Chapter 19: Commitments
Nick and I headed home, he said good morning to Tara and Nilde before we both stumbled up the stairs and to bed, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Four hours later, I woke up, to Hunter arriving, he was let in by Tara, and I rolled over to look at Nick, he was laying awake, "Did you get any sleep?" I asked.
"A few hours, Hunter just woke me up, he's early," Nick said.
"We'll make him wait," I whispered, I had a fair sized bulge at my middle, and I could feel the babies move, as I tried to get closer to Nick.
"What do you plan to do while he waits?" Nick asked.
"I don't know, what do you think?" I reached down, and took hold of his penis.
"That seems like a very good idea," Nick smiled, and kissed me passionately, I was soon flipped onto my back, and Nick was tugging at my boxers, I pushed at his, as I lifted my ass from the bed, Nick shucked his boxers as he came back up to kiss me again, we didn't have a lot of time, and I really wanted to feel him in me, I reached for the night stand, and opened the drawer, there was a container of lube right there.
"What's the hurry?" Nick asked, sucking and kissing at my neck.
"It's already noon, Cath and Lindsay are going to be here at one," I said, I rolled over, under Nick, raising my hips once I had, he pulled back, and separated my ass cheeks.
"Looks like you really want this," Nick said, I felt a slick finger enter me a second after that, and it didn't even hurt, as Nick scissored his fingers, stretching me, and searching for my prostate, he rubbed the little nub causing me to moan, and push back into him each time, Once I was opened enough, I moaned at the loss of Nick's fingers, but was rewarded almost immediately by the feel of his cock pressing against my opening, I pushed back, gasping a little, as it pushed through the ring of muscle, it hurt only a little bit, as I could feel the rest of his cock slide into me. I moaned, and we rocked together, coupled, Nick hit my prostate on nearly every stroke, we both shouted, as we came. I fell to the bed, Nick nearly fell on me, but rolled us both onto our sides, as we lay there, he began to suck on my neck, "I love you, Warrick."
"I love you too, Nick," I said.
Nick continued sucking on my neck, until the doorbell rang, "Catherine's here," I said.
"And we haven't even showered yet," Nick added.
I got up, and Nick followed me into the bathroom, I could hear Hunter greeting Catherine at the door, as Nick turned on the shower.
Hunter's POV
"Hi, You must be Catherine, I'm Hunter, Nick's brother, he mentioned something about you bringing your daughter, possibly?"
"She was invited to a friend's house, for a sleep over tonight, she went over there a little early, I know Nick and Warrick have something important to tell me, so I figured that would be better."
"Right, well, come in, they're just taking a shower, lucky you didn't show up five minutes ago, I got quite the concert," I said.
Catherine gave me a questioning look. "Nick and I shared a room when we were teenagers, he's not shy about anything around me, so he didn't care that I was in the house, I've got all kinds of embarrassing stories about Nick," I told her.
Noises came from upstairs again, and I rolled my eyes, before yelling, "NICK, CATHERINE IS HERE, STOP FOOLING AROUND," I smiled at her, "Sorry, my little brother is a bit deprived these days, between his daughter and work, I think any moment he and Warrick are alone outside an official capacity they will be at it,"
"So I shouldn't assign them together?" Catherine asked.
"They'd never do anything on work time, so you don't have to worry about that, from what Tara said, they've only been home about four hours,"
"That scene must have been really bad, if it took them that long to process it," Catherine said.
"Possibly, so what kind of things do you do in your spare time?" I asked.
"Spare time, what's that? I'm a single mother, and a supervisor at the crime lab," Catherine said.
"Right, well, you know, I happen to know a guy that loves kids," I smiled.
Tara walked into the living room then, "Oh, Hi, Ms. Willows, how are you today?" she asked.
"I'm good, thank you, Tara, how's life treating you?"
"Very well, Is Hunter bothering you, because if he is, Nick will deal with him."
"I'm just making conversation," I said in my own defence.
"Sure you were," Nick came down the stairs, "Hi Catherine, how are you?"
"Good, good, and in Hunter's defence, he wasn't bothering me."
"That is unusual," Warrick came down the stairs, his hair hanging over his shoulders, dripping on the sweater he was wearing.
Nick wrapped his arms around Warrick from behind, "Lunch is almost ready," Tara said.
We all went into the dining room, Nick pulling out Warrick's chair for him, before going into the kitchen to help Tara. The pair brought out all kinds of foods, Nick and Tara finally sat at the table, and everyone began to dish up their food. Nick sat with Nilde's highchair beside him, he put some of the softer foods on a plate for her, she smiled at him, when he put it down. The conversation at the table during the meal itself was good, once the food was gone, Tara took Nilde into the kitchen to get her cleaned up. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Catherine asked, as the door closed.
"Remember when Warrick was sick almost three months back?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, you brought him to the hospital," Catherine said.
"Nick, let me tell it, please?" Warrick asked.
"Of course," Nick moved his chair closer to Warrick.
"Five and a half months ago, I was prepared to get sick, I have since I was sixteen, just before that, Nick and I began our relationship, as you will remember, it didn't come near as bad as it normally does, but that didn't worry me, anyway, three months ago, when I got really sick, Nick called Hunter, he's a doctor after all, and as soon as he could, he did an ultrasound, if I remember correctly, both he and Nick suspected what it was that was making me sick, the ultrasound showed the one mutation males in my family have that the rest of the world's males do not have, I have a womb, connected in some way to the rest of my body, I'm not entirely sure how it works, but it does, anyway, at the time, we figure I was about three months pregnant, at the time, I'm going to have twins," Warrick actually got it out pretty easily.
"Pregnant?" Catherine asked.
"Yes, I'm going to have twins," Warrick said.
"But, you're a guy, you can't be pregnant."
"That's what I thought," I said, "However, Warrick isn't the first man I know to have a baby, of course he is the first planning on giving birth naturally."
"Naturally?" Catherine asked.
"I found evidence just before I preformed the c-section on the other male, that it was possible for him to give birth naturally," I said.
"How do you expect to give birth?" Catherine asked.
"Well, there is three possible ways, we're not sure exactly which one it will be, there is the same way the egg was fertilized, there is one that goes down between my legs, and one that goes to my belly button, I'm hoping it won't be that one, as it would be more than just a little weird.
"And giving birth out your ass wouldn't be?" Catherine asked.
"That's how I would want to do it," Nick said, at the same time as Warrick said, "That's how I hope to do it."
They looked at each other and smiled, I had thought they had talked about it, but it seemed like they hadn't, by their looks. "Well, we'll have to see, and pray if all three options are available to them that they don't decide to take different ones, because if they did, one or both of them would probably be stuck," I put in my two bits, "The one I did was moving towards the back."
"So what do you need from work for this?" Catherine asked.
