um..........

[cordys_bitch]

Faith took off to have the talk with my dad and left Grace and me with the kids. It wasn't a big deal because the truth is I don't really trust most people to watch Ty and Lexi on their own. It's not that I don't think Grace is a good aunt or anything, but kidnapping happens. Hi, I'm proof of that. So, Faith and I try and make sure that someone

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[cordys_bitch]

She took the news about her sister better than expected. I was glad she understood that there was no I could have left the kids alone. When she made the crack about their mom, I smiled.

"I know and you do an amazing job with them, Faith. I'm in awe of how great of a mother you are." It was the truth. Faith may have had her doubts about being able to do this, but she was a natural.

"It's just there are a lot of things on this island that could hurt them. They're growing so fast and like I said you aren't in this alone."

I didn't ask her about my dad because I figured if she wanted to talk about it she would bring it up. Instead I twisted Lexi's wavy hair around my fingers as she looked up and laughed at me.

"Yea, I think she does too. She gets that from her mother." They really were amazing kids though. So beautiful and full of energy and curious too. Which meant now that they were able to run we would be on our toes a lot.

"You sure you want me to take a break?" I could use a walk, but I hated to leave her. But she deserved some time with the kids alone too. "I won't go off far and I think they both want to see the water."

[neverbeenfree]

I glowed a little bit under Connor's approval cause secretly I needed to hear it from someone. It wasn't like I had a manual on how to do this, I wasn't prepared for this at all and I couldn't do this like normal moms did. I had to just sort of, make it all up as I went. It was nice to know that someone thought I was doin' a stand up job.

"Yeah, take a break. Grab some sleep or go for a swim or something. You're lookin' a little worn down." I smirked at him as I looked back at Lexi who had giggled wildly at that. It was pretty funny. "Did you wear Uncle Connor out?" I asked her and she giggled again before pressing her little hand against my cheek. Alright, I'm officially whipped for two little brats. Could I help it? They were wicked cute!

"But hey," I said, glancing back up at Connor again. "Before you go? I should probably tell you that Harry's gonna wanna be seein' his kids soon. I told Angel that he could long as he's tied up and you are Kennedy are here with me. Cool?"

I wasn't sure if that would be cool or not because frankly Connor had made it pretty fucking clear how he'd felt about Harry to me since day one. We were okay now I think, after everything that had happened on the island all of the shit that had gone on between us was forgiven in my book but it was always hard to feel Connor out. He was like his dad that way. Damn it. If he wasn't okay with that I was gonna have to find a way to make him okay with it. But he'd already been head tripped by Angel so for all I knew? He might be Harry's best friend by now.

I wondered if I should add in the part about Angel not bein' allowed anywhere near the kids.

[cordys_bitch]

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to react to her announcement about Harry. It wasn't like I didn't know that was a possibility. Wasn't I the one who ran back to tell her that Dad turned Harry so he could raise his kids? Still. I don't know, I guess I was a little jealous. I'd already grown pretty attached to the kids and face it I was the main guy in their lives. Now their dad would be entering the picture.

But I knew that it was the kids should have. If Harry could be half the father to them that my dad was to me, then this was what they should have. That didn't mean I trusted him completely. He was still a vampire.

"Yeah, it's cool. You know I support whatever you want to do with the kids, Faith."

It was the truth. Pretty much whatever she wanted to do she could count on me having her back. I knew it hurt my dad's feelings that I had said my loyalty was to her, but damn shouldn't someone make Faith their tip priority?

I looked down at the kids who were smiling and babbling in baby talk. They would be talking soon and it blew my mind how fast they were growing. They were perfect and I'd do whatever it takes to help them get everything they wanted and needed.

[neverbeenfree]

I smiled at him again when he said that it was cool. Wow. That was almost...too easy. "Thanks." I said as I nodded at him. What else was there to say to him? There was literally no way I could tell him how grateful I was to have him here and really me and Connor weren't the types to like...start cryin' and huggin' or whatever. But yeah, it was there and I didn't have to say, he just knew. Which was really comforting in it's own way.

"So you go sleep or whatever, I'm gonna take the kids down to the beach to play for a couple hours. And don't worry, we'll be fine." I grinned at him again before turnin' around and waitin' on Tyler to catch up before startin' to head down towards the other side of the beach. It was quiet there.

"I feel like making sandcastles." I mused outloud as I looked down at Tyler. "What do you think?"

