Zac, Isaac and Miette
Zac drove up to the airport parking lot, and made his way inside.
"There he is," Isaac said. "Hey! Zac!"
Zac looked and walked over casually.
"It's about time you guys got back," he said drolly. "You missed the talent show and I had to judge it all by myself."
"Oh dear..." Isaac said, realising.
A grin crossed Zac face.
"Yes. It's true. I didn't give anyone a score over 6. Ha. I rock."
"And how many people did you insult?"
"Most of them."
"You horrible boy."
"Yes. And yet, who's the one getting married? The heroic one or the horrible one?"
Isaac gave Zac a dirty look and shook his head.
"And what's she doing here anyway?" Zac went on, glaring at Miette.
"Shouldn't we leave before some of your rabid fans show up?" she retorted.
Taylor
"Settle, alright? Settle," Taylor insisted, shifting the strap on his right shoulder.
"Without Miette I'd probably still be in Australia right now. Or who knows where. I don't know why she helped us..." he glanced at her, "but she did."
Isaac, Zac and Miette
Miette didn't look at them.
"We should go," Isaac said. "I want to see everyone again."
Zac nodded.
"Okay then, walk this way."
And on that, most predicatably, Zac started doing a silly walk to the van. Miette giggled.
"How did I know he was going to do that?" she smiled.
Isaac grinned.
Taylor
Taylor just shook his head and followed them to the van.
He took the backpack off his back before he got in, then again hugged it to him as he settled down.
He opened it after a moment, to check that everything was still in there.
Isaac, Zac and Miette
Isaac, Zac and Miette got into the van, and Zac started off back home.
"So, how was Australia?"
"Hot," Isaac replied with a grin.
"Way, way too hot," Miette agreed.
"I see. Got any suvieners?"
Taylor
Taylor pulled out the first notebook and began to look it over.
"Just a lot of cryptic writings, if that counts," he raised an eyebrow.
Zac
Zac looked at him in the rearview mirror.
"Do they say 'Australia' anywhere on them?"
Taylor
"Ah... well it's mentioned, but that's not the name they gave it."
Taylor frowned slightly, realizing he was probably going to confuse everyone if he went much further.
He put the notebook back and closed the bag.
"Nevermind."
Zac, Isaac and Miette
"I don't mind. I babysit, it pays more," Zac replied. "Actually... I don't even babysit anymore. I shell out to have other people babysit."
"You do?" asked Isaac. "Since when?"
"Ummm... I pay you with my fabulous presence of course. Plus I went to all this effort to pick you up from the airport."
"Uh huh."
They soon pulled up at home.
"And here we are," Zac said obviously. "Home."
Isaac started to get out.
"Miette?"
"Somehow, I don't think I'm welcome here any more," she said quietly.
Taylor
Taylor looked between them.
"Well it's not like you have anywhere else to go at the moment, is it?" he pointed out.
"And Dad's car's not here..."
Isaac, Miette and Zac
"C'mon, Mi," Isaac encouraged.
Miette looked at him, and smiled a little, stepping out of the van. He hadn't called her Mi in awhile.
Zac locked up and then headed to the front door. The moment it opened, Saku pounced on him.
"Whoa, hey," Zac grinned.
Saku shifted back to human and lifted his arms up. Zac picked him up and walked inside.
Taylor and Sheldon
"Someone's happy," came a voice.
Taylor frowned.
"Sheldon?"
"Tay man!"
Sheldon came forward and held out his hand. Taylor gave him a low five, then shook it, giving him a curious look.
"What... are you doing here?"
"I'm stayin' here for a while. Dad kicked me out."
Isaac, Miette and Zac
"Yeah, he got some chick pregnant," Zac grinned.
"Taking a leaf out of Zac's book huh?" Isaac asked.
"Ike! Tay!" Mackie yelled, flying down the hallway.
Miette smiled, but kept in the back. It all felt so awkward.
Sheldon and Taylor
Sheldon shrugged.
"She aborted it. That's the main thing I got in trouble for. It wasn't like I had a choice in the matter."
"Mac!" Taylor grinned, as their younger brother set his feet on the ground in front of them.
He leant down and gave him a hug, then let him hug Isaac.
Isaac
"Oh I see," Isaac nodded.
He hugged Mackie back.
"How ya doin'?"
"Good. Me so glad you're back!"
"I'm glad we're back too."
Taylor and sheldon
"That makes three of us," Taylor grinned.
