Tension That's Pulling Us In

A few weeks passed and Rian and Elayn were doing great. She ended up spending lots of time at the apartment with Rian. They had to spend the time there instead of her place incase something went down and he was needed.

It was nice that she was just a perfectly normal bartender and didn’t have any wacky powers to contend with or any crazy issues. He liked the normalcy. That was probably his biggest difference from the rest of the guys.

The rest of the guys loved their girls’ insane little idiosyncrasies.

As time went the little quirks grew on them more and more.

“Stephanie May Barakat, put that down now!” Sally shouted at the boundary testing 3 year old she was proud to call her own... Most of the time.

Another thing that had changed with time; Sally and Jack were parents and expecting a second.

Jack loved it. Jazz joked that it was because it put someone in the house that was on the same wave length as him.

It was Jack’s idea to use his sister’s name for their daughter’s middle name and let Sally pick the first.

The guys were out on a basically unnecessary patrol.

Jazz laughed and turned from the huge picture window that looked over the city.

It was thanks to the people of the city that they moved from their little hole-in-the-wall apartment to the giant top floor two-story penthouse that they could actually all fit into without anyone on a couch.

“Stephie testing your limits Sally?” Jazz asked with completely unsuppressed laughter.

Sally’s eyes moved up to Jazz in a glare. “You’re encouraging it with your laughter.”

Jazz kept laughing.

“I can’t wait ‘til you and Alex have kids.” Sally muttered as she pulled the disk from the little girl‘s hands.

This stopped Jazz’s laughter.

Jazz scoffed. “Our relationship is still undefined-”

“Which is bullshit.” Jenny said as she walked by heading for the kitchen.

Change #3046 Jenny was now sans gloves. Zack and Amelia -mostly Zack, Jenny was kinda put off by the way you never knew what you’d get from Amelia- taught her to control her power.

“You guys have been dating for five years, now move on.” Jenny finished as she made her way into the kitchen.

Jazz rolled her eyes and just continued. “See I can’t even call what Alex and I have dating. I’m obviously not ready for kids and I never will be.”

One thing that never changed was her bad luck.

Right as she dismissed the idea of children the guys walked in.

“Don’t I have any say in this?” Alex asked as he walked toward Jazz.As he watched his adorable niece. The second he held the tiny beautiful little girl in his arms he knew he wanted something just as precious. He watched Jazz as he passed the little bundle to her for the first time and she seemed like such a natural and even though she’d never admit it he saw the sparkle in her eyes when she looked at the baby she held so carefully.

He was dying for certainty between him and Jazz too.

He was tired of Jazz’s silly, “Let’s leave this undefined” spiel.

He was stupidly in love with this girl who was too scared to commit.

And her fear of commitment was the one thing she refused to talk about. “I’m not afraid of commitment, I just don’t like it.” She’d say back defensively then she’d go on about how he was the only guy she was with and that should be enough and not push for something as useless as the label of “Girlfriend” or “Boyfriend”.

Jazz groaned at her horrible luck and looked at him pleadingly. “Can we not do this now?”

He stopped directly in front of her and crossed his arms. “No. I think now is fine. Why can’t you commit to me Jasmine?” The only time he ever used her full name -outside the bedroom- was when he was serious.

She turned back to the window, back to the city. It was fairly late but there was still so much light; from the streets below and the cars still on it, from the surrounding buildings, actually scattered lights glowed from buildings as far as the eye could see.

She just stared out to the slight blurs of the farthest lights imagining she was there instead of here.

“I’m not going to do this now Alex.” She said sternly as she copied his actions crossing her arms over her chest.

Everybody decided to clear the room so it was just Alex and Jazz in this large grand living room.

“Dammit Jazz! Don’t shut me out!” His voice was a cross between anger and tragedy.

She clamped her eyes and tried to pretend that hearing the horrible sadness in his voice didn’t break her heart.

She could take it when they fought about this with shouted words and harsh remarks that they’d both have to apologize for later but now it was all her fault.

He stepped closer to be right behind her.

Her neck, that was mostly exposed because of the simple ponytail she had her hair tied in, was brushed by his breath.

“Please Love, let me in.” He pleaded as he wrapped his hand gingerly around her arm and rested his forehead against the back of her neck.

He made it even harder for her to hold back the tears but somehow she managed.

She turned to him and he put his head against her shoulder because the second he saw her eyes he knew he wouldn’t be getting the answer he so craved.

