Reading Time: 113 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 19—A transplant

“Are you ready for this, little wolf?” Max asked softly, running her fingers through Daniel’s hair as she sat on the edge of his hospital bed. She watched as he got comfortable under the light blanket pulled over him, the teen wiggling on the bed until he was in a position that wasn’t bothering him. “I’ll be here when you get out, and I’ll bring Evan as soon as you’re settled in your suite at the Center.”

“I’m ready,” Daniel assured her, peering up at her through limp curls. “I’ll be happy when this is over, and Liam and I are out of here.”

“You can feel it pressing already?” Max questioned.

Daniel nodded sharply, rolling his neck to release some of the tension building inside him at the press of emotions from the rest of the hospital. No matter how empath-proofed the ward they were in claimed to be, there was very little that could keep a High-Level Guide from feeling the emotions of those around them. And even untested, there was no doubt that Daniel was a High-Level Guide.

“The nurse will be here soon,” Max assured him, gently pushing his curls back from his face. “And then you’ll go back. We’ve already discussed moving you to the Center while you’re still under the effects of the anaesthetic, so you won’t have to deal with the emotional load of the hospital for any longer than you have to.”

“Thanks, Aunt Max,” Daniel sighed, leaning back against the plush head of the bed. He tucked his arms under the blanket and sighed as they waited, absently running his hands down the length of his stomach.

“You’re welcome, little wolf,” she told him as the door opened to admit a male nurse in light green scrubs with Christmas trees on them. She raised an eyebrow at the man in amusement and got a shrug from him in response.

“I ran out of clean scrubs. I’ve been working non-stop for the past couple of weeks,” he defended himself as he moved across the room to do the last checks on Daniel before the pre-op team came in for their prep. At the concerned look from Daniel, the man grinned and assured him, “I have the next four days off, so I’ll get a break to do laundry and relax.”

Daniel nodded and relaxed into his touch as he ran through all the usual tests. “That’s good,” he agreed.

“Alright,” the nurse started as he finished, “the pre-op team will be here in two minutes once they’re finished with the prep in the operating rooms. Your brother will go back first, so half of the team will start with him then they’ll come in here.”

Daniel nodded. They’d walked through the whole process with his doctors weeks ago, so he knew exactly what would be happening here. Liam was going to be brought back to the operating rooms first since the removal of the donation sample took a little longer than the actual donation, so he’d be in the operating room for maybe five minutes before Daniel was brought back to go through his own process.

There was a quick knock on the door, and their attention turned to it as it opened to admit several nurses and a doctor. The first nurse quickly gave the team a rundown of his vitals as they moved around the bed, Max getting out of the way as machines were unhooked and things were moved around the room.

“You look very good, Mr. Buckley,” the doctor praised, reading through his chart that contained all of the notes from the day since he’d been in observation since early that morning. “I have a feeling that you will be feeling much better after this.”

One of the two nurses with the S-G swords and wings on their scrubs nodded happily, “Mr. Buckley’s vitals and health are very good. There are no signs of any hidden infections or illnesses, so he’ll be a perfect candidate for the transplant today.”

“And psionically, he’s as close to perfect as one can be in circumstances like this,” the other nurse in S-G scrubs announced, reaching out with soft fingers to tap across Daniel’s forehead lightly as she reached out with psionic energy to shore up Daniel’s shields, adding a layer of protection over the already existing layers.

“Tell your Aunt you’ll see her later,” the Sentinel Nurse suggested with a grin as he finished disconnecting the machines on Daniel’s right side.

Daniel nodded and sat up a bit so he could see Max better. “I’ll see you later, Aunty,” he told her.

Max gently pushed between two of the nurses to lean in and kiss Daniel’s forehead. “I’ll see you later,” she assured with a pat to his hand before she stepped back to let the nurses roll the bed out of the room. She followed the bed out into the hallway, stopping to watch as it rolled down the hall and then behind the doors to the operating theatres, breathing out a deep sigh as the doors finished swinging shut, and she was left alone. There was only one place for her to go: the waiting room where Mathilda and Yarrick would be waiting for her. She twisted on her heels and walked away from the doors down the hall, moving towards where she could feel the minds of her family waiting for her.

–

Daniel hummed quietly, rolling his head to the side, feeling the press of the pillowcase against his cheek. He was so tired, just exhausted to the deepest parts of himself. He could just barely feel the press of other minds, a few close by that he recognize but couldn’t name with how tired he was. He made another noise, feeling a soft-skinned hand on the other side of his face.

“Daniel, honey,” he heard, turning his face towards the sound even if he couldn’t work up the energy to open his eyes and look at the speaker. He moved his head again, humming at another touch to his face as the voice said again, with a bit of a laugh in their tone, “Daniel, honey, open your eyes, please.”

Daniel grumbled but made an attempt to open his eyes. He wiggled a bit on the soft bed he could feel beneath him as he felt his eyelids twitch though he failed to get his eyes open at first. He squirmed again, clenching his fingers in the fabric of the bedding as he forced his eyes open to slits.

The room he was in was cloaked partially in shadow, though he couldn’t tell whether it was just because the curtains were drawn and the lights were out or if it was dark outside. He twisted his head again, opening his eyes a little more to look at who was sitting next to him.

“Ah—Ma—” Daniel croaked, smiling at the woman sitting next to his bed.

“Hi, Danny-boy,” Max murmured with a smile. “I’ll get you some water in a minute and help you sit up, but first, I need you to open your eyes properly. You need them wide and clear, so I can be sure that you won’t drown by accident.”

Daniel huffed a breath bordering on a laugh and stretched his limbs to the edges of the bed. “Li?” he murmured in question, twisting his head to the side again, trying to look around the room he was in for his brother.

“He’s fine,” Max assured him, reaching up to brush his hair off his forehead. “He’s just in the next room. We’ve just been waiting for the two of you to wake up now. The move from the hospital to here at the Center went as smoothly as silk; Liam woke up only once while we waited for you to be done in surgery, and he’s been awake for about twenty minutes now.” She sat on the edge of the bed and tapped her fingers down his forearm, “Mathilda and I have spoken, and we’ve decided that Liam will remain here for the remainder of the school year. He’s been transferred to the Center school for the rest of the year, and he’ll be here until at least the end of summer, if not longer, depending on his opinion. He’s going to take the opportunity for what it is.”

“Muse—” Daniel agreed with a cough, stretching his legs again and pointing his toes towards the end of the bed.

“Yes,” Max agreed with a grin, knowing exactly what he was attempting to tell her. “Museums and visits to the city and playing around on our lands. You two will have plenty do in the next few months.” She ran a hand through his hair, pushing his curls back from his face.

Daniel hummed in agreement, yawning quietly. He nodded slowly, blinking sleepily as he stretched again. “Tired,” he murmured, reaching up to rub at his eye with a fist.

“Okay,” Max hummed, continuing to run her fingers through his hair. “Go back to sleep for a bit longer, little wolf.”

Daniel practically purred under the touch, twisting on the bed to get closer to her. He curled up to go back to sleep, yawning as he gently tugged the blankets back over his shoulder and curled his arm under his pillow. “G’night,” he murmured, another yawn stopping him from saying anything else before he fell asleep again.

–

The next time he woke up, he yawned and opened his eyes to slits to look at the empty seat next to his bed. He frowned a bit in confusion, blinking again to clear the sleep from his brain. He lifted his head a bit, yawning as he blinked to look around the room. He was a bit surprised to find himself in his bed in the Suite at the Center rather than in the medical bay, but there were medical machines on the right side of the bed. He was curled up in the middle of the bed with half a dozen blankets thrown over him.

He’d barely moved to sit up before the door to his room was opened, and his grandfather was stepping inside. “Grandad?” he croaked, stretching a bit as he pushed himself up onto his elbows. He wasn’t expecting to see his grandparents since they still had a few months on their tour left.

“Little wolf,” Anders greeted with a smile, twisting his way inside the room with a covered tray propped against his hip. He reached up with his free hand and pushed a hand over the top of his head, ruffling the longer hair at the top of his head. “It’s good to see you awake.”

“Liam?” Daniel croaked again, finally pushing himself up into a proper sit and pulling his body up to lean against the pillows at the head of the bed.

“He’s awake,” Anders assured him, setting the tray on the end of the bed out of the way. “We were just waiting for you to wake up. I brought you some tea for your throat and some oatmeal to eat. It is all in an insulated tray, so let’s get you up and into the bathroom to start with.”

“Tea too?” Daniel questioned, even as he started pushing the blankets off to the side, careful of the machines waiting out of the way. “Bath, please?”

“I’ll get you settled in the bath first,” Anders agreed, rounding the bed to disconnect everything carefully, pulling off the pulse monitor and separating the parts of the IV so Daniel could get up off the bed. He came around to the other side of the bed to help Daniel to his feet. “Once you’re settled, I’ll bring it all into the bathroom for you. You can have some tea and a bowl of oatmeal, and soak in the tub for a bit. You can come out when you’re done and sit with the rest of us for a bit if you’re up for it.”

“Sounds good,” Daniel nodded, offering his arms up for Anders to get a hold of him before the older man hefted him up off the bed, helping him to his feet. Daniel grunted as his legs buckled, only his grandfather’s hold keeping him on his feet as he got up from the bed. With a grumble, Daniel made his way across the room, taking each set carefully with Anders’ help until they were in the bathroom, and he could sit down on the toilet lid while Anders turned the water on in the bathtub.

“Can you lean against the counter while I put a waterproof covering over your stitches?” Anders questioned, dipping his fingers into the water briefly to test the temperature.

“Yes,” Daniel agreed hoarsely, nodding as he fought to push himself up from the toilet. He grabbed onto the edge of the counter and forced his feet under his body, pushing himself up off the toilet and carefully taking the two steps to lean against the counter. “Hate these meds.”

Anders came to a stop next to Daniel’s side, gently running his fingers through the teen’s hair. “I expected you would, but this was the best option to manage your pain from the transplants and injections during the entire process without compromising your shields under the strain of everyone’s emotions.” He tugged gently at Daniel’s curls, smiling at the disgruntled look from the teen. “You really need a haircut, little wolf,” he mused before turning serious as Daniel shifted against the counter, “Do you need help with your sweatshirt?”

Daniel looked down at his gray NAVY physical training sweatshirt that Killian had given him for Christmas, eyeing it critically as he tried to decide whether he had enough strength to lift it over his head. “Yes, please,” he finally admitted with a sigh, “Can’t do it.”

“It might be more painful for you to raise your arms above your head enough to get it off,” Anders hummed, gently grasping the bottom of Daniel’s sweatshirt and carefully pulling it up above his head. “I don’t want you to strain your stitches at any point,” Anders warned, “If you need help, you ask for it, even if it’s for something you feel is stupid. Until the doctors take the stitches out and agree that you’re okay, you are going to take it as easy as possible.”

“Yes, Grandad,” Daniel muttered, bending carefully at the waist to make it easier for Anders to drag the sweatshirt off over his head. He stretched a bit, twisting slightly to look at his stitches in the mirror. There were three sets for him to look at: first, the ones holding his central venous catheter in place, which were loosely spread and thin; second, another smaller catheter for some of the other medications he’d needed for the past few weeks; and finally, a small set of three stitches at the jut of his hip where they’d taken the bone punch for testing the previous week. They were all relatively close together, so covering them for him to take his bath would be pretty easy.

“Alright,” Anders murmured, gently reaching up to pat his shoulder before moving to the pharmacy bag sitting on the counter, digging through it for the packages of waterproofing. He pulled one out and pushed the bag back out of the way before coming over, checking on the bathtub briefly out of the corner of his eye. “Hold still,” he directed as he peeled one side of the backing off the waterproofing.

Carefully, starting with the side that he’d peeled off, he spread the waterproofing up over the stitches. It took a moment of quick finger work to get everything tucked into the pocket of the waterproof covering before he pressed the rest of the adhesive sections into place, smoothing his hand over the whole thing gently to make sure it was all in place. Stepping back, Anders studied his grandson for a moment before cupping the teenager’s face. “I love you, Daniel.”

“Love you too, Grandad,” Daniel murmured, leaning forward to press his forehead to Anders’ chest before he straightened again, turning his head to look at the bathtub. “It’s almost ready.”

Anders nodded, moving over to test the water again, dipping the tips of his fingers under the water rushing out of the tap. “Another moment, then you can get in and I can grab your food.” He looked up at Daniel from his place by the tub, “Do you think you can manage to get the rest of your clothes off while I’m gone?”

Daniel weighed his options, tapping his fingers on the edge of the counter. “I can try,” he finally agreed after a moment, nodding sharply as Anders got to his feet. Anders watched him for a moment before nodding and moving towards the door. Daniel leaned into the gentle bump from his grandfather and then waited for the door to close again before he reached for the drawstrings of his sweatpants, tugging gently to get the knot undone. He pushed gently at the fabric, letting it fall to his feet before stepping out and moving towards the bathtub, leaning on the counter for extra stability before he settled down on the edge of the tub and waited for his grandfather to come back since he wasn’t sure he could get into the tub without help.

Anders came back in only a moment, setting the tray on the counter. “Do you want help, Daniel?” he murmured gently, staying where he was until Daniel asked for the help he needed. He moved to help Daniel when he nodded, calmly offering his arm for Daniel to use as a balance as he twisted his legs over the side of the tub, slipping first one and then the other into the water. It was an easy slide from there for Daniel to get into the water and settle back against the back of the tub.

“Food or tea first?” Anders questioned once he was sure Daniel was settled in the water.

“Tea please,” Daniel croaked, reaching wet hands out of the water towards the tray. It wasn’t long before a to-go cup of perfectly hot tea was placed in his hands, the teen slipping one hand through the handle to hold onto it as he relaxed again, taking a sip and letting the honey in the tea soothe his throat. He hummed happily as the warmth from both the bath and the tea enveloped him.

“I’ll set the tray up on the bath stool, and then you can lounge for a bit. I’ll give you forty-five minutes before I come to help you out of the bath,” Anders told him, gently brushing a hand through Daniel’s hair and pushing slightly dampened curls back from Daniel’s face. “So, relax, and if you need anything there’s a bell on the tray, so ring it and one of us will come help you.”

Daniel nodded, drinking from his cup and watching as Anders moved around the bathroom. A stool that was the same height as the tub was brought up next to Daniel’s head, on which Anders set the tray with the rest of his meal. There was a bowl of oatmeal that he could see was made up as his favourite, heaps of brown sugar and some milk with strawberries on top. The bell was one of those old brass things you see on a hotel reception desk, the plunger just waiting to be pushed down to ring the bell. Anders paused on his way out the door to pull a large towel out of the linen closet which he left on the edge of the counter, before sharing one last look with Daniel and leaving the teen to soak in the tub.

Daniel soaked for the full forty-five minutes with no interruptions other than stopping to refill his mug from the canister on the tray and finishing his oatmeal as calmly as possible so he didn’t give himself a stomach ache by eating too fast on these meds. He refilled his bath water only once since the bathroom heater had been turned on to keep the room itself warm enough for him to be comfortable, so only when he needed warmer water did he have to move further than to set something aside on the tray.

Anders came back into the bathroom with a quick, perfunctory knock, pushing the door open slowly and closing it behind him. “Feeling better now?” he asked as he scooped the towel off the counter.

Daniel reached for the plug, tugging it up until the water started spiralling down the drain. “I feel a lot better,” he admitted as he pulled his legs up to push himself up from the bottom of the tub. “I’m less sore, and I feel less sweaty and gross.”

“Good,” Anders murmured, unfolding the towel and holding it out between the spread of his arms to wrap Daniel in it when he finally got out of the tub, the teen sitting on the edge of the tub to pull one foot then the other out without slipping and falling. Anders wrapped the teen in the frankly giant towel when he was standing on his own two feet.

