Disclaimer: I own Kay, Paige, the two familiars Jacob and Curtis, and I also own somebody else, but you'll just have to wait and see who it is. :P
Black Ice
By Be Boring
Chapter 10: Why Does Everything Always Happen To Me?
It wasn't long before Kay realized that the other X5s were tailing her and Zack. "Zack, they're following us. Hurry up, I don't want them to interfere."
Zack glanced in the rearview mirror and obediently pushed his foot down harder on the accelerator. "Interfere with what?"
"I have some business with Ben that I would rather not have a crowd of people around for. I just want this to be quick and painless."
"Does this have something to do with that baby he has?"
Kay tried to make herself look innocent. "What would make you say that?"
He rolled his eyes, he wasn't going to fall for that one. "You didn't really get worked up until I mentioned the baby, and I don't think you asked about where he got it just out of curiosity. Why is that baby such a big deal?"
"Well, for one thing, she's a danger to him. As long as he has her, he's a walking target. Those familiars want her back in a bad way."
"Why?"
"I can't tell you right now, but we need to get over there as soon as possible. I need to get her away from him."
Now he was definitely suspicious. "How did you know it was a girl?"
Kay cringed, she shouldn't have let that slip. She had no intention of telling him Paige's identity. "I thought it was pretty clear that I knew all about this situation. Is it such a surprise that I know her sex? Hey, what room is Ben in?"
"Room 17." He glanced up into the rearview mirror again. Max's motorcycle was getting dangerously close, while Alec's stayed a little farther back. Zack kept speeding the car up, but the faster it went, the more it shook. It was pretty clear that it needed some basic repair work done. It shuddered around them as they approached their first checkpoint. Kay looked suspiciously at the checkpoint ahead of them. "Something's wrong here. It looks like someone drove through and knocked over the barrier." Sure enough, the pole that usually blocked off the road until the traveler was cleared was lying on the ground in three pieces. The sector police tried to run out in front of them, but Zack kept his foot down determinedly on the accelerator.
"If whoever was ahead of us just charged through, then that's what I'm going to do."
Kay's hands clenched as they approached the cops, but the police had no choice but to throw themselves out of the way as the car and two motorcycles barreled past them. Suddenly, Zack swerved the car to the right. Kay's body snapped sideways and she turned to look at him in shock. "What was that for?"
"Max was trying to come up on my right side, so I cut her off. She got out of the way just fine, but now she's farther back. I just have to keep her there."
Kay sat on her hands to keep from wringing them in her lap. With any luck, soon she would be holding her baby. Even with the speed they were going, it seemed to take forever to reach the Yum Yum Tree Hotel. Zack didn't even manage to stop the car before Kay opened the door and threw herself out, already running towards the hotel. She heard Max's and Alec's motorcycles screech to a halt behind her, but she would easily beat them to Ben's room. She tore through the hotel, catching door numbers out of the corner of her eye as she passed. She didn't actually get the chance to see Ben's room number, but she could tell which room was his. Why else would the door be laying on the ground? The familiars couldn't have beaten me here, could they? The room was empty, but there was a comfortable-looking group of pillows that greatly resembled a nest at the head of the bed, which was where Paige must have slept. The window was broken, kicked out by the looks of it. She stuck her head out and looked both ways. A trashcan was laying on its side to her left, but she didn't know if it had been like that before or not. It was the only lead she had though. She jumped out and took off down the alleyway, straining her ears to hear anything useful. She could hear the X5s running through the hotel, but she would be out of sight by the time they reached the room. She took the time to set the trashcan upright before continuing, still listening for signs of life around her.
A loud shout caught her attention, as well as the click of a gun. Curtis stepped out from another alley to her right with a gun pointed right at her. "Stay right where you are. Believe me, I won't have any problems with shooting you."
She stared at him calmly and smiled sweetly. "I think you'll have some problems if your arms are broken." She flashed to his right, easily dodging the bullet he fired at her. Her right foot caught him in the back of his head and made him lurch forward, while she simultaneously reached out and snatched the weapon from him. He reached for it, but she slammed it straight into his face and sent him into the grimy brick wall of the building behind him. "Now, let me see those hands." She head-butted him when he tried to move forward, grabbing his left arm at the same time. The sharp snap of his radius and ulna breaking completely in half echoed through the alley, followed closely by his cry of anguish. "Ah, and your people say they don't feel pain?" She repeated the process on his right arm and stepped away from him, thoroughly satisfied with her work. Killing him would solve nothing, but leaving him as a warning for the rest of the familiars would at least let them know that they weren't dealing with a typical X5.
