Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel so don't sue me. Thanks. :-)
A/N: Thank you to TwilightEclps and nattylovesu for reviewing the last chapter! This chapter has more of the main characters in it this time, if anyone was wondering where they disappeared to.^_~
Ex Multus Familia: Part 2
Chapter 15
"Truly remarkable," Marie said, sounding more pleased and awed than anything.
Max rolled her eyes while Gem and Dalton both flashed the elderly woman a scowl. Before the two angered transgenics could say anything, Max pushed away from the wall she was standing against and walked over to stand beside Marie. The white-haired ordinary was standing beside the exam table in the infirmary, inspecting Crystal's arm while Crystal stared at her, looking as if she couldn't decide whether to cry or not.
"Yeah, that's great," Max said, "But what does it mean?"
Marie turned and looked at Max down her ski-slope nose. "Can't we just appreciate the scientific marvel that has been shown to us today for a moment?"
"Not when it affects my kid," Gem growled, her face set in a glare that had only lifted briefly today to show her worry.
Marie tutted and shook her head. "It isn't going to hurt the dear little one, not at all." She brushed her hand along the top of Crystal's head, smoothing down the thick but fluffy red hair. "I just want you to know how truly amazing it is that this worked."
"What worked?" Grey demanded. The co-administrator of the infirmary must have also been getting annoyed with all of Marie's ooo-ing and ahh-ing that wasn't giving them any answers.
Marie sighed. "John's experiment. This was one was almost an impossibility, no one, not even me, believed it would actually work."
"The tattoos were an experiment?" Max asked, thinking of her own eclectic array of markings.
"Yes, of course," Marie replied, "You, of course, have your own set of instructions, but John wanted to create a backup, just in case you failed." She smiled down at Crystal, who was now cradled safely in her mother's arms. "It seems that it worked, just as he planned. My clever, clever John."
Max froze, her arms rigid in their crossed position. "Marie. What am I supposed to not fail at?"
Marie looked up, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Well, I'm not very sure of that. John was a darling, but he didn't want to bring me our problems." She looked off to the side, out of the foggy hospital window. "Our boys became a problem…he wanted to help them." Her eyes slowly slid back toward Max. "That's why you're here. You were born to save my boys, that's your purpose."
Max tried very hard not to scowl. There was no way that she was going to save Ames White, under any circumstances.
"But how is she supposed to save them?" Dalton demanded, "And what does Crystal have to do with it?" The blond X6 was leaning against the exam table, right next to Gem, as if he would spring forward to protect both her and the baby if anything happened.
Marie blinked. "It's not just her, it's all of them."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Dalton shot back, his stance defensive. Max shot him a look, but he didn't show any signs of backing down.
"I…I don't know." She took a step backward, her eyes narrowing. "Why do you have to ask questions that I don't know the answers to?"
"Marie, it's all right," Max said, noticing the tell-tale signs that Marie was about to panic. She had done it a couple times after getting here; one of her breakdowns was not something that Max wanted to deal with right now. "We'll find out for ourselves." How, Max had no idea in hell. It seemed like yet another puzzle on top of labyrinth she already had to figure out.
Marie gave a curt nod. "You will." Tentatively, she smiled again at Crystal. "They'll help you." With that cryptic answer, she left the room, a vacant look on her face.
"So, now what?" Gem said, looking from Grey to Max expectantly. Yet again, Max wished that this leadership business had fallen on someone else's shoulders. Zack would have known what to do, he would have been so much better at this than she was. Why couldn't he get better and be here…
"We'll figure it out," Grey said, "At least we know that the tattoos aren't harmful."
"But they have to mean something," Dalton said, glaring at the door Marie had left by.
Gem reached over and put a calming hand on the boy's arm. "They do, and we're going to decipher it. Don't push that woman anymore, or she'll lose it." Crystal gurgled pleasantly and tugged on her mom's shirt before putting a handful of the cloth into her mouth. Sighing, Gem brushed her hand along Crystal's back.
"What do you think she meant by 'all of them'?" Dalton asked, his dark brown eyes resting on Max.
Max resisted the urge to rub her temples. "I don't know, but I don't really like the sound of it."
