Nightmares Redux -- Chapter 3

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.).

Notes:  From this point on, Little Max (Jace’s daughter) will be referred to as Maxine. Also, if anybody is wondering who Mitch is (he was mentioned before in the epilogue to “What’s Next?” and in the first chapter of this fic), he is Biggs and Sasha’s son that Sasha was pregnant with in “What’s Next?”, so he and Gabrielle are the same age.

“Before any of you can say anything, I can’t give anybody a ride home tonight,” Gabrielle said as she entered Crash that night. “Mom gave me a ride here because Uncle Zane is fixing my bike and it won’t be ready until tomorrow morning.” She sat down at the table with her cousins and friends. “I’m going to have to be the one asking for a ride back this time around.”

Jackie shrugged. “No problem. You can catch a ride with Tracey and me. We grabbed Dad’s car tonight.”

“Uncle Wayne actually let you touch his car?” Maxine said skeptically.

“We’re talking about my dad, Maxine, not Uncle Zane,” Tracey said, laughing.

“True,” Maxine conceded. She took a sip of her beer. “Still, I’m kind of surprised that he let you borrow his car.”

“We share a car with Vincent and he took it out tonight to go out on a date with that crazy girlfriend of his,” Jackie said. She made a face. “I don’t know what he sees in her. That girl is a complete psycho. One time last when he brought her over to the house last March for a study date, I passed through the living room from the kitchen and I say hello to her and she flipped out and started to screech at me. Newsflash, honey: that nails-on-a-chalkboard voice is very painful to somebody like moi who has super-human hearing. She’s been suckering my brother for six months now.”

Gabrielle looked amused. “Compared to the twit that Jordan dated last February, she’s nothing.” She turned to face the entrance and smirked. “And speaking of twits, look which ones decided to grace us with their presences.”

“I can see that you’re in a good mood tonight,” Anthony remarked. “What was slipped into her drink and who did it so I know the right person to thank?”

“Nice,” Gabrielle said. “If your parents weren’t as coordinated as I know that they are, I would swear that you were dropped on your head when you were a baby. What was it that made you so stupid, then?”

Mitch held a hand up. “Before this little session can go any farther, I see an unclaimed pool table over there. Who wants to play me?”

“I’ll give it a go,” Gabrielle said.

“I’ll take the winner,” Anthony said. He got up and followed Gabrielle and Mitch over to the pool table, earning him a slightly annoyed look from Gabrielle.

“I thought that you were taking the winner on?” Gabrielle asked.

“Doesn’t mean that I can’t stand here and watch,” Anthony said cheerfully. He noticed how annoyed that Gabrielle was starting to get. Okay, I don’t really want to piss her off. Anthony grinned and gestured to Mitch. “You know how much fun it is to watch ol’ Mitch here go down in flames.” His smile turned into one of relief and grew when he saw Gabrielle relax and grin herself.

“We’ll see about that,” Mitch said, rolling his eyes. He racked up the balls. “This is my lucky table. I own it.”

“Oh?” Anthony said skeptically. “I don’t see your name on it.”

Gabrielle ducked underneath the table. “Nope, his name’s not on the table. Your dad’s name is on here, though, and this look’s like Uncle Jeff’s handwriting.”

“Where?” Anthony asked curiously. He also poked his head underneath the table.

“Right over here,” Gabrielle said, pointing to the inscription that she’d found. “’Site of Alec vs. Sketchy round 12, 9/2/20. Alec-12, Sketchy-0.’”

“Cool,” Anthony said. “I’ve got to tell Dad that this is still here.”

“I still would like to play a round of pool here,” Mitch reminded them. “Can you lovebirds please get out from under the table?” He laughed when he saw the dirty looks that were being sent his way. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt some kind of moment going there?”

“You didn’t interrupt anything,” Anthony said. He grabbed a cue and chalked it. He looked at Mitch and raised an eyebrow. “Well? You were saying that you wanted to play a round of pool?”

“Lets,” Mitch said. He and Anthony began playing their game. Gabrielle watched interestedly until she saw something out of the corner of her eye and immediately ran to the door, giving the man that had just walked through a big hug.

“Case!” she squealed. “I didn’t know that you would be in Seattle.”

“Well, I had some time off from work and I thought I would use at least some of it to visit my dad,” Case replied. “You’re looking pretty good, little cousin. You’re going back to school soon?”

“Yeah, in two weeks,” Gabrielle said. “How long are you going to be in Seattle for?”

“At least a week,” Case said. “It feels like forever since the last time that I was able to come back home and see everybody. Are your brothers still here or did they go down to school yet?”

“They’re not here. You missed Derek and Jordan by almost a week,” Gabrielle said.

“Damn,” Case said. “Can you give me their number or numbers down in California?”

“Sure,” Gabrielle said. “No problem.”

“If it isn’t my fellow half-sy,” Maxine said teasingly. “How have things been going at your big engineering job, Case?”

“The usual,” Case said. “What about you, Maxine, what have you…” Gabrielle smiled and, after giving Case a quick wave, walked back over to the pool table where Anthony and Mitch were finishing up their game.

“Sorry about that,” Gabrielle said. “How’s the game going?”

Mitch sank his final shot and smirked. “You’re looking at the winner, babe. Start chalking up.”

“Cool,” Gabrielle said. She grabbed a pool cue and chalk and looked at Anthony curiously. “What’s wrong? Pissed that Mitch beat you tonight?”

“A little,” Anthony admitted. He glanced over at Case for a moment before shrugging. “No big deal.” He managed a smile and pointed over to Mitch. “It’s not like I’ve ever not lost to this bozo over here.”

“Gee, thanks,” Mitch said.

“Anytime, buddy,” Anthony said. They both laughed. Gabrielle laughed as well, but she gave Anthony another suspicious look before beginning her game with Mitch.