattern but I manage, measuring the intervals for no other reason than curiosity. And the fact that I want him like a starving man wants chicken nuggets.

I hear distantly that his breath catches, and he sniffs. Once again I can't help but be in awe of this experience, as scary as it is, it's just plain exciting. I don't have to speculate to know why his breath caught. He knows I'm awake. I wonder if males who are around females in heat experience similar sensations. I wonder if Leo's awareness narrows to tunnel focus every time he's near me.

"Hey, Max." I say calmly as I can. "I think I can manage, let me up. Come on, I gotta go to the bathroom." Her eyes narrow suspiciously at me.

"Yeah frickin' right. You think I can't see those rosy cheeks of yours? I think you forget," She says as she leans into my face. "I've gone through some twenty years of this, kiddo, I learn to recognize the signs."

An unaccountable anger mounts inside my chest. "Max, listen, you gotta let me go. I'll be good, I promise." I lie. "I just wanna stretch my legs, please!" I try the restraints on my wrists, and they are pretty strong. I wish I had Leo's doubled-joints. I've got to see him, just smell him, just touch him...

"Hey, Max, watch out!" Dad calls from the living room, and I hear rapid footsteps, Leo's footsteps.

"Eve." Leo's gruff voice reaches my ears and I involuntarily shiver. He's at the door, just standing there, staring at me. I stare back.

Max snaps up, not into the defensive position that I had expected, but to attention, military style. Leo strangely enough, seems to respond to this and glances at her. Impatiently I yank my wrists against the bonds, they give a bit. But not enough.

"Attention, soldier!" Bellows Max, her words sharp and precise. I catch a few muscles on Leo's body twitch as she says it. "I have given you a direct order, soldier!" Max says with force. Again he twitches as the new found freedom wars with the Manticore upbringing. "Control yourself, soldier." Max says it in a deceivingly calm voice, her pitch low and threatening. Suddenly I get a flash of a lioness protecting her cub. But the sentimental speculation gives way to the more feral instincts swirling in my mind. I watch as the males in my life appear at the door, in the forms of my father and pseudo-uncle. Closing in behind the most important male in my life at the moment, the friendly neighborhood X8. I don't know what prompts me to say what I say next, I suppose it's just the heat clouding my judgment. I've always been able to sort out what's best for me in the past.

"Leo, behind you!"

My mate spins around in time to deflect a blow aimed at his head by Zack. Dad is busy aiming that damn tranquilizer at Leo, who swiftly kicks it out of his grasp. Before attacking a second time, my uncle shoots me a reproachful look for my warning, I growl in response, which I think takes him a bit by surprise. Dad has stumbled back into the hall and is busy getting up. Zack manages to land a punch into Leo's stomach, who is lifted off his feet and lands against my bedroom wall. I growl at the thought of him being hurt, and plan to retaliate before I realize I'm still tied down, like a freakin' prisoner.

After disposing of Zack with a few well placed hits, Leo turns on Max. She took up a defensive position during the boys' fight. Now Leo just stares, contemplating it. If he would just hurry up, we could get out of here, find a nice soft surface and... But he doesn't make a move, and I think it makes Max a bit uneasy. She whispers gently,

"Come on, soldier boy, fight it." He tenses and I observe his glorious muscles bunch up. Then it happens. It happens in such a rush, and is so surprising, I have to take extra time to just register it. Leo sort of slumps for a moment, about to give up, and Max kicks out so hard that the plaster cracks and crumbles on my wall where he hits. Then there is a sort of roar, a streak of movement, and Max is on her back on the floor, next to my bed. For a horrified moment I think he... But then I see that her chest is heaving, she's trying to catch her breath. Leo rushes to my side, and starts undoing all the clasps.

"I can't believe this is so hard to overcome." He mutters angrily. He undoes the last buckle, and I rise into his arms.

"Ditto."

