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Black Ice

By Be Boring

Chapter 5: Family Matters

Jondy couldn't have been more terrified as she walked into JamPony the next day. She and Alec had agreed that it was probably best to share the news with everyone right away, but she had no idea how she was going to break it to them. Oh God, how is Zack going to react? She remembered his fury over Tinga's pregnancy, and he had even admitted to her that he didn't think Charlie was a bad guy. If he had tolerated Charlie, how would he handle having Alec as the father of his sister's baby? The only person that she thought would probably take it well was Max. Max had told her countless times about how she wished she could have been with Tinga or Jace through their pregnancies. This would give her a chance to act like the overprotective sister she had come to be. Her time in Terminal City had given her a lot of Zack-like qualities, but she wasn't quite as overbearing. Annoying sometimes, perhaps, but tolerable.

"Hot run, 613 Blanchard Street!" Normal called out, tossing a package to Alec. He turned to look at her apologetically.

"I'll give this to someone else, I should really be there when you tell everyone."

"No, actually, I think it would be better if you weren't. I don't know what Zack's going to do when he finds out, and it's probably best if you're not in the area when he hears it. Just go, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just go before he gets here. Brin promised me she would let me tell him, but sometimes I swear Zack is psychic. He usually knows what's happening before anyone else does, so I don't want to take the chance that he'll walk in here already knowing about the baby. There he is, so go!" Alec turned and was out the door just as Zack reached her.

"Why did Brin have to come over to your house last night? She won't tell me, and I want to know now." His face was locked and set in his C.O. expression, which didn't exactly make her feel better. She wanted her big brother right now, not her C.O.

"Just hold your horses, I'll tell you when I'm good and ready," she replied firmly, not flinching at all when he crossed his arms and glared at her, as if hoping the look would be enough to make her spill everything.

For once in her life, Max made it to work on time. Logan was still asleep when she left, so she figured there was no reason to disturb him. He had worn himself out with all that research yesterday, and as much as she wanted to know his thoughts on the fight footage, it wasn't worth disturbing him. She would talk to him tonight. As soon as she entered JamPony, she became aware that two pairs of eyes were on her. She turned to see Zack and Jondy watching her, Jondy looking as though she wished Max had taken longer, and Zack looking as though he wanted to say "About time!" Hey buddy, I was on time today, you can't ask for much more than that. Brin was off to their left, digging through her locker as though she was looking for an excuse not to be near the pair.

"What's up?" she asked cautiously as she approached them. Zack uncrossed his arms and turned to face Jondy.

"I don't know, we've been waiting for you."

Jondy's eyes snapped from one to the other apprehensively, then she sighed and sat down. "I don't know any other way to say this other than straight out, so here goes nothing. I'm going to have a baby."

Max's jaw dropped while Zack suddenly looked as though he had swallowed something too large for his throat. Max was the first to find her voice again. "Are you sure? Have you been to the doctor yet?"

"No, but I took a home pregnancy test. It was pretty clear, I'm pregnant."

Max glanced at Zack to see his face, then decided she needed to do something before he exploded. She smiled excitedly at Jondy and leaned down to give her a hug. "That's great! I know it must be unexpected, but you know you've got plenty of people here with you. Have you decided what you want?"

Jondy's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought that far ahead yet. "No, I haven't really thought about it yet, but it might be nice to have a little girl. I bet Alec will be hoping for a boy, which wouldn't bother me either. As long as everything goes okay, I don't really mind what it is."

Zack clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, trying to push back his reservations about this. There was a time for stating his opinions, but this wasn't it. Jondy looked up at him hopefully, tears shining around the edges of her eyes. Take a deep breath, forget how much you don't like this, and be nice for once in your life. He offered a tight smile and squeezed her shoulder gently. He couldn't bring himself to say anything supportive, but he knew Jondy would take his silence for what it was, a sign that he wasn't happy, but he wouldn't be too pushy about it. Jondy smiled and stood up to pull him into a tight hug, sighing with relief when he returned it. "Thanks, Zack," she whispered in his ear, knowing that it would take him a long time to get used to this. She hoped that once the baby was born, though, that he'd take one look at it and forget any qualms he had.