"Just give it up, scum," came an all too familiar voice nearby. Kay turned the corner to see Ben on the ground, being driven face first into the concrete by Ames, whose back was to her. Paige was lying on the ground a few feet away, but she wasn't moving. Oh no, what's wrong with her? She rushed forward with her hands clasped together like a club and swung them as hard as she could into the very center of Ames's back. All of the air rushed out of him in a great whoosh as he dropped to his knees in surprise. She stepped over Ben and ran to Paige's side, picking her up and pulling the blankets away from her. Paige was breathing steadily, but a swollen lump on the back of her head indicated that she'd been hit.
She turned to Ben as he slowly rose to his feet. "What happened to her? Why isn't she awake?"
Ben's eyes widened when he saw Kay in front of him holding the baby. "That's my daughter you're holding hostage, and I want her back." Oh no, it can't be. It was the only explanation though for what he saw in front of him. At the panic in her eyes, he automatically answered the question almost against his will. "White hit me from behind when I thought I'd gotten away. He knocked me over and I dropped her." Now that the words were out, concern rushed through him for the baby. Was she badly hurt?
A gunshot cracked through the air and Kay's head jerked up. Two familiars were closing in on them from either side. A woman to her left smiled delightedly. "We were only meant to bring one of you in, but I think the High Priest will be very pleased when we give him both of you."
"What are you talking about?" Kay snapped. "I'm useless, Sandeman made sure of that."
"Maybe so," the woman replied, "but you can be used as breeding stock."
Ben had no idea what was going on, but he didn't like being closed in like this. He had wanted his confrontation with them to be on his terms, but now they had him surrounded. Three more familiars walked out on his left. He recognized them as the same people who had been following White through the woods in Montana. Great, seven familiars. I think that's just a little more than I can handle. Still, he pulled himself into a fighting stance. Zack's head popped around the corner nearly a hundred yards away to his left, but Ben gave his head a very slight shake. These people could all open fire on them if they felt they were being attacked.
Kay had seen Zack as well. In turn, everyone else's head stuck out around the corner to see what was going on, but she didn't think the familiars had noticed. Had the familiars learned the same hand signals as they had at Manticore? It wasn't worth risking it. Instead, she stepped closer to Ben. "On the count of three," she whispered gently, far too low to be heard by the familiars, "we run for the others. We'll be charging right at five of them, and I'm sure they're not expecting that. Hit anyone you can as you go, but don't stop for anything." She knew the chances of that working were impossibly poor, but they didn't have a choice. "One… two… three!" As she shouted the last word, they both took off towards Zack, with Ben striking out at the familiars as they passed and Kay focusing on dodging all of the bullets flying in her direction. She heard Ben yelp, but since his footsteps were still going strong, she didn't look back. I need to get Paige out of here and find out what's wrong with her. Is it safe for her to be unconscious?
Suddenly, the air around her grew unbelievably cold and her legs stopped moving. Although normal momentum would have made her tip over forward from such an abrupt halt, she somehow stayed standing without making an attempt. Ben shot past her, then paused a few yards ahead of her. What was going on? "Ben," she choked out through her suddenly constricted throat, "take Paige and get out of here." He just stared at her in confusion, but she couldn't move to emphasize the fact that he needed to be quick about it. "Take her!" He ran back to her and pulled the unconscious baby out of her arms. It took all of his willpower to turn and run away from her when she seemed glued to the spot, but he knew he had to get Paige out of there. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that it wouldn't be good for Paige if these people got her. With Kay immobilized, the gunfire stopped and he safely reached the other X5s, even with a bullet planted firmly in his hip.
"Go," he ordered quickly when he reached them. "Don't ask questions, just go." Everyone turned and ran with him, never looking back. This meant that the rest didn't notice when Zack and Alec slowed down. Kay heard them leave and felt her heart sink, but she knew Paige would be safe with them. The only thing she could do was stand there as one of the familiars walked up behind her and brought the butt of his gun down on the back of her head.
The last thing Logan had expected was for four X5s and a baby to come bursting into his house. "What's going on?" he asked as Max walked over to him, looking very shaken. Alec, whose hip was bleeding, Brin, and Jondy all walked straight past him with the baby as they headed for the coolers he was using in the kitchen.
"I have no idea, but Kay was just taken by a bunch of familiars, Ben's alive, and somehow this baby is involved with everything." Logan took another hard look, then realized that the injured person he had mistaken to be Alec actually had a much shorter haircut.
