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A/N: Hope you guys are liking this. Please review and send in suggestions for the babies' names

Max lay on their bed with Zack sitting beside her, filling him in on the things that White had said.

"It was so weird," Max said. "The way he was talking, it was as if he hated his father. But it didn't seem like it was some family spat. His voice was so filled with hate and bitterness, it seemed like maybe his father had betrayed him or done something truly despicable."

Zack shrugged. "Or maybe he's just a loony who hates his father."

Max shook her head. "I totally agree with you on the whole loony part but I think there's a deeper reason behind it."

"So he has family issues," Zack said. "What does that have to do with you?"

"He muttered something about me maybe being the one his father created," Max said. "He told me that I had no junk DNA, which is unusual even for an X5. He kept saying that he would find out what was so special about me."

"Do you think that maybe he knows something about the runes you've been getting?" Zack asked. "The runes said something about this person called 'The One'. Maybe it's referring to you." Suddenly something that Zack had heard a long time ago back at Manticore popped back in his mind.

Flashback

Zack was walking to his next class when he heard something he couldn't quite understand.

"How is 452 doing in her classes?" a voice said.

Zack recognized it as the Colonel's. 'Why would he single Maxie out?' he asked himself.

"Very well," another voice said. "The experiments we were doing on her didn't seem to slow her down very much. She's doing better than most even though she's injured."

"Could she be what we're looking for?" the Colonel asked.

'What is he looking for?' Zack wondered.

"I'm not sure," the voice said. "She's doing exceptionally well and recovering quickly but it could be that she's just a good soldier. She and 599 are the top of the X5 series."

"The perfect soldier split in two. Her and 599. Whatever one lacks the other makes up for." The Colonel laughed. "I think that 599's got a little soft spot for her as well. This morning I caught him smiling at her during roll call."

Zack flushed even though he was hiding and they couldn't see him.

"Is that so?" the voice said. "Hmm. Interesting. Am I wrong or does he seem a little overprotective of her whenever you come to pick her up for experiments?"

"No, I think you're right," the Colonel said.

"Let's just hope this kid doesn't turn on you, Deck. They all seem to have a lot of free will."

"Yes, well. Back on task. Did you do a DNA workup of 452?"

"Yes, Colonel. She has nothing unusual about her."

"That doesn't mean it won't happen when she's older. Sandman may have made it so that we wouldn't be able to detect The One until he or she was older and something inside of them changes."

"Maybe. Until then, we'll keep searching for The One."

"Good. Goodbye."

"Bye Deck."

End Flashback

Max waved a hand in front of Zack's face as he stared into space, eyes glazed over.

"Zack? Zack baby, what's wrong? Zack?" she asked.

He kept staring into space when he abruptly snapped out of the trance he was in.

"Zack?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," he said. "Hard to control flashbacks."

She nodded; she got them all the time.

"I remembered something that happened a long time ago back at Manticore," Zack started to say. "I didn't think of it until now because it hadn't made much sense and it was so long ago I forgot about it."

"What?" she asked.

"Remember inspection week back in October of '08?" he asked. "Where you got really hurt?"

"Yeah. They did some unnecessary surgery on me right before," Max said. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"I was on my way to our next class when I heard Lydecker's and someone else's voices, so I stopped to listen. They were talking about you, about how they purposely performed experiments on you right before inspection week. They wanted to see how well you would do. I remember Deck asking whoever he was talking to about how you were doing in your classes, and if they had your DNA analysis back yet. The other person said that there was nothing unusual about you and that they had to keep searching for 'The One'. Maybe Deck knew something about this prophecy bullshit. And maybe he still does," Zack said.

Max sighed. "Guess we're going to have to go Deck hunting," she said miserably.

"No way," Zack said. "You were really hurt today Maxie and we can't risk you getting hurt any more when you're so close to your term date. The babies are probably going to be born in the next month or so, we can't do anything that could endanger you. Besides, I don't like the idea of you going after Deck."

