Team: Alpha (Knights of Ares)

by Honor James

  "Right," he muttered trying to process everything she was telling him. "I think I can handle most of that except maybe the history homework. I slept through most of my history lessons and I was home schooled. It’s very hard to sleep through anything when you're the only one in the class." Chewing on his lip he sighed, "Speaking of school, don't you have it starting soon? Shouldn't you be eating breakfast and getting ready to go?"

  “Yep,” Honey patted his chest and then gave him a fierce hug. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay Daddy Mik.” She admitted to him softly. “Now come on. Mom’s making us snake pancakes with lemon and strawberry stripes, so good.” She assured him.

  "Well hopefully she leaves the strawberry off some, I'm allergic to them," he said helping her off his lap. "Though I don't know if I ever mentioned that to her," he murmured standing up and tucked his hands into his pockets.

  Honey shrugged, “If not, she will make you more.” The child said confidently and then grabbed one of his hands out of his pocket and slipped her much smaller one into it. “You look too tense when you do that. When you don’t know what to do, hold my hand or mommy’s, we will always let you.” She assured him and pulled him with her towards the kitchen.

  Shaking his head he followed after her letting her lead him however she wanted. Looking to Daisy he gave a shrug, he was at least trying even if he was screwing up. "Go and sit, you need to eat your meal if we're to take you to school. I'd hate to make you late for the day," he murmured quietly to Honey."

  “Okay but come sit beside me. I will sit between my daddies this morning.” Honey stated firmly. “Mom, Daddy Mik is allergic to strawberries.”

  “I remember Honey. Don’t worry I made him some plain ole pancakes with his favorite, blueberries.” Daisy looked to Mikhail and smiled, “They are still your favorites, right?”

  Nodding he smiled at her, "Yes ma'am," he murmured pulling out a chair for Honey and gave her a hand up. Taking the seat next to her he rubbed his hands to his thighs. Looking up as Daisy set a cup of coffee next to his setting he smiled slightly, "Thanks."

  “You are welcome.” Daisy looked at Gareth who looked like he was happier than a clam and shook her head. “And Honey.” She said to get her daughter’s attention, “Don’t try to drag the dads into school with you. I mean it. They have to get back to their ranch. They have things that they have to do and going into the school so that you can introduce them to each and every single person there will just not work kiddo. You will see them Friday night again, I promise.” When Honey stuck out her lower lip Daisy just lifted her brow, “Really?” She asked and saw her daughter relent. “You can get their phone numbers and give them ours and call them, if they say it’s okay.” She looked to the men and added, “And find out when it’s okay. They have lives Honey. You need to keep that in mind.”

  Gareth pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled his name and number onto the sheet before passing the sheet and pen over to Mikhail. Staring at it for a moment he wrote his name and number down. Handing the pen back to Gareth he passed the sheet to Honey. "Call whenever you want," he told her softly. "If we don't answer leave us a message and we'll call you back as soon as we can; just no calls after eight on a school night."

  Honey grinned happily and nodded. “I will go and put these in my phone right now.”

  “Not until you are finished with breakfast Honey. After that you wash up, brush your teeth and hair and then you can put them in. You can even send them a text message but that’s it.”

  “Gosh mom, you’re no fun.” Honey grumbled. “But I guess I am hungry.” She added and very carefully put the piece of paper on the table in front of her, keeping her plate far from it. As she ate she looked up from Gareth to Mikhail and back again.

  Taking a seat at the table with them Daisy shook her head and smiled. She simply drank a glass of milk while watching them and felt her heart clenching inside of her chest. She still loved these two men, Gareth was obviously over the moon in love with Honey but Mikhail was more reserved and trying to pull away from the child which worried Daisy. He had said he never stopped loving her but the simple truth was, she was a mom now and if he couldn’t accept her daughter, he couldn't be in her life. It killed her to think that but it was true. She loved him. Goddamn his beautiful eyes, but if he couldn’t handle her daughter or want her in his life then he had no place in hers. Looking up at the clock Daisy said, “Honey you have five minutes before you have to get ready.”

  “Okay mom.” The child said and finished the last of her pancakes. “May I please be excused?” She asked politely. When Daisy nodded she got up, scraped her dish into the trash and rinsed it in the sink before putting it into the dishwasher. She then washed her hands, dried them extra carefully and moved back to the table to get the paper. “Expect my text soon dads.” She said as she flew out of the room.

  Daisy smiled and shook her head. “She has more energy, but when she’s tired she drops no matter where she is. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to carry her to bed because she just ran out of steam.”

  "Can't imagine that," Gareth grinned at her before looking to Mik. Reaching over he punched his friends shoulder, "What's with you?" he asked in a more serious tone.

  Shaking his head Mikhail stared down into his coffee and then flinched and shifted. Digging out his phone he frowned at the message on it.

  "Holy crap, is that the kid already?" Gareth asked leaning over the empty seat between them.

