Chapter 55

"What are you doing, Amy?' I asked calmly.

"Out of my way, Dad. I'm going to kill the little lying, stupid, fucking bitch whore!" She said just as calmly, her voice as cold as ice.

"You're doing nothing of the kind, Amy. Go sit down," I replied, in that quiet, special voice I had never used on her. Maybe that was why she missed it. I saw Cindi's eyes open wide in shock; she didn't miss it. The last time either of them had heard it was in the DC police station. She started moving right away. She had never heard me use that voice with either of them before. Amy snorted disdainfully.

"Why should I?" She asked, flicking her head in dismissal.

"Because I'm the Dad, Amy, and I said so, that's why!"

I sighed heavily. I didn't expect that to work. I knew this was coming someday. I knew Amy and I couldn't continue together as anything more than father and daughter forever. She said we would, that she would never leave me, but I didn't really believe it. Hoped, but didn't believe. I wasn't even sure that would be good for her. But I wasn't ready for it yet and I sure as hell wasn't ready for it right fucking now! The way she was headed, I wasn't sure we would remain as father and daughter.

"Move it, Dad, or I will move you," Amy threatened.

"You'll have to kill me to get to her, Amy. Can you do that? Is it worth that?" I said quietly, and she knew I meant every word of it. Amy's eyes turned misty.

"You know I could never do that," she whispered. Then she turned hard again. "Give me one reason why the little trampy, murdering, slutty, whore cunt should live," Amy said, once again her voice calm and cold as ice.

Sigh. There is absolutely no justification for what I did then. Maybe if she had ranted and raved, or even acted mad or upset; maybe if Megan hadn't looked up at me just then, tears running down her face, it would have been different. I took one look at her and knew that she felt Amy had every right to kill her. I knew she would not raise one hand to defend herself. Hell, she couldn't have defended herself against a bunny rabbit just then, even if she wanted to, and she didn't want to. Maybe it was Amy's challenge of me, her snotty reply. Probably it had a lot to do with the names she called Megan. At any rate, I slapped Amy in the face. Hard.

I had never slapped a female before. I had spanked the girls a few times. There was no justification in my world for ever slapping a female, ever, unless she was trying to kill you, maybe. I heard the sharp intake of breath from just about everyone in the room. They all knew my feelings on slapping females. I'm sure my own face turned pale and my mouth probably opened in shock; I don't remember. I know I was horrified at myself. I came to my senses that quickly. I looked at Amy in shock, wondering how I even began to go about apologizing and asking for forgiveness for something like that. Could I even expect forgiveness? I saw Amy look at me, shock on her face also. I started to say something, I didn't know what, when Amy reached her hand up to my face. I closed my eyes, expecting her to take my head off as I so richly deserved. I wouldn't even resist. I felt her hand touch my face, softly, lovingly. I opened my eyes, even more shocked. Amy looked at me, her eyes soft and moist. She nodded at me once.

"It's ok, Dad, I deserved that one. I had no right to call the woman you love those names." Her voice dropped to a whisper that only I could hear. "Just don't ever do that again, please?"

"It's not ok, Amy..." There just was nothing I could say. There was no justification. I reached up and touched her face softly, lovingly. My heart broke as I saw the flinch in her eyes as my hand approached. What had I done? Would she ever trust me again? She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me, and kissed me on the cheek as she whispered in my ear.

"We both lost someone we loved today. Let's just chalk it up to that and forget it, ok? I still love you," she said, answering my unspoken question. I hugged her back, too upset to answer. She knew. Then she backed up and faced me again. I knew we still had problems, and I wasn't sure we would survive them still.

"She still has to go, Dad. What she did was unforgivable. She killed you and Mom. Come on, Dad, how do you justify that? No matter what he made her do, she could have said no to that!" Her eyes were not soft anymore.

