Disclaimer: I feel so sorry for the dumb, dumb people out there in the world who don't know that I DON'T OWN DARK ANGEL! Don't sue!

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Please review and send in your thoughts on the babies' names.

Max and Zack were sitting in the waiting room outside Dr. Carr's office, waiting for the results to come back when Max felt another hard kick. She sucked in a breath sharply.

"Jesus, know I know how Alec must feel. With someone punching you all the time," Max muttered.

Zack chuckled then looked up when Dr. Carr came back with the test results. He was smiling.

"Well, your guess was right," he said. "You're going to have twins."

"Boys, girls or one of each?" Max asked.

"It seems like one of each. I just didn't see the other one before when I did the ultrasound because she was hiding behind her brother and his heartbeat covered hers," Carr said.

Max smirked and turned to Zack. "Looks like big brother already has your overprotective complex. At least we don't have to worry about them fighting. He'll be too busy scaring away each and every boy that gets interested in his sister."

Zack mock glared at her. "I did not scare away every guy interested in one of our sisters."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Because I seem to recall Rena saying a certain something about how you intimidated the guy she was going out with so much, he almost pissed in his pants and called off their date."

Zack shrugged. "The guy was a loser. Some guy who would've taken advantage of her."

Max snickered. "I think our sisters can take care of themselves. For example, one of Jondy's old boyfriends cheated on her and he was found dangling from the Golden Gate naked, hours later."

Max turned her head when she heard something that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a cough. She blushed when she realized that Dr. Carr was still listening to her.

"Anyway," Carr continued on. "The babies are very healthy and you're about 4 months along now. You want to take it easy, get a lot of rest. Don't overexert yourself. You might want to just relax and watch TV or something for the next couple of weeks."

Max rolled her eyes. "Great, I'm fat enough. I don't need to become a couch potato. I'm a transgenic, doctor. I think I can handle some exercise or something."

Carr sighed and turned to Zack.

"You know how stubborn she is. Make sure she gets plenty of sleep. I don't care what you do but make sure she doesn't do anything strenuous. And nothing that could stress her out. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. All she's going to be doing is lying down," Zack promised.

Max glared at him. "No I won't. Are you kidding me? I'll be bored out of my mind!"

"I'll do something to entertain you," Zack said under his breath low and suggestively, so that Carr wouldn't hear. Unfortunately, he did. His face turned a little red from embarrassment.

"Right, um. Yes, just relax and have a nice day," Carr said hurriedly and rushed off before he could hear any more.

Max grinned, her mood being lifted greatly. She put her lips close to his ear. "It better be good, soldier."

Max stood outside a little Italian store at the corner of an alley, waiting for Zack to come out with the food they were going to eat for dinner that night. She felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck, and goosebumps covered her skin, as well as the runes. The thought about them made her shiver as well. The week before, she and Zack had gone to Dix to see if he had uncovered anything. He had said that some of the runes that he had translated told something like "The One shall reveal herself soon, when the time is right. Until then, let the runes guide you and you will find the answers and secrets you seek."

Max rubbed her arms. It was as if being pregnant had heightened her senses. Maybe it had. It was probably an animal thing. When being with child, she had to make sure that nothing would happen to her babies.

Suddenly she heard movement. Someone strong covered her mouth and pulled her deeper into the alley. She struggled and elbowed the person hard in the gut, making them stumble and let go of her. Being released so quickly, she lost her balance and fell. She looked up into the cold eyes of her attacker. It was the same man from the base that she, Zack and Alec had blown up.

"Hello 452," he said. His voice was as cold as his eyes. "About time we've met. I've been looking for you for quite awhile. My name is Ames White. I came across something that belonged to Director Renfro. It was a DNA analysis. Yours."

He walked toward her. She tried to get up but the babies kicked hard and she fell back down, her energy drained. White observed her.

"You're pregnant."

It wasn't a question, but a statement. 'He can't get my babies,' Max thought desperately. 'I need to get away. Zack…'

"Whose bastard child is it?" he asked.

"I'm sick of people putting down my children," Max said fiercely. White's eyes widened and she felt like ramming her head into a wall. 'Dammit, I can't believe I just did that. I let White know that I'm going to have not one child, but two.'

"Children?" he inquired. "Whose is it? Pray tell. Unless they're a lowly human's children and will be born retarded and deformed."

