Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

About nineteen years later…

"Hey, we're here," Max said as she got out of the car and walked down to the beach. She paused and turned around. "Have we missed anything?"

"Nope," Jondy said. "I mean, the party celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Familiars going down can't officially start without the guests of honor." She gestured to another area of the beach. "Becky's already here."

"Naturally," Max said. She turned back towards the car and narrowed her eyes. "She and Jeff have only one child to deal with while I have one who's pretty much grown up and two who I'm starting to have doubts about if they'll ever mature mentally."

"Come on, Mom!" Derek, one of Max and Zack's twin sons, protested as he got out of the car. "We were behaving ourselves."

Zack raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What was that I heard while I was driving here about the two of you planning to do to your sister?"

Derek winced. "Um…nothing."

"Nothing? You boys are sixteen years old now. It would be nice for the two of you to start acting like adults. It wouldn't kill either of you," Zack said.

"We do act like adults!" Jordan, the other twin, said. "I didn't say anything when Gabby was running her mouth on us on the way over here."

Gabrielle fought the urge to roll her eyes as she got out and shut the car door behind her. "I wasn't even saying anything bad, you morons. All I was saying was that you would probably spend the entire time here with Tony, Mitch, Brian, and all the other members of the motley crew." When will they just shut up?

"They certainly have grown up, haven't they?" Jondy remarked.

"Says the woman who has a pair of eighteen-year-old twin daughters and a seventeen-year-old son who are every bit as bad as their parents still are," Max said sweetly.

"And I'm still annoyed at Jace for winning that bet about me going to be the next to get knocked up after Gabby was born," Jondy joked. "Hey, I try to get them to settle down as much as I can, but it's virtually impossible. At least they never do drugs or drink. They might be just like their parents, but they've got good heads on their shoulders. That reminds me, are you looking forward to climbing Mt. McKinley next week?"

"Oh yeah," Max said. "Derek and Jordan can't stop talking about it." She smiled. "They say that they're going to race each other to the top and they'll be the first one up."

"They're going to have to race Vincent," Jondy said. "And I'm not even mentioning the fact that Gabby, Tracey, and Jackie will be right on their tails."

"And what about you and Wayne?" Max teased.

Jondy snorted. "Hah! You'll be trying to get in front of us all."

"With Zack behind us shaking his head and wondering about our sanity," they said in unison.

"There you are." They turned to see Caroline, Dennis, and Jenny walking up to them. Caroline smiled and went to Zack and gave him a hug. "I was wondering where you were."

"Hi, Mom," Zack said. "We just got here."

"Hi, Grandma," Gabrielle said. "Hi, Grandpa. Hi, Aunt Jenny."

"You find your next victim yet, Aunt Jenny?" Jordan teased.

Jenny rolled her eyes. "My divorce only became final four months ago. I'm not in any rush to get married again."

"Until you meet victim number…how many husbands have you had so far?" Derek asked innocently.

"Very funny," Jenny said. "And I've only been married twice counting Tommy." She saw the confused looks on her nephews' faces and shrugged. "That marriage was annulled so it legally doesn't count."

"Doesn't change the fact that you had been married for a few days," Caroline said.

"Mom! I was nineteen and it was a drunken Vegas mistake! I know that I shouldn't have been drinking in the first place and I've already apologized about a billion times in the past ten years for it, but cut me some slack. I know that I'm sure as hell not the first person who's gotten married in Vegas when they've been wasted and then regretted it the next day and then gotten it annulled and at least I had enough common sense to do it with somebody that I knew! Besides, Tommy was cool about the whole annulment thing." Jenny made a face. "Well, he was when I brought up the subject and we actually filed the paperwork and had it done. I guess that must have been his hangover talking because it was a different story when we got back to school that September. He wouldn't stop yapping about what had happened and how he'd given up the best…well, he wouldn't shut up until I threatened to relieve him of his genitalia."

"So, Mom, what are you and Dad doing for your anniversary?" Zack said.

"I'm not sure exactly," Caroline said. "I just can't believe that it's going to be eighteen years this September."

"We're thinking about taking a trip to someplace that's sunny and warm since we're old," Dennis deadpanned, which got them all laughing.

"Hey, if my one hundred-year-old father is still alive, jogging daily, and still outwits most of his grandchildren whenever they visit him, then we are definitely not old," Caroline said.

"Then how do you explain the gray hairs, Mom?" Jenny quipped.

