A Family Affair
Chapter 15: Distant Memories
"Breakfast in bed?"
"I thought you might like it."
Asha smiled at Logan as he walked into their bedroom, tray in hand. The man was an excellent cook.
"What's the occasion?"
"Does there have to be one?" asked Logan getting back into the bed and setting the tray down. Asha curled up into the crook of his arm with her head on his chest, "I just thought I'd make breakfast for the woman I love."
"The woman you love, I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of hearing that."
"It's true," said Logan leaning down to kiss her. He then picked up an apple slice from the tray and fed it to her.
"Mmm. Okay so we got fruit, "she said, "What else?"
"Bacon, eggs, toast, you can't have a great breakfast without them, I also got some cherries just for you..."
"Sounds great."
"Not as great as having you here with me."
^^^
"Logan? Logan. Logan!"
Logan blinked and looked up at Alec. It only seemed like this morning when that memory had played out, it was right after he had declared his love for her and did that humiliating chicken dance. But in actuality it was eight months ago, followed by many more wonderful times together. Asha was up and smiling, looking more gorgeous than ever. But now she lay unmoving in a hospital bed, Max was missing, everything was falling down. It had to be the Familiars, they had finally decided to strike.
"Logan, we need to find Max," said Alec, his face was pale and worried.
"Yeah I, Max. we have to...where the hell do we start?"
"I don't know somewhere I..."
"Alec, the only person who knows what happened is in a coma..."
"White," said Alec, "It had to be White." The X5 started to pace and gesture vehemently with his hands, "I'll kill him, I'm going to rip his fucking head off wherever he is, if he so much has touched her. Logan just find him, track his movements, you can do that."
"I can't leave her," said Logan looking at Asha.
"Logan..."
"Go back to the penthouse, bring me my laptop, I can figure out something from there," said Logan, "I'll talk to someone and see when Asha will be well enough to transfer to Foggle Towers."
"Your laptop," said Alec, "and it can do everything your main computer can do?"
"It was upgraded for emergencies."
"Alright, but if she wakes up call me," said Alec, "and Logan."
Logan looked up at the transgenic. "She will wake up."
And with that he was out the door.
^^^
"Again thanks for doing this."
"No problem," said Dr. Carr, "How else would you explain the blood tests to a normal obstetrician? They trained all doctors for this in Med. School so I am qualified."
Max was lying on the examination table propped up by pillows and Alec, her shirt was pulled up so Carr could put the transductor on her stomach. The ultrasound started and little black and grey blots came on screen.
"Let's see what we got here."
"Is that it's head?" asked Alec pointing.
" It' is a 'she' Alec," said Max.
"Yeah that's head and there's the arm."
"What's she doing with it?" asked Max looking at the monitor.
"Well at this point in your pregnancy the baby can usually suck on..." Carr moved the transductor a litle lower on Max's stomach, "her thumb. And you're having a little girl."
"Like we already didn't know that," said Alec smiling and placing a kiss on Max's forehead.
^^^
"You want me to what?" asked White. He had just had a meeting with one of his superiors. With his recent behaviour White thought for sure that he was going to be killed.
"There have been a large number of transgenics located in Boston, we want to send you out to take care of them."
This was confusing, something wasn't right, "Why me?"
"Well Ames, truth be told you've been a little off ever since that visit with the future transgenics not to mention your future son. I just thought you should get out of Seattle for a bit."
"I've been out of Seattle for seven months now," said White, "The Conclave has sent me to the Eastern Coast, Canada, hell I've even been to Central America and Paraguay and now you're heading me off to Boston?"
"That's how it is Ames," said Simms, "Gurdin
and Brooks will escort you out. Fe nos'tol."
"Fe nos'tol."
Gurdin and Brooks met White at the door as they all exited. Having both of them flanked on either side made White feel like a prisoner. Something was going on. They turned the corner and heard shouts coming from around the next corner. White furrowed his brows, why did that voice sound so familiar...
