Disclaimer: (sigh) Must I repeat myself to all of you sad, sad, unknowing people who don't realize that I don't own this?
A/N: Thank you to everyone who is reviewing. Plz, plz, plz, R&R. It would be greatly appreciated if you reviewed. BTW, sry for taking so long to update. So much work.
About a week later, Max, Zack and Alec walked into Jam Pony and headed straight towards their lockers. Luckily, Max had talked to Normal about why Alec hadn't been to work, so Normal didn't bug him. The fact that Normal was also very flexible when it came to Alec helped too.
They each put their things in their lockers, then closed them and headed towards the dispatch counter. Max searched through the packages then finally handed some to Zack and Alec. They looked at the addresses and smiled.
"You know, it pays off to have you working the dispatch counter. That way we don't have to go all the way across town to deliver one package," Zack said.
Alec nodded. "Yeah. And Normal also doesn't get on our cases because we deliver so many since the places are so close to here."
Normal walked up to them and smiled kindly at Alec.
"So how's my golden boy?" Normal asked. "Your identity crisis all sorted out?"
Alec cast a sideways, questioning glance at Max, who was staring at the floor trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, sure Normal," Alec said. "I'm all sorted out now. I know who I am. Alec McDowell, Jam Pony messenger."
Normal looked like he was bursting with pride. "That's my boy. You're a strong one; I knew you could get through that. You know what? You've been doing a great job. I'm giving you a raise." He put a hand on Alec's shoulder for a second, unnerving him, then walked off with a spring in his step.
"I think Normal's on drugs," Max stated, looking after him with her eyes wide open with shock.
"A raise?" Zack repeated, his voice incredulous. "For what?"
"Well, for doing a great job of course," Alec said cockily. "It's not like I don't deserve it. Now bip, bip, bip," he said grinning.
"You bip at me one more time and pregnant or not I will kick your ass to the curb," Max threatened.
Alec shook his head. "You've really got to get your girlfriend to stop her obsession with my ass," Alec told Zack, making him chuckle.
Max turned to Zack with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. She tapped her foot on the floor, making Zack stop laughing immediately.
"Pregnant women," Zack said. "Rule number one is never piss them off. Especially with mood swings."
Alec laughed. "You're so whipped." He took his package and left.
Max let the scowl melt off her face and she kissed Zack quickly on the lips. "You better get going before Normal comes over here to bug you. By the way, I might leave a little early today. I'm really tired and Normal's allowed me to go."
"Okay. You rest up," Zack said. He put a hand on her extremely big stomach. Max was about 3 and a half months pregnant. They had gone to see Dr. Carr and he had said that so far everything was going along perfectly but he warned them that she might give birth a little prematurely because of her feline DNA. He predicted that she might go into labor around 6 months into her pregnancy so all of the symptoms would show up earlier. The cravings were lessening, but now she was going into the mood swing stage.
He kissed her a final time then went off to deliver the package. Max sighed and tiredly started to give out packages.
In downtown Seattle, a woman wearing a black leather jacket and tight-fitting blue jeans walked through the market with a little boy in her arms and a man trailing behind.
"Mommy, can we get some pasta for dinner?" the boy asked.
"I don't know baby, that stuff's expensive. We'll see," the woman said.
The man motioned to the woman that he was going to go get something and she nodded and kept walking, picking out things from the stands and putting them in a cart.
It was then that something caught her eye. She zoomed in and saw a bunch of guys with uniforms on walking around, apparently searching for someone.
'Manticore?' she thought to herself. 'But I though that it was burned to the ground.'
One of the soldiers turned around and their eyes connected. As soon as he saw her he gestured to the other men and then pointed at her. They all looked at her and started moving through the crowd.
The woman backed up. 'Oh shit, what do I do now?'
Zack rode through the streets of Seattle, finally realizing why Max had always insisted on staying in the past. It was nice there. Maybe it was a city that didn't work properly but it had some kind of magic to it. He rode up to 253 5th St. and got off his bike, placing it against the picket fence. He walked up to the door and knocked, seeing that there was no doorbell.
He waited a few moments until the door opened and a middle-aged woman stepped out.
"Can I help you?" she asked in an Italian accent.
"I have a package for a Mr. Goodman," Zack said. "Is he here?"
"No," the woman said. "He and the family are out but I can take it. I'm the baby-sitter."
Zack handed her the package and noticed that the place was near empty.
"They just move here?" he asked.
"Yes," the woman said. "From San Francisco. Mr. Goodman's job transferred him here."
Zack handed her the clipboard. "I need you to sign this please."
She took the clipboard and looked at it. "One minute, I need to get a pen."
Zack nodded and he examined the place while she was gone. He wasn't going to steal anything; it was just habit. He saw that there was a piano in the living room and a picture on top of it. All of a sudden the air rushed out of his lungs. He zoomed in to make sure but he was certain. The woman in the picture was Max. He was so shocked that he didn't notice the baby-sitter come back.
