Reading Time: 97 Minutes
Title: A Brother’s Protection
Author: ThirteenRedVampireBites
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Crossover, Dimension Travel, Family, Fusion, Hurt/Comfort, Kid!fic, Pre-Relationship
Relationship(s): Gen, Minor Pairings
Content Rating: R
Warnings: Hate Speech, Discussion – Child Abuse, Discussion – Suicide, Implied Deaths Off Screen, Homophobia, Racism, Discussion – Violence, Health Issues and their consequences, Not Maddie Friendly,
Author Note: Please see notes in master post
Beta: Grammarly was an okay friend.
Alpha: didbuckygetaplum
Word Count: 123,305
Summary: Daniel happens to overhear one conversation he shouldn’t have. His resulting Emergence changes the lives of every member of their family. One brother’s protective instincts set the world on an entirely different course. Some changes are for good, and some just take a left turn.
Artist: didbuckygetaplum
Part 1—A beginning
On April 24th, 1946, in the wake of so many other new international guidelines, the First Alpha Primes at the Head of the International Protectorate Council put into place a series of important declarations that would change the known world forever.
First and foremost was the Child Protection Act, allowing the Prides and Tribes the ability to take emergency custody of any child who comes Online under wrought circumstances; the Alpha stands as Custodian until the child settles and custody can be determined.
The Child Protection Act was updated again six months later to include Latent siblings and then two months later to include any siblings. Their scope of interference changed in 1954, allowing the Protectorate Councils to take custody of any Online or Latent child and their siblings if there was a significant concern for their welfare.
-From “Chapter 7: The Children” of An Introduction to the History of the Modern Protectorate Volume 1 (1900 to 1960) by Alpha Primes Janice and Olive Mansworth, MHist
Evander Xavien Buckley’s life changed in a single moment from the fate he was destined for in another world; all it took was a single moment in time. A single conversation and a single switch flipped, and everything changed.
In another world, he was born to isolationist parents for one task that, in the eyes of said parents, he eventually failed at when the son they did want died, even after all of their intervention attempts—and perhaps the most extreme one considering the time. In another world, they erased all evidence of this lost son and moved on, taking their “unwanted burden” with them. He would grow up in a cold home, living in the shadow of one lost until he managed to break away. He would find a life for himself, but there would be many trials and tribulations along the way.
Thankfully, this wasn’t that world. A single accidental eavesdropping moment in this world changed everything for Evander Buckley, even with the wider differences between this world and that one.
–
Daniel Aodhan Buckley was 13 years old when he overheard a conversation he wasn’t meant to hear. He was supposed to be asleep, to be fair, but something woke him up from where he was lying in his hospital bed, dragging him from the doze he’d been slipping into. He pushed himself up slowly from the bed, tucking the blankets back around his baby brother as he slid off the bed, leaving the toddler curled up in the middle of the mattress as he stiffly got to his feet. He sluggishly made his way over to the semi-open door to the hallway, where he could faintly hear their parents’ voices on the other side speaking with one of his many doctors, though it sounded like one of the specialists and not his general care team. What that conversation entailed changed everything.
Daniel had adored Evander from the moment his parents announced his mother was pregnant. It hadn’t mattered whether the baby was going to be a girl or a boy; he’d just been excited, and perhaps more than when Maddie was born since he was older now. He was the one who picked out Evander’s name from the baby book the nurses had let him borrow. He was the first one to hold Evander, even before their father got to (and he suspected before his mother did). He took as much care of Evander as he possibly could with still being bound to a hospital room and being weaker than a kitten. He was as involved in Evander’s life as a 12-year-old cancer patient stuck in a hospital could be. He helped Evander learn to walk; he watched him crawl over the brightly coloured rug on the floor next to his hospital bed, encouraging him from where he was stuck with needles in his arms during a round of chemo. He heard Evander’s first word, endlessly pleased that the first thing to slip free was a laughing “DA!” as the toddler rolled around in his lap as he tickled him.
So, for him to hear, and from his parents’ own mouths, that they intended to use Evander like some kind of sacrificial baby (maybe he should lay off on the documentaries…) for the sole purpose to try—and not even with any kind of guarantee of success—and heal him, well, it was no wonder that he came Online and fell into what was nearly a Feral Protective Drive, only limited by his physical strength and his presentation.
In a burst of feral energy, he would have never managed under any other circumstances, he slammed the door to his room closed, scaring his brother awake in the process of barricading himself and Evander in the room to the shouted protests of their parents and the doctor. He grabbed Evander off the bed, taking the confused toddler and tucking him into the corner furthest from the door. He pulled the mattress off the bed and, after tucking himself in next to Evander, placed it in front of them like a shield from everything. He pulled his brother into his arms and growled at every movement on the other side of the door.
–
They would stay in this little hidey-hole for nearly four hours, Daniel growling at every noise on the other side of the door and Evander dozing against his chest, before the Prime Guide of Pennsylvania was called to intervene. At the time, the Prime Guide was a dainty Native American woman, Elenora RavenDancer, whose Sentinel was a large lumberjack-looking man named Dennis Hilliard with still-red hair. Other Guides in the hospital, from a doctor in Maternity to an older teen who’d come into the ER for a broken wrist, had all been asked to try getting Daniel to let someone in, but each one failed. The nurse from the Neo-Natal Unit, who’d been asked last, finally said enough and called the direct line for the Primes to get them to come in and try de-escalating the situation before it could get any worse.
Prime Guide RavenDancer had barely stepped foot onto the Oncology floor to begin her evaluation before she was having to hold back three of the Sentinels who’d come with her to keep them from attacking everyone around them at the tiny growls coming from the room. She barely needed to do more than flare her Gifts to study the tone of the room before she was ordering the Buckley parents out of the ward. Barely holding onto his instincts and his temper, Sentinel Hilliard ordered them placed under guard at the look on his Guide’s face. And amid very loud protests that got weak growls from the boy in the room, Margaret and Phillip Buckley were escorted out of the hospital by five very large and very stoic-looking Sentinels with three stone-faced Guides following them out.
Once they were gone, it didn’t take much longer than thirty minutes for Prime Guide RavenDancer to finish her evaluation of the room, the ward, and everyone in the immediate vicinity. When she was finished testing the psionic field of the room, she warned the gathered medical professionals that Daniel was Online and that both he and the baby were being taken into the Council’s custody through the Child Protection Act on the basis that 1) Daniel had come Online, and 2) based on the Bonds she could already see between Daniel and the baby, Daniel wouldn’t be letting the baby out of his sight, let alone his arms for the next while. She assured them that the Council would contact any other relatives possible to take formal custody of the boys and that Daniel would get the best medical care that the Council could provide while he was in the isolation rooms at the Center to settle his sense from their sudden activation.
Daniel’s doctor, a Latent himself, had taken her word for Law and had quickly gone to get the paperwork necessary for transferring Daniel’s care to the Council. He helped the Primes fill out the paperwork, adding the finished papers to Daniel’s current medical file before handing a copy of everything over to Prime RavenDancer. They would have to wait another hour before Daniel could be convinced by the Prime Guide to open the door for them to come inside.
When Daniel was convinced to open the door, the Prime Guide was the first one into the room, staying at the edges of the room where Daniel could see her over the mattress shield. She brushed a graying, black braid over her shoulders and settled down on the floor in a lotus position, not saying a word, just waiting for Daniel to make a decision. It was like waiting for a feral cat. Daniel had to make the first move; otherwise, she was likely to get attacked—and considering how little strength it looked like the boy had, it wouldn’t be too bad an attack, but it would hurt him more than he could take. It took a bit, but she eventually managed to convince Daniel to bring Evander with him, and they exited the hospital room, escorted out to the Primes’ car by the Pack of Sentinels who made up the Primes’ Guard.
–
When they got to the Center, Prime RavenDancer immediately escorted Daniel and Evander through the halls to an isolation suite, assuring the Budding Sentinel that they were safe and would get something to eat in a few minutes once she’d completed their intake forms. Daniel, hanging onto his clarity by a thread, nodded mutely and stepped inside, looking around the room as the Prime closed the door behind her on the way out, the Buffering Zone forming as the door sealed between them.
Prime RavenDancer went to her office and used what information was in Daniel’s medical file to fill out as much of the information on their intake forms as she possibly could. From there, it was a simple matter of running his name through the Database to see if there were any matches anywhere in Pennsylvania. It would take a while to search through their files (thanks, Dial-up and first-generation computing), so she left the searches to run under the well-trained eyes of her Beta Guide and headed for the kitchen, planning out a hearty but mild meal for Daniel and a bottle of formula plus some little bits for Evander.
She’d just finished her cooking when her Beta came into the kitchen, a frown on his face. “What is it, Mikael?” she questioned, setting the food on a tray and covering it with an insulated plate cover.
“There are no matches in Pennsylvania,” he reported, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall next to the door. “They’re not even registered in this state—none of them; parents, kids, nothing. Which is a separate issue, but where do you want me to send off requests to first?”
Elenora huffed at the information that they weren’t registered, not that it surprised her, before turning her thoughts to what should be done next. She thought for a moment, sending her mind back to the brief interaction with the parent Buckleys in hopes of some clue that would push her in the right direction. Then it clicked, their voices, something about their accents weren’t the standard you’d find in this state, even in some of the more rural places where there was a certain twang. “Try… New York and Virginia,” she ordered, focusing on him briefly before turning her attention back to getting everything ready to take to Daniel. “There was a bit of a drawl in both of the parents’ voices that leads me to believe that they either lived, studied, or worked in either state for some time.”
“Alright, I’ll contract Brandi and Elias, and we’ll go from there,” Mikael agreed, coming further into the room to grab a piece of the warm Bannock she’d set aside for the others in the Center to pick from. He hummed happily as he took a bite while he stepped out of the room to go back to his office to make the necessary calls to check on the possibilities that might be hiding in neighbouring states.
Elenora shook her head in amusement at him before picking up the tray she’d made and heading down the halls to the isolation ward. She stopped at the mouth of the hallway when she noticed someone standing in the hallway outside the room where she’d secluded Daniel and Evander. Getting closer revealed it was someone else who should be closed up in a nearby isolation room for the sake of her own Gifts. “Raelynn?” she questioned, coming closer with the tray tucked against her hip.
The young woman spun sharply to face her, a slightly sheepish look on her face. “Prime RavenDancer,” she greeted, pushing a strand of short black hair back behind her ear. She tucked her hands into the kangaroo pocket of her sweatshirt, rocking on her heels as she flicked her gaze between the door and the Prime Guide.
“It’s nice to see you outside the isolation room,” Elenora said slowly, coming closer to the young Guide. “But what has you so fascinated?”
Raelynn turned back to face the door, frowning it thoughtfully, black eyes trained on the heavy wood in front of her. “There’s something wrong with the Guide in here,” she murmured absently, worrying her lip between her teeth briefly. “His psionic signature is full of static and hurt, bleeding off energy that should hurt everyone around him if it weren’t for the other mind in that room. He’s so focused on that other mind, and it cloaks him a bit, soothing the harsh edges and containing the mess of his psionics. It still almost screams in pain, however.”
Elenora blinked at the news; that was something she had noticed, but his psionic signature had been in such upheaval at the hospital, even with how long it had taken her to get there, that she hadn’t dug too deeply into it. So, for Raelynn to notice it in just the few minutes it had taken for them to get Daniel into the isolation suite was not only deeply concerning but spoke to the damage Daniel was suffering—both mental and physical. “Daniel came Online to protect his brother,” she explained softly, “but he was hospital bound before that. Between his Activation and that previous illness, I am not surprised he feels like that.”
“He needs help,” Raelynn murmured, eyes still fixated on the door.
“And he’ll get it,” Elenora assured. “First, we need to find someone to speak on their behalf. And we’ve sent out the messages to do so.”
Raelynn nodded though she frowned at the door again. She stayed another moment to stare at the door before she slowly backed away and headed back to her own room. She stopped in the doorway, hands on the doorjamb as she peeked down the hallway again before she finally went inside her room. The door closed with a firm thump, leaving Elenora alone in the hallway.
Elenora waited a moment, taking in the ambience of the Center, touching on every mind she could feel to assure them and herself that everything was, while not perfect, at least not in crisis. She sighed in contentment at the mostly calm minds around her before reaching for the keypad and typing in her override code for the door. The door clicked as the lock unlatched before she slowly pushed it open to step inside and bring the tray of food to the young pair inside.
“Daniel?” she queried softly, looking around the seemingly empty room for the pair.
“Over here,” came the croaked reply from the other side of the room, behind the bed where she could see from the entryway. It didn’t surprise her that Daniel was on the other side of the bed, hiding from view of the door since there were no windows in this room, considering how she’d found them when she finally got into that hospital room. Daniel was going to continue protecting Evander himself until he felt like there was someone capable of taking over—until he could trust someone to take over.
She crossed the room to set the tray on the little table at the edge of the room, pulling the chairs out from the table a bit. She ran her fingers across the line of the back of one before stepping away and moving around the edge of the bed to where she could see Daniel and Evander’s hiding place. She kept her footsteps firm and loud enough for Daniel to hear as she moved, not wanting to startle the teen.
The boys were on the floor beside the bed, tucked in against the wall. Evander was sleeping, curled up against Daniel’s side and laying on one of the pillows off the head of the bed, a thumb in his mouth as he slept. Daniel had found one of the extra blankets tucked into the little closet near the bathroom and had dragged it around them, both boys enfolded in the heather gray fabric and practically swimming in it.
“I brought food, Daniel,” Elenora murmured, stopping three feet from the end of the bed, making sure to keep herself as non-threatening as possible. She watched Evander’s chest rise and fall for a few beats before looking up at Daniel again, “Do you want to wake him and make sure he eats something, or do you want to let him sleep more?”
