ZEDD - THE NEXT MORNING

I'm up first but I'm not really all that surprised when Jacob is next. Like his Daddy, he seems to be an early riser, not to mention the late night that the other two had. I'm rather surprised to find only Thomas and myself in our bed this morning. I was positive that we'd have at least Jacob in with us, if not both of them.

Standing in the kitchen, the coffee taking far too long to brew, I watch my son as he eats his cereal and I can't help smiling at how much he resembles Thomas, even at such a young age. Still, I can't help but wonder… "Jacob?"

He speaks around a mouthful of cereal. "What, Papa?"

Automatically, I correct him. "Don't talk with your mouth full, son."

He swallows and says, "Sorry. What?"

I don't know any other way to find out what I want to know than to just ask and as much as I don't want to drudge up the unpleasantness that was yesterday, I also don't want my second child fearing and fretting over it as his sister was last night. "You know you're safe here with your Daddy and me right? You know we'd never let anyone hurt you."

Nodding and seeming slightly confused, his response is something I should have expected. "I know, just like Sissy wouldn't let anyone hurt me when you and Daddy aren't there."

"Right, speaking of that though…How scared were you yesterday?"

"I wasn't scared. I knew that Sissy and Jimmy would take care of me."

"Then why were you crying when Daddy and I got there?"

He shows me his left elbow, which is badly scraped. "Cos I was hurt. It stinged a lot." He's so nonchalant about it, as if these things happen everyday. Thankfully they do not, but still… "Papa?"

"Yes?"

"Can I do what Sissy did? Throwing the black balls that she made?" Oh hells.

"I - don't know, Jacob." I hope not. I still have no idea what we can do for Mara Jane not to mention my underlying concern that if her power continues to grow and progress at the rate it seems to be going now it won't take long before there's nothing I can do as she will be able to overpower even me.

"If I can't, can I have powers like Daddy does?"

Taken by surprise by this, as really we haven't explained Thomas' powers to him, nor has he really seen him use them, I take a minute before asking, "Why do you think Daddy has powers?"

"The bird told me."

"What bird?"

"The king bird."

"King bird?"

Sighing and seeming as if he's the one talking to the child, he shakes his head slowly. "Yes, the king bird, like the one that talks to Daddy. He says if I want powers like Daddy I have to go ask the owl, but I don't know where the owl is."

"I – ugh." Knowing, or at least fairly certain he's referring to Dulcea as if I recall her spirit animal is that of an owl I however don't know exactly what to say to his inquiry. "Maybe we can go find her when you're older. Right now I sort of need to focus on helping Sissy with her powers, okay?"

"Okay." He seems satisfied with this and returns to his breakfast even as I forcefully push this new information aside and allow my thoughts to return to the altercation yesterday.

By the feel of things, Mara Jane can tap into a fairly large amount of power. Nearly on my level, in fact, and handle it just as easily and more instinctively than I can. It took me centuries to learn to do the little trick she did yesterday and somehow she did it without even trying. My hand settles on my stomach. Is it because I carried her and she was exposed to the power all that time? Simply because she is partly my offspring?

My thoughts are interrupted by Jason's arrival in the kitchen. He gets a cup of coffee and, after a drink opens his mouth, I'm assuming to greet me when he's interrupted by the proximity alarms going off. Checking my cuff, my eyebrows go up as I realize that it's multiple alarms - both air and land. I wait impatiently for the device to feed me more information, only to relax once it does. My parents by land and the rest of our adopted family by air. "Well - hail, hail the gang's all here." Jason laughs, apparently amused by my flip remark. "Well they are! Let them in, will you Jason while I go wake Mara Jane and Thomas up?"

"No problem. Do me a favor and grab Jimmy while you're at it though."

Nodding, I go to wake Mara Jane first. I've been thinking about it off and on over the years and I've wondered if it's time to finally tell my parents why things happened the way they did. After all, if we're going to have to explain things to Mara Jane, might as well let them sit in on it too. Perhaps I'll run the idea by Thomas when I wake him up.

Reaching my daughter's room, I hear voices and pause to listen before I knock on the door. I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but after yesterday, I'm more than a little concerned about my daughter. "You don't get it, Jimmy. I can't explain how much I wanted to hurt him yesterday. I'm dangerous now and I don't want to hurt you."

"You're not going to hurt me" the boy states firmly. "I know you better than that."

"I hit Papa!"

"You did" he agrees. "But since this has never happened before, nobody knew how to handle it. I mean, seriously, I've heard Uncle Zedd talk to both of us like that before and it's never fazed you. We just have to figure out how to handle your powers and keep them under control."

