Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel so don't sue me. Thanks. :-)

A/N: Hey everyone. Here's an Alec and Sidda chapter! Thank you nattylovesu and 452max for reviewing the last chapter, it was much appreciated!

Ex Multus Familia

Chapter 15

Alec threw back the tarp in the back of the truck, and he and Sidda just stared for a moment.

"Oh, I thought this wasn't a permanent stop," Dalton said uneasily. He glanced at the frozen blankness that was both Sidda and Alec's faces at the moment, and he realized he was in big trouble.

"Um, so…" he stood up a bit, wincing as his muscles protested, and his stomach turned to inform him he didn't have the energy for any movement. He ended up plopped back down in the corner of the truck, his back uncomfortable wedged against some knob of metal.

He looked up the sky and then at them again, trying to think of something that would break their silence. "Weather looks pretty nasty. Guess that's why we're actually stopping?"

"What are you doing here?" Sidda's voice was very, very calm. Not good. That was a danger-voice.

"I told you guys I wanted to help out…" Dalton muttered. He had to admit, being found in the back of the truck, cold, miserable, and starving didn't exactly help him present a strong, competent front.

Sidda and Alec looked at each other, and then a moment later Alec was up in the truck and hauling Dalton out by the collar of his jacket.

"Hey, ow, watch it!" Dalton yelled, "Ow, Alec, that hurts!"

"Dalton, this is not good," Sidda said, crossing her arms. She stared him down once Alec had him out of the truck. "Gem must be worried sick by now. I bet you didn't think to leave a note or anything when you left."

"I did, but I didn't tell her where I was going…I didn't want her to come after me," Dalton said sheepishly, "I'm gonna call her when we get wherever we were going." He looked at the farmhouse doubtfully for a moment; he'd been expecting more civilization than that. But he couldn't see the big deal. Other X6s had already left Terminal City on missions, and some had been gone for weeks.

"Dalton, we're going to Italy." Sidda suppressed the urge to shake some sense into the boy.

If Sidda had hoped that would dissuade Dalton, she was wrong. His face lit up like it was his first Christmas.

"Italy? Really? That's so cool! I've always wanted to travel to overseas. Wow, this must be an important mission, I'm glad I went with you guys."

"You can not be serious," Sidda said through gritted teeth.

"I think he is," Alec said. "All right, munchkin, hop in the truck, we're taking you back." Dalton didn't even have a chance to argue with him.

"We can't take him back!" Sidda said, "We don't have time. If we'd found him before we got here…" she glared at Dalton. Dalton decided that now would not be a good time to mention how close they did come to finding him back at that gas station. Or the first time Alec had had to use one of the gas tanks…

"I know, I know, they could have watchers set on the place." Alec was frustrated. Dalton was a good kid, but he was still a kid. And Alec usually worked alone; working in a team was enough of an adjustment for him. He didn't need to be part of a trio. "I guess we'll just have to find a train. Though I have no idea where any stops are."

"We could just put him on a plane back to Portland when we get to Philadelphia," Sidda suggested. She glanced at Dalton. "Though first we need to find a phone and make him call Gem. She needs to know. And he deserves to be yelled at."

"Hey, I'm still here," Dalton said, slightly annoyed. "And I won't get on that plane. I'm going with you guys." He wasn't going to beg not to call Gem. He could handle that, if they agreed to let him come. It wouldn't be fun, but he had planned on doing it anyway.

"No, you can't," Sidda said. She put her hands on her hips, and Dalton was suddenly reminded of Gem. Ooo, creepy. "This isn't your mission, Dalton. You're needed back at Terminal City."

"Hey, guys, how about we take this argument inside?" Alec said, glancing up at the clouds. It was growing darker by the second, and a wind had started to pick up. It also looked like there was a sheet of grey in the distance, quite possibly incoming rain.