"Four," Sheldon put his hand up, "I have heaps of crap to ask you about Tay man."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. There's plenty of rumours going around and I want 'em verified."
"Well it can wait," Taylor insisted, "I need to find Dad. Where is he?"
Sheldon shrugged.
"I think... he took your Mom out for dinner or something."
Isaac and Zac
"Dad and Mom went out for dinner... and left you here to look after Mackie and Zoe?" Isaac asked, eyebrows raised.
"And me," Zac said. "Except y'know, I had to go pick you two up."
"And you left Saku here for Sheldon to look after too," Isaac went on, obviously teasing. "I'm surprised you survived without ringing up some random girl... or did you?"
Taylor and Sheldon
"Ah..."
Sheldon tried to put on his best innocent face, and failed miserably.
"Ok, so I called Kathy... and Louise... but could you blame me? I mean come on..."
"Ar eyou paying us for the phone bill?" Taylor raised an eyebrow.
Sheldon shrugged.
"I don't have any money."
Isaac and Zac
Isaac shook his head.
"Well, at least you didn't invite anyone over," Isaac said, then paused. "Or did you?"
"Oh go get yourself a job, Sheldon," Zac grinned. "How about... a gigilo? That way you can get paid to get your jollies."
Taylor and Sheldon
"A job? Me?" Sheldon pretended to look shocked.
"There's a first for everything," Taylor frowned slightly.
"Yeah well... not for me. I insist."
"Dad will chuck you out if you don't do something."
"Your dad wouldn't do that."
"And why not?"
"Umm... he loves me? Considers me a son?"
"He's got too many as it is."
Isaac and Zac
Isaac patted Sheldon on the shoulder.
"Get a job," he said pleasantly.
"He's also got two grandsons," Zac grinned.
"And who's fault is that?"
"Mine. And I'm proud," he replied, holding up Saku. "He's so cute... how can you not be proud?"
Taylor and Sheldon
"You can still be proud of Saku without being proud of the circumstances in which he was... yeah," Taylor cut himself off, "I need to call Dad."
And he left to go to the phone.
Sheldon watched after him, raising an eyebrow.
"Well anyway," he began, turning back, "I do believe I remember you... Miette, right?"
He held his hand out to her, while giving Zac a sideways glance.
Isaac, Zac and Miette
"Yes," Miette nodded.
She shook his hand tentatively.
"Pride has nothing to do with how Saku was conceived," Zac muttered. "And in any case I enjoyed every minute of it."
"We don't need to know, Zac," Isaac said.
Zac grinned broadly.
Taylor and Sheldon
Sheldon grinned.
"Man... getting with a goddess. I am so jealous, you wouldn't believe..."
Meanwhile, Taylor had gotten through to Walker. He was on his way home.
Isaac, Zac and Miette
"Yeah... and she had my kid too."
"Ego trip," Miette teased.
Zac poked his tongue out at her.
"And he's such a mature role model too," Isaac said dryly.
"Ha ha," Zac replied. "And on that note... I suppose you want dinner Saku?"
"Yes pwease," Saku replied. "Chicken."
"Okay, chicken it is then. And some veges."
Saku screwed up his face as Zac carried him to the kitchen.
"No."
"There is no 'no'. Eat veges, then you get chicken, and not before."
Saku pouted.
Sheldon and Taylor
"Oh yeah, and this is becoming an everyday occurence," Sheldon chuckled.
He left the room as Taylor re-entered.
"Mom and Dad are on their way home," he told Ike.
Isaac
"Okay, cool," Isaac said. "Man, it'll be good to see them again. DO you know how long they're going to be? I think I'd like to have a shower."
Taylor
"I... don't know where they are," Taylor admitted, "but if it's that Italian place they sometimes go to then you should have enough time."
He glanced at Miette, then took the bag - which he'd been carrying around - into the livingroom. He opened it and dug inside again.
Isaac and Miette
"Okay good, I'll do that then," Isaac said, starting to head up the stairs, then paused and looked at Miette. "You want to hang out in the lounge or rec for a bit?"
"Umm, yeah, I can do that."
"Cool."
Miette wandered into the lounge while Isaac headed to his bedroom, and then the bathroom for his shower.
Taylor and Walker
It was about twenty minutes before their parents returned home. Taylor waited by the door for his father to make it inside.
"Dad?"
"Taylor," his face lit up as he hugged his son.
Taylor gulped a little as he hugged them both.
"Where's Isaac?" Diana asked.