Her voice softens. "I don't want to hurt any of you - especially Jacob. He's so little and if I do to him what I wanted to do to Uncle Jax-"

Jimmy sighs loudly and heavily. "Mara Jane, I'm your best friend, right?" There is a pause during which I'm assuming she nods. "You and I - we know each other better than anyone and I'm telling you - you won't hurt Jacob. The only reason you got so wound up yesterday is because you were trying to protect him. You were mad, but you didn't really lose control until he pushed you into Jacob and knocked you both to the ground. Oh and he made things worse by not having the sense God gave a goose and realizing that he should have shut his mouth."

"I guess so."

"Look, it's like Dad always tells me. You can't go off half cocked and without all the information. Listen to what your dads have to say and then worry about whatever's left."

"Thanks, Jimmy." Deciding this is a good time, I tap on the door and open it.

"Princess, time to get up. Oh, good, you're up already. We've got a full house. Everybody's here - even your grandparents."

"Mom's here? Awesome! Let's go, Mara Jane!" I can't help but chuckle as Jimmy practically drags my daughter from the room. Shaking my head, I head for our own bedroom next.

I open the door and am immediately focused on Thomas who is obviously having a nightmare, if his whimpers and restricted movements are any indication. He hasn't had a nightmare like this in years and it ramps up my concern to near unmanageable levels as I hurry across the room. "Thomas, love, wake up."

Abruptly, his eyes open, wide with panic and he's gasping for air. I call his name again, reaching out to stroke his hair only to have him yelp in fright, scrambling backward until he falls off the bed with a thump. Shit, I'm going to kill Jax! I know this has to be a result of what happened somehow. Shoving my rage aside for the immediate moment I refocus on my mate, giving him a minute before calling his name again. It takes a minute more before caramel eyes peer at me over the edge of the bed. "Zedd."

The relief in his voice gets my feet moving and in a moment I'm around the bed and crouching next to him. "Are you okay, love?"

He's still shaking badly and I pull him into my arms as he says, "Yeah."

"So was it-"

"I don't want to talk about it." The firmness of the statement curbs any more questions - for now.

"All right." I squeeze him gently and kiss him before I release him. "If you change your mind though-"

"I'll let you know, but right now I can't."

"Okay. Well, in that case, I was coming to tell you that the rest of our family and my parents are all here. If you need some time however-"

He sighs. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be down."

"Take your time, love."

Thirty minutes later, he joins the rest of us in the dining room. Mara Jane is relating the 'fairy tale' that Thomas had told her last night as he takes a seat next to me and I pass him a cup of coffee and the carafe. He catches what she's saying about the time she relates the part about us being opponents. He smiles slightly and lets her go as he sips at his coffee. Finally she winds down and turns her attention to us. "There's still so much that I want to know though."

Thomas and I nod. "Now, princess, keep in mind that we might not be able to answer all your questions or some things aren't, well, appropriate for you to know."

"Why not?"

"Because you're too young or because it's not our place to say" Thomas interjects. For a moment she looks like she's going to object, but in the end decides to let it go no doubt realizing he's not going to budge, or deciding to find out other ways I'm sure.

"All right."

"Where do you want to start?" he asks.

"Well, you said that a great power swept through space and destroyed the evil and that was how Papa was freed from the evil. All you said was that you were freed and joined the ones that freed you. Who did it? And how?"

Thomas nods toward Jason. "It was mostly Uncle Jason, but Kim, Zack, Billy and Trini helped." He frowns for a minute. "Um, if I remember correctly, he had to destroy the weapon that I was using at the time to break the spell." He looks at Jason, who nods in confirmation.

Mara Jane looks at him solemnly. "Thank you for saving my daddy - even if he wasn't my daddy at the time."

Jason smiles warmly at her. "My pleasure." He turns the smile on my husband, causing a twinge of jealousy in me that - even after all these years - I still don't understand the reason for. "Besides, he's paid me back countless times since then."

Not real surprisingly, Thomas rolls his eyes and speaks in a fair imitation of the first Pink Ranger. "As if."

"Gold Ranger powers" Jason states.

"Green Ranger powers" Thomas counters evenly.

"Divatox and Maligor."

"Gasket and Rita." Oh hell I've seen this before, and I know if given the opportunity the two of them will go on with their verbal battle well into the late afternoon.

Thankfully though, before it can turn into any kind of disagreement, Mother speaks up. "Not now, boys. As amusing as it is to watch you two argue over who kept who alive, now isn't the time. Let the child ask her questions."

"If Uncle Jason saved you, then who saved Papa?"

"Uncle Dar and Aunt Pina" I state, before Thomas has a chance to. "They didn't have to, but they put their own recovery and lives on hold to keep me alive."

