What's Next? -- Chapter 7

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 respectived owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes:  Maybe a slight spoiler-ish thing for “Bag ‘Em and a spoiler/spoiler-ish thing for “…And Jesus Brought A Casserole.’”

Max knocked on the door to Becky and Maggie’s apartment almost a week later. “Hey, Becky, you in there?”

“Yeah, come on in. The door’s unlocked,” Becky replied.

Max opened the door and looked and saw Becky lying on her stomach on the floor reading a book. “Is that anything good?”

“Just a manual on the latest Glock model to come out,” Becky said. She looked up and snickered at the look on Max’s face. “I’m just kidding. It’s some adventure story that Kyle lent me.”

“Is it any good?” Max asked.

“Actually, it is pretty good,” Becky said. She bookmarked her page and put the book aside and stood up. “So, what’s up?”

“Not much,” Max said. She shrugged, but she was obviously trying to hide a smile. “I only wanted to drop this off for you.” She held out the hand that she had been hiding behind her back. In it was a manila envelope with Becky’s barcode number and designation written on it. “They put everybody’s barcodes and designations on the envelope. No clue why, that’s just how they did it.”

Becky’s eyes widened when she saw the envelope and she grabbed it from Max and opened it and took out the birth certificate and looked at it. “Holy shit. This is real.”

“I’d say so,” Max said. She turned her head to take a look at the birth certificate. “’Rebecca Charlene Murphy.’ Zack told me that you guys had decided to use Dennis’ last name, but why Rebecca and why Charlene?”

“I didn’t feel like telling people all of the time that my name was really Becky and it wasn’t short for Rebecca,” Becky said. “This saves me the effort.” She shrugged. “It was harder than I’d thought to come up with a middle name that sounded good with both Rebecca and Murphy. Wait until your and Zack’s kid is born and see how much luck you have.”

“I’ve got plenty of months to go before it’s time for us to pick out names,” Max said. “Passport and driver’s license and everything else in there?”

Becky put the birth certificate away and looked inside of the envelope again. “Yeah, everything that’s supposed to be in there is in there. I’m all set.”

“Cool,” Max said. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do?”

“I have,” Becky said. “I was actually thinking of maybe teaching at the college level. It seems like a worthwhile profession and college professors still make good money. I’ve got to admit, I was thinking about joining the military, but I decided not to do it. To put it at the absolute mildest, I was hardcore in the military for the first seventeen-plus years of my life. I spent my formative years under conditions more intense than even the toughest Navy SEALs could ever be under. I need to step away at least a little bit.”

Max smirked. “And being a professor would mean you’d still have people to boss around and you’re not going to give up the occasional heist and you’re not going to stop working out or carrying guns.”

“You’ve really gotten to know me, haven’t you?” Becky said.

“Of course I have,” Max said. “Seriously, that sounds great.”

“Thanks,” Becky said. “How about you and Zack? He hasn’t told me anything about that yet.”

“He’s still thinking about it,” Max said. “Worse come to worse, he’ll join with Zane and Krit, but he’ll see what’s out where and what he thinks he’ll enjoy doing.”

Becky nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Yeah,” Max agreed. “Man…one more day and we’ll be back outside. We’ll really be outside.”

“I know,” Becky said. “Where are you guys going to stay tomorrow night? Are you going to continue to live here in Terminal City or what?”

“We’re gonna crash over at O.C.’s for at least the first night,” Max said. “I miss her. I even miss the stupid apartment. What about you?”

“I’m gonna see if my old apartment is still available,” Becky said. “I still have the keys to it.” She grinned wickedly. “The only way to pick the lock that I had put on my front door is to take the stupid door off of its hinges.”

Max laughed. “Nice.”

“Thank you,” Becky said. “If my apartment’s still available for me…shit, all of my crap’s here. I’m going to have to move everything back.”

“Yeah, me too,” Max said. She shrugged. “No big dealio.”

“Yeah,” Becky agreed. She shrugged. “Both of my parents have offered to let me stay with one of them while I either find a new place or while I move my crap back into my old one.”

“Are you going to take them up on their offer?” Max asked.

“I have no clue,” Becky said. “I’ve never lived with a parent before. For crying out loud, Max, I’m still calling them by their first names and not Mom and Dad.”

“True,” Max said. She smiled. “Well, if you temporarily crash with Caroline, then you’ll probably be expected to baby-sit Jenny sometimes.”

Becky laughed. “I know. I wouldn’t mind. I like her.”

“Does Jenny know that she’s related to you and Zack yet?” Max asked.

“Caroline told her sometime this past week,” Becky said. “She told me that Jenny took the news really well.”

“That’s good to know,” Max said.

“I’m worried about what will happen when it eventually gets about her and Dennis being mine and Zack’s parents,” Becky admitted. “They’re pretty high profile these days.”

“Not to mention you and Zack,” Max agreed. “I don’t know. Maybe people will be sympathetic. I don’t think that they’ll start hating your parents.”

“Oh?” Becky said skeptically.

“I know what you mean,” Max said. She shrugged. “I don’t think that they’ll start hating them, but people could hate them already and other people are just plain morons. I really don’t know what to say to you.”

Becky snorted. “If Normal would have heard you say that just now, he would have had a heart attack or a stroke or at the very least have passed out.”

“Yeah, he always did complain that I had an answer for everything,” Max said. “He could never believe that I could come up with so many different excuses for being late for work. I think he at least appreciated the fact that my excuses were more plausible or at least more entertaining than the excuses that Sketchy would come up with.” She grinned. “I can’t wait to see them again.”

“Normal will have a heart attack seeing you walk through Jam Pony again,” Becky agreed. “Hey, Max, which do you think is more likely to make Normal freak? The fact that you’re transgenic, the fact that you randomly showed up again after several months, or the fact that you’re pregnant?”

“Well, I already did randomly show up at work again after several months being completely MIA,” Max recalled. “When I go to visit everybody, he’ll probably be all ‘Well, at least I know what your excuse is this time.’ I would have to go with finding out that Alec is transgenic.”

“Oh yeah, he would have absolutely freaked out when he heard about that,” Becky said, laughing. “Do you think that he’ll offer Alec his job back if Alec stops by Jam Pony?”

“He just might,” Max said. “We’ll find that one out.”

“Yeah, I guess we will,” Becky said. She smiled. “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m feeling fine,” Max said. “I’m still a few weeks away from morning sickness. Oh, that’s going to be so much fun. I used to have seizures, but I’ve never thrown up before. The only time that I was ever sick with something other than seizures was that one time when I was eight and they knocked my immune system down enough so that they could test that mega-flu bio warfare crap on me and even then, I somehow avoided throwing up.”

“You’re not getting out of throwing up this time,” Becky teased.

“I know, I know,” Max said. “I’ve got to give these envelopes to Biggs and Sasha. I’ll see you later, Becky.”

“I’ll see you later,” Becky agreed.

“Bye,” Max said. She turned around and left the apartment.

TBC