“Yes,” Daniel said shortly, nodding sharply before twisting to face his baby brother. He shifted his weight carefully, always mindful of his condition, before resting a shaky hand on Evander’s back, rubbing circles that got tighter and tighter until the toddler whined and opened his eyes to a thin line of blue as he looked up at the teenager.
“Da?” the tot murmured, raising his head sleepily and rubbing an eye with a fist as he pushed himself up into a sitting position in the middle of the pillow.
“Ev,” Daniel murmured, gently helping the boy to his feet as Evander squished himself between Daniel and the side table to manage it. “Food?”
“Peas,” the boy agreed with a nod, leaning into his brother’s shoulder sleepily as he got his feet under him. “Food, peas.” Daniel nodded, looking up at Elenora in question.
She smiled at the two of them interacting before motioning to the table behind her. “It’s all on the table,” she announced with a slight laugh, making sure to project as much peace as she could to try and smooth the jagged edges of Daniel’s psionic profile that she could feel scraping against her mind. “I think you’ll like it but if you need or want anything else, there’s a button on the wall that will call someone to help you.”
“Can you—” Daniel cut himself off with a cough that he tucked into his elbow, gently pushing Evander towards the table with the other hand. “Stay?”
“I can,” Elenora assured him, moving to sit in the padded armchair near the little table set against the wall where one would expect a window, except there wasn’t one, just a large landscape painting of a serene forest instead. She settled in, watching as Daniel sluggishly pushed himself to his feet with help from the edge of the bed and the nightstand before helping Evander over to the table. It took tot and teen nearly a minute to get the tot up into the chair, and as much as Elenora wanted to offer her help, she knew it was better she didn’t. After they were both sitting at the table, Daniel handed Evander the bottle of milk before beginning to dig through the rest of the food on the tray.
“What now?” Daniel asked, handing over the bowl of bits to Evander before pulling his plate in front of him and looking at Elenora when he was finished.
“We’ve been looking to see if there are any Sentinels or Guides in your family who could step in and take custody of you while we investigate everything,” Elenora began, and Daniel nodded, though he interrupted to add, “Aunts. Uncles. Grandparents. All Online.” Elenora raised an eyebrow at the information; it was good to know, but it still meant they had to find them to even ask in the first place. She continued, “We tried here in Pennsylvania, but there was no luck,” Daniel nodded again through a mouthful of Bannock, “so we’re putting out calls to other states. Until we can find someone, you and Evander will remain here under our care. You’ll both be looked after, as will your sister, though she will go into an external foster home since she’s not Online and you aren’t focused on her.”
“Good for Maddie,” Daniel agreed slowly between bites. There was a minute spike of irritation that intrigued Elenora, but she didn’t comment as he continued, “She’ll miss her friends. What about our parents?”
“Your parents…” Elenora let out a gusty sigh, tapping her fingers on the wood of the armchair’s arm. “Your parents are going to remain in the custody of the Council’s Security Unit in an off-site facility until we can determine what exactly happened at the hospital and whether we can safely send you or Evander back into their care—”
“No!” Daniel yelped, dropping his fork to the table as what little control he’d managed to get over his Gifts by focusing on Evander slipped away from him, and his psionics started to flood the room with panic. “Not letting Ev go back there.” He vehemently shook his head.
Elenora reached out with her Gifts to assure him, spreading her psionic power through the room and projecting calm. “We have procedures for a reason,” she assured him, “They’ll need to go through an evaluation by a Guide before we even think about letting them near you, and so far, we’re more focused on the two of you, so they can wait forever as far as I’m concerned. And before we’ll even look at them, we need someone else in your family to take temporary custody of the two of you to make sure that you’re protected. We are looking, and we’re going to let your parents stew as long as it takes to find someone who can step in and speak on your behalf—and maybe longer, considering the attitude they’ve apparently been giving the Security Team.”
Daniel turned his attention to Evander, watching the toddler chew on the bits of Bannock Elenora had cut up into small pieces for him and the blueberries she’d added to the little dish. It took him a minute to get the words to come out, but he did it, saying the words that would forever change the landscape of their family forever. “I can’t trust them,” Daniel whispered, loud enough for Elenora to hear but not to disturb Evander’s happy “Nom, nom, nom,” as he chewed. “Not with Ev, and not with me.”
Those words filled the room, and it was like something clicked in the psionic plane, the words setting off a chain of recognition through everyone connected to the Prime Guide, starting with her and spiralling out the longer she contemplated them. Those words set off a primal feeling in Elenora that told everyone connected to her that someone had claimed a threat to their person or a vulnerable member of the Tribe. It meant that no matter what the findings of the investigation into Margaret and Phillip Buckley churned out, Daniel and Evander would never be returning to their Bryn Mawr home with their parents, and if it turned out the way she suspected it would, that would probably be for the best.
“Finish eating, sweetheart,” Elenora told him, dark eyes watching him sadly. This was a boy who was growing up too quickly in some ways, but she hoped there would still be time to save the other ways and let Daniel be a kid for a while longer. Coming Online would make some of the typical things for kids uncomfortable for Daniel, but there were ways around that obstacle that she hoped he managed to do. “I’ll find you both some pajamas and you can sleep. Hopefully, by the time you wake up tomorrow, I will have news that someone is on their way to help you deal with all of this mess.”
Part 2—A twist
Early the next morning, almost too early for propriety’s sake, a pair of black Suzuki Wagons made their way up a wooded driveway toward a large craftsman-style house. There was a single car in the driveway, a bright green Jeep Grand Cherokee, parked in front of the farthest door to the garage somewhat haphazardly, like the owner had been too lazy or too tired to make sure it was all straight and perfect when they arrived. The two incoming SUVs parked in front of the house, and the passengers from the back of the first car stepped out onto soft gravel, rolling the tiny stones beneath their shoes as they made their way up the large porch to ring the doorbell.
The doorbell chimed, loud enough for the Sentinel of the pair to hear it through the door, but only because she was listening for movement inside the house. The singular heartbeat on the second floor sped up as its owner shifted from sleep to wakefulness, but for a moment, nothing beyond that happened, so the Sentinel reached for the doorbell and pressed the button again. That got the heartbeat inside speeding up to a more alert rhythm, and she could hear rustling as the occupant likely shoved back blankets and pulled on some kind of appropriate-for-company attire. The heartbeat began to get closer in the midst of the rustling of clothes, footsteps sounding on the inner stairs and down toward the entrance.
The door opened quickly, and a woman greeted them, clearly still half-asleep. Her bright pink hair was all over the place, short strands obviously given only a finger-combing before the woman had opened the door. Her eyes were half-lidded, slipping closed for long blinks before she shook herself awake again, fixing her attention on the couple standing on the doorstep. “It’s early,” she mumbled the complaint before speaking more clearly, “How can I help you?” She obviously didn’t recognize who they were.
“We’re here from the Center, looking for a Sentinel Anders and Guide Miranda Buckley or a Guide Maxine Buckley?” the Sentinel responded, studying the woman for a moment.
That had the woman blinking rapidly and physically shaking herself to wake up some more as she finally noticed the pins on the collars of their coats. “I’m Guide Maxine Buckley,” the woman, Maxine, introduced, stepping back to hold the door open further. “Would you and your companions like to come inside to tell me what this is about over a cup of coffee?”
“That might be best,” the Guide standing outside agreed, pushing a hand through his hair. He briefly turned to look at the waiting parties in the SUVs, getting the two Sentinels driving to step out of the cars and come to join them. “This may be hard to hear, and I would prefer that you were comfortable—and awake—enough to hear it.”
“Of course,” Maxine agreed slowly, blinking blue-gold eyes at him and stepping back to let them inside. She pushed a hand through her hair again, tugging the stands into less of a disarray as she moved towards the kitchen, leading the way through the house to her ultimate goal: black gold, the miracle of the modern world, coffee. She pulled her hood up over her head, her ears suddenly cold as she moved to the coffee maker and began going through the motions of filling it for a full carafe of coffee. She spun to put her back against the edge of the countertop, staring at the Sentinels and Guide that had settled on the bar stools at the island, finally recognizing the familiarity in the Pair across from her. “What is this about, Beta Guide Harrison?”
“Yesterday afternoon, at two PM local time, a young boy came Online in a hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the sole purpose of protecting his younger brother,” the Guide started. “The boys’ parents were the impetus for the older brother to come Online, and when Prime Guide RavenDancer was called to step in, she had them taken into custody for an investigation into the goings on.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Maxine questioned.
“The boy in question is a Daniel Aodhan Buckley, son of Michael Phillip Buckley and Margaret Samantha Buckley nee Strand,” Beta Guide Harrison admitted, staring at her as he waited for her response to the news that her brother was in Council Custody for a potential offence against her nephew. He knew how protective she was, it was written in her files in the Center that she’d come to the aid of several newly Online children in her journeys around the world, even at risk to her own health and safety.
It took a minute for her still sleep-addled brain to catch up with what he’d told her, but when it did, her emotions erupted, and it was only because he’d been told to expect this kind of reaction that Elias Harrison had his companions buffered from her fury. He was unaffected because, in all honesty, his baseline emotion since finding out about the whole thing late the previous night was a similar level of fury. He couldn’t imagine the sheer level of betrayal and agony that Daniel had to be feeling through this whole thing, that his parents had been such a danger to his brother that he came Online to protect him. The drive for most Sentinels and Guides to protect their family was enormous, to a level that most mundanes would never understand, even as Sentinels were constantly in the news for killing intruders to their homes or Guides were praised for sussing out predators in their neighbours who hid in plain sight.
“Those—” Maxine cut herself off with a pinched-off screeching behind her teeth that had the Sentinels all wincing a bit before she calmed herself down, visibly pulling a shield over her emotions. She let out a deep breath, turning around to deal with the finished coffee pot. Dryly, she spoke into the cabinets, “And now you’re looking for someone to step in and take custody of Daniel—” Something suddenly occurred to her, and she spun on her toes to face Elias with wide eyes. “You said Danny was in the hospital. And what’s this about a brought? As far as we’re all aware, there’s only Daniel and Maddie.”
Elias reached up to pinch his nose. Of course, they did, he thought. Of course, they told no one in their family anything about what they’ve been doing or what’s been happening. He took a moment to try and figure out how he was supposed to break this news to her before he finally opened his mouth to speak. “How long has it been since you’ve seen your brother’s family, and Daniel especially?” he asked.
Maxine took a minute to think about it. When was the last time she’d seen Phillip’s family? When was the last time she’d seen Daniel? How much time had she missed? “It’s been a few years,” she admitted slowly, a thoughtful look on her face. “I travel a lot, and when Phillip’s accounting firm opened a new branch in Pennsylvania, he jumped on the chance to move to Philly, though they ended up in one of those pretentious WASP suburbs instead of directly in the city, something about it being better for Margaret’s real estate business. I’ve made sure to send cards and presents on the kids’ birthdays and at Christmas and everything, but I don’t think I’ve physically seen them since at least Christmas of eighty-seven, maybe Daniel’s birthday in eighty-eight?”
Elias sighed and folded his arms in front of him on the kitchen island. “In August of eighty-eight, Daniel was taken to the ER by the babysitter when she noticed him bruise immediately after he tripped into the doorjamb to the kitchen. The doctors ran several dozen tests, and Daniel was eventually diagnosed with Juvenile Leukaemia. Chemotherapy and hormone treatments worked for a while, and in November of eighty-nine, Daniel went into remission. For just over a year, it seemed like Daniel had gone into permanent remission until just after school started again. Daniel was getting off the school bus when he got a severe nosebleed and passed out; the bus driver called 9-1-1, and Daniel was rushed to the hospital.”
“The leukaemia had come back,” Maxine whispered, eyes slipping closed. Her poor nephew.
“It did,” Elias agreed. “They had to go with an alternate treatment from the last time, and it hadn’t been working as well. They held off his cancer for almost a year, but in January of ninety-one, the doctors recommended testing for HLA matches for a bone marrow transplant. None of the three of them—Margaret, Phillip, or Madeline—were viable matches, though Madeline came close—”
“They didn’t even ask,” Maxine hissed; she was figuring out where this was going, and she was hating it. “They weren’t a match, but there are so many of us, we could have all been tested to see if there was a match.”
“I agree,” Elias muttered, pinching his nose again. “All of it—the failure to match, Margaret and Phillip’s refusals to let the hospital reach out to other family members or even to the National Registry—all of it is in Daniel’s medical records; one of his doctors was not impressed with their decisions and kept extensive notes. So, in December of ninety-one, they paid an exorbitant amount of money to a specialty fertility clinic in New York State to make sure they had a child that would be an HLA match for Daniel. Evander Xavien Buckley was born July twenty-fourth, ninety-two.”
“Daniel had no idea,” Maxine said with certainty, the words ringing true through the psionic plane as she said them. “Until they said something yesterday, and that woke him up.”
Elias nodded firmly. “That’s exactly what happened. From what Prime RavenDancer could get out of Daniel, something woke him up from a nap, and he felt pulled to listen to the conversation happening outside his door. When he heard your brother and his wife discussing the transplants with the surgeon, he came Online and barricaded himself and Evander in the room for nearly six hours until Prime RavenDancer managed to get him to come out.”
Maxine poured herself a cup of coffee before she dragged four of the guest mugs down from the cupboard, setting them and the carafe on the counter in front of Elias on the large cork coaster waiting there. She moved to the fridge for milk and the sugar dish in the cupboard next to it, bringing them both over to the island and doctoring her own cup first before she passed them to Elias next. She stepped back with her cup, leaning against the counter and taking a sip. She stared down at her coffee, “I’m going to finish this, then shower, then I will repack a smaller bag and you can take me to the airport so I can go to the Center to meet them.”
“A sound plan,” Elias’s Sentinel agreed, watching her husband make up his coffee. She took the milk from him when he was finished, pouring a significant amount into her cup. “Savannah will take your bag if you want to pack first before showering?” The other female Sentinel raised her mug in agreement, dipping her head to Maxine silently.