"You'll be there," she tried to reason.

"No," he said firmly. "We won't go looking for Lydecker. It's too dangerous and once the kids are born we're going to have to work double to stay under the radar and protect them. It's not going to be as easy as we thought, Max. We're having two babies, not just one."

She looked down at her swollen stomach and wrapped her arms around herself.

"What if something happens, Zack?" she asked worriedly. "We have people after us, strange runes appearing on my skin, and this whole prophecy thing." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm just scared that something's going to happen to our babies and we won't be able to stop it. We've already had way too many close calls. That White guy is going to come back, and he's going to be pissed about me getting away. He's going to come back angry."

He pulled her to him. "I won't let anything happen to you. We'll worry about White later. I have some issues with that son-of-a-bitch. No one harms my family."

Even though Zack held her, she still felt goosebumps crawl up her skin. "Something's gonna happen," she whispered to herself, almost trancelike. "Something big."

Her body filled with fear and Zack watched her worriedly as she seemed to not be in the room.

White sat at his desk, nursing a bloody lip and a dislocated jaw from where it had hit a dumpster at an odd angle.

He was trying to write something but he was so angry at 452's escape that he pressed too hard and the pencil's lead broke. Frustrated, he threw the pencil across the room, narrowly missing Otto's head.

"Sir?" he squeaked, then cleared his throat. "Uh, should I come back at another time, Sir?"

"Just sit down Otto and tell me whatever you have to tell," White said, gesturing impatiently towards his chairs. "Try and make it good news though. Someone killed a transgenic, it's someone's 50th anniversary, someone had a good screw last night, anything good."

Otto tentatively pulled out a chair and slowly sat down, as if his boss had more flying projectiles to throw at his head. So far, White had thrown a pencil, a chair, and numerous other objects at him.

"Sorry Sir, it isn't good news," Otto said nervously.

White rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised? Alright then, sugarcoat it with something good."

Otto wracked his brain. "Um... Barney, the security guard down on parking level finally got it on with Giselle."

White made a disgusted face. "The fat, 60-years-old-looking secretary, who always smells like a skunk? Do me a favor Otto; never try to sugarcoat anything in your life ever again. You'll end up making the person puke."

"Yes Sir, I'll try to correct that Sir," Otto said.

"Well, what's the bad news? It seems like that's all there is these days," White said, stretching an elastic. Otto eyed it nervously as if waiting for White to fling it at him.

"No transgenics have been captured recently," Otto reported, eyes still on the elastic. "And our supply of arms has been stolen. Yesterday, everything was stocked but today there wasn't even one gun in the warehouse. We assume transgenics had taken our stock because no one else could be able to get past the security."

White continued stretching the elastic as he tried to control his anger. A vein pulsed in his neck. "Tighten security. Find the bastards who stole our stuff and kill them. Find the other transgenics and kill them too. We can't risk anyone finding out about the damn filthy freaks!" His voice had started out somewhat controlled but it rose louder and louder until he was almost yelling. Finally a snap was heard and the elastic flew across the room, making Otto jump.

Otto gulped. "Now Sir?"

White unclenched his fists and smiled insincerely. "No Otto. I want you to get moving in 5 years. You know what, make it a millennium. After all, those freaks only know how to move in enemy territory and know how to drop off a radar. They're only breeding and risking exposure this very minute. So no, Otto. I want you to go home, take a nice, hot, bath, and relax. Don't even think about exposure."

Otto laughed nervously. "Sarcasm. Very good Sir. I'll get right on it." He got up hurriedly and left the room.

"Moron," White muttered.

A/N: I get the feeling these chapters are getting way too sappy and worse and worse every time. Please give me your thoughts. Thanks everyone, please R/R. Also, check out my other stories and the prequel to this fic, "The days before." Also check out, "Together We'll Fight" an x-over. REVIEW!

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