"I have a few guesses, but let's wait a few days before I go off spouting them and creating more trouble than it's worth," Grey said, "If I'm right, we'll know by then."
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Copies of the Minoan message on Crystal's arm were made and passed on to Logan to add to his 'to be translated' pile, and in the meantime, the rest of Terminal City prepared for the opening of the Cultural Center.
It was supposed to have been another month before the Center would be ready, but Max had managed to press a few people into getting the job done earlier than scheduled. She was hoping that the opening of the Center and actually being able to use it would take the transgenics' minds off of how cooped up they had been feeling.
At the same time, Max had apparently given in to the growls of annoyance from everyone else about enough being enough. She had finally, very reluctantly, agreed to let a small team be sent out to figure out what was going on with the Familiars, and more importantly, the government.
The Familiars would be much less of a threat if they could be sure that they weren't in the very positions of power in the government that affected the transgenics. If the Familiars were, that could be a major reason for some of the problems the transgenics had faced with the Familiars and the government lately. And if they were, the government would never 'find' who was leaking things from inside the government.
They simply had to find out if anything was getting done on the government end, and if it wasn't, why it wasn't. They had to know, from their own trusted agents, that Familiars weren't manipulating them from both ends.
"I'm glad that Max was able to get the opening pushed up," Robin said, pulling a huge cake from the oven. It had been about the biggest she could make and still fit in the oven. She set the yellow cake carefully on the table and grinned at Sidda. "Want to provide some assistance via your awesome cake decorating skills?"
"Nuh-uh, that was a one-time thing only," Sidda said, sitting down on the bar stool on the other side of the counter. "So I hope you enjoyed it."
Robin made a face at her. "One time only?"
"Hey, you should feel special," Sidda said. She shook her head and then leaned forward, resting her elbows on the counter. "Plus, you remember what happened? Dalton eating the cake and all? And I'm supposed to stay away from stressful situations…"
Robin laughed and threw her hands up in the air. "Fine, no cake decorating." But as she turned back to the cabinet to pull out a jar of icing, Sidda frowned. If she claimed she couldn't decorate a cake because it was stressful, then what in the world would they let her do? Probably nothing. She really would be stuck with nothing to do, even more than having a paranoid mate made her.
"Actually, I think I will," she said, hopping down off the bar stool. She rolled her eyes at Robin's amused look and grabbed the jar of icing from her friend. "Go do something else, get changed or whatever. I've got this handled."
"All right, fine, if you insist." Robin untied her ponytail. "I think I'll take a shower…just keep an eye on Taylor, too, would you?"
"Sure," Sidda replied. Taylor was currently happily shoving one of her toys into her mouth as she lay on the living room rug. Sidda glanced down at her own tiny, barely perceptible baby bump. Actually being a mother was something that Sidda was still having a hard time wrapping her head around. Helping raise her friend's kid was a totally different situation, one that Sidda had been quite content with. But it looked like she was going to have to start accepting that the kid really was there now; soon her belly definitely wouldn't let her escape the fact.
Sidda returned her attention to the jar of chocolate icing. Hmm…. icing was so much better plain than on a cake. With a sigh, Sidda reluctantly dug her spoon into the icing. If there was any left over, well, then she would have it.
"You know," she called out, even though Robin probably couldn't hear her over the now-running shower. "It isn't really cake decorating when you have only one color of icing." Wow, it was a good thing Robin couldn't hear her. She could just imagine Robin dying of joy at the thought that Sidda cared about the aesthetics of anything at all.
"Isn't the flavor all that matters?" That would be Alec's opinion, of course. Sidda smiled at the cake as she heard Alec close the door to Robin and Seth's apartment. A whole hour before he'd come looking for her. At least he was improving.
"You're such a creeper, listening at doors like that," Sidda said as she started to spread the icing. She frowned at the rough surface and turned to wet the spatula a little bit.
"Can't help my super awesome hearing abilities." Alec sat down at the bar stool that Sidda had vacated earlier and eyed the cake that she was icing. "Mmm, cake."
"Don't you dare," Sidda sad, giving him a warning glance.