"Here you go," she said.
"Yeah, yeah," Zack said absentmindedly. He snapped out of his trance and looked at the woman.
"Who's the lady in the picture over there on the piano?" he asked.
The woman looked over her shoulder then back at Zack. "That's the missus. Mrs. Sam Goodman. She's little Jason's mother."
Zack didn't say anything and the woman felt like she had said too much. "I'm sorry but I'm very busy right now. Have a nice day." She gave a quick smile and shut the door in his face.
'What the hell?' Zack thought. 'She looked exactly like Max!'
Max looked at the clock and decided that she would go home. She yawned, handed out the last package then slowly walked to her locker to get her stuff.
On her way out, she ran into Normal. He saw how tired she was, and softened a bit.
"You get some rest, Missy Miss. I don't want you falling asleep on the job," he said.
She nodded and kept walking, thinking about the nice bath she would take when she got home.
The soldiers kept walking toward the woman, and she clutched her son tightly and started backing up quickly, accidentally knocking over a table of fruit.
"Sorry," she said hurriedly as the man started cursing at her.
She turned around and started running, not wasting time to look over her shoulder as she knew they were running after her; she could hear their footsteps.
"Stop!" one of the soldiers yelled.
She pushed herself to run faster.
"Mommy, why are you running?" the little boy asked.
"Not now Jason," the woman said.
The man who was with her before dropped the pomegranate he was holding and rushed over to her.
"Sam! Sam why are you running?" he asked. He then spotted the soldiers running after her.
"Sam, what's going on?" he asked.
"Just run and come with me Carl," Sam said. "Please, don't ask any questions right now, there's no time."
He looked at her with a worried expression then started to run as well.
"Sir," one of the soldiers said into the radio he had. "Sir, we have the target in sight and are moving to subdue."
"Very good soldier," White's voice said on the other end. "Get her."
"She's with a man and a child, Sir," the soldier said. "What should we do about them?"
"Keep them alive for now. I want to see them," White said.
"Understood Sir," the soldier said, and he put the radio back into his breast pocket.
Zack was walking through the market in downtown Seattle, thinking about the woman who looked exactly like Max, when he heard a bunch of yelling.
"Stop!" someone yelled.
Zack sprinted to where the yelling was and saw a bunch of soldiers chasing a woman, a man and a child. His eyes widened. 'That's the woman who's identical to Max!' he thought. He knew it wasn't Max herself because this woman wasn't pregnant. He assumed that the child was Jason and that the man was Mr. Goodman. He saw the soldiers come closer to where he was so he retreated into the crowds, still following the family.
'So, Max has a twin. I wonder if I do too,' Zack thought as he ran through the crowds.
Sam kept running, glancing back to see if Carl was keeping up with her until she skidded to a stop. It seemed she had run into an alley and there was a dead end. She whipped around and saw the soldiers coming closer. She took a deep breath and put Jason down.
'I don't want to blow my cover but I won't let my family get hurt,' she thought. To Carl's surprise, Sam struck a fighting pose and looked at the soldiers with a threatening look in her eyes that said, "Touch my family and you die."
The soldiers formed a circle around her and she tensed.
'Let the games begin.'
Zack lost track of the family until he saw a soldier disappear into an alley.
'Great idea,' he thought sarcastically. 'Just stick yourself in an alley with a dead end and no way out.'
He climbed on top of a small building and looked down to see the woman fight off the soldiers, not letting even one of them come close to her family. He watched as the woman taunted the soldiers.
"That the best you got?" she asked. "Huh? This is pathetic."
Zack chuckled. This woman was identical to Max in more than one respect. It seemed like she enjoyed teasing soldiers before she kicked their ass as well. He watched for a while longer, until he saw that she was getting a little tired.
'Looks like it's time for me to step in,' Zack thought, before he jumped off the building and landed gracefully on the ground.
Sam heard something behind her so she punched the soldier in front of her and whirled around. She saw a very good looking man drop to the ground and start taking out soldiers as well. She looked at him, confused. He saw her staring at him and made several hand signals.
'I'm not the enemy,' he said. 'I'll help you. Keep fighting then when I give the signal get your family out of here. Go to 339 Waverly. #304. You'll be safe there. Wait until I get there.'
She paused, undecided. 'Why are you helping me?' she signaled.
'Because you're transgenic. And because you happen to be the clone of my girlfriend. I'm X5-599, one of the 09'ers. I'm trying to help you, don't hold it against me.'
She nodded and continued taking out the soldiers, ignoring the look of shock on Carl's face.
'Punch, kick, block, roundhouse kick, back flip, block, karate chop, sweep, punch, block,' she repeated in her head, almost like a mantra. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the 09'er give the signal.
'Show time.'