Sidda gave Alec a frustrated look, but she couldn't argue with the logic of talking about it inside. They would have a lot of talking to do before they could straighten this mess out. It figured that a mission could never stay nice and uncomplicated.

She and Alec grabbed their bags, and Sidda sighed as she realized that Dalton hadn't brought any bags with him.

"What were you planning to do?" she asked him as they headed for the house, "Just not change the whole time we were on the mission?"

"I didn't really have time to think about it," Dalton said. "I saw you guys packing, and I was afraid everyone was leaving. It was either jump in or get left behind. But I can buy some clothes or something when we get a chance," Dalton added quickly. If it was hygiene Sidda was worried about, he could fix that.

"Or you could go home and use your own stuff," Sidda said.

"That's not an option," Dalton replied stubbornly.

Alec tossed his suitcase at Dalton who nearly dropped it instead of catching it. "Watch it, grunt." He reached over and took Sidda's knapsack from her and headed to the house, knowing the other two would follow him. Sidda sent another glare toward Dalton before walking into the house.

Dalton groaned as his tired muscles ached and his stomach rumbled. He hadn't eaten for almost 24 hours now, and even though he was trained to go without food, he really, really wanted something to eat. Anything.

--------------------------------------

It was dark in the house now that the storm was rolling in. Alec and Sidda put their stuff beside a wall, and Dalton put Alec's suitcase there too. He was tense but determined as the two adults moved around the big, messed-up room.

"What happened here?" he asked, nudging the remains of a footstool with his foot.

"What do you think, since you want to be useful?" Alec asked. He was crouching down next to the fireplace, checking the flue. Sidda was walking around and picking up the wooden pieces of the destroyed furniture. Dalton stared, wondering how they knew what to do without telling each other. Maybe it was an X5 thing.

Dalton wandered about the room. "Um, looks like someone came in and trashed the place." He put his hand against the cracking wallpaper and looked back at Alec. "Who used to live here?"

Alec and Sidda looked at each other, and Dalton knew that hadn't been a good question. He waited as Sidda handed Alec the pieces of firewood she had collected and he started piling them in the fireplace. After he had gotten them into place, Sidda gave him a few smaller pieces of wood and some cotton fluff from the couch cushions.

"Guys?" Dalton asked, wishing them would at least talk to him.

"It was a Manticore geneticist's house," Alec said, digging around in the pocket of his jacket. He pulled out a silver Zippo lighter and lit the kindling. Overhead, thunder boomed and shook the house. Rain started to rush over the roof and windows; a cool draft rushed around the room.

Dalton jumped and moved closer to Alec and Sidda. He wasn't a big fan of thunderstorms. "I thought we were going to Italy."

"You're going to Seattle," Sidda said, making a face at him.

"We're going to Italy," Alec said. He stood up and looked down at Dalton, making full use of his superior height. "Look, Dalton, I know this sucks, but you have to go back to T.C. when we get to Philadelphia."

Dalton crossed his arms over his chest and set his jaw in undeniable determination. "You can't make me go home."

"If we physically set you on the plane, then yeah, we can," Sidda said, glaring at him.

"You aren't going to ride the whole way back with me," Dalton said, not withering under her glare. "I'll get off when you have to go. I'll…I'll fight you."

Sidda pressed her head to her hands while Alec started laughing.

"What? I will," Dalton said, scowling at them. He hated it that they weren't treating him like an equal or at least someone who was physically their equal.

"Look, we'll call Gem when we get to Philly," Alec said, "For now, we're going to say you're going back, all right?"

"I'm not," Dalton said. He looked at the fire, not wanting to look either of them in the eyes. "I don't want to go back, not until the mission's finished."

"Dalton, why is this so important to you?" Sidda asked, watching his face closely. "Are you trying to prove yourself or something?"

"No, I'm just…" Dalton glared into the fire, wishing he could make them understand. "I just really want to do this. I want to go with you guys."