Daniel was nearly engulfed in the towel, pulling the one edge up over his head like a hood and curling his arms across his chest to hold the towel closed. “Can you bring me my other warm pyjamas?” he asked softly, peeking up at Anders through his towel-hood.

“Yes,” Anders told him, reaching up to gently ruffle the towel over Daniel’s hair. “Do you want socks or your slippers?”

“Slippers, please.”

“Alright, I’ll be back in a minute then.” Anders dropped his hands back to his sides before stepping away and slipping from the room, closing the door behind himself to keep the heat in the bathroom.

Daniel looked at his reflection, studying himself carefully, wondering if there were any visible changes since the transplant. There wasn’t really, at least not anything that he immediately noticed from the day or two he had slept off the aftermath of the anaesthesia. His skin might be a bit less translucent, or his eyes might be a bit less sunken. Still, it wasn’t anything that Daniel immediately saw or even recognized as being different from the months of healing he’d gone through, even just getting off his old medications. And he wasn’t sure there would be any real changes for at least a couple of weeks, if not months, depending on how long it took his body to realize that it had been given new things to play with, to use toward healing his system.

The door opened behind him, and Daniel turned to look at Anders. Anders smiled slightly, just a quirk of his lips, as he stepped inside with a pile of clothes in his hands. “I got everything,” he told him, setting it on the counter next to Daniel’s hand. “Do you want help, or do you think you can manage it by yourself?”

“I think I can get it,” Daniel assured him. “I’ll call if I need anything.”

“Alright, I’ll strip the bed for washing. Come out when you’re ready.” Anders ruffled his hair before exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

Daniel hummed thoughtfully as he separated the pile of clothes. His black and gray Buffalo print sherpa-lined slippers he just dropped to the floor next to his feet, listening to the thuds one after another as they hit the floor. Tugging at the first piece of black and white plaid he could see, Daniel tugged the fleece pants out of the pile, setting them off to his left out of the way as he pulled at the rest. The black cotton t-shirt was flopped over the edge of the sink, ignored for the moment as he tugged a pair of heather gray boxers away from the gray Air Force sweater his grandmother had gotten him. The sweater was left on the counter, pushed slightly over so he wouldn’t knock it on the floor.

Squeezing his fist around the boxers in his hand, Daniel pushed himself away from the counter with a huff, testing how well he would be able to support his own weight without anything to lean against. His hip ached a bit, the bone punch still not out of the stage where it was painful—though it was becoming itchy over anything else. Rubbing the meat of his palm over the ache, Daniel straightened to his proper height, rolling his back to get the kinks out before he bent down to step into the boxers, pulling them up around his hips easily. He did a little hip shimmy to settle the fabric properly before grabbing his pants, doing the exact same process, hip shimmy included, before he stepped into his slippers. Wiggling his toes in the warm lining, he grabbed the t-shirt, flipping it around so the body hem was facing him so he could pull it over his head. Unbunching the fabric from the damp skin at the small of his back with one hand, he used the other to reach for his sweater, sticking one arm into the sleeve as he struggled to finish pulling his shirt down.

With a grumble, and as the bathroom door opened, Daniel gave up his struggle with the shirt and just pulled his sweater on over his head. Pushing his head through the collar, Daniel huffed at his reflection, pulling his sweater down with one hand and using the other to push his hair back from his face. “Do you think Aunt Max will cut it for me?” he questioned, turning to look at Anders. He hadn’t had a salon appointment made since his immune system was still so weak, but his hair was getting annoying, and he wasn’t sure he could wait for it to be okay for him to go.

“I’m sure she’d be happy to do it if you asked her,” Anders told him, leaning against the doorjamb with his arms folded over his chest. “She’d probably do it for you as soon as she could find scissors, but I don’t think you’d want to do it right now since you just got out of the bath.”

Daniel shook his head, sending a few stray droplets of water across the room. “I’ll wait until another day.”

Anders laughed, straightening up and twisting to leave the room. “You can ask her now, and wait until you’re ready to get it done,” he reminded. He led the way out of the room, grabbing a laundry hamper as he passed by the bed before he went to the bedroom door. “What would you like to drink? More tea?”

“Yes, please, Grandad,” Daniel sighed, following him out of the bedroom to join everyone else in the living room.

There were plenty of people filling the main space of his usual Suite in the Center. Miranda and Max were at the table, looking over some printed photos that Max had taken of the wildlife coming to the bird feeders in the yard. Tyreen was sitting in one of the empty chairs on the other side of the table, a book in hand. Mathilda was in the kitchenette, making something that smelled delicious on the stove. Yarrick was doing a big floor puzzle with Lyra and Evan next to the big windows, and a dozing Liam was curled up in the nest with a couple of blankets in the middle of a small portion of the pillow mountain.

“Go sit,” Anders directed, gently nudging Daniel towards the nest before he moved towards the outer door with the basket to send it off for laundry.

Daniel didn’t fight the direction, already moving toward the nest before Anders could even take a step toward the door. He climbed down in the space next to Liam, inelegantly shoving pillows and blankets around until he could practically sprawl over his brother, the older teen watching in amusement but not moving to help. Daniel got everything placed to his satisfaction before he grabbed his usual blankets and tucked himself in against Liam’s side, feeling the soothing weight of the older teen’s arm come down around his shoulders.

“Feeling okay?” Liam murmured, twisting slightly to look down at Daniel and studying his little brother’s face.

“I feel… alright,” Daniel answered, stretching to reach the crochet project he could see sticking out of the cushions. “I don’t know if I feel better than yesterday, or if I just feel the same but I’ve gotten used to it.” He shrugged and got the ball of yarn settled next to him, pulling a bit out to wrap around his fingers so he could continue his project. “It will get better eventually, but I don’t feel it yet. Later, maybe, but not now.”

“Hopefully,” Liam murmured, running his fingers through Daniel’s hair, playing with the longer curls they would share if he hadn’t cut them all off for JROTC. Even now, a couple of weeks since he put a pause on going to his JROTC meets, his hair still wasn’t all that long for it to look anything but wavy. He missed his curls occasionally, but the shorter amount of time it took to take care of his hair was a good enough reason for him to keep cutting it short. “A few weeks and the doctors will be able to tell how it all went. And hopefully, it’s turned out for the best.”

“I hope so,” Daniel agreed with a sigh, pulling the yarn through his fingers anxiously. “If not for myself but for you.”

“What do you mean?” Liam stared down at his brother with a furrowed brow, tugging lightly at the younger teen’s curls to get his attention on him instead of worrying at his yarn.

“I don’t want you to have to donate again,” Daniel admitted. He met Liam’s eyes for a moment, blue searching near-black, before he dropped his gaze again, focusing on his project. “You have better things to do than be suck in the hospital or these rooms while you heal from another one of these transplants.”

Liam frowned at him again, pulling at the curls wrapped around his fingers to get Daniel’s attention back. “Daniel, if you need another transplant, I will offer in a heartbeat.” When Daniel opened his mouth to protest, Liam cut him off, “You’re my brother; I will do everything I can to make sure you’re around to be a part of the rest of my life and the rest of our families’ lives.” He shook the younger teen for a moment, “Evan and Lyra deserve to have you around. Who else will read to them from any book they offer? Our cousins deserve to have you around. Who will take Lauren hunting for frogs in the creek? Or help Oliver draw all over the driveway? What about Kelly? Who’s going to play his games with him when he asks?” He nudged Daniel again, “There are so many members of our family who would, and have, offered to help you. Even if I can’t donate again for a while, Kelly was tested and came back a match, same with Uncle Greg and Cousin Rick. Kelly has already offered, and Cousin Rick has been moving things around with his books so he could donate if needed. Uncle Greg is standing in as a last resort just because of how far away they are from here. If you need someone to donate, someone will, and not just from our family either; the Tribe will step in if you need it.”

Daniel rolled his lip between his teeth, worrying it lightly for a moment. He nodded slowly after a moment. “That’s fair, I suppose.”

Liam snorted in laughter, “Let’s get through this one first, Danny. Finish figuring out what happened with this transplant before you start worrying about the next one.” He tugged Daniel down against his side, dropping his cheek against the top of Daniel’s head. He tapped his fingers against the crochet square in Daniel’s lap to get the younger teen to refocus on that instead of worrying about his health. “Heal from this one before you worry about the next one.”

Daniel huffed at him. “Fine,” he muttered, raising his project and turning his attention to the stitch pattern the square required. He settled against Liam’s side and focused on his project, falling into a meditative state as he went around and around the square. Liam did have a point, there was no use in worrying about the next time until he knew for sure that it would even be necessary, and only time would tell if it was necessary.

Part 20—A reckoning

Max was sprawled in a chair at the kitchen table when the front door slammed open, pulling her from her rampaging thoughts. She leaned back in her chair to look at the foyer through the open swinging door, watching as Daniel angrily kicked off his boots and viciously pulled his hat from his head, grabbing them and stepping through the archway into the mudroom. There was the sound of him throwing all of his winter gear into the mudroom closet before he came back out and stormed upstairs.

Tyreen came in shortly after Daniel got up the stairs far enough to be out of Max’s view, carrying Evan against his shoulder. Tyreen disappeared into the mudroom with Evan, and she could hear shuffling as their outdoor gear was removed and put away before Evan appeared out of the mudroom and raced off further into the house out of Max’s view. The doors to the mudroom closet closed before Tyreen came out and moved to join her in the kitchen.

“What kicked his hornet’s nest?” Max questioned, grabbing her mug off the table and taking a sip, wincing at the cool temperature of her coffee.

“Why do you look like someone kicked your puppy?” Tyreen fired back as he moved to the coffeemaker and started making another carafe of coffee.

Max waited a second as she searched out the minds of her nephews before answering, making sure they were out of hearing range before she sighed and replied, “So turns out my oldest brother has done it again.”

Tyreen frowned. He knew from overhearing bits and pieces that Jennifer and Benny Severide were in the middle of a divorce since the man had cheated on her several times over the course of their marriage, and with Kelly getting old enough to understand what was happening, she’d had enough. Not to mention her recent cancer diagnosis had made her patience with Benny’s shenanigans disappear into smoke. “What did he do?”

“Jennifer just got custody of a five year old boy named Jackson, the son of Benny and a woman they both knew casually,” Max announced. She tipped her head back against the chair to look at the ceiling, “His mom died last week, and her lawyer brought the kid to Jen since the other woman knew Benny had flaked out on Jen to start with.”

“Oh, shit,” Tyreen breathed, looking at her wide-eyed. “What’s going to happen with Jen’s… you know?”

Max reached up and rubbed her face with both hands. “She talked with the lawyer when he dropped Jackson off; let him know that with her health the way it is and the family history, she has plans in place for Kelly and that those same plans will now stretch to include Jackson, which is why we talked after you left with the boys for their meeting with Madeline.” She pushed her hands back through her hair, tugging at green strands before raising her head to look at him, “If she goes before Mom and Dad are done with their tour in a couple of months, then I get temporary custody of both boys until they get back. Either way, the boys will be here if worst comes to worst, but for now, she’s taking care of both boys and trying to get everything in order as she goes through her treatments.”

Tyreen wrinkled his nose, tapping his fingers on the counter. “It’s unfortunate, but at least there is a plan in place to handle the outcome of anything that comes from her treatments failing to work.”

Max hummed in agreement, resting her elbow on the edge of the table and dropping her cheek into her palm. “So what pissed Daniel off?” she questioned as the coffeemaker sputtered to life. “He’s gotten such good news lately that I thought he’d be floating in the clouds.”

Tyreen huffed, reaching up to pinch his nose, “I don’t think even finding out he’s in remission or that he’s testing as a level six currently would be enough to offset the blowout he had with Madeline,” he admitted, watching the coffee burble into the carafe.

“What happened?” Max questioned with a frown, getting up to pour out the last dregs of her old coffee and coming to a stop next to him, leaning against the counter.

Tyreen sighed and tipped to the side to lean against the counter but still be able to see her. “It was all fine for the first thirty minutes we were there since we spent it in the cafe getting drinks and food. It turned when we went to the park across the street; Daniel left his bag with me and went running after Evan as the kid raced for the playground. Madeline was amazed to see Daniel racing around with him, but she went to play with them for a while until Daniel got tired and had to sit down for a bit. I didn’t hear the start of the conversation since they were on a bench a little further away, and Yvette and I were talking about the flowers she was picking for her wedding, but what I did hear from Madeline was… not so nice.”

Max frowned. She could only guess what nonsense Margaret had filled her daughter’s head with, and she had to wonder what Maddie had said to Daniel. “What did she say?”

“You’ll have to talk to Daniel to get a full accounting,” Tyreen warned, even as he poured out a mug of coffee from the newly finished brew. “But what I did hear was not kind to either Maddie for believing the bull or Margaret—since she’s the only one that it could possibly be—for telling her those things to start with.” He poured coffee for Max, filling her cup to where she still had space for her sugar and creamer. He put the carafe back before reaching for the sugar, adding three spoonfuls before taking the creamer from Max when she was done. “I only tuned in when Daniel’s mental state tripped from tired but content to irritated and heading towards a row. First thing I hear: ‘Why don’t you ask to come home now that you’re fixed?’ Like Daniel was somehow broken and not hurt. And it just spiralled down from there.”

Max sucked in a deep breath through her teeth. She was already imagining some of the things Margaret had said to her when she was younger, and she could only imagine what Margaret had to say now.

“There was a lot of blaming going on,” Tyreen sighed, staring into the murky depths of his coffee cup. “Blaming Daniel for getting sick, blaming Evan for interrupting their family, blaming Daniel for coming Online and turning into a ‘freak,’ as Madeline put it. There was also a lot of poor me from Margaret said through Maddie; a lot of ‘why would you do this to our family’ and ‘don’t you care about Mom and Dad’ and some ‘what about your friends’ and ‘what about me’.”

“And Daniel’s response?” Max asked.

Tyreen snorted in amusement, “Daniel told her, and I quote, ‘What family? Mom treats us all like little toys for her to play with and gets upset when we remind her that we aren’t dolls. And no, I don’t care about Mom and Dad because, for me, they stopped being Mom and Dad the minute I heard them deciding that Evan was a bank for them to take whatever they wanted from. What friends? They moved after having Evan, and I never saw the inside of a school in our new district. And you? You were happy enough to abandon me for the outside world.'” He took a drink from his mug and sighed, “I think you should talk to Daniel about what else she said because, honestly, even thinking about it is making me angry, and I wasn’t the one most affected.”

Max looked down into her mug and nodded, “I’ll finish my coffee, give him some time to calm down before I make some tea and go talk to him.” She set down her mug and moved across the kitchen to the hutch cabinet where all the tea and coffee bits were kept. She pulled down from the middle shelf a simple, dark wenge wood tea set she’d brought home from Africa after her last trip to see Guide Bahati in Tanzania. She set it on the counter, arranging the teapot and three cups—since it was most likely that Daniel had gone to find Liam—next to the stove as she went to get the stovetop kettle from the cabinet. It would take more time to do things this way, but it gave Daniel more time to calm down, so she easily allowed herself the time to make the tea the traditional way.

She added two spoonfuls of Daniel’s favourite vanilla tea into the infuser before tucking it into the teapot. She took the kettle to the sink and filled it with water, carrying it over to the stove and setting it on the burner before turning it on, watching for a moment as small bubbles started forming in the water before she put the lid on the kettle and stepped back to her coffee, taking her mug from the counter before leaning back against it.

“What can you tell me about what happened?” she questioned, focusing on Tyreen but keeping an ear out for the kettle.