Caroline mock glared at her youngest child. "It's called aging gracefully, sweetheart. Why don't you go and find somebody to talk to while us adults have a conversation?"

"Come on, Aunt Jenny," Gabrielle said. She grinned. "There's an X8 over there who thinks that you're hot. Do you want me to introduce you to him?"

Jenny shrugged. "What the heck. I wouldn't mind." She followed Gabrielle further down the beach and up to a man about her own age.

"Hey, Gabrielle," the man said. "Still enjoying the college life?"

"As much as you can when you still live with your parents," Gabrielle said, laughing a little. "Steve, I'd like you to meet my aunt Jenny. I was telling you about her over Valentine's Day, remember? Jenny, this is Steve." She watched and smiled as Jenny and Steve began talking and seemed to be enjoying each other's company. She discreetly walked away and stood watching the ocean. I'm glad that she's doing okay after Uncle Dickhead. That guy was a real jerk. Then again, he was barely eighteen when he and Aunt Jenny got married four years ago. She should have given him time to grow up before they got hitched!

"Look who's here. How's it hanging, Gabs?"

Gabrielle tried not to groan. "Tony, I hate that nickname. Either call me Gabby or Gabrielle, please. Failure to do so will result in either me kicking your ass or me talking my cousin into kicking your ass."

"You know you like it," Anthony said with a grin. "But hey, I'll be nice and drop it." He took a sip of the drink in his hand.

Gabrielle frowned. "Is that beer?"

"Thank you," Brin interrupted, snatching the cup from her son's hands.

"Mom!" Anthony protested. "That was mine!"

"Nice try, but you're not going to be twenty-one until February," Brin said. "No alcohol until then." She smiled and handed Anthony the cup of soda that she had been holding when she'd taken his beer. "Here, you can have this. I'm sorry for interrupting you, Anthony."

"It's okay, I guess," Anthony said. Brin left and he sighed. "My mom can be so cool most of the time, but…"

"It's your own damn fault for trying to get away with having a beer when your parents are around," Gabrielle pointed out. "Not to mention that Jillian is also floating around somewhere and she's still ticked off at you for catching you finding and reading her friend-locked blog. She would have given you away in a heartbeat."

Anthony snorted. "It was Jillian's own fault for logging in to update that thing and leaving her laptop open with the updated blog out without logging out first. I just happened to be going into her room to ask her for something and it was there and I was curious. Blame the feline DNA. It's not like I went blabbing it around to everybody that I know. I haven't even told Mitch."

"That's probably the only reason that your sister hasn't thrashed you yet," Gabrielle remarked. She looked around. "Why aren't you hanging with your college buddies?"

"Because most of them are in their home states for the summer," Anthony said. "Besides, aren't you one of my college friends?"

"We might go to the same school, but you are only a quasi-cousin to me at best," Gabrielle retorted, but she was smiling slightly. She and Anthony were actually friends, even though they didn't get along a good portion of the time. "Where's Mitch?"

"With his parents and sisters. Poor sap couldn't get away from them yet," Anthony said. "Speaking of his sisters, how come you aren't hanging with them?"

"Because I just got here, dumbass," Gabrielle said. "Give me some—Kylie!" She waved her cousin over, knowing that it would drive Anthony nuts. "There you are. What's going on?"

"Same old, same old," Kylie, Becky and Jeff's sixteen-year-old daughter, replied. "Hey, Tony. Have you driven Gabby completely insane yet?"

"Still working on it," Anthony said. "How about you, Ky—lie?"

Kylie smirked. "Good. You remembered what happened the last time you tried to call me that." Anthony shook his head and walked away and Kylie turned to Gabrielle. "He's a jerk sometimes."

"Sometimes, yeah," Gabrielle agreed. "He's got his good moments, though."

"I guess so. He used to tease me a little when I was younger until I accidentally broke his arm when he was nine and I was four," Kylie recalled. She winced. "I thought that Mom and Dad would kill me for that, but they didn't really punish me. They sent me to my room right after dinner that night and they gave me a long talk about being careful when playing with other kids, even you guys. That was when they started to give me martial arts lessons."

"I guess…heck, I don't know," Gabrielle said. "Never mind." She sighed and smiled. "So, Kylie, have you been thinking about where you want to go for college yet?"