"Does anybody else know what's going on?" he asked dazedly, watching as Brin opened one of the coolers and pulled out a bottle of water. Ben handed the baby off to Brin and shared the water with her as they worked to clean the wound on his hip, various scratches on his face, and a large lump on the back of the baby's head.
"He does," came Zack's voice from the door. Zack and the real Alec came in, dragging an unconscious White with them. "With everything that was going on with Kay, he tried to get away, but I thought it was probably a good idea to bring him with us. I think he knows everything about this whole mess." He threw the familiar down to the floor with disgust. "Do you have any chains around here?"
"If there's any here, they would be in the basement. Are you planning on keeping him here?"
Alec shrugged, staying right next to White in case he woke up. "Do you have any better suggestions? I've seen the basement of this place, you could probably lock him down there without tying him up and he'd be stuck for eternity." Even though he was talking casually, it was obvious that he was as shaken up as Max. Everyone looked a little paler than usual. Zack finally came back up with some chains and a metal folding chair, which he immediately started to bind White to, although Logan had no idea where he had found them. The house was silent other than everyone's heavy breathing and the clink of the chains, then suddenly a soft cry was added to the mix. The baby had woken up.
Zack walked over to the kitchen when he was satisfied that White was secure. "Are you all right?" he asked Ben, nodding at the wound on his hip.
"I'm fine, it didn't hit anything important. I'm more worried about her." Ben tipped his head towards Paige, who was now wailing miserably from the pain in her head. "I don't know if her mixed-up DNA will help her repair whatever damage was done when she hit the ground. This is all such a complete mess."
"What about her DNA? She's a familiar, isn't she?" Brin asked, gently holding a cold, wet rag to the back of Paige's head.
"Well, partly." At the odd tone in Ben's voice, everyone came into the kitchen to listen to him. He looked up at Zack. "This is Kay's baby."
A pin drop could have been heard in the silence that followed this announcement. Logan was the first to speak again. "So that's what it was all about."
Max turned to him with an eyebrow raised. "What what was all about?"
He could already tell that she wasn't going to be happy about this. He turned to face Ben, who was watching him intently. "I've been helping Kay look for her ever since she got into town. She didn't tell me she was looking for a baby, otherwise I would have put the pieces together a long time ago, but she knew she was looking for a man with short, light brown hair. We were just about to find out who you were from fingerprints that we took out of that SUV you dumped near Chinatown when the blackout hit. Since I didn't know what it was all about, I didn't understand why she was freaking out so badly about us never making any progress. It makes sense now, though."
Max wanted to comment, but she'd just caught sight of Zack's face. "What's wrong?" she asked tentatively. She had never seen his face so white before.
"This baby, I'm the reason she's here," he choked out, staring at Paige in horror. "She doesn't look that old, so think about the timing. This must have happened when I put her with White. No wonder she kicked my ass the other day. If it wasn't for me, none of this would be happening."
Logan usually didn't make an attempt to talk to Zack, but he felt he had no choice this time. "She didn't talk about it much with me, but she told me about running into you. She's not completely over it, but I think she's already partly forgiven you. Think about it. I'm sure she doesn't want to be going through all of this, but if you hadn't done what you did, she wouldn't have a daughter at all."
Ben couldn't take his eyes off the baby. "When she told me to take the baby and run, she called her Paige." He just couldn't believe that he'd been taking care of Kay's daughter for ten days. No wonder she had been on his mind so much lately, now that he looked at her he realized that Paige was nearly a replica of her mother. Her hair was going to be darker, but her eyes were exactly the same. It was hard to believe that the last time he had talked to her, she had been pregnant with the baby in front of him.
A grunt from the living room made them all run in. White was just starting to wake up, and it seemed he was figuring out that he was tied down. His head finally lifted up and he saw them all. He scowled in distaste. "Why am I here?" he asked angrily.
Zack kneeled down in front of him. "We want to know about this baby." He gestured at Paige, who was still whimpering fitfully in Brin's arms. Ben reached out for her and rocked her gently when Brin passed her to him. It didn't take long before she had quieted down, feeling quite safe back in the arms of her guardian for most of her life.
"Why do you want to know about her? They probably won't bother looking for her now that they've got Kay. Untie me and give her to me, that's my daughter."
Max stepped forward with her fists clenched, ready to beat the shit out of him if he refused to cooperate. "You're not getting her until you've told us everything that happened after the big fight, then we'll see about letting you hold her for a minute."
