CHAPTER 88
FATHERS
December 13, 2010
1:28am
Charlottesville, Virginia
Russell Family Home
Alley laid her daughter down in her crib in the new nursery. Sometimes Alley's family had a way of surprising her. In the midst of making plans for breaking Alex and Peter out, and trying find a cure for Jack, the family had turned one of the unused rooms in to a nursery for AJ and Matty.
Alley knew that one of the reasons the room had been made was because the family was avoiding sleep. The bad dreams always came with sleep, something Alley knew from first hand experience.
"Hey Alley-," Jeff called entering the nursery.
"Hush I just got her back to sleep," Alley chided her fiancee, and father of her child gently.
"Sorry," Jeff apologized sheepishly, as he approached Alley wrapping his arms around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder.
"It's fine, she didn't wake," Alley replied. "Just watch your daughter turn out to be another night owl. Sleep all day, stay up all night."
"A habit we both know she couldn't of inherited from her mother," Jeff teased, both knowing Alley was more of a night owl than Jeff was. "Can she stay this way forever?" Jeff sighed looking down at AJ.
"Sadly dear she's going to grow up. The only thing is that she will never have to grow up the way we did," Alley whispered.
"That's true. But what I hate is that her whole life, AJ is going to have to hide who and what she is out of fear that she will be discovered. I don't want for her to spend her life alone. We were lucky, we found each other, second best thing the Centre did after giving us our daughter. But what if AJ doesn't have that luck?" Jeff asked.
"Jeff," Alley said turning in his arms, looking up at him. "We can't think that far into the future. Sweetheart she's not even crawling yet. Let's save worrying about her love life until she can walk...and I don't know maybe even becomes old enough to date."
"Lucky us, because she's not allowed to date until she turns thirty," Jeff grinned.
"Hypocrite, we started dating when we were fourteen, but you aren't going to allow your daughter to date until she's ten years older than we are now," Alley teased.
"As her father I reserve the right to say when AJ's allowed to date," Jeff replied.
"And as her mother, I'm allowed to haggle with you until we reach a satiable age for our daughter to date," Alley said kissing Jeff.
"Thirty is a suitable age," Jeff argued.
"I hate to break it to you dear but it isn't," Alley told him.
"Ah, well it was worth the try," Jeff sighed, glancing back at his daughter's sleeping form. "I still can't believe she's already four day's old."
"I know. Hell I can barely believe that Jasa and Jack are seven years old. I still remember when they were AJ's size," Alley said.
"Alley?" Came a voice of a small boy from outside of the nursery. Alley peaked around Jeff's form to see Jack standing in the doorway.
"Jacky what are you doing out of bed? It's late baby," Alley said walking over to Jack and picking the boy up.
"I can't sleep," Jack whispered resting his head on Alley's shoulder.
"Are Jason, Keegan and Amy asleep?" Alley asked.
"Yes," Jack answered. Alley frowned slightly, it wasn't often that one of the boys were awaken while the other's were sleeping. It fact Alley couldn't really think of any time when such a think had occurred unless she or Will had telepathically put just one of the boys to sleep.
"I don't like it either," Jack mumbled picking up on Alley's emotions.
"You and Jason are really starting to gain control of your empathy," Alley noted.
"Yeah," Jack yawned.
"Sounds like someone's sleepy after all," Jeff said lightly ruffling Jack's hair.
"Don't want to sleep," Jack protested.
"Ah so that's what it is. It's not that you can't sleep you don't want to," Alley said.
"I'm afraid that if I go to sleep I won't wake up," Jack whispered. Alley closed her eyes completely understanding what Jack was dealing with.
"I use to be afraid of that too," Alley admitted to her brother.
"Why?" Jack asked.
"The Centre made me sick too. Very sick, only it was pretend. But for me, Will, Aunt Jen and Uncle Sam it was very real. I was your age when they made me sick and the one thing I remember most was being terrified that when I went to bed that night I would never wake up. Will never knew that I was scared though, nor did Uncle Sam or Aunt Jen. I put on a brave front to try not to worry everyone," Alley told Jack.
"Are you saying that I should try to be brave?" Jack asked.
"No baby," Alley said shaking her head. "You be what you are, even if that's scared. It's okay to be scared, no one will think any less of you, Gabriel. But don't let your fear control you."
"I can't help but be sacred though Alley," Jack told her. "At least a part of me is scared. I know that Jasa won't let me die, but Alley we don't know how to heal."
"It is in the two of you though, Daddy ran your and Jasa's blood and we found that you two have the same anomaly in your blood that Ares, Ajax and Achilles had before they lost their healing abilities," Alley said.
"And you know Jack, Ares told us that the trigger for healing is love. And I'm pretty sure that Jason loves you a whole lot. He's not going to let you down Buddy," Jeff said running the back of his hand down Jack's face. "That's one of the best things about being a twin, you know you always have at lest on person in your life who loves you."
Jack stared up at his future brother-in-law, and smiled. "You're gonna be a good Daddy," Jack said, causing Jeff's whole face to light up.
"Hey, what about me?" Alley asked tickling her baby brother. "Am I gonna be a good Momma to your niece?"
"Course you are, you've had plenty of practice lookin' after me Jasa, Amy, Keegan and the others," Jack reassured Alley.