"Oh, and you're such an expert on what happened to her, are you Amy?" I asked quietly, so only she could hear. I couldn't, wouldn't call her out in public on that subject. My precious Amy was being an ass and a hypocrite and I just couldn't embarrass her by publicly calling attention to it. Of course, she wasn't the only one... I looked into her eyes steadily. I couldn't say it; I couldn't use the example that I knew would win the argument. It would devastate her, coming from me, and I knew our relationship might never survive that statement. I had assured her repeatedly that I had forgiven her, that she really had nothing to be forgiven for, it wasn't her fault, and that I had no fear of her whatsoever after her attempt to kill me. If I were to bring it up, in her mind I would be a liar; I would show her that my assurances that I trusted her implicitly were just empty words. She was a smart girl, though, a genius. I knew if I just waited long enough, she would think of it herself. I just stared unflinchingly into her eyes, refusing to look away. I saw her face turn white as a ghost and her hand flew to her mouth in shock.

"Oh my God!" She whispered as she remembered. Her eyes filled with tears. She looked at me sadly, but with love.

"Thank you for not saying it," She whispered. "I'm a hypocrite, aren't I?" I didn't answer; I just let her work it out for herself. Amy was stubborn, though, and she hated to admit she was wrong. It wasn't only that, though; she really did believe that Megan had caused the death of her Mom. I had not said what I could have said. Unfortunately, she didn't have the years of wisdom in the body she had now that I had in mine. No matter how old she was, right now she was an upset 14 year old teenager that sometimes said stupid things. She went to the one place she should never have gone to.

"So you're choosing her over me?" Amy asked, eyes full of sadness.

"I'm not choosing either of you over the other, Amy. You're the one that is giving ultimatums here. I want you both. I don't want to live without either of you."

"She still has to go, Dad. I can't live with her after what she's done," she insisted. I sighed. Damn. Why did she have to go there? Why did she have to make me choose? There was no way out now. It was over. I didn't know how I was going to survive this.

"Really. I guess we need to make a decision here, then Amy. Maybe it's time you..." That was as far as I got before a blond tornado touched down between us. The damage was spectacular, as F5 tornados always were, but this one was an F6. Unknown, never before experienced, total destruction, nothing survived. End of the world damage. E.L.E...

"NO!" Cindi screamed at me. Even afterwards, no one remembered seeing this but me. She was a ball of blue sun, glowing so brightly I could hardly see her. "Don't you dare ever say that! Don't you ever even think it!" I would have said fire was in her eyes, but her whole body was a ball of fire to me.

I didn't have a chance to answer. Cindi whirled on Amy and blasted her next.

"What the FUCK is the matter with you, you stupid bitch? Do you know what you almost did?" She pushed her twin sister violently, and I saw the look of shock on Amy's face as she flew towards the wall. Just before she hit the wall, a light baby powder blue shield appeared between her and the wall and cuddled lovingly up against her, stopping her gently. Lisa ran over to Amy and wrapped her arms around her tightly, holding her as tightly as she could as she sobbed.

"No, Amy, no! Please! I just got a family! I finally have a family! Please don't tear it apart now! Please? For me?" She looked up at her special friend, tears in her eyes. Amy's eyes softened and she wrapped her arms protectively around her little friend.

"Shhh. It's ok, Lisa. I won't hurt you. I love you. I won't let anyone hurt you." She glared in my direction. I wasn't sure if it was directed towards Cindi or me or both. It didn't make any difference at the moment. I was desperately trying to figure out a way to keep Cindi from going thermonuclear. With the intense blue glow I was seeing, I wasn't sure I didn't mean literally.

"Don't you ever even think of saying that to Amy," Cindi hissed at me. I had never seen her that mad before. "You know you can't live without both Megan and Amy. They are yours forever. Amy is an impetuous, impulsive, idiotic teenager. She doesn't mean half of what she says and doesn't listen to the other half of what comes out of her mouth. Don't let her bait you into making a choice between her and Megan." She ran down and started to relax.

"What do you want me to do, Cindi? She's flinging ultimatums at me. Look at Megan. I couldn't turn her out now, even if I didn't love her. She'd never survive."

"You leave Amy to me. I know how to handle her, remember?" She smiled sweetly, and I know I saw that cute, six year old girl again that had turned Amy inside out. Oh yeah, I remembered! "She'll be over here in a few minutes begging you to let Megan stay and to ask for your forgiveness, and she'll mean every word of it. She's my job. You just take care of and love both her and Megan. That's your job. Don't make me kick your ass, Daddy," she said, smiling sweetly. I made the mistake of thinking she was joking, so I joked back at her, to relieve the tension.

