Family Beginnings

“My apologies. I forgot to set the alarm,” Wren announced as she entered the kitchen.

“Did you know that Ms. Wren can play instruments? Lots of them?” Evan spoke up from behind her.

“Really?” Emerald jumped up and led Wren to the empty seat next to her.

“Can you really? Will you teach me an instrument? I always wanted to play the piano. Can you play the piano? Will you teach me the piano? Please.”

~It’s déjà vu. Emerald and Evan really are typical teenagers.~

“Leave her be, Emerald,” Carrie spoke up. “You can speak with her about it later. First, breakfast.” She turned to Wren. “Do not worry, honey, you have been cooking every day for us. We can take a turn.”

“I mean, I think I would be amazing at piano,” Emerald continued, ignoring Carrie’s warning. “If Wren teaches me, then I—”

“Drop it, Emerald!” The room froze as Wren snapped at the excited youth.

They had never heard her speak in such a harsh tone; she was always so polite.

Wren noticed their stares and blushed, looking down at her hands.

“I am sorry,” Emerald immediately apologized, trying to hide the tears starting to crowd her eyes.

“You should have left it alone, you idiot,” Evan whispered her way, causing Emerald’s tears to fall.

“Jerk,” she shot back.

“No.” Wren interrupted. “It is my fault. I did not mean to be so harsh. I am just… I mean… If you will excuse me… I am not all that hungry this morning.”

She stood to leave the room, but before she could even turn from the table, Michael came over and put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her retreat.

“She meant no harm,” he said.

“I know.” Wren could feel her own tears begin to swell up, and she was ~not~ about to cry in front of everyone.

“You have to understand, we just want to know more about you. Please. Sit. Eat with us,” Michael said gently.

Michael gently pushed her back into her seat.

For a man who did not speak much, he was awfully talkative today.

“You and Talon are quite alike. The fact that you do not wish to share meals, or yourself for that matter, with us is the same.”

Wren felt herself blush, the tears that threatened to fall drying up at his words.

A sense of relief washed over her.

She had truly thought she was a burden to them, and they were too busy with their own lives to want to know anything about hers.

“I am not good with adults. I only know how to relate to kids and music.”

Eric patted her hand.

“It is all right. We can be a bit intimidating. We have been here so long without others, we can make them uncomfortable and feel excluded without even knowing it.”

“You have such a wonderful family here,” Wren commented.

“And you are part of it. Do not ever forget that,” Emerald chimed in, brushing away her tears.

“We absolutely adore you. Please do not push us away,” she pleaded.

“Emerald!” Lily reprimanded her.

“Well, you said it yourself, she has been keeping her distance from us, and I do not like it one bit.”

Emerald crossed her arms and pouted like a school kid, causing Wren to smile even though the conversation was making her very uncomfortable.

~But on the positive side, Eric patting my hand does not have me running for the hills. Progress!~

“Emerald, that is enough,” Eric stopped her prattle.

“No. Do not yell at her,” Wren stepped in. “She is right. I did not wish to interrupt your lives. I will try to be better about it.”

It was time to change the subject.

If they continued, she really would have an emotional breakdown in front of them.

~I think it is time Talon and I talk. Whether he wants to or not.~

“May I have the orange juice, please?”

Talon stood in the doorway, watching the exchange.

He had followed Evan and Wren into the kitchen, watching them interact, wishing he could be a part of it.

He knew it was not possible.

She now knew he had been purposely avoiding her, and it was only a matter of time before she realized her feelings were being caused by his distance, if she had not caught on already.

He watched as Wren and the others fell into an easy conversation, but noticed Wren was still tense.

He grabbed a glass of juice from the bar and headed out of the room.

He should not be worrying about her like this.

~Stupid bonding.~

Wren glanced over her shoulder to see Talon leave the room.

She let out a mental sigh and wondered if what Evan had told her was the truth.

Had he really been close to her these past couple of weeks to ease the pain of separation?

If they were to be partners, would it not be better to be on good terms rather than bad?

What the hell was wrong with that man?

“If you will excuse me. I have training.” Wren cleaned her plate.

“You do not have to train seven days a week, you know,” Michael said, once more behind his beloved newspaper.