She put her hand on the back of his head moving her fingers soothingly over his scalp. “I’m sorry Alex.” She whispered in his ear and kissed the side of his head before resting her head on his shoulder.

***

“Man, could they be fighting any more?” Jenny asked as she popped up on the kitchen counter.

“Not if she was a cat and he was a dog.” Zack answered as he stepped to lean in the spot between her legs so she’d run her fingers through his hair.

These were moments he didn’t get so freely before she had control of her power. He loved the feeling of her soft hands running through his now cropped short hair.

Although he’d be the first to admit the there were special times he missed those leather gloves roaming over his bare skin.

“Oh no, they could fight more,” Amelia said from her spot at the table with her hair over her face -over her scars- not looking up from her Vogue magazine. “And they will.”

“Ugh.” Zack and Jenny both groaned loudly hearing that.

Zack rose his hand to attempt to rub away the tension from his head. “Could you tell us without being all cryptic and distant.”

The silence Amelia always had that was slightly jarring had taken over as of late. When she did speak it was cryptic and off-hand like she didn’t care anymore. No one knew why really. Amelia’s eccentricities were never understood. No one knew why she had her thing for draping herself in the light flowy gowns or why all of her movements seemed to elaborately graceful to be real. They just watched with their heads cocked to the side as if tilting your head makes you understand someone better.

She just closed her magazine and took it with her as she left the room.

“Well,” Jenny said, “She obviously doesn’t care. Seeing as she won’t tell us and she just walked through the war zone.”

“I don’t think caring is really her thing.” Zack answered easily.

She just kept her fingers running through his hair. “You know what I think is a good way to pass time while people argue?” She said with devious eyes sparkling down at him.

He caught her drift and his face lit up in a smirk of his own. “What?” He played her game.

“Oh I think you know.” She murmured wrapping her arms around his neck.

He lifted her off the counter heading up the stairs to their room, thanking their lucky stars there were two sets of stairs so the didn’t have to awkwardly walk passed Alex and Jazz.

***

They finally had Steph down for bed.

Somehow Jack could always calm the little girl down.

They just stood there watching their little girl in the early stages of sleep. Jack standing behind Sally with his arms wrapped around her with his hands resting on her slight baby bump that came on faster than it did in her first pregnancy. Of course that was normal. Everybody shows faster for their second baby then they did their first.

She sighed lightly thinking of her brother and one of her best friends. “Do you think Jazz and Alex are going to figure this out?” She whispered lightly.

He let out a sigh too he wished he could say something positive, but if he did he’d be lying. “I don’t know.” Was the most honest answer he could give.

“Why are they so stupid? Why can’t they just shut up and be happy?” She asked softly trying not to wake their daughter.

“What?” He asked gently, taking his attention off his little girl.

“Why can’t Alex and Jazz just shut up and be happy?” She asked turning in is arms to bury her face in his chest.

He walked them out so they wouldn’t wake Stephanie. He closed the door softly behind them.

“Why can’t they just get it through their heads that they love each other and it doesn’t matter if you call it something or not? So they can get married and have babies and they’ll be happy just like us.” She said finalizing it in a huff.

“Maybe that’s not what’s supposed to happen, Sal.” He spoke softly hating that he had to say it. He couldn’t lie to her even if to appease her feelings.

“No Jack. He’s my brother. She’s my best friend. They need to be happy. How else will they be happy Jacky?” She asked with tears already beginning to show in the corners of her eyes.

He just kept her walking to their room and closed that door behind them.

“Maybe it’s just not meant to be Sally. There’s nothing anyone can do about that baby.” He said gently cupping her face and placing a soft kiss on her lips.

The tears started streaking down her cheeks.

“Jack you don’t understand!” She shouted hormones getting the best of her. “They are meant to be. Just like us, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. ‘Simply meant to be.’ You know. They saved each other. She made him Alex again. How could either of them let that go?”

He pulled her into his chest and rubbed her back soothingly, “Calm down honey. Whether they’re meant to be or not isn’t up to us. What’s meant to be will be and we have to accept that.” He always thought Jazz and Alex were meant to be too but over the past few months as the tension between them grew he feared that it wasn’t and that somehow Alex would revert right back and he’d lose his best friend all over.

She sighed calming down. “I can’t just accept that Jack. I know that those two love each other. I know it Jack.”