"Oh, and you think you can kick my ass, tough girl?" I chuckled. She looked at me with bright, twinkling eyes, but with a look in them I had not seen before.

"Oh, and you think you can take on a Tarqa and win, tough guy?" Cindi asked, and turned and walked away towards Amy, leaving me with my mouth open in shock. Now I remembered what I had seen in her eyes when I realized that she saw Elizabeth! As I watched her stalk Amy, like a big predatory cat, I felt sorry for Amy. I saw Lori run up to Cindi and grab her around the waist.

"Please, Cindi, fix it! I don't want to lose this family too! I don't know what we did wrong, but Lisa and I are sorry! Please don't send us away! I promise we'll be good!" Cindi glared at Amy and me fiercely, leaned down and picked the little girl up and held her close.

"Shhh. It's ok, Little One. You didn't do anything wrong and no one is sending you away. I won't allow it. There are just some stubborn idiots in this family and I just need to kick their butts once in awhile to keep them in line. Love means always having to say you're sorry," she quipped. Lori didn't get the joke of course. I did, and wondered how Cindi knew about that line. I hoped she wasn't watching those awful TV shows and movies that Katie seemed to like! Actually, I don't think Katie really liked them; I think she just watched them to irritate all of us. Lori sniffled, and then grinned at Cindi impishly.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" She asked seriously. Cindi looked confused.

"One of whom, Lori?" She asked innocently.

"A T... Tar... a Tarqa," she finally got out, feeling so proud of herself. Cindi stopped dead in her tracks.

"How do you know about that? Never mind, I don't want to know right now. We'll talk about that later. Who else knows that?" Lori's smile faded.

"Just Lisa and me."

"Don't tell anyone. You shouldn't even be thinking of that or talking about it. One of the others might pick it up in your mind." Cindi was trying to be gentle with the little girl. Lori rolled her eyes and looked disgusted.

"Jeez, Cindi, we're not stupid, you know? We always shield our minds when we talk about things like that. But why is it a secret? They'll all still love you, and they'll keep your secret," Lisa pointed out with the pure logic of a six year old. Cindi looked at her in amazement.

"I don't know. We've just always done it that way," she said, grinning as she realized even as she said it how stupid that sounded.

One of the things I noticed that was different since I absorbed Bandor's dust was that I heard everything that everyone said or thought. I used to be able to do that if I concentrated and tried to do it. Now I had to make a decision not to hear it. I figured since I'd gotten chewed out by Cindi, I should get to hear Amy's chewing out too. I know; weak.

Cindi stopped in front of Amy. Amy looked defiant for about three seconds, then just caved in and looked sorry. If that was her way of getting out of the dressing down Cindi had for her, it wasn't going to work. Cindi told the two little girls to go see Aunt Victoria. They left, looking worried.

"Amy, you are about one step away from going down a dark path that you can never turn back from. Do you really want to be the next Bandor? I love you more than anyone in the world, and it would pain me to see you do that. Hell, I'd stick my nose in your business and try to stop you, but it would ultimately be your decision. But you are also one step away from pushing Daddy into that darkness too, and that I will not allow. You cannot possibly be stupid enough to force him to make a decision between you and Megan. That would kill him, regardless of which way it went, and that I will not allow either. We would all lose. Are you prepared to lose him if you force that decision? Because that is what would happen. She is not forcing that decision, never has. She is the one that insisted that he keep his relationship just as it was with you and me. That was mainly for you, not me. If you force a decision and she doesn't, guess who wins? Amy, my love knows no bounds with you, but if you push him down that slope, I will kill you if I have to in order to prevent it." Amy looked as shocked as I had ever seen her. She looked at her twin closely.

"You could do it too, couldn't you? And you would, too, wouldn't you?" Amy whispered, her voice trembling. Cindi smiled lovingly at her.

"Yes, Amy, I could and I would. I would cry myself to sleep every night for the rest of my life, but I would do it. Don't push me on this. You don't know what you're messing with," she warned. Amy smiled for the first time since they had started talking, recognizing her own words used on her.

"Yes I do. I've known since I was six years old. I'm sorry, Cindi, I really am. I just lost it, seeing Mom die. I've missed her so much. Megan and Victoria are great, but it's not the same. Even though we almost never saw Mom, she was still Mom."