Instead of asking something else, she turns her attention to Dar and Pina. "Thank you for caring for my papa and helping him get well."

The two warriors redden. Finally Pina responds, "Just like Tommy has paid back Jason many times over, so too has your father repaid us repeatedly."

Before this goes any further, I step in. "By the way, I think we need to fill in Hayley, Pina, Dar and Kira on what happened yesterday."

"And your mother" Father adds. At our surprised looks, he admits gruffly, "I was so angry about what Mara Jane told me yesterday, I couldn't tell her. Well, between being angry and dealing with what happened."

Between Jimmy, Mara Jane, Thomas and I, we tell the story about what happened in the park less than a day ago. And every one of them looks - angry doesn't quite cover it, but enraged is just a bit over the mark.

Mother gathers herself first and gets my daughter's attention. "Mara Jane, my sweet girl, you and your brother are absolutely not abominations. Yes, you do apparently carry power like your papa, but because you were born with it instead of infused with it later, you very well might be able to learn to control it better than Papa can."

Thomas and I exchange stunned looks. "That - hadn't occurred to me" he says.

"Me either."

"There's still the problem of the emotional state she apparently needs to be in to access the power, though. Never mind that we aren't completely sure how much power she has or has access to."

"Let's figure that out later. In the meantime, I have no doubt that Mara Jane still has questions."

Some hours later, she seems to be satisfied for now. Jacob is currently asleep on my lap, having curled up there after a late lunch. Pina suggests, "Going back to an earlier problem, perhaps to assess her level of power, we should talk to Zordon."

Instantly, Mara Jane snarls, "No. I'd rather not know than to deal with him."

Surprised by her aggression, I ask, "What? Why not, baby? You've talked with Zordon before, and while I myself find him a tad boring and his conversations rather tedious I however thought you liked him."

She looks at me like I'm an idiot. "Really, Papa? After he almost killed you how could think I could possibly like him? And why would you of all people want anything to do with him?"

"What?" How did she find out about that?

Jimmy says, "Jax said so. He said, 'The only 'help' I need where he's concerned is to find someone willing to finish the job Zordon started and kill that evil, self-centered monster.' That was right before he said that you were as evil as they come, just like her."

Quietly, Thomas murmurs to me, "Tell me again why I can't just rip his head off?"

Unfortunately, he's forgotten how good everyone's hearing is because Mother answers him. "Because, Tommy, as his parents we have - how do you say it? - first shot at him. Either to fix it or end it."

"That doesn't make sense" he argues. "No parent should have to kill their own child."

"It doesn't always have to go that far, Tommy" Father says. "Sometimes it's as simple as removing them from the general populace for a while."

Thomas freezes as he processes this statement. "That's why you sent Zedd away all those centuries ago - to try and get him under control."

"We did hope that a little time away would help" he agrees. "However, it ultimately only made things worse."

"You didn't know what would happen. Hell I was the one dating him and I didn't see it coming. That's a discussion for another time though." I turn my attention to my daughter. "I know that you don't like it, but it's necessary. We need as much information as possible if we're going to help you, sweetheart. Plus, Zordon almost killing me, darling that's – well that's just what we do."

"What?"

Sighing at her lost look I continue as reasonably as I can, knowing she very likely won't understand my logic being so young. "Sweetie, it's just our relationship. Like – okay you know how Lord Trey and I always insult each other and how I occasionally try and steal one of his ships or break into his treasury?"

"Yes, and then he sends his army to the castle and he and Daddy talk about how you need a new hobby before you fight his army and he takes his things back."

"Exactly. That's just how we interact and bond with each other" I agree. "So just like that's how Lord Trey and I are with each other, Zordon and I have a similar way of bonding."

"Which is?" she presses, though by her tone I think she can already guess.

"I make his life miserable, he makes mine miserable back. I use Rita to trap him in a power grid, he traps her in a dumpster. I try to kill him with the assistance of Ivan Ooze, he tries to kill me with a wave of light based power. It's just how we bond, dear."

Looking at me as if I'm a complete and utter idiot once more, she shakes her head before turning her gaze on Thomas. "Daddy?"

"It really is how they bond, honey. Believe me, I'm not highly fond of it myself, but it seems to work for them and honestly whenever one is in any critical danger that they haven't caused themselves, the other is typically always willing to help."

"But he almost killed you" she stresses once more, looking at me as if desperate for me to understand her own logic now.

"Yes, and before that I almost killed him. Again, it's just what we do, or at least did before we had you and your brother, after you were born we toned it down a bit to be non life-threatening altercations."