"He was having a shower, I think he's in his room. He'll probably come down soon. Dad? I need to show you soemthing..."
"Now?" Walker looked interested.
"Yes, now. Straight away. Come here."
He led his father into the livingroom.
Isaac and Miette
Miette stood up as the Hansons entered and chewed her lip nervously.
"What -" Diana began, only to be interupted by Isaac entering the room.
"Mom, Dad!" he smiled. "Oh, hey Mi, you can use the bathroom now, if you wanted."
Miette nodded and quickly made her way out of the room.
She felt so out of place.
Why was Isaac being so nice? After all that she had done...
Walker, Taylor and Sheldon
Taylor settled down onto a couch as Walker made his way back.
"Isaac," he smiled, and gave his eldest son a hug, "it's good to have you back again."
Sheldon stuck his head out of the kitchen, hearing the commotion.
Isaac
Isaac hugged back.
"It's good to be back," he replied. "What's been going on around here? Anything I should know about?"
Taylor and Walker
"Not so much," Walker insisted as he stepped back.
"Umm... Dad?" Taylor called.
"I'm wanted," Walker raised his eyebrows, and went back into the livingroom.
Taylor handed him the first notebook.
"You might want to sit down."
Walker gave him a curious look, then sat beside him. He read the first few lines and stood again.
"I have to call Wayne..."
Isaac
Diana looked over.
"Call Wayne?" she repeated. "Is it... is it that..."
Isaac shook his head incredulously.
"I know you said it was big Tay... but... yeah..."
Taylor and Walker
"This could be a threat to Earth's international security..."
"Dad!" Taylor took hold of his sleeve, "it's not... they're not... They're not a threat at the moment. Look, you only read a little. I have heaps."
Taylor turned the bag up, and the pile of notebooks fell out onto the floor.
"It's a lot of their history, and what they've planned to do."
He looked up at his father.
"Wayne still has to know. Just in case."
Isaac and Zac
"National security?" Isaac repeated. "Okay, I'm intrigued."
"Intrigued in what?" asked Zac, joining them.
Taylor and Walker
"International Isaac," Walker amended, "this has nothing to do with human terrorists."
He glanced at Zac, then picked up another of the notebooks.
"Scarily, it's reminding me of the pyramids in Egypt," Taylor raised his eyebrows and scratched his head.
"You know, the whole timeline thing. But this doesn't stop at 2000. Earth years, anyway. They work on a completely different ah... schedule."
He looked up at his Dad.
"Sorry that it's so cryptic."
Isaac
Isaac's eyebrows went up.
"Well, well, no wonder the Eye was so interested."
Taylor and Walker
Taylor glanced toward his brothers, feeling guilty about not telling them what was going on.
"I don't particularly see how this would be of immediate interest to Mr. Morrison," Walker shook his head, "but then again, I don't know what he has planned. I'll call Wayne."
And he made his way to the phone.
Taylor pursed his lips, then picked up the first notebook that his father had put down. He looked it over for a moment, then stood and handed it to Isaac.
"Read it."
Isaac and Zac
Isaac took the notebook curiously, and stared to read.
"My gosh..." he whispered.
"What?" asked Zac, reading over his shoulder.
Taylor
"And ta da... we have an almost complete timeline of a completely new alien species. Well, not 'new' going by this, but we've certainly never heard of them before."
Taylor screwed his face up, then went to find one of the other notebooks. He flicked through it for a moment, then showed them a drawing.
"That's what they look like."
Isaac and Zac
Zac looked at the picture.
"Hey cool, tentacles!" he said with a grin.
Isaac looked up briefly, then at Zac, then went back to reading.
Taylor
"They've been to Earth a few times before. Last time was last year I think... and I think they're planning to come again in the not-so- distant future."
Taylor sighed and put his hands in his pockets.
"They communicate telepathically."
Isaac and Zac
"Yeah... but they have tentacles!" Zac said.
"Lots of creatures have tentacles Zac."
"Yeah... but these are aliens... not Earth animals."
Taylor and Walker
"They kinda look like... a weird octopus or something. Or squid," Taylor smiled slightly.
Walker returned to the room and took his jacket from where he'd left it.
"Dad?" Taylor looked up.
"I'm going to meet Colin, and we're going to see Wayne. Don't worry," he leant over and kissed Diana, "we'll sort this out."
Isaac, Zac and Miette
Isaac handed the notebook back to Taylor.
"Good luck," he said.
Miette appeared at the doorway then, and Isaac smiled at her.