Tyreen shifted his weight on his feet, getting more comfortable in his place against the counter before he sighed again. “Whatever Maddie was told to expect from Daniel, it wasn’t what she got. He didn’t get all that upset on the surface—his emotional upheaval remained on the psionic plane; he was calm and cool, and fought all of her awful statements with a plain and factual tone that seemed to make Maddie more and more upset. It eventually came to a point that she started yelling at him, causing a big scene which nearly had another set of parents coming over, considering the subject matter of their conversation. Still, Daniel shut her down pretty hard when he just got up and told Evan we were leaving. Yvette just looked resigned to the whole thing, and I feel sorry for her for getting stuck with this lunacy, but I told her that we probably won’t be back.”

Max sighed and tilted her head back to look at the ceiling. “I’ll talk to Daniel, but I agree that he probably won’t be comfortable going back, depending on what Maddie told him. He hasn’t been happy with her for months now, and I think this is just the icing on the cake in this case.” She ran a hand through her hair, tugging lightly at the braid hidden in the middle. “And if Daniel isn’t going, I’m not letting Evan go either. His connection to Maddie is so limited that the few hours he gets to see her every other week isn’t helping. By separating them, I doubt he’ll remember her as anything other than a glimpse of his past.”

Tyreen nodded, “Evan’s Bonds are strongest to Daniel, Liam, Lyra, you, the Blumenthals, and your parents. He has a liminal bond with me as well, but I think it’s mostly a crossover from my Conservator Bond with Daniel. It will likely fade when Daniel no longer needs my help, but we both know that Conservator Bonds never truly fade, just dim down to spider silk.”

Max huffed and nodded. She had several thin Bonds with her former students, some stronger than others, but those Bonds never really went away. Familial Bonds were the closest thing to Conservator Bonds in terms of how they acted; both Bonds could be formed between wholly unrelated individuals, and they were rarely, if ever, broken unless it became necessary for the health and well-being of one in the Bond, only then would a Bondbreaker would be called in to look at it.

The kettle started to whistle, and Max moved away from the counter to get it off the stove, using an oven mitt to pick up the kettle as she turned the burner off with the other hand. She poured the hot water over the infuser in the teapot, watching as the tea spiralled out from the infuser into the water as the level rose until the teapot was full. She set the still-hot kettle back onto the stove, setting it on the rear burner out of reach for little fingers.

She kept an eye on the clock on the wall as she went to drink that last few mouthfuls of her coffee before setting her mug in the sink to wash later. When the infusing time was finished, she carefully fished the infuser out of the teapot and set it aside on the saucer kept on the counter for teabags. She put the lid on the teapot before going to get a tray off another shelf in the drink cabinet, setting all the pieces of the tea set on it. With a sigh, she picked up the tray and tilted her head at Tyreen, “Keep Evan busy, please?”

“Of course, Max,” Tyreen agreed, waving her away before finishing his coffee. “I’m sure he’s found something to occupy himself with, but I think I’ll see if I can get him to sit down with me for some psionic healing after this whole afternoon.”

Max winced; she hadn’t even thought about that. No matter if Evan understood or not what was happening when his sister and brother came to verbal blows, there would still be bleed-off from Daniel over the events that would affect Evan’s rudimentary shields and his psionic landscape. Tyreen would be able to soothe any jumps or bruises on Evan’s psionic health while she talked with Daniel about what exactly happened with Maddie.

“Thanks, Tyreen,” Max told him as she crossed the room and left the kitchen to follow her older nephew upstairs. She sent her Gifts spiralling through the upper levels of the house, searching for Daniel and Liam, finding the pulses of their minds in the library, so she headed there. She gently pushed the door open, hearing the angry grumbling of the younger teen, a small smile spreading at the grumpy cat sounding muttering. The smile stayed as she came inside and got to see what they were up to.

Liam was lying on the giant green beanbag chair, sprawled out in that way that lanky teenage boys always managed. He had one arm thrown over the top of the chair, fingers touching the hardwood floor. The other was wrapped around Daniel’s shoulders as the younger teen burrowed into his side, face pressed into Liam’s ribs so his rambling was muffled. Daniel was laid next to him with his hands curled in Liam’s sweatshirt and his feet hanging along the edge of the beanbag.

“Room for one more?” Max asked as she closed the library door and stepped further into the room.

Daniel stopped speaking and raised his head to look at her, a frown plastered on his face. “Hi, Aunt Max,” he said sullenly, dropping back against Liam.

“Hi, Aunt Max,” Liam agreed, raising his free hand to wave at the black beanbag on the other side of the rug. “All free for you to join us.”

Max snorted in amusement, carefully setting the tea tray on the short wooden folding table between the two seats. She poured tea into all three cups, handing one to Liam and Daniel each before taking her own and settling down in the free chair. “You want to tell me about today, Danny?”

Daniel grumbled into his teacup, taking a sip before dropping his hands into his lap. “It was fine!” he started, tilting his head back to look up at the ceiling. “It was fine until I sat down after playing with Evan. She came and sat down with me, and I was busy watching Evan play with a little girl on the play structure when she started talking, so I didn’t really hear what she said at first.”

“Which is fine,” Max assured him. “But from what Tyreen told me, what she had to say wasn’t very nice.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Daniel sighed, looking down into his cup. “What did catch my attention was when she asked, ‘When are you coming home?’ I was so confused. What was she talking about? Grandad and Grandma went to court so we could live here. So I told her, ‘I am home.’ And she said, ‘No, home with Mum and Dad. When are you coming home?’ I shook my head at her. I told her I wasn’t going to go home to them, but she insisted, ‘Why don’t you ask to come home now that you’re fixed?’ And I couldn’t believe it.”

“You’re not broken,” Liam protested, shifting to hug his brother and squeezing him gently around the waist.

Daniel took a deep breath in and nodded slowly. “I know. I know I’m not.” He reached a hand up to run through his hair, “I told her, ‘I’m not broken, and I am not going home to them.’ She started whining about how my getting sick ruined everything and that Evan being born broke our family and blah, blah, blah. I just tuned her out a bit, because that was garbage. My getting sick was out of everyone’s control; only Fate controlled when or if I got sick, and she decided I would, not me, not anyone else. And as for Evan, he’s honestly the best thing that came out of that house; he’s such a shining star, and I just can’t lose him, which I know would be the demand there. They would demand I leave him behind since I’m ‘fixed’ now, and I don’t need him for what they intended him for.”

Max winced and nodded. She could see it; Margaret would demand to have Daniel back and, in the same breath, demand that anyone else take Evan. It had been one of her big talking points when Michael first brought her home, that she wanted that apple pie life that you always saw in the movies, you know, the white picket fence and the two kids, one boy and one girl, and the perfect family. It was such an old-fashioned idea that even Miranda and Anders, who grew up in that time, thought it was crazy. But Daniel and Maddie would fit that image, and Evan wouldn’t, and that was just taking into account his existence, not any of the other factors like his gender or age.

“I will never give Evan up,” Daniel swore before taking a sip from his cup. “They can have all these ideas they want, but I am not going to let us be separated by anything other than us growing up. Evan deserves more than to be discarded like an unwanted kitten to any home that will take him.”

Liam hugged him again in comfort, gently pressing a kiss to the side of his head. “So do you,” he reminded. “You deserve better than a house like that, where you’re expected to fill a part like an actor in a play. And you know that’s what that house is going to be like since Maddie said that.”

“I know,” Daniel sighed. “And that’s what I told Maddie later.”

“Tyreen told me all about that,” Max said. She set her hands on her knees as she looked at him seriously, “Daniel, are you sure that you should have said that to her?”

“It’s the truth,” Daniel admitted. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said it to her, but it’s how I feel. And it took me a long time, and some uncomfortable questions from other patients in the ward, to realize that how Mom and Dad treat us isn’t okay. I’m not wrong to say that Mom only cares about herself and how she looks and that Dad only cares about Mom, not us. She can believe whatever she wants, but just because Maddie is blind, doesn’t mean that I am. And it’s especially important now since I can feel how shallow Mom is. Just being in the presence of some people I don’t know is hard enough, and I can’t imagine what it would be like with Mom.”

“I know,” Max sighed. She took a drink from her cup, “So what do you want to do then, Danny? Because if you aren’t going, I’m not letting Evan go. And no matter what you say, I am obligated to report this to the Center, and your Social Worker, who will report it to the Court and the judge will likely make a recommendation that you don’t see her anymore anyway.”

Daniel set his teacup aside and rubbed his hands across his face. “I don’t want to see her anyway,” he admitted after a long moment of silence. “I don’t care that she’s nine years old and can learn; honestly, she should already know better. The things she said are not okay, and I don’t want Evan around that, let alone myself. I hate that Mom has…” he stopped to wrinkle his nose while he tried to think of a good word before sighing, “Infected is the best word I think of. That Mom has infected Maddie with her garbage ideas, but if Maddie’s gonna spew it, she can take the consequences. So, I don’t want to see her, and you can tell everyone you need to that I don’t.”

“Okay, little wolf,” Max soothed.

“I had plans, you know,” Daniel muttered as he picked up his tea again. “I was going to tell Maddie about Liam and Lyra today, but she ruined that, so she can suffer in the dark. She doesn’t get to know about our brother and sister that Dad has been hiding from us.”

Max snorted in amusement. “Oh, Danny, honey, you beautiful petty creature,” she laughed, reaching out to run her hand through his hair. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Aunt Max.”

Part 21—A return

Max pulled her SUV into an open parking spot, watching out of the corner of her eye as Tyreen parked his own SUV in a spot a few feet over. She glanced up into the rear-view mirror, smiling as she watched Evan look out the window in interest. It was a nice spring day, and the tot had enjoyed watching the landscape roll by as they drove in.

Max turned off the car and got out, grabbing her purse on the way. She threw the strap over her head as she moved to the back door to get Evan out of the car. “Are you ready, pup?” she questioned as she unbuckled him and moved the straps out of the way.

“Yes!” Evan announced, waiting patiently for her to release him before wiggling to get out of his seat. He held out his arms to let her pick him up, ducking his head against her shoulder until they’d cleared the doorframe. Once they were clear, and Max had closed the back door after taking the other bag off the seat, he raised his head to look around the parking lot in interest.

“Let’s go then,” she announced, bouncing him lightly as she locked the doors and stepped away, moving to join Tyreen and the older boys further down in the parking lot. “Is everyone ready?” she questioned, shifting Evan’s weight against her shoulder so he could see better.

“I am ready for Grandad and Grandma to be home,” Daniel agreed, throwing the strap of his bag over his head. “And home for good too.”

“They’re going to be glad to be home too, I think, especially after the chaos of the past few months,” Max mused with a small grin. The laugh that got her had her grin widening as she started leading them away from the parking lot to the gathering place where the other families were waiting. “Aunt Jana and Lanie are here somewhere, so we can start with finding them. They should be in the Protectorate section, which is this way.” She walked between a few cars and down a walkway confidently, knowing exactly where she was going after all the years of coming to welcome her parents home from other ship assignments.

“What time are they supposed to be here?” Tyreen asked as he followed at the back of the line.

“Docking time is twelve-hundred hours on the dot, weather permitting,” Max answered. “Thirteen-hundred hours is disembarking time, but Mom and Dad will be the last ones off with the Uncles, so we likely won’t see them for at least another hour or so.”

“At least it’s a nice day,” Tyreen mused as they came to the bottom of the walkway.

“At least there’s that,” Max agreed, turning right to walk along the bay toward a building painted with the Protectorate sword and shield. She showed her wrist with her ID bracelet to the MPs standing guard at the doors, and they let the group inside with Max in the lead.

“Maxine!”

As a group, they twisted to find Jana waving them over from near the wall where she and Lanie had set up a thick gray blanket on the floor to let Markus crawl around. There were two other people around Max and Lanie’s age waiting with them. A nice breeze blew in through the open doors facing the bay, ruffling through the building and bringing the scent of the sea into the space.

“Hi Aunt Jana,” Max greeted once they joined the group, leaning in carefully with Evan to hug the older woman. She grinned as Evan reached for Jana’s braid, little fingers finding the loops easily and playing with graying strands.

“Oh, my little deer,” Jana cooed as she squished Max gently. “Parenthood looks good on you,” she mused as she patted her cheek.

Max flushed bright red. “I haven’t told Mom and Dad yet,” she admitted. She’d gone to Jana for advice on her decision to become a mother, and her Aunt had been eager and excited to impart the same things she’d told Lanie before Markus was born. “And it hasn’t happened yet,” she reminded.

“It may not have happened here,” Jana poked Max in the belly with a grin, “But you’ve already become a parent here,” she patted gently over Max’s heart. “The moment you helped with the boys, you firmed in your mind that you were ready for this decision.” She patted Evan on the cheek gently as he played with her braids before asking, “Have you set a date for the procedure yet?”

Max shook her head as she got Evan’s fingers untangled before setting him down at her feet, releasing the toddler to join Markus on the blanket with Lanie watching them. “Kallen and Henri are focusing on Henri’s sister and her Bonded right now, and until they’re sure that those pregnancies have taken, well…”

“They don’t want to have to worry about you as well,” Jana continued with a nod. “How has the other side been going?”

“All of their health appointments have gone well, it’s mostly just making sure that the pregnancies take that has been the problem. This is only the second try, so it isn’t like it’s taken all that long, but we’re all getting impatient I think.”

Jana laughed. “It will happen when it is supposed to happen,” she reminded, gently patting Max’s arm.

“We do have a timeline, of sorts, though,” Max admitted, setting her bags down at her feet. “If it succeeds, they’ll be back as soon as possible, but if it doesn’t work, well…” she shrugged and ruffled her hair. “If not, they’ll take a break, and we’ll try for June or so.”

“Only a few months,” Jana hummed thoughtfully.

“Yeah,” Max sighed. She folded her arms over her chest, watching Evan as he played gently with Markus, stacking blocks for the nine-month-old to knock over and getting giggles from both boys. “Speaking of babies, Daniel wants to have a big birthday party for Evan, and I was thinking the lake house would be a good idea. Do you think you and Lanie can get the time off to come?”

“When were you planning to have it?” Jana questioned.

“August long weekend. Evan’s birthday is in the middle of the week, so we’ll have a small family thing on the day of, and then for the weekend, we’ll have all of the extended family come out to the lake house for a big barbeque and everything.”

“Daniel is a good brother,” Jana hummed. She turned to look at Daniel, who was standing with Liam as the two of them talked with Hollis and Ehryn’s grown children. “And what did he want to do for his birthday?” she asked, knowing that his birthday had been recent.

“He didn’t want a big to-due this year,” Max reported. “We got him gifts and a cake, but other than him picking out what he wanted for dinner, it wasn’t much for his birthday.”

“Understandable; his year so far has already been full of excitement,” Jana hummed. “And not to mention the birthdays I’ve heard about his parents putting on for him and Madeline before he got sick. If someone put up that much of a fuss for my birthday every year, I would want a quiet and calm birthday too. He also has no friends in Virginia, so who other than family would there be to invite?”

“True,” Max agreed with a nod, “Hopefully when he goes to the Mason Institute in the fall, he’ll make some friends—or at least some acquaintances that aren’t family. Liam will be joining him there, but they’ll be in different years, so there will be little overlap.”

“Daniel is a vibrant boy; I have no doubt he’ll gain attention, even if it’s just for being the new kid in class,” Jana assured her.

“I know. I only worry because Daniel’s been out of formal in-school learning for so long that I don’t know if it will be too much for him or not. I hope not, just because I don’t know how he’ll get through life if he’s constantly overwhelmed by others being around, but Tyreen’s rated his shields as being robust, so we’ll just have to wait and see, I suppose.” Max shrugged.

