Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 03:16:38 +0000
From: j p <jenna_is_pissed@hotmail.com>
Subject: Painted Black 2

All of the standard disclaimers apply... This story is mine, don't use it
without permission.  If it is illegal for you to read this story then don't
(although there is no sex in this chapter!), and if you dislike
homosexuality... well I can't imagine what you are doing reading this in
the first place.


Alex's point of view:

     I was nervous going to pick up Kat, we were late... Kat hated late.
Although, if Kat were ever on time for anything I would start looking for
snowballs in hell.  By the time we reached the party my nerves were
completely gone.  I looked up at the large Victorian mansion, lights in all
of the windows, music blaring from who knows how many speakers.  This was
home, or as close to home as I had ever had.  To me, home was Kenna.
Kennedy Anne Brent, the girl who had saved me, brought me back from the
dead.

     My mind went back to that day, it was a bittersweet memory, life and
death all rolled up into fifteen minutes.  I was just thirteen, sitting in
the back of my parent's SUV, listening to them argue.  They were always
fighting, yelling and screaming and leaving me with whoever would take me
in so that they didn't have to deal with me.  It was my birthday.  That day
one of my mother's cousins was the lucky recipient of one very confused
thirteen year old boy... or rather, she was supposed to be.  My father had
turned to look at my mother, yelling something about how she always turned
everything into a Greek tragedy.  He didn't see the other car until it was
too late.  He tried to wrench the wheel to the side but it didn't do any
good.  In fact, it probably made things worse.  There was a loud screaming
noise, and the world turned upside down... then there was the darkness.
The thick black darkness that felt like Jello... I tried to claw my way
free but it wasn't any use.

     I'm not sure how long I was out for, but when the darkness started to
recede I felt a stabbing pain in my chest.  I opened my eyes but I couldn't
see anything, and that scared me.  I heard people but they all sounded far
off... hazy... like a dream.  I tried to speak but my voice wouldn't work.
Why couldn't I talk, why couldn't I see anything, and then the pain ripped
through me again and I knew.  I was going to die.  I took one last halting
breath through the pain, and then I let go.  I began to drift, and the pain
started to fade.  It was almost completely gone when I felt it.  Something
warm and wet hitting my face, like raindrops...  no, not raindrops, tears.
And I heard it, sobbing... definitely sobbing... and the words, the words
that brought me back from the darkness. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare die
on me!"

     I found out later that it was a busy day for ambulances, that it had
taken the paramedics a while to arrive.  The first person to get to the SUV
after the wreck had been seventeen year old Kennedy Brent.  It had come to
a stop in her yard, resting upside down against a gigantic oak tree.  She
had smelled the gasoline and pulled me free of the wreck, my parents were
already dead... they hadn't been wearing seatbelts.  She held me to her
chest on her front porch, crying, and waiting for help to arrive.  If she
hadn't pulled me free I would have still been inside of the car when the
gasoline caught fire.  I would have died that day, my thirteenth birthday.
I shook my head to clear the memories and nearly ran up the steps and
through the front door.  As I spotted Kenna across the room another memory
flashed through my mind.  The day I was released from the hospital, the
words she spoke as she held my hand on the ride home.  "When you save
someone's life you make yourself responsible for that person.  You belong
to me now Alex, and you will always have a home."

Demon's point of view:

     I watched as the troubled expression cleared itself from Alex's face.
He walked into the party like he owned the place, which was unusual for
Alex.  But then, he practically did own the place.  It was Kenna's house,
and it was understood that anything that Kenna had also belonged to Alex.
Kat and I followed him in, nodding to people as we passed.  I let the
strong, primal beat of the music flow through me.  I let it fill me caress
me.  Kat moved off and slid smoothly from group to group as I leaned back
against a wall in the corner of the room.  That was the main difference
between us, Kat wanted company and I just wanted to be left alone.  I
watched as Alex bounded across the room towards Kenna, smiling that
heartbreakingly sweet puppy dog grin.  I love watching Alex when he's like
this, the human incarnation of Tigger.  Everyone loved Alex, it was
impossible not to.  Alex was sweetness and light, calm... cool...
soothing, Alex was peace.  You couldn't stay mad at Alex, couldn't yell at
him, couldn't hurt him... it would be like kicking a puppy... breaking a
promise to a toddler.  He was simple, his emotions showing easily on his
expressive face.  I wished for just a moment that I could be like Alex,
that I could be so easily made happy by a hug or a smile.  I watched as
Kenna wrapped her arms around him and gave him an Eskimo kiss.  His face
lit up like the sunrise and I watched people look at him and begin to
smile.  Even I, depraved cynical bastard that I am, smiled.