"Unless they play chess, then all bets seem to be off" Thomas adds, no doubt recalling my attempt to jam a bishop into Zordon's skull the last time we played.

"In any case, it's a place to start" Kira says, returning our focus where it should be.

"Thomas, would you mind love?" I nod at our still snoozing son. "My hands are a little full at the moment."

He nods and goes to make the call even as our daughter continues to grumble about how Zordon better not even dare to think about harming me again. Trying to pull her focus off of my former enemy, I encourage her to tell her grandparents about some of the things she's been doing on Earth, be it her schooling, babysitting, friends she's made, and so forth. When Thomas does finally return a little while later he's frowning and I know the outcome of his descussion isn't good. "He says that he can't do anything."

"What?"

He repeats himself. "He says he can't do anything."

"Why in all the hells not?" Of course. He spends all his time being of no use whatsoever, why should this time be any different?

"Apparently, since he expended all his power in that wave all those years ago, he can't sense or control it anymore like he could when he was trapped in the grid. Essentially, he's - burnt out."

Many years ago, I'd have been amused at this news - or at least thought that he deserved it. Well, I suppose I still do think so, but now when we actually need him, it kind of - as Kira and Thomas would say - sucks. "Well, what do we do now?"

Thomas hesitates. "He did have a suggestion, but I don't know how we'll do it."

His uncertainty is making me nervous. "Do what?"

"He suggested that we take her to see Dulcea."

"Well, that does make sense" Pina comments finally in the silence that has fallen. "After all, she spends all her time being surrounded by power, not to mention she's skilled enough to able to help potential holders unlock and harness it."

"I can see a list of potential problems with that plan" I state, sighing as Thomas questions me on it. "For one, while a Keeper of the Great Power she generally deals with raw grid power along with a specific type which is connected to nature and whatnot, and as we're all aware that type of power is not the same as the dark power I or Mara Jane hold. For another I doubt very much that she'll allow me on her planet, much less on the temple grounds" I point out. "Even after all these years, she's still not overly fond of me."

"She'd probably like you better if you wouldn't annoy her at every opportunity" my mate says casually. "However, what seems to annoy her the most is - again, how you think too little of yourself."

I shrug lightly. "Centuries of habit are hard to break." I'm not surprised to see Pina and Dar roll their eyes along with Thomas. However the confusion on the faces of my parents, Hayley and Jason and the knowing look on Kira's is brand new. "What?"

"Mate, I've been telling you for years that you have no reason to do that anymore. Of course Dark Spector wanted you to conquer more planets than you did. Even if you were taking over ten planets to every one of everybody else, it still wouldn't have been enough for him. Your father wanted you to take over the family business, but it wasn't what you wanted. Parents and children all over the galaxy have that battle, it doesn't mean you aren't good enough. You can't always protect me like you think you should. It happens, kalleimat, considering our histories with and without each other. You, mate, are an incredible businessman and husband and father. And you have been on a pretty steep learning curve dealing with me and my problems when you saved me and the emotional roller coaster I've put you through nearly every day since and you've done an amazing job. Stop selling yourself short."

Okay did he really have to bring up my issues with my father right now? "This isn't even relevant to the more important issue of helping Mara Jane. First things first, call her and see if she'll even help before we worry about if she'll tolerate me long enough to or not. If she won't, then I'll - stay here with Jacob." Under my breath, I add, "He doesn't need to talk to the owl yet anyway."

"What?" Thomas looks at me in confusion. "What do you mean he doesn't need to talk to the owl?"

"Oh, right. I hadn't told you yet." I repeat the conversation I'd had with our son this morning along with my concern over his communication with this bird of sorts.

Understanding lights Thomas' eyes however and if I'm not mistaken he actually seems a tad pleased. "He called it a king bird?"

"Yes, that's what he said" I agree. "Why?"

"Because when I first met Dulcea all those years ago and she helped us unlock our animal spirits, she referred to mine, the falcon, as the winged Lord of the Skies. Not to mention if you remember, mate, when you were helping me recover and I'd chained myself in the dungeon and you guys wanted met to speak with her again Dulcea said that the falcon is often referred to as the bird of kings and it was time for me to start acting like the royalty that I was."

"Which means?" I press, unfortunately already feeling like I know the answer.

"Which means that he must mean the falcon - the bird that talks to me sometimes."

Crap. That's what I was afraid of. I look down at the still sleeping figure on my lap. "How in all the hells are we going to deal with two children with growing powers at the same time?"

"I doubt that Dulcea would put him through the trials at his age, mate." He looks to Pina for support. "Right?"