Jana hummed thoughtfully. “There’s plenty of time this summer for visits to malls and museums and libraries to get him used to the press of that many minds. And the Mason Institute is supposed to teach the basic principles of meditation and shielding even if the students aren’t Online, so Daniel should have a better time of it at school than he would in any other public place.”

“We’ve done libraries, but libraries are honestly such a muted place mentally that Daniel didn’t have that hard a time there,” Max explained. “I think we’ll try some grocery stores and the mall and anywhere else the boys want to go.”

“It’s a good idea,” Jana agreed. “Daniel will get better at blocking things out as time goes on and he settles into his Gifts, but right now, the only way he’s going to manage things is if he experiences them. I remember how much trouble you and your little Pack had after you all came Online and how much you had to force yourself to go out to those public spaces so you could function, and how much you were holding your friends together.”

Max winced at the reminder. It was true, though, after they’d come Online, it was she and Casey as Guides that had kept the Sentinels from spiralling away, and they hadn’t been having a good time of it either. Casey was a higher-level Guide than her, and he hadn’t had a great time pulling his shields together after the terror of thinking they were going to die and then the mess that had been the hospital. Her own shielding that first few months had been… weak was the simplest word she could ever think of to talk about them. They’d fluctuated like the tide, and it had been hard for her to keep from slipping into Guide Shock at the press of too many minds.

“Daniel is already in a better place than we were,” Max mused. “His mind is settled, his mental landscape is healing, and his psionic abilities are slowly blooming like a flower finally getting sun.”

Jana laughed at the turn of phrase, wrapping her arms around Max’s shoulders and gently squeezing her. “You should write a book, Max. I think you’d enjoy it, and you have a wide range of experiences to draw from if you wanted to go for it.”

Max tipped her head back and forth. “It’s something to consider while I can’t travel,” she agreed. “I’ll have to see if I can think of anything that I might want to write about.” She leaned into Jana’s side and raised her arm to look at her watch. “Only another fifteen minutes before they should be here,” she announced, watching as everyone stopped what they were doing, and the feelings of anticipation began to surge.

“Come, sit down while we wait for the ship to make it into the dock,” Jana directed, tugging gently at Max’s shoulders to lead her down to the blanket and waving a hand at the others to get them to join them. She sat down on the edge of the blanket, holding out her hands for Markus as the baby crawled towards her. “Hello, duckie,” she greeted her grandson as she pulled him into her lap, cuddling the baby happily.

Max settled down next to her, letting Evan climb up into her lap and rest against her chest.

“Cookie, Ani?” Evan asked, looking up at her with the big blue eyes that had been proven to be impossible to say no to.

Max chuckled and twisted to reach for the bag with Evan’s things, digging through the contents and pulling out not only the bag of cookies she’d packed but also the book she’d brought for him to read. She pulled one cookie out of the bag before sealing it and handing the cookie over to Evan. She put the bag back before leaning back on her hands.

“Fank you,” Evan told her before munching on his cookie, holding it between his hands like a chipmunk as he ate.

Max snickered at the sight of him and leaned down to kiss the top of his head, “You’re welcome, pup.” She left him to eat his cookie as she turned her attention to the world outside their repurposed warehouse. She hummed as Daniel came to sit next to her, curling against her side with a sigh as he watched Evan eat his cookie.

The first sign that the ship was in range was a loud horn that came a few minutes later. Max gently patted her nephews on the shoulder. “Let’s go watch the docking process, shall we?”

“Peas!” Evan agreed. He’d been fascinated with boats since she’d brought him onto the base for a medical appointment, and they’d stopped to watch the smaller ships coming and going from their places. Max had a feeling that he’d love to ride the boat they kept in storage for going to the lake, and she couldn’t wait to see his reaction.

“Alright, let’s go,” she agreed, gently pushing him off her lap so she could get up. She got to her feet, stretching briefly before she swung Evan up into her arms, tucking him against her hip as they waited for Daniel and Liam to get up and join them. She led the way out of the hangar and out onto the dock, where they could see what was happening.

Out further in the bay, the much smaller tugboats were circling closer to the large cruiser, small figures moving around on both vessels are they prepared to join together. Ropes were tossed down from the cruiser, easily caught by the figures aboard the smaller vessels, and there was a wave of activity as ropes were tied into place for the pull into the dock. When the activity calmed, the leading tugboats blew their signal horns, the cruiser repeating the noise before the tugboats started to pull.

“Tiny,” Evan commented, waving a hand at the tugboats as he nearly leaned out of her arms to get a better view.

“You’re right, Ev,” Max agreed, “they are small. But they’re pretty powerful, so those tiny tugboats are able to pull that big cruiser through the bay and over here with very little trouble.” She waved at the boats with her free hand as they got steadily closer and closer, the little tugs pulling with what looked like ease, but Max knew it was anything but; it was a good thing there were two tug boats on the front and another two on the sides to pull the huge cruiser into place.

All told it takes about twenty minutes before the cruiser is in place to everyone’s satisfaction. Max can see the personnel on the cruiser racing around on the deck, many stopping at the railings to wave to their family members waiting before hurrying back to their duties.

Max chuckled as one young man, who could only be eighteen or nineteen, practically tipped over the railing as he waved to someone on the dock, only saved from a hilarious fall into the water by another passing seaman grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling him back over. The woman appeared to give him a firm talking to before she turned on her toes and headed for another spot out of view. Max watched her leave, catching the sight of Navy Whites out of the corner of her eye and turning her attention to her right, where a man around Benny’s age was waiting, his cap under his arm and auburn hair turned to gold in the sun.

“You must be the new Captain,” Max commented, getting the man’s attention. She held out her hand to him for a handshake. “Guide Maxine Buckley, Captain Buckley’s eldest daughter.”

“Guide Captain Justin Carson,” the man introduced, shaking her hand easily. He waved to the man in similar Navy Whites, who was waiting a few steps behind him. “My Sentinel, Captain Dillon Martins.” The other man stepped forward at his name, a smile spreading over his face as he held out his hand to shake.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Buckley,” Dillon greeted.

“Ani!” Evan interrupted, and Max laughed before introducing him as well, “This is my nephew, Evander, and his brothers William and Daniel are behind me.”

“Nice to meet you as well, Evander,” Dillon greeted solemnly, a grin spreading over his face as he held out a hand so the tot could attempt a handshake as well. It was amusing for all of them to watch the tiny tot try shaking the large hand of a six-foot-plus African-American man.

“Are you happy to have your parents home?” Justin asked as they watched the final checks before the gangplanks were due to be set down.

“Mm,” Max hummed in agreement with a nod. “I know they’re not enthused about being relegated to the base, but they’re needed at home. So this changing of the guard is something we all agreed to long before the upsets of the past few months.”

“And I can assume it will be another crazy few months as everything settles with them home,” Justin mused.

“Possibly, but we’ll get through it.” She shrugged, watching as, finally, the last checks of the ship were finished, and the gangplanks were lowered to the dock, the first sailors disembarking from the cruiser to join their families waiting behind the marked lines on the dock.

It didn’t take long before the first sailors with the black Protectorate patches came down the closest gangplank, their kits hanging from their shoulders and bouncing against their sides with every step. Many came down in pairs, their patches marked with gold to signal their Bonded status, but more came down in singles or larger groups with the silver marked patches of the UnBonded. Their families inside the hangar knew better than to crowd them, so other than those who’d come out to watch the ship docking, they remained in their places inside, waiting for their missing family to come and find them.

Max grinned as she noticed her parents standing at the top of the gangplank nearest to them, raising a hand to wave at them and getting a wave from both in return before they focused back on watching the ship empty of the crew. They stayed in view, occasionally waving to others on the dock as families slowly dwindled away. Max knew that her parents had already given their departure speech to their crew either earlier that morning or the night before, so for many, this would be the last time they’d seen her parents unless they were on the base for some reason.

Max set Evan down at her feet, dragging her fingers through his hair gently to get his attention on her. “Stay with me,” she told him, making sure he was listening before continuing, “I know you’re excited to see your Grandad and Grandma, but there are too many big people moving about for you to go up there. You’ll have to wait until they get down here.”

Evan pouted but nodded his agreement, wrapping little fingers around the pocket of her cargo pants—ones she’d stolen from Killian when he bulked out of them—and playing with the camo pattern absently as he watched the people continue to move around them. He shifted on his feet, tiny trainers framing Max’s foot and nearly stepping on her toes several times as he move around.

“They’ll be down soon,” Max soothed, gently playing with his curls.

Evan made a wordless whining noise and focused on the top of the gangplank, watching as the stragglers made their way off the ship. He wiggled as the leading pairs of the USS Visionary made their last check, Anders and Hollis’ heads tilting as they searched out any remaining heartbeats or noise to let them know if anyone was remaining in the ship that shouldn’t be. They didn’t seem to hear anything because, soon enough, the four of them were shouldering their bags and coming down to an eager squeak from Evan.

“Hold it,” Max reminded, wrapping her hand around Evan’s forehead to hold him back from running off. She laughed quietly as he fought her hold briefly before calming down, bouncing on his toes as he waited for them to get close.

Anders led the way across the platform, coming to a stop in front of Justin. Justin saluted him first in deference to his upcoming promotion, and Anders returned it before speaking, “Guide Captain Carson, this is the last trip of the USS Visionary under my command. I hand my girl over into your capable hands with full blessings. May your voyages be easy, your weather be smooth, and your crew be content. Let your days be calm, and your nights be quiet. I name Justin Carson, the new Alpha of the USS Visionary. Good luck.” He leaned in and pressed their foreheads together gently. “Safe travels.”

Justin raised his hands to clasp Anders’ shoulders, Sentinel and Guide taking a moment to breathe against each other as psionically, Justin took over the Bonds between Anders and the Sentinels and Guides that had functioned under his control as the Alpha of the Visionary. Now it was Justin’s turn to reign as Alpha, to be there to protect his people, and the shifting of the Bonds was the first way he could manage that. After a moment, Anders pulled back, smiled at Justin, then patted his cheek before stepping back.

“You’ll do good,” Anders praised, smiling as he turned to face where Max and the boys were waiting. He crouched down and opened his arms for Evan, grinning as the tot raced into his arms and crashed into his chest. “Hello, pup,” he greeted, kissing the top of Evan’s head as he swept the boy off the ground.

“Gran!” Evan greeted back, smacking a wet kiss to Anders’ cheek and wrapping his arms around his neck to hug him tight.

Max grinned at the sight of the two of them before Anders’ attention turned to her as Miranda stepped around them to greet the older boys. “Hi, Dad,” she greeted and stepped into his space when he held open one arm towards her. She wrapped one arm above the one holding Evan and squeezed the tot playfully as she pressed a similar kiss to her father’s cheek.

“Hi, Max,” Anders murmured, kissing the side of her head. “Thank you for looking out for our boys while we couldn’t.”

“Of course I would,” Max told him, dropping her head against Anders’ shoulder. “They’re part of our Pack.”

Anders hummed and tucked his head against hers as Evan dropped his head against Anders’ other shoulder, eyes slipping closed as he relaxed into Anders’ hold. He was evidently tired out from all the excitement now that Anders and Miranda were close enough to soothe those thin Bonds the boys had with them. A small snuffle escaped the tot as he tucked his forehead against Anders’ neck, and both adults smiled as they separated, Max reaching down to heft Anders’ bag up onto her shoulder.

“Aunt Jana and Lanie are waiting inside with Markus,” Max announced, waving at the hangar.

“Let’s go see what my sister is up to,” Hollis hummed, leading the way inside as he followed his sense imprint of his sister to where she and his niece were waiting.

“Hollis!” Jana greeted happily, throwing her arms out and inviting the Sentinel into her space. Hollis set his bag down before falling into her hold eagerly, squeezing her as he rocked them back and forth. “My big brother, finally home,” she hummed, leaning back to look at him critically. “I know this isn’t what you wanted,” she murmured, though everyone heard it, “but you’re all needed here at home in ways that you can’t fulfil while out in the middle of the ocean for months at a time.”

Hollis sighed, “I know.”

Jana huffed a laugh and wiggled her way free from his hold. “Now, I’m going to hug your Guide, and then we should get going so we can get you all settled in at home before dinner.” She patted Hollis’ upper arms lightly before extricating herself, moving to greet Ehryn with a smile.

Ehryn ran a hand over his ash-brown hair, tucking his cap under one arm as he opened the other for Jana to tuck herself against his side for a hug. He tipped his head down against hers briefly before pulling back, hazel eyes meeting near-black as he smiled at his sister-in-law. “Nice to see you, Jana,” he teased, leaning back. “You look good.”

Jana huffed and smacked his chest before stepping back. “Rude, both of you,” she scolded playfully, wagging a finger at both of them, then turned to help Lanie pack everything up. It didn’t take long before they were all ready to go, bags properly packed up and carried by whoever had free hands.

“You’ve got the boys?” Max murmured to Tyreen as they made their way to the parking lot.

“I got them,” Tyreen assured her, nodding. “You’re still taking Evan?”

“I think Dad would riot if I tried to send him with you,” Max mused as she watched Anders listening attentively to Evan’s baby babbling. Anders was always like this with babies, so Max could never be entirely sure whether it was just him or if it had to do with his imperative as a Sentinel.

History and experience had proven time and time again that no matter if a Sentinel wanted to be an active participant parent, they were always attentive to any children in their vicinity. In the past six months alone, the number of Sentinels who’d been in the news for protecting children was in the dozens, but the one that stood out in Max’s mind was from the previous summer; a Sentinel staying at a campground with his Guide and their kids had been in the news for fighting off a bear to protect a group of kids playing at the campground park. The bear had died of its injuries, and the Sentinel had come away needing twenty stitches and a cast for his wrist. It wasn’t the only time a Sentinel had fought an aggressive animal to protect children in recent months either: a Sentinel in India had fought a tiger; in Australia, it was a saltwater crocodile; and in Brazil, it had been a 20ft anaconda. Every time it had ended with mostly minor injuries for the Sentinel and either a dead or critically injured animal (the tiger had been removed to a wildlife sanctuary to heal).

“So you’ll take your parents and Evan, and I’ve got the boys,” Tyreen agreed. “We’ll pick up the cake on the way back to the house. Is there anything else we need?”

Max wrinkled her nose as she thought about it. She shrugged after a moment, “Not that I can think of, so if the boys think of anything, I’ll pay you back later.”

Tyreen waved her off, “It’s fine.” He stopped at the edge of the parking lot. “We’ll see you at the house,” he assured her, moving toward where he’d parked his SUV, following the boys who’d already said goodbyes to their grandparents and were headed for the car.

Max waved to them before leading the way to where she’d parked her Jeep. She unlocked the doors, taking Miranda’s bag from her as she moved to the back hatch. She opened the door and put the bags inside as she listened to Anders put Evan in his car seat, smiling to herself at the quiet murmuring from Anders as he answered Evan’s babbling. After closing the back hatch, she stretched her arms over her head, twisting her back and humming in pleasure at the crackling of her spine before she moved to the driver’s door.

“Home or is there anywhere we need to stop first?” Max asked as she climbed into her seat, twisting slightly to be able to see both her Mom in the passenger seat and her Dad and nephew in the backseat.

“I’d like to stop at the Protectorate Boutique before we go home,” Miranda requested, pulling at the tie currently holding her hair back from her face. “We’re out of most of our grooming products,” she admitted, ruffling a hand through her hair.

“Sure,” Max agreed. “Anywhere else?”