"I would never." Alec gave her a cheeky smile and then stuck his finger into the jar of icing. He popped his finger into his mouth and then spoke around it. "See. Cake's fine."
"You're such a guy," Sidda said. But then she stuck her own finger into the jar as well. "Robin would kill me if she saw," she said, laughing for a second before licking the icing off her finger.
"Well, it's good she isn't around then," Alec said. He got up and came around the counter and turned her away from the cake.
"Alec…" Sidda was only half-protesting though, and she quickly stopped fighting when Alec kissed her. Right now, she was still just happy that Alec had decided not to stay furious with her. No, if anything, he had become more considerate and careful of her. It was sort of unnerving, and as she'd told him several times, she liked it best when he was just himself around her. And this kiss… this kiss was definitely him.
Taylor gurgled at the two of them, and Sidda smiled against Alec's lips before breaking away and turning back to the cake. "I sure hope that Taylor doesn't develop real memory until a normal age," Sidda said. "'Cause she's seen an awful lot of things."
"It was just a kiss," Alec protested. He was sure Taylor had seen her parents do that before. Alec flipped his cell phone open and checked the time. "Hey, isn't Seth supposed to be getting here soon?" he asked. They were all supposed to leave for the Cultural Center in about half an hour.
Sidda nodded. "Yeah, he probably got caught up at Headquarters with that whole government-Familiar- team thing that Max put the word out about today."
"Oh, yeah, I wonder if he's gonna try volunteering for that one," Alec said, leaning against the counter.
"For his sake, I hope not," Sidda stuck the spoon back in the jar; the icing job basically looked finished now. "Robin would kill him for taking on a long-term assignment like that."
"I doubt anyone would ask him to go at the moment," Alec said thoughtfully. He reached over to grab another fingerful of icing, but Sidda nearly drove the butt of the spoon into his hand, so he quickly pulled his hand back. "He's already been on one long-term mission this year, and he was on the first government mission. Sending him out again when there're other leaders who could go would probably just piss a bunch of people off."
Sidda nodded. "And then there's the whole Robin killing whoever decides Seth is a good candidate."
"That too." Alec grinned. "I would not want to be that person."
"Nope." Sidda finished smearing the icing on the last corner of the cake and leaned back to look at it. It wasn't anything spectacular, like Robin's wedding cake, but it was smooth and iced, for what it was worth. Grinning, she slid the spoon around the jar, collecting all the remnant icing. "Here," she said, handing the spoon to Alec, "For being a good boy and not stealing it."
"Gee, thanks, Mom," he said, kissing her cheek before swiping the spoon from her outstretched hand and popping it into his mouth.
"No problem, sugar dumpling fuzzy bear," Sidda teased with mercilessly sarcasm.
"Too much."
"Agreed. I'll leave out the dumpling part next time." She dipped her finger into the jar and licked off the little slivers of chocolate that stuck to it. "You know," she said between licks, "If you want to go on the mission, you can."
Alec rolled his eyes and pulled the cleaned spoon from his mouth. "Why the hell would I go on a mission right now?"
Sidda shrugged before she put her finger back into the bowl. "Because…I don't know. I just don't want you to feel like you have to stay glued to my side."
"I like your side," Alec replied obstinately, "And I'm not glued to it."
Sidda sighed. "I know, but I'm just saying—"
Alec tossed the spoon into the bowl and pulled her backwards into his chest, one hand wrapped around her arms and chest while the other reached over her stomach to rest on her waist. He bent down so his mouth was right next to her ear and blew into it. "Why don't you ever believe me when I say I want to be with you? Do I lie that much?"
"Oh, shut up, Alec," she replied, holding onto the arm that was over her chest, "I was just giving you an option."
"One that I'm not taking, but thanks for offering," he said, nibbling at her ear.
They stayed like that until Taylor gave a discontented whine. Alec released Sidda just as she started to pull away, heading toward the baby. As she swept Taylor up into her arms, he supposed he would have to get used to this sort of thing; he would take care of the baby too, of course, but he would have to share Sidda with someone else…and he wasn't always good at that. But it was his kid, so it'd be different, right? And he didn't mind letting Taylor steal her every now and then, so he guessed it wouldn't be that bad. But there would definitely have to be some Mom-and-Dad alone time…
"Everything okay in here?" Robin asked as she entered the room. She saw Alec and threw Sidda an amused grin. "Hah, what was that, an hour?"
