The Sabres

At the same time as Ulee was teleported out, Katie came running through the entry way that led from the kitchen into the dining room yelling, "Ulee."

She frantically looked around, trying to figure out where the children went. Jeremy walked up to her and gently said, "Mrs. Sabre, my name is Jeremy. I can have Daileass teleport you to Blank Children's Hospital. That is where all the injured were taken for immediate medical care."

Katie looked at Jeremy, "Teleported, I should have known. Give me just one moment and then I'll be ready to go the hospital."

She turned and heard Ryan say, "Well, welcome home Captain. You sure do know how to enter in style."

"Welcome home indeed. You know Zeke, you have impeccable timing." Katie walked up to Zeke and softly placed her hand on his cheek, the very same cheek she slapped earlier, "We have a lot of talking to do, but right now I have to get to the hospital." While leaving her hand on Zeke's cheek she glanced around, "I'm sure there is more you need to do here, so I'm not going to ask you to go to the hospital with me, but I will ask," then Katie looked back at Zeke, and right into his blood red eyes, "that you be here, or meet us at the hospital when you are finished here." A tear escaped the corner of Katie's eye as she whispered, "Please Zeke, don't just up and leave, we love you and need you here."

All Zeke could do was place his hand over hers and nod, to let her know that he heard.

"Mom, umm, well, umm, can I go with you? I promise to keep you safe and protect you." Marco shyly asked as he walked up to Katie.

"Mom?" Katie asked.

Zeke smiled down at Marco, and through gritted teeth, started to make introductions, "This is my adopted son, Marco. And these are my adopted sons, Aiden and Jaden."

Katie smiled through her silent tears, "So, we have six sons now. Oh, my! That is wonderful!" She smiled down at Marco, "Of course you can accompany me, young man. Then we can use the time to get to know each other."

Marco smiled up at his new mom, "Awesome!"

Katie looked over at the twins, "And as soon as I see you again, we will have to get to know each other, also." She then walked over and gave each boy a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Katie then turned and looked at Jeremy, "Do whatever it is you need to do, young man, to get our son Marco and I to the hospital so he can meet his brother's."

Jeremy smiled, "Daileass, you heard the lady."

Before anything else could be said, Katie and Marco were gone.

---

Zeke was trying to get his blood lust under control. He heard what Ryan, his Lieutenant, said, but he could not answer. His anger grew as he saw his children, some children he knew, and others he didn't, ported out in pain, bleeding, and one close to death. In his mind the word "why" was being screamed over and over again. Then he saw Katie walking up to him, so calm. He heard what she said, all he could do was nod. He did not trust himself to speak, not yet.

When Katie ported out with Marco, Zeke let out a blood curdling scream that contained all the emotional pain he was feeling. All of a sudden two sets of arms were wrapped around him. He looked down to see Aiden and Jaden hugging him as hard as they could. Little by little, the anger started to leave. Years of military training never prepared him for his own family being attacked.

While holding Aiden and Jaden close, Zeke started to look around. He gave the two boys one more hug and let them go. He calmly walked over to one of the vampires that attacked his family. He grabbed him and growled out, "You either tell me who is behind this or I will take the information from you!"

The vampire spat at Zeke, "You will have to take the information, youngling, I have nothing to say to you."

With those words Zeke practically raped the vampire's mind. The vampire screamed out in pain as Zeke sought answers to his questions. What he couldn't find was how they knew who he was, and that he was even in the area. He kept his identity a secret for so long. Very few people knew who he was before he was turned.

He did find who sent them though, and for now that was good enough. Now he knew where to start hunting, after he got his vengeance here and dealt out justice. He tossed the vampire backwards, and glanced around to see his team waiting for orders. He noticed a man and boy standing behind Cecil.

"Captain, this is Davis and Tevin." Cecil quietly introduced the two. "They said they have information of someone wanting to kill the Sabre family."

Tevin immediately hid behind Davis, his stomach was in a turmoil. All the emotions emulating from the people around him were too much to handle. Then he saw the eyes, those red eyes focused on him and thought he was going to die.

Right at that point, Jeremy walked up to Zeke, "Mr. Sabre? I'm Second Lieutenant Jeremy Rose, of the UNIT. If you would wait for us to return before interrogating Davis and Tevin, I'd greatly appreciate it. Right now I have to get to the hospital and my team. I'm sure you understand that."

Zeke looked down at the young man in front of him, nodded and found his voice, "Thank you for watching over my family. I'm indebted to you." Zeke then looked over at the frightened boy, "And you don't need to worry, according to their surface thoughts, the information they have is for another day, another battle." Then Zeke looked back at Jeremy, "You go to your team, I'll be there once I finish with what I need to do here."

Jeremy nodded, "You owe us no debt, we're family. Family takes care of family." Then Jeremy talked into the air, "Daileass, get Mr. Sabre a communicator and transport him when he's ready. And get him anything he might need to fulfill what he needs to do."

A communicator showed up in Jeremy's hand, "Here, wear this, just tap it when you are ready and Daileass will get you to Blanks Children's Hospital in Des Moines."

As Zeke took the communicator, Daileass transported out the rest of the kids that weren't injured.

Ryan walked up, "What do you need us to do Captain?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth they heard two voices, with one boy talking right after the other."Wicked."

"Out of this world awesome!"

"So kewl, Mr. Sabre, love the contacts to make your eyes all red like that."

"Good to see you home, where's Ulee? Bet he is so psyched."

Zeke's eyes started to change back to their normal yellow color as the two boys rambled on. Just as he took a deep sigh, one of the boys yelled, "Wow! Look at that, and they change colors too!" as he noticed Zeke's eyes changing color.

Zeke looked at Ulee's two friends. "Allister, Dyson, what are you two doing here?"

Allister and Dyson looked at each other, "Mr. Saber, I go by AC now, you know, the initials for Allister Creston. I couldn't figure out how to use the W for Wilkins so we left that out."

"And I go by DC, for the same reason, DC is easier than Dyson Carlson. And the B for Brockwell didn't work either. But we thought it was really neat that our middle names were the same initials." DC rambled on.

Zeke took another deep breath, "Well, you may be AC and DC, but you are certainly a motley crew." Zeke cracked a small smile, then it vanished, "The family was attacked boys, everyone is at the hospital right now." Zeke looked around at the destruction again, "Go on home boys. When I can get to Ulee, I will let him know you stopped by."

AC and DC looked around, then also one boy asked right after the other."Wow, who attacked you?"

"And when did you get home?"

"Vampires. But they won't be bothering anyone again. Go on now, run on home." Zeke quickly answered, he didn't want to do what needed done with the two boys around.

"When did you get home? We was just stopping by to keep Ulee company. Today is the two year anniversary of when you disappeared, ya know."

Zeke let out another small smile, "I know. And thank you for being such good friends to my son. Now, questions later, go on home and Ulee will call when he can."

Both boys shrugged their shoulders, "Okay. You'll tell him we were here, right?" AC asked.

"You ain't just gonna disappear again is you?" DC asked.

Zeke sighed, "Boys, go on home. Yes, I will tell him, and no, I am not going to disappear again. Now, go!"

Both boys ran out of the house and Zeke could hear them excitedly talking, "We gotta call..." "And wait until they hear..." as they ran down the driveway towards home.

---

Blank Children's Hospital

"Code Blue! Code Green! Trauma Two Alpha, we have a Code Blue, Code Green, coming in!" An alarm sounded through the Blank Children's Hospital. "Code Blue! Code Green! Trauma Two Alpha, we have a Code Blue! Code Green! Arriving, now!" sounded again just as Travis arrived, on a stretcher, with Scout balanced over his chest, knife in hand, and ready to cut into his friend and teammate's throat so he could breath.

All over the hospital, every doctor and nurse was on the move. Out of sight, at restaurants, in homes, and events all around the city, pagers and cell phone alarms were going off for every off duty doctor. People were running and rushing everywhere. Before the code blue alarm ended the next set of alarms started. "Code Green! Trauma Two Bravo! Code Green! Trauma Two Bravo!"

