Erasure and Affirmation (Hypernaturals 11)

Crew Coffee

The first month after we removed the lab from Siren control was insane. Morgan, Helen, and I gave up trying to be home, and instead loaded up the RV with the kids and went north. With Nakoma and Diana in school, we made arrangements with teachers, declared a family emergency, and promised the school officials they would work on things while they were gone.

With neither child is that an issue. Diana is already well ahead of her kindergarten classmates in reading and verbal skills. She knows all her numbers. Her big sister sets an outstanding example there.

Nakoma might miss some of her classmates, and the boys sniffing around her, but doing her homework was and is never an issue with her. She'll learn more at the lab in terms of real-world experience than she ever would in school anyway. From how to build a data center to how to build a weapons-grade biomedical facility. You just can't get that kind of education when you are a junior in high school.

I did not like leaving Jessica up here to do this by herself. By being up here now, she may fall into bed exhausted at night, but it's OUR bed. My arms. Well: Technically I have to share. Mostly, she sleeps. It helps to sleep surrounded by love.

Angel and Vera stayed home. They continued the agency and the bar as if nothing is amiss. Lori and Danny were there too. Their lives empty without the noise of all the kids in the house, or so they say. This allowed Denise to focus her Crew resources on four people.

Vera reports that while there are stirrings up the line. Rumbles she is getting from her sister Sirens about something big going on, nothing is making it to Larry. He has no marching orders. Is having no calls with the Assembly. Mostly he just looks at her forlornly knowing that she is claimed and that Vera told him to his face later that she accepted my claim in full. Larry knows to piss off Vera now is to risk a challenge in the Hall. One he knows ahead of time he will lose. Little does Larry know that Vera is trained up in self-defense now at our house, and she'd be the one kicking his ass to hell and back. Talk about something he would never live down.

Marvin and Skye took a vacation, and Dad and Mom are here with us.

My Dad misses Marvin. Those guys have really bonded. Marvin has this practical way of looking at the world. He hears my Dad bouncing off down bunny trails about technical this and that, and before you know it, Marvin has filed new patents in dad's name, and they are figuring out how to make products with it. How Marvin became wealthy, even if he hid that money from Morgan growing up. Where Morgan comes from, her practical nature and factual point of view is obvious. She is her father's girl.

Marvin keeps my dad attached to the earth. Mom does that in a different way. Laura in yet a third. Having my family together, even in the middle of the latest crisis, is everything to me. We all complete each other is such different ways.

Dad already talked Marvin and Skye into coming to the new Vampire lab-in-progress when they are done on vacation. Dad can't be around all this biotech without having ideas. Mom is too busy to be his sounding board, so Marvin and Skye will be along soon.

Us being north calmed Denise. Down in Austin, we had Crew watching us, but here we are surrounded. The Sirens are still out there looking for us, but if they find this place, they better bring an army.

Once we arrived at the warehouse-lab to stay for a while, Denise took me aside and asked: "Did you delete the pictures?"

I never replied to that note with anything more than 'thank you'. I was not sure what to say. So now I said "No. I kept them. Morgan and I compared our sets. Shared them. When Helen got home, we looked at her versions. Shared them. We each have them all now."

Denise smiled. "Good. I promised to let you take them, but... crazy right now."

"Denise?" I asked back.