A/N: I almost didn't upload this today, I really thought I wouldn't have the time. Normally from this day forward, I should have more time for the story. Tell me what you think about this revised version and enjoy!
Before she brought Ray back to his father, they needed to assess the extent of the information Ames had given them. They hadn't chosen the termination of every person on the list; at least not yet. They were going to hunt down everyone of the list and put up surveillance teams around them to see who else they had in their pocket.
"How much time do we need to track all those names?"
Max and Alec, along with Mole, Biggs and Cece were huddled around Dix's computer in Command.
"Not too long." replied the white paste face transgenic. "At least for those around Seattle. We'll need to deploy teams as soon as I track them down." Dix looked at Max and asked, "How much time do we have until the information you gave us isn't viable anymore?"
Alec looked at Max too, he was wondering the same thing. How much time did they have before White reported in? She had refused to kill him, and she had talked him into leaving Ames at his apartment.
"Yeah, how much time do we have Max?" He didn't feel like sending transgenics in the field when they couldn't even be sure if their information would still allow them to do what they had to do, or if the Familiars were already setting traps for them.
They had instructed Peisinoe to erase part of White's memory, but they both knew that they couldn't really count on that. Tomorrow, he would remember most of everything that had happened. Bit by bit, everything will come back to him.
"I don't know. I'm working on that," she said honestly. "I think that we have a week or so. Maybe less. I'm hoping getting his son back will buy us some time." She was crossing her fingers, praying to the Blue Lady that she was right, that they had that week.
In the meantime, she had to keep a promise she had made.
H*E*A*T
Max handed Ray's bag to his father. His eyes told her that she wasn't welcome but that he wouldn't do anything because of his son. She just smiled.
"I'm hungry dad!" the little boy looked at the apartment and found the kitchen easily. "It's a bit like your apartment Max!" he observed.
Ames waited for Ray to go into the kitchen before turning his full glare on Max.
"What are you doing here?" he inquired.
"I would have figured that it was obvious." she replied calmly. "I promised that I'd bring your son back, didn't I?"
He glowered at her as he recalled her words.
"I never go back on my word." she said and followed his son's voice to the kitchen.
"The man is hungry!" Ray exclaimed again. Still in the hall, he heard them rummaging through his cupboards and her scolding his son.
"What did I tell you about that expression?" 452 admonished though her affection for Ray was obvious. The whole situation was surreal and irksome.
Quite how she had managed to gain his son's affection, he couldn't fathom. As a grown man, he understood her appeal, he had sampled her charms; but what was her appeal for a eight year old boy.
The fondness in his son's voice wasn't feigned. It was Max this, and Max that. He had put her on a pedestal. As much as Ray had missed him, he had loved the time he had spent with Max. Much to Ames' annoyance.
At the moment, Ray was promoting him to 452 of all people and he realized that even if he had the opportunity to kill her, he probably wouldn't because his son had attached himself to it: Ray had come home with a stray cat in tow.
Max was amused by White's reactions. She read all the emotions that passed his face from the wonder of having his son again to the frustration of seeing Ray and her getting along. She glanced at her watch and noticed the time. She wasn't supposed to stay this long.
"It's ten buddy. Time to bunk in." she ruffled Ray's hair. "Plus, I gotta jet."
Ray threw himself at her for a hug.
"Thank you for finding my dad, Max!" he whispered.
Ames' jaw tightened. She knew exactly where he was all those months ago, but he didn't correct or argue with his son's statement.
"A promise is a promise." Max looked at Ames, an apology and tears in her eyes, "Even when it takes time."
Ray released his tiny hold on her and went to stand next to his father, sliding his hand in Ames. She knew she did the right thing.
"So you'll pick me up tomorrow?" Ray asked her.
Max stopped in her tracks, her eyes going to Ames before going back to Ray.
"I thought you understood buddy. I won't pick you up."
"Oh," Ray's face was puzzled, then said with hope in his voice. "Alec's coming then."
Again, she glanced at his father and kneeled in front of Ray.
"No." she swallowed and went on, "Alec isn't coming either." A pause. "Do you remember what I told you about familiars and transgenics?"
The little boy nodded, a forlorn expression painted on his face as he started to understand what was happening: he was never going to see Max and all his transgenic friends again.