"Are you kidding me?" Kylie said. "Mom and Dad both teach at your school. Where do you think that I'm going to go next year?" She and Gabrielle laughed. "Mom and Dad were talking about it when we had dinner at Uncle Kyle and Aunt Ralph's house last night. They both want me to stay here and I kind of want to go out-of-state. I don't know. I guess either way will be okay. We'll have to see what happens by the time that I have to start filling out the applications. Do you think that Derek and Jordan will be staying in Seattle for school?"

"Are you kidding?" Gabrielle said. "The Wonder Twins want to get as far away from Seattle as Mom and Dad will let them go. They're hoping to go to school in either California or Florida, which made Dad think that all they're going to do when they're there is party at the beach when they're supposed to be studying."

"They're only a month younger than I am and yet…" Kylie shook her head. "I'll never get them."

"Tell me about it," Gabrielle said.

"Twenty years," Syl said to Krit. "I can't believe that it's been that long."

"Oh yeah," Krit said. "Time flies whether you're having fun or not." He kissed her. "Good thing that we've been having fun, huh?"

"Whoops, looks like we're about to walk right into a PDA," Rena teased as she and Zane walked up to Krit and Syl. "Do you want us to leave or should we stay anyway?"

"Very funny," Syl said. "Where are your obscenely tall children?"

"Very funny," Rena mocked. "The kids are right over there with my mom." She pointed off towards them. "I'm happy that she flew out from Texas for this celebration, but I'm worried about her flying at her age."

"Zack's parents are both older than she is and they flew here all the way from D.C.," Syl said wickedly. "Neither of them look worse for wear, do they?"

"Krit, your wife is still a barrel of laughs," Rena said dryly.

"Thank you," Krit said. He turned around and saw Derek and Jordan nearby. "Hey, you guys!"

"Hey, Uncle Krit," Jordan said. "What's up?"

"Not much," Krit said. "I was just wondering how my favorite son was doing." That got a laugh from all six of them. Jordan resembled his mother and uncle so much that Krit had joked when he'd first seen Jordan that he was really his and Syl's son, despite the fact that Krit and Syl still didn't have children at the time that Jordan and Derek had been born, much less a son the twins' age, and it had become a long-running joke in the family. "Seriously, how are you doing?"

"Good," Jordan said.

"Can't complain," Derek agreed. "We managed to escape from the Wicked Witch of Seattle and Mom and Dad." He made a face. "Dad thinks that we need to stop calling Gabby that, but come on! She was the one who for an entire year didn't call us anything except for 'Dork' and 'Jerk.'"

"She was only twelve at the time," Zane reminded him, though he was amused. "I think what your father is talking about is that calling somebody names isn't a good thing in general, though he understands that brothers and sisters don't always get along every single minute of the day."

"I know," Derek said.

"Why don't you go play with your cousins over there?" Syl suggested, pointing to where her and Krit's own kids were playing nearby. She smiled. "I know that you'd love to spend time with Tony and the other big kids, but you can spend a little bit of time with the younger ones, can't you?" Derek and Jordan laughed and walked over to their younger cousins. Syl nodded. "They're good kids."

"Oh yeah," Zane agreed. "Absolutely. They're a handful sometimes, but they're teenage boys. It goes with the territory. Speaking of territory, you guys should see this absolutely gorgeous vintage 1993 40th anniversary, I'm pretty sure it's 40th, Corvette that I scored a deal on. It's beautiful. I just brought it home this morning and…wow."

"And imagine what his reaction would have been if he'd found a chunk of C4 in the glove compartment," Rena deadpanned. She laughed and kissed Zane. "Don't worry, babe. I don't mind you going ga-ga when you find vintage cars." She whispered something in Zane's ear before turning away from the blushing Zane back to Krit and Syl. "He lets me buy a vintage racing bike every now and then so I let him have the occasional vintage auto. Compromise is a big part of marriage, after all."

"Apparently, so are the things that you were mumbling into Zane's ear," Syl said.

"Hey, my husband is happy," Rena said, grinning.

"Am I ever," Zane agreed.

"What about you, babe?" Krit asked Syl. "Are you as happy as these guys?"

"I don't know…" Syl teased. She leaned up and kissed Krit deeply. "I just might be."

"Hey, guys," Alec said to Biggs and Sasha as he sat down next to them. "Nice party we've got going, huh?"

"It's not bad," Sasha said. "Only a hundred if not a thousand or two people at the beach on a beautiful July afternoon to celebrate the greatest day in the history of mankind. Yep, it's good." She took a bite of the hamburger that she was holding. "Not bad. Joshua's as much of an artist with a grill as he is with a paintbrush."