Anders shrugged, “There isn’t anywhere I need to be immediately, so it can wait until tomorrow when we’ve had a good night’s sleep in our own bed and a good meal.” He sprawled in his seat, awkwardly throwing his arm over the top of Evan’s car seat. “We’ll need to do a check-in at the Center, but that can wait until Friday. I’ll have to call Micha’s office and make an appointment to speak to him, but he won’t expect that for a few days, so I’ll see about making an appointment for Monday.”

“Alright, so the Protectorate Boutique and then home,” Max laid out, facing forward in her seat and putting the key in the ignition. She turned the car on before moving to back out of the space, twisting in her seat to look out the back window as she backed up. She circled around the parking lot carefully to get to the exit, humming along to the quiet radio as she turned down the street towards the right and the Market sector. Taking a trip to the Boutique would be a good time waster while Tyreen and the boys got the party set up at home.

Part 22—A birthday vacation

Daniel was humming in the backseat as Max rounded the final corner hiding the main lake house from view. Liam was in the passenger seat, curled up in a ball, half asleep in the corner of the seat with his knees tucked up against the door. Evan was likewise half asleep with his head dropped to the side against the edge of his car seat. Max was a bit sad to arrive; this was the most peace the boys had been allowed in a couple of weeks.

The past month, actually, had been full of a kind of drama they’d thought they’d left behind. It started two weeks after Anders and Miranda got home when there was a minor fire on the Visionary that put Justin and Dillon in the infirmary with burns on their arms that required Anders and Miranda to step in for a few days to finish the personnel changeover. Then the next week, a letter arrived summoning them to the office of Judge Jayson Livery, who’d been handed the case from Judge Carmichael; Daniel was required at the meeting to explain what had happened between him and Maddie, and Liam had come along as moral support and to add his omission from Maddie’s knowledge to the report. After Judge Livery laid down his formal decision that Maddie would be barred from having physical contact with her brothers, it was going to the Center for testing for all of the boys—Daniel was still testing at level six, and Evan and Liam both were giving off readings that no one had seen before but fit with something outside the distinction of Sentinel or Guide. After testing, it was back to the doctor for Daniel to make sure that everything was still going as it should be, which it was, but Daniel obviously didn’t enjoy the testing required to find that out. Then it was just go, go, go as Daniel and Liam got ready for the school year.

This was going to be a good break for them after all of that. Max was considering staying longer than she’d told her cousin Matthew when she got the keys from him; it would be a good break for the boys to have time to just sit on the dock or go out on the boat, or play in the lake without worrying about anything getting in the way. She’d have to see how everyone was feeling at the end of the week, and maybe they’d stay for another week or two.

She briefly dropped one hand from the steering wheel to rest against her abdomen. The break would be good for her too. She was only six weeks pregnant, but already, she was feeling some of the changes that her OB/GYN had warned her about. She’d gained ten pounds already, and her cravings were mild but noticeably outside what she’d normally eat. She wasn’t upset about it, but it was definitely a new experience.

She hummed and patted her stomach gently before returning her hand to the steering wheel. She pushed the button for the window, rolling it down to let the scents of the lake house inside. There was the dusty smell of the gravel driveway as it crunched under her tires and the sweet scents of the flowering trees and bushes on the property under the clean petrichor of the lake. She breathed in a deep breath of the scents and let them take some of her stress away as she pulled into one of the parking spots in front of the house.

The vehicle coming to a stop woke both Liam and Evan, both boys raising their heads to look out the window at their surroundings. Liam twisted in his seat, setting his feet back into the footwell as he turned to look out the window. Evan was straining against the straps of his car seat to get a better look out the window next to him.

“Water!” Evan cheered, pointing one pudgy finger at the lake that could be seen through the branches of some Oak trees that separated the shore space from the rest of the yard. Evan was a water baby through and through; he loved the bath, and if he could get someone to go with him, he was constantly in the pool at home.

Max laughed as she pulled her keys from the ignition, moving her seat back a bit so she could get out of the car. “Tomorrow, Ev,” she assured him. “We’ll go in the water tomorrow, but it’ll be too late once we get everyone unpacked and ready for the rest of the week.” She got out of the car and came around the back to open Evan’s door. “We can go look at the water after supper, but there will be no going into the water.”

Evan pouted for a moment but nodded. “Okay,” he agreed, holding still for her to let him out. He waited for her to help him out and down, staying at her side and grabbing a handful of the skirt of her dress. He helped her push the door closed after she’d grabbed his things, holding that hand out for his wolf once they were done. He pressed his wolf to his chest and followed along as she rounded to the back, opening the hatch and letting the older boys grab their bags.

Liam grabbed his duffle bag and Evan’s little suitcase, leaving only Max’s bags for her to wrangle as Daniel grabbed his suitcase. Liam hooked the strap of his duffle bag over his shoulder and held out his free hand toward Max. Max huffed in amusement before handing the teen the keys to the house, letting Liam lead the way across the gravel driveway and up the front porch to the door.

The lake house property, Loch Íon as it had been named, had been in the Buckley family for almost a century and had four generations of work on it; Max’s great-grandparents had bought the property shortly after their marriage in 1908 and built a small three-room house where they’d raised their six kids. The house still existed; it lived at the end of the long driveway, and it was honestly mostly used by Rick when he needed an escape to get his creative juices working again. Max’s grandparents and great-uncles had built a larger three-bedroom house on the property in the middle years between WW1 and WW2 as an escape from their lives in Norfolk. In the late 50s, Max’s aunts—with input from her parents—had built another larger house; this time, an eight-bedroom house set off closer to the lake than the previous two houses. The current house, the one that Max’s architect cousin Matthew had designed and built five years ago, was a three-story monstrosity that comfortably fit about 70% of the family when they came together; it was beautiful and sophisticated while also being cozy and screaming money, which was in no short supply in the family.

Max followed Daniel inside with Evan still clinging to her skirt, watching the boys look around the house in interest.

The house was a thing of beauty—as most of Matt’s work was—but it still kept that coziness of a family home rather than the mini-mansion it actually was. The living space they stepped into was all open, only divided by structural columns bearing the weight of the upper levels. The living room was straight out from the front door; it was a step down from the rest of the space, which Max remembered had been necessary because of the land quality in that spot, but it also allowed for the huge floor-to-ceiling windows to stretch for almost forty-two feet. There was a large stonework gas fireplace in the middle between the furniture and the windows; the mantle had various pictures of the family doing different things in different configurations, but these pictures included every member of the family they’d kept track of—including some from over the pond.

Off to the left was a large state-of-the-art kitchen done up in gray and white. There was a large island with enough space to seat six around the end and side. It was all very slick and sleek, and honestly, Max couldn’t wait to mess it up baking cupcakes for Evan’s birthday party. It was very similar to the kitchen that could be found in most of the Buckley houses since Matthew was often asked for design help when any of the family was doing renovations of any kind.

The dining area was behind the kitchen, closer to the windows, with a perfect view of the lake Max loved to have in the mornings as the sun rose while she drank her first cup of tea and read a couple of chapters from her latest novel. The table was wood, and when it had all the leaves in, it was big enough to fit sixteen chairs, but usually, they only used two chairs at either end and then two long benches, which meant if the kids were squished into one end, the table could fit up to twenty-five people.

There were a few bedrooms on the ground floor, mostly used by the older people in the family when they were staying at the house. The majority of the bedrooms were on the second floor, but the third-floor loft was split in two for the kids—older kids on one side and younger kids in the other room.

“You boys will be upstairs,” Max explained, coming down into the living room to point up to the third floor. “The older kids’ room is on the right, and the little kids are on the left, closer to the stairs.” She reached down and brushed a hand over the top of Evan’s head, pushing wild curls back from his face. “We’ll have the house to ourselves until tomorrow, then Mathilda and Yarrick will be bringing Lyra down for the week.”

“Lyr!” Evan cheered, pulling his hands away from her skirt to clap excitedly. He repeated himself several times and bounced on his toes.

Max laughed and pushed his hair back. “Are you excited to see your sister?” she teased playfully, crouching down to tickle him under the arms. She grinned at the giggles the play got her before she offered her hands to him to pick him up. He moved into her space, and she swung him up onto her hip. “Shall we go upstairs and take a look at the rooms?”

The older boys sheepishly looked at her from the bottom of the stairs, where they’d already started up towards the upper levels. She snickered and carried Evan over, waving the older boys up ahead of her and following them up. Liam headed for the door to the little kids’ room first, pushing the door open easily since it was a simple swinging door with a magnet latch.

Liam cooed as he stepped into the room, looking around. It was a cute room; the walls were painted in pastels to look like a spring meadow with baby animals like rabbits and foxes playing amongst a rainbow of flowers with fat bumblebees and brightly coloured butterflies flying around. The floors were a soft cream-coloured carpet with a pattern like a stone pathway. All of the furniture—the convertible toddler beds, the bunk beds, the comfortable chair near the window, the various chests of drawers—was a warm honey wood, and each bed had different patterned blankets on them.

“Which one do you want?” Max questioned Evan, waving a hand at the four toddler beds on the right side of the room.

“Big bed!” Evan insisted, pointing at one of the bunk beds.

Max wrinkled her nose as she tried to decide what the proper course of action would be here. The house would eventually be full of people, so it wouldn’t be a hardship for him to share a bed with anyone if he really wanted. She reached a hand up to brush her thumb over Evan’s birthmark, getting the tot’s attention on her. “For tonight, you need to sleep in the little bed,” she told him, holding up a finger to stop him when he opened his mouth to speak. “Only for tonight. Tomorrow, you can share the bed with Lyra, your brothers, or me. But tonight, you need to sleep in one of the little beds for safety.”

Evan pouted for a moment, sulkily folding his arms over his chest around his wolf. Max waited him out, letting him pout before getting a dramatic sigh from the tot, and he motioned to the one closest to the window that had night sky print bedsheets on it.

“Peas?” he asked, waving at it again.

“Sure, pup,” Max told him, taking him over to the bed so he could pat the little pillow.

Liam brought his bag over, gently pushing it with his foot under the bed for the time being. There would be time to put Evan’s clothes and other things into the little three-drawer dresser pressed against the end of the toddler bed.

“Shall we go take a look at the big kid room?” Max questioned, gently bouncing Evan as she focused on him.

“Yes!” Evan chirped, nodding eagerly and leaning out of her arms toward the door. He settled back against her side as she jostled him, curling his little fingers in the shoulder of her dress, catching the hair that now reached Max’s shoulders between his fingers.

“Let’s go look then.” Max carried him from the room, crossing the open landing to the older kids’ room across the space. She pushed the door open with her elbow and stepped into the room.

The older kids’ room was darker in colour altogether. The walls were forest green with a black silhouette of a forest. The floors were smooth dark-stained wood—likely an oak or hickory—covered in thick forest green carpets with black pawprints across them—some canids, some bears, some deer. The furniture was all the same dark wood as the floors; all of the frames of the bunk beds, the dressers, the comfy chairs, and the bookshelf against the wall. Like the little kids’ room, the beds all had different patterned bedspreads, though the patterns matched on each bunk bed set.

“You boys pick what you want, then we can have some lunch, and I can show you around,” Max suggested, waving a hand around the room. “Unpack whatever you want, and I’ll call you for lunch when I’m finished.”

“Sounds good, Aunt Max,” Liam replied, though he was already distracted by the view out the window onto the lake.

Max shook her head in amusement, looking down at Evan as exited the room with him. “What do you think about a taco salad for lunch?” she questioned, stepping down the stairs carefully with him.

“Salad,” Evan agreed seriously, giving her a cute little nod before he turned his attention to looking around on their way down.

“Alright,” Max laughed, stopping briefly to kiss his forehead before continuing down the stairs. She hummed as she reached the bottom, tapping her fingers on his hip for a moment before she crossed the living room to the CD player instead of going into the kitchen. “What shall we listen to, Ev?” she questioned, drawing his attention to the towers of CDs to choose from. “You can pick six disks.”

It didn’t take him long to pick out his six disks. There was AC/DC’s Back in Black, Brooks & Dunn’s Brand New Man, Nirvana’s Nevermind, ABBA’s ABBA Gold, Journey’s Escape, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A.. Every time he picked out another disk, Max took it from him and set it on the cabinet to keep her hands free. Once he was finished, she set the last case on the cabinet before setting him down on the floor. She ran a hand through his hair to push his curls back before righting herself, taking the stack of cases and opening the first one, pressing a couple of buttons on the front of the player to make sure that each disk went into a different slot. Once all the disks were in the player, she hit the randomize button and then play, and then the sound of Journey’s Escape started playing.

It was an eclectic taste in music, that was sure, but considering the number of people who were often in an out of the house, it didn’t surprise Max that Evan recognized some of those albums. It was a variety, but it would be a good set to listen to.

“Do you want to come help me, pup?” Max questioned, looking down at him standing at her side, swaying along to the music.

“No!” Evan chirped, grinning up at her, holding his wolf to his chest. “Dance!” He raced away to the middle of the living room, wiggling happily to the music.

Max laughed quietly and shook her head in amusement before stepping away from the stereo and heading for the kitchen. She had everything she needed for taco salad, thanks to Matthew stocking the kitchen the day before when he came to open the house since it had been closed for a couple of weeks with no one using it.

It didn’t take long for lunch to be ready. She plated everything up, making sure everyone had items they would eat before she went to the pillar at the end of the counter, tapping a couple of buttons on the intercom system there before leaning close to speak into the microphone.

“Boys, lunch is ready,” she announced, releasing the button and stepping back to grab her plate and Evan’s bowl off the counter. She carried them over to the end of the dining table closest to the windows as she heard the light thumping of Daniel and Liam coming down the stairs. “Your plates are in the kitchen, boys,” she told them as they came down the last few steps, turning her attention to Evan next, “Ev, baby, come have some lunch.”

Evan sighed dramatically but crossed the living room to set his wolf on the couch, patting it on the head gently before racing across the living room to the dining area. He nearly tripped over the step up from the living room but caught himself at the last second with a laugh, clapping his hands briefly before getting back up and continuing over to join them. He stopped at Max’s side, holding his arms up so she could pick him up and put him in the high chair she’d brought over to the table.

Lunch was calm and quiet as they ate, the kids’ attention more on the view outside the window than making too much noise. When the eating was finished, Max ushered the boys to put their dishes in the dishwasher before sending them to the door to get their shoes while she got water bottles ready in the kitchen. She motioned them to the patio door once she was finished, trading a water bottle for her shoes from Daniel and giving Liam both his and Evan’s water bottles while she leaned against the wall to slip on her sandals.

“Water!” Evan cheered as she opened the door, letting them out onto the terraced deck. He kept a hold of Liam’s hand, no matter his excitement, which Max was thankful for since she wasn’t as able to keep up with him as she had been even three months ago.

“Water,” Max agreed with a chuckle, leading the way down the deck to the stone path down to the lake. She took a shortcut across the grass to the water, knowing that there was a good spot for them to sit where there was a patio set placed on a small deck on the beach. The grass was plush and warm, the long blades tickling her toes as she walked down the slight incline to the beach deck. “I’m going to sit here,” she told the boys, waving at the couch. “Keep Evan out of the water,” she requested of the older boys before letting them go, settling down on the couch to watch.

It was nice to watch as the older boys corralled the toddler on the beach, keeping him away from the water and in the sand to play with some sticks and leaves they’d found for him to build something with. Liam kept the toddler in his lap as he settled on the sand, framing Evan in and keeping his attention on the soft sand they were playing with rather than letting him try to race out to the water. Daniel was sitting across from them, waving a stick with a leaf on it for Evan to try and grab but keeping it out of the tot’s reach to keep his attention.