“I know. But if I want to make sure I am not a hindrance in a battle for Talon, I need to be as experienced as possible, as quickly as possible.”

“Have the two of you practiced together yet?” Lily asked.

“No.”

The rest of them exchanged glances at her answer.

“Do not worry, honey, you soon will,” Lily said. She did not have the heart to tell her just how unusual it was for them not to have practiced as a team yet.

“Talon may be stubborn, but even he knows the two of you need to work together. Give him time, he will come around.”

Wren nodded and left the room.

***

“That is worrisome,” Lily commented once she was out of earshot.

“It seems Talon is not even appearing before her right now,” Evan said, filling them in on his and Wren’s earlier conversation.

“It may be time to intervene.” Carrie’s face was hardened.

A sure sign that she was about to cut loose on someone.

The rest almost felt sorry for Talon, but if he was purposely avoiding Wren and causing her pain, he had it coming.

“If he has not taken steps to remedy his mistake by supper, we will let you at him,” Lily said after giving it some thought.

“I will even have a few words of my own to say,” she added.

“Okay, if Lily is threatening to speak with him, that man is going to be scarred,” Emerald said. Emerald knew Carrie was scary when she was angry, but having Carrie and Lily angry at you was not a place Emerald wished anyone to be.

Talon may not come out of this alive.

“If he lives,” Evan muttered, and for once, Emerald had no desire to argue with his statement.

***

As Wren walked toward the combat building, she could feel Talon’s presence approaching.

He appeared around the bend and joined her, saying nothing as they made their way to the combat room. Wren felt her mood lift immediately, and it was all she could do not to sock the man next to her right then and there, but she would not give him the satisfaction.

No, she would bide her time, and then she would nail him. Hopefully, when he was gravely wounded, pleading for someone to save him.

“Are you ready, Ms. Wren?” Shorty came out from behind a stack of books as they entered the control room.

“Oh, Mr. Talon, will you be joining us today?”

“Why else would I be here?” was his reply.

He could feel the anger radiating from Wren’s body. She knew.

Now he just had to take it like a man and hope he could do some damage control before Carrie and Lily joined her in flaying him alive. He had not come with her since the second day of her arrival.

He usually hung out in the next room, working on his hand-to-hand fighting while she trained with Shorty and then switched places with her in the afternoon.

“Well then, just let me change up the programs, and we will get started,” Shorty said.

“By all means, do not change it for me.” Talon’s voice was dry. “I will just follow her lead and see what she has managed to learn in the past couple of weeks.” It couldn’t be much.

“Oh no. I will be changing it,” Shorty insisted as he turned to his computer and started typing away.

Talon caught his hand and squeezed it. Hard. “Why?” he asked, leaning in close.

“Leave him alone, you big brute,” Wren finally acknowledged his presence. “He did it at my request.”

She turned to Shorty. “Leave it. He can see for himself what we did since he could not be bothered to come.”

What had they done?

“Explain,” Talon said.

Wren refused to back down, giving him a withering look before explaining. At least she was speaking to him.

***

Wren was more than happy to take her frustrations out on him since it seemed he was the root cause of most of them.

“I asked him to put in a version of you that I could practice with. I did not wish to be put out on the field with you and not have a clue how you fight.”

She stuck her nose up in the air before giving Shorty a radiant smile that put Talon’s teeth on edge. “So Shorty put you in. At least a version of you that I can keep up with.” She nodded to Shorty.

“That is what he says anyway, and why he needs to change the program. It will be hard to train with you in there as well.”

Wren refused to flinch from his gaze. It was his fault, after all. He had made her stoop this low.

“You used a ~version~ of me? How?”

“That was easy,” Shorty spoke up, happy to show off his latest achievement. “I just used the same program I use to make the Beings. Added in some code to mimic your fighting style from your training sessions. And voilà! The perfect training partner. I do not know why I had not thought of it sooner.”

He gave Talon a knowing wink. “Of course, I played down all of your…abilities.”

Talon was going to kill him right here and now.

“I do not want to be in your way, so do not put any blame on him. I am not at your level, so we adjusted accordingly.”

“Not yet,” Shorty responded to her statement. “But I suspect that you will be soon.”

“So you made me an idiot?”

“More or less,” Shorty replied with a grin.