He just looked up at me and I couldn't help but think soon? He was gonna be able to answer me. God, this was happening way too fast. And was it weird that I felt robbed a little bit? Like I was missing out on all this stuff? I didn't even see his first steps. I was only pregnant for a day. That wasn't fair.

Pushing the thoughts away we finally got to the beach and I put Lexi down so she could run around and play. Sitting down on the sand across from Tyler I started pushing some of it into a mound and after a minute he started helping me, course mostly he was just spraying sand around but you could tell he was trying.

I laughed when Lexi tried and ended up dumping a handful of sand on Tyler's foot.

"Oops." I said for her as I brushed it off. Man, when was the last time I made a sandcastle? It was kind of fun, just playing with them but they wouldn't stay this way forever.

[ms_aries]

I watched from the shadows of the jungle as my niece settled into the sand with her children. They were already toddlers. Osborn had warned us this could happen, but it was strange to see it. I wondered what James would have to say about that. He'd probably be delighted because his plans would become a reality sooner rather than later.

Stumbling into the sand, I fell to my knees, cowering as I had seen so many humans do when I tortured them. There were no new tears, but my face was properly streaked. I knew that my niece would come to me and when she saw what those horrible scientists did to me, she would feel an instant bond. We were survivors and that made our bond as tight as the one of family that we shared. Not that she knew about the family connection.

"Please...help me," I begged in the pathetic way that mortals do when they wish for mercy. Forcing myself to crawl, I looked over my shoulder as if convinced they would be behind me. Honestly, I should have went into acting. I was quite good at this.

Two chubby little toddlers followed their mother as she raced over to me. Oh look at how precious they were. The three of them were like a Hallmark card and it didn't even make me sick. I couldn't wait until they were off this island and I could spoil them properly.

Looking up at Faith when she reached my side, I cowered just a bit as if I was confused if she was friend or foe. "You're the one in my visions. The one who escaped too. Please don't let them take me again."

[neverbeenfree]

We were still working on basically a giant lump of sand (hey, I never said I was good at makin' sandcastles) when I heard someone hit the sand. Instantly my head snapped up and I saw someone crawling like the devil was on their tail. Knowing this island? It probably was. Getting up I headed towards her and finally stopped when I reached her side.

I didn't recognize her, but god there was something about her. I felt like I knew her maybe from somewhere or something. Maybe she was some business connection of Harry's that had been on the boat or something. And by the looks of it, she'd had about as much fun as I had on this island.

"Don't worry, you're safe out here." I said as I bent down next to her and that was when the next thing hit me. The one in her visions? Oh no. OH NO! YOU TAKE THAT SHIT RIGHT OUT OF HERE. Hadn't we had enough visions and prophecies and all of that other bullshit? There were more? Crap. What was she like? Miss Cleo or Cordelia? Not that there was a ton of difference but whatever. No more visions.

Taking a breath I made sure the kids were right behind me. "Relax. They never come out onto the beach. You're okay now."

She looked tore the fuck up though and I wasn't really sure what to do about that. I could go get Jack or Shawn but she'd have to be able to walk to the other side of the beach for that.

"If you can walk I can get you to a doctor, he can patch you up." I didn't see any broken bones or anything but I wasn't a doc.

[ms_aries]

"No doctors. No scientists or doctors," I babbled. God it was so hard to be a pathetic human, but it was important to make her sympathize with me. Wrapping my arms around me, I tried to make myself small in the way that the pretty little girls would do when I played too rough with them.

I looked at the jungle with fearful eyes, as I shivered a bit. It was entirely too warm on the island, but there was a bit of a breeze near the water. The little girl looked at me curiously as she reached out to take my hair into one tiny little fist.

"I don't understand. I just had the dream about you and you were still pregnant. How can they already be toddlers?"

I looked over at Faith as Lexi tugged hard on my hair. Oh yes, she was family alright. Even as a baby she knew how to make it hurt. I couldn't wait until she grew up.

"How long did they have me?"

[neverbeenfree]

The dreams. God, no more dreams. What was she talking about? I mean, I knew what she was talkin' about but why now? Why more? There was always more, I guess I just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Girl doesn't even get a chance to catch her breath around here. Damn.

"I don't know how long they had you. Were you on the boat?" I asked her, unsure of what to do for her if she wouldn't see a doctor. I could try to patch her up if I could get her into the hatch but I was probably gonna need some help with the kids and I'd just sent Connor off to take a nap.

