1.33

Kiki spun around and, with vigor she thought she had long since lost, raced down the stairs.
“Terry!”
She blinked back tears as she heard him laugh. The laugh that she remembered. The laugh that always used to get him out of trouble.
“Ma!” he exclaimed as he opened his arms.
Sound faded and her world became her son. All she could see was his grinning face. Her feet seemed to barely touch the ground as she raced toward him. The distance seemed to yawn between them until suddenly her body slammed against his and her arms wrapped around his neck.


“You’re choking me Ma!” he said with a laugh. His voice rumbled in her ear and his familiar scent wafted up to her nose.
“Oh, hush! It’s not going to kill you now is it?”
There was a beat of silence as he buried his nose into her neck, just like he used to do, before he shook his head. “No, it’s not going to kill me.”
“Terry, Terry, Terry.” She couldn’t stop saying his name and she couldn’t loosen her arms. She had always wished for this day. Had always wondered what she would say. Had rehearsed it a million times but now, to be here, to have her son in her arms, all that rehearsal went out the window. She didn’t need the words anyway. She could tell he felt the same way as they stood there swaying back and forth.
“I’ve missed you more than you know,” she finally whispered.
“I know ma, I know. Every day I knew. And I’ve missed you just as much. I love you.”
“I love you too, baby boy.”

Finally Kiki shifted her arms and he shifted his but they were still hugging. They had years to make up for. Years of words, of hugs, of touching but Kiki knew, and don’t ask her how she knew she just did, that she was only going to get so long with her son before he had to go back to where ever he had been before. She couldn’t be mad though. No, that would just be a waste of time when a miracle was staring her in the face.
“Am I ever going to be able to stare into your face Ma?”
“You don’t want to see this old face,” she said with a watery laugh. “It frightens me every morning when I look in the mirror.”
“Don’t you know that I’ll always think you’re the most beautiful girl in the world Ma?”
“You always used to say that when you were little.”
“And I meant it just as I do now. You are the most beautiful sight that I have ever seen. Always…and forever.”

“Ty, don’t.” Kaylee tried to sound stern but she couldn’t help the small shiver that coursed through her body as Ty’s hand drifted down her back and over her side to rest underneath of her breast. His thumb brushed back and forth over her nipple.
“You know what the doctor said. We can’t. Not for another four weeks.”
Ty groaned as he buried his face in her hair. He brought his hand to rest on her shoulder. “You would think, with them being so advanced and all, that he could have given you a little something something to make the healing process faster.”
“Six weeks isn’t that long. Heck, you waited a year to sleep with me.”
“Yeah, but that was before I know just how sweet the honey pot was.”
“You’re an idiot!” she said with a laugh as she dodged his roving mouth.
“And you love me,” he said as he captured her earlobe in his mouth and gave it a gentle suck.
“Ty,” she breathed. She had just turned to him and their mouths were millimeters apart when a shrill cry pierced the air. It was quickly joined by a second.
“The twins are up,” she said, stating the obvious, as she pulled away from him. Ty buried his face into the hammock pillow and let out a whimpered before straightening when he felt the hammock move.
“You lay back down. I’ll get it.”
She frowned at the frantic note in his voice. “What is your deal? You’ve been acting so strange.” She shook her head. “Most be all those hormones. Anyways, it’ll go faster if we both go. Especially seeing as how I’m the one with the milk.”
Ty’s eyes stayed glued to where she had pointed. At her luscious breasts. They were about a size bigger and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on them. And his mouth. Man, he could-
He jerked when she snapped her fingers in his face.
“Focus and wipe the drool!” she said with a laugh.
“I was focused,” he grumbled as he wiped at his chin.
Laughing Kaylee swung her legs over the edge of the hammock and pushed upward. She had taken one step forward when the door slid open.

She stared in open mouth amazement as two little girls trotted out from her kitchen. They were shielding their eyes from the sun and were intent on heading out to the ocean if their attire was any indication. She knew them. They were the two little children she thought she had d imagined when she was in labor.
“Hey Kaylee!” they said in unison as they raced down the stairs and made a beeline to where Karrick and Kava were staring at them.
“Oh my god!” she whispered. It couldn’t be. Was it possible that she had just met The Wise? As that thought entered her mind they turned, and grinning cheekily, waved at her before they dived into the surf.
Why were they here? Was something wrong with her babies? At the thought she raced into the house and toward the babies room. She came to a screeching halt when she entered the room and stared at the figure holding her son.