  "No," he said unlocking his phone and going to the message reading it. "It's Sphinx," he murmured shooting back a message. Seconds later he got a reply that had his brows going up. "The Colonel needs to talk to us about something and is apparently heading to the farm. He'll be there in three hours according to this."

  "Plenty of time to find out what's up and get some work done," Gareth pointed out.

  "True enough," he sent a text back and then went to pocket the phone but got another text. Smiling faintly at that one he shook his head, "Honey," he murmured at the looks both Daisy and Gareth sent his way. Digging out the other phone from his pocket he handed it to Gareth just as his text came in.

  “I will warn you now.” Daisy rose, rinsed out her glass and put it into the dishwasher before going back to get the men’s plates. “She will text you often. Believe me. She and Penny text practically non-stop. One month that child had more than forty-five thousand texts. And no, I’m not exaggerating. She has that one framed in her room.” She said with a smile. “God I love that kid.” She murmured happily and then shook her head. “Anyway. Just be prepared.”

  "It's fine," Gareth said sending a text back before pocketing his phone. "She's welcome to text us all she wants. She will just have to remember that we won't always have cell service especially out on Mik's farm. But we will reply when we have a chance to," he smiled at her.

  “You might want to tell her about the lack of cell service, or she will think that you are avoiding her and it will hurt her feelings.” Daisy murmured as she cleaned up the dishes. Finally when she heard the bathroom door close, she looked at both men and asked, “Are you sure that you are going to be okay with this? Gareth I see that you are. I swear I don’t think that I’ve ever seen you happier.” Then again she had really only known him the space of a few days. “But Mik, you still look like you are ready to hurl, you okay?”

  "Of course I'm good with this," Gareth grinned at her before looking over to his friend.

  Looking at them both Mikhail shrugged, "I don't know, I just feel like," he paused and chewed his lip. "I feel like I'm out of place, like I'm the extra appendage that has no purpose," he told them both honestly. "I've never been around kids, you both know that, hell I barely remember most of my childhood and what I do remember of it was working the farm or studying. I'm worried that I won't fit into all this and end up hurting her or you in the process. And I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark without a clue as to where I am or where I'm going."

  Daisy sighe
d and shook her head. “And if she had looked just like you instead of Gareth, would you be feeling the same way? If she had been your biological child would it have made a difference to you? I want to know.” She said simply. “I know that it’s a lot in such a short time but that little girl in there is totally over the moon for you. For both of you. She finally has in her life the two fathers that I’ve never kept hidden from her. She loves you, without strings, without wanting anything from you. All that child wants is to be loved back and some of your time. If you can’t do that, then I will explain it but it’s going to break her heart and I think yours as well. Mik I think you need her more than you even realize.”

  "I'd still feel out of place even if she was mine biologically," Mikhail told her honestly. "I've never felt right anywhere in this world. The closest I've ever come was in the military but even there it was still not quite right. I want to know her, to be in her life but I honestly don't know if I'm the sort of person that should be in her life Daisy. I'm honestly scared that I'll hurt her in some way and that is the last thing I want."

  Daisy reached out and put her hand on his much larger one. “When we were together you worried you would hurt me too, remember? You didn’t though. You would never, ever hurt that little girl and you know it. Admit it, you know that she’s every bit yours as she is Gareth’s. Yes she looks just like Gareth, but tell me that you don’t feel something profound for that child, something you’ve never felt before.”

  "Terror," he nodded slowly turning his hand over and held her hand in his. "But we both hurt you Daisy, maybe not physically but we hurt you emotionally," he looked into her eyes. "You can't say we didn't," Mikhail pointed out softly.

  “You both utterly destroyed me.” She didn’t even hesitate to tell them. “My father tried to get me to abort Honey but I refused. He disowned me that day and put me out with nothing more than a suitcase of clothes and my mother’s necklace, which I had hidden. It didn’t matter though because even though you were gone, I had a part of you. I loved her the minute I saw the ‘pregnant’ on the stick. I’ve never regretted a moment of the time I spent with you. I know that to you I was just a naïveté eighteen year old but I had fallen for you. Both of you. I loved you both more than you could ever know. But that was then. This is now. Now Honey is my love. She’s my everything, and I will do anything I have to in order to protect her. Even if it means that I have to break her heart a little and explain to her that one of her dads just doesn’t want her.”

  "We never meant to hurt you," Gareth said softly reaching out to rub his fingers up and down her arm lightly. "And if we'd have known you were pregnant Daisy, there is no force on Earth that would have stopped us from being with you for the duration. Well, maybe the MP's when they came to drag us off to Leavenworth, but that's beside the point."

  "Still wouldn't have stopped us from being there," Mikhail said softly as he looked at Daisy. "I will work on it D but I can only give what I have to give, and right now I don't know what it is. I'm very willing to get to know her and have her around in my life but you can't ask me for something I don't have either."

  “I know,” Daisy sighed and nodded, “Just be yourself Mik, she won’t be able to help loving you.” Daisy smiled sadly. “I know her mother couldn’t.” Rising she looked to Gareth and smiled, “Thank you for that Gareth. I think that I needed to hear that I wasn’t just another port in the storm for you boys.” Lifting her hand she shook her head. “Little ears coming our way.”