Dr. Wilson ran up to the stretcher as orderlies started it moving, he looked at Scout, "Do you know how to continue on the move young man? I don't want to stop, but if you can't cut on the move then we will stop so I can proceed?"

Scout ordered, "Move, move, I got this. We ain't stopping, doc, until we're we need to be." Right then Scout glided the knife into Travis throat, looked over and shouted another order to one of the orderlies, "You, open that packet and hand me the tube inside of it, like yesterday, man."

Dr. Wilson chuckled, "Yep, this kid is definitely clan!" he commented as he ran alongside the stretcher into Trauma Two Alpha, and started to maneuver the stretcher by bed two.

They no sooner got into the room as the next alarms started to sound, "Code Green! Trauma Two Bravo! Code Green! Trauma Two Charlie!"

---

Dr. Ester started to run up to the next stretcher which Ulee was laying on. Right as she got near the stretcher, she heard a hissing noise. She looked down, and saw a purple kitten wrapped around the boys arm. She shook her head, counted again, and thought, 'Yep, six legs and purple.' Then she shouted, "I need someone over here that speaks cat. Wait, amend that, I need someone that speaks alien cat, specifically a purple, six legged, alien cat in attack mode. We can't get close to this boy until his pet is informed of our intentions."

As she was shouting for someone to translate for her, Chad, Steven, Bruno, Tyler, Curtis, Ranger and Jackie all appeared on stretchers. Orderlies started moving them and Doctors and nurses were arriving from all over the place. Some were running down the halls, with a few still putting shirts on after being awoken from their nap. Others were running in through the emergency doors, in answer to their pages.

As Dr. Ester was shouting, Katie and Marco materialized in the room. Katie tried to get near Ulee, but Purpurowy wasn't letting anyone near him. Marco tried to softly talk to the kitten attached to his new brothers arm, but it didn't seem to be helping. Ulee was in tears and kept telling Purpurowy that everything was alright. All Purpurowy knew was that one of those creatures hurt his boy and he wasn't about the let anyone near him.

"Isn't there anything anyone can do?" Katie asked, as she was getting very agitated not being able to get near her youngest son.

"If everyone could move back out of they way and let me through I will be able to talk to the cat." Came the sound of a very young boy.

Dr. Ester smiled, "Antonio! It's so good to see you."

"It's always good to see you, too, Darcy." Antonio smiled, "But it looks like we need to have a chat with an upset pet."

Antonio slowly walked up to Ulee and was making odd noises as he did so. Katie couldn't believe what she was seeing, standing next to her son was a boy, that appeared to be nine years old, wearing a doctors coat, and was talking to the cat attached to her sons arm. While he was making the odd noises he also started moving the gurney towards the first bio-bed in Trauma Two Bravo.

Dr. Ester walked up to Katie, "I am Doctor Darcy Ester, are you the boys mother?"

"Ulee, umm, Ulysses Antinous Sabre, but he goes by Ulee." Katie chuckled, "He really hates his name. But I so loved the book by Homer, 'The Odyssey'"

Dr. Ester laughed, "I can see why he hates his name!"

"You actually have two of my sons here. Jackie, or Jackson Ezekiel Sabre is here, somewhere, also." Katie replied while glancing around, trying to figure out where she should go. "We were attacked by vampires." Katie then looked back at the doctor.

"Why don't you come over here and sit in this waiting room. It's in-between the two trauma rooms. As soon as we know what is going on with your sons, someone will be out to fill you in." Dr. Ester looked down at the small boy standing next to Katie, "Will you stay with your mom and keep her company?"

Marco smile up at the Doctor. "You bet! I promised dad I would protect mom. I'm not letting nothing happen to her now that I have a new mom."

Dr. Ester smiled at the young boy, being around the clan she knew exactly how the young boy felt, "That is wonderful to hear. I will also have someone bring you something to drink."

"That's alright, we'll take care of that, we just need to know how my brothers and our friends are." Talon said from behind his mom. No one noticed that Talon, Jeremy, Renaud, Lily, Seaver, Therin and Mark appeared behind them.

"And my boyfriend and security team," Jeremy added. "I need to know how everyone is."

Dr. Ester smiled at Talon and Jeremy. She looked to Talon first, "Thank you young man, if you ask over there at the nurses station, they can tell you how to get to the cafeteria." She then looked over at Jeremy, "And I'm going to check on everyone now. Give me a few and someone will be out with updates as we have them."

Right then Scout walked out of Trauma Two Alpha with tears in his eyes. As soon as he saw Renaud, he ran over to him, hugged him tight, and cried. "I had to cut him 'Naud. His throat was crushed and he couldn't breath." Scout caught his breath, "But they're working on him and getting him ready for the bio-bed. Doctor Wilson said I did good and probably saved his life."

Renaud hugged Scout to him, "That's what you trained in the Tardis so hard for, bro. You said you wanted to do good." Renaud started to guide Scout over to a couch in the waiting room. He helped Scout sit down next to him so he could hold Scout close, "You did real good, little bro. Now all we can do is wait."

The entire group followed Renaud's lead and found seats in the waiting room. Talon and Lily walked over to the nurses station and got directions to the cafeteria. Just as Katie sat down, she jumped right back up, "Oh my goodness, I need to contact the Alden's about their son's, and I need to contact Mr. Taylor and Mr. Lewis and tell them about Bruno."

Right when she said that, Bill and Carina Alden, Phil Taylor and Marty Lewis materialized in the waiting room.

---

Over in Trauma Two Bravo, Antonio was able to communicate enough to get Ulee and Purpurowy moved near a bio-bed. Antonio tapped his comm badge, "This is Antonio, patch me through to Joey in South Carolina. This is an emergency."

"Dhis is Joey. Whad's going on, 'Donio?" Joey's voice came through the comm badge.

"Hey Joey! I have a small problem here. I need someone who speaks, umm, the closest I could get was Trikytacats. He is purple, has six legs, a long tail, and appears to be a kitten. The problem is, he has attached himself to a nine year old boy that has a dagger jammed into his leg and he won't let anyone near the boy so we can treat him." Antonio filled Joey in.

"Daiwiass, dake me do 'Donio, I gods a kidden do dawk do." Joey demanded in a rush to get to Antonio.

Antonio barley finished speaking when Joey showed up right behind him, "I's here 'Donio! Where's the kidden I's gods do dawk do?" Right then Joey and Antonio heard a hiss, "Ah, dhere he is!" Joey exclaimed as he rushed over to Ulee and Purpurowy.

Everyone in the room near Ulee heard Joey hissing, purring and meowing, he also made some strange noises no one ever heard before. Joey made a small hand motion and Antonio came over and helped Joey move Ulee and Purpurowy onto bio bed three in trauma room Alpha. "Dhewe you go 'Donio. You can douch the kidden now." Joey smiled as he petted the friendly kitten. "He was pwodecdin his boy, dhad's aww." Joey made a few more hisses and noises, "and he says his boy named him Puwpuwowy."

Antonio smiled at Joey, "Thank you, Joey. Can you stay here and translate for me?"

"No pwobwem, 'Donio." Joey smile beamed over at Antiono.

"Hi there. What's your name?" Antonio asked as he smiled at the boy on the biobed.

Ulee looked at the boy next to him through tear filled eyes, "I'm Ulee, Ulee Sabre. Are we going to be okay?" Ulee coughed slightly, "Where's my brothers? I don't see my brothers? Are they okay?"

"Shhh, everyone's going to be alright, but I will have someone find out about your brothers. Right now we need to take a look at that leg and see if we can get that dagger out of you." Antonio smiled again while he was pushing buttons on the bed, gathering readings while he was talking.

Ulee nodded to let the boy know that he heard him. Antonio saw the questioning look on the boys face and answered Ulee's unasked question, "I'm Dr. Antonio Barnes." Antonio chuckled then, "And yes, I am nine years old, well, nine earth years. Yet, I have been alive for thirty-six years and really am a doctor."

Ulee started to laugh through his tears, "That is so kewl!"