Max couldn’t wait for the boys to be able to meet their cousin. She leaned back against the back of the couch, setting her water bottle on the cushion next to her, relaxing back and watching the boys. She rested her hands on her small bump, rubbing in gentle circles. She was thankful that she was going through the early part of her pregnancy over the summer rather than the last part; she was still basically at normal for her body settings, and she was still comfortable. She wasn’t due until February or March, so the worst of it would be over the winter when she wouldn’t be out as much, thankfully.

The crunch of gravel behind her had her twisting to look and see who was coming up behind them. “Matt! John!” Max took a moment to get to her feet to greet the cousins, a wide grin spread over her face. She rounded the couch with her arms open, offering a hug to the two men approaching.

If one didn’t know that they were cousins, the two men coming down the path towards her were often confused for brothers and sometimes twins, even with the three years between them. The differences that age and profession made didn’t make much of a difference to that assumption either.

Matthew Buckley kept his hair short, only an inch, inch and a half long, whereas John Sheppard, the Air Force First Lieutenant, kept his hair long enough to flop over his forehead even as half of it defied the laws of gravity. Matt’s eyes were more hazel than John’s green, and there was a thin scar through Matt’s left eyebrow that John was missing from when they were kids and Matt fell out of a tree. John was tanner than Matt from all his time overseas, and he was a bit more filled out than Matt, who spent most of his time behind a desk rather than physically helping with his projects though he enjoyed hiking and going to the gym.

This was the first time that Max had seen John in almost five years. Five years since he argued with his father after joining the Air Force. Four years since he was finished with Basic Training and three and a half years since he was assigned overseas. He looked good, tired, but good.

“You look tired,” she noted as she wrapped her arms around John’s shoulders. She hugged him tight, swaying them for a moment before she pulled back to look at him more clearly. “It’s nice to see you, EJ.”

John smiled at her, that one that she knew was for family only. “I missed you too, Maxie,” he murmured, kissing her forehead lightly before slipping out of her arms so she could hug Matt and he could go greet the kids.

“He looks like shit,” Matt agreed, running a hand over the bristle-brush texture of his hair. He dropped the arm and wrapped both of them around her waist as she hugged him tight.

“Well, some time with family and the buffer of us between him and Uncle Pat should do wonders for him,” Max mused, patting Matt’s back before pulling back to watch as John dropped into the sand next to the boys without a care for the mess it would make of his cargo pants. “How long is he here for?”

“A few weeks. He’s got some medical time off and had plans to stay in the Second House before I told him you were staying up here,” Matt admitted. He shrugged as she looked at him, “I don’t have the details of his injuries, but he’s got three weeks.”

Max narrowed her eyes, turning her attention to John as she tried to suss out what his injuries might be simply from the way he was sitting with the boys. “I’ll find out eventually,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She reached up to run a hand through her hair, ruffling the strands back from her face before waving at the couch. “Come sit with me, Matt. Update me on how the renovation of Tanis’ house is going.”

–

The next morning, after breakfast, Max helped Evan get into his little swim outfit. It was a black one-piece with short sleeves and legs, and the torso was covered in brightly coloured dinosaurs. It took a minute to get him to hold still long enough to get it on him, but once he had it on, he was content to hold still for the sunscreen she slathered him in and her helping him into his little swim shoes. He grabbed his matching hat voluntarily, taking it and the sunglasses from his bag and bouncing as he waited for her to finish putting everything away in the dresser.

“Ani!” he complained when she started playfully drawing it out. She grinned and quickly finished, holding her hand out to him. He took it eagerly, wrapping his fingers around hers and leading the way out of the room and down the stairs, taking them slowly, one at a time, since it was all his little legs could handle.

“We have to wait for everyone else,” Max reminded. “Can you help me bring some things outside, pup?”

“Yeah!” Evan agreed, nodding vigorously. “What?”

“I’m going to give you the bag with the fruit in it; how does that sound?”

“Fruit!” Evan cheered. He tugged his hat onto his head, clumsily putting his sunglasses on before holding his hands out for the bag.

Max finished packing everything into the bag before zipping it closed and bringing it down from the counter to hand the straps to Evan. He took them between both hands, gently dragging the bag away towards the door. Max kept an eye on him out of the corner of her eye as she packed up another bag full of drinks to take out with them. Thankfully he stopped at the patio doors—partly because he knew not to go outside without either his brothers or an adult and partly because he was too small to get the sliding door open.

“One last thing, then we can go outside,” Max assured Evan as she brought the bag of drinks over to where the toddler was waiting. She could hear the older boys finishing up in the room upstairs, and she patted the top of Evan’s head. “Wait here; I’ll be right back.”

The little sass monster gave her a dramatic sigh and leaned back against the wall with a squinting look. Max huffed a laugh and went to the front foyer, finding the key lock and the note she’d made up the night before on the little sideboard. She slipped the spare key into the key lock and grabbed a roll of packing tape to cut off a piece long enough to go about three-quarters of the way across her note, leaving it to dangle from her fingers as she stepped out onto the front porch.

The note read: ‘Gone to the beach, use the key to get inside.‘ Anyone with the code would be able to get the key out of the key lock, and anyone who didn’t have the current code would know where to find them if they needed them. Most of the extended family and her parents’ Pack were supposed to come for Evan’s birthday, not to mention several members of her personal Pack, including Kallen and Henri, were supposed to show up in two days for the party.

This would be the first time Evan would meet many of these people, and Max couldn’t help being a bit anxious about it. Not only was Evan’s comfort a matter of importance, but there was also Daniel to consider. Even if Evan was comfortable with everyone coming around to play with or coo over him, there was no telling how Daniel was going to feel about all these practically strangers coming around his brother.

Thankfully, they’d warned everyone coming about what had been going on the last eight months, so there shouldn’t be any mentions of the Unmentionables, especially considering the outrage she’d heard from many of the relatives about what Michael and Margaret were doing. In fact, Great-Aunt Gracie, upon finding out what they’d done, had cut off Michael’s trust fund and sent them a letter outlining the consequences if they tried to fight it, which included dragging them in front of a media-circus court case, disownment, and getting her daughter Clarice, a High Witch of a Circle in Florida who stood for everything that Margaret hated, to file for custody of Maddie—which Max personally thought would be a great idea, and she planned to mention the idea to her parents and Great-Aunt Gracie.

She gently patted the tape against the glass of the door, stepping back to eye her handiwork. She needed to move the sign up a bit, so she carefully peeled the tape from the glass before sticking it back into place, nodding to herself when she was happy with the placement before she went back inside, firmly pulling the door closed behind her.

“Alright!” she announced as she stepped back into view, studying the boys briefly to make sure they had everything they could need. “Let’s go out,” she waved at the back door, grinning at the eagerness of all three once Liam had the door open.

Evan led the way out, practically bouncing as he crossed the threshold between inside and outside. He skipped his way down the patio, pausing his bouncing only briefly to make the steps before continuing. Liam kept up with him easily, the drink bag over one shoulder and a thick beach towel over the other. Daniel stayed at Max’s side with the snack bag and his own towel, pausing briefly on the second level of the patio to look back at the house.

“Is Uncle John okay?” Daniel asked quietly, staring up at the house.

Max sighed and looked up at the house herself, folding her arms over her chest. “Physically, whatever injury took him off duty is healing, but in his mind… well, some time to relax and some time with the family will do him some good.”

“Do you think he’ll come Online soon? Is that a reason he’s so unsettled?” Daniel frowned, shifting the weight of the bag on his shoulder.

Max blinked as she thought about it. She hadn’t even considered that being on the cusp of being Online might be part of John’s problems. She ran through her memories of the past few hours, noticing things she’d missed before—John’s wince at the sunset through the windows, the redness on his arms that he’d quickly covered with a long shirt claiming a chill, the way he practically melted into the couch once he’d finally sat down after dinner. All of it added up to one thing: John was a Latent Sentinel on the cusp of coming Online.

“He’s on the cusp of coming Online,” she agreed after a moment, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and leading him down the last parts of the patio. “But I don’t think it will be that soon. I think he’s just overly sensitive because of whatever happened that got him the medical leave. Considering what he does for a living…”

“Trauma will bring him Online.”

Max sighed and nodded. “That’s right. He’ll have an accident or lose someone important,” she flicked another look back to the house, “and knowing John, he’ll probably come Online either completely Feral or in a Combat Drive and he’ll take as many problems with him as he can.”

Daniel winced, nodding; he’d gotten that feeling from John, that current of primal energy that ran through him. It was a stronger feeling than most Sentinels, and it hadn’t been the first time he’d felt it. The last time, Tyreen had explained that it was a common vibe to get from rural or truly tribal Sentinels who needed the extra connection to the psionic plane to keep track of non-human or environmental dangers—Sentinels living in urban areas with constant environmental threats had higher levels but rarely to the scale of Primals unless they were set up for a true threat.

“We can hope that he doesn’t come Online under those circumstances,” Max hummed, shrugging when Daniel squinted at her. “But knowing our family’s infamous luck, I wouldn’t hold my breath.” She stepped down onto the grass. “And knowing John, he’ll come Online in spectacular fashion, piss off a bunch of stuffy old Generals, and catch the attention of someone who will both take care of him better than anyone else and have a direct line to his Guide.”

Daniel snickered and nodded. “Hopefully it won’t take too long then,” he said optimistically. He wiggled his bare toes into the grass and grinned up at Max, who snorted and shook her head before they followed the sound of Evan giggling.

Liam had laid out the towels on the dock, setting down the bag of drinks next to his towel. Now he and Evan were already in the water, playing with some sand from the bottom of the lake. Evan was giggling at the squish of it between his fingers, picking up large handfuls and smooshing it between his hands like Play-Doh.

Max settled her things on the couch, tossing her towel over the back and tugging her sundress off over her head. She added her beach bag to the couch before picking up her sunhat and stepping out of the shade. She carefully sat down on the edge of the dock, dipping her feet into the water and sighing at the sharp contrast between the steadily rising heat outside the water and the cool silk of the water.

“Ani!” Evan yelped as Liam scooped him out of the water. “Help!”

Max laughed, throwing her head back. “Sorry, pup, but it’s out of my hands,” she shrugged at him with a grin.

Liam swung him around and dipped him into the water, getting a shriek from the toddler as he flailed at the water. Daniel stood next to them, splashing them lightly with a laugh that had Max grinning at the impishness of it.

“Ho~” A voice called, and the boys came to an immediate stop to turn around.

“Uncle Tyler!” Daniel cheered, rushing out of the water to hug the man around the waist.

Tyler laughed and spun the teen around, hugging him tightly. “I know this weekend is for Evan,” she heard him tell Daniel quietly, running a hand through the teen’s hair. “But I brought you a few gifts since I missed your birthday.”

“Thank you Uncle T,” Daniel responded, pulling back from his arms. “Are you coming into the water?”

Tyler hummed thoughtfully. “I need to talk to Max for a bit, but yes, I’ll be in the water after I’m done,” he assured Daniel, patting his shoulder before gently nudging him back toward his brothers. “Go play with your brothers; me and your aunt have some adult talk to do.”

Daniel sighed but returned to the water and his brothers. He settled back into their games easily, ignoring the adults for the time being as requested.

Tyler tugged his shirt off over his head, grabbing the back of it to pull it off. He tossed it over the back of the couch before kicking off his shoes underneath the couch. After a full-bodied stretch, he walked across the dock and settled down on the dock next to her.

“Where’s your better half?” Max teased, leaning back on her hands and swishing her feet through the water.

“He’s inside, unpacking and getting something to eat. He wasn’t hungry during the flight down, but he was starving by the time we pulled up to the house,” Tyler replied, mirroring her pose and settling back on his hands. “He’ll be down when he’s finished; if he doesn’t decide to take a nap.”

“How was your flight in?” Max asked, getting the niceties out of the way before they settled down to talk business.

“It was fine,” Tyler told her, giving an aborted shrug. “We were on a Protectorate flight, so we only had one baby on board screaming at the pressure change. She was cute, though, so she was excused.”

Max tipped her head back with a laugh, falling back onto her elbows. “Well, as long as she was excused,” she murmured and leaned into his side. “Other than that, it was fine?”

“It was good; the Pair in the seats across the aisle from us were on their way to a wedding in DC. The Beta Primes of Florida were on the flight on their way to visit the Primes of New York for business, and I saw Yusef on his way to a Selection in New Mexico.” He tapped her wrist gently. “Now let’s move on to the actual conversation we need to have.”

Max huffed; she’d rather talk about more mundane things instead. “Fine,” she whined and rolled her head on her shoulders. “I want to talk Great Aunt Grace into filing custody for Maddie to go to Clarice.”

Tyler squinted at her and tilted his head to the side. “Clarice is the cousin in Florida, right?” he questioned.

“Yeah. She’s a High Witch of a coven, and they live like hippies, according to Margaret,” Max answered. “Which I thought would be fitting. It would be against everything that Margaret stands for, and I think the freedom of being out there would be good for Maddie.”

Tyler hummed in thought as he considered the idea. “I think it would be a good idea,” he agreed, “All the expectations that Margaret shoves onto Maddie’s head are going to catch up with her eventually unless we do something about it.”

“I’m still angry with both of them, but ultimately, Maddie is innocent in this. She’s being led around by the nose by her mother, but she deserves better.” Max sighed and looked up at the sky, studying the clouds far above them. “If Clarice had custody of her, she’d be able to be a kid with none of the expectations of perfection. She could go out and get dirty; she could play with anyone she wanted; she’d be able to do whatever classes she wants. Clarice would be firm, but she’d let Maddie be a kid. Honestly, the only expectations on her head would be to do well in school, keep her room clean, and help out around the house rather than the ones Margaret keeps her to that are more like something from the Victorian era.”

Tyler laughed as he imagined his sister in a Victorian setting. She’d likely be one of those severe, angry, strict old aunts who take in the young protagonists in some regency movie. “I can see that,” he huffed after a moment of laughter. He ran a hand through his hair and tilted his head back to look at the sky, watching a cloud twist into an image of a cat. “I think it’s a good idea,” he agreed. “Maddie deserves to be able to be a kid rather than the trophy doll Margaret has made her into. And your Great-Aunt has the power to change Maddie’s circumstances in a way that none of the rest of us do.”

“The only problem is going to be finding a legal way to get custody of Maddie changed.”

Tyler snorted, “They’ve had two kids removed from their custody in the past year. It won’t take long for there to be problems or for Maddie to attempt to run away. And the moment she runs away, we can make sure her custody is removed from them and placed elsewhere.”

Max shrugged. “That’s as long as she does run away,” she pointed out. She tugged her hat off to run her fingers through her hair. “But from the way she’s been acting, I don’t know that she will.”

“We can set it up as a backup plan, even if she never needs it,” Tyler told her, sitting up to stretch his arms above his head. “I hope to all the gods that she will end up needing it, but even if she doesn’t need it, at least we planned for her to need it.”

Max rolled her head on her shoulders and sighed, putting her hat back on. “I suppose. Then we’ll just need to convince the Elders that this is a good idea. I think Great-Aunt Grace will go for it with gusto, but I don’t know that we can convince the Aunts. I think my parents would go for it; they like Aunt Clarice, and with Maddie’s behaviour, they wouldn’t allow her to come here, but they would advocate for her being sent to someone else they can trust.”

“So we talk to them all when they get here,” Tyler agreed. “We can come up with a couple of ideas for them to think about. Hopefully, by doing it this way, they decide on the option we want them to choose.”

“Alright, so there’s waiting for Maddie to run so we can send her to Clarice. What else could we have happen?” They settled in, swinging their feet through the water as they quietly discussed what possible ideas they could come up with that would help their niece escape her parents and get the life she deserved.

It didn’t seem like they’d been talking for long before there was a shout of joy, and all three boys were turning to the beach right before a purple blur was jumping on Liam’s back, nearly knocking the teen into the water.