Kay procrastinated until nearly noon, then finally she knew she couldn't hold off any longer. She had borrowed Bling's truck and drove all over town, trying to find the SUV, but she hadn't seen anything yet. Sure, she had come across a few vehicles that were close to fitting the bill, but none of them were the right one. She really didn't have a choice now, she would have to talk to Logan. At the moment, she was standing outside Logan's door, rubbing her sweaty palms against her jeans. The last thing she had ever wanted to do was see anyone from Seattle again, the memories were too painful. Everything here reminded her of the happiness that had been in her hands for a few sweet months, then ripped from her with such force that it left her reeling in the aftermath. Logan was the last friend I was with before I found out I was pregnant, excluding Ben.

After five minutes of just standing in front of the door with her fist raised in the air, preparing to knock but never quite getting the job done, she knew she would have to do something sooner or later. Just do it. You were on the best terms with Logan when you left, so what's the worst that could happen? Max is at work, so the coast is clear. Just knock. The dull thuds echoed through the house, and then she could hear Logan's casual footsteps approaching the door. When he opened it, it was like the world stopped for a minute. Her entire body tensed expectantly, ready for the interrogation and cold treatment she was sure were coming, but finally Logan stepped to the side and held out a hand pointing towards the inside of the house. "Do you want to come in?" She nodded numbly, confused as to why he was being so civil. Even when she left he had been acting colder than this.

Logan watched her walk slowly into the house, heading naturally towards the living room. He closed the door and followed quietly, waiting for her to say something. He couldn't quite describe what had gone through his mind when he saw her, but there was a strong sense of tension radiating from her. She was afraid, and he knew she must have been dreading confronting any of her old friends. When he had seen that fear in her eyes, he knew that he couldn't just bark at her, "Where have you been?" If she had her reasons for not coming back before now, then it wasn't his right to question that. He watched her eyes wander around the room, and he knew she was just trying to put off talking. He would have to be the one to get things started. "Is there any reason you wanted to see me?"

Kay turned to face him, unsure if she was terrified that he hadn't said anything harsh yet, or relieved. Her lips parted slightly as she started to say that she needed his help, then closed again. She couldn't just start right out like that, he would more than likely turn her down. She would need to take a different approach. "How's it been going lately?" she asked softly.

Ok, so she's not ready to start talking yet. I can deal with that. "Pretty good. I've got my whole operation up and running again, and the virus has been cured so Max and I can be together."

She nodded, glad that at least something had worked out for them. "How about everyone else?"

"Jondy and Alec are doing well, not much is different with them. Zack and Brin became involved very shortly after the fight, and they've been pretty happy ever since. There's really not much else to know. How have you been?"

"Not bad. I just really needed to get some things sorted out." Sure, for eight months. Like he's going to believe that. "I haven't really been up to much, just laying low. It would just bore you if I told you everything."

Now Logan was sure she had some ulterior motive for coming to see him. Why, of all people, would she visit him first? He would have expected her to visit Brin first, they were the closest. He knew she was hiding something, and he was sure it had to do with the months that had passed since she'd been gone. His mind wandered to the video clip he had watched last night. Were his suspicions right? Had she left that stadium with White? "If you don't mind me asking, I received some interesting footage yesterday about the fight and I've been wondering something. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'm just curious. Did you leave with White that night?"

Kay's eyes widened. This was the last place she wanted to go with him. He had already seen the shock on her face, so she knew it was no use telling him that she hadn't. That still didn't mean she had to tell him the entire truth, though. "Yeah, actually, I did. It wasn't really either of our choices though. I was injured pretty badly in my fight with Thula, and White was planning to kill me. Ray must have stowed away with us when we drove to the stadium, because he came running in just before White pulled the trigger and he begged him to leave me alone. I passed out right after that, but I guess Ray convinced him to take me to a hospital, because I woke up in Harbor Lights. He and Ray were already long gone by then, so as soon as I was good to go, I took off. I wasn't really ready to come back here yet." It felt strange calling Ames by his last name again when she hadn't called him that in months, but she knew saying his first name would make Logan suspicious.

Logan nodded thoughtfully, that made a lot of sense. There was only one thing left that he didn't understand. "So, what was it exactly that made you decide to come back now, and why did you come to see me first?"

Kay sighed, now was as good a time as any to ask. "I know it's definitely not the right reason to come back, and I probably should have come long before this, but I need help. I came to see you because you're the only one who could really help me."

Ah, so now we get to it. "What exactly do you need me to do?"

"I'm tracking someone down. All I know is he's a male, and I'm sure he's a familiar. He has something of mine that I need, but I have no idea where he is. He came in this general direction in a dark green Chevy Tahoe that he stole. I lost him a while back, but I still think he was heading this way. I didn't get a very good look at him, but it looked like he had short, light brown hair. Do you think you could find him?"