Antonio was pushing some buttons on the panel and at the same time started to explain, "What I'm going to do Ulee, is put you to sleep so we can work on making this leg better." He programmed the bed to notice two separate entities on the bed so it could distinguish the difference. Then he watched as Ulee smiled and his eyes started to close.

While Antonio explained what he was going to do, Joey was telling Purpurowy exactly what Antonio was saying to Ulee. Purpurowy looked like he might panic and attack, but Joey calmed him down, and before they knew it both Ulee and Purpurowy were sound asleep.

---

While Antonio was busy with Ulee, Dr. Ester went over to check on Steven, Bruno and Chad. Several nurses had helped Steven and Chad get out of their UNIT gear. Other nurses helped cut Bruno's shirt off due to his broken arm, and helped him undress. By the time Dr. Ester got over there, all three boys were already lying down on the biobeds. She checked with the nurses to see which boy she should check on first.

Dr. Ester stopped by Steven's bed first, "Well, they had to do some work to get your gear off from around that throwing star thing sticking out of your shoulder young man, but we will get it out of there and get you all fixed up as good as new."

Steven gritted his teeth, "It sure does hurt like, um," pausing as he didn't want to cuss in front of a lady doctor.

Dr. Ester burst out laughing as she pushed a few button on the bed after checking all the readings, "I bet it hurts like hell on fire young man." She gave him a soft, compassionate smile, "I'm going to put you to sleep, check on your buddies over there, and then we are going to get to work. Sound good?" She asked as she pushed the last button.

Steven nodded as his eyes started to close and he started to go to sleep.

She walked over to Bruno's bed, started to check the readings, and heard him grumble, "just had this damn arm fixed yesterday. Jory comes to the hospital, gets me all fixed up, gets me new dads, and my first day in my new home, and getting to visit the first true friends I might ever have, and I get my damn arm broken again." He looked up at the Dr. "Sorry for the language, but this fucking sucks."

Dr. Ester couldn't help but laugh again, "Well, you aren't the shy one, that's for sure." She watched the readings on the bed, "We have a few options that we can take, the first one though is to put you to sleep and let the bed start to heal the arm. I'm going to talk to your dads about getting an artificial bone specially made by our AI division that will grow with you and be stronger than the bone you have now."

"That would be awesome. I play football and really need a good arm. I can't keep breaking bones like this." Bruno grinned up at the doctor then added, "Well, what am I still doing awake, knock me out doc so you can go and find my dads. I sure hope someone thought to contact them." Bruno no sooner finished talking and was sound asleep, as Dr. Ester was entering more commands while he was talking.

Dr. Ester then made her way over to Chad, he was mainly moaning in discomfort. She looked at the readings, "Well, looks like you got off a little better than a few of the others. What did you hit?"

Chad looked up at her, "He threw me against a wall. And when I looked back, I honestly think the wall suffered more damage than I did."

Dr. Ester chuckled, "You boys amaze me. Your jaw is sprained, yet you are still managing to talk to me. There are some broken teeth that will get fixed and severe bruising of your back muscles. Nothing that can't be fixed good as new."

"That's all? I like the sound of that." Then Chad groaned again as he tried to move.

"But, in order to get you healed up, I need to put you to sleep and let the bed do its work. Good night, Chad." And Dr. Ester put the last boy in trauma two bravo to sleep.

Antonio looked around trauma two bravo and noticed Steven, Bruno, and Chad also asleep on their biobeds, and Dr. Ester working on removing the throwing star from Steven's shoulder. He walked up to Dr. Ester, "Darcy, I was able to get a few trace samples of the compound from the cats claws, but I don't think it will be of any use. I am running some tests on it now. We are going to need to contact our AI division. I need to talk to Ulee's parents and see about getting a skeleton bone for his leg. From our reports, it was broken when he was four and didn't heal properly. He has had a slight limp ever since, but the work the family has done on keeping the leg workable is amazing. I would like to see him to be able to walk without any limp or pain."

Dr. Ester nodded over to the bed with Bruno on it, "Bruno, over in bed three, had his arm broken yesterday and broke again in the exact same place again today. I had the same thought for his arm."

Right then an alarm sounded in Trauma Two Charlie, "Attention: Medical Override now in effect. Attention: Medical Override now in effect." Antonio took off running, the last time he read those words was when Dr. Austin had his medical records locked due to his DNA sequence.

---

While nurses were helping the boys in Trauma Two Bravo get undressed, the same thing was happening in Trauma Two Charlie, but with a lot more grumbles and complaints.

"I told you, some finger nails just dug in through my armor, I'm fine." Tyler complained as he was undressing, "The only reason I'm doing this is because my boyfriend will want to make sure I'm alright."

Curtis wasn't happy at all, "It's just a little scratch, really, all of this isn't necessary."

"Where are we anyway? How did we get here?" Jackie was asking as he was looking around and moving out of the way, "And, where are my brothers and friends?" Jackie kept looking around, and only seeing three other people, he just wanted out of the room to go and check on everyone else.

Ranger didn't know what the bed was they were trying to get the four of them to lay down on, but he knew that he didn't want anything to do with it. Especially if his secret was found out. He slowly tried to make his way towards the door with Jackie. He knew that he was going to go wherever Jackie went.

Tyler started to pick up the thoughts of Jackie wanting to get out and saw Ranger following, he was surprised that he couldn't read anything from Ranger at all. Tyler only knew the boys name because Jackie had thought it as he thought the names of each boy in the room. Tyler quit complaining and looked over to the door Jackie and Ranger were slowly making their way to. "Hey guys. You're safe here. This is our Clan hospital and they aren't going to let anything bad happen to you here." With that Tyler finished changing into his hospital gown and laid down on the bed.

Curtis heard the exchange and immediately followed Tyler's lead. "That's true. We were just givin' the nurses a hard time like we always do. See, nothing to it." Curtis had just finished changing and laid down on his bed.

Jackie watched them, "Clan hospital?"

One of the nurses answered, "Yes, this is Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. You were transported here to make sure all of you are healed and safe." The nurse slowly walked towards the two boys, "What do you say? Let us make sure everything is alright. You took quiet a hit there."

Jackie looked back over at Ranger, "Alright, we'll do it. But, you better not let anything, and I mean anything, happen to my friend, or you will live to regret it."

The nurse nodded and watched Jackie head over to the fourth bed. He couldn't help wondering what was so special about the fourth boy, but knew that with the Clan kids it could be almost anything, so he didn't ask.

Ranger slowly made his way over to Jackie, he leaned over and whispered, "I was always told that they would keep me locked up and I would be experimented on. Do you really trust this Clan that much?"

Jackie looked at Ranger, "Yes, I do."

That was all Ranger needed to hear and he made his way to the last remaining bed. Jackie and Ranger changed and laid down while the nurses were entering commands to take readings of the boys.

As the readings were finished an alarm went off on Ranger's bed. "Attention: Medical Override now in effect. Attention: Medical Override now in effect."

---

Ranger started to panic, "Don't move young man. Everything is alright." One of the nurses ran to Ranger's side. He didn't touch a thing and kept his hands in sight, "The bed has special lock down measures. That means there is something that was entered before and locked down so it can't hurt you, so no one can ever hurt you." The nurse kept calmly talking and keeping his hands in plain sight.

Other nurses were repeating the same thing to Tyler, Curtis and Jackie so they would stay calm. As soon as the alarm went off all three boys were ready to jump up to protect Ranger if needed. The nurses had to move fast to keep the boys on their beds.

Right then Antonio ran through the door and right over to the bed that was giving off the medical override alarm. Antonio shut the alarm down and all Ranger could see was a nine year old boy with long auburn hair entering commands into the bed.

"Dr. Barnes, it's good to see you here." The nurse by Rangers bed sighed as if a catastrophe was going to be avoided because this young boy ran into the room.

Ranger looked at the boy again and thought, 'Doctor?'

They all heard, "Acknowledged: Records in Read Only format."

Then they heard, "Medical Override is now in effect. Per override protocol records have successfully been sent to the Federation Surgeon General, the Longevity Research Project on Vulcan, Doctor Leonard McCoy, Retired, Doctor Austin Michaels and Lt. Matt Barnes. Doctor Antonio Barnes, has read only access due to information on file."