"Does that mean that you hate me now?"
"Oh, no! Never! You're more awesome than Alec and Biggs put together! Of course I love you."
She held him tightly in her arms before letting him go.
"It doesn't matter what you are or who your father is." She kissed his forehead. This was the last time that she would get to do that. In the corner of her eyes, she saw the mounting irritation in Ames. It seemed like she had finally overstayed her welcome. "Remember to duck and run when you hear us coming." she stage whispered.
With a smile, she got up and quickly left.
As she roared her baby to life, her heart constricted at the thought that she would never again see the little boy again. She knew his father would see to that.
Fate and a stubborn little boy thought otherwise.
H*E*A*T
Before meeting Max – and the transgenics in Terminal City – Ray was an introvert kid. He had been small for his age, still was – but he thought that might have to do with the fact that his daddy wasn't that tall either – and his mother had been very protective of him. He remember his parents telling him that he was a premature baby, and seeing pictures of him in an incubator. He had grown to be a quite kid, happy with what he was given.
But he wasn't the same kid anymore. He'd spent enough time in Terminal City, with the transgenics to grow confident and stubborn. Lately, he always got what he wanted from Alec and from Biggs. With Max it was harder. So when things didn't go the way he liked, he worked hard to change that. Richard had told him that he needed to stand on his own two feet, and to fight for what he wanted.
Well, he wanted Max, Alec, Biggs, Joshua and all the friends he'd made in T.C.; and he was going to get what he wanted.
Alec had taught them, this week, that he 'needed to asses the situation, and devise a plan'. He thought long and hard but nothing came to his mind so he used the only weapon a eight year old boy had : the temper tantrum.
H*E*A*T*
The last three weeks with his son hadn't been easy. First, he had to talk his way out of an inquisition, in order to enroll Ray in the Familiar Academy. And Ray wasn't making things easier for them. True, he stuck to the story they had agreed on and rehearsed; but beside that, his son wasn't behaving much.
Every day, he picked up his son after school, and every day the headmaster was standing beside Ray waiting for him to have a few words about Ray's behavior. It was the same story, everyday: his son had been fighting – kids who were older and stronger than him – and winning those fights. Ames suspected that the first day, Ray had been provoked but afterward, Ray found an outlet in the fights, and now, he was the one who brought them on.
Ray seemed impervious to the punishment, and despite his pride of the first days, now, he was starting to have an headache, when 4 AM approached and he had to go pick up his son.
Yesterday, the headmaster had had enough because, not only his son was fighting, but the teachers had also become the mark of his pranks. They didn't know how to react to his antics – because it was undisciplined and un-familiar – and Ames didn't either, so they punished him until Ray completely rebelled and skipped school altogether.
Ames found him waiting patiently outside his office. How he had managed to get in, his father couldn't figure out since the whole building was under surveillance.
It seemed that 452's stubbornness had contaminated his son, and everything had become a negotiation. He had tried placating his son to no avail. Thousand years of selection and he was bested by a boy whose voice hadn't even broke.
At first, his son's attempts were subtle – as much as a eight year old could be – but now, the message was screamed at him : he wanted Max!
He hated the love that his son felt for the transgenic but he loved that his son was showing some backbone! Wendy smothered his son, something that Max hadn't done apparently. He wasn't afraid for his son now when he drove him to the Familiar Academy – he knew after all how cruel the kids could be there. If anything, the other sons were taking a beating from Ray. Insofar as he was proud of his son's strength, he would have liked to be to one to nurture it to life.
Nevertheless, he was finally admitting that he was beaten, after only one month with his son.
H*E*A*T
Ray's behavior had been noticed by all. But one adult – the headmaster – was wondering were exactly the little boy had been trained. His son had been one of the many children that the Sandeman boy had beaten. He recalled his youth, and beating the crap out of Patrick Ames Sandeman. When he learned that Raymond, Ames' son was going to be one of his pupils, he had asked his son to "welcome" the boy back. Ernest – his pride and joy – was two years older than the Sandeman boy. He should have been the one winning the fight. Surprise didn't even begin to cover what he felt when he discovered his son, bruised and battered, on the floor and White's son, kicking him in the gut.