"Funny, Robin," Alec said.
"Hey, he's getting better about it," Sidda said, smirking at her best friend then looking over at her mate. "He's not as paranoid."
"If you didn't faint or whatever, I wouldn't have to be paranoid," Alec retorted. He wasn't exactly handling the complicated side of Sidda's pregnancy very well. He insisted on being with her as much as possible, and if he couldn't be with her, he liked for her to be with other people, preferably someone who was a trained medic. Seth happened to be his preferred person.
"I have absolutely no control over that," Sidda replied, situating Taylor so the baby was sitting on her hip, "So, suck it up, soldier."
Alec gave Robin a long-suffering look, but Robin only smiled back at him.
"Sorry, Alec. She's impossible."
"So I've noticed," he said, shaking his head.
Robin patted his shoulder as she walked over and took the fussy baby from Sidda. Taylor was getting bigger now, and she was much more squirmy than she used to be. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" Robin asked as she held the baby close. Taylor reached up and pulled on the collar of Robin's shirt, and only a quick move on Robin's part saved her from exposure. On top of being extra squirmy, she also liked grabbing everything… "How about a bottle?"
While she headed toward the kitchen, the apartment door opened, letting in a harassed-looking Seth. "All right, whoever decided telling everyone about the government mission was a moron."
"Not Max's brightest move," Alec said. He sat down on the couch, catching Sidda's hand and dragging her down with him. She curled up against his side, pulling his arm around her. One plus that Alec had discovered about Sidda's pregnancy was that she became rather cuddly without her usual cattish vicious side. Previously, he could get her hold her for a little while before she started to bat at him or pull away. Now she was content to just stay there, without the fight.
"What happened?" Robin asked as Seth kissed her on the cheek and took Taylor from her. "Did Kenton find out?"
"No," Seth said, "It's just that everyone's volunteering and then getting pissed when they get shot down." He yanked open the fridge and pulled out one of Taylor's pre-mixed bottles. "I mean, we've got transhumans and X6s volunteering when neither of those groups are eligible to go on this mission."
"I dunno, if someone has snake blood, they'd fit right into the government," Alec put in, making Sidda snicker.
Seth rolled his eyes and popped the bottle into the microwave. "If only it was that easy. We're slowly picking the right people, but there are going to be a lot of angry transgenics who won't be able to go."
"Maybe we can start sending people out to the farm again," Robin suggested. She glanced over at the chocolate cake, making sure it was properly iced, and then looked back to Seth. "I mean, if we send weapons with them and make sure they post guards..."
"But if they're Familiars in the government, then they'll know about the farm," Sidda said, "Anyone there will be vulnerable to an attack."
"It was just an idea," Robin said, sighing. If the transgenics could get back to the farm and work there, that would definitely take some of the tension out of the city. But Sidda was right, the farm could be compromised, and there wasn't any real kind of defenses there besides the bombs and weapons bunkers they had installed a few weeks after getting the property. In the area of defensibility, Terminal City was a much better place for them to all be cooped up in.
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The Cultural Center was proof of how much work could get done when transgenics had nothing else to do. Perhaps, more than anything, that was why it had been finished so quickly.
As their group approached the center, Sidda sniffed the air happily. "Mmm, grilled hot dogs. Just what I was craving." They had decided to have a big grilling party, and Max had even reluctantly agreed to let a few of the antsy-est transgenics go out of Terminal City to steal supplies for it. It had taken a few days, but they'd returned just that morning with enough hot dogs and hamburgers for anyone in the city who wanted one.
"Hey, Mona, Everett!" Alec waved down the couple from their apartment; they were strolling slowly along the other side of the street. Mona was pretty far along in her pregnancy now, and preferred to move a little slower than usual for the sake of the baby.
"Hey guys!" The two crossed the street to join the larger group.