Ranger watched the blue eyes of the boy they all called Doctor start to water up as he was reading. He was getting confused, why was this boy ready to cry. Right then a man appeared behind the boy and he placed his hand on the young boy's shoulder and started to read. Then Ranger watched as the young boy looked up at the man and whispered, "Daddy, I found real family. He's my cousin or uncle, isn't he? He has to be family since he has the same gene I do. Right Daddy?"

As soon as the man nodded the boy jumped up on the bed and hugged onto Ranger. Rangers arms went around the boy out of reflex and he held the boy in his arms and let the boy cry, and all he heard was, "real family. My family."

Before anything else could be said they all saw a man appear, "If this is some kind of joke, Barnes, I swear I will stuff you in Timmy's bedroom."

Matt stood, smiling at his son as he pointed to the bed, "No joke Dr. McCoy, no joke at all."

"Well," McCoy softened a little, "At least this one made it, how many damn years, without being abused. How the hell did you manage to do that boy?"

Out of reflex Ranger mumbled, "stayed hid in the swamps with my adoptive family."

"Well then, you've got some catching up to do with your kin." McCoy stated. "Get to know Antonio, Doctor's orders. Your records are already sealed, and I expect a full workup on my kitchen table as to your health by morning."

"Kin?" As Ranger looked down at the young boy in his arms. "Any kin I had died a very long time ago. How do I have kin?"

"You just passed Antonio as the oldest elf in the Clan." Matt stated. "Your genes don't lie; you're his cousin, so start cousining already."

Ranger looked at Matt confused for a moment, then he looked down at the hopeful look in Antonio's blue eyes as they peered up at him. "A cousin?" His arms started to tighten around Antonio as his dark brown eyes teared up and a smile appeared on his face. Then he did something no one expected, he yelled, "I have a real cousin."

"Well then, with that I will leave you to it. And don't forget, a full write up is due on my kitchen table by morning." Then Doctor McCoy disappeared from the room.

Matt looked at the updated bed readings. "It looks like your natural healing in combination with the bed has taken care of you. Why don't you carry your cousin around to check on the rest of your group, while I make a few calls to get some support going for the more serious injuries."

"I'll go with you." Jackie said as he jumped up off his bio bed. "Tyler and Curtis will be fine resting here for a bit." Then Jackie turned to face the boys, "Meet us in the waiting room when they let you outta here. Okay, guys?"

Tyler and Curtis nodded and responded that they would.

Ranger stood up, still holding Antonio in his arms like he never wanted to let go, and nodded.

Matt got a knowing look in his eyes. "Oh great, another Cory!" he muttered. "If I could make a suggestion, we have a juvenile android who is blowing the mind of every doctor in the other room."

"Trauma Two Bravo." Antonio giggled.

Jackie looked at Matt in some confusion as he didn't know who Cory was, shrugged his shoulder's and looked at the boy in Rangers arms, "So, Trauma Two Bravo, is that where we need to go?"

Antonio laughed, "Yep, and that is where your brother is." Antonio pointed, "That way."

Nodding, "Then let's go," and Jackie started to walk towards the door to leave Trauma Two Charlie.

---

As soon as they walked through the door, Antonio started speaking cat. The auburn-haired eight-year-old by Ulee's bed responded in cat as well, meowing and purring for almost a full two minutes before turning back to the bed containing Ulee.

"He's stable at least." Antonio commented. "Sounds like Joey's gonna have to call his Dad in, though."

As Jackie started to walk up to the bed, Purpurowy started to hiss and the hair on his back started to stand up. Jackie stopped short and looked at the small boy, "Tell my brothers pet that I'm his brother and he is going to have to get used to me being around, 'cause I am going to check on my 'lil bro and he or she isn't going to stop me."

Joey immediately started talking to Purpurowy while Jackie was walking right up to the bed.

Jackie heard Ranger whisper, "did you just speak cat?" as he leaned down to kiss Ulee's forehead while at the same time Jackie carefully reached out and started to scratch the purple cat's ears to let the cat know that he cared about him too.

Antonio grinned at Ranger. "Yep, it's a whole lot easier than understanding Joey when he's giving medical terms in English. I coulda done it in eagle too, but it hurts my throat after a while."

Ranger laughed and hugged Antonio to him, "That is amazing, you will need to teach me how to do that."

Jackie looked back up, "who is Joey's dad and why would he need to get him involved? Is Ulee going to be alright?"

"Hey Daileass? Are there any leeches open?" Antonio giggled after wiggling to activate his commbadge.

Joey answered Jackie. "Dahdy is the besd fixewew evew! He'w make Uwee behdewew than newew! Uwee's gonna be awesome fine."

Jackie looked at Joey, then looked at Antonio, then looked back at Joey. As he stood there staring at Joey they could see his thoughts cross his face as he thought about what was just said. Then he smiled, "So, your dad is the best fixerer ever, huh. How is he the best fixerer ever?"

Nurses in the room and Ranger looked at Jackie in complete shock and the smile on Joey's face spoke volumes.

Joey's rapid-fire response almost set off the fire system. "Dahdy made me in schoow dhen made me a weaw boy dhen when I caughd fiwe he fixeded me again and made me beddewew dhen he fixeded my big bwodhew Ausdin and fixeded my big bwothew Cwash and now aww of us are beddew, and dehn he made Ewi a new awm and weg and made Benji a new hand and dhey wowk wike weaw boy's awms and hands and he even made a new weenie fow Dixon dhad wowks jusd wike dhe owd one dhad a bad docdow dwied do cud off so now we cawws Dixon's dickie Fwankenweenie!" Joey finished his assertion with a bright, cheery smile, but everyone listening was panting and wheezing for their next breath.

As three nurses flew into the room with two oxygen tanks each and turned them on full blast, Purpurowy started to mew, Antonio started to laugh, Ranger and the nurses shook their heads and Jackie was trying to process what was said. Jackie shook his head, "Sorry, I only caught half of that. But, if I understood what I think you were saying, your Dad can make new body parts that actually work?"

"That's right." Daileass inserted. "By any chance do one of you doctor-types have anything for an electronic migraine?"

"You'we siwwy, Daiweass!" Joey giggled. "'Pudews don'd ged headaches!"

"No, they cause them!" Antonio giggled. "Anyone available?"

Daileass giggled. "Yeah, I'm sending Rex Carr over. The rest of his family's about to go on vacation for a few seconds, so he can catch up after he's done with y'all."

Jackie tried to follow the two threads of talk, "So, you need to get my brother a new leg? And what is a leech?"

Ranger smiled, "I was going to ask the same question. Why do we need leeches? They don't use them any longer to cure ailments."

"To answer that, what the clowns are saying is they need a telepath to give you a partial language dump." a long-brown-haired fifteen-year-old stated as he appeared in the middle of the room. "Rex Carr, Clan Short Telepathic Corps, at your service."

"And to answer your first question, Ulee's bone was shattered, and since it never healed fully when he broke it at the age of four, we feel the best thing to do is to heal it now and have Joey's dad make a new skeletal bone to replace the weak one. It will grow with him and he will no longer have the limp, or the discomfort that he had before." Antonio stated in full doctor mode, "Of course, we will need your approval, and your parents first."

"Why would you need my approval? I'm his brother, but I'm not old enough to give any kind of approval for that kind of procedure?" Jackie questioned, as he looked back down on his brother lying peacefully asleep on the biobed while he still scratched Purpurowy's ears.

"Okay, which one of you clowns forgot to tell him he was a division head?" Rex giggled.

Jackie's head jerked up, "A What?" he shouted. "Oh no, not me! I already told Talon there was no way."

"Yep, he qualifies." Daileass commented. "Already got the denial part down; he fits the mold perfectly!"

Joey giggled, "Shouwd I caww Weyes do see if Uncah Pwez is awound, ow maybe I couwd jus' caww Uncah Dahny?" He paused a moment, and then laughed, "Nod dhad any of dhe dhwee of 'em wouwd hewp a whowe heck of a lod!"