According to the boy and his father, he had been hidden with a distant relative of his mother. But who then could have trained him? And what was White hiding?
The headmaster Finch was a familiar, but he was also a snitch. So he took all his suspicions to one member of the Conclave.
H*E*A*T
He was surprised when she answered the phone. He had kept this number since Paris, not really thinking that he could use it, or that he could reach her on it for something so normal as helping him with his son. Before, she was the one initiating contact. Now it was his turn.
"Do you know what I'm doing right now?" her voice was annoyed. She was obviously thinking that he was someone else.
"Hello? Alec I swear to God if you..."
"It's me." he interrupted. He frowned. Would she know that it was him? He was bout to add, White, but she beat him to it with a simple, "Oh."
"Is Ray ok?" her first question reassured him. He was doing the right thing by his son.
"He's fine." How did he tell her that his son wanted her in his life and he wasn't averse to the idea himself.
"So...why are you calling me?" she queried the worry in her voice had been replaced by her previous annoyance. "I'm kind busy right now." she stated.
"What are you doing?" the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
"I'm hanging with my bare hands on the ceiling of the..." she huffed. "Why am I telling you this?"
He smiled and smothered a chuckle. No need to anger her more. "Why are you hanging on a ceiling?"
"Nevermind! Just tell me why you called?"
There was no avoiding that question. At the end of the day, this time, he was the one who had called.
"I don't know if I'm doing the right thing here," she didn't need to know that he was okay with her spending time with his son. "Can you pick up Ray for training tomorrow?"
For a moment, he thought that she had hung up.
"Say what again?" her annoyance had turned to complete surprise.
"He was suspended from the Academy. I need someone to watch him..."
"That he'll actually listen to," she cut in guessing his problem with the little boy.
He nodded though she couldn't see him. He didn't feel like telling her that she was right.
She sighed. "I would have loved to take Ray, but I can't bail tomorrow. I'll be busy the whole morning. I guess I could figure something out for the afternoon. If it's okay for you?"
She hadn't asked him more detail, she just jumped at the chance of seeing Ray again. He was doing the right thing, he repeated again in his head.
"It's fine. We'll be on..."
"Don't worry I'll find you." she hung up without saying goodbye.
She hadn't boasted, she hadn't made a single comment about his call – which he appreciated greatly – but he knew that she had worked out that it was costing him to call her.
His son was going to get everything that he wanted but what about him. What was going to happen when the Conclave found out? His relationship to Max was already complicated before, this entangled them even more together. She had literally replaced the boy's mother and he didn't see Ray thriving away from her. He had to decide on his actions soon.
H*E*A*T
Unbeknown to Ames, he didn't have much time to take his decision. Finch made sure of that whhen he reported his suspicions to the Conclave.
Fortunately for him, Dix was watching the familiars' maneuvers around Seattle, and one of them was checking White's movements of the past months. The loud beep warned him that someone was trying to find footage of Ames on every available systems in the world. He wasn't worried about them finding something – because Max had asked him to wipe every single trace of their travels in Europe and Baltimore – he was worried about what it meant. He didn't care for the familiar, but he cared – like most of the transgenics around – for little Ray, the mini fella as Joshua called him. He was worried because if a familiar was checking on Ames it meant either that they had found out about his lies, or that they were suspicious of his story.
"Max is not going to like this," he muttered as he punched in her number. He swore as it went to voice mail. "Huh, Max. It's Dix. I think someone's making a move on Ames. I don't know where you are but you better hurry."
H*E*A*T
Max had missed the call because she was negotiating oranges – real live oranges – in South Market. She had kept a watchful eye on White because of Ray and she knew that Thursday was Fast food day. She knew where to find them and she was impatient to see her little man and hold him again. When she had secured the fruits in her backpack, she frowned on the missed call. If Dix had called, it must have been something important. She dialed her voice mail, her face turning ashen as she understood Dix's message. She quelled her instinct to blur toward her son and shield him. There were too many people around her, they couldn't risk exposure. She needed to think calmly but it was hard when one was in mother hen mode. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. The first thing that she had to do was finding them. That was easy, she was five minutes from the fast food joint. She left her bike near the fruit stand and ran toward the restaurant. Everything was going to be fine. Ray was going to be fine. Nobody would dare hurt him.