“Ly!” Evan cheered from between Daniel’s arms, splashing in the water as he looked up at her.

“Hi, Lyra,” Daniel greeted with a laugh, waving as he helped Evan out of the water to hug their sister. Evan grappled her with wet hands, getting a squeal at the cold before she hugged him back, swaying them back and forth in the ankle-deep water.

“Hi, Evan!” Lyra chirped, pressing a giggling kiss to his cheek and squeezing him before setting him down in the water.

“Miss you!” Evan told her, dropping into the shallow water to play with the squishy sand again.

“I missed you too,” Lyra assured him, dropping down next to him and settling down in the slightly deeper water so her legs were entirely underwater. “Are you excited for cake and presents for your birthday?”

“Cake!” Evan agreed, handing her a large handful of the sand before digging for another.

He hadn’t been all that interested in presents, but Max suspected it had something to do with the fact that he hadn’t had his birthday or first Christmas celebrated by anyone other than Daniel. The only thing he’d ever gotten for a present had been a small bean bag cat that Daniel had bought him from the hospital gift shop with the last of his allowance money from before he was hospitalized. The bean bag cat had been found among Daniel’s things that had been retrieved from the hospital, and Evan now carried both his cat and wolf around with him.

“What kind of cake?” Lyra asked, focusing on Daniel and Liam for an answer.

“Aunt Max is going to see if he likes angel food cake,” Daniel told her, sitting down next to them to play with the sand as well. “Uncle Matt is going to town to get a special cake from the bakery that’s got some mixed fruit and whipped cream on top.”

Lyra cooed, “That sounds good!” She nodded rapidly, shaking her pigtails as she piled a mound of wet sand until it poked out of the water, bits sliding back down into the water even as she piled it higher. She looked at Evan, watching as he helped her build the pile. “I hope he likes it.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Liam hummed, reaching out to tweak her pigtails gently. “Get him to try it.”

–

“Alright, Evan, blow out the candle!” Miranda coaxed as she brought the small slice of cake in front of him. The single 2-shaped candle in the middle of the cake slice flickered with a small cheery flame as she set it out of Evan’s reach, but close enough he could blow it out.

Evan squinted at the cake and looked up at her in confusion. He held onto the edge of his high chair table, leaning close to look at the fire. He flicked another confused look between the candle and Miranda.

It wasn’t the first time he’d been confused that day, the poor baby. He’d been only a bit confused by everyone wishing him a ‘Happy Birthday,’ and it was quickly gotten over as soon as Daniel had come out of the other room and greeted him. The confusion had risen to near-meltdown proportions when they’d sat him down in the living room after breakfast and presented him with his gifts. Max had told her parents after calming him down that she suspected having all the attention on him was what was really doing it since he hadn’t been nearly as anxious at Christmas time. The knowledge made Miranda want to drive to Hershey, Pennsylvania, where her twit of a son and his wretched wife had taken Maddie after the scrutiny from their neighbours had driven them out of Philadelphia, just so she could curse him out for being a fool. Instead, she kept her cool and pulled Evan into her lap, setting the tot on her knee facing her instead of the crowd of family, directing each family member to approach one at a time to give him his presents.

He’d made out like a little bandit. There were blankets and soft toys, blocks and books, clothes and snacks, and a small trampoline with a handrail for him to play with. He’d been happy with the items, taking several minutes to touch everything after it was unwrapped. He’d been especially eager to play with the trampoline, patting the box as he chanted, “Jump, jump, jump.”

It had taken John, Matt, and Matt’s sister Lori almost ten minutes to put the thing together so he could bounce, but once it was built and checked, they let the toddler have twenty minutes of jumping time. He was so happy, bouncing in place and stopping to clap for his audience after every jump.

After his jumping time, Max scooped him off the trampoline and carried him into the dining room, tucking him into the high chair easily and pulling his little poncho down over his head. “Time for cake!” she announced, running a hand through Evan’s curls. She grinned at him as he tilted his head questioningly.

“I’ve got it,” Miranda assured her as she and Anders went to the fridge and pulled the pair of large sheet cakes out of the fridge. She pulled another smaller box out of the fridge. Inside the box was a tiny version of the cake for Evan to have to himself. It didn’t take long for them to cut up the larger cakes and get the smaller cake ready.

Matt and Lori were corralled into bringing the cake over since they were sitting at the end of the dining table, and between the four of them, it didn’t take long before everyone had a piece of cake in front of them, and Miranda was bringing over Evan’s little cake.

“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Miranda assured, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. “Let’s blow out the candle together, then.” She bent over a bit with one hand on the back of the high chair, so her head was at the same level as Evan’s. “Alright, honey,” she murmured, getting his attention. She pursed her lips a little bit, making it clear what she was trying to do. “Like this,” she directed, watching as he copied her, grinning when he managed it. “Now blow a bit,” she blew a light stream of air over the top of Evan’s head, smiling at his waving hand as he tried to get her to stop. “Now you try.”

Evan tried to do it, but his attempt was more a raspberry than blowing air. Miranda hummed and pushed his hair back from his face.

“Tongue down,” Miranda directed. “Like this,” she opened her mouth to show him that her tongue was pressed to the top of her lower teeth. “Then try.” His next attempt was nearly perfect; only the end of it was marred by him giggling and breaking concentration, so he whistled instead of just blowing air. She laughed and kissed his forehead before motioning to the cake, “Ready to blow out the candle?”

Evan nodded. “Yeah!” He turned to face the candle and stared at it for a moment before blowing at it. Miranda watched the flame waver for a moment as he struggled to blow it out before he took a deeper breath and tried a second time, finally getting it to go out.

“Happy birthday, pup!” Miranda congratulated him, plucking the candle from the cake before handing him his plastic fork and letting him go to town on the cake. He made a happy noise as he shoved the first mouthful into his mouth, and she grinned as she went to the kitchen to set the candle aside.

This was a good first birthday party for—currently—the youngest member of their family. It was a good chance for the family to gather and bathe not only Evan but Daniel in the love of their family. It was no less than they deserved.

Part 23—A first day

“Are you ready for this?” Tyreen questioned, flicking his gaze between the large stonework building in front of them and the boys standing on either side of him. He bounced Evan in his arms, the tot clutching to Tyreen’s satchel strap as he stared wide-eyed at all the kids rushing around them.

Liam tapped his foot against the pavers beneath their feet, clutching the strap of his bag as he looked up at the large building. He shrugged and ran a hand through his regrown curls, tugging at the strands lightly. “I don’t know. This isn’t the first time I’ve started a new school, but this one is different.”

Tyreen hummed in acknowledgement before turning to focus on Daniel, watching as the younger teen shifted anxiously. He knew Daniel was nervous about essentially being alone at school for the eight-hour day, but Tyreen believed in Daniel’s abilities. “You’ll do fine,” he assured the teen, patting his shoulder gently. “You haven’t had a slip in your shields in months, and Evan will only be a couple of blocks away at the Center for his playgroup. I’ll be right there too if you need me, and you know my phone number if you need me.”

“And Grandad and Grandma are on base today, and I know their extension numbers if I need them,” Daniel continued, nodding slowly. He took a deep breath, holding it for four before releasing it again. “I’ve taken the aptitude tests and know where I’m being placed in classes. I can leave class at any time if my shields start wavering. All I have to worry about is finding my way around.”

“Just remember,” Liam told him, taking the first step toward the building. “If there’s a one in the first digit of the classroom number, it’s on the first floor; two for second; three for third; and so on.”

“I know,” Daniel sighed and followed him up the stairs to the front door. They paused at the top to wave to Evan and Tyreen before disappearing inside. “Schedules from the office?”

“Schedules from the office,” Liam agreed, keeping slightly in front of Daniel as a shield between him and the other students even as they moved through the wider-than-usual hallways. Liam opened the office door for Daniel, critically eyeing several students who stopped moving near their lockers at the door opening. He huffed and followed Daniel inside.

“Good morning, Mr. Buckley, Mr. Shapiro,” the secretary, a young woman around their Aunt Mel’s age, greeted them from behind her desk. She stood with a pair of folders—one periwinkle, the other lilac—in her hand. She held the periwinkle one out to Liam, “The school map, your schedule, your locker assignment, the cafeteria menu, your assigned Academic groups, and your advisor’s info are in the folder for you. Principal Olson has assigned you both partners for the day; they’ll meet you in your homeroom classes this morning. They’ll help you around for this week.” She offered the lilac one to Daniel.

“Thank you, Miss Larsen,” Liam told her, taking the folders from her and handing the lilac one to Daniel. He opened his folder to look for his homeroom and locker numbers. “What’s your locker number?” he asked Daniel as he led the younger teen out of the office, gently wrapping his arm around Daniel’s shoulders to shield him from the other students. They had to skirt around a student with a thick cast on his leg who was on crutches surrounded by two other students.

“I have locker A192,” Daniel told him, leaning against his side and flipping through the pages inside his folder. “It says it’s in the arts section on the first floor.”

“Alright, the map says that’s this way. Do you have the lock that Aunt Max bought you?” Liam questioned as he led the way down the hallway.

Daniel reached to tap the side pocket of his backpack, getting a hollow tap as his knuckles rapped on the lock hidden in his bag. “Right here,” he replied, following Liam as he rounded another corner and wandered under a set of stairs down another hallway decorated with ornate flowers painted along the walls.

“I have locker A178, so just down the hallway from yours,” Liam told him, studying the locker numbers as they walked down the hall. They had to go nearly all the way down the hall before they found Liam’s locker, passing several 10-locker blocks on either side of classroom doors as they did. The locker blocks were each a different colour with a separate flower on them; red with roses, yellow with daffodils, purple with pansies, etc. The A17 block was navy blue with pale blue bluebells all over them. “Pretty,” Liam murmured before wandering over to the locker he was assigned.

“My locker should be in the amaryllis section,” Daniel noted, staring at the block of lockers at the end of the hallway. They were a pale pink that was almost white with white amaryllis flowers that were veined with dark pink.

“Do you want me to come with you or are you okay on your own?” Liam questioned, standing in front of his locker and looking towards where Daniel’s locker should be. He leaned against the front of his locker, keeping an eye on his brother.

Daniel rolled his lip between his teeth, worrying at the skin for a moment before Liam nudged him to get his attention on him. “I’ll try it,” he decided after a moment, nodding decisively before stepping away from Liam and crossing the short distance between Liam’s locker and his own. It wasn’t hard to find; it was only a few feet away from Liam’s locker, so he was within shouting distance if he needed him.

Daniel made it to his locker uninterrupted and went through the process of emptying out his backpack into the various shelves inside. His binders went onto the top shelf; looseleaf paper and empty notebooks went on the shelf below that; all his smaller supplies—writing, art, and math supplies—went on the shelf beneath that; and the final shelf was filled with his gym uniforms and gym shoes. He hung his thin jacket up on the hook in the bottom portion of his locker, setting his backpack on the floor at his feet. He closed the door, locked it, and spun around to lean back against it while he looked through the folder.

His homeroom was in the art room to his left, which was good since his first class of the day was going to be art class. It would be slightly annoying any other day but Tuesdays when he had a different class in the art wing, but otherwise, the rest of his classes were all in the other wings of the school. He hummed as he spread the papers out in his lap so he could see both his schedule and the map to get an idea of where he was going to need to go.

The schedules were divided into two weeks. The A week was three short 55-minute blocks in the morning, then two longer 85-minute blocks after lunch. B week was the reverse: two long blocks in the morning, then three short blocks in the afternoon. The day started at 8 in the morning with a thirty-minute study period in homeroom, then the first class was at 8:35 after a five-minute break to get to class. Each class had a five-minute break between them, and lunch was an hour long from noon to 1300 hrs. Each day of the week was different, so each class had enough time to get through their curriculum.

The school year started with an A week. So Daniel had a study period and then stayed in the classroom for a drawing class. After drawing, he had Intro to Science, then it was Math 101. After lunch, he had a pottery class then he was in the computer lab for an Intro to Coding. The next day, he had History, then English, then a short gym period before lunch, and after lunch, he was in the music room for guitar and then wood shop at the end of the day. The following days were similar enough that he wasn’t too worried about it.

At least his classes would be easy to find everything just based on it being in specifically designated areas rather than wherever the teacher had picked a classroom like Liam had told him that his previous school had done. He remembered being in elementary and moving around a lot for each of the extra-core classes like art, gym, or music, and how much he’d hated the line-up walking between rooms. He was much happier here than he could have been at the school he knew his bio-donors had lined up for him to go to, and it had only been five minutes in the building.

“Are you ready?” Liam questioned as he came up, getting Daniel’s attention. His bag was equally as light as Daniel’s, so he was walking much lighter than he had been before.

Daniel pushed himself up with his locker and stretched once he was on his feet. “Yeah, I’m ready,” he sighed, unlocking the door so he could tuck his agenda and a pen into his backpack with a 1″ binder full of looseleaf paper. He closed his locker and clicked the lock back into place before moving toward his first classroom. Liam waited at the door for him to get settled before he waved and left to find his own homeroom.

Daniel sat at the second table in the first column near the door, taking the seat away from the door. He pulled out his agenda, the binder, and the pen, setting them on the desk in front of him before setting his empty backpack at his feet. He pushed his hoodie sleeves up before folding his arms across the top of the table. Humming quietly, Daniel dropped his head to his arms to wait for the final bell. He should have brought his sketchbook or another project square, but there hadn’t been room in his backpack with all of his other things.

A few minutes before the bell, a throat cleared on his left, and he raised his head to look at the newcomer. The young man next to him was patiently waiting, hand wrapped around the strap of his backpack. He raised a hand to push long bangs out of his face, sending feathery black strands back from his face.

“Guide, may I sit here?” he questioned quietly, gray eyes focused on Daniel.

Daniel studied the other boy for a moment, tentatively sending his Gifts out to take a feel of the other. The teen across from him felt like sunshine if Daniel was being honest, which was in total opposition to what he appeared on the outside, thanks to his dark clothes.

“Daniel Buckley,” Daniel introduced, holding out his hand to the other teen in offer.

The other teen’s split left eyebrow rose, but he took the offered hand and shook it. “Elijah Brandt,” the other teen returned.

Daniel raised his own eyebrow at the name. “Did you know you were my assigned partner before you approached or…?”

“You’re the only Online Guide in this year,” Elijah told him. “It didn’t take a genius to figure out who my partner was after Principal Olson assigned me the task of taking you around.” He set his bag down on the floor next to the other stool and sat down. “She contacted me at the end of last week and told me that I was going to be your assigned partner for the day.”

“Well, thanks in advance, I guess?” Daniel said. He spun to look at him more directly, studying the other teen intently.

“You’re welcome,” Elijah told him, obviously amused. “So what brings you to the Mason Institute; other than the obvious?”

“My grandparents recently gained custody of myself and my younger brother,” Daniel explained. He didn’t care who knew what about the facts of his family; it would come up at some point, either through contact with the Center or his grandparents… or knowing his bio-donors, some kind of tantrum that would be a public spectacle.

“And they’re on base?” Elijah asked curiously.

“Grandad was recently promoted to Admiral.” Daniel shrugged. “He was the Captain of the Visionary for like twenty years, but with everything going on with our family, he finally decided to take the promotion. Grandma was promoted to Colonel in the Air Force, but she’s a nurse trainer at the Medical Center.”

Elijah laughed at that. “My Dad’s an Air Force Colonel. My mom’s a nurse at the Base Hospital. My older sister is a intelligence specialist in the Army, and my oldest brother is an Air Force pilot. My remaining brother is a Senior here at Mason.”