"My children won't be retarded or deformed or anything," Max spat out. "And you better not touch me or hurt them or I'll kill you."

"Were you aware that you had no junk DNA?" White asked.

Max knit her eyebrows, confused at the sudden change of conversation.

"So what?" she asked.

"Do you know what junk DNA is, 452?" he asked.

"Layman's terms for base pairs that don't contain viable genetic information. Doesn't do much more than fill space. Kinda like your head. I mean, it's enormous but there doesn't seem too much in it except air," she quipped.

He struck her hard across the face, leaving a trail of blood running down from her lip.

"It seems that every human being on earth has junk DNA, even you filthy transgenics. All, of course, except you. I guess that just reinforces the idea that you're not human, huh?"

She just spat out blood at him. She felt her head get dizzy from the blow he had given her and willed herself not to pass out. 'Gotta make sure he doesn't hit my stomach, or the babies could get hurt.' The blood got on his shoes and he looked at it, disgusted. He struck her face again, making the blood run faster down her chin.

'Zack!' she cried out in her head. Things were starting to blur around her.

"Well, anyways. I'm going to find out what's so special about you," White continued. "Maybe you are what my idiot father created," he mumbled under his breath.

"What?" she asked, breathing heavily. She was starting to lose focus. "You called your father an idiot? And here I thought that at least you had manners. Oh well. Can't expect them from someone like you. You know, all bastard-like."

He punched her, his fist aiming for her stomach, but at the last second she turned away and deflected the blow, his punch hitting her side. Her face was pressed up against the wall. Things were getting hazier. "Zack," she whispered. Her breathing was becoming ragged.

White lifted his arm to hit her again but this time it was caught. An iron grip held his wrist, not letting go.

"Get away from her you son-of-a-bitch," Zack growled and pushed White against a corner of the alley.

His heart dropped when he saw Max barely conscious leaning against the wall, her breaths coming in short gasps.

"Oh fuck," he muttered. He wanted to kill that bastard badly but he had to get Max out of there. He scooped her up and blurred up a fire escape to the rooftops, leaping across them as fast as he could. "Please God, if there is a God, let her and the babies be alright."

Dr. Carr was sitting in his office when Zack rushed in carrying a bloody Max. He immediately got up and ran over to them.

"I thought I told you to take care of her, not get her beaten up," Carr said as he helped Zack put Max on the hospital bed.

Zack ran a hand through his hair. "I know. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have left her out there by herself. I had just gone into a store to get some food; I didn't think anything would happen. Christ, this is all my fault. What type of man am I? I let Max and possibly my children get hurt."

Carr sighed. "Just sit down. This isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for it." He walked over to a sink, washed his hands, and proceeded to clean Max up. He checked her and the babies, and stitched up a few cuts.

"She's going to be fine Zack. The babies are fine as well, strong, like their mother," Carr announced.

"Thanks," Zack mumbled, his face buried in the crook of Max's neck. "I screwed things up so bad."

"No you didn't," Carr said. "It's not your fault. I'm positive she doesn't blame you for not being there." He lay a hand on Zack's shoulder for a moment, then walked out of the room, giving them privacy seeing that Max was about to wake up.

Max blinked her eyes open and the bright light blinded her for a second. She started looking around frantically.

"Zack. Zack," she whispered, only relaxing when she saw him.

"I'm sorry Maxie," he said, tears in his eyes. "I didn't protect you, I'm sorry."

"No," she said, reaching out to him. "No," she said again once she had his hand. "Don't you even think that this is your fault, okay?"

He opened his mouth to protest but she silenced him with a kiss. "No," she said firmly.

"The babies are fine," Zack said.

She smiled and rubbed her tummy. "I knew they would be."

She looked up with a teasing glance. "What do you want to call them? Zack and Max Jr?"

Zack wrinkled his nose and she laughed. "Kidding. I'm not into the whole junior dealio."

"Thank God," Zack murmured, leaning forward and nuzzling her neck. He traced the faint mark that he had left on her when they had mated with his lips. She understood his need to be reassured that she was okay so she just watched him.

"We have a new problem," Max started when he was done.

"What?" he asked.

"White."

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry for the long wait. Please review and in your review please suggest baby names for both Max and Syl. Also, please R/R my other stories. REVIEW thnx!

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