^^^
"Alec!" cried Max, "It moved!"
"What moved?" asked Alec coming into the living room.
"The baby dumbass! I felt it move!"
Alec was at her side in an instant, Max took his hand and put it on her stomach.
"Where is it?"
"Hold on," said Max, "Come on baby kick for daddy."
Max was about 19 weeks pregnant and had gained a little over 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) Her stomach was growing slowly but steadily.
"There!"
"There? I felt it!" said Alec grinning, "Hey there."
"Ow," smiled Max as the baby kicked again.
"That's her. Our little girl," said Alec kissing Max's stomach.
^^^
"Get OFF of me!" screamed Max. There were Familiars on both her sides, they had her by the arms and were dragging her down the stony corridor. With all her weight in front, Max was finding it quite hard to get free. She couldn't kick because of her stomach and she was worried that further movement and the added stress would hurt the baby.
"You know it figures the only way you assholes could take me down was if I was pregnant!"
The Familiars ushered Max around the corner and down the hall. Looking up ahead White and two other Familiars came into view.
'That son of a bitch,' thought Max, 'Screw Prager, White was behind this whole thing.'
Max glared and fixed White with her most defiant stare. But as they got closer to her, Max's glare became a look of confusion; White seemed shocked to see her here. The two passed by, no words were spoken as they held each other's gaze until the last minute. Max was propelled further down the hall as White was led around the corner. Why wasn't he expecting her?
^^^
452? Here? Why the hell wasn't he informed? More importantly how the hell did it happen? Sure she was obviously pregnant but 494 would have killed any and all Familiars who dared come near her. It was bred into the X5's. The males were extremely protective of their chosen mates and offspring. That's why those losers at Manticore started the 'Breeding Program' the mates weren't instinctually chosen, they were paired off. 494 could probably be dead, or wasn't around when 452 was taken. White shook his head, why wasn't he informed this was happening maybe... Oh shi-
"Ah, Ames," said Prager walking towards him, "I see you've took notice of my capture. I can't really see how she was so difficult for you."
"Well maybe if you weren't such a coward Richard, you'd take her on when she's not pregnant and at full strength. I'd like to see you deal with her then!"
"Full strength? I heard she rather thoroughly kicked your ass while crippled with a bullet wound," smirked Prager, "Oh and by the way: Say 'hi' to Wendy for me, unless you're going the other way."
The next thing White saw was darkness as Brooks knocked him out cold.
^^^
Alec walked down the hospital corridor with Logan's laptop under his arm. How could this have happened? Everything was fine this morning. Max was complaining about not being able to fit into her catsuit. She looked so cute, all miffed and pouting. Asha had come by to pick her up, and then he had headed over to Logan's just to bother him. Then came the call. His first thought was 'Hospital. Max. Baby. Now.' Only to hear that it wasn't Max who was hospitalized, it was Asha. Multiple gunshot wounds, and no Max. Anywhere.
Alec had to take yet another calming breath. He may have looked calm on the outside but inside was nothing but a deep burning rage. His twenty plus years in Manticore gave him the emotional control he needed to get thorough this. It'd do no good for him to freak out now. He had to find Max, make sure she and the baby were safe, and then completely destroy the Familiars. This was it, Alec would show them who the superior species was.
Walking into Asha's room, Alec noticed that Logan was in the exact same position he was in when he left.
"Logan, laptop," said Alec handing it over to its owner.
"What? Yeah thanks," sad Logan, "Why aren't you in a worse mood?" He asked tearing his gaze from Asha to look at Alec.
"I uh, took some aggression out on your furniture. Plus Manticore"
"Oh, okay," said Logan. This was bad. If Logan Cale didn't care about what happened to his furniture there was definitely something wrong. And things were.
"Logan can you look for anything? Sector movements, hover drones, transgenic sightings?"
Logan nodded, "Yeah, I'll see what I can find."