“My older brother is a junior, but he might only be here for a year, depends on whether he likes the school or not, and what his parents say.”

“His parents?”

“Liam’s my half-brother; his parents and sister live in New York,” Daniel explained.

“So if he likes it, he gets to stay?”

“So far, that’s the agreement.” Daniel fiddled with his MedicAlert bracelet, twisting the face around and back. “And only if he keeps his grades up.”

“That makes sense,” Elijah agreed. “If he started slacking, it would only show that either the school isn’t for him, or he’s just not behaved enough to keep from getting distracted.”

“Exactly, if he’s not disciplined enough to get through school unsupervised, well, he’s not going to get anywhere fast as an adult.”

Elijah laughed at the shade thrown around. “Do you think his parents might move out here?” he asked. “If he likes it well enough?”

“I think they might,” Daniel added honestly, “But it would depend on whether Mathilda and Yarrick can find new jobs here. Mathilda would have it easier, she runs her own business, but Yarrick is a lawyer, so I don’t know if he could find a law firm down here that would take him.”

“I’m sure someone would take him, or even if he wanted to start his own firm?”

Any reply was cut off by the final bell ringing and interrupting. The teacher entered from a side door that appeared to lead to the room next door. Daniel could see the woman’s Guide ID bracelet as she motioned to someone on the other side, and he wondered if her Sentinel was in the other room.

“Alright everyone! Good morning on this first day of classes at the Mason Institute! I’m going to start by doing a roll call, then we can go through any questions any of you might have for me.” She set her files on the teacher’s desk, shuffling through the folders for a moment before pulling out a simple manilla one. She flipped it open and pulled a pen from the mess of implements sticking out of her messy bun, tapping it on the paper as she read the first name.

Daniel had a good feeling about this. A very good feeling. And only part of it had to do with the gloomily dressed young man on his left. The rest had to do with the environment around him and the soothing quality of it all.

Part 24—A time of change

“Another year come and gone,” Max sighed as she dropped onto the couch in the living room of the Virginia house.

It was going on midnight, the kids were all tucked up in their beds or other sleeping places, and the adults (plus Liam) were sitting around in the living room, drinking spiked (or Spiced in Liam’s case) apple ciders or egg nogs and watching the snowfall out the window as Christmas Eve ticked closer to Christmas Day. The fireplace was lit, a nicely built fire crackling merrily inside.

“Now that the kids have gone to bed,” Mathilda started from her spot next to Yarrick on the loveseat next to the fire. “Yarrick and I have something we’d like to bring up.”

Miranda set down her crochet project in her lap to give them her full attention, pushing a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear. “What’s on your mind?”

Mathilda and Yarrick shared a loaded look before Mathilda explained, “We know the boys are happy with your guardianship, and they seem happy about our plans to move down here over the summer, so we had a thought, at least one that would help with giving them an easy explanation…”

“What my lovely nervous wife is beating around is I had adoption papers drawn up for Daniel and Evan,” Yarrick interrupted, squeezing Mathilda’s hand gently. “We won’t be upset if they say no, but we can feel the parental Bonds forming, and the sibling Bonds between the boys and Lyra are strengthening day by day, even with the distance between them.”

Anders hummed thoughtfully, running a hand through his hair as he considered it. “It would give them an easier explanation that wouldn’t prompt as many questions as why they live with us. And since we have already offered the second wing of the house for you and Yarrick to take over, it wouldn’t change much of anything regarding housing or actual custody.”

“And if by some unfortunate tragedy, it would give the boys a backup plan in case anything should happen. I think the assurance that they are never going to end up back with Michael and Margaret would do plenty for some of Evan’s anxiety and Daniel’s overprotectiveness.” Miranda stroked along the edge of the project in her lap, tugging lightly at one of the stitches that wasn’t sitting quite right. “And you two have been more their parents than Margaret and Michael have been for years.”

“So if you want to offer the boys the option, I say go for it,” Anders told them. He stood from the couch and gently tugged Mathilda to her feet to hug her tightly. Swaying them gently, he kissed the side of her head and whispered, “Welcome to the family finally, Mathilda.”

Mathilda raised her head to blink at him, a smile bloomed on her face. “Thanks, Anders,” she whispered back.

He let her go to tug Yarrick into a similar hug with a similar message. His family had changed, but where he’d lost one son and daughter-in-law, he’d gained a new pair in their place, ones he could trust much better than the previous ones. He couldn’t be sure what Daniel and Evan would say to the offer, but he doubted it would a no.

“Do you have the papers with you?” Max asked, smoothing a hand across her belly gently. “It would be a good gift to give them in the morning.”

“I have them in an envelope in our room,” Yarrick admitted. “I wasn’t sure if we should wait or not, but I wanted to have them on hand if we decided it was a good idea to bring it up.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Liam announced from where they’d honestly forgotten he’d been sitting in the bay window. They all turned to look at him and found him watching them from the window seat. “I would love to be able to claim them properly as my brothers, and I know that Lyra feels the same.”

“So you’re okay with us offering the boys this?” Mathilda double checked.

“Yes, mom,” Liam assured her. “Me and Lyr talked about asking you if that was something even possible considering everything around how Danny and Evan got to be in Grandad and Grandma’s custody to begin with.”

“We’ll have to contact the Center to get it all formally figured out, but I’m sure it’s possible,” Yarrick assured him. “The papers I’ve drawn up are for New York, but we can go into the Center before your mother and I take Lyra back to New York to figure out what we need to get done to do the adoption all correctly.”

Liam nodded, folding himself up further in the seat and taking a sip from his mug. “I think they’ll be happy about it; at least, Danny will be since he understands what’s going on, but Evan will be happy too.”

“He’ll be excited, just because everyone else is excited,” Max hummed, leaning back against the couch. She grunted as the baby kicked, rubbing gently over the space to try to soothe the baby back into calm. “Alright, munchkin, calm down,” she muttered.

“Did you want anything from the kitchen?” Liam asked as he uncurled himself to get up from the chair. “I need more cider.”

“If you could bring me a sleeve of arrowroot cookies?” she requested, twisting slightly to look into her cup. “And another cider?”

“Sure, Aunt Max.” Liam stretched with a yawn before picking up his mug and crossing the living room to grab hers from the table next to her arm. He went into the kitchen, and they could hear him moving around in there as he made drinks and got snacks. It took him two minutes to come back with two mugs and the cookies under his arm. He set her cup down before reaching under his other arm for the cookies, handing them over with another yawn.

“Liam, honey, go to bed after your done with your cider,” Max suggested as she took the cookies from him, gently tapping him with the sleeve before setting them in her lap.

Liam yawned again as he reached down to steal one cookie from the pack before he took his mug and the cookie back to his seat. “I’m going to,” he assured the adults that looked at him as he went. He curled up in the seat again, settling to look out the window at the snow.

The adults left him to look at the snow as they focused their conversations on other things.

–

The next morning, they were mostly finished with breakfast when there was a knock at the door before the front door opened. There was some banging as boots had their snow knocked off, and bags were brought into the house.

“Ho the house!” Owen called.

“Unc O!” Evan cheered, wiggling in his high chair as he tried to get down, but the straps holding him in prevented him from moving more than that.

“Evan!” Owen replied, and there was some more scuffling before Owen appeared in the kitchen doorway with a baby carrier in his hands.

“Baby!” Lyra gasped from the table.

Owen laughed and set the carrier down near the island, crouching down to undo straps and move blankets until he could get the baby up into his arms. He cradled the baby to his chest gently and crossed the kitchen to show the kids the baby, stopping in between Liam and Daniel to show the table the baby. “I’d like everyone to meet Tyler-Kennedy Arik Strand.”

“Can I hold him later?” Daniel asked immediately, studying the tiny features of his newest cousin.

Even asleep, it was easy to see the similarities between the little baby and Gwyn as she came into the kitchen as well, ruffling a hand through her curls. A small bit of dark hair peaked out from under the knit cap on Tyler-Kennedy’s head, one Daniel had made him when he found out about Gwyn being pregnant. His skin was the same golden tone, but there were a few little freckles across his nose like his Uncle got when he was out in the sun. Daniel was excited to see whether the baby’s eyes would be the same green as Gwyn’s or the blue-hazel that Owen shared with the baby’s namesake.

“Of course, Daniel,” Gwyneth assured him as she immediately went to the coffee machine and made herself a cup with one of the many clean ones waiting next to the machine.

“Thank you,” Daniel answered, twisting to look at her with a smile.

Gwyn waved him off, picking up her cup to take a drink out of it. She hummed in pleasure at the taste before lowering it again. “After breakfast perhaps?”

“After breakfast,” Daniel agreed and turned back to his breakfast. He ran a hand through his hair briefly before picking up his fork again and scooping some hashbrowns into his mouth.

Breakfast didn’t take long after that, everyone eating a bit quicker than their earlier easy pace. It was only a couple of minutes before dishes were being put away in their places—dishwasher, drawers, cupboards, etc.—and everyone was making an exodus into the living room for presents and socializing.

Daniel sat down in his favourite armchair, taking a moment to make sure that nothing that might poke the baby was around before he made grabby hands at his uncle. “Baby please,” he requested, getting a laugh from the adults as Owen came over to hand Tyler-Kennedy over. Owen gently set the baby into the cradle of his lap, letting the teenager hold his cousin.

Daniel hummed quietly at the added weight, smiling as birth blue eyes blinked open to look up at him. He was only a few weeks old, so Daniel wasn’t sure how much the baby could see, but it was nice to see those little eyes looking back at him. He offered his finger to the baby, grinning as he reached for it and wrapped little fingers around the phalange.

“Oh,” Daniel breathed at that first touch, something reaching out to touch against his psionics. It took him a moment to understand. “Hi there, TK,” he murmured, grinning down at the baby.

“Daniel,” Owen’s voice had him looking up at him. “What just happened?”

Daniel shrugged, looking down at the baby again. “TK is going to be a strong Guide,” he announced, wiggling his finger in the baby’s hold. A weight dropped against his legs next to the baby’s body, and he flicked his eyes up to look at Elpis as she snuffled against the baby’s side.

The room was quiet, and Daniel looked up to find all of the adults staring at them in shock. Daniel tipped his head to the side in question. After the silence stretched on for another moment, he asked quietly, “Are you all okay?”

The question shook the adults from their shock, and Owen came over to crouch down next to Elpis, reaching over her to press his hand across the baby’s chest. Daniel could understand why Owen and Gwyn were surprised; neither of them was Online, though Uncle Owen was always close to coming back Online.

“We’re alright,” Owen assured. “It’s just a bit surprising that you can tell.”

“He touched me,” Daniel protested, “He’s powerful already and he’s only a baby.” He wiggled his finger again, grinning as TK grizzled and squeezed his finger.

Owen hummed and rubbed his hand in a circle around the baby’s chest. “My powerful little boy,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. He patted the baby’s chest gently before pushing himself up to his feet. “You’re good to hold onto him?”

“Yeah,” Daniel agreed, humming happily and gently jostling the baby with his knee. “I got him.”

“Alright,” Miranda clapped her hands together, “Time for presents!”

The kids cheered, looking up from their playing, which had gone on in the background as the adults all blue-screened. Evan came careening over, practically falling against the cushion and nearly knocking his head against Daniel’s knee.

“Careful, Ev,” Daniel warned, reaching over to cup the side of Evan’s head. He tapped the tot’s head gently and directed him toward TK. “Can you say hi to TK, Ev?”

Evan stood up on his tiptoes to look at the baby, grasping onto Daniel’s fleece pants to hold himself steady as he reached for TK. “Hi,” he whispered, gently poking the baby in a chubby cheek. He squeaked in shock and jolted back to look at the baby. “Was it him?” he questioned Daniel, blinking up at his brother.

Daniel smiled, “Yes, that was him.”

“Big kitty,” Evan muttered and poked the baby again before pulling away. “Present for baby?”

“I did make him a present,” Daniel agreed. He shifted to look at the tree. “Can you bring me the blue one with the doves on it, Ev?”

“Present for TK!” Evan announced and bounced away to get the present in question. He brought it back carefully, setting it on Daniel’s knee and waiting.

Daniel offered a corner of the box to Evan, grinning as he scrabbled his fingers into the folds and helped rip the paper off the box. The box was easily opened one-handed, and Daniel pulled out a nice light gray blanket with black speckles. “You wanna put the blanket in my lap for me, Ev?” He waited for the tot to nod before he carefully scooped TK up from his lap, holding still as Evan spread the blanket in his lap. He settled TK back in his lap, carefully wrapping the baby in his new blanket.

“New blankie,” Evan cooed, playing with the edge of the blanket and gently poking TK again. “Warm blanket for baby.”

“That’s right,” Daniel agreed.

“Evan!” Lyra called, getting the younger blond’s attention. “Present for you!” She held the bright green present for him to see.

Evan looked between the baby and Lyra, back and forth like he was watching tennis before Daniel laughed and gently pushed him over. “Go get your present,” Daniel assured him, stretching to kiss the top of his head lightly without squishing TK.

Evan poked the baby once more before racing off to where Lyra was waiting for him.

Presents were passed around and opened and cooed over until there was only one left: the manilla folder sitting in Yarrick’s lap. He waited until the kids were all settled again, Evan going back over to coo over the baby again before he stood from the couch and moved over to join them. He tapped his fingers on the edge of the folder.

Daniel looked up at the nervousness he could feel from Yarrick, tilting his head to the side as he studied the man. “Are you okay, Yarrick?” he asked, jostling TK a bit as he twisted to move the baby up against his chest in a more comfortable position that he had always used when Evan was a baby.

“This is something us adults discussed,” Yarrick started, coming close to sit down on the floor next to the chair. He set the folder in his lap, gently brushing a hand down Evan’s head and smoothing back his curls. “It’s something Mathilda and I have been thinking about for months. What would you boys say to Mathilda and I adopting the two of you?”

Daniel blinked at him. “Would it change anything?” he asked, shifting a bit as TK squirmed in his arms until his little forehead was pressed against the side of Daniel’s neck.

“Not a whole lot,” Yarrick admitted, “At least as far as we can determine right now. Your grandparents and Aunt would keep custody, we’d basically just be more of a backup plan, I suppose would be the best way of putting it. We here to be an explanation that people can take at face value, a backup if something were to ever happen.”

Daniel looked from Yarrick to Mathilda, who was sitting with Lyra, stiff except for the petting of Lyra’s hair. He looked down at Evan before back between the adults. “You two have been more our parents in the past year than they were the entire time I’ve been alive. Would—” he paused a moment to shift his weight, dropping his eyes to TK instead as he asked his next question, “Would it be okay if we called you Mum and Av?”

“Oh, honey,” Mathilda breathed, gently dislodging Lyra from her lap to come over and cup Daniel’s face between her hands. “We would be honoured to have you call us Mum and Av.”

Daniel grinned at her. “I love you, Mum,” he murmured.

With glassy eyes, Mathilda smiled at him and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “I love you too, Danny.”

“So what’s next?” Daniel questioned, looking up at them.

“In a few days we’ll go see the Center lawyers and get it all written out properly before Mathilda, Lyra, and I go back to New York after New Years,” Yarrick explained. “We’ll come up with an adoption agreement that fits out purposes to the letter while we’re there and get everything squared away perfectly.”

Daniel nodded, turning his attention to TK as the baby shifted again. “Uncle Owen,” he called, getting the man’s attention. He waved at TK, “He’s getting hungry.”

Owen blinked and chuckled as it registered. “Alright, I’ll come take him to get a bottle,” he said, picking his way around the mess in the living room to gather his son from Daniel’s arms. He cradled TK close and stepped away, exiting the room just as TK’s grizzles got closer to upset.

 

---