He smirked at her. "You must take great pleasure in keeping my children from me, 452." When she crossed her arms and glared at him, he rolled his eyes. "The story isn't that interesting. When I went back to kill Kay, Ray came out of nowhere and told me to leave her alone. When she passed out, Ray convinced me to take her to a hospital. That's when I found out she was pregnant. I didn't want the Conclave to know that I was having a hybrid child, and I know she didn't want to tell any of you, so we went into hiding together. That's not the right way to put it though, it's more like I dragged her into hiding with me. I'll bet you wouldn't have loved her so much then. You probably wouldn't have even recognized her, because she wasn't the same person. She was suicidal for most of the pregnancy, I know for a fact that she took out a gun every day when she ate and set it on the counter, just in case she had the willpower to pull the trigger that day. It was pretty pathetic if you ask me, but she brightened up towards the end of the pregnancy, even more after Paige was born. I had the idea though that maybe she had passed on the virus for the Coming to Paige, so I had her DNA tested. Sure enough, she's another key. Now the Conclave wants either one of them, because if they have Paige, they can start everything now because they'll have enough blood if they drain her dry, and if they have Kay, they can use her to make more keys. It's pretty simple to understand."
Ben's jaw became painfully tight as he tried to hold back his anger. "Where have they taken her?"
"How should I know? I'm not involved in any of this crap anymore, that's why I was trying to get to Kay. If I handed her over to the Conclave, they would let me back in. Now though, since a different team took her, I don't know any more than any of you do."
Everyone remained quiet as the entire story started to sink in. They all had different things to think about, and none of it was positive. The worst thing to think about was what they were doing to Kay right now. Where was she?
That was the first thing that ran through Kay's mind as well when she finally woke up. She was sitting in the back of a truck, bound heavily by thick leather straps to the side of it. It had to be a very large truck, possibly even a semi, because she had the distinct impression that she was only sitting in one compartment of the back of the truck. She could see a door on either side of her, where she heard more people moving around. God, please let Ben have escaped with Paige. She couldn't believe she was praying right now, but she couldn't think of anything else to do. Why does everything always happen to me?
The door to her right opened and Jacob stepped in. "Ah, good, you're awake. You were much easier to track than we had expected you to be, did you know that? It was so predictable that you would go back to your old friends. All we had to do was sit around and wait for you to show up at their favorite hangout."
It was pretty clear that Ames wasn't working with the cult, so how did they know that? "And just how did you know who my friends are?"
"Because of me." Kay looked up and just barely managed to keep her mouth from dropping open when Sate stepped through the door. He had to duck to make it through the doorway without hitting his head. Jacob grinned at the tension in Kay's eyes, but it slid off his face as he walked away from Sate and headed out through the door on her left. No one on the team liked Sate very much, he gave everyone the creeps. That's why anyone who knew of him was more than glad to see him go when he was given the task of pretending to be the leader of the psy-ops. They were even relieved when they heard that 358 had taken him hostage after the escape from Terminal City. It meant that they didn't have to deal with that eerie telekinetic man anymore. Of course, his younger brother was in the personal employ of the High Priest, but they didn't like that freaky kid either.
When they were alone, Kay recomposed herself and smiled at him. "It's been a long time, Sate, but I wouldn't have minded if it was longer."
He grinned that familiar grin that had always chilled her to the bone. "I almost missed your sense of humor, but I somewhat lost my strange fondness for you when you locked me up in a basement and beat me senseless for the hell of it." The grin didn't quite fade from his face, but it somehow started to look horribly forced. His eyes flashed over her for a moment, then settled on her hair. "You know, if you really wanted to change your hair to fit you, you would have dyed it black. When you first showed up on my doorstep, I never imagined that you would have such a profound impact on my life. I guess you don't really know a person until they torture you."
She wasn't sure what to think. He wasn't acting all that different from what she remembered, but there was something behind his eyes that made her nervous. She never knew him that well, so she had no idea what to expect from him. "I think coming back from the dead has made you a little bit sick in the head, Sate. You never used to talk in riddles."
"Do you want to know what's sick? Leading an unknowing man into a group of X2s to be torn apart, locking him in a basement and beating him up yourself later, and then letting the X2s at him again at the big fight. Does that sound like a riddle to you? It sounds fairly straightforward to me. I was nearly dead when some of my people found me and killed the X2s. I spent months recuperating, getting another eye and learning to work my abilities through it again, and receiving blood transplants because of my blood loss. I even had to go into hiding because I was a known familiar after that first incident on live television with the X2s. You were on my mind a lot, and when the brilliant idea of using you to breed many new keys came out and the Conclave started assembling a team to capture you, I volunteered for it immediately. What can I say? I missed spending time with you."