"You know that really does mean a lot coming from you," Alley said kissing Jack on the cheek. "Now let's get you back to bed, huh? You think you can sleep now?"
"I guess so," Jack yawned again.
"I think that's a defiant yes," Alley smiled as Jack's eyes began to droop.
"Here I'll take him," Jeff offered taking Jack from Alley. "Come on Buddy," Jeff whispered and carried Jack back to the Black Files room.
The older children weren't sleeping, in fact, they weren't even in their room. The Files had relocated to the living room where they were making the final touches to their plans to get Alex and Peter out.
Amy, Keegan, and Jason were huddled together sleeping on Alex's bed. Jeff laid Jack down in the empty spot between Amy and Keegan. Alley drew the blanket overtop the sleeping children, and pressed a kiss to each of their crowns.
"You okay?" Jeff asked pulling Alley back into his arms.
"I'm worried about them. When they took me from Will, it nearly killed him...hell it nearly killed me. I don't want for those three to go through the same thing that Will did," Alley replied.
"They won't," Will spoke from the doorway, Jaime with him. "Because Jason is going to learn to use healing powers, and Jack is going to get better."
"He has to," Alley whispered.
December 13, 2010
3:42am
Charlottesville, Virginia
Russell Family Home
Jarod walked into the kitchen in search of a glass of water, he had awoken from a particularly nasty nightmare involving his four youngest children. It was a reoccurring dream, one Jarod had every time he closed his eyes.
In the dream Alex and Peter were in a pit of quicksand to one side of Jarod, and Jason and Jack were huddled in a corner flames licking at their shoes. The children would cried out to their father for his help. And Jarod would try and simulate every way to save his children but in his heart he knew that he could only save Alex and Peter or Jason and Jack but he couldn't choose. And every time Jarod's dream would end with all four of his children dying.
Thus why the pretender had taken to avoiding sleep. And apparently he wasn't the only one. Will sat in the kitchen a pot of coffee and a pair of blue files before him.
"Why are you up?" Jarod asked, running a hand through his hair.
"I assume it's for the same reason you're awake. Avoiding the nightmares," Will replied, getting up to grab his father an empty mug and pouring Jarod a cup of coffee.
"I'm not avoiding, I was awaken by one," Jarod informed his son, as he took the offered cup of coffee. "This is going to keep me up for the rest of the night you know." Jarod gestured to the mug.
"I thought that was the point."
"Believe it or not I would like to get some sleep. I'd just prefer a few hours of rest without nightmares," Jarod said.
"I know the feeling," Will muttered and continued to flip through the file in front of him. Jarod reached for the second file and looked through it curious as to what it contained. It was about Jason, all of the information Will and Alley had managed to learn about their baby brother; his abilities; his blood work; even his psychological profiles.
"I don't think I ever told you are your sister this, but you two have done a hell of a job keeping track of all of the kids abilities," Jarod praised his son.
"Someone had to do it. Why not Alley and me?" Will shrugged his shoulders.
"Your grandfather Sydney is more than capable of doing so," Jarod replied.
Will shook his head. "Grampa outright refused, when Alley and I offered. He said that he had played mad scientist enough in his youth."
"In those exact words?" Jarod asked skeptically.
"Well not in those exact words," Will grinned. The teen then sighed. "Dad?"
"Hum?"
"When you found out you were an instant Dad to five kids were you scared?" Will asked.
"Scared? No," Jarod said shaking his head. "I was damn near terrified."
"Really, you never seemed like it," Will remarked.
"I remember the day I came home after your mother told me that you, Air, Andy and Alex were mine. You all had just come back from riding with Chris and, Andros told me that Aaron had fallen off his horse while riding. I was ready to call the ambulance and rush Air off to the ER," Jarod admitted.
"You were just scared that Momma would kick your ass if anything happened to one of her babies while in your care," Will snorted.
"Okay I'll own up to that. But still from the moment of learning that you and your brothers and sisters were mine, all I did was worry that I would screw up as a father," Jarod said.
"Dad, you've never failed as a father, not in my eyes, or Alley's or anyone else's," Will told his father.
"Will you're going to be a great father you know that right?" Jarod questioned his son realizing why Will was really awake.
"I hope that I will be. I mean I couldn't even keep Jason and Jack safe from the Centre. How and I going to keep my own son safe?" Will voiced his fears.
"That is the one question that every parent asks themselves every moment of their lives. It's also the hardest lesson that we parents must learn. I didn't learn it until your brother's were taken. We can't always protect our children from the world, Will. Sometimes things happen and we can't control them, and we just have to hope that we raised our children to survive whichever cards fate deals them," Jarod said.
"But Will you've got nothing to worry about, you've spent the past seven years helping to raise your brothers, sisters, and cousins. And all of them are growing up to be strong, wonderful young men and women. You are going to make a damn good father."
"I should I was taught by the best," Will told his father.
"Thanks son," Jarod said, glowing from the complement.
"I wasn't talking about you Dad, I was talking about Uncle Sam," Will grinned cheekily.
Jarod lightly cuffed his son, frowning. "Thanks a lot son. Glad to know just how loved I am."
Up next: Alex meets an old friend. Jake receives a phone call that puts him in a freakishly good mood that has the rest of the family worried.
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