Isaac was lying down on the bed, his head resting on his arms and shook his head. Nikki looked at him apprehensively.
"Well?" she asked hesitantly.
"I should have know them was more to it than what you told me."
"I'm sorry Ike, I didn't want to decieve you but I... you wouldn't have taken me back if you knew I was still working for them and we all know that."
Isaac sighed and rolled onto his side to look at her where she was seated on a nearby chair.
"It does make trusting you just a mite awkward."
"This coming from someone who turned out to be an alien?"
"Touche."
Nikki smiled.
"I'm sorry," she began.
"Forget it," Isaac dismissed. "Man, we're pathetic."
"We are?"
"Clearly. I mean, we've both lied to each other and hidden things from each other and at the same time we're both crazy about each other," Isaac paused briefly then hurried on. "I might even go so far to say in love with each other."
"Oh... Ike..."
"So, okay is that the last of the Fudge Gang stuff? There isn't anything else you're keeping from me?"
Nikki shook her head, then paused.
"Well, there is one thing... but I..." she hesitated considering how to phrase it. "I'd rather keep the name of my contact in the Fudge Gang to myself, if you don't mind."
Isaac nodded.
"That's fine," he agreed. "Then I guess I'd better tell you some more of the alien stuff I haven't told you about. I'm... I'm deliberately dragging some of it out, because I know that there's a lot to take in. And my family is particularily... insane."
"Like your father being a former YIRAAS Council member?"
"Ha! That's probably the least insane thing about it," Isaac smiled.
"Even when you have bug jammers in your house?"
A technokinetic from the YIRAAS office had returned home with them and investigated the house to check up on the potential presense of bugs. There were none, but just to make certain, he made arrangements to have their current jammers upgraded.
"Let's see, we're a high profile family in both the alien and human world... That's a security precaution, and probably a very neccesary one given the trouble we've had before."
"Oh?"
"I... I'm not going to give you the long history. Some of it is just that, history, and there's some stuff that's personal and I wouldn't feel right doing that. But, okay... where to begin?"
"Well, as you're so determined to fill me in slowly, why not start with the simple stuff?"
"Okay, well... there's another difference between Daths and Sems. Fertility."
"I see..."
"Sem families usually have one, maybe two kids. Three if they're lucky or determined," Isaac said. "Daths have the, uhh, opposite problem. We're at least twice as fertile as humans. Which presents one of the reasons why I prefer to wait. Unlike a certain brother of mine I can... and will mention."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. Zac. Does the number 18 mean anything to you?"
"18 what?"
"Kids."
"You're kidding."
"Nope. And they've all been born in the last three years."
"That's insane."
"He claims he uses protection. I've had my doubts, but yeah."
"18... hell... And you've managed to keep that quiet?" Nikki looked stunned.
"Yeah, well, a few of them are a little hard to explain."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. There's Saku for one. He's a godling."
"A what now?"
"A godling. His grandmother on his mother's side is Bastet, the Egyptian Cat goddess."
Nikki stared, then laughed.
"Okay, you nearly had me going there... You're serious, aren't you?"
"Hence the 'difficult to explain' part. Plus, Saku looks like he's 18 or 19 so yeah. Acts like it too, I might add."
"That's nuts."
"That's only the beginning."
"Oh hell."
Isaac chuckled.
"He also has a daughter, name Tru, who looks about the same age as Saku. Only she's spent time in alternate dimensions."
"Alternate dimensions? Those exist?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Oh dear."
"He has another daughter named Elektra that he gave birth to himself."
"He did what?"
"A friend of ours, Friday, is a Dath/Human hybrid. Her power is sex change. She along with a bunch of her girl friends decided that Zac needed to know what it felt like to give birth so Friday changed herself and Zac into the opposite sex, travelled to another dimension for a year but came back here three days later with a three-month-old baby girl."
"Elektra?"
"Elektra."
"Do the other fifteen kids come with stories like that?"
"Umm..." Isaac considered and started counting. "No, only... six, seven... yeah seven of them come wiht quirky stories. So yeah, he's got eight kids at least with uhh, normal stories."
"You'd think he'd have gotten the hint after one."
"Well, actually the first one had twins so..."
Nikki shook her head.
"Okay, so now I'm kinda appreciating your restraint."
"Why, thank you," Isaac grinned at her, then took her hand. "I promise I'll fill you in on everything -"
"Not all at once. My brain is exploding already."
Isaac chuckled.
"Not all at once," he agreed. "But... no more secrets from each other, okay?"
"Okay," Nikki agreed. "Ike?"
"Yeah?"
"Mr Drasini talked about, umm, alien hunters..."
Isaac tensed up at that, and let out an explosive breath.
"I've had more than my share of problems with alien hunters," Isaac replied finally. "I... to be honest -"
"Yes, please," Nikki grinned at him.
"I had a girlfriend some years ago, Myra. She never knew I was an alien until the day a hunter murdered her in front of me."
Nikki stared in horror.
"I was planning to tell her - and to propose," Isaac went on seriously. "But this hunter tracked me down, and he kidnapped Myra just to get to me. I... I killed him but not... not before he killed Myra."
Isaac looked down at his hands and swallowed hard. Nikki was silent.
"I dream about that day sometimes. Well, nightmare is more like it," he said quietly. "I also ended up dating a girl who turned out to be a hunter, I and members of my family have been kidnapped and... other less pleasant things that Taylor could probably write a book about. All of those... well... all the offenders of those particular incidents have been taken care of..."
"But there's no guarentee it won't happen again?"
"No. Hooking up with me may turn out to be more dangerous than you thought, although as I said, I've had more than my share. Literally. Most aliens don't have any direct contact with hunters."
Nikki nodded slowly, then shrugged.
"Well," she said. "It's probably no more dangerous than the mess I'm already in. And even if the whole Fudge Gang thing wasn't an issue I... I honestly don't know that I would walk away."
Isaac looked up at her, bright eyed.
"Really?" he asked hopefully.
"Like you said, Ike," Nikki smiled back at him, "We're obviously crazy about each other. Possibly in love."