"C'mon," he said joining her. "Neither of us have eaten a thing since the plane. I say we have dinner."
Zac shook his head as they walked away.
"The girl abducts him, blinds him, and he still likes her. Crazy boy."
Taylor
"I haven't noticed anything... that good about her, apart from helping him get me out of the cave. That is... where I got all this from," Taylor raised his eyebrows.
"I don't even know why she helped him. I'm not sure that I want to."
Walker had left.
Zac
Zac shrugged.
"Yeah, well, whatever's going on, she had better have made a turn for the good. Because if she tries to hurt anyone again..." he left the threat hanging.
Sheldon and Taylor
"Yeah well... believe me, I know what you mean. You know, if I actually had an active power and didn't have to rely on the Rascal Patrol..."
"Speaking of the Rascal Patrol..." came Sheldon's voice as he entered the room, "I need rumours verified."
Taylor rolled his eyes and threw the notebook onto the pile of others.
"What do you want to know?"
"A few things. Can we go into your room?"
"My room... The fuzzles!" Taylor's eyes widened.
"Ah, yeah..." Sheldon began as Taylor rushed past and up the stairs, "there's something you should ah..."
He stopped as Taylor disappeared.
"...Know about Malory. But anyway."
He turned to Zac.
"Where'd everyone go?"
Zac
"Dad's gone out, Ike and Mi are having dinner," Zac shrugged. "And Saku's in his room. I'd say in bed, but we all know he's really tearing his scratching post to pieces."
Taylor
Taylor opened his door carefully to be greeted by darkness. Creeping across the floor, he turned the touchlamp on, then gulped as he saw Mouse asleep on his bed.
He heard a yawn, and noticed that Flavian was awake.
He went and quietly closed the door behind him, stroked Flavian for a moment telling him to stay quiet, then went and knelt by the bedside.
He tilted his head slightly, just watching her. She was so... peaceful when she was asleep.
Slowly, he reached out and moved some hair out of her eyes.
Mouse
Fafnir raised his head slightly when he heard the door open.
Don't wake her, I just got her to sleep. He told Taylor quietly.
For the first time in days...
The wolf sighed and dropped his head back onto his paws as he kept up his vigil, but feeling a lot better about the word in general because Taylor was back.
Mouse murmured softly in her sleep and a smile flitted across her tear stained face.
Taylor
"I think that if I woke her up she'd find it easier to sleep again," Taylor whispered in wolf.
He leant over and softly kissed Mouse's forehead, then leant back slightly and began to sing softly.
When you have no light to guide you
And no one to walk beside you
I will come to you
Woah, I will come to you
When the night is dark and stormy
You won't have to reach out for me
I will come to you
Woah, I will come, to you
Sometimes, when all your dreams
May have seen better days
When you don't know how or why
But you've, lost your way
Have no fear, when your tears are fallin'
I will hear, your spirit callin'
And I swear, that I'll be there
Come what may
When you have no light to guide you
And no one to walk beside you
I will come to you
Woah, I will come to you
When the night is dark and stormy
You won't have to reach out for me
I will come to you
Woah, I will come to you...
Mouse
Mouse shifted slightly, stretching as she woke up slowly.
Did I leave the CD player on again? She asked Fafnir fuzzily.
Ah...nah.
Fafnir grinned as Mouse blinked, then woke up properly.
"Taylor?"
She bit her lip, tears shining in her eyes as she reached over slowly to make sure that he was really there.
Taylor
Taylor smiled, not able to stop his eyes welling up.
He caught her hand in his and couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"I'm back. I'm back..."
He leant in and kissed her.
Mouse
"Oh thank god."
Mouse kissed him back gently.
"Are you alright? How's Ike?"
Taylor
"We're fine. Ike's having dinner at the moment."
Taylor opted not to mention that Miette was in the house.
"You would not believe what I saw... it was incredible," he smiled, leaning down to wrap his arms around her.
Mouse
"So...tell me all about it, cher."
Mouse smiled at him.
"Isn't much has happened here, really..."
Taylor
"It's a long story, and it's getting late."
He ran his fingers down her face.
"And you're tired, I know. You should get some sleep. I need a shower, and then I'll join you."
Mouse
"Alrighty..."
Mouse nodded then yawned.
"I love you."
Taylor
Taylor ran his fingers through her hair, leant down and kissed her forehead, then got up.
He grabbed some clean clothes from the drawers, then made his way to the bathroom.