She rolled her eyes and snorted. "Sure, because we had a real blast last time. I'm glad my daughter isn't here. I think having you around would have really fucked with her little mind."
The next smile that flickered across his face seemed genuine, but it didn't really prepare her for what he said. "I wouldn't have gotten the chance to influence her. I was the one who was going to be given the task of disposing her body when they had drained her." Her eyes widened slightly, but he didn't give her a chance to say anything else. He slowly rose to his feet, took another swift glance at her hair as if his first look wasn't enough to really take it in, then headed back out the door he had come through. Kay sat for a moment, unsure of what to think, and finally tilted her head back to rest it against the wall of the truck behind her. God, it's me again. Please help protect Paige. She's an innocent, it's not like she chose to be involved in all of this. I don't know what you think about my kind, or the cult for that matter, but Paige isn't to blame for anything that's happened because of our peoples. Even if I never get back to her, let her be safe. Of course, if you have any spare time for me, I wouldn't say no to a little assistance.
Ben sat next to the bed in Logan's guest room, staring at Paige, who was sleeping fitfully. Her head was in a great deal of pain, so she whimpered in her sleep as she twisted around. His mind was in a tailspin after today's events, and he knew he had a lot to think over. He was positive that once everyone got over their initial shock that they would start trying to organize a rescue mission. What would happen if they got Kay back? If none of this had happened, he probably wouldn't be interested in talking to Kay again, but now that he knew about Paige, he felt the strongest urge to speak with her again. They had worked so well as a team earlier, it was like they had never been separated, and when she found herself immobilized, her only concern was for her daughter. It was a powerful flash of the Kay he had used to know, and now he was starting to wonder if she'd really changed as much as he thought. She had seemed like such a different person when he'd last talked to her. She was hardened, and it was obvious that she wanted to keep him at arm's length. All of her efforts to kill Thula had caused huge problems for the others, which had also made him angry with her, but she had just been trying to complete what Sandeman had intended for her to do. That was also part of the Kay he remembered; when something was upsetting her and she didn't know what to do, she threw herself into some small task or another to keep her mind busy. With everything that had happened to her, she was probably just trying to keep from thinking about it all, so she focused wholly on killing Thula and exposing the cult.
What would happen if they got the chance to talk now? He wanted to ask her one thing that had popped into his head while he listened to White's story. If he had gone to her after she knew she was pregnant, would she have gone with him or pushed him away? The thought of Kay being suicidal was something that he had never thought of before, she had always seemed so strong. He couldn't imagine what she had gone through; she believed that everyone hated her, she was living with a man that he knew she hated, and she was pregnant with his child without anyone to turn to. In his opinion, however, she deserved it all. She had turned against everyone who loved her and made their lives miserable as she went about her business, and when he had called her on it, she pushed him away and ran. Even worse, she ran away with White. She may not have had feelings for him when they first ran away, but what if she had developed them while they were living together? Had she allowed that man to touch her again? If he had showed up on her doorstep, he honestly didn't know if she would have turned to him for help and comfort or if she would have run back to White, fearing his reaction to her situation.
His arm wandered over to rest near Paige, and her tiny fingers automatically closed around his index finger. This was another thing that bugged him. He was starting to really care about her, even though she had just been a pawn in one of his plans. If they saved Kay and she was reunited with her daughter, would she want to run off again? He cared about Paige, and he suddenly had the strongest desire to keep her around. Kay didn't deserve this child, which should have been his in the first place. It felt like everything he had ever wanted for himself had been stolen heartlessly away. Paige should have been his daughter, not White's. Kay had cheated him out of that privilege. He didn't even want to be alone with his thoughts right now because they created such a burning fury inside him, but he couldn't talk to anyone else. As much as he had his own problems with Kay, he had the feeling that Brin and Max would only feel like discussing everything about her, and he really didn't want to hear that. He didn't want to talk about her at all, whether it was good or bad. Zack was out of the question because he didn't approve of anything Ben was doing right now, and he just wasn't close enough to Logan. What about Alec or Jondy? Jondy wasn't closely attached to Kay, but it also meant that she wasn't really connected to the situation. Alec was another possibility because he had never been a close friend of Kay's and he might at least be able to talk about something else.