Max's POV

They've been gone for ten hours. For the first five hours we searched the city, Zack in Sectors one through three, Logan seven to nine, and I got four through six. None of us turned anything up. Not that I really expected them to be easy to find, both of them were trained well in playing hide and seek. It's just that... I'm worried. When I first came to Seattle I just plain didn't give a crap. The I met Original Cindy, and I had a friend. Then I got a job and I had more than one, including Kendra. After a while I met Logan and I had a... But what was I suppose to call him? A lover, I suppose. That led to a daughter, so I can now call him the father of my child, the man I loved - Still love, right now, in this moment. Yet our daughter is no longer a child, but nearly a full grown woman, with all the hormones of a full grown Manticorian. Not only do I care, but I worry. I'm worried sick, and if I don't get reassured, I'm going to do something stupid, very stupid. What exactly, I'm not too sure of, but I know it will be a rash decision.

When we all finally got back to the apartment to check in, Logan remembered the plans that Leo had been working on. Needing a distraction, we settled down around the table in the dining room to examine it. Not only had the kid drawn up a blueprint, but was considerate enough to make a schedule of their average day, a list of security precautions at various stages of infiltration, and on the back of the map, several ideas written out with the standard military format used.

"Well, this plan, we'll label it 'Potential C.'" Zack says as he and Logan lean over the paper, organizing the possibilities of attack. Seeing the two of them side by side in pursuit of a common cause makes me so happy. My daughter's daddy and my daughter's uncle. Suddenly my throat feels curiously tight and I go get a drink of cold water from the fridge.

When I return they have settled down into chairs, Logan has a legal pad in his lap, twirling a pen in his right hand. I remember that he used to do that when we first met, whenever he was working on an Eyes Only mission. Some people just don't change. Thank God.

I walk over to the table, between the two impressive male specimens and put a hand on each of their shoulders nearest me, leaning over so I can see what they've thrown together. Quickly I read over their various 'Potentials'.

"Which is looking the best at the moment?" I ask.

"Potential B." Zack answers.

"We've got the most detail on it's requirements," Logan elaborates. "And we can work out almost the entire operation based on the X8 basic schedule. Since most of that series is out on mission, though, that schedule is handed down to the X9, and so on."

"It weird to think of so many X-series in one place. I remember the good old days when we were the new and improved thing. We were top gun, no challenge." I muse, Zack looks down at me with a sympathetic look and I squeeze his shoulder.

"I can't take this much longer. Where is my girl and what is that X8 bastard doing to her?" Logan pinches the bridge of his nose and squeezes his eyes shut, just like I remember him doing, sixteen years ago. I stare at him for a moment and realize how much I've lost in the past years. If only I could have stayed, and had a nice, normal family with him, with a house, picket fence, see-saw in the back yard...

"Come on, Logan, you need to get some rest. You haven't slept in God knows how long." I tug at his elbow, and he comes unresisting. I shoot Zack an expressionless look over my shoulder, leading Logan to our room. Or is it his? When I was pregnant, it had been ours, but after sixteen years... We had been sharing it ever since I came back. But labels don't really matter, do they?

"I'm not really very tired, and I couldn't even sleep if I was exhausted. You know that, don't you?" He questions. I close the door and face him.

"Somewhat."

"Then why..." He trails off as I take the few steps toward him, place my hands on his chest and kiss him lightly. He takes my face in his hands, staring into my eyes. I smile in contentment. He leans down to press his lips against mine, the gentleness of the gesture over whelming. I lift his shirt up against his back, finding the flesh underneath, kneading it slowly. Logan presses me against his chest as he lifts my own shirt over my head, then places his palms against my bare waist, his fingertips brushing my spine tentatively. I can't help shivering. When our eyes meet I see that his pupils are a bit large as he stares at me. Then his gaze lowers, pressing his lips against my neck, bending forward, causing me to arch my spine. I pull at his shirt, finally getting him to obey and lift it over his head. We come together again, and my chest swells with emotion. This is how it was supposed to be.

In slow, fumbling gestures we rid each other of our clothes, and settle onto our bed. X8s and Manticore and Zack and even our daughter are forgotten for the time, it's just us, nothing else but us. We didn't need the law or the church to tell us we were bound together, we knew it ourselves. As I lay in this bed with him, I know that underneath the exoskeleton, the animal genes, the history, and the attitudes, we are one.