"Well, We've got almost all that we need for the twins, all we need from the lab, is time," Nick said.
"I don't want Warrick in the field after the commitment ceremony, and not even in the lab after the eighth month," I said.
"Hunter, remember, about family history, the chances of Warrick delivering at exactly nine months are slim to none, no woman in our family, married in or by birth, has ever carried for less than ten since history was written down, and the male pregnancy also carried for over nine months,"
"What are you saying?" Warrick asked.
"Yeah, what are you saying?" Catherine asked.
"Nick's trying to suggest, that if Warrick wanted to work past eight months, he's not likely to deliver until the middle of the tenth month, thus he could possibly work until the end of the eighth month, if he so wished, I'm not happy with that option, but it is a possibility Warrick could consider," I said.
"As a doctor, would you advise a female patient to stop working at the beginning of the eighth month?" Catherine asked
"I would suggest it as a consideration, except with a family history like Nick's I wouldn't worry about it to much, if she wanted to keep working a short time longer," I replied.
"And for a male patient?" Warrick asked
"My experience with male pregnancy is limited, there is no recorded cases, I've been involved in one, it was four years ago, he was ten years younger than Warrick, different body type, and it was only one baby, I would like to be careful, any future pregnancies, we'd know a bit more, I'm wanting to be extremely cautious on this, as we don't know very much yet," I pointed out.
"Right," Nick said, "You're right, as always, little brother."
"Little brother? you're the younger one," I said.
"We don't actually know, for sure, Little brother," Nick stressed the little brother part.
"Are you two done?" Catherine asked.
"Yes, you'll have to ignore our little spats, it's something we've done since we were nine," Nick said.
"You said you two never fought?" Warrick said.
"That anyone heard, we had little spats all the time, once we decided who we were, picked one or the other, though Tim was always the only one we told who was who, and according to him, he claimed he could tell us apart, he couldn't by the way."
"Tim? our Tim?" Catherine asked.
"You ever wonder why we don't get along?" Nick asked Catherine.
"I thought is was just a personality conflict."
"Right, we used to date, in Jr. High, and High school, he found out about Nilde, and started to spout something about not being true to myself, some righteous BS, that he never followed anyway, pissed me off, he even pretends to be straight," Nick shook his head.
"You used to pretend too," Catherine pointed out.
"I had to make it look good, I was playing a role, Tim isn't in hiding, and he's still playing a role, not that I care, I'm Happy, tried to make amends, but if he doesn't want to, nothing I can do," Nick said.
"I've seen Tim around a few times, there is a rehab place near my office, where he goes, he treats me like dirt to, I'm the one that fathered those boys, Nick just took credit for it, Nilde was his, his idea too, mixing it up on them, giving them the boys they wanted, and then, ending it, you see, our family is so accurate you can even tell which of the boys will have mostly daughters and which will have mostly sons, before they even hit puberty, the fact that Nick's second child, is a boy, they're both boys, it's somewhat surprising."
"Not really, the condition of the, well, Hunter, you know the science, 'Y' is faster, 'X' is more resilient, it's further to go, less problem areas, male is likely to beat female to the ultimate goal,"
Catherine looked back and forth, "Do you two normally have scientific debates at lunch?"
"It happens more often than you think," Warrick said, as Nick and I started to protest.
"So, tell me more about the wedding?" Catherine asked.
"Commitment ceremony, remember, this isn't a legal definition of marriage, we'll have to change things on our own, for anything to be legal."
"But if Warrick can safely carry and give birth to Children, then, you could possibly get a court to make it a legal marriage."
"There are ways of doing that, if you want," I said.
"Let's talk about it later, the final plans are still being put into place, but Catherine, if you would like to bring Lindsey, there are things for kids later in the night, we've planned a few things, Tara has agreed to head up the children's side of things, and we're going through the agency to get a few more caregivers for the week, Ukiah is bringing Kitt, he's what, two now, yeah, there are some older kids coming from Warrick's family, it'll be a time for parents to be jealous of, though we'll be having fun in our own way."
Nick's cell rang, and he got up, after looking at it, "I have to take this," he said, with an apologetic look.
Nick's POV
"Encaitare, what is it?" I asked.
"We've had a little problem here, I've captured a wild one, he's asking for asylum with the clan."
"This couldn't have come at a worse time, I've got problems up to the ceiling, logistics for the ceremony, Warrick's pregnancy and logistics with that, an oracle born with a clan insignia, our clan insignia to be specific, and a million other things that go on everyday."
"Oracle, with our clan insignia, how old?" Encaitare asked.
"Mid twenties, he's not willing to be with any clan, I've promised him protection, and have to deal with that right away, before it's realized he's not truly with anyone. Encaitare, what do you suggest with the wild one?"
"I'm not sure,"
"Well, you know the drill, since I normally have you run the checks, coordinate with the others, find out who he is, where he's coming from, who he's pissed off, and how much affect he'd have on us, get back to me with that information, when you have it, and Encaitare, be careful, you're irreplaceable," I told her.
"Thank's for your confidence, Nicky, so how is Warrick progressing?"
"Like he's pregnant with twins, along with a few unexpected cravings, were you ever horny while you were pregnant?" I asked.
"No, I wouldn't let him touch me, still won't most of the time."
"Hmm, interesting."
"Why do you ask?"
"No reason," I looked up to see Warrick looking at me.
"Sure, everyone is different, Nicky, everyone is different," Encaitare said.
"Right, I knew that, I was just wondering about you," I said with a little cringe in Warrick's direction.
Warrick laughed, "Alright, I doubt you were, so what's new that's good?" Encaitare said.
"I actually have a question for you, Encaitare, how did you find me?" I asked.
"I've told you before," Encaitare said.
"Ten years ago, when I still had no memory of who I was, now I want to hear what really happened."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Encaitare said.
"Caita, this is something I deserve to know, I still don't remember the events that led up to me being in contact with you, it's only that two weeks that is missing, and I know that you know what happened."
"Nicky, I can't tell you," Encaitare said.
"Then tell me this, was I dead when you found me, is that why you won't tell me what happened?" I asked.
"Yes, Nicky, you were," Encaitare admitted.
I closed my eyes, and took a few breaths, "who decided not to tell me?" I asked.
"We called you our little fire bird, wasn't that enough to tell you what we knew?"
"No, it wasn't until the last little while that I figured out what I was, Encaitare, why didn't you just tell me?"
"It's not that easy, Nicky,"
"No it's not, what were you waiting for, for me to wake up, possibly at a crime scene, and find I'm twenty again?" I asked.
"Nicky,"
"People have seen it, in less time than it's taken me to see it."
"That's because it's your own life, Nick," Warrick said.
"He's right there, Nicky, we'll talk about this later," Encaitare said.