She lashed out at the last soldier then ran towards Carl and Jason, grabbed them and started running towards the opening of the alley then to 339 Waverly. 'This better not be a trap or that guy will be sorry,' she thought as they ran.
Max opened the door to her apartment building and stepped inside. She stopped and leaned against the wall for a second. 'God, who knew being pregnant could make you so stressed,' she thought. She closed her eyes and then opened them again and slowly walked to the elevator.
Sam and her family entered the building that 599 had told her to go to.
"Sam, what happened? How did you fight like that? Where are we? What's going on?" Carl demanded.
"I'll explain in a few minutes, I promise," Sam said. They walked up the stairs to apartment 304 and Sam picked the lock and walked in. She looked around then she pulled her husband and child onto the couch and waited.
Zack finished off the soldiers and headed towards the apartment. 'I hope that she's planning on telling her husband about what she is, because judging from the look on his face, he didn't know about her being transgenic. She better tell him or else there's going to be a lot of problems.'
White sat at his desk in his office, waiting for the soldier to report back. There was static then he heard ragged breathing on the other end.
"Sir?" the soldier said. "We lost her. She got away when a man came to help her. We assume that he's transgenic too."
White balled his fists then yelled. "Damn it!"
There was silence on the other end of the radio.
White tried to control his voice. "Find her," he gritted out. "And don't fail."
"Yes Sir," the soldier said meekly.
White turned the radio off then with a scream threw a chair at the wall, splintering to pieces as it narrowly missed Otto who walked in a second before.
Otto looked at the remains of the chair and gulped.
"Uh, is this a bad time Sir?"
Zack raced up the stairs to the apartment and saw Sam, no, Max walking in, then saw her fall to the ground.
"Max!" he yelled and ran towards her.
Max unlocked the door and Sam stood up and was face to face with her. Carl looked between the two of them and Max stood frozen. It was like looking into a mirror.
"Oh my God," Max said, then she fainted and crumpled to the floor.
"Max!" Zack yelled and he ran towards her, luckily catching her before she hit the floor.
"Maxie," he whispered. "Maxie, wake up. Shit, I shouldn't have shocked her like that. The stress must've gotten to her." He looked up to see Sam standing nervously, shifting her feet from side to side.
"Is she okay? What did I do?" Sam asked.
"Nothing, it's okay. Can you go into the kitchen and get some ice from the freezer?" he asked.
She nodded and came back quickly.
"Sam, she looks like you," Carl said. "What on earth is going on? You have a twin? And who are you?" The last comment was directed to Zack.
"I'm your wife's sister's boyfriend," Zack said as he lifted Max in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
Carl looked at Sam, and then he got up and followed her and Zack to the bedroom.
"You have a sister?" Carl asked.
Sam looked at him helplessly. "Looks that way," she said lamely.
Carl shot her a strange look. "What do you mean looks that way? You say it as if you didn't know you had a sister."
"Well, I did. Sort of," Sam said. "I promise I'll explain everything as soon as I can. But first, I need to get answers myself."
Zack sat beside Max, dabbing at her forehead with the ice wrapped in a cloth. "Come on, Maxie. Wake up for me please," he murmured.
As if hearing his request Max's eyes fluttered open slowly. She immediately put a hand to her head. "God, my head kills." She looked around and saw Sam. "My God, it wasn't a dream."
"Sorry 452, I'm real," Sam said.
"Name's Max," Max said.
"Sam," Sam said. "This is my husband Carl and my son Jason. It looks like you guys are going to have a family soon too," she said, indicating Max's stomach. "How far along are you?"
"About 3 and a half months along," Max replied. "This is Zack," she said, motioning to him. "So, no offense, but why are you here?"
"Some soldiers went after me. Zack helped me fight them off then told me to come here," Sam said.
"Okay," Max nodded. She noticed Carl's lost expression. "Looks like we better get comfortable because it seems like a lot of explaining is going to happen."
The three transgenics looked at each other, and then got comfortable. This was going to take a loonnnngg time.
A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Anyways, please read my other fic "Together We'll Fight" if you haven't already. Review plz. Also, I would appreciate it if you guys would tell me some of your ideas for the baby's/babies' name(s). I was thinking about maybe Tiana, Jessica or Evelyn for a girl, (Evelyn for Eva, Tiana for Tinga) and Jack, Benjamin or Joshua for a boy, (Jack for Jack and Benjamin for Ben). Anyways, send in your ideas for names please. Review!
Thanks so much to –
Kiwifruit03 – Thanks for reviewing!
shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing!
PhoenixPowered – Thanks for reviewing. I appreciate your constructive criticism. I sent you an email but since the last part was cut off I had to guess and may have sent it to the wrong person. Anyways, I hope you got it, but if you didn't, please give me your email again, but put a space between your email and the hotmail, or yahoo, or whatever it is that you use part because it gets cut off if you don't put a space. Anyways, thanks and I hope you continue reading but if you don't I understand. :)