Alec sighed and patted the kid on the shoulder. "I know, but this isn't the best thing for your first mission. We're going to be doing things that you're not ready for, and we don't need a third. That's why there're only two of us on this mission."

"I swear I'll help out," Dalton said. He looked at them, his silent plea bright in his dark brown eyes. "I just want to try."

"This isn't a 'try' kind of mission," Alec said. He looked at Sidda, hoping she would step it. He didn't like seeing the pain in Dalton's eyes and the hopeful wishing that couldn't come true.

"It's going to be dangerous with two of us," Sidda said, pointing to herself and Alec. "And we know you can handle yourself in Seattle, but this is different, Dalton. There're mafias that you have to watch out for, and technology actually works there, and we're going to be undercover." She gave him a small smile. "Besides, I already have to watch his ass, I don't wanna have to watch yours."

"I guess I get to watch your ass, too," Alec said, smirking at Sidda. She rolled her eyes at him.

"You won't have to cover for me, I'll learn quick," Dalton said, "I know how to deal with the enemy, and you can teach me about the mafias. And you're going to teach Alec Italian, so you can teach me too."

Before either of the adults could answer, thunder crackled and popped. Dalton flung his arms up over his head, and Alec chuckled. "It's just thunder, kid."

The constant rain suddenly morphed, and it sounded like a thousand bullets were hitting the roof at once. All three of them instinctively went into action. Alec grabbed Dalton's collar and thrust him behind himself and Sidda while Dalton pulled a switchblade from his shoe. At the same time, Alec pulled the pistol from the waist of his jeans. Sidda slipped her hand into her jacket and yanked out her own pistol while blurring toward the door.

Silence covered the room as they realized their reactions were pointless and overdramatic. Outside the windows, hail stones the size of golf balls were bouncing across the ground. Alec took a deep breath and put his gun down, his face loosening from the stern expression of a trained killer. Near the door, Sidda stood up straighter and put the safety back on her gun, an embarrassed smile on her face.

Closing his switchblade, Dalton looked up at Alec. "See, I came prepared." His stomach grumbled, and he winced.

Alec rolled his eyes. "So you brought a weapon but no clothes, no food, and probably no money, right?"

"I told you, I was in a hurry," Dalton said. His eyes lit up at the idea of eating something, and his stomach voiced its own ravenous opinion again.

"I guess we should feed him," Sidda said, smirking at the starving look on Dalton's face.

"I don't know, I heard if you feed a stray, it always stick around," Alec said. He frowned at Dalton who had the good sense to give him an innocent smile.

"Yeah, but Gem will murder us instead of him if he starves to death," Sidda said, walking toward her knapsack.

Alec hissed and nodded. "Oh, yeah. Didn't you bring some nasty granola bars?"

"Yep. Seth gave them to me." Sidda pulled out a pair of protein-infused granola bars without any sweeteners and tossed them to Dalton. "Have fun, pumpkin."

"What are y'all eating?" Dalton asked.

Alec grinned and walked over to his suitcase. He unzipped the side compartment and pulled out two containers and two bottles of water. When he popped open the container, wonderful thick smells of cold ham and vegetables filled the air. "I raided the kitchen before packing." He smirked at Sidda. "See. It isn't all clothes."

She grinned, but Dalton's mouth watered. "Can I have some?"

"No." It was a unified, immediate answer from both adults. Dalton looked down at the granola bars and grimaced. Well, maybe they'd taste better when he was starving to death.

--------------------------------------

"He's so unprepared for this," Sidda whispered, shaking her head.

Dalton was asleep by the fire, Sidda's jacket under his head as a pillow and Alec's leather jacket draped over him as a blanket. Alec and Sidda were sitting nearby, Logan's papers spread out around them on the floor. After they finished going over the information on each page, Alec would fold the used pieces into paper airplanes, each one more elaborate than the last, and send them flying over Dalton and into the fire. Read once, remembered forever. Thanks, Manticore.