"NO, we'll talk about this now, you were so talkative, when you didn't know he was right beside me, what are you hiding?"
"I'm hiding your past, I'm hiding something that could not only destroy your life as it is now, but any chances of happiness in the future,"
"He can't hear you, tell me what you're hiding," I said.
"It's not him I'm worried about, your abilities only protect you so far, Nick, when you ran that day, you ran into a situation that threatened that ability, you were to young, as a moral standard, we will do what we can to protect anyone in danger, as a phoenix some didn't feel you were in danger, as a rule I myself have, and this is the reason I left my former clan to join you, I will protect anyone, whether or not they are in mortal danger, that's why I brought you home that day."
"But what was the situation, I don't care what a different community thinks about protecting me, what happened from the time I ran, until the time you took me in two weeks later."
"I can tell you that there is a reason I never let you use the name Charles Gundry as you had in the past to lead away law enforcement from the clans, Remember, I told you to pick a different name, even though it was the name you wanted to use, even before you regained your memory,"
"Are you telling me that in those two weeks, Charles Gundry did something illegal?" I asked calmly.
"Not illegal, exactly, Charles Gundry is known to law enforcement, in many areas, they were alerted that there he was in every city, or town you went to, they were to keep an eye on you, this time they didn't, I didn't want the name following you anymore, going by your birth name, you were safer, because the attacker didn't know who you were."
"But what was it about Charles Gundry, or myself in those two weeks, that you don't want to tell me?"
"Charles was," Encaitare paused, she was still hesitating, but I recognised that she was about to tell me, and I kept silent, "Charles was injured, killed, he lost his entire memory, we didn't realize it, until after, until after you were killed, twice in two weeks, that's what caused the long term memory loss, as such, we are afraid you are at permanent risk of temporary memory loss any time you are killed, but we aren't sure, you lost the two weeks, because, there was no time to process it, before you were killed again."
"You're feeding me bits and pieces, what happened? Who, or what killed Gundry? And what happened two weeks later?"
"We aren't sure, like I told you, we didn't know that he had been, what happened two weeks later was the hit and run that you know about,"
"And between those two points in time? from the time I came on your radar, till I remember, what happened?" I asked.
"I can't tell you that," Encaitare said.
"Why not?"
"The community has informed me that if I do, my life is forfeit, you just told me I'm irreplaceable, so don't go forcing me to go against that order."
"Encaitare, from the time I was eight, I remember every detail of every day except for those two weeks, and you won't help me fill in the blanks."
"You're better off not knowing, Nick, it's not pleasant, live your life, forget about it," Encaitare said.
"I'm not going to forget that I lost two weeks, if I can't forget what happened when I was nine, what was so bad that I can't remember what happened when I was 25?"
"I'm sorry, Nick, I can't tell you," Encaitare said, there was strain in her voice, a strain I only heard when I was pushing her to hard.
"I'm sorry Caita, I didn't mean to push so hard, it just frustrates me, when I've gotten so close, but I still can't get what I want."
"I know, Nicky, I wish I could tell you, I really do, but, there are some things you're better off not knowing."
"Call me, when you get what I asked for, I should go," I said.
I said my goodbyes to Encaitare, and looked up, Hunter and Catherine had joined Warrick and I in the living room, somehow Tara managed to keep herself out of every situation that happened in the house for which I was profoundly grateful. I put my head against the back of the chair I was sitting in. "What's going on?" Hunter asked.
"Just a slight disagreement, you'll notice that happens almost every time she calls, she's the one that found me when I lost my memory ten years ago," I said.
"Lost your memory?" Catherine asked.
"We were both doctors," Hunter said, "No matter how hard we tried to keep ourselves distinct, even in university, people still kept mixing us up,"
"And I had been moving around a lot it was pure fluke we even ended up in the same school, let alone all the same classes, when we were assigned to the same rotations it was insane, I mean he'd see a patient, or another doctor, and if I was seen in the next hour, they'd ask if I'd changed," Nick said.
"It went so far as to one day, Nick stopped covering the scars from the attack, people still got us mixed up, even with that major difference, the second we finished our residency, and Nick was off to start his own practice, we split up, I ended up in Dallas, and Nick in Houston, then, he ran off, took a week's vacation and disappeared, for two years, turned up again, just started working on being a CSI, had been a cop," Hunter said.
"I ran into him on the street one day, looked just like me, a year later the group of people that found me ended up moving on, one to LA, one to Washington, and one to NewYork, I chose Vegas, because Gil Grissom was the best, and I wanted to learn from the best."
"And that last part has nothing to do with what I asked," Catherine said.
"True, but this way," I started.
"You're not getting the story in little parts," Hunter finished.
The next week passed quickly, we finished our case, and then Saturday noon came around again, I was in the kitchen, Tara helping me with lunch, Warrick was in the living room, playing a game with Nilde. "So, what do you have planned for Nilde's birthday next week?" Tara asked.
"I've invited some of the kids in the neighbourhood over, from noon till four, we'll have some games, and lunch, I've got the whole day off, and I've asked for no presents, I've got a lot of presents for her anyway."
"Is anyone from the lab coming?" Tara asked.
"I've put an open invitation to the Graveyard, and Swing shift employees to stop by, from 5 to 7, if they want to come by, don't know if anyone will show."
"Catherine said she'd be stopping by," Warrick came into the Kitchen, Nilde in his arms "And I overheard Tim talking to the DNA tech, who would like to come for a bit, she has a two year old daughter, and thought it might be good for her to come."
"More children, even after the party, yay, Nilde is not going to have a problem meeting other kids at least."
"One thing you've got to remember, Nicky, we'll most likely be at this for a long time, with lots of kids coming through here, including friends of our own," Warrick said.
"Yeah, I know, it's just, there is going to be insane amounts of kids here, and it'll be crazy," I told him.
"You'll be waiting for the calm," Warrick said, Nilde began to try to get away from him, and he put her down, she took hold of his fingers, and pulled herself up, then looked at me, Warrick had been holding her hands helping her toddle around the house for over a week now, she looked at me, smiled, and said "ADA, UP,"
"Well, come over here," I smiled, Holding Warrick's fingers, tightly, she took a few steps towards me, Warrick pulled one hand out of her grasp, and she wobbled a little, uncertain, she looked up at Warrick, with her own patented glare, and then back at me, I crouched down, and she kept to her goal, she reached her free arm to me, and I put my hand out to her, Warrick stopped walking, and she let go of his hand, taking two uncertain steps towards me, before she could reach my hand, I picked her up, and laughed, "You did it, you walked," I hugged the one year old, and we all celebrated.
The doorbell rang, and I said, "Greg's here,"
"No, really," Warrick said sarcastically.
"Are you going to get the door, or am I?" I asked.