"Yeah," Alec agreed. "I just passed Diane and Anna. It's frightening how much Anna looks like her mother. It's like we should just start calling the girl X5-787 and get it over with."

"Does she act like her mother?" Biggs said, amused.

"She does have her mother's attitude," Alec admitted. "Though Diane has mellowed out the slightest bit over the years. I don't know if she sleeps around like Diane used to do." He shrugged. "It's none of my business, at least as long as she doesn't try to hook up with Tony."

Sasha snickered. "Has Diane ever tried to hook up with your son?"

Alec narrowed his eyes at her, but then he laughed. "No, thank goodness. That would be too weird."

"What would be weird, Dad?"

"Nothing, Jillian. Don't try to eavesdrop on our conversation, okay?"

"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, Dad, it just happened!" Jillian protested. They heard a dramatic sigh behind them and then the sound of footsteps walking away.

"I should have known that this was going to happen," Alec said. "I remember when Brin was rooming with Maggie before Tony was born when Maggie was only sixteen at the time and Maggie was such a…teenager. I was really praying that the baby would be a boy and not a girl. I got my wish that time, but those thoughts really came back to bite me in the ass, didn't they?"

"What are you whining about now, Alec?" a male voice sneered. Alec, Biggs, and Sasha turned their heads to see Bryan standing above them with Melanie at his side.

"Hey, it's Malibu Barbie and Ken," Alec said cheerfully.

"Charming as ever," Melanie said sarcastically. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and gave Alec a patronizing smile. "Trouble in paradise, sir?"

"Nothing that I can't handle," Alec said confidently. "Don't worry about it, you guys. If I ever need your help, I'll let you know so that you can have a good laugh over it." He watched as Bryan and Melanie both rolled their eyes and walked away. "I still expect them to stick around for a few nasty comments. I can't believe that they walked away."

"I can't believe that they've been together for the last seventeen, eighteen years," Sasha said.

"We can thank Brandi and Cam for that in a strange, sick way," Biggs said. "Bryan and Melanie were both pretty shaken up after Brandi completely went off the deep end and dragged Cam along with her. You guys both remember that, right? I'm glad that they were able to help each other and then fall in love. Good for both of them." He took a sip of his beer and grinned. "That doesn't mean that they don't look like Ken and Barbie together, though." He, Alec, and Sasha laughed.

Max laughed as she accepted the hot dog from Joshua. "Thanks, big fella. It looks great."

"Thanks, little fella," Joshua replied.

"I've got grill duty now, you can have fun," Mole said.

"You're acting like it's a chore," Max remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Mole muttered as he turned his attention to the grill.

"What's Mole bitching about now?" Becky asked as she and Jeff walked up to join Max, Zack, and Joshua.

"I don't think Mole's a fan of grilling," Max said.

"Do you need me to take over?" Jeff offered.

"Thanks for the offer, kid, but I've got it covered," Mole said.

Jeff shook his head. "I'm how old now and people still call me 'kid'?"

"Thirty-eight and yes, they still call you 'kid,'" Becky said. "It could be worse. What was the one that you said that Biggs called you before you asked him not to?"

"Little buddy," Jeff recalled. He grinned and slipped an arm around his wife's waist. "Yeah, it could be worse. I remember one time when we were on our off-hours on that mission in Alaska all those years ago, we were in this bar and Alec was trying to pick up this one girl—yeah, Max, it was the bar where and the time when Alec started to fall asleep on his feet when he was trying to pick up that girl but this is a different one—Alec called me kid in front of her and I guess she must have been a Star Wars fan or something because she gave Alec this look and asked him 'Who do you think you are, Han Solo?' to which Alec pointed to me and said 'Yeah, I'm Han Solo and I'd like for you to meet Luke Skywalker.' Alec kept on calling me Luke for the rest of the night. It got a little bit old."

"That's Alec for you, isn't it?" Zack remarked. He sighed and turned and something near the road caught his eye. He zoomed in on it and saw an old man, at least ten or so years older than his father, standing and watching the festivities somewhat wistfully. Zack's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "That guy looks familiar. Does anybody know him?"

"Father!" Joshua said suddenly. He raced over to the old man before he stopped and then reached over and hugged him gently. He turned back to the others and waved them over excitedly. "Everybody, this is Father. He's finally here!"