"Yeah, but a lot of us were at his age once upon a time, and we didn't volunteer," Alec said. He picked up the paper she had just put on the floor and started folding it.

"So why should he have to do the same things we did?" Sidda asked, "He should be able to be enjoy just being a kid."

Alec looked at her for a moment. "Really? You think kids can just enjoy being kids in Terminal City right now? And kids like Dalton who remember Manticore… all they remember is training for missions. They barely were old enough to think for themselves when Max set them free. Without discipline, they feel lost."

Sidda pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them. She knew what Alec meant. The outside had been hard enough as an adult to cope with when she was first freed. Yes, she had reveled in the freedom, but at the same time she had no clue what to do. Even her outside missions hadn't prepared her for the real world. Jaunts with the elite, short missions to backwater countries and prisons, sheltered stays in convents… they were nothing like Hoquiam or the streets of Seattle.

"I gather you guys have had a problem with that," Sidda said for a moment, "People feeling out of place." It sounded like Alec was talking from experience.

Alec laughed darkly and sent a paper plane flying toward the fire. "Oh yeah, that's one of Max's biggest headaches. Everyone's restless, everyone wants to do something. But the Ordinaries are watching us, and right now is the worst time to do something."

Sidda nodded. She'd only been there a few days, and she'd already gotten a sense of that. She had been cooped up more than the others with her injured leg, but at the same time she felt sort of purposeless. She and Robin had accomplished their goal of getting to Terminal City, but they had never really thought about what might come after that. Sidda had been only too happy to volunteer for the mission. It gave her body something to do and her mind less time to think.

"Hey, how many of these things are left?' Alec asked, looking at the stack, "They seem endless."

"Logan was in a wordy mood." Sidda sighed and picked up the next piece of paper. Some of the information seemed useful, and some didn't. Unfortunately she wouldn't know until she read it.

"Logan would be." Alec glanced over Sidda's shoulder to see what she was reading. Sidda suddenly became more conscious of his breath on her cheek than of the words in front of her, even though her eyes were still scanning them.

"Ever hear of a personal bubble?" she asked quietly.

Alec's lips drifted dangerously close to her cheek. "Bubbles were made to be burst."

"Bubbles?" Dalton's sleepy voice came from beside the fireplace. "Where's bubbles?"

Sidda jumped and knocked her head into Alec's jaw.

"Warned you," she said. Alec winced and rubbed his jaw line.

"Yeah, I can see you weren't kidding."

"Go back to sleep, Dalton," Sidda said. She handed her paper to Alec. "We're going to be on the road early tomorrow, and I can promise you the truck isn't a comfortable place to sleep."

Dalton rubbed his eyes and stared at her a moment, then looked at the papers. "You could take your own advice," he said. But he immediately turned over and in a few moments was completely still as he fell back into a deep sleep.

"You know, he's right," Alec said, "I can finish these up."

"If anyone should finish them up, it's me. You've been doing most of the driving."

"Well, that's because I found out what a scary driver you are," Alec said, grinning at her.

Sidda shoved him. "The bunny just came out of nowhere!" she protested. It had been back in Montana, right after the Idaho border.

"Exactly. So most sane people would have run it over. But noooo, you had to try and swerve, you had to try to save the little bunny."

"Well, we were all ok in the end," Sidda said crossly.

Alec laughed outright. "Yeah, everyone except the bunny you were trying to save in the first place." He'd discovered to his great joy that the bunny was actually a sore point for Sidda. Few things seemed to faze her but killing the bunny did. It was just wonderfully ironic that in trying to not hit it, she had.

Sidda gave him a dirty looked and picked up another paper to bury herself in. She refused to talk about the bunny, and if Alec kept it up he would just have to deal with being ignored. For a few minutes, there was only the quiet rustling of paper as they continued to read.

"Do you have something against small, fluffy animals carrying on with their lives, Sidda?"