“Kaylee, daughter of Terrance, it is a great honor to meet you and your children. Children are a blessing aren’t they?”
She swallowed. “Y-yes, they are.” She watched as he tickled Isaac under his chin before a far away look entered his eyes.
“Would you love them regardless of their choices in life? Will you love them if their paths are different front what you expected?”
She frowned. “What kind of question is that? Of course I would love my children. They’re my babies!” she snapped.
His gaze sharpened and then he grinned at her. “A warrior’s heart. That is what you have. Who else to birth a nation?”
She shook her head. “You’re just as bad as Karrick with his riddles.”
He started to laugh but it was abruptly cut off when the door slammed against the wall and Ty entered the room. He took in the scene in a glance and quickly moved to stand in front of her.

“Give me my son.”
Isaac giggled and waved his hands in the air as he stared up at the purple man. Ty shook his head. Why had he assumed that all of Karrick’s people were the same color? Was he racist against a group of people that he didn't even know. Oh man, that would...he shook his head again at that though. That wasn’t important right now. There was a strange man in his house, holding his son.
“Give me my son.”
“Certainly Tyrese. A quick question first.”
“What?”
The man shifted Isaac in his arms. “Just how much do you love your son?”
“What?”
“How much do you love your son?” he repeated patiently.
“I would give my life for my son.”
The man eyes him curiously. “And your daughter? What of her?”
“I would give my life for my family.”
“But will you live for them?”
“Uhh…what?”
“Will you live for them when things aren’t going as you planned? Or will you turn your back on them when they need you most?”
“They are my family. My family!” Ty snarled. “I would do anything for my family. Any man that wouldn’t isn’t a man. Now give me my son!”
“Of course!”

He smirked when Ty grabbed his son. “He is none the worse for wear. Little Isaac is much stouter than he looks. He’s going to have to be.”
Ty opened his mouth to say something but the man cut him off.
“I am the Guardian to The Wise. I am because they are. And because they are so am I.”
“What?” Ty asked in confusion. Kaylee rubbed her forehead.
“Okay,” she said as he went over and touched Danielle’s forehead. She let out a gurgle before kicking her legs.
“And because your family will soon be tied to ours I will be seeing you more often. Get used to me Ty.”
Ty opened his mouth to say something but the Guardian cut him off.
“Kaylee, why don’t you say hello to your father while your husband and I get acquainted.?”

“My father?!”
Her heart thundering in her chest she spun around and raced out the door.

“Daddy!”
“Kaylee!”
She threw herself into his arms and she could hear her Nana laughing behind her. She pulled away from him.
“I didn’t expect to see you again!” she said breathlessly before spinning around and looking at Nana. “Nana, you can see him?”
“Oh yes, I can see him,” Kiki said as she placed her hand on his arm. “I can see him.”
“Oh! I’m so glad! So, very, very glad. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to tell you about that day. I-”
“He told me Bug. And it’s okay. I might not have believed you. Or I might have and not left Utopia in fear of not ever seeing him again. I would have started to haunt the cemetery, I think. And would have become a ghost myself instead of living.”
Kaylee squeezed her hand before turning back to her father. “What are you doing here daddy?”
“The Wise granted me this last visit. And this will be the last. There are some things that I need to speak to my mother about…and your mother as well.”
“My mother? What do…”
Her voice drifted off when Terry turned her to face the corner where Janet had been staring at them. She stiffened.
“What is she doing here?” she snapped.
“That’s what I intend to discover. Go into the house Kaylee. You too Ma. Janet and I need a little privacy for this talk.”
“No, I’m not leaving. I want to know why she’s here. This is my home. I haven’t seen her in over a year. She hasn’t stopped by to see Gabe since she dropped him off. She must want something.”

Terry walked over to Janet and she seemed to shrink backward.
“Why are you here Janet? Why do you continually try and ruin our daughter’s life?”
“Terry? Is it…is it really you?” she asked huskily. She placed a trembling hand over her mouth as he held out his arms.
“In the flesh…at least for the moment. Now answer my question Janet.”
“You used to call me Jay.”
“You’re not that person anymore.”
“Maybe I never was that person Terry.”
“You were…but you’re not anymore. I don’t know who you are now. Now answer my question.”