Reaching down I gently untangled Lexi's hand from her hair and pushed her back a little bit towards her brother. It looked like whoever this was had been through alot and probably didn't want babies in her face. Even if she had dreamt about them. Or me when I was pregnant.

"Who are you?" I asked her cautiously, obviously she'd been taken but was she one of the people who was already stranded here or was she someone that Harry knew?

[ms_aries]

"I don't know," I whispered, tears welling in my eyes as I looked away. "I can't remember...it's all so," I stopped speaking as I buried my head in my hands, allowing the tears and sobs to overtake me just like anyone who had been through hell would react. I liked to cry, actually. It was very freeing.

A few minutes later I calmed myself down and kept my eyes on the sand as I tried to explain what had happened to me. It was important that she understand how connected we were, without giving her too much information.

"I think I remember a boat, but they kept me in this windowless room and kept injecting me with drugs. They...they said they needed me out of the way so I couldn't warn Faith. I didn't understand until they put me in this tank and gave me something that made me see all these weird images in my mind."

I shook as I tried to remember how the Osborn kid had reacted to the tank. What a baby he was. I bet the tank was a lot of fun. Maybe I'd convince Aidan to try it out sometime.

"I saw you and you were pregnant. Two dark men, they won't let you go and you're trying to leave the darkness for the babies, but they keep dragging you down." Reaching out suddenly, I took her hand in mine and said in a whisper, "Don't get lost in the darkness. Who will protect your children if you drown in the darkness?"

[neverbeenfree]

She didn't know who she was? She broke down a little bit and I remembered being the freezer, in that room, in the dark. It could break you down before you even got the chance to build yourself back up. I really needed to get this chick to Shawn, he'd fix her up real quick. Just like he did for me. I put my hand on her arm cause I wasn't real good at the comfort thing but I could try and she looked like she needed it. Especially if I was the reason this happened to her.

Was I? The reason? For this whole thing? For the accident and the room. Was it all just planned out so we'd be here, bitches to something I didn't even understand. Had she seen my mother? I was bursting at the seams but I gave her a few minutes to get her shit together.

I just stared at her as she unfolded her whole story. It all sounded really familiar actually, the whole thing and I guess that was the disturbing part. Great. So now random people were showin' up on the beach to pretty much confirm all of my worst fears. This was not good shit. I needed off this island pronto with the kids. How long had we even been here by now? Too long.

"You saw all of that?" I asked her and really the better view I got of her face the less I recognized her. I had no idea who this chick was at all, how did she know me? Right. Visions. They seem to be going around in spades these days. I was almost scared to go to sleep, slayer dreams were a bitch.

[ms_aries]

The little boy was watching me with wide dark eyes and for a moment I swore I saw what James would have looked like as a mortal child. It immediately made me want to grab hold of Tyler and hold him tight. How strange I feel attachments to these babies.

"I saw a lot, but I don't even know what is real." I wiped at the tears with the back of my hand and attempted to clean some of the dried blood from my face, wincing from the pain.

"Drugs. I've never used drugs and they kept shoving them at me. Experiments that were to further science. I hate them. They had no right to do this to me."

The anger was easy to embrace and I had a feeling she would relate more to that than any other emotion I could throw her way. Looking away from the sand, I met her gaze, and stared at her for a moment until I forced myself to look away again. She was so beautiful. It made me wish I had a child of my own. This island was doing strange things to me.

"Did the boat sink? Was the water cold or am I imagining things?"

[neverbeenfree]

Drugs that made you see shit and then sometimes you were just seeing shit. Hard to explain but I been where she was not all that long ago and I knew just how much it sucked. In fact, suck? Seemed to be the verb of choice on this island. It was different for me I guess since I passed the fuck out and then woke up all better thanks to Connor and Shawn, I had Connor to carry me back to the beach but this chick? She had nothing but her anger, I could feel it.

"Yeah." I said quietly. "The boat sank." I set my mouth into a firm thin line as I just watched her tryin' to grapple with this whole thing. Meanwhile I was tryin' to grapple with what she'd told me about the 'dark men'? That wasn't exactly hard to decipher but what did that all mean? I wanted more answers but I didn't wanna pressure her cause she looked ready to break, if she wasn't already broken.