"You can," Warrick said, he took some plates and went into the dining room, I carried Nilde to the door, and opened it.
"Hey, Nicky," Greg smiled
"Hey Greg, come on in, lunch is almost ready," I said.
"Great," he smiled.
Greg followed me into the house , and I motioned for him to sit down at the table, Warrick carried Nilde in from the kitchen, "You should let her walk, now," I smiled, kissing him, it was our home, and if Greg was going to be there, he would have to understand we were just that open.
I went into the kitchen, and heard Hunter walk into the house, he went into the dining room, and I smiled, listening, "Hey,"
"Hey Hunter," Warrick said, I turned back to the stove, Warrick didn't feel like playing games today.
Stepping back out, with the food, Tara following me, we put it all on the table, there was pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon, Tara liked to go all out for these breakfasts, I think she was crushing on Hunter, though she did try to make good food most mornings, she went more out for when Hunter was going to be there. I noticed Hunter was wearing almost the exact same thing as I had considered that morning, but I had tossed it aside, for something that was a little freer, Greg started the conversation halfway through the meal, "So, about the clans..." He started
"Um, Greg, this is actually something that is kind of personal, you might want to wait till we're done eating," I suggested.
Greg nodded, and turned back to his food, as soon as Tara finished, she got up, and said, "I've got some things to do, before you go to work, just bring her down, when you leave," she had moved her things downstairs, as soon as Nilde started sleeping through the night, she now had a room she had created in the unfinished basement, it was sheets strung up from the rafters, she had a window, and she made the whole area look very nice.
We were looking for a bigger house, we would be short on room soon, if we weren't careful, even if we were, children got bigger, and three of them would take up a lot of room.
"So, now we can talk, Tara doesn't really know about the clans, we'd sounded it out, but she didn't respond,"
"Oh, sorry," Greg said.
"No big deal, really, just telling you, there are few things, most of them involving the clans that we're better off keeping a secret."
"Right, so, what did you think we needed to talk about?" Greg asked.
"There is two things, the not so little fact that you have my clan insignia on your hip, and the slightly larger fact that you're an unprotected oracle, as soon as someone realizes you're not actually a member of my clan, people are going to start showing up, trying to vie for your attention, they'll want your gifts, and a lot of them don't care about you as a person." I said
"How do you plan to deal with that, I mean, it's not really your problem is it?" Greg asked.
I stood up, and lowered the jeans off of one of my hips, the scars appeared first, then the mark, under the clan marking was my father's clan mark. "I'm the leader of the clan, and I consider you among my close friends, thus it is my problem,"
"So what do you want me to do?"
"I can't make you swear your loyalty, for now, we can ignore the first problem, things like that tend to work themselves out in time, however, the second, I can protect you for a time, just using my name and influence, my allied clans tend to be of the immortal or nearly immortal type, and some of them are rather harder to kill than most people, my clan members included, half of them are invulnerable to certain viruses, where as an herb that we would think harmless could kill them in less than a minute, the rest are pretty much invulnerable to any virus, the only thing they have to worry about is fast acting poisons, murder, and infection from attempted murder."
"Don't forget the whole broken heart thing," Warrick said.
"Right, my clan is pretty strong, obviously, it's made up mostly of immortals, and then of course while I'm fairly easy to kill, I come back from the dead, and it's usually no where near as messy as when the pack comes back." the last part was directed in Warrick's direction.
"Messy?" Greg asked.
"They tend to go down in a blaze of gunfire, and it takes a while for them to heal up from that kind of damage, stuff like that tends to get noticed, I just found out recently that I had ever died, let alone more than once," I said.
"Oh, so you're immortal too, is there any member of your clan that isn't?" Greg asked.
"You, are the only person wearing the clan insignia who as far as I know isn't immortal in some way, and even Warrick who isn't yet a member of the clan is, in a form I can't talk about, yet."
"It's nearly 2," Warrick said, pointing out our lack of time, I picked Nilde up from her seat, and handed her to Hunter, the conversation hardly included him, so he could take care of the messy toddler.
"What's the significance of the mark on my hip?" Greg asked.
"It's the clan insignia, it shows that you belong somewhere, it's important, because it's proof you belong there, usually it's a tattoo, but mine seems to appear on it's own, as you have seen, yours has been there since birth, I'd say it has something to do with the elves in the clan, they've been leaderless for decades, even centuries, if one of them met your mother, while she was pregnant with you, being desperate for a leader, recognizing even before your birth that you were powerful, they may have claimed you, they recently marked me in a similar way."
"Marked you?"
"The members of my clan who are vampires can never be marked physically as a member of the clan, it's not possible but they are, the mark keeps clans together, so they have other ways of marking themselves as members of the clan, though I'm not entirely sure how, elves don't take well to tattoos, so they have to be marked in an ancient way, usually it takes a whole ritual, that may take hours, Greg, did your mother perhaps know about the clans?" I asked suddenly.
"Possibly, she left right before my dad tried to sell me off to the highest bidding clan, they weren't happy to have me run away, right after they paid," Greg said.
"Then there is a good chance she spoke to the elves, one or two of them would have been able to mark a child in the womb, then you would have been protected by them from birth, your mom may have been worried your power would attract people to you."
"But, what does all this mean?" Greg was seriously confused, as was Warrick from the look on his face.
"I'll start at the beginning, quite often, a clan member will have at least one child who has no power, there is a good chance, that Greg's mom was one of them, there are many clans in north America, some have disappeared and there are new ones, as you can probably tell, now, if Greg's mom discovered that Greg would be powerful, but she was not on good terms with the clan she was born into, then she may have gone searching for someone to help her protect him, elves are the best bet, though most of them were leaderless at the time, they had a group together, but they had no leader, the ones that were waiting and believed they were waiting for the phoenix to be their leader all chose a symbol, to mark themselves, they got together with some vampires who also were willing to join, and they waited, upon being approached to protect a potentially powerful child, they would have jumped at the chance, thinking that he may be the one, this explains the mark, and while I am the leader of the clan there are things they haven't told me, including some things that they did while they waited."
"What about the whole immortal thing, I'm not, will that affect me joining the clan?" Greg asked, "If I wanted to, that is."
"No, some people who have been hurt in the past by mortals would keep their distance, but they'd do that anyway," I said.
Warrick and I were nearly late for work I led him into Catherine's office as she was handing Charlie his assignment. "Warrick, Tim wants to see you in his lab before you head out, you've got a 419 at a B&B," she handed him a slip, "Nick you have paperwork, you are way behind on your reports." Catherine smiled at me.
"I'm not that far behind, am I?" I asked.
"Those are yours," Cath pointed at an overflowing box on the floor, "Your pile, almost rivals Grissom's."