"Ben, are you okay?" He turned to see Jondy standing in the doorway, smiling at him. He smiled back, it had been so long since he'd last seen her.
"I'm alive, but that's the only really positive thing. How are you feeling? I heard you were pregnant."
She beamed and rubbed her flat stomach as she walked over and looked down at Paige. "Yeah, I'm starting to look forward to it now. I was a little scared at first because it was so unexpected, but I'm getting used to the idea now. I take it you're upset about Kay and the baby?"
He looked up at her, realizing very quickly that she had a similar opinion of Kay right now to his. "I really can't believe that she found out she was pregnant and didn't automatically look for me. I know we had just argued, but it's not like Kay to run away and hide. I would have expected her to search for me so that she would have someone to be with her and really support her during a difficult time. I would have forgiven her then, because the pregnancy itself wasn't her fault, but not now. She chose which way she wanted to go, and it wasn't towards me."
Jondy couldn't believe what she was hearing. As negative as he sounded, his tone of voice was screaming something different. "Ben, do you still love her?" Her voice sounded so incredulous that he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't really know. It hurts that she chose White over me, which makes me think that maybe I still do. Maybe they're not as strong as they used to be, but some of the feelings are still there, whether I want them to be or not."
Jondy threw her arms into the air in exasperation. "Ben, look at everything she's done to you! She slept with White a few days after you died! She caused countless problems for Max at Terminal City, she worked with the X2s, and she lived with White while she was pregnant with his baby! How could that not get rid of everything you ever felt for her?"
Ben couldn't believe she was acting like this. Although he knew that she hadn't liked Kay very much, he never knew that she felt this strongly. He didn't get a chance to respond to her though. Alec stepped in the door with an extremely vicious look on his face. "If this is the kind of reception I was going to receive, I wouldn't feel like coming back either. Jondy, I don't usually ask you for much, but I want you to listen to me this time. Stay out of all this. I want you to go home and pretend you never heard of Kay, and I don't want you discussing her with anyone here. You've always had this grudge against her for no apparent reason, and I don't want you influencing Brin and Max and even Ben. They need to get over their issues with Kay, not get angrier with her. Do you understand me?"
Jondy couldn't believe he was talking to her like this. He was taking Kay's side over hers? What kind of boyfriend was he? "I really can't believe you. After everything she's done, which I know upset you just as much as everyone else, you're still supporting her over me? What sense does that make?"
"It makes perfect sense. Even though I may not understand them, I'm sure Kay had her reasons for those decisions, no matter how bad they were. You don't have any reason to really hate her. She never did anything to you, but we had this problem when we first met. You flipped out when you found out how close she had become to everyone, and you've hated her ever since. You're the one not making any sense."
She glared at him, shaking with suppressed rage. "You know what? I'll leave, but it's not because you told me to. I'm leaving because I can't stand to be around you right now." With that said, she headed for the door.
Ben watched her go, not sure how to take Jondy's vehemence. "I didn't know she had such a problem with Kay. You never found out why?"
Alec sighed and looked at Paige curiously. "She never actually said it to me, but I think she had a thing for you. She didn't like Kay because she was jealous of her. Even though I'm pretty sure she loves me now, I think everything Kay did started to build up along with her jealousy and now she just flat out hates her. Sorry for the way she went off on you about her."
"It's okay, it was just unexpected. Are you as angry with Kay as she is?"
"I don't understand a lot of what she did, but Kay and I weren't very close. We hung out a lot, but it was only because of the humor factor. The only thing we ever did when we were together was joke around. We never really got to know each other, so I never expected her to do any of that stuff she did. But then I also can't blame her for it, because I don't understand what was going through her mind. I'm willing to bet you know quite a bit, or at least you've guessed at it. If we get her back and she decides she wants to be with you, will you take her back?"
"No, I couldn't even imagine it now. I'm on the same page as Jondy about this, Kay just messed everything up so much. She had a baby with White, of all people. That's not the part that bugs me so much, it's more the fact that she was obviously planning on raising Paige with him. You should have seen the house they were living in, it made me think of the white picket fence dream every girl has. That definitely wasn't meant for a short-term thing. They were planning on staying together. She made her choice, how can I forgive her for that?"
Alec nodded, he could see how that could cause problems. Speaking of children, he knew he would have to go after Jondy and talk to her. If he let her dwell on it too long, she might hold a serious grudge against him. After seeing how she held grudges against other people, he wasn't too interested in having that directed at him.
Author's Note: Please read and review! It's one of the best natural pick-me-ups that I know of.