Maxine nodded carefully in agreement; a bit busy with the coffee cup up to her mouth. She swallowed everything in her mouth, lowering her mug to her waist as she rested her elbows on the edge of the counter behind her. “I would appreciate that,” she sighed quietly, “Now that I know what is happening, I don’t want to leave it for too long. I need to get to Daniel and Evander as quickly as possible.”
“Take as long as you need, Maxine,” Elias told her quietly. “Daniel and Evander are still sequestered in the Isolation Suites in the Central Philadelphia Center. Daniel is taking care of Evander, and his medical care is being taken care of by several Guides who are nurses and doctors in their spare time at Prime Guide RavenDancer’s request. She can’t do anything more for him than continue his current medical care since their custody is still up in the air, but she is hopeful that he can find an older HLA match among the Community rather than putting Evander through the process unless it’s the absolute last resort.”
“Testing our family first will likely come up with several dozen if not more matches that Margaret’s obsessive need for independence and Michael’s weak backbone were set to ignore for the sole matter of fact that Margaret thinks Sentinels and Guides are too needy, and Michael is just jealous that he never came Online though he tested Latent when he was in high school.” Maxine huffed after the tirade, though they could all read on her face that she wishes to say more about what she thought of the failings of her brother and his wife. “Their fantasies of perfection are just that, fantasies. They mean nothing, and they’re more harmful to the kids than anything else in the world, especially if Daniel came Online because of them.”
“Prime Guide RavenDancer alerted me this morning that Daniel has declared their parents intolerable,” Elias admitted, and Maxine choked on another mouthful of coffee at the news. “He told her that he couldn’t trust them with not only himself but Evander primarily.”
Maxine threw her head back with a full-chested laugh. This was golden, in Maxine’s opinion! She’d never particularly liked Margaret—she liked the woman’s family, her brothers especially, but Margaret was a whole other kettle of fish—and for Daniel to declare them intolerable… it would destroy every idea of perfection that Margaret had been stuffing down the throats of everyone that would suffer to listen. The only unfortunate thing was that this would change the family dynamic between the kids in a way that Maxine wasn’t sure they’d be able to come back from; Maddie was already like her mother in ways that Maxine wasn’t sure the girl’s brothers would be able to take, especially Daniel since he was Online now. Maxine hoped for the best, but she feared the worst was to come.
–
In another state, only 300 miles away, a similar event was occurring on a busy Manhattan block. A dark-gray Suzuki Wagon pulled up in front of a tall brick apartment building, and the two rear passengers climbed out, taking a moment on the sidewalk to settle themselves before they walked to the door. It took all of a moment to use the specialty keyhole on the locking system that unlocked the Protectorate button to allow them entry into the building. The elevator was already in use, so they pushed the door to the stairs open and began the ascent to the fourth floor where their quarry was supposed to be living.
Apartment 406 was to the immediate right of the stairwell doors, and the Sentinel stopped in front of the door, head cocked as she listened to something inside the apartment. She stared at the door with its slightly chipped paint and crooked numbers, listening to the movement inside.
“He’s already awake,” she muttered with a hum.
“Or likely still awake,” her Guide agreed, slipping long brown hair over her shoulder. She reached around her Sentinel to knock on the door, waiting for a response.
It took no time at all for the door to open and a young man in his mid-twenties to open the door. His brown hair was mussed, half-styled and half-smushed from being played with, though his blue eyes were still wide awake, immediately fixing on the pins on their collars. He straightened immediately, pulling his collared uniform shirt straight as he came into a formal rest. “Betas, how can I help you?” he questioned.
“Latent Strand, perhaps this would be better discussed in your flat?” the Sentinel suggested, her North Wales accent thick as she raised a blond eyebrow at him.
“Of—” he coughed to clear his throat before stepping back to let them inside, coughing some more into his sleeve as he waved them through. “Of course. I apologize for the mess; my shifts have been a bit hectic since school started again.”
“That’s fine, Owen,” the Guide assured, gently pushing her Sentinel into the apartment before her. “We showed up unexpectedly and for Center business, not a social visit, so of course we don’t expect your space to be clean.”
Once the door was closed behind him, Owen Strand turned to face one of his closest friends outside the firehouse and studied her and her Sentinel for a long moment, taking in their body language in interest. “How may I help the Center today?” he asked as he motioned to the sofa and headed for the coffee pot on the kitchen counter.
“When was the last time you spoke to your sister, Owen?” the Guide questioned bluntly, knowing that for all of Owen’s dramatics that he preferred for everything to be put as plainly as possible.
“Which one?” Owen asked dryly, flipping the switch for the coffee pot and leaning back against the edge of the counter. “You know I haven’t spoken to any of them in nearly five years, Bran.”
“Margaret and her husband Phillip were taken into Council custody yesterday afternoon when your oldest nephew came Online to protect his brother,” Brandine Michelson told him succinctly, a perfectly sculpted eyebrow rising as she waited to see what Owen would say.
The words that came next had both women raising their eyebrows in sync at the sheer number of curses—in several languages—that came spilling out of Owen’s mouth. The tirade went on for several minutes until the ding of the coffeemaker, then it only went to a semi-quiet as muttered noises came from the kitchen area to fill the small apartment amongst the clicking and tapping of Owen making up three cups of coffee to each of their likings.
“What exactly happened?” Owen asked critically as he brought them their mugs, handing each over carefully, making sure not to spill any coffee nor to touch either of them—he still smelled a bit like smoke, and his emotional tone was roiling under his skin, and neither of them needed that. “I didn’t even know that Margaret had had another boy.”
Brandi sneered before taking a sip of her coffee. “Daniel has been in and out of the hospital for the last several years with Juvenile Leukaemia. His first treatment succeeded in putting the cancer into a brief remission, but just about two years ago, it came back and came back hard. The treatments weren’t working as his doctors hoped, so your sister and her husband came here to New York and, through a very risky procedure, had a child with an HLA match for Daniel. Evander Buckley is just over a year old now, and Daniel has been steadily getting worse, so yesterday, your sister was discussing the bone marrow and stem cell transplant they have planned for Daniel and Evander. Daniel heard the conversation and came Online in a localized psionic event that sent the hospital into a minor lockdown and brought three other patients Online—two Guides and a Sentinel.”
A couple of epithets in Hebrew slipped past Owen’s control. “And because it was the conversation that brought him Online—”
“And had him practically feral,” Brandi interrupted to add. “And their continued presence didn’t help matters.”
“So, because of all that,” Owen made a circular motion with his hand to encompass the whole mess, “my sister and her husband have been taken into Council custody until they can be tested.” A smirk spread over Owen’s lips before he took a pointed sip of his coffee. “I bet Margaret loved that.”
Brandi snorted in amusement. “Mikael reported that it took nearly the whole Guard to get the two of them into custody, and they only settled down when Dmitri threatened to drop them on their asses in the middle of the street. Margaret almost protested, but Phillip shut her up before she could make things too much worse for them.” Brandi shrugged a bit at the narrow-eyed look on Owen’s face. “Madeline was placed in the temporary custody of one of her friend’s parents, who is a registered Foster Parent, and Daniel and Evander settled in perfectly fine at the Center.”
“But someone needs to take custody of the boys, at least until their parents have been proven either acceptable or not—though Daniel has declared them intolerable to himself and Evander,” Brandi’s Sentinel added. She huffed in amusement at the looks on the others’ faces before continuing, “Which is why we’re here. Between yours and Phillip’s family, the boys will be covered from any kind of mess that can arise in this scenario.”
Owen nodded, “I have the next four days off, ending our shift rotation, but I’ll let my Captain and my girlfriend know that I’m going to be out of town. I’ll shower and pack, and then we can get going.”
“Go make your calls, Owen. We’ll be here, drinking your pretentious coffee,” Brandi teased, waving the man away towards the door across from them that hid his bedroom from the public spaces of his studio apartment.
He waved his coffee cup at her in a broad sweep before crossing the room to the bedroom and stepping inside, mentally preparing himself for everything that was going to come next. There was so much to do and so little time to do it in. Hopefully, nothing went to hell in a handbasket any more than it already had.
Part 3—A change
Sentinel Captain Anders Buckley sat in the quarters he shared with his Guide, reading from one of the several paperbacks he’d brought on board when they left port in Florida at the beginning of the week. His Second-in-Command was in charge of the ship for the night, so he expected nothing to interrupt his time with his Guide when she came back from the Infirmary after her shift was over. He was already dressed down for the night, tucked into the small couch under the porthole of their quarters, the lamp over his head the only light in their quarters on other than the lights of the technology in their room.
The door opened, and he looked up from his book, smiling at the view of his wife as she entered the room with a sigh, pulling the hair tie out of her hair and letting auburn curls fall down across her shoulders. She leaned back against the door to their quarters, smiling at him tiredly as she reached up for the zipper of her uniform jacket.
She’d barely pulled the zipper down an inch before there was a knock at their door, a quick staccato of three knocks that they both recognized. She sighed again and pulled her uniform back into order before spinning to open the door, keeping her husband out of sight as he gathered something to throw on that would be appropriate for leaving their rooms.
“What is it, Ensign?” Guide Major Miranda Buckley questioned.
“A call for you, ma’am,” the Ensign responded, snapping a quick salute to her. “From your daughter, Maxine. She said it was urgent, and considering it came through the priority S-G line, I’d be inclined to agree with her. We have it brought up to the bridge for you, ma’am.”
“We’ll be right there,” Miranda told him, peeking over her shoulder to watch for Anders coming out of the bathroom attached to their quarters. “Was there anything else, Ensign?”
“Sentinel Lieutenant Commander Williamson is currently speaking with Guide Admiral Burns,” the Ensign added. “He’s taking new orders down for you, Alpha Buckley.”
Miranda thought about what it all could mean; there were few things that would have Maxine calling on the S-G line and fewer still that would have them getting new orders from the Admiral that soon after they left port. There was no way of knowing for sure what was happening until they got to the Bridge and injected themselves back into the running of their ship. She shifted her weight on her feet, eager for Anders to hurry up. She needed to know what was happening.
“Ready,” Anders assured her, coming up behind her and gently touching her waist. He tapped her hip gently before pushing past her and out into the hallway, leading the way down the path away from their rooms to the Bridge.
With an ease that belayed their age, as was common for Sentinels and Guides, the Leading Pair of the USS Visionary popped through bulkheads and around the scattered members of their crew until they reached the stairs leading up to the Bridge, taking them quickly to get to the top and coming out the door just as their XO signed off from his call back to base. Anders moved just to the right of the stairway door, studying his Second as the man stood with his back to them, setting the handset back into the cradle on the helm.
Sentinel Lieutenant Commander Hollis Williamson had been with Anders since they were young men stationed on the USS New Jersey during the Korean War. They’d come Online together in what would now be termed a Feral Combat Drive and had been partners in crime ever since. Hollis, like Anders, looked nothing like his age; he, too, moved with the ease of a man decades younger than he actually was. The only nod to his age, besides his graying black hair, was the crow’s feet starting to come in at the corners of his dark brown eyes. The Navajo man spun on his feet as soon as he was finished, a concerned look on his face.
“Speak to your daughter first,” Hollis told them, tapping his fingers on the edge of the counter behind him, mind racing as he digested the orders he’d just been handed by the Admiral. “I’m going to guess that her information plays into their new orders.”
Anders nodded sharply and made his way to communications, taking the Sentinel-friendly headset from the Comms Officer waiting and slipping it on his head. He waited for Miranda to get her own headset settled before he gave the signal for the Comms Officer to put the call through.
“Dad? Mom?” Hearing Maxine’s voice for the first time in nearly a year was a blessing to his senses, a chance to reconnect with his oldest daughter after so long apart, other than the care packages his girls sent them while they were gone. What wasn’t so pleasant was the hurried tone of her voice and the unfamiliar background sounds coming through the call.
“We’re here, Maxie,” Anders assured, leaning against the edge of the desk.
“Dad,” Maxine breathed a sigh, and Anders could imagine her pinching her nose—a motion she’d learned from him. “We’ve got a problem. A big problem.”
“What kind of problem, Max?” Miranda questioned, the Pair sharing a look of concern. What could have possibly happened?
“Michael and Margaret were taken into Council Custody on Thursday,” Max dropped the bomb, knowing that her father especially preferred blunt honesty over beating around any bushes. “Daniel came Online in a Feral Guide Drive to protect Evander.”
That… was not good. Daniel was only 13, and for him to come Online so early left the local Center (and the wider Council once they found out about it) no choice but to at least investigate and go to the fullest extremes in doing so. Anyone underage coming Online was a problem—especially if they were pre-pubescent children—since that meant that something bad had to have happened. They were brought to a stop on that line of thought when they registered the last part of Maxine’s statement.
“Who or what is Evander?” Anders asked; Evander had to be important, extremely important, if Daniel came Online to protect this mystery.
“Your youngest grandson. Nice to know they told you too,” Max reported dryly. “Born only because my brother is a spineless coward led around by his balls.”
“Maxine!” Miranda chided playfully, focusing on that rather than letting the anger she could hear in her daughter’s voice spawn her own. “Watch your language, please; there are delicate ears listening in.” She grinned down at the Comms Officer sitting between her and Anders, getting a squinty look from the younger woman.
“Mo~m,” Max complained, sounding so much like her younger self that it had both older Buckleys smiling even against the onslaught of thoughts that were filling their brains with worse-case scenarios.
They were all quiet for a moment before Anders spoke up, “Where is everything at now?”