H*E*A*T
The look on Max's face put Ames immediately on alert. His son was too happy to see her to understand the undercurrents.
It taken all her strength to march calmly in the fast food without showing her panic. She had called Command and asked if someone could come and help her. She knew Alec was out of reach because of their plans. Just like Biggs, Cece, and the handful of transgenics that she actually got along with. Rip – otherwise known as Jacky the Ripper – and two of his unit members were was the only ones available for a rescue mission and she told Dix to not bother. Whenever she felt Rip's eyes on her, she shuddered internally. He was unnecessary cruel and she had always forbidden Ray to approach the X-5.
At least, she could safely say that no other familiar were in the vicinity.
She took in Ames' reaction and she tried to convey through her eyes that there was no immediate danger. At least, not yet.
Right then, she knew that everything was going to change between them. That from then on, there were going to face whatever came next together.
Ray was finishing his drink, and talking about going to work with his dad. He frowned.
"It wasn't as fun as doing..." he hesitated and looked at his father. "Stuff with Alec." he finished with a smirk. He put his drink back on the table.
"Why don't you go to the toilets?" asked Ames. He'd have time later to know what else they had taught his son.
"But I don' t need to go." the boy protested.
"Just do what your father tells you." said Max firmly. "Come on, I'll still be here when you come back. We might even go to Terminal City."
"Sweet!" Once again, White saw that his son had really enjoyed his time in Transgenic Central.
They both watched Ray disappearing behind the door of the toilets.
"Someone is checking on your travel movements of the past months. They won't find anything, but if they started to probe it means that..."
"I know what it means." his tone was defeated, not gruff or reproachful, they were past that now. "I thought I had more time."
"Well, you can' t go home now. Someone is probably already waiting for you both there."
"What do you want me to do? Get Ray and run? You won't ever see him again." he paused. "He won't be manageable for once, and they are going to come after me. I can't fight them if I worry about Ray. But I can't just leave. I just got him back."
"I know." she whispered. "What if we make them think you were killed?"
"They'll still come for Ray."
Max shoock her head. "What is the protocol if you're compromised?"
"I don't know." Ames was puzzled. "It never happened before. Usually we do the killing not the other way around."
Ideas were rushing in Max's head. Except for her family, she had never been a good planner. But now, Ames was...family. He needed her protection as much as Ray.
"We need to make them think that you were compromised, that somehow, I got to you and that I killed you."
"What about Ray?"
The dark haired transgenic shrugged. "That's not going to be a problem. They already think that something's wrong with him, we're just going to let them think whatever they want."
He started to protest, but caught him what exactly she had planned. "It could work."
"It could, but we need time to prepare and enough of your blood to make it believable."
They both turned to watch Ray saunter towards them.
"Can we go now?" he asked excitedly.
"How about going straight to TC?"
"With dad?" the boy inquired.
"That way, you can show him where you spent your days these past months." Max understood Ray's hesitation. She had after all explained to him that he wasn't to disclose to his father anything he ever did in TC. She also knew instinctively that his father never asked. Except to make sure that he had been treated correctly. She ran her hands through his hair. She had missed doing this simple gesture. "You need a hair cut, young man!"
"I want a cut like Biggs!" he declared nodding his head.
"We'll see about that." she looked at Ames. "Do you think if we race your father to TC, he'll beat us, or we'll beat him?"
"We'll beat him for sure!" he exclaimed.
"Ok. Team Max and Ray, against Team Dad. A little race on the rooftops." She winked at Ray. "Do you think his old bones will manage to keep up?" she mocked.
Ames scoffed. "We'll see who can't keep up."
H*E*A*T
The first time his son jumped from the roof, his heart stopped. The whole two seconds where Ray was suspended in the air, he felt his heart constrict. It started to beat again when Ray landed safely on his own two feet, on the opposite roof. He heard Max's chuckle.
"Don't worry. It's not the first time that he's doing this and he knows." she stressed, "that he must never take risks. He knows his limit."
"You mean to tell me that the first time that he jumped you weren't scared out of your mind?"
"Of course I was afraid." she smiled at Ray's antics on the other roof. "Now that you're reassured in his abilities, let's see if you really can keep up." She soared away, her laugh ringing in the night air.