I hold my breath as she looks thoughtful and doesn't agree immediately. "If power is already a part of him, it would certainly depend on what kind of power it is. If it's like Zedd's and Mara Jane's, then there'd be no way that I'm aware of that powers from the great temple could supercede them and therefore no reason to do so. However, if he has power like Tommy's or none at all, then yes he would be able. At his age, it's certainly not the same as it was for you though. Without talking to her, I don't know what to expect, unfortunately. However given that he does seem to be able to communicate with the falcon, and the animal has taken some interest in him, I'd say that's very likely a good indication that he should perhaps be assessed by Dulcea as well."

"So you think we should take him with us when we take Mara Jane?" Thomas questions, seeming far too calm about this.

"I don't think it'd hurt. At the very least he'd just be able to meet her and be assessed perhaps" Pina agrees.

Unable to help myself, I hold my son tighter against me as I snap back a bit too forcefully. "And what if I don't want him to."

"What?" Seeming surprised, Thomas raises a curious brow at me. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't you want him to?"

"Are you serious? Thomas, he is not Mara Jane. He's – he's breakable and vulnerable and I don't want him getting hurt and I don't like that bird of yours encouraging him to go off seeking power that could result in him getting hurt or worse yet killed."

"Zedd, kalleimat, did you ever think that maybe him having power will help protect him? This might be a good thing."

"Or it might end up with us losing him." Bad enough I'm already terrified that I might lose my daughter to the power I'm responsible for her having, but I'll be damned if I'll willing do the same with my son.

Thomas takes a breath and speaks softly. "He isn't me, mate. I know that when you look at him, you see me as a child, but remember that he's only a quarter human." He rests his hand on his stomach. "And don't forget - the powers have been protecting him since before he was born."

As I take this in, Mother asks, "How would he know what you looked like at that age? Zeddic met you for the first time during your teen years, right?"

"Kira, would you go get the album from our room, please?" She nods and hurries from the room. "On Earth, we have a holiday called Christmas, which involves the exchange of gifts. The first Christmas we were together, I wanted to give gifts to my new family. Since they weren't aware of the tradition, I didn't expect any in return. I gave Pina a plant that is native to Earth, Dar some cookbooks that had been in my family for a long time and Zedd a photo album that my parents made from the day they adopted me until I was about nine or ten years old."

Kira returns shortly and at Thomas' nod, hands the book to Mother. Father looks over her shoulder as she flips through the pages. She stops somewhere around the five year old mark, if my memory is correct, and exchanges a look with Father. He murmurs, "It's uncanny. Just like Mara Jane looks so much like Zeddic - or what Zeddic would have looked like as a female."

About to ask Pina about it, as I keep forgetting to, usually dealing with more important matters, Mara Jane interrupts with a frown. "Daddy, why would you have chained yourself in the dungeon?"

Looking like he wants to kick himself, most likely for forgetting that she was in the room, he exchanges looks with me, clearly uncertain what to tell her. "It's a bit of a long story, honey."

"I'd still like to hear it."

Seeming to reluctantly cave, he responds with a sigh. "All right, though it's not as interesting as I think you believe it'll be. A very long time ago, while I was recovering from being hurt on Earth, I had a migraine - a very bad headache."

"Like the ones you get now?"

"Oh no. Worse, so very, very much worse. Anyway, Aunt Pina did a medical scan to see if she could find out what was causing them but she couldn't find out anything. So Papa did a magical scan on me to see if something was wrong because of the spell that Rita had put on me many years before that to make me evil." He hesitates and I barely catch the flash of pain and shame on his face and through the bond. "What we didn't know was that Rita had put another spell on me that would be triggered when it was touched by dark magic. Not knowing it was there, Papa accidently triggered it and it turned me evil again."

He wanders away to go stand looking out the window as he continues. "While I was under the spell, I - hurt Papa and Aunt Pina."

"Tommy you really didn't hurt me" Pina protests. "And again if I hadn't been taken by such surprise, I would have easily thrown you across the room."

"I was still far out of line, Pina" he argues before continuing unhappily. "Anyways, that aside, as I said I definitely hurt Zedd."

"Well, not at first" I interrupt, much as Pina had, before looking at my daughter, determined to not let her think badly of her Daddy. "At first he was actually obedient to me, only remembering me as Lord Zedd, sent to take over the planet. But later, as the evil grew, he began to realize I wasn't the threat I used to be and decided he was going to take over and that's when he tried to overthrow me."

"That's when I hurt you" Thomas corrects unhappily. "Anyways, when Papa finally was able to break the new spell on me - with me fighting him all the way - I remembered what I had done and I didn't want to take the chance that the spell wasn't really gone, that it would come back and I'd hurt them again. So when Papa fell asleep that night, I went and chained myself in the dungeon so I couldn't hurt them while they slept."