Max understood well what Anders was asking, and she laid everything out on the table. “Daniel and Evander are sequestered in an Isolation Suite under the direct care of the Prime Guide of Pennsylvania and her Center’s medical staff. Maddie was put into a foster home temporarily; the parents of one of her friends are registered foster parents who have taken her in for the time being. Margaret and Michael are going to remain in Council Security custody until the Investigative Unit has compiled their full findings of what has been going on in that family as well as whether the family is even capable of coming back together after this event. Daniel has already marked Margaret and Michael intolerable, but the Council needs documentation to officially make that declaration—”
“And even if they can’t make that declaration official, Daniel gets to choose where he goes since his coming Online gives him new rights,” Miranda murmured absently.
“This is going to be one of, if not the largest, investigation revolving around a Minor Guide in almost fifty years,” Anders noted. “At least since the end of World War Two, and if so, this may set a precedence for Council intervention in the cases of Minor Latents and Actives to come.”
“Daniel’s decision is also going to affect Evander,” Max admitted. “Daniel’s fixated on Evander, and he was quite clear that his reason for declaring their parents intolerable had to do with their treat level to Evander, so if Daniel goes, so does Evander.”
Anders pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath in; he held it for a count of four before letting it out heavily. “And because Margaret and Michael are both under investigation and currently the boys’ guardians, the Council needs a temporary guardian to take custody and speak on the boys’ behalf, especially if this is going to its logical conclusion.”
“Exactly,” Maxine agreed. “Owen and I are both here; we’re looking after the boys as best we can, but they need a Pair to take them. It’s the best case and the biggest protection for them while this whole thing happens.”
“And we’re the closest related Pair in a close enough distance to take care of them without any pre-existing dependants,” Miranda murmured thoughtfully, turning her attention briefly to Hollis, who was listening to at least their side of the conversation from his continued place at the helm. “Melanie and her husband are too far away physically, and they’d take too long to get there, even with the new International regulations regarding Protectorate emergency leave. Not to mention the kids are a complication I’m sure the Council would prefer to keep out of the crossfire. Tyler and Aleixo are still in Beijing? Either way, too physically far away.”
“I called Mel,” Max told them, “She had to give up the phone to Greg and leave the room after I told her what happened. Greg swore in several languages, knocked over a cup, and had to give me to Lauren while he and Melanie calmed down in the next room. Lauren and Oliver knew something was up, but Lauren was eager to chatter away about her days at preschool as a distraction for both me and her parents.” She sighed quietly. “Owen called Tyler, but they’re in the middle of a build and can’t get away immediately.”
“We’ve got new orders,” Anders murmured, his thoughts already racing as he wondered what the orders were. There were too many options for what Guide Admiral Burns could have handed them. “We’ll to get there as soon as possible,” he assured her, sharing a quick look with Hollis, the other Sentinel wiggling his head back and forth as an answer to his unspoken question. “I don’t know how long it will take, but we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Max murmured, shuffling audibly enough for her father to hear properly over the phone. “I’ll see you both soon.”
“Love you, Maxie,” Anders signed off, slowly pulling the headset off over his head and handing it back to the Comms Officer. He left his wife to discuss some more with their daughter before he moved to join Hollis at the command station. “What did Admiral Burns have to say?”
“He’s ordering us back to port,” Hollis started, staring out the windscreen at the ocean. “He knows we just left Florida, but the Council made it clear to the various big wigs that they would have you back to at least make your opinions clear in the case of your son and daughter-in-law being arrested for potential Guide Abuse against a Minor Child. Since it was made clear that Daniel came Online as a direct result of something they did as far as Admiral Burns could get out of the Council rep when they came to visit since it’s all still under investigation.” Hollis twisted slightly to face Anders. “He figured it would be easier to send us back to port and confine us to base for the time being. He had a good point; it would be a good idea to finally get that engine overhaul in before we step out of command.”
Anders nodded thoughtfully. This was their—his and Miranda, and Hollis and his Guide, Ehryn’s—last tour of duty aboard not only the USS Visionary but any ship. After this, Anders was to be promoted to Rear Admiral and Hollis to Commander (to the other man’s chagrin), and they were going to be reassigned to Norfolk and its various military installations for the remainder of their time before retirement—though that would be the day they died if they had anything to say about it, their Calling was to protect the Tribe, and they’d done it for nearly forty years in this profession. Anders wasn’t excited to be taken out of the field, but he did acknowledge that his grandchildren deserved more time with him than they’d get with him on ships all the time, not to mention that he wanted this time with his grandkids—he couldn’t help the tiny spark of guilt at that thought, that maybe if he’d been more involved in the lives of his grandkids that this wouldn’t all be happening, but it didn’t last long. He knew in the depths of his soul that this would have happened, no matter how involved he or his wife or the rest of their family was, because Margaret was just like that, and there was no helping Michael since he met her. It would also be nice to see Max more often, to be there to welcome her home from her assignments abroad rather than just hearing about them in letters or through phone calls.
“Admiral Burns did admit that he was tempted to send a chopper for you and let me have command for the time being, but he decided that was too much effort for something he would have had us doing at the end of our assignment anyway,” Hollis added with a shrug. “He figured it would be best to just get all the change-over shit out the way now rather than make the next in line do it all at the beginning of their tenure and waste a bunch of time.”
“It’s probably the best idea,” Anders sighed, turning his attention to the waves bumping up against the sides of the Visionary. “You can handle shuffling the crew around and getting the ship ready for the change while we get everything settled with the Center, and we’ll go from there.”
“Let’s hope that the investigation into this whole mess is short and succinct,” Miranda interjected, coming to lean against her Sentinel’s side in a rare display of public affection between the two. “And if it takes me twisting Michael’s arm, well, I won’t be happy.” She frowned at the direction they were heading, but she knew that Anders would tell her what their next steps were when they had private time to discuss things.
“We can only hope,” Anders grumped, tapping his fingers on his thigh. He nodded to Hollis,” Set the course, Lieutenant Commander, and inform the port master that we’re going through with the Admiral’s primary suggestion rather than his joke. We’ll head down to sleep, then we’ll start packing everything up in the morning. We can help you set up the schedules for everything while we’re still here.”
“Of course, Captain,” Hollis agreed, dipping his head slightly in respect before turning to the other members of their crew, setting the ship on a reverse course back to where they came from as Anders and Miranda returned to their quarters. He wasn’t too worried; he knew his goddaughter could hold down the fort until her parents arrived. Max was good at that, and she was trained for that. She could manage it.
Part 4—Alterations
Max stopped in front of Prime RavenDancer’s office, turning her head slightly to look at Owen as he joined her. “Are you ready for this?” she questioned, resting a hand on the wall next to the door.
“Are you?” Owen shot back, raising an eyebrow at her. “Are you ready to find out what has been happening in that house without any of us knowing about it? Are you ready to find out just how far my sister’s delusions have gone this time? How about how much of a coward your brother is? Are you ready to find out how damaged they’ve left those kids?”
Maxine winced with every question. It was a fair assessment, but it still hurt to think about. “I hate the whole idea of it, but the Guide imperative that I protect those kids demands that I know exactly what has been going on with them.”
“I may be Latent again,” Owen added, “but I understand the feeling all too well. You know how Tyler’s near miss got to me.”
Max had met Owen’s younger full-brother, Tyler, exactly once—seven years ago, six months after the younger man had Bonded with his Sentinel at their formal ceremony that she’d attended at Owen’s plus-one. [wedding] Tyler was the kind of bubbly personality that lit up a room, and that was before taking into account his Guide Gifts. It had been a late night in the middle of that visit when Max had sat down with both Strands and gotten the whole story about Owen’s brief period of being Online and Tyler’s coming Online so young.
They used to live in California until Owen was about fourteen, in the Santa Monica area and practically on the beach. Owen and Tyler were both avid surfers and swimmers, but their mom was rightfully afraid of letting them swim in the ocean by themselves and kept them restricted to supervised swimming only. One morning in the summer of the year that Owen turned 12, their dad, Walter, took the two boys to the beach for the day. Their dad was distracted by watching a toddler on the blanket next to them who kept escaping from the young woman—likely a single mother or an older sister—who had brought him to the beach, so he wasn’t watching the boys as carefully as usual. And to be fair, there hadn’t been much worry; the waves had been consistently small in that area of LA County Beach they were on, so Walter had paid a bit more attention to the escape artist next to them rather than the boys out on the water.
Owen had been keeping an eye on ten-year-old Tyler, ensuring they stayed out of the larger waves further out from the shore. Neither of them noticed as the wind picked up and the water started getting rougher, even as close to shore as they were, too focused on playing in the water and showing off for the other kids around them. The waves started getting bigger and bigger, growing in size to something that the smaller and lighter Tyler couldn’t handle when it was his turn to go.
On Tyler’s last turn, the wave was much too big—almost too big for even Owen to handle just sitting and waiting—and he was knocked from his board and sucked under the water. Owen saw what happened, and the panic from those around him, combined with his own fear, briefly brought him Online. He was Online long enough to get Tyler and drag them both back to shore. The trauma of his near drowning brought Tyler Online once he’d been resuscitated, and once the adrenaline had left Owen, he settled back into Latency. In the years since then, Owen had the occasional spikes in his senses but otherwise stayed on the cusp between Latent and Online.
“She’ll be lucky to get out of this with her head,” Max murmured, fixing her eyes on a thick spot in the thin wood grain of the door. “If Margaret has harmed the boys, Dad is going to bring all of his might down on her head like a wrecking ball—not to mention what Mom is going to do—and she’ll be lucky to walk away with anything.”
Owen snorted in amusement but nodded firmly in agreement. “I hope she didn’t do too much damage,” he muttered as he reached out and knocked on the door, the two of them waiting for a reply from inside the room.
The door cracked open under their touch, and Prime RavenDancer’s voice drifted out from inside. “Come in, Guide Buckley, Latent Strand,” she called for them, a brief shuffling sounding inside before Owen pushed the door open further. “We have much to discuss.”
“I’m sure we do,” Max agreed, leading the way into the room. She studied the office in interest, noting the distinct but soothing style that the Prime Guide had decorated her office with.
The room was a long rectangle, maybe 16′ by 36′. The fabric of every piece of furniture in the room was a plain dove gray that went well with the pale blond of the poplar wood each piece was made of. The walls were painted a gray a few shades lighter, with wide open shelves mounted on the two long walls of the room. The desk was set up under a large shelving unit filled with plants along the lefthand long wall, the plush rolling chair behind it occupied with the Prime Guide. The room had two sets of matching comfortable chairs, one in front of the desk and the other next to the windows along the short wall across from the door, with lines of muted sunlight sprawling over the cushions. Bookshelves bracketed the windows, filled with books of all genres in an order that Max couldn’t place with just a quick glance as she stepped into the room.
“Sit, sit,” Prime RavenDancer directed, waving at the two chairs before her desk with one hand as she finished writing something into a file with the other. “We have much to discuss surrounding the boys.”
Maxine crossed the room confidently, dropping down into the right chair in front of Prime RavenDancer’s desk. She pressed her forearms to the chair’s arms and crossed her ankles under the seat, settling into the comfortable chair happily. Owen followed her over only a step behind her, dropping into the other chair to sprawl out for this conversation.
“To start with,” Elenora began, tucking the forms she’d finished with into a file folder and setting it into the outbox on the corner of her desk. She folded her hands across the top of her desk, focusing on them, “Thank you both for volunteering your samples for testing against Daniel’s markers. We have the preliminary results back already, thanks to the lab affiliated with the Council, and unfortunately, neither of you is a close enough match for the doctors overseeing Daniel’s condition to feel that the transplant would take if they attempted to use you. We’ve begun reaching out to other members of your families for samples to test, but in the meantime, several external members of the Tribe from Packs in all three states involved in this case have given up samples for testing—myself and my Sentinel included—just in case they make the one in a million chance of a match.” She turned her focus intently on Max, “Guide Buckley, were you aware that you have an older nephew?”
Max reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, huffing a deep sigh. “What did Benny do?”
“Michael actually,” the name had Max sitting up and looking at Elenora, blinking in shock. “Based on the age of your oldest nephew, Michael had an… incident sometime in his early twenties.” Elenora reached for a blue file folder on the edge of her desk, pulling out a letter-sized glossy photo that she spun to face Max, pushing it across the desk for both of her younger companions to see.
Maxine leaned forward eagerly to study the picture, a small smile crossing her lips at the teenager before her. The boy grinning up at her from the photo looked almost nothing like her brother, other than the shape of his face. This boy had dark, short, but still, curly hair pushed up at his forehead since the top was left longer than the sides that were shorn short into a fade. His eyes were nearly black, though she could tell they were actually a really dark blue hazel. He was tanned to a warm gold that practically glowed in the sunlight of the picture as he stood next to a large oak tree.
“William Shapiro,” Owen murmured, tipping his head to the side in interest. “I’ve met him at the synagogue.”
“Correct,” Elenora agreed. “William Shapiro, aged sixteen, lives in New York City with his mother, stepfather, and half-sister. He was tested at the Brooklyn Protectorate Center as part of a project for school and came up as a Latent. His was registered as a baby because his mother is a low-level Guide.” She pulled the picture back, slipping it back into William’s file. “We’ve reached out to him and his family for samples. Your brother Benjamin has also been called on.”
Max snorted. “Good luck getting a hold of Benny; he’s like a goddamn ghost some days. Jennifer has been contemplating divorce for years since he’s gone so often.”
“We sent the Pair in charge of contacting him to Fifty-One,” Elenora reported with a shrug. “Beta Sentinel Markus was quite clear when we contacted the Chicago Center that Benjamin Severide was only reliably found one place: work.”
Max nodded in agreement. Honestly, she’d constantly asked herself what was wrong with her brothers growing up, and those questions had become more prevalent the older they’d all gotten. Both of her brothers had issues—Benny with a hero complex and lack of romantic commitment (Max was pretty sure his marriage to Jennifer had been at the end of a shotgun), and Michael with an inferiority complex and an almost obsessively worshipful focus on whoever he fixated on—ones neither she nor Melanie had. It made her wonder what had gotten twisted within the two of them. It did explain why neither one of them had come Online at any point, and there had been multiple opportunities for that to happen, but it hadn’t, and whatever was twisted inside them was likely a good reason it hadn’t.