"I'm so excited about having something to do," Mona said. "I had been hoping that before the baby came I could get some time in away from it all at the farm but…" She shook her head, and Sidda gave her a sympathetic look.
"Yeah, if we stay in lockdown I'm hoping my little trip to the East Coast will have taken care of any pregnancy blues I might have." She grinned at Alec's annoyed look.
"That's right, I'd heard you were pregnant." Mona beamed at Sidda. "Soon our apartment building will be filled with babies, won't it?"
"And there goes any of my chance at having a good night's sleep," Everett said, sighing dramatically.
"Well, if they're anything like Taylor I think you'll be perfectly fine." Robin smiled down at her daughter, who was busy glancing around, taking in all the sights. Luckily for Taylor, Terminal City was still fascinating for Robin, and she didn't feel the need to leave. "She's the quietest baby I've ever heard of." She bit her lip and looked up. "You guys don't think that that means there's anything wrong with her, do you?"
"No, of course not," Mona said. "Look at that intelligent gaze. I've heard some of the other babies aren't huge noisemakers either. Maybe it's just a transgenic thing."
"Maybe so." The women moved ahead, falling into a conversation that Max would have been thrilled to hear, it sounded so normal. Alec shook his head as he watched them walk along. "I feel freakishly domestic," he said.
"No kidding," Seth laughed. "At least you don't live with the decorator and cook."
"I heard that," Robin called back.
"It's ok, love, you keep me on my toes with your whole bodyguard thing," Seth replied. He shrugged. "Nothing ever stays normal around here for long."
"Tell me about it." Everett said.
Alec looked at him. "Human rights group turning out to be interesting?" he asked.
Everett shoved his hands in his pockets and looked to the left, out towards the Seattle skyline. "I'm not sure yet; they haven't really let me all the way into their group," he said. "But I tell you what, they definitely scare me. All that extremism…they and the Familiars would get along."
"Never a good thing," Alec agreed. Extremists tended to have very messed-up ideas of the way the world should work, and it was virtually impossible to convince them that their ideas might not be good. Generally killing them was simply easier than converting them. Or, well, he assumed that since that was what the transgenics were usually forced to do when they came across Familiars.
"Actually, I'm supposed to go to one of their more secret meetings tomorrow night," Everett said slowly. "Mona's really worried about me going alone, but it's even riskier if I try to take back-up." He shook his head as Seth started to speak. "No, I'll be fine. But ..." He glanced at the women to make sure they weren't paying attention. They weren't at all and were being way too loud to hear him when he spoke quietly. "Would you mind if maybe she came over and hung out tomorrow night? Just to keep her mind off it?"
"Sure," Seth said instantly.
"Sidda and I can come over too," Alec said. He gave Everett a rueful grin. "Sidda'll just be happy that I'm concerned about someone besides her."
"What is it with their thing against us being protective?" Seth asked.
"And our need to be protective?" Everett shrugged. "You'd think whoever made us would have given us instincts that weren't so much at odds with each other."
They all laughed at that, catching the women's attention. Robin and Mona beckoned for them to join up, and they quickly did. They were in front of the Cultural Center now, and already quite a crowd had gathered. Apparently everyone had been pretty eager to get out of their apartments for a little while.
"Hey, look at lover boy," Sidda said to Alec as they all started to drift through the crowd, greeting other friends. Dalton was sitting on a low wall in front of the Center with Emma sitting next to him and Anica standing in front of him. The girls were chatting animatedly, and Dalton was looking extremely pleased with himself, practically grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, wouldn't you know," Alec said. "Despite himself, I taught that boy well."
Sidda punched his arm. "You would say that, wouldn't you?" Just then, Sidda caught sight of the hot dogs and forgot all about her egotistical mate. "Mmm, hot dogs." She practically yanked his arm out of his socket as she started to drag him over to the food table.
"Ow!" Alec complained. "I didn't know pregnancy cravings were supposed to be this strong already."
"Not sure they are," Sidda replied as they wove through the crowd. She shot a grin over her shoulder back at Alec. "But they definitely provide a good excuse, don't they?"
Damn, but he loved his mate.