Alden giggled, "Prez is playing host to Julio and company from Des Moines. Danny's down to his underwear again though. Transporting him now could be funny!"

"Do it!" Rex egged Daileass. "I owe him one... million!"

Danny Page appeared shirtless and wearing green and yellow striped boxers. His face hadn't completely flushed red before he screamed, "DAILEASS!" and Joey fell on the floor, completely hysterical.

"It really wasn't me!" Daileass howled laughing.

Danny growled, "Alden! You're little more than a day old and starting already?"

"You're needed, Grandpa," Alden giggled.

Jackie couldn't help but start to giggle at the sight of the boy in front of him standing there yelling in his boxers, while at the same time trying to figure out how this boy was a grandpa.

"STOP! CALLING! ME! GRANDPA!" Danny slowly bitched.

"Keep that up, and I'll call your hubby over to calm you down!" Rex giggled.

Danny pouted, "We're not... oh, the hell with it." He sighed, "What am I here for anyway?"

Joey started, "We have do ged Uwee a new weg. Dhis one was shaddewed widh a dagger embedded in his wighd weg, id awso sevewed newves and dendons."

"And maybe you could look at Bruno over there, his arm was busted yesterday. Jory fixed it at the hospital in Louisiana, but with it being broke again today the reports are stating that it won't heal at full strength." Antonio added

Right then Doctor Wilson walked into the room, "Ah, I thought I heard you yelling, Doctor Page. Welcome to Des Moines." Dr. Wilson looked over at Jackie, "And your friend Travis, he is going to heal just fine. We are going to need to keep him overnight, but with young Scouts help, we got him in the biobed just in time. He is sleeping peacefully right now."

Jackie looked around trying to take everything in.

"Danny, this is my cousin, Ranger." Antonio giggled from his perch in Ranger's arms. "You get to help him get caught up with me on the medical stuff."

Pointing at Jackie, who seemed to be keeping up fairly well under the circumstances, Rex sniggered, "And if you could orient a new Clan Director in between all that, it would be good."

"I am not a director of any division, so you don't need to orient me in on anything. Now, about my brothers leg...." Jackie said as he trailed off at the end clearly trying to change the subject.

The whole time Ranger was still processing having another telepath in the room. He was deeply processing whether or not it was going to be alright to let that boy anywhere near him, then he looked at Antonio smiling up at him.

"It's okay; he's been in my head." Antonio whispered to Ranger.

Ranger smiled, "If you trust him cousin, then so shall I."

"You know," Danny grinned at Jackie, "I tried to argue against being made a director, too. After a fifteen minute logic war and a bottle of aspirin, I realized I had lost before I ever started." Reaching up, he made the sign of the cross on Jackie's forehead and muttered, "You must be blessed, since Cory's not here to argue it out with you. There, that was easy. Don't fight it, or you'll wind up on Oahu and addicted to Valium, or worse, playing Pissed Off Chickens. We'll talk more when we get past medical emergencies."

To prove the point, Daileass replayed the audio of the 'logic war', which had been provided by Ark for the entertainment of the Clan.

Jackie slumped backwards, "Talon is going to love this." He then looked up at Danny, "Fine, the Gulf Coast will never be the same again." Jackie then glanced at this brother, over to Bruno and back to Danny, "So, can you make dhem beddewew, as Joey was saying."

Tapping his comm-badge, Joey called, "Dahdy, can you come do Des Moines, and bwing lods of Gwandma's chocolade chip and peanud buddew cookies?"

"Are you prescribing cookies as medicine again, Joey?" a young voice replied, obviously laughing.

Joey giggled, "Dhere's lods of huwded guys hewe, so bwing aww dhere is!"

"I'll be right over... Marc, we really need to check Joey's medical database...", the voice replied.

All of a sudden they heard from the other three beds, "Did someone say cookies?" as Bruno, Chad and Steven were starting to wake up.

"Be glad he's not prescribing kittens," Marc sniggered.

"Good idea, Uncah Mawc!" Joey exclaimed. "Dahdy, bwing a few kiddies doo!"

At hearing 'bring kittens', Purpurowy's ears perked up. Then he laid his head back down on Ulee's arm to wait.

"Is it always this insane?" Ranger asked Antonio.

"No, usually it's much worse. Jerry's mom makes great cookies though, so it's worth it!" Antonio replied with a grin.

Jackie sighed, "Alright, Rex, right, what is the telepath thing it is you do while, Danny, right, looks at my brother and Bruno."

Rex looked over at Danny. "Hey Gramps, tell King Kyle that I need a quick brain dump; I'll give Ranger what he needs, then I can give Jackie the 'Director's Load'."

Jerry appeared with two large brown paper grocery sacks of cookies and half a dozen kittens at his feet. He glanced around, noticed Danny and teased, "Dressing down to meet new folks again, Danny? Does Marc know, or do I add another secret to the list?"

Before Danny could reply, Rex vanished, appearing a second later soaking wet and holding a polar bear cub. "Okay, who gets this one?" he grumbled, his shivering shedding water on the floor.

Jackie looked at Rex, who was soaking wet, and asked, "The 'Director's Load'? Why do I get the feeling I am not going to like this." Jackie watched in wonder as the polar bear cub that Rex had sat down wandered right out of the room, looking like it was on a mission.

Ranger looked down at Antonio, "And what is it that he thinks I need to have dumped into my brain? There is over two centuries of history in there already, what more could be 'dumped' into my brain?"

Meanwhile, Joey was bringing cookies and kittens to Bruno, Chad and Steven, introducing the felines as he went, "Dhis one is Bambie, and dhis one is Budch..."

Antonio looked Ranger in the eyes. "Part of our genealogy makes it so that we're able to store more than normal humans. Rex will probably show you the stuff Kyle taught me for extending the storage, then he'll go over the Clan languages and history stuff with you to decide what you want to have in your head. You'll also be able to learn the legal stuff that being part of the Clan lets you do."

"...and dhis one is Smokey, and dhis one is Shawon..."

Ranger got a thoughtful look on his face, "Very interesting. Then, I will be ready when Rex is ready to begin. This just might prove to be very intriguing."

Danny quickly updated Jerry on Joey's prognosis on Ulee, then Jerry went over to the bed and verified what it was reading. After he was sure of the status of Ulee, he turned to Jackie. "Director, I agree with Joey; the best course of action is to upgrade Ulee to an Android leg. Based on the readings I'm seeing, there is a seventy percent chance that it will require amputation due to the damage inside. I'm already seeing signs of degeneration from loss of blood flow to certain sections of the muscle structure. Are you willing to approve the procedure, or will you require his caregivers to approve it?"

"... and dhis is Lawwy, and dhis Jeanedde, she's gods a gween eye and a yewwow eye, kinda wike me!"

Jackie glanced over at Ranger. "Better you than me, Douceur," Ranger said as he smiled at Jackie.

Then Jackie glanced over to Bruno, Chad and Steven. Around a mouth full of cookies, Bruno replied, "Dude, you're the Director, I'd let you make that decision for me and trust it." Taking another bite of cookie, Bruno mumbled, "Go for it, your parents will understand. Damn, we just fought Vampires, what's a little decision like this?"

Jackie looked at Bruno in shock, and then smiled, since he knew about Bruno's arm, "Do it. And then I can make a decision on Bruno's arm after you look at it."

Bruno's jaw dropped open in shock as cookie crumbs fell onto the bed. "Me?"

"Yes, you. You just said you would trust me to make the decision. And, as Director, making sure you have the best medical care is what I am going to do."

Bambie and Butch went to work to clean up the cookie crumbs on Bruno's bed.

Jerry watched with a grin, then turned to Jackie. "Yep, you're definitely director material. You should have your purple straightjacket sometime tomorrow."

"It's too late for a straightjacket, just send me straight to the padded room." Jackie shrugged back and looked over at Rex, "I should be ready soon for you to do whatever you need to do to my head. I think I'm going to need it to survive any more of this insanity."

Joey and Jerry walked over to check on Bruno. "We have the same situation here, Director. Based on these readings, the damage is not as severe as Ulee, yet the arm will remain severely weakened. He will not have the same use of the arm if we don't correct it."