He let out a bitter laugh when her eyes shifted away from him. “You can’t even look me in the eye can you? And why is that Janet? Because you know. You know that you ruined Kaylee’s childhood and yet you keep popping back into her life. WHY?!”
“I love her,” she whispered.
She winced when Terry grabbed her shoulders and shook her once before he stepped away. “You call that love,” he asked breathing heavily. “If you called that love than you never really loved any of us did you?”
“I loved you. I loved you so much that it killed me when you were murdered. I felt as if I couldn’t live without you.”
“But you had our daughter to live for. She deserved more than an empty shell of a woman. You could have left her with my mom Janet. You should have. Why didn’t you?”

Janet looked over his shoulder and sighed. “Because she was the spitting image of you. As long as she was around then I had a piece of you.”
“You always had a piece of me,” he whispered placing a hand over his heart. “At least you did. The woman standing in front of me is a stranger. I could never love her. And it’s not because of the men that you slept with,” he said ignoring her wince. “But because you don’t even love yourself.”

“My God Terry. She looks…she looks just like me.”
“And she’s the furthest thing from you. You made her that way Janet. Imagine if you had loved her, even a little. Showed her the smallest act of kindness. She would have been your strongest ally. Instead she doesn’t care if you live or die. She has a whole other family. You're normally the furthest thing from her mind but, because of you, she has to worry about some crazed man stalking her. Endangering herself to do what she has to do to protect her family. She has become your mirror image. The woman that you should have been but didn’t. I pity you Janet. I really do. Because of your selfishness you will never know her laugh or glowing love. You will never know the woman that our daughter has become.”

“I thought it was for the best Terry. I didn’t want her to be weak. To need someone as much as I needed you. I-”
He scowled. “That’s what makes us human. Our need for other human contact. Jesus Christ Janet! Listen to yourself. You’re STILL making excuses for your behavior. There are NONE! None at all. Do you see that? Do you see that?”” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

Janet watched as the man opened his arms to Kaylee and she hurried in. He engulfed her in his embrace and she stood there trembling as he whispered soothingly to her. When he noticed her looking he narrowed his eyes.
Watch your back, he mouthed. She quickly looked away.
“I should be the one that she runs to when she needs comfort. But since I can’t be here, for obvious reasons, it should be you. But the Jamesons are her family now. They have been her family since you walked out on her eight years ago. They’ve been there for better or for worse. They’ve loved her like the daughter that they never had and Ty will love her until the day he dies. He should have been like the son you never had…expect you do have a son that you never see. That you don’t care if you see. And so Kaylee took him in as the son that she didn’t have yet. And she tries her hardest to make up for what you allowed to happen to him. What you turned a blind eye too. When will you learn Janet? God, when will you learn?”

Ty placed Isaac in his bouncer and grinned when he threw up his arms before slapping them back down and hitting the little noise makers on the table. He studied him for a moment. Why had the Guardian asked him so many questions about his children? There was nothing that he wouldn’t do for them. No matter what. They were family…and family stood by each other. At least his family did, he thought as he grimaced. He could just picture Kaylee’s face when she finally confronted him. She was going to be so pissed that he had tried to hide the fact that Janet was here. He looked over when his mom put Danielle in her bouncer.

She looked over at him and his heart melted. God, she was the spitting image of her mother. He was going to have to fight the little boys off with a stick. And then the grown men with his fists, he thought with a frown. He groaned.
“Great, just great! I can just picture my life eighteen years from now. My boy, the famous basketball star and my daughter being a famous doctor.”
“High hopes you have for them,” his mom said with a laugh. “What if she plays basketball and he wants to be the doctor?”
Ty shrugged. “Whatever. As long as they don’t start dating until I’m long gone everything should be fine.”
“Yeah, we had the same wish for you but looked what happen. You fell in love at the age of seventeen and your life has turned out alright hasn’t it?”
“Better than alright. I have a beautiful wife, three brilliant children and family and friends that care about me.”
“And don’t forget about your career.”
Ty shrugged. “That’s just a bonus.”
“That’s my boy.”
“Mom?”
“Huh?" Fran asked as she bent over and tickeled Danielle on her bare belly.
“Should I have told Kaylee that Janet was here?”

She whipped around and popped him on the shoulder. “Of course you shouldn’t have told her that Janet was here. The girl just gave birth two weeks ago and we were planning a little family get together. She has enough on her mind. She didn’t need that added burden.”
“So I did the right thing?”
“Nope!”