Sidda tightened her grip on the paper she was reading but didn't say anything. Violence bubbled at her fingertips, but she didn't want to attack him and wake Dalton up.

"Bet it had a family," Alec said, "Maybe it was the baby bunny. It did look sort of scrawny."

Silence from Sidda as she laid down her paper and picked up another one. Huh, it was no fun teasing her if he couldn't get a rise out of her.

"I mean," Alec said, playing with the well-crafted wings of another doomed paper airplane, "It had probably crossed that road a hundred times and dodged a hundred cars, and you just had to be the one to kill it." He smirked up at her. "How cruel."

Sidda looked up at him, her eyes hard. "I'm trained to kill," she said, her voice a deadpan, "Brainwashed to do it. So maybe subconsciously I knew I was going to hit the stupid rabbit when I swerved." She went back to scanning the paper. "Besides, it committed suicide. Not my fault."

"Yeah, sure," Alec said, snickering. "Its life was just so tough, out bouncing around carefree and everything, it had to end it. Sure."

Alec barely moved in time to catch the blur that was Sidda launching herself at him. He grabbed her arms and slowed her down, but she still knocked him over, landing with one knee on his stomach and her other leg extended, her blue-socked foot hitting his throat. Every movement was quiet, and Dalton didn't even stir.

Sidda leaned as far forward as she could with Alec holding her upper arms and glared at him. "Lay off the bunny. I mean it."

"I can tell," he said, staring at her, completely aware of her weight across his stomach and chest, her face close to his. His fingers burned where they touched her skin.

She pressed her foot tighter against his Adam's apple before rolling off of him. He sat up and fought the urge to rub his neck; an unorthodox move on her part, but it had certainly worked. And it was way too sexy that she had caught him off-guard like that.

Sidda stood up and played with the pockets of her jeans as walked over and sat down across from him. She avoided his intense gaze as she turned back to her paperwork, speed-reading what Logan had sent them.

"Sorry," Alec muttered after a few minutes.

"Whatever," Sidda sighed. She balled up the paper she had just finished and lobbed it at the fire. The flames lapped it up, sparking and curving orange and red over the paper and ink. It was her last paper, and her head felt heavy with all the information she had just absorbed. Or it could have been the sleepless night and day in the truck with no suspension.

She picked up a half-destroyed couch cushions and started playing with it, tugging at the fluff and pieces of cotton while Alec finished scanning the rest of his packet. Damn, stupid rabbit. Damn Manticore. No matter what she didn't, she couldn't stop killing innocents. It was like some disease they had given her, given all of the transgenics. Even when they were free, they could never really escape.

Her gaze was intent on the fire, but she felt Alec move. He settled next to her, his presence as warm as the fire in front of them.

"I guess bunnies are off limits?" He glanced at her, but her eyes stayed on the fire. He hadn't meant to piss her off like that, not to that point.

Sidda pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. "I didn't mean to," she said, feeling more like a grunt than a seasoned killer. "I tried not to. I mean, I tried to avoid it, and it just really sucks that it died anyway. It didn't even do anything." She tightened her grip around her legs, and her voice was a faint whisper. "I've done that to people, too."

Alec's chest clenched, and he stared into the fire. Rachel…her wide white smile, her hair in the sunlight of the music room, the laughter in her eyes. The worst thing she could have possibly done in her short life was cheat on a math test, and now she was dead. Because of him and what he hadn't done.

"Shit like that happens," he said through gritted teeth, trying not to remember that cold, grey grave, "It happened to all of us."

Sidda raised her head and looked at him, taking in the remorse on his face. Hesitantly, she reached over and put her hand on top of his. She ran her thumb over the curve between his thumb and pointer finger, stroking the callus created by holding a thousand guns. "But not everyone cared."

"No. They didn't." He turned his hand over and clasped her smaller hand in his as they both watched the fire crackle and burn.