"I know, but don't apologize to me. Apologize to Daddy. He's the one you hurt and scared half to death. Do you have any idea how much he loves you, Amy? How much he loves Megan? He's incapable of choosing one of you over the other unless you force it, and that will devastate him. Amy, Megan didn't kill Mom. Elizabeth volunteered for this mission. She knew she would die. It was her choice. No one else could have saved us. Don't blame Megan for something that the Ancient Prophecy made happen. Don't judge Megan until you know why she did what she did. It's not as simple as you think. Daddy loves Megan, Amy. You just can't say things like that about someone he loves. He'd have protected you just the same if it had been reversed. You trash someone he loves, Amy, you force him to choose." Cindi raised her voice. "You can stop listening now, Daddy; everything important has been said. We're just going to talk now about what we're going to do next time we have you in bed and how well you eat us out!" They both giggled as I turned away and blushed.

"He does eat us out really well, doesn't he?" Amy whispered loudly. "How many times does he make you come?" They giggled again.

"What's eating you out? What's coming?" Lisa asked, a puzzled look on her face. Lori giggled and rolled her eyes at her naïve sister. Lori at least had the decency to blush. Lisa couldn't figure out why everyone was laughing. Amy and Cindi hugged tightly and kissed and made up. It looked like Amy could possibly live for another day!

At first, I thought the humor was inappropriate, considering the circumstances, but then I realized the relaxing of tension that it represented. Not only had Elizabeth died, but Amy and I had been acting like children and almost shattered the family. You either laughed or you cried. Crying did no good today; it merely cheapened Elizabeth's sacrifice.

I headed over to check on Robert. I saw Cindi heading that way too. I stopped and watched as I saw her stop in the middle of the room.

Cindi had found the sword that her mom had used. Apparently, in the blast, she had dropped it and the scabbard had been torn off her body. At least, that was the official explanation, but it didn't account for the fact that the strap that held it to her back was not broken, or that the sword was inside the scabbard. As Cindi reached down to pick it up, the sword glowed briefly, as if checking her out. It must have liked what it saw, as it stopped glowing as she picked it up. I saw the tears of sadness as she picked up the last thing she had from her Mom and strapped it on her back. She looked around the room with fire in her eyes, daring anyone to question her right to the sword. There were no stupid people left alive in that room.

I found Robert lying on the cave floor, his head in Victoria's lap. She was stroking his hair and kissing his face all over, tears running down her face, dripping onto his face. His smile told me he didn't mind one bit. She only kissed him on the mouth occasionally, so she didn't interfere with his breathing. I saw John standing over to the side, looking happy for them but looking lost too. He had said he would rather love Victoria from afar, with no chance of being with her and having Robert alive than having her for himself. The look on his face told me that was true. I wondered if that had anything to do with Robert being alive now. The statement 'all you had to do is ask' came to my mind; it had worked for me in the past. As I watched, I saw Robert, and then Victoria, motion John over to be with them. I saw them both say something to John and I saw him shake his head 'no' and turn red. Victoria gave a disgusted sigh, looked at Robert and got a nod, and stood up next to John. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply. I didn't think she was ever going to stop kissing him. Robert lay there with a happy look on his face. Finally, Victoria and John sat down next to Robert. They each took one of her hands and held it tight.

I ended up back with Megan. I sat next to her and took her hand, holding it tight. She held my hand for a while, then she snuggled up to me and cried her little eyes out. I was a little wet-eyed too. I just wanted to take it all away and make this wonderful woman happy for once. Would that never happen? It wasn't fair. Megan had given so much, and the shit just kept piling up on top of her, day after day. I was hoping that most of it was due to Bandor, and that it would go away now.

Cindi was dead right. Amy wandered up to me a few minutes later, and wrapped her arms around me from behind. She kissed me softly on the neck several times, in that place that always got me hard. She giggled softly, happily, as she reached down and felt me responding.

"I guess this obnoxious bitch of a teenage jerk can still turn you on at least," she said, only partially kidding. I turned around and pulled her tight into my arms.

"Amy..." I stopped and then tried again, hopefully without the tears this time. "Amy, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I hit you. I hope you'll forgive me someday." God I felt like dirt. Amy chuckled dryly.