  Mikhail squeezed her hand and stared at her, "Never think that Daisy," he murmured holding her gaze for a long moment. Turning he looked to Honey and smiled slightly, "You ready to go to school sladkaya?" he asked her quietly.

  “What does that mean Daddy Mik?” Honey asked and slipped her hand into his. Giving her mother a smile she said, “Bye mom. I will talk to you tonight. Oh, and tell Aunt Penny that I said thanks a bunch for finding my daddies for me.”

  Daisy smiled and nodded, “I will tell her Honey. Now go before you are late. Thanks guys for walking her to school. It means that I get to go to bed earlier.”

  "We'll talk to you later Daisy," Gareth said getting to his feet as Mikhail did the same.

  Moving for the door Mikhail waited for Gareth to catch up with them. "It means sweet in my father's native language," he told Honey quietly as they waited. "Do you need a jacket?" he asked her as he looked down at her.

  “She’s going to tell you no, but yes she does need one,” Daisy spoke for Honey. “And yes Honey I will tell Penny. I want to know how she found them myself.” She was leaning against the door watching her daughter with her fathers and felt an ache in her heart. Her baby was growing up, and it was killing her.

  Nodding Mikhail grabbed the little jacket she pointed out and held it for her to slip into. Crouching, he zipped it up part way and stood taking her hand again when she stuck it out. Waving a hand to Daisy he left the house with Gareth to walk Honey to her school.

  Chapter Seven

  Staring up at the stars from where he sat on the steps Mikhail let his mind drift back over the meeting they'd just had with their former CO. Apparently there were a bunch of nut jobs on the loose; seriously off the wall nut jobs and he wanted their help. Yes they were retired. Yes they were no longer a part of the military but that was all to their benefit really.

  "Are you as freaked by all that as I am?" Gareth asked as he moved to sit next to him handing over a bottle of beer.

  Taking it, Mik rolled it between his hands, "Likely more," he murmured. "But considering where my father and his father grew up and the crazy shit that government did, it's actually not all that odd. Fuck, that government did some shit that even I never want to know about I'm very sure. What I do know freaks me out."

  "I hear ya there," Gareth nodded slowly. "Do you think it's real though? All he said, do you buy it?"

  "Given some of the folks we've run across in our lives let alone our careers, hell yeah," he nodded slowly. "What worries me is what he proposed for the team. I mean, its major surgery and then recovery and that's all time we're going to miss out on with Honey. We can't tell her or D about it, it's so fucking top secret I doubt we should even be discussing it out here," he waved a hand at the dark land of the farm. "You know if we don't come up with something big and major to explain our absence, then Daisy's going to think we ditched out."

  "I know and that has me worried too. But I think we should talk to her this weekend when she brings Honey out," Gareth suggested. "We talk to her and let her know that the boss wants us to look into something for him on the D.L. and that we'll be out of communication for a time. It's the truth and, if we go through with it, we actually tell her the truth before we do it. Not all the freaky bioengineering crap with shit straight out of nightmares of course, but the part we'll be playing in it all. She deserves that at the very least."

  "True," he nodded. Their former CO wanted them to meet with the doctors, do the tests and physicals and then there would be about a week to ensure that the chips were adjusted according to each of their own personal biology - or something like that. "Alright, we tell her we are going to do something for the CO and give her the time frame. We come back, find out the results and then sit down with her if it's what we all decide to do."

  "You got it," Gareth nodded. "That way we're keeping her and Honey in the loop and when we know if it's even an option we bring her in fully. She needs to know we're not just running off into the wilderness."

  "No, she'd never forgive us a second time," he murmured quietly. Looking at his friend, Mik shook his head, "She's going to think we've all gone off our fucking rockers and ban us from Honey's life anyway you know that right?"

  "We've never lied to her despite what she thinks Mik," Gareth said.

  "Says the guy that said we couldn't get her pregnant," Mikhail muttered rolling his eyes as he took a long drink of the icy beer.

  "The odds of me getting anyone pregnant are astro-fucking-nomical asshole," Gareth growled at him
. "And we know that yours," he made a scissor motion, "fully took after all so it wasn't actually a lie."

  "Except for the fact that you now have a daughter," Mik said smiling darkly at him.

  "Shut up," Gareth pushed to his feet. "I'm grabbing a hot shower and I'm going to bed. This has been a long fucking day."

  "Night," he murmured over his shoulder before staring at the sky once more.

  *****

  Honey looked up at her mother with a smile on her face and happiness bubbling over. “Are you sure that you can’t stay mom? It’s just the dad’s.” She said as if they were just a part of their normal everyday life.

  “Yes Honey, I’m very sure. You need this time to get to know them. It’s time that you spent some time with your fathers so that you can learn to love them as well.”

  “Well, duh mom. I already love them. They are my DADS after all.” She rolled her eyes at her mother. “But have you seen them? Everyone in school was talking about them. My dads are hot mom. I mean HAWT.”