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Alec found he couldn't quite swallow, and beneath his hand he felt Max's heart start to race. Looking as if he'd just seen a ghost, Normal stared, mouth gaping. The expression on his face would have been pricelessly funny under less dire circumstances.

Alec's grip on the handle of the Glock tightened even as Max tensed to spring. But then suddenly the Jam Pony manager brought a finger to his lips, turned away, and said loudly, "You see, I told you there weren't any transgenics up here. Nothing but rats. Now, if you don't mind, I have a lot of paperwork to do downstairs and I don't want to be here all night."

"What about back there?" one of the sector cops said, flashing his light near their hiding place.

"Lots of rats," Normal said mildly. "You want to take a closer look?"

The policeman made a funny face. "Nah," he said. "They're not up here. Come on guys. Let's check the next building."

It was only after the footsteps had faded away down the stairs that Alec realized how hard he was shaking.

*****

"Good man!" Alec said exuberantly, the appreciation evident in his eyes as he high-fived Normal. "I knew we could count on you, my friend."

"What the dickens are you two doing back in Seattle?" Normal asked. They were sitting around a table in Jam Pony's break room drinking coffee. Well, Alec and Normal were drinking coffee. Max had gone straight for a ginger ale in the cooler, already feeling guilty about her sip of champaign at the party -- not good for the baby and all that.

"Oh, we just had a little business in town," Alec said, being deliberately vague. He glanced at Max, eyebrows raised. "Which I really do hope we've finished."

"We've finished," Max said flatly, taking a sip of her drink as she patted the hidden pocket in her bra indicating she did, indeed, have the computer info.

"You guys are taking an awful chance being out in public. Senator McKinley's bill passed you know, after you people took off from that military site. Mandatory incarceration and sterilization for any mutant caught on U.S. soil.

"Gee, it's so nice to be loved by your parents," Alec said dryly.

"Manticore was never our parents, Alec," Max said, resting her hand on her flat belly. "Our real parents never knew what happened to us, at least not in time."

"How did people catch on so quick we were transgenics anyway?" Alec asked.

"A bunch of regular humans have been killed," Normal said, pulling his chair closer to the table and cradling his cup in his hand. "Mistaken for your kind. People are paranoid, especially about you X series. They think you can get your bar codes off and might be posing as ordinary human beings, taking their jobs, dating their daughters, that kind of thing. It's been a real witch hunt. You guys are like an urban legend. Even though you're no longer here, folk are still afraid. By the way, how's Golden Boy Junior?"

"Brac?" Alec said, his mind having trouble switching tracks after Normal's disturbing words. "Uh, he's with O.C. on the island. He's doin' fine. Growin' like a weed."

"And looking more like his daddy every day," Max added, a proud sparkle in her eyes.

With a sly, appreciative grin in her direction, Alec dug a hand into the pocket of his black jeans and got out his wallet.

"Oh, you've got a picture!" Normal exclaimed, leaning over and looking at the photo Luke had taken of their son just a week ago. The Jam Pony manager glanced from the photo of Brac holding a red ball to Alec and back, his own grin broadening. Then he winked at Max, and nodded in her mate's direction. "Told you he was a good catch Missy Miss. Part cat, all man."

"Yeah, I guess he was a good catch at that," Max agreed softly, still looking proudly at the father of her child and child-to-be. But then a spasm passed through her body and she frowned, doubling over slightly.

"Max," Alec said worriedly, putting the wallet back in his pocket and reaching out to take hold of her hand. "You okay?" He looked at Normal. "She's pregnant. Our Flying Wallenda act tonight can't have been good for her."

"Pregnant! Again?" Normal exclaimed. "Don't you people use birth control?"

"Yes, again," Alec said defensively. Then he shrugged. "Human birth control doesn't work very well for us, and the stuff Manticore used isn't around anymore."

"So," Normal said carefully, "I gather you've got a bit of a population explosion on that island of yours."

"We want kids," Alec said, still defending his people. "All of us do. It's the only way we'll survive as a race."

"Especially with McKinley rounding up all your strays and going snip-snip," Normal said.

Alec shuddered slightly and Max clutched her stomach more protectively.

"You get caught," Normal said ominously, "and they won't let that baby be born."

"Forced abortion, too?" Max said, her voice strangled.

"Don't worry," Alec soothed. "We won't let anything like that happen to us. We've got what we came for and tomorrow we're goin' home."

"What about tonight?" Max asked. She nodded toward the front of the building where police car lights could still be seen flashing a couple of blocks away. "We can't get to the bikes, and without them we can't reach the border."

"Our plane's waitin' in Vancouver," Alec explained to their former boss. "You don't have any kind of transportation we could borrow, do you?"

"Sorry," Normal said. "My car's here, but it's not tagged to pass the city limit checkpoints."

"Don't worry," Alec said, needing to reassure Max. "We'll steal a couple more bikes tomorrow and bust out somehow." He looked out the window. It was starting to sleet, the weather turning much colder.

"Look," Normal said. "You're welcome to stay here for the night, but the police are bound to make another sweep. You really should get out of this part of the city."

"Joshua's," Max suddenly said. "We could spend the night at Joshua's old house. No one ever found out about it did they?"

"I don't think so," Alec said slowly. "Wonder if it's still there."

"Logan had a lot of computer equipment set up," Max said. "I imagine all of that's been stolen, probably anything else of value as well, but at least it would be a roof over our heads and we could build a fire to keep warm."

Alec hated to impose on his old friend, but Max was looking pretty pale. "Hey, Normal," he said. "I know it might be dangerous and all, but do you think you could give us a ride to our old crib. It's just across the line over in Sector 3. You could drop us this side of the checkpoint." He looked worriedly at Max. "She shouldn't be walkin' any distances right now."

Normal took in Max's bloody bare feet and badly torn designer dress, but his sympathetic scowl was for both of them. "My sector pass will get us all through," he said. "And we'll pick up some food on the way. Your little lady looks like she could use some nourishment, especially considering she's eating for two."

*****

"Hey, Normal," Max said as she got out of the car behind Alec. Their former boss had driven them right to the front door of Joshua's old house, and for a second the sense of deja vu was almost overwhelming. Logan had dropped them off like this ... the night Ames White had killed Annie. "I know you and I didn't always get along, but if it weren't for you I probably wouldn't be alive right now, Alec either. And the way you helped Gem deliver her baby--"

Normal held up his hand. "Enough said, Missy Miss. You just take good care of my Golden Boy and that'll be thanks enough."

Max smiled and looked in Alec's direction. Normal's "Golden Boy" was expertly checking the outside of the house, making sure it was safe for them to go in.

"So, Alec's still your 'Golden Boy' even though he's a mutant?"

"He's not a mutant," Normal said quietly, also watching Alec. "He's genetically empowered." His eyes went to hers. "And so are you. Just look after each other and those babies of yours. And try to let me know from time-to-time how things are with you guys."

"We will," Max said, meaning it. "And thanks ... thanks for everything."