Logan studied her face, and realized this was the first time he had ever seen that particular expression on her face. Even though she was doing her best to hide it, she looked helpless. "What did he take that's yours?"

Kay had no idea what to say to him. She couldn't tell him about Paige, but what if he refused to do anything until she told him what she was looking for? "I can't tell you just yet." When he looked at her suspiciously, she blurted out quickly, "I promise I'll tell you once I've got it back and everything is settled, and I know you'll understand then, but I can't tell you right now."

Logan didn't get why she wouldn't tell him. Was it something that he would regret helping her out with? Her eyes were conveying her desperation, and eventually he replied, "Fine, but you need to give me a reason for why you're not ready to tell me everything."

God, he's eventually going to drag it out of me if he keeps going like this, or with his brains he'll probably figure it out for himself. "It's not so much you that I don't want to tell, I just don't want the others to know about it, and I know if I tell you, you'll tell Max and she'll tell Brin and Jondy, then it will get to Alec and Zack and I'm just not ready for that yet. I don't want to have to deal with them while I'm searching. I'll tell them afterwards, but I can't do it right now." She knew she was babbling, she had said the entire thing in one breath.

Well, he could understand that. The X5s were easily excitable, so he couldn't really blame her for not wanting them to know anything. That didn't mean he was going to do this in the dark, though. "Ok, I understand that you don't want them to know, but I think I'll need to know more. I promise I won't tell anyone, I won't even tell them you're here if you don't want me to, but I think it would be more helpful if I knew what this man had taken from you."

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't bring herself to say them. No, she definitely couldn't tell him. "I can't tell you right now. Please, just tell me you'll do a search for the Tahoe?"

This was ridiculous, if it was so important then she shouldn't have a problem telling him, but he knew that Kay wasn't someone to push. "Okay, I'll do it, but I want to know right away once you've regained whatever he took from you and I want details. Got it?"

Kay gave a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I got it. Just please hurry, I really don't know how much time we have."

Ames couldn't imagine what was taking the High Priest so long. He'd been waiting around for three hours now, and there hadn't been a sign of any familiars whatsoever. Why are you still waiting around here? He probably has moved on by now to prepare for whatever he's going to do to Paige. It surprised him how much it pained him to think about them hurting his daughter. He certainly hadn't wanted that child in the first place; in fact, he had expected to hate her. He knew that even Kay was struggling with those emotions as she neared the end of her pregnancy. Things did improve in a way during her later months. After they started using each other as a physical release, a lot of their pent up emotions seemed easier to handle. When there was something to enjoy, however wrong it may be, it took the edge off their miserable lives. And indeed, their lives were miserable. The only one who seemed to have been happy was Ray, but that was because he was too young to understand the torment his housemates were dealing with.

Up until the very end, Ames had even considered killing the baby after it was born. Until, of course, it occurred to him that it could be useful. The idea came upon him one day while he was at the law office, bored out of his mind. Once it was there, he knew this child would be of great value to him. Not emotionally, but in the same sense of value as currency. It would be a ticket back into the cult's good graces. When Paige was born, however, it changed him. He was prepared to take a blood sample and have it tested, but he wasn't prepared for how he bonded with the little girl when he cleaned her off right after Kay finished labor. The entire experience took him straight back to when Wendy had given birth to Ray. He had been in the hospital room, standing just behind the doctors as he watched his son come into the world. He had been the first to hold both his children, the mothers came in second. The difference with Paige was that instead of having a back row seat to her birth like he had with Ray, he was on the front lines. It wasn't pretty, he would never say it was an attractive process, but it was simply amazing. It had actually pained him to stick the needle into her arm, but he knew he had to do it. It was at that moment that he decided that even though he was going to take her to the cult, he wanted to be in charge of raising her. He would treat her no differently than he had always treated Ray, although of course when she became a teenager he was going to have to be much more aware of the fact that he was raising a young woman. That was a conversation he wasn't looking forward to.

Finally, Ames decided it was best to pick up Ray from his friend's house and move on. Even though he'd thought about it before, he also thought it would be a good idea to stick around just in case the priest came back. Now though, he wondered if the team that had been sent to kill him at his house would think to look for him here. With that in mind, he realized that he had wasted too much time here. It was time to take Ray and leave.