"What else did you see?" I asked her gently because I didn't wanna push but I desperately wanted to push, ya know? She couldn't just stumble out here and gloss over the details and leave me with that. Did she see anything about the kids? Did that mean I had to keep Harry and Angel away from them? From me? God, couldn't someone just send me a clear direct sign? Maybe I could get a fruit basket with a note attached to it. I don't know. I mean, whoever was in charge was makin' it pretty obvious that I was supposed to figure out some plan but what if I kept fucking it up all the way there?

Lexi plopped down in my lap and Tyler was just standing in front of the both of us, staring at...whoever she was.

[ms_aries]

She was intrigued about my visions. That was nice. That meant we were building trust. The way that Tyler looked at me was fascinating. It was as if even as a toddler he was aware of his gifts and that he and I were connected in ways his mother could not even begin to imagine.

"Darkness is their nature and they want to be good, but you can not fight your nature." I looked at both of the children before turning my gaze on my niece. "The children are the lightness that they believe will redeem them. It's not fair to make children pawns in their games."

Was I hitting the right nerves? It was hard to tell. Of course there was one way to make her understand and it was horrible to use it, but really I wasn't a very nice person.

"You fear drowning in the dark too. They know this because they stole your secrets." I shrugged as I blinked back tears as I mumbled, "The scientists stole our secrets and now darkness has the tools to use against us. Telling us things we want to believe are true, when the reality is that darkness has to be avoided."

[neverbeenfree]

So what did that make me? If Angel and Harry were the dark and the kids were the light. It was gettin' hard to follow all of this crypty stuff and really, how much of it could even be true? She said herself that they'd given her all kinds of drugs. Then again, hadn't I seen my mother? My sister? And they'd all come true. Maybe I was having visions too. Who the fuck knew? My head was hurting from tryin' to follow all of the stuff she was saying but one thing was clear.

She thought Angel and Harry were bad news and that somehow the island freaks knew what to use against me, against us. God, I don't know. Were Harry and Angel pawns for the freaks, settin' everything into motion? I was overwhelmed because I didn't have nearly enough answers and I wasn't sure what to make of what she was tellin' me. Other than it wasn't good.

"What's gonna happen to my kids?" I demanded, suddenly not caring about how hard I was pushing her. She'd had alot to say for someone who didn't even know me but now I wanted real answers about them. Angel said he hadn't seen them in his vision but had she? What was gonna happen? They weren't normal, like other kids. Yeah I got the memo on that and supposedly it made them special somehow. I needed to know. How was I supposed to protect anyone if I didn't even know what I was fighting?

[ms_aries]

Oh now there was the fighter spirit that I knew had to be in her blood. She got some of her genetics from the old ones after all. Was that true fear for her children reflecting in her eyes?

"I thought they were still babies. It didn't show me anything beyond that. I think..." I paused and let a few seconds linger before I continued because I knew she was on the edge of her nerves trying to figure out what she needed to do for her kids. "I think their fate lies with you and the choices you make. They need you to protect them."

Pain hit me suddenly as I clutched my ribs and curled up. Oh yeah, that was the stuff right there. Interal bleeding and that meant I would need to see a doctor after all. That healer could help me. Why not?

"I don't feel well," I whispered as I coughed and a bit of blood dripped from my lips.

[neverbeenfree]

Could she vague that up a little bit more for me? Jesus. What was I supposed to do with that? So now whatever happened to them was entirely on my shoulders. The choices that I made and I had no idea what were the right choices and which were the wrong ones. I was only gettin' bits and pieces of the puzzle and somehow I was supposed to see the entire picture from that.

I was gonna call her out on the whole vague thing when suddenly she curled up and scrunched up her face like everything hurt wicked bad. Okay, questions could wait. Even askin' her her name seemed kind of stupid right now, I needed to get her back to the beach.

"Okay guys." I said pulling Lexi and Tyler in front of me. "You have to stay with me."

I had no clue if they could actually understand me or not cause they couldn't talk or nothin' but I didn't really have a choice. I had to get her back to the main part of the beach to see Shawn and that meant field trip.

Reaching for the stranger's arm I pulled it around my shoulders and carefully lifted her up to her feet, takin' on most of her weight. "I'm gonna take you to this guy, he's....a healer." I didn't know how else to explain him so that was that.

Takin' Lexi's hand with my free hand (cause she was the wild one) I started walkin' back to where we'd all set up camp and hope that Shawn would actually be around.