Jackie looked at Bruno, "After everything that happened yesterday, and now today, I agree." Jackie walked over to Bruno, "What do you say? You want a new arm there buddy?"

Bruno was unconsciously petting Bambie and Butch while they were cleaning up all the cookie crumbs, "Yeah, Jackie, I do. I need my arm to play football. If it can be fixed, let's do it"

"Let's do it then. How long will this all take?" Jackie asked as he looked over to Jerry.

"We should be able to start tomorrow. They will need to stay here, as we will need to take measurements and build the arm and leg. Then we would like them to stay another day or two after replacing the limbs to make sure everything is working properly." Jerry grinned as he responded.

"And I's ged do hewp!" Joey added with a grin.

Right then Rex walked up, "Ready when you are Director. I gave Ranger everything he needs. Your turn."

Jackie sighed, "Will everyone quit calling me Director already."

Everyone in the room burst out laughing, then Chad spoke up, "Sorry Director. Not until you quit fighting your new position, Director!"

Rolling his eyes, Jackie looked at Rex, "Let's just do this and get it over with."

"Where the heck are we at?" Jackie sounded panicked as he was looking around him. "Where's the hospital room?"

"No hospital rooms in your head, Jackie." Rex giggled. "Kyle's just given me the okay to use a method he taught me to help you get ready for your new position. He says it works out better, because you can actually watch as we get things set up to make your life easier."

"In my head? And who's Kyle?" Jackie asked.

"Kyle is the head of Intel for the Clan, as well as being one of the four founders of the Clan. Knowing him, he'll probably visit while we're in here; he likes to watch out for Division Directors for some reason he won't tell us."

"Um, alright." Jackie started to pace a little, took the leather strap from his hair, ran his fingers through his hair, pulled all his back and rewrapped it into a ponytail, then he turned and looked at Rex, "Alright, what do we need to do next then?"

"Make more cookies!" a brown-haired, purple-eyed eight year old stated as he popped in. "Then, I'd suggest languages and the SHA, once you set up a storage room. Nice head, Jackie; you keep it a lot more organized than Danny does!"

"Well, I haven't had a lot of things to 'clutter' it up with. Now you are going to create storage rooms." Jackie looked up and whispered, 'how did I ever get into this position to begin with.' He looked back at the boy, "Kewl eyes. You must be Kyle. And how am I going to learn languages and whatever SHA is and everything else? It's not like you can just transplant a whole new brain into my head with all new memories."

"We could, but it'd get pretty crowded!" Kyle giggled. "Seriously, you ended up with this job because you're a natural leader. Not like adults mean when they say leader, but a real person that people listen to because they know that you listen to them. You're not gonna be alone, though. We're rolling out some AI systems that will help you with just about anything you need, and usually either me, Ty, or one of our kids are hanging around to help look out for you. Speaking of which, which corner of your brain can I hijack to set up a room in? I think it's fun sitting down with the Division Head guys and talking stuff over in their heads with them!"

Jackie just stared at Kyle, his thoughts running a mile a minute. Then he smiled, "Pick a corner, any corner." he announced as he threw his arms wide to encompass what was his brain, "And an AI? Now Talon would love that!" He started to pace around again while thinking then he stopped and looked back at Kyle and Rex. "Talon told me the same thing, but I took that as just being a little bro looking up to his big brother. I'm really not special. So, seriously, how am I going to take all this on? I do know I can't do this alone. And somehow, no offense, you having a room my in head isn't going to be enough."

"Believe it or not, that is exactly why you're gonna do great." Rex stated. "When you have time to do it, you question your responses to make sure that you are thinking right. Cory doesn't succeed as a leader for the Clan because he can lead, he makes it work because the people around him think for themselves and only involve him when things go over their heads."

"Just wait until Cory catches you, Rex!" Kyle giggled.

Sighing, Jackie responded, "Alright, give it to me and hit me with your best shot. At least I'll be armed then." Jackie seemed to start to calm in a meditative state awaiting, he didn't know what.

Kyle shoved a cookie into Jackie's half-open mouth. "There, now turn around and open your eyes!"

Jackie turned around, and the cookie he didn't get to eat fell out of his mouth, "That is so awesome!" He walked over and found shelves full of information on everything and anything he might need. He also noticed that there was a window seat, he walked over, sat down, and looked out over the swamp. He started to think of different languages and realized that various words were coming into his mind. The word 'douceur' flashed through his mind and he blushed. Then codes started to go through his mind and he realized he was reviewing the Safe Haven Act, "Oh damn, my mom was supposed to have a Federation Youth Services office set up at our house yesterday. Jory was going to send someone and I totally forgot about that." He glanced over at Kyle and Rex, "that was after we helped Bruno at the hospital and Mr. Lewis and Mr. Taylor." He sat back into his seat and kept reviewing information that was on the shelves.

Kyle passed Jackie a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. "I like the view, we'll have to play a few games by this window!" he stated with a smile.

Jackie took the plate of cookies with a smile, scooted over a little and offered Kyle and Rex a place to sit, "This is my favorite spot in my room at home. I always sit in the window and organize all my thoughts and think out problems." Then with a sly grin, "Daydream." After a few moments, "I would like that too, Kyle. Since you are setting up a room in my head, did you pick a corner yet?"

Kyle giggled. "Yeah, right near the genetic skill section. We're gonna haveta play around in there sometime when you ain't too busy."

"Genetic skill section, where is that one? What do I need to learn about genetic skills?"

"Everyone has them to some degree, it's just that most people ignore them or bury them to avoid being different." Kyle explained. "Others, like me, have skills so strong they can't be hidden. You might be surprised at what secrets you have hidden there."

"I, umm, see. I'll check that out later. So, we ready to get outta my head? I need to get some people outta here and check on Travis still. Then I need to get to the waiting room and let my mom know what is going on." Jackie sighed, "And I wish I could just sit here until I figure out what I'm going to say to our dad at home." Jackie stood up, and glanced out the window again.

"You can. Time in your head goes almost a hundred times faster than time outside of it." Kyle explained. "Take the time for yourself; I'll even help out some and loop you so that it doesn't seem like any time at all has passed outside your head."

"Awesome, I think I will take you up on that offer." Jackie settled back into the window seat and thought.

---

Louisiana

Zeke turned towards Cecil, "Corporal, please take our guests into the family room and make sure they are comfortable. The young boy is in need of help and needs to be away from my emotions."

"Yes, sir. Please follow me this way, we'll take the other way around, away from the battle." Cecil motioned for Davis and Tevin to follow him as he started to walk around to the back side of the stairway and back hallway. Davis and Tevin followed closely behind him.

Zeke then turned towards the rest of the team, "What I need now is to stake these miscreants out to face the sun. While I would love to hang them from a wall in the basement, and let them die a slow and painful death, I have held onto enough of my heart to not wish that kind of suffering even on the ones that tried to kill my family."

As soon as he finished speaking, all the materials he needed appeared at his feet.

"Logan wants to know if you need some barbecue sauce to go with those stakes, Sir." Daileass giggled.

Zeke thought about it and actually laughed, "Please tell Logan that I may need the barbecue sauce, but I won't be using it on these stakes." Zeke was still chuckling while he bent down to pick up the stakes and sledgehammers.

While Zeke was doing that, Aiden, Jaden, Ethan and Mason were picking up the Vampires to help take care of the deed that needed to be done.

When Zeke had the equipment in his hands he asked, "Daileass, is there anyone around that can come in and fix the damage to the house? And, if what is happening that I think is happening, my sons will be needing some major renovations to the west side of the house."

A huge purple hardhat appeared in front of Zeke, the sound of multiple kids giggling inside of it making Zeke's eyebrows leave his forehead.

A door in the front of the hard hat opened, and a blond nine-year-old stepped out. "Hi, I'm Peter, and you have at your service the Mikyvis Construction Corps, a division of the Quintessential Quantum Quality Quonstruction Group. You go ahead and take care of what you need to and we will take care of the rest." Peter said as kids starting pouring out of the large hardhat. "And don't worry, we'll make sure that the quality of the woodwork and the historical plaster and everything is fixed right, you won't even know anything happened here."