“While we search for a match for Daniel, he’ll have to remain here in one of the various long-term use rooms under the care of his usual medical team and our staff,” Elenora told them, “But there are a few alterations that the medical teams are demanding be made.” She shuffled through the stack of files on her desk and pulled out a thick manilla folder they could see had Daniel’s name on it.
“What kind of alterations are we talking?” Owen questioned with a frown at the size of the folder.
“To start with, his medications need to be altered to a different chemical mix since the previous one was making him much sicker than really was necessary,” Elenora started, plucking out several pieces of paper from the folder and handing them over so they could see what she was talking about. She leaned over the desk to point at the places she was talking about. “Daniel’s doctors have come up with a mix between the previous treatment from his first round and this one that they believe should help more than the plan he’s currently on; it’s a mix they had advocated for, to begin with, since while it is a more potent concoction, it is less physically distressing to Daniel’s system.” She sighed, “We suspect Margaret argued for this current mix for the sole purpose of expediency; this more aggressive formula would have worked faster than any of the other options, but it also puts Daniel at a higher risk of complications than any of the others, and in this case, those complications include immunodeficiencies and physical weakness that make Daniel’s regular care team nervous about attempting a transplant at this time.”
“That’s why Daniel has been so sick,” Max murmured. “The medications are killing more than the cancer.”
Elenora nodded sharply, adding another page to the stack in front of them. “Before we slowly switch him to the new mix, Daniel will need to be completely evaluated by a Guide Healer to determine how much psionic damage has been done by everything he’s gone through. Based on the cursory scans we’ve taken since he came Online, Daniel is psionically damaged, but to what extent is unknown at this time. And how that damage is affecting him is also important to figure out.” She sat back against her chair. “He is healing, that much we can already tell, but we need to figure out what external healing he’s going to need to make sure he can get back to the best he can be.”
Max nodded absently. It made the most sense; there was no way that Daniel wasn’t damaged from the trauma of coming Online like this and in a hospital, nonetheless. And psionic damage also affected the physical world, so if there was psionic damage in her nephew—in either of her nephews, honestly—healing that pseudo-mental harm would likely help Daniel’s recovery from his Leukaemia. It would at least make the change over to his new medications easier on his body if he was healed psionically.
“Daniel will also be allowed more access to the outdoors than your sister and brother allowed him while he was stuck in the hospital. He asked for it, and considering we have a private courtyard here at the Center that we can allow him isolated use of, we’ll be able and willing to grant his request.” Elenora waved out the window at the view of the well-tended garden outside.
“And what about Evander?” Max questioned, wondering what was going to happen with her youngest nephew.
“Evander will also be taken through a full evaluation for our peace of mind,” Elenora admitted. “And he’ll remain with Daniel until Daniel can stand to let him out of his sight. He’s young enough that we don’t worry too much about lingering damage, either physical or psionic, but we want to make sure that he was the best future he can possibly get. Especially considering what your siblings intended to use him for, and the likely outcome of that.”
“They need to be interrogated about their intentions for him after,” Owen muttered, running a hand through his hair. “There’s no way they could have had any good plans for what to do with him once he fulfilled the task, they laid out for him.”
“Considering how much Daniel was involved in Evander’s life until now versus the rest of the family, I wouldn’t hold any hopes for anything good to come of that interview,” Elenora warned, waving a hand between the two of them. “The doctors were very clear about how much Daniel kept hold of Evander after he was born. Daniel is more likely to be Bonded in some way to Evander than anyone else in the family since he did most of the feedings and care for the baby from the time Evander was big enough to be left alone for longer than five minutes and even before that a nurse was usually in the room since Daniel was so attached to the baby but still so physically weak.”
Owen muttered several curses and pinched his nose. “If we were in a betting mood, I could practically guarantee what was going to happen with all of this.”
“I’m sure you could,” Max agreed. She also had suspicions about what was going to happen with everything, but she didn’t want to voice them. Voicing them would only give them the power to root in her mind and take life. She did want to know what they intended, especially since it would help with the custody battle that was sure to come when everything was out in the open, but she still didn’t want to know until it was all found out if only to keep herself from spiralling into doomsday thoughts. Daniel wouldn’t let himself or Evander go back into that house if he had the option. Still, Margaret wouldn’t let her perfect fantasy life be broken by anyone without a fight, especially not children who failed to live up to her expectations.
“I have my suspicions,” Elenora agreed with a deep sigh. “But considering Daniel won’t let them go back to that house, I wouldn’t worry too much. In all likelihood, I doubt they’ll pass their evaluations to allow an Online Minor Guide to go back into their sphere of influence, but any judge we bring this case to will take Daniel’s opinion into account. The interview with Margaret and Michael will still go through if only to round out the court case for assigning custody to someone else in your families, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that we find out the whole, undivided truth about everything that has been going on in that house.”
“And what about Maddie?” Owen asked, dropping his chin to his first as he stared at Elenora calmly.
Elenora sighed deeply, “As of yet, we can’t interfere with Madeline, simply for the fact that, as far as the system is aware, she’s Mundane and unaffiliated with the Center, but the moment we file the temporary custody order giving you or Alphas Buckley the custody of the boys, we can begin looking at Madeline as well. As of now, she’s more interested in staying with her friends and being a little girl, but we’ll have to interview her at some point.”
“This is all so wrong,” Owen muttered, tipping his head back to look up at the ceiling. “But I have a feeling that this would have happened one way or another; if Daniel hadn’t heard that conversation, I’m sure that the moment they started preparing for the transplant, or they even contemplated getting rid of Evander or actively neglecting him that Daniel would have come Online to protect Evander since he’s so close to him.”
“Based on his Tether to Evander and the strength of it, I have no doubts that that would have been the case if Daniel felt that Evander was threatened by anyone,” Elenora said with a nod, rolling her wrists in a stretch. “It wouldn’t have taken much for Daniel to have come Online in any other circumstance if he hadn’t heard the conversation; Daniel was close to coming Online anyway. I couldn’t believe the first scan of them I took the morning after; it’s practically like Daniel is Evander’s parent with the strength of the Bond between them. And considering that Daniel’s response to a threat to Evander was to come Online, that kind of Bond between them makes a lot of sense.”
“Will that change?” Max questioned with a thoughtful frown. “If my parents take over custody and move them to the Virginia house, will Daniel’s Bond with Evander change to something less parental?” She was sure it wouldn’t hurt either of the boys for the parental Bond to stay, but if it did change, that might be better since Daniel was still a kid who needed to be allowed to be a kid, not a parent.
Elenora tipped her head to either side as she thought about the answer. “It will depend on how your parents and the boys mesh; it could change since your parents would be stepping up into a proper familial role for Daniel and Evander, but Daniel might stay attached to Evander until they’re both adults and even then, the Bond might not change any more than lessening Daniel’s focus on making sure he keeps Evander close by.”
Max nodded slowly. As much as she hoped that Daniel would get the opportunity to be a kid, she had a feeling that if he had the option, Daniel would be as involved in Evander’s life as he possibly could be, depending on his circumstances. If he was anything like the rest of their family—her brothers apparently excluded—he would be entirely too involved in Evander’s life for the younger boy to eventually be entirely comfortable with.
“In the meantime, before your parents get here,” Elenora addressed Max, “I’d like to bring you two to see Daniel, to see who he meshes with best until we can test your parents’ compatibility with him.”
“When would you like to do it?” Owen asked.
“As soon as we’re done here,” Elenora told them. “He needs a Bond with an adult to centre him, even just a surface Bond.”
“He’d need it to settle his shields and help him settle into his Gifts. To make sure he could settle as much as possible, the preferences would be for someone Online, but if he could make a Bond with anyone who is settled in themselves, he’d have a leg up on getting through all the usual basics for newly Online Guides,” Max rambled, her mind already running through the thoughts of what Daniel would need. She knew more than most about what a recently Online Guide would need since, between her own experiences as an Online Minor Guide and as a Guide conservator for the International Protectorate Council when need be.”
“His shields aren’t bad,” Elenora allowed, “but with so much of his focus on Evander, I worry that Daniel’s shields are going to waver too much and cause another minor psionic event.”
“Perhaps it would be best for him to be evaluated first,” Owen pointed out. “If his shields are that low, it might be easiest to test him while they are; otherwise, he might be able to muddy the waters too much to get a clear reading of what he needs for healing. And if I remember correctly, if he Bonds with someone on a Conservator level or a familial level outside of Evander, it might help with his psionic healing or at least make it easier. Especially if Max clicks with him, her history as a Guide Conservator would make it a lot easier for a Guide Healer to work since she could direct their work to the places Daniel needs it.”
Elenora nodded slowly, obviously thinking it through. “I can agree to that,” she hummed, reaching for the list of Guide Healers available for her to call to look at Daniel. “I’ll have to call in a High-Level Guide Healer, but we should be able to do the introduction this afternoon, depending on how long his evaluation takes to complete.”
Owen shared a look with Max, who nodded before he turned his attention back to the Prime Guide. “We’ll leave you to set that up. I have a few calls to make, and I’m sure Max needs to talk to her sister before Guide Sanderson comes down from Seattle to berate her brother to death.”
“I’m sure Melanie will be here to berate him no matter what I do,” Max mused, leaning back in the chair. “But I should call her to let her know what has been decided so far. She might have some insights that I wouldn’t be able to give since she’s a paediatric nurse and her husband is a paediatrician.”
“We’ll be happy to have her input,” Elenora agreed with a small smile. “I can get you the phone numbers for Daniel’s medical team, and you can put her in direct contact with them. She may even have familial knowledge that wouldn’t have been put into the files by Margaret and Michael considering the omittance of their Guardian potential.”
“I’ll let her know,” Max agreed. “She’ll be chomping at the bit to get involved since she’s so far away. Not only can she not get away from work, but she also doesn’t want to bring the kids into this mess; Daniel and Evander being involved is already more than enough for her. My parents wouldn’t want her and the kids too involved either. Once the boys are settled, I’m sure they’ll come to visit, but I don’t think they’ll come before that. They’ll have to figure out something for work and school before they can make the trip over here anyways.”
“I’ll get the numbers together, and then I’ll get them to you when we meet again this afternoon,” Elenora told her, reaching for a pen and some paper.
“Thank you, Prime RavenDancer,” Max murmured, dipping her head.
“Is there anything else you need from us?” Owen asked, already itching to go talk to his parents and brother about what his sister had done.
“No, no. You two are free to go,” Elenora dismissed them with a smile, waving them out of the room. “I’ll let you know when we’re ready for you.”
“Of course, Prime,” Max and Owen murmured together. Max dipped her head respectfully before getting up from her chair and starting for the door. She heard Owen get up behind her and his footsteps on the carpet as he followed her out of the room. She waited for him in the hallway, turning to face him when he closed the door behind him.
“Would you like to join me for a coffee before we brave the masses of our families who have likely been impatiently waiting for news?” Max asked, studying him carefully. She could see that the usual calm under pressure that filled Owen at work was fraying at the edges under the craziness of the past few days. She knew from interviewing so many newly Online First Responders that calls with kids were the worst and add on the cause of Owen’s stress being not one but two underage members of his family, it was no surprise to Max that he was cracking a bit under the pressure. Not to mention that she didn’t think he’d slept well the night before as they waited for news on Daniel or the night before that since he was on shift. So, stress plus sleep deprived equalled a frazzled Owen Strand.
“Yes, please,” Owen agreed with a small sigh and a matching relieved smile, holding his arm out politely. “Shall we head to the tea lounge, Guide Buckley?”
“We shall, Latent Strand,” she replied playfully, a small smile blooming on her face at the by-play between them. She gently tugged Owen away down the hall toward the tea lounge, already longing for a cup of the chocolate tea that the Beta Prime Guide of Pennsylvania had introduced her to when he got her settled into the Center’s guest quarters.
Part 5—A reveal
Max made her way through the maze of hallways that made up the Central Philadelphia Center as she headed deeper inside toward the Isolation Ward. It was nearly dinner time, so the evaluations on both Daniel and Evander had taken longer than Max had expected them to. She hoped that whatever they’d found wasn’t detrimental to either boy’s future.
She rounded one more hallway to find Prime RavenDancer and a man younger than Owen waiting for her in the hallway. The young man was Afro-American, nearly a foot taller than the Prime’s 5’4″ frame, with his blue dyed hair braided and left to hang down to his shoulders though part of it was pinned back by a simple wooden stick holding up a small bun. His eyes were a bright green when they turned on her, and Max smiled under the assessing gaze as the man, who could only be the Guide Healer, looked her up and down.
“Guide Buckley, this is Guide Healer Tyreen Oroyo; he took a look at your nephews, and after Latent Strand arrives, we can go over his findings in the little sitting room down the hall,” Prime RavenDancer introduced, waving at the younger man with a quick motion, who nodded at Max in greeting.
“Owen’s just finishing a call with his brother; Tyler would have been climbing on a plane as we speak from Beijing, but Owen talked him into finishing his assignment first. However, Tyler wants to know everything he can about what is going on,” Max reported, leaning against an open space on the wall next to Prime RavenDancer where there were no paintings or doors. “Tyler and his Sentinel will be returning to the States as soon as they’re done setting up the new Central Beijing Center, which was projected to be finished in two weeks, so they’ll be back likely just in time for Daniel to visit the Virginia house.”
She’d just finished speaking when she could sense Owen’s presence getting closer. Owen’s psionic presence had always been a bit of a mess to Max’s sense; it was a mix of still water, the power of a rushing waterfall, and the drift of light smoke overlaid with the smouldering of embers. There was a sense of anticipation that blanketed Owen’s whole presence, which Max understood since she’d come into contact with several others who had lived through similar circumstances. Owen, and others like him, were always on the cusp of coming back Online at any point in time.