"Father…Sandeman?" Max guessed.

"Yes," Sandeman said. "Hello, Max. It's an honor to finally meet you." His smile widened at seeing Zack and Becky. "The other perfect ones. I can't begin to tell you how good it is to see you—to see all of you—alive and well. I'm so proud of you." He chuckled. "Thank you for remembering to be gentle, Joshua. Being old does have its disadvantages."

"What are you doing here?" Max asked. "Why haven't you tried to approach us until now?"

"I thought that it would be best to lay low, especially considering who I used to be," Sandeman said. His expression saddened. "And considering who my son used to be."

"Your son?" Jeff repeated.

"My only son," Sandeman confirmed. He sighed. "It's been thirty years since the last time that I saw or spoke to him and twenty years since he died, but I still regret how badly our relationship fell apart." He looked at the gathering, the remorse plain to see on his face.

"Twenty…" Max trailed off as she got a good look at Sandeman's face. Her jaw dropped. I'd think this guy was just jerking our chain, but I'd never forget those eyes no matter how much time goes by! "You're Ames White's father?"

"He was my son," Sandeman said. "Genetically, but if you had asked him before he'd died, he would have said that those genes were the only thing that we shared between us. He changed his last name practically the second that he turned eighteen years old." He smiled ruefully. "It's easy to drift apart from your child when you're an absentee father. I was something of a workaholic, especially after the Conclave ordered my wife killed when Ames was five years old. I did truly love my wife and I really buried myself into my work to help me forget my pain. Ames spent a lot of time in our special school and with his other Familiar friends and their families during his childhood and they filled his head with everything that I was working so hard to prevent. Needless to say, Ames chose to believe them over his own father, but I wasn't around as much as I should have been so I can't blame him too much for that. Then, when he was twelve years old, I uncovered the information that told me that birthmark on his right arm as the mark that would identify The Dark One. I knew that he would be killed by Max, by somebody that I had helped to create, and after that I started to distance myself from Ames a little more consciously. I guess I thought that it would hurt less when he would die if I 'prepared' myself for it then. It didn't. It still hurt more than anything when I'd found out that he'd been shot and killed." He nodded to Max. "I don't hate you for doing what was necessary, Max. I could never hate you."

Max looked down for a moment. "Thank you. And…I'm sorry about your son."

"Thank you," Sandeman said. "I try to remember the sweet little boy that he used to be before his mother died, and that helps. I wish that I could go back and change the past so that he would have remained that wonderful person that he was starting to become, but I can't. Things happen for a reason no matter how hard they seem at the time."

"Would you like to stay with us and get to know more of the others or would it be too awkward for you?" Zack asked.

"I don't think that I'll stay," Sandeman said. "I can't handle gatherings this large anymore like I used to." He reached into a pants pocket and pulled out a pen. "May I have that napkin, Max?" Once Max had handed him the napkin, he wrote something on it and handed it back to her. "There is my address and phone number. I live within the city. I would love a visit."

"I think we will," Max said. "At least some of us will, anyway."

"Thank you, Father," Joshua said. He gave Sandeman another hug. "Missed you."

"I've missed you too, Joshua," Sandeman said. "It was wonderful to see you again after so long."

"I'll bring you a painting," Joshua promised.

"I've heard that you've become quite the artist," Sandeman said, smiling. "I'd love to see your work. I'll be looking forward to it." He nodded to the others. "Good-bye, all of you." He turned around and walked over to a waiting car and got in the passenger side and the car drove off.

"So, we finally get to meet the man behind Manticore for real," Becky said.

"Not a bad guy," Max said. "I feel like I should hate him for helping to create Manticore, but I don't. He was the one who risked his neck to try to literally save the world and he did have to run and hide just like we did when his Familiar friend got wind of what he was doing. Lydecker and company just wanted to play God and treat us like we were expendable toys. Who do you think I should hate?"

"No question there," Zack said. Becky and Jeff walked away to try to find Kylie, leaving Zack and Max by themselves. "I'm glad that we finally got to meet Sandeman face-to-face. It kind of gives me a sense of closure in a way, you know what I mean?"

"I know," Max said.

Zack looked out at all of the people that were gathered at the beach and smiled before he turned back to Max and kissed her deeply. "I love you, Max. I'll always will."

"I love you, too," Max said. "Always." Nobody can ever make me feel any different. I love you so much, Zack. Forever.

The end!