“Wh-what?”
“Did you really think that she wasn’t going to find out?” Fran shook her head. “I’m pretty sure that she would have liked to hear it from you instead of that Guardian fellow. Man, who knew purple could be so hot?” she muttered underneath of her breath before clearing her throat.
“I am so confused,” Ty said.
“Look, it’s one of those situations where it’s damned if you don’t, damned if you do. With all this freaky supernatural stuff happening around the two of you she was going to find out anyways. Case in point.”
Fran pointed out to the water were one of the small alien children was splashing around in the water. The Guardian was standing near the water with his arms crossed.
“I mean, no one would believe this if you wrote about it.”
“I know, I know.”

He looked away. “Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you ever imagine what your life would be like if you and dad hadn’t had me? I mean, Kaylee’s mom doesn’t seem to have a regret about bailing out on her. I know I wasn’t planned and-”
“Tyrese, so help me God! If you ever ask me another asinine question like that I will beat the snot out of you.”
Fran shook her head as she placed her hands on her waist. “No, you weren’t planned but Ty we never, ever thought about not having you. You were our baby. Our son. You brought us joy. Let me tell you something. Your father and I weren’t sure that we were going to stay together. He was working crazy hours and you know that I’m a selfish heifer. I want it ALL! Then I found out I was pregnant with you and all that stuff was trivial. He and I had taken the time out to make you so we sure as hell could take the time out to stay together. And before you ask no, you weren’t the only reason why we stayed together.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because I love your dad, no matter how much of a fool he is and he loves me…no matter how demanding I can be. We fit. We all fit.”
Ty shifted and shuffled his feet for a moment before looking back at her.

“I just don’t understand how someone can dump their child off and be okay with it. I’ve been excited about these little rug rats for nine months and now that they’re here I can’t picture my life without them.”
“And that’s what makes you a great father. Janet…Janet was never meant to be a mother. I think that if Terry had lived that he would have been the one to really take care of Kaylee. Even the stories that Kaylee can vaguely remember involve her and her father. Her mother was just in the background.”
“I love Kaylee. You know I do and Heaven forbid anything happen to her but if it did…I would try to be the person that she would want me to be. I would try to be the father that dad had been to me. I would want to honor Kaylee’s memory in every way so that our children would know her through me.”
“And that is the major difference between you and Janet. She lost all sense of self when she lost Terry.”

“You were supposed to take care of her. Raise her differently than your parents had raised you. Remember your vow Janet? You promised that you would raise her different than your parents raised you. That she would know just how much you loved her each and every day. What happened to that vow?”
“My heart was broken Terry. I felt as if someone had shoved my head under water and I was struggling to break free. When I finally did break free I couldn’t stand the sight of her. She looked so much like you I hated and loved it. I couldn’t-”
“See past your own pain. But what about hers? She had just lost her father. And then you ripped her away from the only person that would have shared memories of me. And what of your own father? What about the man who stood over me, laughing mockingly, as I drew my last breath?”
Her head shot up before she looked back down.

“Oh yes, I knew your father was the one that wanted me gone. He offered me money to leave you. To just pack up and disappear from your lives. He had some twisted need to have control over you. And when I refused, when I laughed in his face and stormed out of the house I heard him say that I would be sorry.”
Terry’s hand slowly dropped down to his side as he stared at the top of Janet’s head. “And as I stood there,” he continued softly, “frozen in fear, all I could think about was that I at least got to say I love you one last time. That my girls would be alright. That my mother would take care of you.”

He dropped to his knees before her. He wrapped his hands around her wrist and brought her hand to his mouth where he placed a gentle kiss on the finger where his ring should have been…would have been if he would have survived.
“And,” he said softly. “As I laid there dying, in the middle of the street, I wasn’t angry at your father laughing over me. No, my vision was filled with memories of you and Kaylee. My girls.”
He chuckled sadly. “Dying isn’t as dramatic as the movies make it, ya know? You just kind of let go and move on. I don’t know about Heaven but I know about hell. It was hell seeing you do that to yourself and Kaylee and knowing that I was at least partly at fault. If I hadn’t thought I could talk to your father rationally I might still be alive. With you and our daughter…and the baby we lost.”
She let out a choked sob and he stood.