"Hey, I enjoyed your slap more than talking to Cindi! I wish she had slapped me instead. I understand your feelings on men hitting women, but if ever one deserved it, it was me right then. I was such a bitch." She turned to face Megan. "You are the one I really should be apologizing to. Megan, I hope you know how much I really love you. I just... well, it's just not easy seeing your mother die, especially after you had buried her once. I needed a scapegoat. It was you. I'm sorry." Megan held her hand tightly.

"Maybe someday we can discuss this, Amy. Right now, I don't know what to say. I don't know what happened. I... I think I killed Elizabeth and Patrick this time, and I killed Elizabeth and Robert last time. I don't know how to deal with that." I started to answer her when I heard my Dad's voice.

"You can deal with it by throwing that line of bullshit in the trash, little girl. Patrick, get everyone together. Much as I hate to tell everyone what is going on here, as much as I think it is a bad idea, if that is the type of drivel we are going to have to listen to, it's about time we talked." He glared at Megan, one of his favorite people in the world, and turned away from her in disgust. He winked at me when she couldn't see his face anymore. A few minutes later, I saw Megan and Amy in an involved, very private conversation. I saw Megan blush beet red and shake her head, explaining something to Amy. Then she reached over and hugged her close, and kissed her. They both had wet eyes when they walked back my way.

I gathered everyone together, and led them over to where Dad was sitting, waiting patiently. We needed to get some things straightened out. John and I helped carry Robert over there too. As I walked through the room, I noticed with shock that Elizabeth's body was gone! Another question to ask my Dad.

"So, what do you want to know?" Dad asked.

"Everything?" I said sarcastically. Dad smiled.

"You'll have to be a little more specific than that, Son," he said with a smile. He was not going to be overly helpful.

"Ok, let's start with this. Why is that man alive?" I realized that sounded bad as everyone chuckled when I pointed at Robert. "No offense, Robert, but I saw your dead body. So did a lot of Marines. I saw Elizabeth's dead body. What the hell is going on?" I smiled, embarrassed. "Welcome back, Robert," I said. He waved good-naturedly. "Goodbye again, Elizabeth," I whispered to myself. I didn't think I could get it out aloud. I hoped no one heard, but I knew that was an unlikely hope.

Before Dad could answer, Becky stood up and held up her hand to stop the discussion.

"Dad, if you don't mind, can I have a moment with Grampa before he starts explaining?" Becky is just the sweetest thing. You have to be a real jerk to be mean to her. I had already established that I was a real jerk today.

"Yeah, I do mind Becky, but what the hell; you kids seem to be running the house anyway, so please, take your time. I've waited all these years; I guess I can wait another hour or two while you prattle on endlessly." Katie gave me a nasty look for being mean to her sister, but Becky laid her hand on her arm and whispered to her. Then Becky gave me a sweet smile.

"This will make it easier, I promise," she said sweetly. I smiled at her apologetically, feeling like an even bigger jerk.

Becky walked over to where my Dad was sitting in the chair and sat on his lap facing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, tongue and all. I was shocked, to say the least. You should have seen Dad's eyes. I have never seen him shocked like that before. When she finally drew back from the kiss, he looked at her, confused.

"Becky... ?" He said hesitantly. I could hear the... fear?... in his voice. I heard her answer him in his mind.

'There is no way you can answer his questions without telling them who you really are. Please... can I tell him? Please? I want to be the one to tell him and see the look on his face! I owe him for all the times he has teased me!' I didn't know you could giggle in your mind!

'Um... Becky... How do you know who I am?' Dad asked, still frazzled from the kiss.

'Easy. There is only one that can put a trace on a mind like that and use it to open a portal in their mind. There is only one that can use energy to build an inverted shield. There is only one that could kill Bandor. There is only one that has a gray color of that magnitude. There is only one that can bring about the early birth and maturation of the babies. There is only one that can bring to life a dead Tarqa that just happens to be the greatest Defender ever known. Shall I go on? Please, can I tell him?' Dad shook his head 'no', meaning don't go on.

'Let's assume you are right. That doesn't explain the kiss, ' Dad said. He was a drowning man and he knew it! Becky turned deadly serious. There were tears in her eyes.

