All of Us -- Chapter 18

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Kevin grabbed Christian’s left foot just before it would have nailed him in the head and kicked Christian in his right knee, sending him down to the ground. He quickly put his foot on Christian’s throat before he could get up. “I win.”

“You got lucky,” Christian said.

“Yeah, right,” Layla, a newly arrived member of Jeff and Christian’s family, remarked from where she was watching on the sidelines of the sparring area of the gym. “You were never the best at hand-to-hand combat in our family. It’s almost nice to see that you still haven’t gotten your head out of your ass.”

“Bitch,” Christian said.

“How sweet,” Kevin commented. He looked over towards the entrance and saw Becky and Zack come into the gym. He saw the looks on their faces and frowned. “I’ll catch up with you later. Good round.” He walked towards them and waved. “Hey, Becky!”

Becky looked at Zack, who nodded towards her, and walked over to Kevin. “Hey, Kevin. What’s going on?”

“I just sparred with Christian and kicked his ass,” he said. “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” Becky admitted. They walked over to a bench and sat down. “I found out something an hour or so ago and I’m still reeling from it.”

“What, something that has to do with Jeff?” Kevin guessed.

“No, nothing that has to do with me,” Jeff said. “Becky, what’s wrong?”

“Sit down and join the party and I’ll tell you guys,” Becky said. She sighed. “Max and Krit saw the general who’s now in charge of the military forces outside of Terminal City and the colonel who’s his second-in-command. Guess who they turned out to be?”

“Beats the hell out of me,” Jeff confessed. “Who are they?”

“Mine and Zack’s parents,” Becky said.

“Back the truck up here,” Kevin said, confused as hell. “Your parents? As in the man and woman who combined comprise at least 80 percent of your genetic makeup?”

“The same ones,” Becky confirmed. “They were both students at West Point when they donated, he was a senior and she was a freshman, and now he’s a four-star general and she’s a colonel and they’re out here in charge of the military forces that are surrounding us.”

“Unbelievable,” Jeff said. “Do they have any kind of clue about you and Zack?”

“Actually, I think they do,” Becky said. “Max and Krit said that they didn’t like the fact that they were the ones who were out here because they could potentially hurt us. They not only know about me and Zack, but they’re on our side where it counts. I’m not sure how they found out about Zack and me, most likely they just saw our pictures and remembered that they donated knowingly or unknowingly to Manticore and they put two and two together and figured it out that way, but they know and they don’t want to hurt us. Or any of us, I think.”

“Except possibly me when your dad finds out that you have a boyfriend,” Jeff remarked.

Becky smiled. “Jeff, you’re a top-rated X6 and second-in-command of a Manticore facility’s entire squad of X6s. You’re afraid of my...” She trailed off and shook her head. “Damn, this is just too surreal.”

The three of them were quiet for several moments before Kevin spoke up. “You know, I have gotten out on missions and I’ve heard of parents wanting to enforce their kids’ grounding, but this is ridiculous.”

Becky burst out laughing. “I really needed that, Kevin.” She gave him a hug. “Thank you so much. I love you, bro.”

“What, you’ll hug your younger brother and tell him that you love him, but nothing for your boyfriend?” Jeff teased.

“I’ve got something for my boyfriend,” Becky said. She turned and wrapped her arms around Jeff and kissed him deeply. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Jeff said.

“I’m going to vomit all over both of you,” Kevin informed them.

“I’m going to smear you all around the gym if you do,” Becky said sweetly.

“Speaking of which,” Jeff began to say, glancing over to the other side of the gym where Christian and Layla were having an argument. “I’m going to go over there and get involved before Christian and Layla smear each other all over the gym.” He gave Becky another kiss.

“We’ll come with you,” Becky said. The three of them got up off of the bench and walked over to where Christian and Layla were.

“What’s going on?” Jeff asked.

“Layla’s just being a bitch,” Christian told him.

“I’m being a bitch? Look who’s acting like he’s the king of the damn world and he’s being a—“ Layla started to say.

“We get the picture here,” Jeff interrupted. “You two need to cool it. I’m serious.”

“Sorry,” Christian and Layla both said.

“That’s okay,” Jeff said. “Anybody here want to go at it for a round with me?”

“Yeah, I’ll go for it,” an X6 from a unit in New York spoke up.

“Great,” Jeff said. He and the other X6 stepped out onto one of the mats and they started sparring.

“You look better,” Zack commented.

“I feel better,” Becky said. “Did you hear the joke that Kevin made about the deal?”

“Yeah, I did,” Zack admitted. He smirked. “Not bad.”

“Oh my God, Zack actually has a sense of humor,” Becky said, pretending to be shocked. “I was starting to think about asking one of the Psy Ops soldiers to have a look at you because I didn’t think you had one or would ever develop one.”

“Have I ever mentioned what Max and I were planning on doing in our apartment after I’m finished here in the gym?” Zack said.

Becky paled. “Okay, you win.”

“Nice,” Kevin said. “That was nice.”

“Thank you,” Zack said.

“Please, don’t encourage him,” Becky begged.

“You are good,” Kevin said. His respect for Zack increased by the second.

“I know,” Zack said.

TBC