"I never should have taken the position of your right hand man, if it weren't for the fact that I wanted to have more chance for promotion in the future, I wouldn't have,"
"Oh, you love me, Nick, paperwork, now, I have my own to do," Catherine said.
I took a seat on the floor, waving to Warrick as he left. Less than five minutes later, Tim rolled in, "Catherine, Warrick just collapsed outside my lab,"
I jumped up, and ran out of the room, Warrick was in the hallway, the DNA tech was sitting on the floor next to him, when I got there. Warrick opened his eyes, and tried to sit up, "Hold up, Warrick, you kinda took a little fall there," the tech said.
"Nick?" Warrick looked at me.
"Let me take a look," I said, I moved down his body checking his ribs, and back, it wasn't to bad a fall, but I wanted to be careful, with the twins, I pressed on the sides of his belly, and around the top, I was able to feel the twins, but only got one kick in response to my probing, I tried again, and got a double response, "Good enough for you?" I asked.
"For now," Warrick said, and I helped him sit up, the DNA tech stood over us, as I crouched next to Warrick.
"Nick? Warrick?" Catherine asked.
"I want to send Warrick to see Hunter, he's been having dizzy spells all week, and I'm worried," I said.
"What do you say, Warrick?" Catherine asked.
"Nicky, I wanna go home, Will you take me home?" Warrick asked.
"Take him, I'll take his Case," Catherine said.
I nodded, and helped Warrick stand up.
Catherine's POV
"What's with Nick, lately?" the DNA tech asked, "He's been hovering over Warrick like they were married or something."
"Well, they're making plans to do so, I'm surprised that you didn't hear, it's all over the lab, I mean, even Ecklie is invited."
"I'm not exactly on Nick's good side, are you serious, even Ecklie is invited, wait, inviting me to the wedding would be a way for Nick to prove I'm wrong," Tim trailed off.
"I don't think this is about proving you wrong, Tim this is about being with Warrick, and making it official."
"Nick's always been about proving people wrong, why do you think he became a CSI," Tim replied.
"He never proved you wrong before, Tim, he's made his effort, and he's moving on, that's it, now, I have a scene to get to."
I walked off, when I got back from the scene, Nick still wasn't back, I figured that Warrick had asked him to stick around, and he didn't want to leave him. "Cath, Nick called, I took the call, I know, when you're out Tim is supposed to take the non urgent calls for you, but the guy in reception remembered that Nick and Tim don't get along, so he forwarded it to my lab instead, Nick was talking really strange, I didn't even get everything he said, what I did get was along the lines of he wouldn't be coming back tonight."
"Alright, thank you, next time, just let it go through to Tim, he would have been able to translate more, they grew up speaking the same language," I told him.
"Really?"
"Best friends, I don't know the situation, but even Tim will suck up his dislike towards Nick if he needs to."
"Alright, so, got anything for me?" he asked, changing demeanor faster than I had previously believed possible.
"You're bored?"
"I was about to start a new set, so if you have evidence for me, I can fit some of it in."
I smiled, I loved that about this DNA tech, he'd hold off some samples in order to put more through at once, handed him the evidence bags I had for him, "The stain at the top of the knife blade, and in the gun are the most important, run a profile on the victim too, if you have room," I told him.
"Will do, do you have anything specific in mind to use for the victim's profile?" he asked.
"Stopped by autopsy before coming here," I handed him the vial of blood, "Doc pulled it specifically for your use."
"Thanks," he said, and went back into the lab.
Nick's POV
I drove Warrick to the house, taking stock of his condition as we drove, I had no clue what was going on, but he was getting worse, I called Hunter, and then the lab, I would not be returning that night. At the house, I helped Warrick to the bedroom, ignoring Tara's questions. Ten minutes later, Hunter arrived, Tara directed him upstairs, and he came into the room, "What is it?" Hunter asked.
"He's changing into his other form, I haven't been able to stop it, I'm not sure what it will do to the babies, I wanted you here just incase I have to change too, or we have to move him."
"Or both, it might be necessary for you to change, and follow him, if he's a large creature, wouldn't it be better if we went into the desert?" Hunter asked.
"Right, and there is no way to tell how large his other form will be, but if he's to small, he may get lost out there."
"You were full size your first transformation, we should get him out of the city," Hunter said.
I nodded, and Hunter and I carried WArrick back down the stairs and out to the car, once again ignoring Tara's questions. Hunter drove, while I sat in the back with Warrick, "Don't fight it love, it'll be easier if you don't fight it," I said, running my hands up and down his back.
Hunter found a deserted stretch of road, it was the same stretch that I used when I needed to transform, Hunter parked the car and got out, we helped Warrick move further away from the road, once we were at a safe distance, Warrick started to make a move to take his clothes off, I helped, not wanting to hamper him, as soon as his clothes were off, Warrick let himself relax, and within seconds his skin was becoming a lighter colour, and wings began to sprout from his back, he began to grow in size, until he was fully transformed, he was a pure white dragon, with a 16' wing span, I quickly stripped out of my clothes, as I did so, I realized the dragon was female, this explained a lot of things about him, I transformed into my other form, I was a phoenix, though why I hadn't realized that spread over to my everyday life was beyond me, my wing span was similar to Warrick's and I took off immediately upon changing, but as soon as I realized Warrick wasn't joining me, I touched back down. "What is it?" Hunter asked, however I couldn't communicate normally in my phoenix form, so I used the little bit of telepathy Hunter had, 'He's scared of heights,'
The next thing I did, was nudge Warrick, he didn't have to fly, he had large powerful legs, he could walk I had a destination in mind, where we would have privacy, Hunter waved to us, as Warrick followed below me. When we arrived at the secluded area, I touched down again. Warrick's form was extremely tempting to me, just as his natural form was, I moved in front of him, my movements on the ground nowhere near as graceful as in the air, I looked like a little pigeon, or some similarly annoying bird. I changed into my human form, so I could talk to Warrick, with one of us in human form, we could talk telepathically, 'Warrick, are you ok?' I asked
'I wasn't trying to transform, I didn't want to, this hasn't happened like this before,' He replied, Hardly moving.
'Hon, how often has this happened?' I asked.
'I've changed unwillingly before once, the first time, it took me eight hours to change back, I normally change every few months, as time and privacy permit,'
'It was probably to long from your last change, this form needs to come out on a regular basis, I used to change every time before I went flying, the freedom the form allows is amazing," I said, 'I've missed it.'
'You're not appalled by me, I'm a dragon,' Warrick said.
'I'm a Phoenix, I'm a bird, trust me, a dragon is a much more magnificent creature, and you're the rarest kind,'
'Really?" Warrick asked.
'White Dragons are very rare, white female dragon, well, I haven't even heard of one before today,' I said.