'I have wanted to meet you and do that my entire life. I didn't know it was even possible, until I realized a few minutes ago who you were. I am yours, sir, in any way you want. We can take that kiss as far as you want to, ' Becky said, as excited as I'd ever seen her. Well, as excited as I'd ever seen her with her clothes on, not having sex! Although I wasn't sure she was all that far from having sex right now! Poor Dad!

'Becky, honey, you are as tempting as anyone I've met in a long time, at least since that hot little red head your Dad has, but I have a wife that I dearly love, ' Dad thought into her mind. Becky cracked up into hysterical giggles, out loud this time.

'You do know that Patrick is monitoring every word of this conversation, don't you?' she tried to get out. She finally made it. Dad looked embarrassed.

'I forgot. He can hear everything now. I didn't know Elizabeth was going to tell him about that second patch switch, to allow him to absorb Bandor's energy. Sorry, Son.' I smiled at him; like I didn't know he had been flirting with Megan for weeks now! From the previous conversation I had had with my Mom, she knew it too, and it didn't bother her one bit.

'I know your wife, sir. She wouldn't have a problem with either me or that hot redhead having an occasional good time with you, ' she giggled. Then she turned deadly serious. 'Look into my eyes, sir. You will understand.' Dad looked into her eyes and was startled for the second time in minutes.

'You're a Tarqa also?' He asked, stunned. She jumped up and down on his lap. Everyone else was looking at them like they were crazy. They were being very rude, excluding them with this long a mental conversation.

'Better. I'm your Tarqa. I'm your Defender. I do everything, and I do mean everything that you need or want! Now you have to tell them, because Patrick is going to ask why you have a Tarqa Defender!' She grinned at him.

'Does anyone else know?' Dad asked. Becky giggled.

'You mean besides Patrick, whom you just told? Only one other.' Cindi looked over at him and grinned.

'Katie doesn't know?' Dad asked. Becky shook her head 'no'. 'Then how does Cindi... Oh! Another one?!? How the hell many of you are there?' Cindi smiled and nodded. Becky bounced again.

'Not very many. Just a lot of us in one place. So can I tell them? Please? Pretty please? They have to know, or your answers will make no sense!' Dad nodded. Becky stood up.

"Sorry about the delay and the weird scene guys. You will understand in a minute." Becky paused for effect. Amy threw a pencil at her. 'Get on with it', she indicated with her twirling hand.

"Allow me to introduce this young man to you." Dad snorted. "You all know him as Grampa, or 'crabby', as some of you call him." Dad grinned as all the girls looked at the ceiling or the floor, trying to find something important that they had 'lost' there. "Now, I have the pleasure of introducing him to you by his title." She paused again. Katie had had enough.

"Becky, I'm going to kill you myself if you don't get on with it!" She said, exasperated.

"Please allow me the pleasure to introduce... The Ancient Prophecy!"

Well! Usually, when someone gives a big buildup, the final introduction was anticlimactic. Not in this case. Becky's statement was followed by deafening silence. A pin dropped on the floor would have sounded like an explosion. I could honestly say that there was no one in that room that expected that. Oops, sorry, there was one. Just who the hell was Lisa, anyway? And why did it always fall on me to carry the ball after things like this? Shouldn't a big, bad, mean, vicious Tarqa have the guts to ask an occasional question? Wimps!

"Uh... I wasn't aware that a prophecy could be a person? Do you mean, like a personification of it, or something like that?" I sounded confused because I was totally lost. Apparently Becky, for all her excitement, didn't understand it any better, as she turned to Dad to let him explain. Dad gave a big sigh.

"First of all, could everyone just call me Dad or Peter or something like that? I really don't like the 'ancient' part. It's hard to explain, Son, because there are no equivalent words or concepts in English. Even the term 'Ancient Prophecy' is only a poor approximation of what it really means. It is true that I'm a person, but I'm also the prophecy itself. I have a human form because we've found over the years that it helps to deal with a real person. However, this body and my person are real, and so is the prophecy they represent. I'm not just an image just to make it easier and real for you. I truly am your father in every biological sense. I don't know that I can make it clearer than that. I've always been around, in every cycle." Poor Dad, he looked exhausted already.