Mara Jane's eyes narrow. She knows that she's not being told everything, I think, as even at twelve she realizes there are too many gaps in the story. "But why would you think that it would come back with nothing to trigger it?"

"At the time, I thought that the evil had grown worse as I slept. I was afraid that if I fell asleep that it would start again since we didn't know if it was gone or had just gone back to sleep. Papa was already hurt and in no shape to do the scan again to check so it was decided to wait until morning for him to get some rest first. Papa fell asleep first and then as I was starting to fall asleep, that's when I thought that the spell would come back if I slept. I tried to stay awake, but when I realized that it wasn't working, that's when I went to the dungeon."

"Where you had a completely detrimental anxiety attack" I remind him unhappily.

"It still didn't even compare to what I did to you" he protests miserably.

"Love, are you still carrying that around after all these years?"

"Until the day I die, Zedd" he says softly. "Even if we weren't a couple yet, that was still no way to treat the man who saved me."

Knowing that everyone except the children knows what happened, I shake my head. "Let it go, Thomas. In spite of that, getting rid of the spell, however it happened, allowed you to recover much faster than you would have otherwise. Besides, as I told you then I didn't dislike your methods you had decided to use to overthrow me, I was just getting aggravated with being punched in the face. Plus much like Pina could have over powered you at the time, so could I have if I'd truly wanted or needed to."

"But the bond-"

"Stopped me from hurting you. I still could have restrained you if I had to, love."

Mother steps in again. "Boys, you can argue about that later, if you must, although I think that you're - what was the phrase? - beating a dead horse."

Thomas looks at her in surprise. "Well done, Mara."

"Thank you, dear. The point is that's all in the past and we need to deal with now. Zeddic, my son, I understand your worries and concerns, but I truly believe that you are better off knowing now and starting his training if necessary, rather than being caught by surprise like you were by the level of power that Mara Jane has."

Dar nods. "Forewarned and all that, Zedd."

"Logically, I know that" I answer. "But still-"

I stop and Pina speaks up. "Zedd, again, even if he has power and Dulcea feels that it's best to awaken it, he won't have to take the same kind of trials that Tommy did. This is more about - heritage, I guess - instead of needing to acquire the power to fight evil as Tommy had to."

"Besides" Father adds "I would think you would want some definitive answers before you have Mara Jane's - what's the word?" He says the Eltarian term, and based on the puzzled look on Thomas' face, it's not something he's come across before and I have no idea what to compare it to that he would know.

Pina confers quietly with Kira for a minute and understanding lights her face. She turns to Thomas. "A coming out party or a sweet sixteen party. A great big freaking party to formally introduce her to society."

Jacob stirs in my arms. "Yay party" he says sleepily.

"Not right now, son."

"Okay." He yawns and wiggles off my lap, much to my displeasure. "I gotta go." Letting him wander off to the bathroom down the hall, I return my focus to the discussion.

I still don't like it, but I relent. "Call her then" I tell Thomas. "But make sure she understands that I'm very much against him gaining or having powers awakened if it's not necessary."

"I will. Just like I'll make sure to let her know that I'm not."

I sigh as he leaves the room. Turning my attention to my daughter, I see that she's frowning again. "What's the matter, baby?"

She turns confused and hurt eyes on me. "What do you mean that Jacob's not like me?"

"What?"

"Before Daddy explained why he chained himself up you said Jacob isn't like me."

"Oh." Remembering what I'd said when I'd first objected to Jacob seeing Dulcea, I explain as best I can while trying to downplay what I'd really thought at the time. "Well for starters, sweetheart, he's a lot younger than you and Daddy hasn't started teaching him to fight yet. It would be so much easier to hurt him than it would be you. Plus he, well…he's just not you." Sighing and running a hand through my hair, I try and word myself very carefully. "Mara Jane, you're old enough now that you should be able to notice that much like your Daddy and I differ in certain ways, personality, impulse control, morals, and temper, you and Jacob also differ in similar ways. Darling, to put it simply, you're like me in more ways than just powers and looks, the same as Jacob is more like Daddy where his empathy, curiosity, and sensitive nature is concerned."

"Meaning?" she presses.

"Meaning, that while I would still lay down my life to protect you without a second thought to it, you very likely are not going to need me to do that. You have proven time and time again that when challenged you will stand up to said challenge, despite the danger, and allow your temper to control and fuel your actions and drive, resulting in you being victorious." At least so far anyways. "Jacob however, while still very young, doesn't show the same -" Fury? Killer instinct? Rage? "Drive that you do, even when at his stage in life."