'I'm female, Warrick twisted his body to check, and sure enough he noticed the lack of male reproductive organs hanging out.
'You're a hermaphrodite, dragons don't leave their equipment hanging out, but male dragons don't have an opening here,' I had walked around his body to finger the opening, it was actually pretty large, probably to match Warrick's size.
'Don't do that,' Warrick said, then looked at me curiously, 'you're not sickened by it?'
'Not in the least, I may be gay, but you're my mate, it doesn't matter that you have a second form, or that it's a different species, or that it has female parts, it's you all the same.'
'Nick, this may seem like an odd request, but, could you actually do it again?' Warrick asked after a second.
'Do what, this?' I asked, reaching up again, this time I didn't pull my hand away, the opening became wet, and slightly looser, his bulk wavered, as he moaned mentally, and the physical body groaned as well. I kept fingering the dragon's opening, slipping two fingers inside, Warrick's other equipment began to make an appearance, from the hidden sheath, I reached up with my other hand to stroke that, Warrick shifted his tail to the side, his tail was the same length as his body which matched his wing span, he was perfectly proportioned. Suddenly Warrick's voice was in my head again, 'Can you fuck me in your larger form, oh this feels so good,'
I smiled, and stuck the rest of my hand in, as a phoenix I was rather large, and well, the hole needed to be a bit bigger in order to accommodate me, when I deemed him open enough, I moved a step or two away from him, and transformed, the phoenix was actually more like a dragon than a bird, I had scales on my body, and wings, the anatomy of my body was nearly identical to that of a dragon, but with a shorter tail, I was hard, and it was obvious, my penis was completely out of it's sheath, I hovered over him, before settling down, slipping in, his rubbed against my hole, and as soon as he was also completely hard, I moved myself in such a way that he entered me as well. We stayed joined for an hour, before I came, that triggered Warrick, and He rolled us over, so he was on top of me. We stayed like that, and Warrick fell asleep soon after. It was well after midnight when he woke up again, and we went back towards the road. My truck was there, but Hunter wasn't, he probably had someone pick him up, sick of waiting for us. I changed back, into my regular form, and pulled the clothes from the backseat on. While Warrick was changing, I opened the hood, if Hunter had to call for a ride, he probably made it look like the car wouldn't start, when they showed up, I found what he had disconnected, and reconnected it, Warrick gave me a look, "Hunter called for a ride, in order to do that, he had to make it look like the car wouldn't start."
"Right," Warrick said, "So we missed work, Catherine isn't going to be mad, is she?"
"I took you home sick, I called the lab after we left and said I couldn't leave you," I said.
Warrick nodded, "How are the babies?" I asked.
"I don't think they liked their little trip in a dragon," Warrick said, "They're kicking up a storm."
I smiled, and we got in the truck, and I drove to a small restaurant, where we got something to eat, then headed home, my cell rang, as we pulled up to the house, I parked and picked up my phone, it was Catherine, "Hey, Nick, How's everything?"
"Better now, it's been mostly dealt with, we've got a doctor's appointment on Monday," I told her.
"So you'll be late?" Catherine asked.
"No, we're going in the morning, this way we're not going to be late all the time."
"Right, do you know why he passed out?"
"Same reason anyone else does, loss of blood pressure to the brain."
Catherine and I spoke for another ten minutes, then I said, "Would you like to talk to WArrick, to allay your fears?"
Warrick rolled his eyes, we were in the house by then, talking quietly so we didn't wake Tara or Nilde. Warrick took the phone, and spent 20 minutes trying to convince Catherine that he was ok, then he pulled the ace out of the hole, "I am fine now, but I need to sleep, alright Cath, I'll be in tomorrow, this afternoon, I guess, it's one now.
Warrick hung up a second later, and we went upstairs, to bed. I woke up at eight, and went downstairs, Tara was in the kitchen, and Nilde was wandering around the living room. 6 days later, we had the party for Nilde, it was 1:30, when the phone rang, interrupting a game of pin the tail on the donkey, that we had going, it was so cute to see the 15 one and two year olds, dizzy try to stick the tails on the wall. Most of the parents had stayed, as at that age, the kids were a little to young for the parents to not stay. I let Warrick take over the game, as a parent handed me the ringing phone. "Stokes-Brown home," I said into the phone, it was a greeting I had started using after the birthday invitations had gone out.
"Nick, it's your father," he said.
"Oh, Hi Dad," I said, waving Hunter away as he came up to me.
"What's going on down there, I've heard rumours of a big wedding down there, one of my sons, and I haven't been invited."
"No, you weren't invited, You see, I have a slight problem with the way you treated me when I was younger, and I don't want my family exposed to that."
The time until the wedding passed slowly, then the day of came, I helped Warrick get dressed, we left with plenty of time to spare, the ceremony would be short, since the party would be long, and we wanted to keep the FBI from getting at Rennie who was conducting the ceremony. After the ceremony, we had the regular reception, at midnight, most people left, leaving us with our closest friends, all who had been warned generally what would happen next. Warrick and I went to the door, and let our secret guests in, I led Grissom's mom in, and Sara's friend, Warrick brought in Sam, and Greg's Aunt who was someone who had always been on his side in everything, getting him into the schools he wanted when his parents didn't make the required effort to get him in the accelerated classes he did so good in. After a few hours of talking and socializing, Warrick and I got everyone's attention, "Earlier today, practically yesterday, Warrick and I committed ourselves to each other, and now it's time to get this party started."
The rest of the week passed all to quickly, after the final guests left our home, and Nilde went to bed, Warrick collapsed on the couch, and I sat lifting his feet into my lap, I began to rub them and he groaned happily.
"Like that?" I asked.
"Oh yeah," Warrick said, closing his eyes.
Warrick fell asleep as I rubbed his swollen feet. Tara came in awhile later, as I sat there watching my sleeping lover.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey, um, I noticed how tired Warrick got today, just hanging around, I also noticed a few times where he seemed to get a little dizzy, I know he hasn't been feeling 100 the last couple weeks, that's why I mentioned it to you, not to infringe on his privacy or anything."
"I know, about both your reasons and how he's been feeling, I've noticed it a few times myself, I'd appreciate it if you kept a slight eye out for him, I try, but it seems every time I turn my back something happens, it might be better for him to have both of us discretely keeping an eye on him," I said.
There was a knock on the door, after awhile, and Tara went to get it, it was Grissom, "Hey," he followed Tara into the living room, Warrick's stomach had been prominently displayed by his position on the couch, and I hadn't the heart to move him. "He's been putting on weight," Grissom mentioned, after I motioned for him to sit in the chair next to the couch.
"You would too, if you were in his condition," I said, reaching over, and pulling Warrick's t-shirt down.