If Ben had thought the worst thing about a baby was changing diapers, he was dead wrong. Somehow her high-pitched shrieks had triggered another migraine, and it felt like someone was bashing his head in with a sledgehammer. It was impossible to just lie down and block out the world for hours at a time because he had to take care of Paige, but he was starting to think it might be a good idea to just drop her off somewhere now and forget about the familiars. As much as he wanted to have a chance at killing them all, he didn't think he could handle this baby. She might just kill him, literally.

When he finally had her settled in and sleeping with a full stomach and a clean diaper, he decided to take a walk. He knew it wouldn't make him feel any better, but he was sure the baby would sleep for a while. She was pretty good at sleeping for long stretches at a time, which he had gratefully discovered once he had the nurturing part taken care of. She was quickly adjusting to him, although she still put up a pretty good fight whenever he fed her the bottle with the formula. He was sure now that she must have been breastfed, but she would just have to get used to this. He wasn't exactly lactating at the moment.

Ahh, fresh air, he thought gratefully. The throbbing in his skull increased when the sounds of traffic reached his ears, but he had no choice but to endure it. He couldn't very well go back to that hotel room. Every time that blanket shifted even a little, Paige would wake up and start screaming, so burying his head under the blanket like usual wasn't even an option. Besides, the room was so stuffy that he knew it wasn't helping matters any.

Just as he turned a corner to walk around the block, a bike came flying out of nowhere and rammed straight into him. He went crashing to the ground, grunting as his head connected with the pavement. The rider landed just to his left with an "oof!" and remained motionless for a second, trying to catch her breath. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you coming," she groaned, pulling herself into a sitting position and rubbing her head. Then she turned to look down at him. "Alec? Where's your bike?"

Ben looked up to see the woman sitting next to him, staring down at him curiously. "Brin?" he gasped in surprise. Her gaze only became more curious.

"What? Did I walk in on you pulling another scam? Don't tell me you're selling anything illegal, that's the last thing you need to be doing right now."

What could he say? She thought he was Alec, and even though he wasn't sure he wanted her to think otherwise, she'd find out eventually when Alec didn't remember a moment of this incident. "No, I'm not selling anything illegal," he grumbled, sitting up next to her and holding his head gently in both hands. He couldn't believe how much it was killing him right now. He stumbled to his feet awkwardly, still clutching his head.

Brin watched him, confusion etched all over her face. "Hey, that's not what you were wearing this morning, is it?" She stood up to face him, looking into his eyes, which were now watering with pain. They were silent for a long time, but he knew she was contemplating what she probably thought was the impossible. "Ben?" she asked softly, staring at him disbelievingly.

What was the point in lying to her? It was too late now. "Yeah, it's me," he replied hesitantly, trying to smile but failing miserably. It didn't help matters much when she threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him over again.

"You're alive! How's that possible? Where have you been all this time?"

He nearly squeaked in pain when she finally released him and the blood that she'd been restricting in his neck shot up into his pounding head at top speed. "I've been recovering. It's a really long story, and I don't feel so good right now. I really need to get back to my room." Paige could scream until she turned blue for all he cared, he needed to get under a blanket and stay there.

"Yeah, you don't look so good," Brin said nervously, taking in his strained appearance. He teetered slightly as he walked away from her, so she rushed to him and grabbed his arm to steady him. "I think I'll walk you back to your room." They slowly made their way back to the Yum Yum Tree Hotel, Brin holding Ben up a lot of the time. When they made it to the door, she said, "Do you think you'll be okay now?"

Ben studied her for a moment, then finally admitted to himself that he needed help. He just couldn't handle Paige right now, and even though he knew Brin's parenting skills probably weren't much better than his own, he knew he would have to ask for her help. "Actually, I think there's something you might want to see." He opened the door and led the way over to the bed, pointing down at Paige's sleeping form. "It's kind of hard to explain how I came across her, but I really need some help. My head is killing me, and I can't handle it when she starts crying. Do you think you could stick around until my migraine goes away?"

Brin looked down at the sleeping infant in shock. "Sure, even though Normal will kill me. I'll have to call Zack and get him to cover for me somehow, but I think I'll be able to manage it. Just lay down and get some sleep, I'll take care of the baby."

Ben smiled gratefully and slid as gently as he could under the covers. Predictably, Paige started screaming again, but Brin picked her up and began to rock her back and forth, whispering soft words that he couldn't quite make out. Before long, the crying stopped and he felt the small shift in the bed as Brin settled the baby back into her nest. Now that he was already under the blanket and was pretty sure he wouldn't be moving, he doubted she would wake up for a while, but it was comforting to have someone there to help out, all the same.

A/N: Please read and review! It's always nice to know when someone's reading.