Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).
"What a beautiful day," Rena remarked to Max and Jondy as the three of them walked down the street in the middle of Terminal City. "Blue sky, warm air, nothing like being trapped in a contaminated area of Seattle in June."
"Yep," Jondy said. "Spring is still in the air, love is in the air…I'm surprised that you and Zack—"
"Give it a rest, we don't do it that often," Max said, rolling her eyes.
"Don't do it that often? I don't know what little dash of something other than feline that Zack's got in his DNA, but it's got to be rabbit because you guys are always smooching and I frequently see you with that dopey 'I just had mind-blowing sex' grin on your face," Rena said.
"Rena, we're not that bad," Max said. She blushed.
Rena and Jondy laughed. "I know. We're just kidding," Rena said.
"Besides," Max said. She grinned wickedly. You are definitely not getting out of this one unscathed, sis! "What have you and Zane been doing lately? I know that he's spent a lot of time over at your apartment and you've spent time at his when neither of you have things to do and you're smiling a lot yourself."
"Rena and Zane are doing it! Rena and Zane are doing it!" Jondy sang cheerfully.
"We're not! Zane and I have always been close. You both remember. Besides, we're not even dating yet," Rena said.
"Ha! She finally admits that she likes Zane that way," Max said triumphantly. "Syl's gonna be sorry that she missed this moment."
"Grow up," Rena said. "Okay, fine, I think that I'm in love with Zane. I think that's the reason why I was so angry with Zack for at least a good part of the first two years or so after we escaped Manticore, because he separated Zane and me after he found the two of us in New Jersey. Let's go get Syl and have a celebration."
"Especially if it ends with you and Zane naked in a bed together?" Jondy teased.
"Shut up, grow up, and get a man of your own," Rena said. "Hey, there's something that we can do today. Let's try to set Jondy up with somebody."
"Oh come on," Jondy begged as the three of them reached their apartment building and went upstairs to Rena's apartment, which was the closest. "You guys wouldn't do that to me, would you?"
"Let me think about it," Max said. She pretended to think while Rena unlocked the door and let them in. "Um…yeah, we would and we will."
"Okay, Rena, I'm sorry," Jondy said.
"Too late," Rena said with a smirk. She sat down in an armchair. "Now let's think about it here…who can we set Jondy up with? Zack is definitely out because we really want Jondy alive and not dead or mutilated as a result of Max getting jealous. Zane is definitely out because then I would be force to cause grievous bodily harm."
"Okay, so you two already have guys or are this close to having guys," Jondy said as she sat down next to Max on the couch. "Fine, I'm jealous. Max is with Zack, you are this close from being with Zane, Syl and Krit are together, Brin is about as close to being together with Alec as you are with Zane, and Jace is waiting for her boyfriend Victor. I'm the odd one out."
"So let's get back to the subject at hand," Max said. "Biggs is out because Sasha would tear you up into tiny pieces and then give them to her daughters to play with, there's Jay, that guy from Unit 6 from back in Wyoming. He's pretty hot."
"No way," Jondy said. "I've talked with Jay a little lately and he is pretty hot, but he is so damn boring that after a long conversation with him, the only thing that I want to do is to go to bed and take a nice nap and I don't need to sleep under normal circumstances."
"What about Nick, that X4 from Seattle?" Rena suggested.
"He's cute and he's not too much older than me, but I don't think that he's mastered the concept of being polite to women yet," Jondy said. "This is stupid. I'll just have to wait to find a man and in the mean time just be the odd one out."
"Yeah, you and Wayne are the…" Max trailed off as an idea came to mind. "Holy crap, you and Wayne! That's perfect!"
"Oh come on, Max," Jondy complained. "Wayne's my brother, like he's your brother and Rena's. It'd be too weird."
"Yeah, and like Zack and Zane are our brothers," Rena said. "Come on, Jondy, you two would be perfect for each other and not just because you two are the only ones in our family who haven't hooked up with somebody yet. You two love to pull off stunts even crazier than what Max or I would do, you have a similar sense of humor, and you like a lot of the same things, including that nasty French roast nut crap coffee. How can you like that stuff? It tastes like roasted shit."
"Which makes me wonder how you know what roasted shit tastes like," Jondy teased. She sighed. "Guys, I don't know. Besides, Wayne's happy dating around." She shrugged. "Whatever."
"I think that's all we're going to get out of this topic," Max said.
"I think you're right," Rena said. She got up and went into her kitchen. "Do you guys want some coffee or tea or something to drink? I stocked up on some on my last run out."
"Coffee sounds good," Max said.
"Jondy?" Rena asked.
"Tea's fine, especially if you have that ginger green tea stuff again," Jondy said.
"Of course I do," Rena said. "What are you guys doing tonight?"
"Working a shift in the nursery again," Max said. "At least at night it's just the X9s and not the breeding program kids as well because those kids are with their parents at night. Well, except for little Anna."
"Hey, Sasha did tell us about Diane's favorite activity," Rena said. "Sasha's wrong about things like that as often as I am."
"It's amazing how close you and Sasha have gotten over the last four months," Max said.
"I know," Rena admitted. "When we first met, we were complete bitches to each other before Sasha broke down after you and Alec and I took her down before she could get you and now we're as close as if we'd grown up with each other like normal twins. I guess blood really is thicker than water. Look at Zack and Becky, for crying out loud."
"Those two and you guys are lucky," Jondy said. "It'd be nice to have a sibling by blood. Even having a clone close in age to me would be nice. Those X7s not counting, of course. I've met my X7 clone and she was just weird. She didn't seem too interested in having a decent conversation with me, much less a friendship."
"It's got to be how the X7s were wired together," Max said. "Some of them, like Blair and one or two others I've met, are better than others but they all pretty much like to keep to themselves. It must be an effect of the whole hive mind bat DNA thing because none of us are like that if our personalities aren't."
"Who knows?" Rena said. She poured cups of coffee for herself and Max and poured hot water in Jondy's mug and put the tea bag in and handed the drinks out. "We're all weird."
"We're all human, whether the world wants to admit it or not," Jondy said. "Besides, how are we to know if maybe humans are more like other animals in terms of their personalities than we thought they were?"
"Good call, sis," Max said. She sipped her coffee and held her mug out. "Let's have a toast. To us, to our love lives, and to our siblings. May they all be good and may those people outside know how good we are."
"Here, here," Jondy and Rena agreed. The three of them clinked their mugs together and drank from them.
TBC
Notes: Thank you so much for the reviews and support, angelofdarkness78 and Jade Hunter! It continues to mean a lot to me.