"I didn't mean it as an insult, I've pretty much figured out what's going on, I've still got limited access to your personnel files, I noticed he's been told by his doctor to take some time off after your wedding."
"Why are you so interested in out lives?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Grissom asked.
"You were never this interested in what happened between or to us when we worked under you, then suddenly we're working under Cath's supervision and you're all about knowing what's going on, staying in the loop, what's up with that?"
"It has to do with what happened before the whole transfer situation, I don't know what happened between you two, but you go from friends and competitors to who knows what in a matter of months, Warrick suddenly starts putting on weight, not taking his usual vacations, I don't know, I guess I just stayed in the loop a bit different when you were on my team, to a point you didn't notice it."
"Now I want to know what you mean?"
"I used to keep tabs on you guys, no matter what, it wasn't that hard, I've got my friends, I still try to, but it's more difficult, all his doctor's appointments are with a gynaecologist, after the office closes or before it opens, he's moved in with you, he's helping you with your daughter, I guess in the last eight months I've felt cut out, because I can't keep the same tabs on you I used to."
"How do you know this?"
"I have friends, they keep me appraised of any situation, in or outside the lab," Grissom said.
"Your friends are the bugs, your power isn't really latent as I thought, you've had it for so long I didn't even realise it was active."
"It was always more passive than anything else, I was hoping to learn how to control it."
"I can't help you there, is it just bugs, or more creatures?" I asked.
"More creatures, arachnids are the easiest to communicate with, and they're everywhere, so if you see one, no one thinks about it."
"You really are spider man, I'll tell you this, it's as controlled as I've ever seen, do you change into one, or just talk to them?" I asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I mean, I can communicate with humans who are in animal form, because there are people that can change," I said.
Grissom gave me a look I couldn't identify, and I looked back down to Warrick, he opened his eyes, "Why did you stop?" he asked.
"Sorry. Grissom is here, you want to sit up and talk, or go back to sleep?" I asked.
"I should sit up, my back, it's killing me," Warrick said.
I nodded, and eased his feet to the floor, Warrick was fine from a sitting position, but when he was laying down on the couch he already needed a hand up, the twins were already heavy and the way they were sitting at times could cause him no end of discomfort. I stood up, and Warrick took my hands, I pulled him up, and into a sitting position on the couch. "Well, that's embarrassing," He said, looking at Grissom.
"I figured it out a month and a half ago," Grissom said.
"Really?" I asked.
"It's more obvious than you would like to think," he mentioned.
"You are seven months, we knew you wouldn't be able to hide it forever," I said.
"Seven months, no way, I was thinking more like eight, eight and a half," Grissom said.
"Twins will do that," Warrick said, shifting his weight again.
I reached over, and began to rub his back, he shifted to lean into my palm, Grissom just smiled at us. "So, What are your plans after they are born?" he asked.
"I'll be staying home with them for the first six months, then, Tara will still be around to take care of the kids while we're at work." Warrick said.
It was strange for me, not working scenes with Warrick, I'd find any excuse to go into the AV lab and talk to him, over the next month, and it began to drive me crazy to leave Warrick in the afternoon, and he'd be asleep already when I got home, it was after a rather difficult case, a simple home invasion turned out to be a case where a little twelve year old boy had been raped by the man, I wasn't any closer to catching him than at five, when I arrived at the house, there was DNA to be processed from the boy's fingernails, and surprisingly the boy had asked me to stay in the exam room, when the nurse collected the SART kit. I sat on the stool beside the bed, holding his hand in my gloved one, distracting him from what the nurse was doing, the boy whose name was James, had asked me to talk about when I was a kid. "When I was nine, my brother and I finally had to decide who was who, because we started to grow up at different rates, emotionally not physically, no one could tell us apart until we were fifteen, and I got hurt, we'd wake up every morning and decide between us who we would be that day, until one day, it just stopped." I told him.
"What happened?" James asked.
"I don't know, I guess we just grew up," I told him.
"Do you still look like him?" James asked.
"Except for some scars, yeah, he's a doctor now," I smiled in response.
"All done," The nurse said, taping the bag shut, and signing the label.
"Thank you," I said, James looked up at me, and said, "Thank you for staying with me."
"Glad to do it," I told him, looking at him in the eye "I would have been scared, if something like this happened to me, I can't imagine what it would be like."
"I'm glad you aren't telling me that you understand, that's what they all told my sister, when she was raped two years ago, but you don't, no one does, unless it happens to them,"
"That's for sure," James, you're very brave, and I'll do what I can to get this guy,"
"If not for what he did to me, to stop him from hurting someone else," he told me.
"Are you sure you're twelve?" I asked, "You act more mature than that."
"My sister needs my help with her kids, I guess I grew up faster than you and you're brother did,"
"Right, I guess that can happen, can't it, growing up faster than you should," I replied.
"So you'll find the guy?"
"I'll find him," I smiled, "Someone has to."
James nodded, and his sister walked up, her three kids hanging off of her, "Are you all done here?"
"Yeah," James said, reaching out and taking the one year old boy from his sister, the little boy curled up into his uncle's chest, where as he had been screaming before.
"No heavy lifting for a few days, alright, I've set you up with an appointment with one of the councilors here at the hospital tomorrow morning," the young doctor said, she handed the boy four prescription bottles, "I know how it can be, so I got these filled for you," the doctor gave James instructions on the medications, and I walked him and his sister to her car, picking up the two year old, she carried her three year old. At the car, I said goodbye, before going back into the hospital, and got what I needed, and headed back to the lab.
I logged in the evidence, and set to writing the orders for processing it, before going home. I went home, and crawled into bed Next to Warrick, I couldn't sleep though, and got up again at two, so I wouldn't wake up Warrick, with my tossing and turning, I lay on the couch, and turned on the TV, I must have fallen asleep soon after.
"Nick, you should go to bed, don't stay down here," It was Hunter, he must have come to check on Hunter before he went to work.
"Hunter, the case was horrible, a 12 year old, raped, in his home, and when they finished the exam, do you know what he asked me?"
"What?" Hunter asked.
"If I'd find the guy so he couldn't hurt anyone else, then he took his nephew from his sister, and they left."
"You were that grown up at the age of nine," Hunter said.
"No I wasn't, I only let you know what happened, and I wouldn't let you tell anyone, I was selfish."
"But you learned to help people because of that,"
"I wanted to stay a child, that's why I didn't tell, I chose to be Nicky more often, because the name was more like that of a child, Hunter, I just wanted to stay a kid."
"You still are, little brother, you still are." Hunter said, "Now go to bed, go lay with your husband, feel your children move, feel their growth."
"Thanks Hunter," I said.