"Oh." She thinks about this for a minute. "Well, I heard you and Daddy talking one time. I think it was about me. Daddy said something about Aunt Hayley's tests not showing anything and you saying that it didn't mean anything and that the technology was primitive and I think that Daddy got mad at that."

Now I'm frowning as I search through my memories. Let's see. Hayley would have run the tests after the confrontation with Calan so Thomas would have been pregnant at the time. "What else was said, Mara Jane?"

"Daddy said that he had done the best he could with what he had, could afford and still be able to eat, and was able to salvage from the Command Center."

Eavesdropping little brat - just like her father, really. Now I recall the conversation and it wasn't pretty. It had started out as a conversation about what to do to avoid a repeat of the Calan incident while we were on Earth and had quickly escalated into a fight - completely off the original subject and mostly due to Thomas' hormones at the time. Unfortunately, it was a conversation that we never got back to even after he calmed down. "See, you only heard a little bit, angel. We had started talking about ways to make sure that what happened with Calan didn't happen while we were on Earth because that would have lead to a whole lot of problems. Then Daddy got upset and well, we never finished the conversation."

She looks down at her hands and, like Thomas, starts nervously twisting her fingers. Softly, she admits, "It did almost happen again."

"When?" I can only think of one thing that might have pushed her to that point…

"When my teacher called me a liar several times and threatened to punish me."

"What now? What do you mean, punish you?" Nothing had been said about this before and I can't help but wonder if it was because she had been so upset at the time, or just afraid of what might happen if we didn't have the man removed from her life.

"He said that he was going to-" She frowns as she tries to remember. "Spank me? I don't know what that is, but I didn't want to find out. After I said I was going to call you and Daddy and tell you he was being mean to me then he said that I needed to go to the principal's office and gave me a note to take to him."

Jason's brow furrows as he thinks. "There are some private schools that permit the teachers to use corporal punishment, but the parents usually have to sign some kind of release allowing it. Well, unless they sneak it in with other paperwork, but I seriously doubt that Tommy would have signed such a thing, nor would he have allowed you to. And he certainly is smart enough and cautious enough to read everything first."

As if on cue, Thomas comes in the room and I turn on him, my fury barely under control. "Thomas, what the hell kind of school have you been sending our daughter to?"

"What?" Pausing and looking at me lost, he doesn't get a chance to question my own question further as I continue in anger.

"What kind of punishments do they use at Mara Jane's school?"

He blinks at the change in expected subject. "Depends on the offense, mate. Detention, parent conferences, suspension and expulsion are the usual punishments and that all depends on the severity of what the student did wrong. Why? How did this come up?"

"Remember that issue with Mara Jane's teacher? Apparently she almost lost control of her powers then when he called her a liar several times and then threatened to punish her by spanking."

Thomas' mouth drops in shock. "That's- there's no way- they don't- I would never have sent her somewhere that had that kind of punishment! Or even if they did, I would have made it more than clear that nobody strikes our child! Hell, we don't even do it when she deserves it."

"Well I – wait, deserves it?! When in all the hells would that be?" I growl at him.

He folds his arms and stares me down. "We are not having this conversation right now."

I stand up. "The hell we're not. Tell me exactly when you think it's all right to do such a thing."

"First of all, don't you start snarling at me like I'm one of your minions. Second, you had better remember - and right now - that I grew up on Earth and things are different there than they are here. Third, there is a world of difference between a spanking and a beating, so don't ever suggest that I'd do such a thing. Don't even think it. Fourth, there has only ever been a handful of times that it's even crossed my mind. The first time being when she was five by the way and everybody was gone but you two and I came home to find you in tears because you had such a hard time with her and you were certain that she hated you because she'd been so difficult to deal with." He pauses to let this sink in and then goes on. "There is an old saying on Earth - spare the rod and spoil the child. It means that if there is no discipline then the child will become spoiled. Back when they used to use the saying, a spanking wasn't an unusual occurrence. Really, until about twenty or thirty years ago, it still wasn't all that unusual."

Jason speaks up. "Zedd, I'm a grown man and my folks rarely raised a hand to me while I was growing up. However, I'll tell you right now, if I ever - and I mean ever - spoke to my mother the way Jax did the first time Tommy met your family, well, if Mom didn't do it, I know that Dad would have smacked the holy hell out of me."

Hayley nods. "If I would have been disrespectful like that, Mom would have backhanded me so hard, I'd have had to check for loose teeth. In fact, I did once." Now everyone's attention is on the red headed female. "I got into an argument with my mom. I wanted to go out somewhere and she said that I couldn't go. I told her that, by law, I was an adult and could do whatever I wanted. She said that as long as I lived under her roof I had to follow the rules and do what she said. I - told her what I thought she could do with her rules. She gave me one warning. Said to go to my room and rethink what I'd just said. I told her to go to hell and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor with a bloody lip."