     When Alex first told me about his childhood I was shocked and somewhat
disbelieving.  How could anyone, especially his own parents, treat Alex
that way.  And, after all of that, how had Alex turned out like... well
Alex.  When he introduced me to Kenna I understood.  The peace that was
Alex had been formed by the safety that was Kenna.  I remember my mother
telling me that everything was going to be okay, I also remember that I
never quite believed her.  When Kenna said that everything was going to be
okay everyone believed her.  In the same way that people didn't say no to
Kat, people didn't argue with Kenna.  She was so sure of herself.  Kenna
believed, and she swept the rest of us right along with her.

Kat's point of view:

     I spotted Alex talking to Kenna and I excused myself from the group of
people I had been sitting with to go and say hello to our hostess.  I had
instinctively liked Kenna from the first moment that we met.  I didn't
normally spend much time with other women, they didn't like me and I didn't
like all of the drama.  Kenna was different.  Her face reminded me of a
Raphael Madonna.  All bright blue eyes and smooth clear skin, a vision of
serenity.  She was beautiful, but not sexual.  While Demon exuded sex,
Kenna exuded love.  As I walked up behind Alex Kenna spotted me and held
out her arms.  I normally didn't like it when people touched me, and heaven
help anyone who touched me without permission, but Kenna's arms always felt
like home.  I ducked my head to kiss her cheek and smiled as she tucked my
hair behind one of my ears.  Even in the middle of a loud party there was a
sea of calm surrounding Kenna.  She looked around the room for a moment,
and her eyes settled on Demon.  He was leaning against the far wall, his
languid pose ruined by the look of concentration in his eyes as he watched
us.  Only Demon could manage to look so utterly alone in a crowd... so
utterly alone and comfortable with it.  There were times when I thought
that he really didn't care, but then something would flash across the back
of his eyes... something hurt... something lonely... something scared.  I
was glad when Kenna smiled at us and moved towards Demon, leaving Alex and
I to sit on a nearby sofa.  If anyone could pull Demon outside of himself
it was Kenna.

Demon's point of view:

     I watched as Kat walked up to Alex and Kenna and was wrapped in a hug.
Only Kenna would take Kat into her arms without a moments hesitation, Kenna
who never feared rejection.  I saw her lift her head, her eyes meeting
mine, and I was lost for a moment in a sea of blue.  Then she was moving
towards me.  She moved gracefully for her size, a few inches shorter than
Kat...  and a good deal larger.  I wouldn't call her fat, just... solid.
She was everyone's ideal mother.  Her voice was honey smooth, her skin soft
and clear, her eyes full of compassion.  She was oatmeal cookies, and
bedtime stories, and she scared the hell out of me.  Those eyes of hers
didn't miss anything, she saw me... all of me.  I avoided speaking with her
when I could, she wouldn't let me hide.  At the same time I couldn't
completely stay away.  Her acceptance was a soothing balm upon an old
wound.  I shifted uncomfortably as she reached me, avoiding her eyes.  She
wasn't having any of it, she took my face in both of her hands and kissed
me gently on the tip of my nose.  Her hands slid down and slipped around my
wrists and she was pulling me away from the wall, pulling me towards the
sofa where Alex and Kat sat.  I looked down into her eyes and I smiled... a
rare genuine smile.  I didn't have to be alone.  I could sit with the three
of them.  I could bask in Alex's peace, and Kenna's serenity, and Kat's
strength of will. "We're a family."  Kenna whispered as she pulled me down
to sit between her and Alex.  "You're stuck with us."