“But I was dead,” he said as he turned to stare out across the street. “I was dead and you were slowly dying and you were dragging our daughter along with you. I expected you to snap out of it, ya know? Of course there’s a mourning period but you just couldn’t let it go. Something inside you snapped and I realized that it’s not good to love someone so much you can’t go on without them even though you have other responsibilities.”
Janet stood and took several steps toward her. She raised her hand to touch his shoulder. He stiffened.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t you ever touch me again. I can never forgive you for what you did Janet. Never.”
“Terry,” she whispered as she wiped at the tears coursing down her face.
He didn’t turn around. “I prayed. I prayed to every deity that I had ever heard of and some that I made up. I prayed more than I’d ever prayed in my life. Do you want to know what I prayed for?”
“To come back to us?” she asked huskily.

“No. I prayed for your death. I figured if you’d just die then some other family would take Kaylee in and treat her right. Maybe that’s why my prayers weren’t answered. I don’t think it’s a good thing to pray for hours on end about someone’s death. But I did. Every fucking day, in the darkness where I wandered I prayed. It might have been days or it might have been years but I kept up a constant litany until my voice was gone and then I prayed in my head. I wanted you gone.”
There was a choking sound behind him and then her heard her sobs. He turned slowly and stared into her horror stricken face. He stepped closer to her.

“And then I finally realized why my prayers weren’t being answered,” he whispered as he leaned in. He slipped a hand around her waist and whispered in her ear:
“Because you’re already dead Janet. In the inside, where it counts, you’re already a walking corpse.”
He released her and she stumbled back before she dropped to her knees.

“I’m not dead Terry! I’m not dead!”
“Leave her alone Janet. Don’t bother her again. The girl you knew is now a woman with more guardians and protectors than you could ever imagined. Hope springs from her while you’re nothing but a barren wasteland. Leave her the fuck alone.”
“Wait. Terry, please! Baby, I-”

The sound of the door shutting behind him cut her off and big , fat tears fell from her eyes as she wailed. It was as if he had died all over again. She barely made it through the first time. How was she going to survive it this time around?

Seeing her father sitting on the couch talking to Nana Kaylee raced for the door. There were some things that she had to get off her chest. Things that she needed to tell Janet so that she could finally be free of her once and for all.
“Kaylee, where are you going?” her dad asked.
“I’m going to go speak to Janet. No,” she said as she saw him half rise. “Stay. There are some things that I just need to get off my chest. Enjoy your time with Nana. We don’t know how long you’re going to stay this time.”

Janet had just gotten up off her knees when she heard the door open. Wiping quickly at her face she gripped her arm and stared straight ahead. She didn’t know who it was but she felt as if she’d been bruised and battered enough for one day. She gave a start when she heard Kaylee's voice.
“You know, I used to want you to love me. I wanted it more than anything in the world. And I used to wonder what was so wrong with me that you didn’t love me? How was I flawed? Then I realized you were the one that was flawed.”

Janet slowly turned her head to stare at her daughter. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a grown woman and she was a mother now. A mother! Where had the years gone? She remembered swinging her around at the park, sliding down the slide with her. Did Kaylee remember those times?
Kaylee slowly turned her head to the side. “I remember when I was little. It was the day that daddy died. That’s the last happy memory I have with you. I loved you so much that for years I let that love blind me into doing what you needed me to do. I became your dumping ground. But I have a family now. I have people who love me. Who would do anything for me.”

Kaylee tilted back her head and took a deep, cleansing breath. No, she didn’t feel guilty at all, she thought in surprise. She smiled softly as the breeze tickled her cheeks.
“I’m done with you Janet.”



“Do you think we’ve seen the last of her?”
J’enshi looked up at the Guardian. “Perhaps. We are all knowing but sometimes there are variables that we can not even see.”
“So is the way of life.”
“So it is,” she said before slipping her hand in his. “Come, I want to watch Nirvana stir up trouble.”
“When doesn’t she stir up trouble?”
J’enshi laughed. “Indeed.”
They made it to the sliding glass door just in time to hear Nirvana call out to Ty.
“Hey Ty?”

Ty looked over his should at one of the children. “Yes?”
“Karrick has something to tell you. Something that pertains to your children.”
With that said she giggled and fled down the stairs.

“My baby boy,” Kiki said as she threaded her fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp.
“Always ma. Always.”
“When do you have to go?”
He shrugged and nestled against her. “I don’t know. The Wise will tell me when it’s time. Let’s not worry about the time ma. Each minute with you will feel like an hour. It has to.”
There was a moment of silence then Terry spoke. “Everyone should be as lucky as me to have a mother like you. You never forgot about me mom. Or my daughter. Even when I couldn’t see you I felt your love. I love you.”
“My boy. My son. My heart. I love you.”