Owen rounded the corner with a bit of a rush to his steps. “Sorry, sorry,” he hurried to get out. “Talking my brother down from storming the Council’s containment rooms was not an easy feat, let me tell you, especially since Tyler hadn’t been comfortable in Margaret’s presence since before he came Online. Even then, I always had the feeling it was a begrudging kind of comfort that he put on for our parents’ peace of mind.”
“That’s perfectly alright, Owen,” Prime RavenDancer assured him with a little laugh, “I met Guide Strand-Barbosa a few years ago when we renovated the Harrisburg Center, and I am well aware of his personality.”
“He’s a bit much,” Owen admitted with a shrug. “But he’s my brother, and I love him.”
Guide Oroyo chuckled quietly, a wave of understanding rippling across his shields for Elenora and Max to feel. “I’m aware of the feeling,” he murmured, his voice surprising Max—he was actually Australian, and his voice was much deeper than she had expected to hear from him. “My sisters are much the same.”
“Let’s sit down,” Elenora suggested, getting them back on track. “We have a bit to discuss before I override the door and let you in to see your nephews.” She moved towards the offshoot hallway nearby, leading the way down to a small sitting room with just enough chairs for the four of them to sit down. She sat in the chair closest to the hallway, folding her cardigan around herself comfortably. She waited patiently for the others to sit before reaching for the water jug sitting on the table in front of them, pouring herself a glass. “Tyreen, why don’t you start with your findings? We can discuss the treatment after.”
“Of course, Prime RavenDancer,” Tyreen agreed as he made up a glass of his own. “First, I had barely stepped into Daniel’s Isolation Room when a Conservator Bond snapped into place between us. I’m unsurprised it happened; just from a glancing interaction with Daniel’s Gifts, anyone can tell that he’s fairly high-level, even as weak as he is. I’m one of the highest levelled Guide Healers in Pennsylvania, and there are fewer Conservators who are high enough level to be helpful considering what I found in my proper evaluation.”
Max sucked air through her teeth at the look on his face. They hadn’t even started talking about what Tyreen had found, but for Daniel to need a high-level Conservator, it must be a mess.
“But let’s get into my findings,” Tyreen started, taking a quick sip from his glass. “Let’s start with Evander, since his evaluation was easiest and cleanest.” He crossed his ankles in front of him as he leaned back in his chair, “Evander is just about sixteen months old, and his mind is mostly as you would expect for one so young—with a few exceptions. One: he has no personal connections to his parents at all. What he understands of his parents is the bare minimum: they are called Mum and Dad by Daniel and Madeline; they provide him with food, clothes, and somewhere to sleep; they take him to see Daniel; but otherwise, they rarely look at him—Margaret more so than Michael. From the few memories he has on display, Michael does interact with him on a parental level whenever he is alone with the boys, but when Margaret is around, he leaves the majority of the care to the nanny or Daniel.”
Max shook her head in disgust. “That little bit of interaction with him wouldn’t be enough for Evander to connect with Michael, and even Latents, as we all know, can interact with the psionic plane, even if they can’t access it. If Michael was doing anything to bond with his son, Evander would have that Bond, but the little bits aren’t enough to cut it.”
“Correct,” Tyreen agreed with a sigh. “Evander is mostly mimicking Daniel and Madeline in his interactions with the elder Buckleys. He is mostly focused on Daniel—the connection between the two of them is…” He seemed to struggle with finding an applicable word. “Profound might be putting it too lightly, but it’s the best way to describe it with how involved the Bond between them is. The Tether is strong enough that Daniel can tell me exactly where Evander is at all times.”
“We had Evander moved into the neighbouring suite for Daniel’s check-ups, just to keep him from seeing all the machines and people coming in and out of Daniel’s space,” Elenora explained at the confused look. “Daniel could tell us every detail of what Evander was up to with the young Guide in the other room; from the moment that Evander stepped out of the room, you could tell that his attention was mostly focused outside the room. And even with the amount of shielding we’ve put into the Isolation Suites; Daniel could still tell us exactly what Evander was up to.”
“Is it going to be a problem?” Max questioned. That had been her worry earlier, so she wanted to know exactly what would happen with this Bond between her nephews.
Tyreen shook his head, sending braids flying around his head. “No, the Bond will settle once Daniel can settle. When Daniel is no longer what amounts to a War mindset, the Bond will calm down, and Daniel won’t be so focused on keeping track of Evander. He will always be more aware of Evander than anyone else, except perhaps his Bonded Partner if he ever comes Online, but he won’t be involved in keeping track of every detail of Evander’s life.” He took a drink from his cup. “Evander’s mind is slightly damaged by the lack of parental Bonds—and there is no way that baby doesn’t come Online at some point—he’s been reaching for Bonds, but the lack of them has pulled at his psionics in a way that has left large holes in his psyche. Daniel coming Online solved part of that; the immediate Bond between them soothed the roughest edges, but until Evander has more Bonds, there will always be a part of him that reaches out for others more intensely than others.”
“So, the two of us coming to see them will help a bit; those boys have likely been extremely isolated since Daniel got sick and Evander was born,” Owen murmured, leaning back against his chair. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to only have one Bond when you came Online; even for the few hours I was Online, I had Bonds to Tyler and our parents and a couple of friends at school who were also Latent. Daniel had only Evander, and Evander has only Daniel.”
“That alone was traumatizing to both boys’ mindscapes, but it will heal the longer Daniel is Online and the more people they can come into contact with that they might bond with,” Tyreen agreed. “Evander will be a gregarious child that I can guarantee based on how he was when we came to visit the room while he was awake.”
“Thank everything,” Max muttered. “How is Daniel?”
“Daniel’s shields are weak, but Evander’s power, even Latent, bolsters them,” Tyreen began to explain. “Between his physical health and the mental landscape that always fills non-Protectorate-rated hospitals, Daniel’s lucky that he even had shields to raise. And the only reason he likely does have shields is that he came Online practically Feral, and his focus was on protecting Evander from everything outside their ‘den,’ including both the physical harm and mental cruelty of their parents wanting to—in Daniel’s own words—”sacrifice” Evander on a chance. I think it was only Evander’s presence that kept the psionic event of Daniel’s coming Online from spiralling out from the localized event into something messier.”
Several curses escaped Max and Owen, but there was amusement underlying their words. Daniel had always been a deadpan little brat, and it was some of the funniest things ever that came out of that little mouth. There was one joint Christmas that had been held at the Buckley house in Virginia that had gone down in the family books for the sheer number of sarcastic quips that came tripping out of Daniel’s mouth.
“Daniel’s mental health is shaky—between the isolation, the stress of his diagnosis, and the underlying emotional tones of everything in the hospital, it’s made his mental landscape look like a warzone. I’m sure when he calms down, it will hit him that his parents genuinely don’t care for Evander in any kind of parental way, that they really only care about him as a medicinal object to heal Daniel whenever they demand—or at least that’s what I’m getting from Daniel’s subconscious impression of Margaret Buckley, as well as the impressions that Evander had of the woman.” Tyreen sighed deeply, “I expect the meltdown to be significant and sooner than perhaps we should expect. His shields will likely buckle, if not fail; he’ll probably need help getting them back into place, but once that happens, I don’t think he’ll have too many more problems with his shields for the next while unless something else traumatic happens.”
“How is his psionic health affecting his physical health? I imagine poorly, but…” Max questioned, well versed in how psionics and physicality were connected, but everyone was different. What happened to one person would be entirely different from the next, and she wanted to know exactly how this was all affecting Daniel, especially for the coming months, as they searched for an HLA match to help him.
“Right now, his psionic profile is very much in chaos, which is affecting his physical health significantly. His physical health is also affecting his psionic health in a vicious cycle of damage that we’re going to have to mitigate sooner rather than later,” Tyreen announced. “I suspect that Daniel has been coming Online for months, considering the holes in his psionic landscape. The medications and feelings of everyone around him have simply been letting those holes get deeper without any chance of healing. It’s likely played a part in how sick he’s been and how much the medications Margaret had him prescribed have negatively affected his health. The sicker he was, the easier a new hole opened, and that new hole allowed the medications to make him sicker, and on and on. Healing his psionic landscape will be a necessity before a transplant or any surgeries can even become a possibility; otherwise, the likelihood is that Daniel will go into Psionic Shock because of the pain and the separation from Evander. Evander is about the only thing that is holding Daniel together at the moment.”
Max gasped in shock at the news. Psionic Shock was no joking matter; in 9 of 10 cases, psionic shock sent the victim into violent cardiac arrest, and they passed away from the heart attack almost before anyone could help them. Thankfully, a Guide Healer—or someone with Guide Healing training who was required to be present in all operating rooms when dealing with Sentinels or Guides—could step in and help Daniel smooth out his mental landscape during surgery, which would drastically lower the probability of him slipping into Psionic Shock, but they had to get him healthy enough to even make it that far. Healing him beforehand would lower the risks even more, and hopefully, for her nephew’s health, this healing wouldn’t take too long. Taking too long and putting off the procedures too much would be just as bad for him as rushing it, and Max hoped that didn’t happen.
“We’ll have to get him changed to the new medications before we can start on the heavy healing, but Daniel is already starting to smooth out his mental landscapes on his own. Just being away from the pressure of the hospital and the hostility of their parents is helping tremendously.” Tyreen set his cup on the table. “The amount of healing will be significant since it will cover months of myself as his Guide Healer and Conservator and his physical doctors helping Daniel reach a point where he can live a normal life. However, based on what I saw, I can say that Daniel will come out on the other side of this, that I can assure you. It will take time, but he’ll manage it.”
Max let out a breath of relief at the news. Daniel would be forever changed by this event—their entire family would be forever changed by this—but at least he would come out on the other side of this whole thing, changed but alive. He’d suffered so much already, but he would overcome this and move forward to a better future.
“Daniel will be better for every Bond he has,” Tyreen added. “Much of the psionic harm is because of his lack of Bonds, so with every Bond, he will heal a bit more, or it will make it easier for him to heal over his wounds.”
“So, starting with us will be the best scenario,” Owen mused. “We’ll add at least one Bond and ease a bit more of Daniel’s pain and hyperfocus on Evander.”
“Exactly. Daniel isn’t suffering for his lack of Bonds, but it is doing more harm than good for him to only be bonded to Evander. Evander can only do so much at his age and Latency.” Tyreen shrugged. “He’ll do better for having more Bonds, but it isn’t strictly necessary. It’ll make Daniel’s life much easier, but he doesn’t strictly need it until he goes looking for his Sentinel.”
“And what is the likelihood of him finding his Sentinel anytime soon?” Owen questioned sceptically. He wasn’t as up on the statistics as Max, but he knew it was a slim chance for youth Guides and Sentinels to find each other since they were a lot more location bound than their adult counterparts.
“Slim,” Elenora admitted. “Even for adult Online Guides, the likelihood of, on their own, finding a Sentinel that resonates with them enough to fully Bond is low, around fifteen percent. Through Mixers and Matchmakers, the chance goes up to about twenty-three percent, but it’s still a difficult process.”
“But it’s worse for both High- and Low-Level Guides,” Max added with a sigh. “And considering it sounds like Daniel will rate fairly, if not significantly, high on the scale when he’s finally tested, he may not meet his Sentinel for a long time.”
“Why is it worse for High- and Low-Levels?” Owen asked; honestly, even Latent, he didn’t know much; he knew a bit more than the basics if only because of his likelihood of coming back Online and his job had a high risk of running into a newly Online Sentinel or Guide—especially considering the city he lived and worked in—but Max was exceptionally well-versed thanks to her work for the Council.
“For Low-Levels like myself,” Max explained, pushing up from her chair as Elenora motioned for her to walk and talk, “the problem is that our Gifts or skills are too generalized; we can work with most Sentinels, and we don’t set off other Guides, which is why we work so well as Conservators or Counsellors. Because of that, we have too many potential matches, which means that it’d be like any Mundane trying to find their life’s partner—the only difference is we have a slightly smaller pool of possibilities to search through.”
“For High-Level Guides,” Tyreen added, reaching up to fiddle with his braids as they walked back towards the Isolation Suite, “our problem is that we’re too specialized. Our Gifts are too focused. We only truly work for a small handful of Sentinels; otherwise, our Gifts are just too abrasive against their senses, which can send Sentinels into a Zone if we’re not careful. While Low-Level Guides have too many options, High-Level Guides only have a few, and they’re hard to find with how limited the Council’s matching capabilities are right now—and I can only imagine the nightmare it had to have been even ten years ago.” He tugged at the sleeves of his cardigan before adding, “In the three years I’ve been Online, I’ve met maybe three Sentinels that could maybe have been a match if their personalities, professions, or expectations hadn’t clashed with mine. I got to at least one Mixer a month when I’m not focused on a healing program, and still, I don’t expect to find my Sentinel for a while yet. But Guides don’t have to worry in the same way that Sentinels do.”
“So, it might be better that Daniel is Online so early,” Owen mused, “He’ll have enough time before finding his Sentinel to truly settle into his Gifts, and he might even meet them earlier than would usually be expected.”
Max tipped her head side to side, but there was no denying the possibility. She said nothing against it, but she didn’t believe it would happen. The statistics were so slim already, and if Daniel did meet his Sentinel young, he would be beating exceptional odds.
Elenora stepped up to the door to the Isolation Suite Daniel and Evander had been sequestered in for two days now and punched in the code to open the door. She didn’t open the door, stopping a moment to stare at Max and Owen before she gave a soft smile, “Time to see your nephews.” She pushed the door open and waved them inside.