The large purple hardhat disappeared from the house, "And let the kids know they have a large purple hardhat for a playhouse outside by the treehouse, our gift to the new division." Then Peter disappeared and reappeared in the family room.

"Random hug, you need it. And don't worry, help is on its way." Peter told Tevin right as Cecil walked in with drinks and snacks.

Zeke didn't even bat an eye at what Peter told him, he instead looked over and motioned for Aiden, Jaden, Ethan, and Mason to follow him and started to walk out of the house to take care of the vampires that attacked his family. Breton went into the family room to check on Tevin, after what Zeke said, he wanted to make sure the boy wouldn't need medical help. Ryan made the mistake of staying in the house to supervise the kids on the construction crew. His head started to spin as he watched them work.

Before Ryan knew what was happening, he was sitting in a chair with a plate of cookies and glass of milk. Without even realizing what he was doing, he took a bite of the cookie that appeared in his hands. "Where did these cookies come from? They taste like Katies."

"Oh, that's easy. Remember when Aunt Katie couldn't find cookies? Well, we knew we was going to need them now, so we just went back in time and got them." Peter giggled. "Aunt Katie makes good cookies, just like our mom's and aunts."

"Hey Peter! What do you think? Will this work for the plaster in the CIC?" 'Bastian asked as he was repairing the wall that Chad hit.

Ryan saw the table being moved back into place, furniture being lifted and moved through the air, wood appearing in thin air. He wasn't even going to ask where they got the original wood trim to match what was damaged. Sitting in awe he lifted another cookie to his mouth.

"That should work perfect!" Peter looked at the work and then added, "Yep, we can reinforce the walls and then put the plaster over it. Now to find just the right materials for the windows. That is going to the toughest, they need to work with the history of the house."

"Uncle Scotty just showed me some new transparent aluminum that came out." Sammy interjected. "It looks just like plate glass if less than an inch thick."

"That should work perfect. Let's finish up out here and then get started on CIC. I have a building being placed at the end of the old delivery driveway that will house the FYS for Aunt Katie. We'll wait for Jackie to decide on the design for the rest of the housing they need to place around here. I took a quick trip of the property and they have lots of room to do what they will need to do and a whole village to help too." Peter said while planning things out at the same time.

While Peter and the crew were doing their Quonstructioning, Cecil was setting drinks and snacks down for Davis and Tevin, "Are you feeling any better Tevin?"

"I'll be okay. The pain, right here," as Tevin pointed to his solar plexus, "goes away once I get away from things. But, it never hurt as bad as it has been hurting lately."

"Rainbow alert, Aisle 14!" Daileass' voice announced over the construction crew's commbadges. Seconds later, a nine-year-old boy with multicolored hair in an inverted "v" mohawk, leading to a pony tail that extended to the small of his back, appeared in the room. The fact that he was carrying an inflatable cartoon-style stethoscope and chewing on a bubble-gum cigar just made his purple eyes seem almost normal.

"That is an interesting stethoscope you have there young man!" Brenton said as the first thing he noticed was the cartoon-style stethoscope.

"I'm starting to get a headache from all the kids just "popping" in and out of here." Cecil stated when he saw the new boy arrive.

Tevin looked at the boy and burst out laughing, "Love the hair! Davis, can I grow my hair out and color my hair like that?"

"Um, um, I don't think it would match your eyes. But, um, how about we will see." Tevin laughed again, seeing Davis squirm was an interesting sight.

"Ezra Short-Richardson, brain-doctor-in-training, at your service!" Ezra giggled as he stuck the 'sensor' end of the stethoscope down his shirt and put the earbuds up to Tevin's ears. "Why can't I hear anything? Are you dead?" Ezra quipped.

"Silly, you need to do this!" As Tevin put the earbuds into Ezra's ears and took the other end of the stethoscope and put it up to his heart. "Can you hear anything now?"

"OHHHH!" Ezra giggled. "Yeah, it's got a great beat, I think I could dance to it!"

Tevin smiled at Ezra, then turned and said, "doctor's always listen from the back, too. Is the beat just as good there?"

Ezra smiled, his plan to make Tevin relax seeming to work. "Let's see... wow, you sure you don't got a band in there?"

"I just might, with the pain I was in, I thought I had a whole orchestra in there! But the pain's going away so it might have decreased to just a mini band now. I hope they sound better than they feel though." Tevin giggled, playing along with the game this new boy was playing.

"Hmm, let me check something..." Ezra said as he pulled a military-grade flashlight that was longer than his leg out of his pocket. "Stand still, let me look in your ear." he commented in a serious tone. He then turned on the flashlight, and placed it up to Tevin's ear. Ezra giggled as he made it appear as if light was coming out the other side, and began making shadow-bunnies on the nearest wall.

"Hey, how did you do that?" Tevin laughed as light came shining out of his mouth. "Hey," as more light came out, "I need a magic flashlight like that!" Tevin was starting to laugh harder as light flashed each time his mouth opened and pulsed in time to his laughter.

Davis couldn't help but laugh at the young boy’s antics and was so happy to see Tevin smiling finally.

Cecil moved over to Brenton, holding his sides and trying to not burst out laughing. Brenton had to place his hand over his mouth to stifle his laugh and giggle behind his hand.

"Ahh, I know, I'll try that thing that my dad taught me next week!" Ezra giggled. "Lay down on the couch, and sing the seven dwarves song from Snow White!"

That stopped the adults in their tracks and had Cecil ask, "Taught you next week?"

Tevin laid down on the couch, put his head on Davis' leg and sang out, "HIIIIIII- HOOOOOO!", which got Davis and Brenton laughing out loud again.

Ezra created a time bubble with him and the occupants of the couch in it. Once they were slowed down, he said "Tevin, you're a lot like my Poppa, and I'm gonna show you some stuff he learned to keep his head from getting funny. This is gonna seem weird, but I'm gonna bring a part of you into my head to show you what poppa taught all of us."

"You can really make my pain go away, can't you? That other boy said someone was going to help me and with what you already did, I believe you. I trust you." And Tevin nodded to let Ezra know it was alright.

Ezra noticed Davis also nod, showing he was listening, and if it helped Tevin, he was all for it.

A few seconds later, Tevin found himself standing in a large room with purple walls and two overstuffed reclining chairs. Ezra was there with him, and motioned towards one of the chairs as a plate of brownies appeared on the table between them. "Try a brownie; they're Grandma's secret recipe!" Ezra offered.

As Tevin took him up on the offer, Ezra began showing pictures on the wall as he explained things. "This is how your head is set up right now. You're what's known as an Empath; you can feel what other people feel, and you might even be able to transmit. Right now, it's hard to tell because the area of your head that deals with it has no way to control what goes in or out. The empaths of a really long time ago had three rooms in their heads that they used to control it; you've got the stuff to build those rooms, but your head never made the walls. If we can get the walls built, you can pull emotions from somebody without feeling all of it yourself, and you might be able to put some into the other room to push out to someone. Since you know how it feels to have hurt pushed into you, I'm sure that you're not gonna try to push hurt onto someone else. Daddy found out that if you do that, it makes you hurt until you fix it."

"Wow!" Tevin took a bite of brownie while looking around, "So, that is what the inside of my head looks like. It's really kinda messed up in there."

After some thought he added, "Empath? So that is what it's called. I never knew. Sometimes I could cheer my daddy up when he was down, but I didn't know that was what I was doing." Tevin started to tear up thinking of his dad.

He sat quietly for a little while and then started to notice things moving around back in his own head. "If this is a special gift, then I got it from my daddy. He always knew what people were feeling. He tried to hide things from me, but somehow I knew. I think that is why I hid in the computer room and watched my dad work that day, I just knew something was wrong. I just didn't think I would see him killed."

"That is when the pain started real bad. Davis helped the best he could, and just being near him helped, after I trusted him. Help me with the walls, lets build them real good so I can learn how to help people the way my daddy was always trying to help people. Please." Tevin took another bite of brownie and smiled at Ezra.

