After The End

Family Reunion

Jackson, Mitch, and I had started our examination on the vulture hybrid. As we do Mitch is understandably confused. "Alright, so how did you and Jackson become masters of animal anatomy."

I chuckle. "We aren't masters, that title is left to you."

Jackson nods, "But, you've been gone for ten years. Thing change, people grow and learn."

"Alright, so I have another question." Mitch sighs, "How the hell did these things cause a volcano to erupt?"

I shrug my shoulders, "the biology of this hybrid is nuts. Look at the size of that ear canal."

Mitch looks over my shoulder, "It's incredibly similar to Marsupialia that use echolocation."

As Mitch comments Jackson looks up a little surprised, "Jackson, what is it?" I glance up at him.

"Abe was onto something with that unique hybrid frequency. They're using it to communicate."

Mitch clears his throat. "So if we can reverse engineer the frequency, maybe we can find one of those beacons, track down Abigail, right?"

"Stop Abigail, we stop the hybrid spread." I nod and look from Mitch to Jackson.

Mitch nods and looks back over his shoulder, "that thing is really cool..." he pauses and clears his throat, "Um, Abe is a sex doctor? Which is gross enough, but why... why is he studying hybrids?"

I chuckle softly, "He's not a sex doctor, he's a reproductive endocrinologist. He thinks that hybrids are the key to solving the world's sterility."

"Yeah, there's a lot going on. And seeing as I've had to learn the biology of an entirely new species on the fly, my obvious time away from current technology... Oh, and the fact that Abigail could strike at any moment, I feel like it might be a good time to bring..."

Jackson nods and smiles, cutting Mitch off, "That's a lot of words to say that you need Abe's help."

Mitch nods and comments quietly, "I'm gonna need a little grace period. I'm post-tank Mitch. Let's go to Michigan, find a sex doctor."

I laugh softly as Mitch walks away. When he does I look down at the hybrid and cringe, "yuck!"

Jackson looks up to me a little confused, "What I thought you liked birds."

"Yeah, normal little ones, not weird, volcano erupting vultures."

"Oh yeah, the tattoo you got on our honeymoon isn't of a vulture is it?" Jackson walks over to me and pulls the left shoulder of my sweater down, revealing the small outline of a dove I had gotten while we were in Bora Bora on our honeymoon. Leaning down and kissing it softly once it is visible. "No, you got the bird of love, didn't you?"

I nod as he brings his face closer to mine, "Yes, I did. Because in the end, that's all we have. Love for each other and love for our family." Jackson nods slightly, I can't really tell if he's listening to me anymore or not, as he leans in kissing me softly. Once he pulls away I smile, "I'm gonna go grab a drink with Jamie," Jackson rolls his eyes, "and you should get some rest," I comment and chuckle as he does.

Jackson nods and heads up to the bedroom, while I head up the stairs to the bar. When I get a few feet from the door I hear Jamie and Clem talking. "A little bit stressed?" Clem asks as she sits down.

"Yeah, not all family reunions are pleasant." Jamie comments. I decided to just listen and not enter the room.

"Are you talking about what happened with Jackson earlier? What's that all about?"

"It's a long story."

"Try me."

"Okay." Jamie sighs. "Five years ago Jackson and Kat went into hiding."