Max took a deep breath before she pushed through her anxiety, shoving it into a box at the back of her mind to keep Daniel from being affected by it. She straightened, falling into that mimicry of military bearing that she’d picked up as a kid—years of being surrounded by Armed Forces personnel, her time in the JROTC, her service in the Peacekeepers, all of it added up—then made her move, making that big step across the threshold and into the chaos of a future where it was the family against Michael and Margaret.
–
Max’s first glimpse of her nephews is a tired-looking Daniel, laid out in the middle of the king-sized bed, leaning against a mountain of pillows under a half-dozen blankets, with a toddler who looked remarkably similar to him pressed against his side as the teenager read a book to him quietly. Dual sets of blue eyes snap up to look at her as she stepped into the room, Daniel’s eyes locked on her face with a wary look that didn’t belong on any child’s face, but it was one she was familiar with, and Evander’s face with the kind of curiosity that young children always have in view of something or someone entirely new.
“Danny,” she whispered sadly, taking in how her used-to-be so vibrant nephew was a pale imitation of that previous exuberance. She could feel how weak he was feeling, how badly the medications had affected him in mind, body, and Soul. She could sense the Bond between Daniel and Evander, how protective her older nephew felt over his baby brother. She could feel the Bond between Daniel and Tyreen, the teen reaching out for the older Guide in the hallway briefly like a child in the dark reaching for a comfort item before the Bond settled down again as soon as Daniel touched Tyreen’s Gifts.
“Hi, Aunty Max,” Daniel murmured, gently tucking a bookmark into the book as he set it down on his lap. He looked down at Evander when the tot tugged at his sleeve. “What is it, Ev?” he asked, blinking down at the tot.
“Ani Maz?” Evander questioned, tilting his head back to look at Daniel.
“Mhmm,” Daniel agreed. “She’s Dad’s sister.” He leaned down to whisper playfully to the younger boy, “She’s the best Aunt; she’s always got the best stories and the best presents.”
“Sis wike Maddie?” Evander asked.
“Yeah,” Daniel nodded, “Sister like Maddie.”
Evander focused on Max curiously, carefully pushing himself up from where he was sitting next to Daniel to crawl across the mattress to the end of the bed. He stopped at the end of the bed and plopped down on his butt, holding his arms out to Max. “Up, Ani?” he asked, and Max’s heart melted.
“Of course, baby,” Max agreed, stepping close to the bed and plucking the boy from the mattress, tucking him against her hip. “You’re a cutie,” she murmured absently, gently pushing the wayward curls off his forehead and smiling at the bright mark above his eyebrow, the only thing at this moment that set this tiny boy apart from his older brother when he was this small. That touch also told her a lot about what Tyreen meant when he talked about his findings in his evaluations of the boys; the tot felt like Owen did, like he was on the cusp of coming Online, but where Owen was muted with that undertone of having been Online before like a snuffed but smoking candle, Evander felt like a dammed river just waiting to be unleashed.
“You’re really nice feeling,” Daniel murmured, blinking up at her sleepily. He shuffled his way down the bed, resting more comfortably on the pile of pillows at the head of the bed. His mental landscape had calmed a bit from when she entered the room, settling into something a bit less chaotic than it had been.
“I bet,” Max agreed, coming around the side of the bed to sit down within arm’s reach of Daniel. “Did Guide Oroyo or Prime RavenDancer explain what they wanted us to try or what is happening with you?”
“A bit,” Daniel answered, nodding as he looked at Evander curled against her chest, happily soaking in the warm hug she was giving him. “I don’t have any Bonds, and that makes my brain hurt.”
Max huffed a laugh at the way he put it but nodded. She knew he was simplifying it because of Evander’s presence, and while it wasn’t wrong, it wasn’t entirely right either. “You have two Bonds,” she corrected gently, looking down at Evander pointedly, “but your Bond to Evander and your Conservator Bond to Tyreen are not enough to sustain your psionic landscape from taking damage at feeling other people’s emotions. Tyreen helps the most; he’s actively helping you regulate those emotions, but it won’t be enough. So that’s why me and your Uncle Owen are here.”
“To see if I form Bonds with either of you?” Daniel suggested, becoming more alert at the idea. “How do we do that?”
“Touch, Danny,” Max explained. “We have to touch you to see whether we can bond with you. Prime Guide RavenDancer and your Conservator Bond with Guide Oroyo have been buffering you, keeping the emotions and minds of everyone nearby from touching yours, so we have to physically touch you to get around it because your mind has been shielded and won’t just reach for a Bond.”
“That’s easy then,” Daniel hummed, pushing himself up on the bed to sit against the mountain of pillows behind him. “I missed your hugs anyways.”
Owen barked a laugh from where he was standing at the end of the bed. “We’ll start with Max, Danny,” he suggested gently, getting a small pout from the older blond on the bed. “She’s Online already, Danny, she’ll be the one with the easiest time bonding with you.”
Max twisted to hold Evander out towards Owen. “Come take your littlest nephew, Owen,” she demanded with a grin. “Let the squirt get some quality time with his uncle.” She grinned at the giggles from the toddler when Owen swung him up out of her arms. She watched how Owen deftly handled Evander, tucking the toddler against his shoulder with a playful bounce, before turning her attention back to Daniel. “You ready, little wolf?” She used the family nickname for him with a smile.
“I’m ready, Aunt Max,” Daniel agreed with a sharp nod, already reaching toward her.
“Skin to skin contact is best,” Max directed, leaning towards him. She had thankfully worn a short-sleeved shirt, and Daniel was also in a short-sleeved top, probably in deference to the four blankets he was under. At the first touch of her skin to his, the familial Bond between them snapped into place like it was merely filling a spot in her mind that had already existed with Daniel’s name on it—which made sense; she’d been Online for a long time, nearly a decade before Daniel was born in fact, so she certainly had a space in her mind for a Bond with him. He was a member of her family Pride, after all.
A muffled whine escaped Daniel’s throat as he leaned against her, tucking his head into her chest. His little arms tightened around Max’s waist, and she rubbed her hand up and down his back as she rested her chin on his head, tucking him in against her. She hummed softly, unconscious of the tune for a moment, until she heard Owen start singing along behind her. She’d almost forgotten how nice it was to hear him sing.
“Highway run
Into the midnight sun
Wheels go round and round
You’re on my mind
Restless hearts
Sleep alone tonight
Sendin’ all my love
Along the wire
They say that the road ain’t no place to start a family
Right down the line, it’s been you and me
And lovin’ a music man ain’t always what it’s supposed to be
Oh, girl, you stand by me
I’m forever yours
Faithfully…”
“I missed hearing Uncle Owen sing,” Daniel said, muffled by Max’s shirt before he twisted to watch Owen hugging Evander and continuing to sing under his breath for the toddler, who looked like he was beginning to drift off for a nap, a thumb in his mouth as he rested his head against Owen’s shoulder. Blue eyes slipped closed as Owen continued, and Daniel smiled, “And it looks like Ev likes hearing it too.”
“I think he does, too,” Max whispered, smiling at the sight of Owen carefully pacing back and forth as he sang to Evander some more. “He’s almost asleep and so at peace.”
“He’s happy,” Daniel agreed, resting his ear over Max’s heart, listening to the beat. They were quiet for a bit as they listened to Owen finish the song on his way back towards the bed to lay Evander down on the mattress since there was no crib or anything in the room for him.
Owen tucked the toddler under the only blanket that wasn’t covering Daniel, a bright green monstrosity with huge purple flowers on it. He made sure that there were pillows surrounding Evander so he couldn’t fall off the bed before stepping away to come around the other side of the bed.
“I’m sorry this happened to you, kiddo,” Owen murmured, settling down on the edge of the bed next to Max and dropping a hand on Daniel’s leg through the blankets. “Not that you came Online—that’s probably the only good thing to come out of this—but that you’ve been sick and that to get here is coming at the cost of yours and Evander’s relationships with your parents.”
Daniel was quiet, tucked against Max’s chest as he stared unseeingly at Owen for what seemed like forever before the boy whispered the one thing that no adult ever wanted to hear from a child, “I hate them.”
“Oh, honey,” Max whispered, running her fingers through his hair soothingly. She could feel the amount of anger that lived in Daniel towards his parents, it nearly bordered on loathing, and she had a feeling why he felt that way. It made sense with how protective Daniel was of Evander. If Daniel had seen any of what Evander remembered of their parents’ interactions with him—or lack thereof—of course, he’d hate the two people who, while giving him perhaps one of the greatest gifts possible, would have destroyed that very same gift; destruction brought on by either their apathy or by straight out removing Evander from the family after his “purpose” had been completed. And even if Daniel hadn’t seen how their parents were treating Evander, Evander’s feelings about their parents were practically non-existent, and if Margaret or Phillip had treated him with any kind of kindness or parental attachment, then those feelings would be good rather than nothing.
“Daniel,” Owen murmured, directing the boy’s attention back to him rather than letting him spiral into anger. “Can I give you a hug?”
“Please?” Daniel pushed away from Max’s chest, twisting to reach for his uncle with eager hands. He leaned against Owen’s chest, small hands finding their way under Owen’s sweater to press against warm skin. The Bond between him and Owen was slower to form, more like a flower opening after a long drought, all filled with relief and comfort that flitted back and forth between them like a hummingbird going between flowers. Daniel hummed at the contact, tucking his forehead against Owen’s sternum and curling up against his chest.
The room was quiet for a long time, the only sounds were the calm breathing from those awake and the small huffing breaths coming from the sleeping toddler next to them. Daniel shifted against Owen’s chest, turning his head to look at both adult members of his family. “Is anyone else coming?” he asked, blinking sleepily and yawning. “Grandma and Grandad? Mami and Papa?”
“Mom and Dad are coming,” Max assured him, reaching out to push his hair back from his forehead as he tiredly rubbed his eyes, looking so much younger than he was. “They’re just coming back on the ship to Florida, then they’re flying up here with the Center’s plane. But it’ll be another couple of days before they get here.”
Owen moved to lean against the pillows in a more comfortable position as he took more of Daniel’s weight against his chest before answering, “Your Mami and Papa are waiting to get some time off work, then they’re going to come down here to see you. Uncle Tyler will be here in a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks, depending on how long it takes them to finish their project.”
“Mel and Greg will come see you once we’ve got all this figured out,” Max added, “And I think Mom and Dad are planning to drag Benny here by the toes. If he doesn’t come, I’m sure they can convince Jennifer to bring Kelly to visit.”
Daniel yawned and nodded, shifting around to tuck himself against Owen’s side but on the pillows instead of physically on his uncle. He tugged his blankets back up with another yawn, reaching up to rub his eyes. “I’m—” he was interrupted by yet another yawn, a full body stretch leaving him as he settled into the bedding. “I’m excited to see them all.” He squirmed around until he could get a hand on Evander, tucking his fingers into Evander’s hand and beginning to settle. “I wanna see them all~” His voice drifted off as he fell asleep nearly mid-word to the slight amusement of Max and Owen.
“You’ll see them,” Max murmured, gently brushing a hand up Daniel’s side to tuck him in better. “You’ll get to see them all when they get here.” She brushed Daniel’s hair from his face before pulling away, shifting off the bed to leave the boys to sleep.
Part 6—An introduction
They were out in the courtyard when Anders and Miranda finally arrived at the Center. Max’s first inkling of their arrival wasn’t from anything on her part; no, instead, it was the almost dog-like reaction of Daniel as his head snapped up, and he turned to face the door from the Isolation Ward they’d entered the courtyard through. Daniel’s movements had Evander stilling in the middle of the grass space in front of Daniel’s bench, the toddler focusing on Daniel as he stared at the doorway for a long moment, long enough for Max to notice his focus and turn herself to also face the door, finally noticing the thickening of her Bond with her parents.
“Grandad and Grandma are here,” Daniel cheered, pushing himself up from the bench he was sitting on slowly. He held his hand out to Evander, who raced over to him with the ball they’d been playing with clutched between both hands. Daniel took the gentle hit of Evander running into his legs with only a small grunt before taking the younger boy’s hand. “Come on, Ev, we’re going to do see Grandma and Grandad.”
Evander looked up at Daniel curiously but eagerly followed along as the older boy excitedly moved them towards the doors so they could go inside out of the cool Fall air. Tiny legs easily kept up with Daniel’s sickness-slow pace, and he kept a hold of Daniel’s hand and the ball as they wandered through the paths of the meditation gardens towards the doors.
Max met them at the door; she’d been reading a book and drinking out of a thermal cup on the patio by the door. Her book was hidden in the folds of the blanket she’d been using that was semi-folded on the chair to be put away later. This was a bit more important than taking the time to put her book away, though she did put her thermal cup in the big side pocket of her peacoat, feeling it bang against her hip with every movement.
“Are you ready to see them, Danny?” Max asked softly as she brushed her hand over the top of his beanie-covered head. “I know you’ve missed them a lot more than you’ve said.”
“I’m excited to introduce them to Ev,” Daniel agreed with an excited nod. He grinned down at Evander, gently shaking their clasped hands next to them. “They’re going to love him,” he murmured, watching the tot shake the ball, listening as the bell inside jingled at the movement.
Maxi nodded with a smile, assuring him, “They’re going to adore him. They were very anxious to meet him after I told them that he existed.”
“I hope he likes them,” Daniel said worriedly, a flicker of anxiety coming over from his side of the Bond. “Ev didn’t really like our parents, or the nanny they got for Maddie while I was in the hospital. They had to get another nanny for him when they needed to keep him at home. And he was kinda picky about that nanny and the nurses he’d interact with when he was brought to the hospital.”
Max gently squeezed his shoulder in reassurance. “Evander is very sensitive, Danny. He can pick up on things that are difficult for him to voice, so of course, he’s going to be picky about who he lets touch him. His levels are already higher than the standard for Latents, and they’re only going to get higher the older he gets. The only difference between now and then is going to be that he can eventually tell us what he’s feeling, but right now, he can’t. He has all these ideas and things to tell us, but his limited toddler speech doesn’t allow him to tell everyone what he wants without a huge game of charades.”