Mother, Father, Dar and I are all rather horrified. As harsh as I felt Father's punishment had been when he sent me away, he'd never done that! "You're not serious?"

"Oh yes. And I deserved it too. See, Dad drove a truck for a living, transporting goods all over the country and wasn't home much, so Mom was pretty much raising me by herself. When they found out how smart I was, she took a manual labor job in a factory to pay for the better schools and other study programs so that I could get a good education. She worked long days and it was hard work and I was being an ungrateful brat. Now that I'm an adult, I can appreciate the sacrifices that she made for me and am really grateful that she didn't just throw me out."

"That's unbelievable."

Thomas shakes his head. "Not really, mate. I earned a few spankings in my youth - and I deserved those too." He grins suddenly. "One time, when I was - oh about ten or so and certainly old enough to know better - I dumped paint on one of my classmates. Right on her head. Turned out that the teacher had grabbed a wrong container of paint and it wasn't the washable kind. The girl I dumped it on had really long, light blond hair - kind of like Kat's - and it stained her hair. Her mother had to take her to the salon to get the paint bleached out of it and, not only did I get a talking to and a spanking, I had to pay her mother back. I had been saving money for a toy and I had to give all of it to her - plus all my allowance for the next six weeks. Oh and I had to apologize to the girl."

I can't help but shake my head. Humans. "I still can't accept that, Thomas. If Mara Jane or Jacob did what you did, I would certainly hold them accountable, but I would hardly think it anywhere near okay to strike them."

Frowning for a moment, and holding up his hand as Jason looks ready to try and convince me further that their barbaric practice of spanking younglings is acceptable, Thomas makes a slight noise of understanding before giving a nod. "Let's see if I can't explain this in a slightly different way mate, one you might see more logic in."

"You're welcome to try but I believe you'll very likely be wasting your time."

"Maybe, maybe not. Let's see if I can first make certain I have your point of view down correctly here before I do anything though. You don't have a problem with fighting, maiming, and killing an opponent, enemy, or random person who challenges you and shows you disrespect, correct?"

Frowning and wondering where he's going, I however give a nod of agreement. "Correct, but as you just stated those are enemies or strangers, not my children or mate, not someone I love."

Smiling slowly and seeming to be rather satisfied by this answer, he gives another nod of his own. "Right, so by your logic no matter the offense, be it insults, challenging your authority, harming innocent people, whatever, so long as it's done by an enemy or stranger, you have no qualms about dishing out a lesson with more than just words. However for the same offenses organized by a loved one, the punishment would not be physical, correct?"

"Correct."

"Right. Okay, mate, let me pose you a hypothetical scenerio, one that we've actually discussed in the past. Let's say I broke our vows of marriage and disregarded our bond, lied to you, and went behind your back to mate with another, you would do what exactly when you found out?"

"As I already told you many years ago Thomas if you chose to find another I would be a wrecked individual, but so long as you were up front with me I would allow you the space you felt you needed to find out I was the better choice and hope that you would come back to your senses and eventually return to me. However should you lie to me and go behind my back, mating with some – what's the human term – home wrecker, chances are I would kill him or her and beat the hell out y – you." Fuck.

Looking far too satisfied for my liking, he makes a noise of approval. "Say that again, mate?"

Greatly displeased by his trickery and damn intellect, I give him a highly displeased look. "I would beat the hell out of you."

"Because I mean less to you then Mara Jane and Jacob?"

Growling slightly, I want to protest his logic, but know I'm more or less trapped now. "You know you don't."

"Because you think it's logically all right to lose your temper at an utterly unacceptable action I choose to make and not one that they might?" This is what I get for bonding to an intellectual.

"It's different" I protest.

"You're right, it is different" he agrees calmly. "It's different because, one, neither you or I would ever beat the hell out of the children, no matter what they did, and two, if they ever did get spanked, it wouldn't be a result of fury but concern for their wellbeing and safety. I am not going to vow to you that I will never spank or swat them on the ass, Zedd. If Mara Jane or Jacob do something purposefully that we've told them not to, something that could put their lives in danger I would rather punish them in a significant way that drives home the seriousness of what they did then allow them even the slimmest chance to go out and do it again and next time not make it back to us alive." Sighing and taking my hand he looks at me seriously. "Zedd, think about it like this, what would you rather happen, deal with the unpleasantness of smacking Jacob or Mara Jane on the ass when he or she does something life threatening to prevent them from doing it again, or ignore the matter and end up having to bury our children?"