Nightmares Redux -- Chapter 9a

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.).

“I really don’t know about this, Alec,” Zack said warningly to Alec the following morning as they entered the apartment building where Anthony lived.  “We should have called if for no other reason to check in on them and make sure that they’re okay.”

Alec shrugged.  “Zack, they’re not little kids.  I’m as worried as you are, but I know my son and I know Gabrielle almost as well.  If they were going to leave the apartment, even if it was only to go down to the deli down the street, they would have called one or both of us to let us know.  You said that Gabrielle didn’t call either you or Max for a ride home, so that means that she crashed in the guest room of Tony’s apartment if she felt like sleeping last night.”  He grinned.  “They’ll be thrilled when we surprise them.  At the very least, they’ll come along just for the free food.”

“For the record, I think that surprising them is a bad idea,” Zack muttered.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Alec said.  He pressed the up button for the elevator and raised an eyebrow in surprise when the door opened immediately.  “Huh.  The last time that I visited Tony over here, I had to wait almost ten minutes for this thing.”

“I guess we got lucky,” Zack commented.

Alec nodded as he and Zack went inside the elevator.  “It looks that way.”  The two of them were fairly quiet as they took the elevator up to the correct floor and remained that way until they were right outside of the front door of Anthony’s apartment.  “I just hear breathing so I guess they’re both asleep.  That makes sense.  We are on the early side.”

“Yeah, but…”  Zack frowned.  “Is it just me, Alec, or does their breathing sound as if it’s in rather close proximity to each other?”

“Huh.”  Alec reached for his key and opened the apartment door.  He stepped inside and nearly stopped short when he saw Anthony and Gabrielle lying together on the living room floor, sound asleep.  He heard movement behind him and before he could do anything about it, Zack blurred around Alec and yanked Anthony off the floor, instantly waking the young man up.

“Whoa…what the…I didn’t do anything!” he protested.

“Bullshit,” Zack growled, though he kept his voice low so he wouldn’t wake his daughter up.

“Zack, put my son down right now,” Alec commanded.  “I mean it.  Put Anthony down.”

“I’ll deal with you later,” Zack promised.  He let go of Anthony, walked over to Alec, and took a swing at the other X5.  Alec blocked the punch, but Zack used his free hand to grip Alec’s throat.  “You son-of-a-bitch.  Look what your son did to my little girl.”

“I don’t see anything wrong, Zack,” Alec pointed out.  He tried to pry Zack’s hand off of his throat.  “They’re both adults and they’re both fully clothed.”

“Anthony is your son.  In every way.”  Zack’s voice was icier than an Arctic night.  “I might not have grown up with you and I wasn’t around Seattle as much as you were after we were exposed following that hostage situation, but I’ve also heard stories from Biggs and the others about you when you were in Manticore.  I’ve known Anthony since he was born.  I’ve watched him grow up and he is so much like you.  Do you think that I would trust—“  Zack suddenly felt himself yanked off of Alec and thrown nearly to the door.  He looked up, ready to attack Anthony or Alec, only to see Gabrielle standing up and glaring at him, her brown eyes as frosty and unyielding as his blue ones.

“What do you think you’re doing, Dad?” she demanded.

“What were you doing with him, young lady?” Zack questioned.

Gabrielle crossed her arms in front of her chest and her voice dropped another few degrees.  “We were watching movies together.  After we got tired of that, we just talked until both of us fell asleep.  Nothing major happened beyond a few kisses.  In case you haven’t noticed, Dad, both of us are wearing the clothes that we’d had on yesterday.”

“A few kisses?” Zack repeated.

“Yes, Dad, a few kisses,” Gabrielle confirmed.  “Anthony and I are a couple now.  You know, boyfriend and girlfriend?”

“I am an adult.  I know what a boyfriend and a girlfriend are,” Zack said angrily.

“Funny that you should mention being an adult, because you’re not treating me like one,” Gabrielle pointed out.  “I’m twenty years old, Dad.  I’m not ten anymore.  I am not the little girl that you used to push on the swings in the playground in Terminal City.  Anthony sure as hell isn’t some of my ex-boyfriends.  We’ve been friends since I was in diapers.  He knows me.  He cares about me.  Anthony loves me, Dad, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not.”

Anthony edged his way over to his father.  Alec looked at his son and grinned.  “Not denying it, huh?” he teased, keeping his voice quiet enough so that Zack and Gabrielle would be unable to hear him.

“Never,” Anthony said immediately with a grin of his own.  It faded as he took in the scene in front of him.  “Um, Dad?”

“What is it, Tony?” Alec replied.

“Are they going to kill each other?”  Anthony frowned and Alec looked over at Zack and Gabrielle.  He noted how both of them had their arms crossed over their respective chests, the stubborn set of their jaws, and the unwavering glares.

“No,” Alec finally said.  “If it was Jordan that Zack was arguing with, then we might see some screaming and punches being thrown, at least on Jordan’s part.  Gabrielle getting her father away from me is as violent as it will get between these two.  With these two, it’s more of a question of which one will look away first.”

“So we’re going to be here forever?”

“Oh yeah.”

TBC