“I know,” Daniel sighed, leaning into Max’s side for a moment before he pulled away to push the door open. He hummed curiously at the power he was feeling in the building, it wasn’t the usual power he felt from Prime RavenDancer or the half-dozen Alphas that came through to talk to her and her Sentinel, but it felt familiar in a way that he knew down to his bones. He led the way by instinct, winding through the hallways with an ease that came from days spent exploring and the ability to sense his way around the building by following the psionic landscapes of the occupants.
Max followed along behind, watching how Daniel moved and knew—both from her own senses and from Prime RavenDancer’s admittance—that when he was grown and bonded to his Sentinel, Daniel would be one of the most powerful Guides of his generation. Already he was using his Gifts in a way that she knew wasn’t possible for any Low-level Guide; she couldn’t do half the things he was already doing instinctively, and she’d been Online for almost twice as long as he’d been alive. She couldn’t wait to see what life would bring for Daniel and for Evander, who was showing similar signs of being powerful once he came Online.
She felt her parents before they found them, a small grin growing on her face as she basked in the thrumming of their Bonds. Their voices were the next thing, the velvet tones of her father and the bubbling hum of her mother with the smoky tones of Prime RavenDancer and the gruff grumblings of Prime Hilliard. The voices quieted abruptly, and she knew that her father had noticed their approach. They rounded another corner, and there they all were—her parents in their combat uniforms and the Primes in business casual.
“Mac tíre beag,” Miranda gasped upon seeing Daniel, both she and Anders holding off on their first instinct to sweep both children off their feet and hide them away from anything that would hurt them.
“Hi, Grandma,” Daniel greeted with a grin, tugging his beanie off with his free hand and shaking out his curls as he tucked the hat into his jacket pocket. “Can I have a hug please?” He didn’t wait for them to offer, practically demanding a test of whether they were compatible for a Bond to form between them. There was no beating around the bush with him right now.
“Oh, my sweet boy,” Miranda commented, already stepping away from Anders’ side to come towards him. “Of course you can.” She crossed the space quickly, stopping just a foot away to give Daniel some space before she lowered herself to her knees, opening her arms for him.
Daniel squinted at her for a moment before gently shaking loose from Evander’s hold and crossing the distance. He wrapped his arms around Miranda’s neck, dragging his palms across the base of her neck as he went. The Bond snapped into place immediately as he pressed his cheek to Miranda’s neck, curling against her chest like he was still Evander’s size. He practically melted into her side as she rubbed a hand along his back, holding him close to her chest. “I missed you, Grandma,” he murmured into her shoulder.
“I missed you too, Daniel,” Miranda replied equally as quietly, pressing a light kiss to the top of his head. “Look at you all grown up since I last saw you.”
They were left to hug for a bit before Anders finally interrupted. “What about my hug, little wolf? Is there no hug for your Grandad?” he questioned with a smile, looking down at his wife and grandsons as Evander had stepped closer to the hugging pair, though he hadn’t touched or interrupted either. “And I’m sure your grandmother wants to meet the newest member of our family properly.”
“Love you, Grams,” Daniel whispered into Miranda’s ear before he carefully pulled away from her and moved towards his grandfather, wobbling briefly before he wrapped his arms around Anders’ waist. Anders shifted his hold, dropping to one knee and tugging the boy into his arms. Daniel hummed happily at the fingers playing with his curls, leaning into Anders’ hold. “I missed you, Grandad,” Daniel murmured against Anders’ shoulder, shuddering at the Bond blooming between them.
“I missed you too, kiddo,” Anders replied, twisting slightly to kiss the side of Daniel’s head. “I always miss you all when we’re gone.” He relaxed into the Bond formation, sinking into the heat that spread between Alpha Sentinel and to-be Alpha Guide. Rubbing his hand down Daniel’s back, Anders scooped the young teenager up into his arms, rising to his full height with not even a grunt at the added weight. “Mira,” he directed at his wife, getting her attention from listening to a babbling Evander. “Shall we take our little wolves to our suite for dinner?”
“An excellent idea, love,” Miranda agreed with a smile, carefully standing up with Evander in her arms. She gently resettled him against her shoulder, playfully tugging the hat off his head and tucking it into the pocket of her uniform jacket. “I think some quality time with our grandsons is exactly what the doctor ordered for the stress of the past few days.” She looked down at Evander, “What would our littlest wolf like for dinner?”
“Noods!” Evander crowed. “Noods!”
“Some kind of pasta it is then,” Miranda agreed with a laugh, bouncing him in her arms. “What about you Daniel? Any opinions?”
“Some kind of meat sauce?” Daniel asked, pulling out the big puppy-dog eyes to try to convince the others to agree.
“How does spaghetti sound?” Max questioned, wrapping an arm through her mother’s free one and stopping at her side. “Something easy for everyone to eat.”
“Spaghetti is good,” Daniel agreed from Anders’ shoulder, nodding calmly. He squirmed a bit to pull his jacket out from where it was crumpled between his body and his grandfather’s, getting it unstuck before he settled again, resting in his grandfather’s hold.
“Alright then,” Anders agreed with a nod. “That’s what we’ll get then. Let’s go see about getting comfortable before we get it ordered or make it in the Center kitchen.” He led the way out of the hallway they had been found in and moved towards the Guest Wing of the Center, easily moving with Daniel in his arms. “How are you liking the Isolation Suite you’re tucked into, Danny?”
“It’s good,” Daniel responded. “A bed big enough for me and Ev to sleep together; it’s calmer than the hospital; and I don’t have to worry about Mom and Dad walking in and walking me or Ev up from a nap. I wish I had my schoolwork, but I finished everything I had to do for the past couple of weeks—and Prime RavenDancer contacted the school system to put my new stuff on hold for a bit until she’s satisfied that we’re settled in where we need to be.”
“That’s good, I suppose,” Anders agreed. “I’m sure we can find some books for you to read while you’re staying here at the Center. And I’ll try to find some things for you to do that aren’t too exhausting for you. I’m sure your grandma would be happy to teach you to knit or sew or crochet if you wanted to try those.”
Daniel was quiet for a moment, thinking about what he could try. “I think I wanna try knitting or crochet,” he admitted quietly, leaning close against Anders’ shoulder. “I saw one of the nurses bringing a big basket of blankets to the babies in the next ward. She told me that one of the older ladies on the floor above made them while she was in and out of the hospital.”
“And you want to try doing that? Anders asked softly.
“There are a lot of little babies that need blankets,” Daniel pointed out, waving a hand widely. “But there are all kinds of other things that I can make too.” He shrugged. “Blankets for us, or scarves or hats or mitts or—” He sneezed and interrupted himself, reaching up to rub his nose with his finger. “I can make little toys or other things too.”
“I’ll take your grandmother to the nearest craft store, and she can pick out some things for you to start with,” Anders assured him as they got to the room that Anders and Miranda had been given to stay in while they were there.
“Don’t get anything fancy,” Daniel warned, used to his mother’s annoying habit of getting them fancy things to show off, even if something much cheaper would have been a better idea.
“Oh, I can assure you, your grandmother won’t go fancy. She’ll start you with something simple for learning.”
“Thanks, Grandad,” Daniel murmured, reaching down to open the door since Anders had his hands full. He pushed the door open as Anders stepped forward, making sure to leave it open for Max and Miranda to come inside behind them. He held onto Anders’ shoulders as the man let him down, only letting go once he had his feet under him. He carefully made his way over to the table, settling down on the chair that backed out towards the bed. He carefully pulled his jacket off, letting Max take it instead of putting it on the back of his chair as he’d been about to.
Miranda gently stripped Evander out of his outside clothes, tugging off his mitts and little scarf to set them on the bed before she gently stripped off his jacket. She folded the jacket in half before tucking all the bits—including his hat—inside and setting the bundle out of the way at the head of the bed. “Go sit with Daniel, Evander,” she directed gently, pushing him towards the table before she headed for her duffle bag. She dug through it briefly, knowing exactly where to find everything she was looking for. She held up the bundle of clothing and motioned to the bathroom, “I’m going to change, then we’ll figure out dinner.”
“I’ll change after you,” Anders added, gently running his fingers through Daniel’s hair. He smoothed out the thin curls gently, silently mourning the thick curls his grandson used to have before the medications stole them from him. Daniel would get them back in time, Anders was sure, but it saddened him that his daughter-in-law had destroyed her son so much, all in the name of speeding his recovery along—which he was sure, based on her behaviour, was done solely for appearances’ sake rather than any sake of Daniel’s.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Miranda assured before she stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. There were some quiet noises as she moved around the room, setting things down on the counter and moving things around. The sound of the toilet flushing told everyone that she was almost finished, then the water ran for a long moment before turning off again. The door opened with Miranda carrying her carefully folded uniform to be put with the rest of the washing for later. She waved at the open room in invitation before moving to take Anders’ place, crossing the suite to stand behind the chair Evander had climbed up into.
Anders pressed a quick kiss to the top of Daniel’s head before stepping away from the table. He briefly touched the top of Evander’s head and kissed Miranda’s cheek before he moved to the bed where he’d left his duffle bag. He dug for civilian clothes, taking a moment to find everything, before disappearing into the bathroom. Similar noises were heard as he changed, though there was a small, muffled curse as he knocked into either the wall or the counter, which got a laugh from those old enough to know what he’d said, even if they couldn’t make out the exact word.
Max noticed Daniel shiver and got up from the chair she’d settled on to tug one of the extra blankets out of the small linen closest to the exterior door. She unfolded it with a quick snap of the wrist, moving back to the table and carefully wrapping it around Daniel’s shoulders, dropping a light kiss to the top of his head. “Better?”
Daniel nodded, “Thanks, Aunt Max.” He snuggled under the blanket, pulling it close around him and settling back against the chair. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Evander squinted at him, tilting his head to the side before the littler blond squirmed off the chair he’d climbed onto and moved around the table to Daniel’s side.
Evander tugged at Max’s pants gently, waiting patiently for her to look down at him before pointing up at Daniel. “Up, peas,” he requested.
Max smiled at him and gently plucked him up off the floor under his arms. She swung him playfully to get a giggle as she waited for Daniel to shift around and make space before she set the toddler down in the older boy’s lap, keeping an eye on the two of them as Evander settled into Daniel’s lap. Evander settled back against Daniel’s chest, tucking his head against Daniel’s shoulder and curling his fingers into Daniel’s sweater.
Daniel hummed as he wrapped his blanket-covered arms around Evander, tucking the blanket around both of them. He leaned his head against Evander’s, eyes squinting closed slightly but still keeping his attention on the rest of the room. He listened to Evander as the toddler started to babble quietly at him, little fingers playing with his sleeves and the blanket as he talked.
Anders exited the bathroom with his rolled-up uniform under his arm, moving to his duffle bag and setting the bundle on top. “So, are we feeling up to braving the Center kitchen or shall we ask for it to be delivered here?” he questioned as he pushed back to his feet, crossing the room to stand at Miranda’s side. He wrapped an arm around Miranda’s waist, leaning close to press a kiss to her temple before focusing on the other members of their family for answers to his question about supper.
Daniel looked up from Evander with a yawn. “Can we order please?” he suggested. “I’m tired again, and it’s close to Ev’s bedtime too.”
“Of course,” Anders agreed, already heading for the suite’s phone to ask for an order of Italian to be brought to them if possible. He talked with the receptionist quickly to figure out how that would work, nodding as the Guide on the line described what would happen for them. The Council would cover their expenses for the next couple of weeks as was procedure, especially since they were still waiting on the final bits of the investigation into Margaret and Phillip before their court session at the end of the week, which left Daniel and Evander technically still in the Council’s custody until that was finished. He rattled off a quick list of things to order, which, even through the phone, he could hear her jotting it all down before she told him that she would call when it arrived, and then someone would bring it down to their Suite, or they could come get it from the front desk.
“How about a quick nap while we wait on the delivery?” Miranda suggested softly, running her fingers through Daniel’s hair. “We can all lay down and let the Bonds settle some more while you rest.”
Daniel nodded sleepily against the top of Evander’s head. “That sounds good, Grams,” he murmured, stretching his arms out in front of him and gently nudging Evander off his lap. He kept a careful hold on the toddler as Evander slipped to the floor before Daniel pushed the chair back sluggishly, sliding off the chair himself and leading the way across the room to the bed. He stopped at the end of the bed, looking down at Evander before looking over at Miranda, “I can’t—”
Miranda knew what he needed, making her way over to the bed just a few steps behind him. “It’s alright, love,” she told him, “just get up into the bed and I’ll get him on the bed.”
Daniel nodded thankfully and climbed up onto the bed, laying down in the middle with the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders. He wiggled around until the blanket was at least covering his body, even if he didn’t feel like letting go of it. He lifted an arm for Evander to crawl up against his chest while Miranda set the younger boy down on the bed, waiting for the tot to get comfortable before putting his arm down over him, tugging the small body against his chest in their usual sleeping position. He was nearly asleep when the bed shifted as Miranda got in behind him, gently resting an arm over the two of them as Max joined them behind Evander, wrapping herself around the boys as she settled down. Daniel sleepily watched as Anders got onto the bed behind Max, leaning back against the headboard with a book in his hands as he prepared to watch over them rather than sleep.
“L’ve ‘ou,” Daniel slurred as he slipped into sleep, resting more comfortably than he had in months as the new family Bonds with his grandparents wrapped around his mind like a warm blanket.
Three murmured variations of “Love you too” were murmured to fill the room even though neither child heard it. Miranda curled herself against Daniel’s back, settling in to listen as Anders settled down to read his book. His right hand dropped to Max’s head, fingers dragging through her hair in between flipping pages. Max hummed at the touch, curling around Evander for a quick nap before dinner was delivered.