I did as I was told, and went upstairs, crawling behind my husband, and wrapping my arms around him. Over the next three weeks, while I did have other cases to work on, every free moment I had I spent working on Jason's case, at the end of three weeks, my fourth run of the DNA through CODIS got a hit, a man had just been entered into the database because he had broken into a house, and raped an murdered a young woman, day shift had the case, I went to the interrogation room, that they had a suspect in, one of the detectives was asking him questions. "I've been running DNA results from one of my cases, a 12 year old boy was raped, it matches the DNA from your case, is this the guy?" I asked.
"We think so, but we can't get a warrant for his DNA," the investigator I was talking to said.
"He hasn't touched anything, drank anything..." I started listing off all the tricks in the book.
"Nick, it's not exactly protocol to do something like that," she said.
"A twelve year old boy, don't you get it, this guy is evil, protocol or not, it's a perfectly legal way to gain a DNA sample, hell, I'd even take a sample of his piss right about now, even if I had to beg Greg to do the DNA on it, because none of the DNA techs is willing to do DNA testing on long shot piss."
"How would you get a sample of that?"
I looked at her, "I don't know, but I'm going to find some way of getting this guy's DNA, before he leaves here, preferably."
Just then he stood up, pushing away from the table, "I'm not saying another word, until I talk to a lawyer," at this I noticed a large amount of saliva had exited his mouth.
I looked at her, "this is my opportunity, see ya," I smiled, and opened my kit, pulling out some swabs, I walked into the interrogation room, where the detective was sitting back in his chair, just staring at the suspect.
"Stokes, what are you doing in here?"
"It's for a different case, we want him for a photo lineup," I said, swabbing some of the saliva from the table, "would you consent to that?" I asked the man.
"Fine," he said.
"Thank you," I smiled, reached into my kit, and pulled out two things, a marker for the picture, and my camera, holding the marker below his face, I snapped two pictures.
"What are you planning?" I was asked as I exited the room.
"I needed a way of identifying he's a suspect," I said, writing the information on the evidence label, if you will?" I asked.
"If I will what?"
"Well what grounds do I have to submit it in my case, none."
"Right," she said, and wrote the case number on the tag for me.
"Thank you so much," I smiled, and walked towards the DNA lab.
"Tommy, will you run this ASAP, it could pertain to two open cases," I handed him the box.
"Will do," he nodded at me, taking what I handed him, "I'll have you paged as well, when the results are in."
"Thanks Tommy, you're great," I left the lab, and started in on one of my other open cases, until the end of shift, I then headed home. Hunter had moved into the spare room, and had helped me turn the office into a room for the twins, however makeshift it was, the wallpaper had been taken off, since it had been peeling anyway, but we had only painted that wall, the carpet was worn through in some places, and we had moved Nilde's old crib in, and with the second newer crib, there was hardly room for both the change table and the dresser Warrick had fallen in love with, the rocking chairs we had, one was mine already from when Nilde first came to live with me, and the other was a new one which was the most comfortable thing in the world, the older one was put in the living room, Warrick's new favourite seat in there, and the other was in our room, since there wasn't space in the babies' room for it. The spare room, the one Hunter was using wasn't much better, it barely had room for a queen sized bed, dresser and desk, the living space was also crowded out by our computer desk which held two desktop computers, and usually one or both of our laptops, when they weren't in use, or I was at home.
I crawled in behind Warrick, that night, after tripping over several toys on my way up the stairs and nearly falling down the stairs when I reached the top, because, someone had set up another baby gate there. "You're finally home," Warrick whispered.
"Yeah, I think I got a break in the rape case I was working, the suspect was brought in on something apparently unrelated, but I had matched the DNA from my case to their case, it's being run tonight."
"That's good, so you had a successful day at the office then."
"We're one step closer to getting another one of those perverts off the street, so yeah, I'd say it was pretty successful."
Chapter 20: Epilogue
"Come on, Warrick, you can do it," Hunter said, as Warrick screamed his way through another contraction.
"No, I can't, Nicky, take me to our transformation place, I have an idea," Warrick said.
Hunter and I loaded Warrick up in the Tahoe, and Hunter drove us to the secluded piece of road, once we were parked, I helped Warrick out of the truck, and the few paces further, there he transformed almost immediately, in Dragon form, the contractions stopped for a time, and Warrick lay down to sleep, an hour later, they started again. Warrick looked at me calmly, through deep set eyes, his face showing more than a hint of the pain, then he rose into the air and began to fly off, I didn't even bother removing my clothes, I transformed into the phoenix and followed him, my torn clothes falling off behind me. Warrick landed at the mouth of a cave we had discovered together, he lay in the opening, muscles quivering. Four more hours later, Nick could see something at the opening on his belly, transforming into his human self, he walked up to the large dragon, surprisingly, the something, was an egg, roughly twice the size of a newborn baby, Nick caught it before it could hit the ground, the second one appeared soon after, Warrick nuzzled the eggs gently for a second, before turning to Nick, he presented the eggs to the man, before falling asleep Nick nuzzled the eggs as well, realising they would be safe for the time being, he transformed into phoenix form, and curled up behind his mate who placed the eggs between them to keep them warm. It wasn't until two days later that Warrick moved again, Nick had been out hunting several times, and gotten food from town as well, Hunter having left the car for them, he picked up the car seats, and explained to Hunter what was going on, that was the first day, When Nick returned from Hunting the second day, Warrick had dug himself a nest of sorts. At the end of the second week, Nick took one egg in his talon, and Warrick took the other, they flew towards the road, and returned to the car.
Upon arriving at the car, Nick changed back into human form, but Warrick didn't, first he took the eggs one at a time, in his mouth and cracked them open, Nick helped the babies, cleaning them up, and wrapping each of the screaming boys in blankets, before buckling them into the seats, he also wrote down the time, as Warrick made a slow transition to human form. They got in the car, and drove back to the city, Hunter was waiting at the house for them to arrive, he and Nick filled out the paperwork, and then started making calls. The next 20 years, while at times trying, were the most wonderful of that lifetime, Warrick stopped aging about the time the boys were born, later, when Nick was in his nineties and Sick, Nick looked at his lover, and asked him to end it, reminding him that he would return as a young man, Warrick refused, and that lifetime, lasted another 20 years, Nick Stokes lived long enough to become a great grandfather, before dying, Warrick immediately had his body removed to a crematorium, where he was placed in the unlit oven, he was consumed with fire, while the man who was in charge took a lunch break, when he returned, he discovered the body was in ashes, he placed them in an urn, and unknowingly handed the man his own ashes which Nick spread on a windy day in the desert, none have seen the desert bloom so brilliantly since that summer.
A/N: Well, that's all, I'm done, don't you hate my ending, but it was waaaaaaaaay to long, and I had writers block, I think I offended the muse, by refusing to listen to his partner's suggestions. Well, This is the end, I must go now.
Love you all, tell me what you think aight?