"Call me if you find anything."
"Where are you going?"
"I just, I can't stay here," said Alec, "it's depressing and I feel like if I stay here and do nothing then the chances of finding Max get smaller. I'm going to ask around, or maybe see if I can pick up a scent."
"I'll call if I get anything."
"Thanks."
^^^
"Owf," moaned White as he was thrown roughly onto the ground. Shaking his head and setting himself on his knees he saw that Brooks and Gurdin had brought him to a clearing in the woods. His hands were bound in front and he heard the cock of a gun being loaded.
"Great an execution," he said out loud, "So if this is it mind telling me exactly what I did to deserve this?"
"Your failures displease The Conclave who have suffered many losses thanks to you. Not to mention your short temper, lack of patience, and let's not forget when you started to lose it last year."
"I brought them that X38, the science department have got a lot from it."
"Pffft, you think it was all you?" asked Brooks, "your son's a hell of a lot more loyal than you are."
"Excuse me?" demanded White turning his head to see the Familiars behind him.
"The Raymond White of 2043, gave the conclave a lot more than that. There were disks, files, a lot of information about future events actually."
"What?"
"Oh, but that's right you didn't know. He only sought you out for your position and influence Ames. He was six the last time he saw you, once your future self was killed by 452, the Conclave sought him out, killed his aunt, and raised him. Your son was loyal to the Elders and only them," finished Brooks, "So, where do you want the bullet?"
"In my back, with the knife that The Conclave already put there."
"Face forward."
White turned his head and listened to Brooks' footsteps approach. He felt the cold metal press into the back of his skull.
"You were a good agent Ames, you've just outlived your usefulness."
Before brooks could pull the trigger, White's hand shot above his head and forced the gun down causing Brooks to shoot himself in the foot. Before Gurdin could get his gun out, White elbowed Brooks in the stomach and got his gun when it was dropped. Two quick shots put Gurdin down for good. Standing up, White shot Brooks in the side and walked over to the car. Placing the gun on the hood for a minute, he fumbled with his bindings and finally got them off. Picking up the gun again, he let out an ironic laugh. It was his own. Putting it into his empty holster, White got in the car and took off. Thinking about the betrayals by both The Conclave and his son. But was that future Ray really his? White didn't raise him, the Conclave did, if Brooks was telling the truth. Oh well, things were definitely going to change...
^^^
"What do you mean he escaped?" demanded Prager, Brooks was still alive and had managed to call in.
"Gone, (cough), uhnn, sir, he-"
"Brooks? Brooks? Damn he's dead," Prager hung up and looked around him. He was in the science division. 452 was locked up in a room somewhere nearby and he had stopped to see the end product of Experiment 326.
"Not only do we have a rogue Familiar on our hands but 452's mate is going to be seriously pissed about what happened this morning," he said to the Science Head, "I think it's time we sent out Eve for a test run."
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Yeah I'm done! It would have been up sooner but the damn school computers ate the last half of this chapter so I had to re-type it by memory dammit! I was so mad! So the chapter's either lost in the school network or in my haste (I had 5min. to get to Biology) I clicked 'cancel' instead of 'save' . not a good thing. But I did get this chapter done!
msredux: Yes, I am very bad at leaving cliffhangers. I think I had a few in OOTF too.
aa: And yes, I have finally accepted that Alec has a last name which is McDowell! BUT in my story he does not have a last name because: My grandparents live in a town called MacDowell and it scares me, so Alec will never be a 'Mcdowell' in any of my stories. Unless he really has to be, which probably won't ever happen.
Cloudburst: I have not seen 'Pirates of the Carribean' but I want too! It looks really good! And yay! It was unforseen! That's what I was going for. I really did plan for it to be happy whoo! Get into it and then BAM! Cat-astrophe! and as you can see in this chapter, White is still most definitely around:)
And uh...oh boy...who's Eve? ^_^