---

Zeke finished staking the vampires out, then turned to Mason and Ethan, "Stand guard here and make sure nothing disturbs them. They will meet the sun when it rises."

He then turned to the vampires, "While it won't help, may you find your way on the other side." Since he put duct tape over their mouths, all he could hear was mumblings of disapproval from the staked vampires.

Zeke then looked over to Aiden and Jaden, "We have one more to hunt down. Follow me and stay close, the swamp is a very dangerous place if you don't know it."

Aiden and Jaden nodded as they followed Zeke to the pirogue and headed out into the swamp. Zeke traveled right up the spot he needed and they waited.

"Did you really think you could hide, Vampire?" Zeke whispered from the shadows.

"I have been out here for the last ten years. This is my swamp now." The vampire stated as he looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Ah, but you see, this land has belonged to my family since the early 1800's. I grew up here. And you dared to attack My Family! In my family home, on my family land! No one attacks my family. Now you will pay dearly for that error in thinking!" Zeke changed his persona just enough to become who he needed to be, Lugh.

The Vampire burst out laughing, "And you think you can stop me! You are a youngling, a child of our species. And I can smell your half-lifes out there, their young blood, newly changed and around a year old. This is going to be so much fun taking you out and taking over your home!"

Lugh grinned evilly, he knew the vampire couldn't see him, and he knew the vampire still did not know where he was at. Lugh slowly maneuvered himself so he was standing directly behind the vampire. Lugh waited until he was done trying to taunt him and sprung. Lugh wrapped his arms around the vampire and started to move the shadows to surround him, "And now you die, a slow painful death and you will meet the sun in the morning for your transgressions against my family."

A blood curdling scream filled the swamps. Birds flocked out of the trees, alligators slithered into the water, and animals scattered in every direction to get away from the terror of the night.

Two boys walked out of the shadows with stakes in their hands. The shadow fell away from the vampire. All that was left standing there was a skeleton of crushed bones. They all knew the bones would heal, but they had time to make sure the vampire met the sun. As Jaden and Aiden helped Lugh stake the vampire out where the sun would scorch him, Aiden heard a noise. It was so soft that no one else heard it. Yet when his speed increased, it increased the speed of his hearing range.

Aiden jerked his head towards the sound, "Shh, I hear something," he whispered as he slowly started to move towards the noise.

Lugh motioned Jaden to follow while he finished staking the vampire. Jaden slowly followed his twin into the trees, where they saw a boy, no more than six years old. His light brown hair was all messed up. It looked like he just woke up. The boy was wearing red sports sunglasses and had on a red t-shirt, jeans, and red tennis shoes. He had a spiderweb tattoo on each side of his neck under his ears, and a blazing sun tattoo on his right arm. Right above the blazing sun tattoo was a tattoo of a snake. On his wrist was some kind of dragon. Aiden noticed the tattoos were copied on his left arm when the boy moved. The young boy bared his teeth at them, and hissed.

"Shh, it's okay. You're safe now. No one is going to hurt you." Aiden spoke very softly as he slowly moved towards the boy. When he got close Aiden sat down in front of the boy. Through the mental link with his brother and dad he sent, 'he can't be more than six years old, he is so young.'

"Are you hungry? Is that why you're bearing your teeth at me?" Aiden gently asked.

"No. He made me eat yesterday. I don't like doing it, but he made me." The boy angrily spat out.

"Will you tell me your name?" Aiden noticed Jaden slowly moving up next to him while he was talking.

The boy looked back and forth between the two boys, and then glanced over at the man who was standing over the vampire the boy called sire. "My name was Clark, Clark Johnson, but he," and the boy spat in the vampires direction, "said I was boy, that was all he would call me after he killed my mommy and daddy and brother and turned me. He said he had always wanted a son so he stole one and made me his."

"My name is Aiden, and this is my twin brother Jaden. Over there is our new dad, Lugh, but we think he is going to take his old name of Zeke back soon, now that we are back with his old family." Aiden pointed at each person as he introduced them.

Clark let out a sigh, "What happens to me now? I'm living on that man's land and he just killed my sire for living here. Are you gonna kill me, too?" The boy asked, now very afraid that he might be killed too. "I didn't want to be a monster, honest mister, I really, really didn't, he made me."

Lugh spoke up from behind the boys, "Simple, you come live with us and I become your sire. I will not let you stay out here alone. You're not even six months turned. As for him," Lugh said as he pointed down at the staked out vampire, "he set a hit on my family. He sent four vampires to take out everyone I love. Family is everything to me."

Aiden and Jaden nodded in agreement while Lugh was talking, "He means it. You'll become our little brother. You'll come live with us and we'll train you and help you learn all about your extra. Do you know what your extra is?"

Before anyone could say another word a boy jumped out of the shadows, over Clark, and landed in a crouch with a knife held out in front of him, "He isn't going anywhere! If anyone is going to take care of him it'll be me."

"Dustin? Where'd you come from?" Clark asked as he moved up next to the boy in front of him.

"Stay behind me Clark. I promised Jessie that I would watch over you when he couldn't and that is exactly what I'm going to do." Dustin gently moved Clark to stand behind him.

Lugh just stood back and smiled, he knew the boy was in the shadows, that was his realm after all. He had to give the boy credit for his stealth. Aiden didn't even pick up his movements and so he caught the twins off guard. Yet, when he saw the boy standing there, he understood where he got his training. Lugh watched the graceful movements of the Native American boy in his element. Lugh estimated him to be approximately ten years old. His dusty brown hair, which hung to his shoulders, was all fly away and wind blown. His dark brown eyes looked black in the night sky. He couldn't help but smile at the boy who had the build of a runner, the grace and prowess of a cat, and held the knife like it was a part of him.

This time Jaden spoke up, "We aren't going to hurt him anymore, we will give him a loving home and be able to teach him how to live as he is now, Dustin. You're more than welcome to come with him."

"How did you find him and stay alive? That is pretty impressive to stay out of sight for six months and not be caught, Dustin..." Lugh trailed off at the end, hoping the boy would supply the rest of his name. At the same time he lowered his voice and relaxed his stance so he didn't alarm the boy in front of him.

Dustin watched the two boys in front of him real close, he noticed they remained sitting. He glanced back at the large man in the background. All he knew was he couldn't mess this up. His best friend’s little brother depended on him now more than ever. "The rest of my name is not important right now, specially since I don't know all of your name, mister..." Dustin trailed off also, following the older mans lead.

"That is fair, Dustin. In respect to your beliefs, I will await until you freely give your name to us. I am known in the human world as Ezekiel Sabre, my friends and family call me Zeke. In the vampire world I am known as Lugh. I would like it if you would consider my family and I friend and call me Zeke, or Mr. Zeke if you prefer."

"Sabre? You're the missing father of the Sabre brothers?" Dustin asked in awe.

"Yes, I am. So, what do you say? You can be caregiver to Clark, if you insist, but he is going to need us to help teach him how to survive in our world." Zeke calmly reminded the boy that Clark was no longer human.

"I'll go with you. I promised my best friend and I won't break the promise." Dustin stood straight up and relaxed some.

"Does that mean I'm not going to die?" Clark asked, still not sure what he was hearing.

Zeke slowly walked up to Clark and knelt down, "Yes, Clark, that means you are not going to die. You will be taken care of and be able to live with us for as long as you want to. And we are going to be living for a very, very, long time. So, what do you say, would you like to come see where you are going to live?"

Clark looked over at Dustin and smiled, then started to jump up and down, "Oh yes, please, yes!" And then he ran over to Zeke and jumped into his arms, "Thank you for saving me." Clark looked over at Dustin, "And thank you for watching over me."

Zeke stood up, "Let's head home boys," and he started to walk to the pirogue with Clark in his arms. Zeke stopped and looked back, "are you coming Dustin?"

Dustin looked down at the ground, thought for a few more seconds and then looked up, "Yep. I'm coming." And Dustin ran to catch up with everyone.

Zeke smiled, as in the shadows two elders watched their progress back to the pirogue and then the elders slowly moved off in the other direction.