Love And War Bk. 04

"It's a good thing you got up, or I was gonna get out the old Breakfast in Bed trays." Jason said as he carried their plates to the breakfast nook. He went and poured them all some coffee, and set their cups by their usual spots they'd had when he was growing up.

Rash had regressed to when he'd been here before, and came in without knocking. Evelina laughed as she remembered that. "Morning, Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie. Just need a good cup of Colombian." He grinned and poured himself a cup.

"Hey hey, Rash. Where's Rachael?" Jason asked.

"Feeding Brandon." He replied. "Man, I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Let me guess. He woke up crying every hour, and she pulled rank on you?" Evelina grinned at him.

"How'd you know?" He asked, his eyes wide after downing half the mug of coffee.

Evelina laughed. "I did the same to Bryan when Jason was a baby."

"Except she wasn't my Captain, she was holding the no nookie card." Bryan winked.

"Dad! Way too much intel, there!" Jason grimaced then laughed.

Delaara was loving this. It felt normal, which she missed from when she'd been young. They ate and talked as they all sat down to breakfast. Rash thanked them for the coffee, but had to get back before Brandon did another doody in his diaper.

"Rash and Rachael live next door now?" Evelina asked.

"Yeah, they bought Mrs. Schmidt's old place after she died." Jason explained.

Bryan laughed. "I'm surprised. I thought she was too nasty for Heaven, and too evil for Hell."

"I know, right?" Delaara chuckled. "I think she was at least twice as old as I am."

They all laughed at that, and the fact that everyone in the Wing called her The Old Lady when she was barely 62.

"Hon, if I look half as good as you at 62, I'll be a knockout!" Evelina said with a squeeze of Delaara's hand.

"Yes, dad. I'm into cougars." Jason grinned at his dad.

Bryan laughed. "Son, according to what I've read, she's physically only a few years older than you."

"And I'm 27 now." Jason said. "Yesterday was my best birthday ever. You know that?"

"That's why we wanted to surprise you, and told Nick not to tell you." Bryan said.

"He wanted to comm you as soon as our physicals were done, but we wouldn't let him." Evelina explained.

"You know, when you first commed me, Mom, I thought it had to be some kind of trick, or that you had somehow been resurrected or cloned." Jason shook his head and chuckled.

"I was certain that it was either some kind of trick or a horrible practical joke at first." Delaara shrugged apologetically.

"It's ok, sweety. We just wanted to surprise Jason. It seems that Nick surprised us too. He never mentioned that he'd just promoted you to Colonel, or that you were married." Evelina said with a laugh.

"Nick's always been a joker, at least from when I've seen him in action." Jason laughed. "But then, I think he was serious when he said if I was wasting his time, he would bust me down to crewman and put me on a garbage scow for the rest of my life."

Delaara laughed. "Then you won the Ferengi-Orion War for him."

"Which is the only reason I'm not a crewman on a garbage scow, sweetheart." Jason said as he leaned over and kissed her.

"No, it's because you're the best fighter pilot in the galaxy." Delaara replied.

"Sweetheart, YOU are the best of the best. I got lucky over 257." He grinned, and his parents smiled and chuckled. Delaara was blushing.

"Well, YOU were the one who learned Romulan for my birthday, then romanced me all day with it!" She winked.

It was his turn to blush as his mom said "Does he do stuff like that all the time?"

"Yes, ma'am. He even got me a Klingon Disruptor pistol for Christmas, and learned Romulan poetry for our anniversary." She grinned even wider as Jason blushed even more.

"I never knew my son was such a romantic!" Bryan said. "Son, you have a keeper there. Make sure she doesn't get away." He grinned at Jason, who was blushing even darker crimson.

"Trust me Dad, I know. I'm reminded every time I look at her." He smiled and saw her blush again.

"Jayjay, if your father was half as romantic as you, you would have a few more brothers and sisters!" Evelina said.

"Ok, ok. Enough already!" Jason said. "I hereby order you both to stop embarrassing me!" He laughed.

"Aye aye, sir!" They responded in unison.

Delaara laughed. "You can't order ME to stop, though. I'm holding the no nookie card." She winked at him, and he knew he was defeated.

"See, now that he has rank on us, he's abusing his position of authority!" Evelina laughed again.

Breakfast was long and fun, with his family joking around as they all did when he was a kid. Delaara had never seen him so... happy, as he was at that moment.

"Well, we need to report to Starfleet Command to meet with Nick." Bryan said as they finished breakfast. "What are you two going to do today?"

"Honestly, as tiring as yesterday was, we're probably going to spend it here watching holovision or sleeping some more." Delaara said. "Between Brandon being born, Jason's birthday, and you two coming back to life, we were pretty wiped out by the time we got to sleep."

"We understand, hon." Evelina said. "We'll see you tonight, then."

They went and dressed in their Starfleet uniforms, then came out. Jason hugged his Mom and Dad, then Delaara did the same.

"Ok, kids. Have fun!" They said and hit their combadges, transporting to HQ.

"I love your parents, baby." Delaara said after they'd left.

"They love you too, sweetheart. It was a bit of a shock for them at first, but they absolutely love you now." He grinned and kissed her.

"I need you, baby." She said as their kiss ended. He grinned as he took her hand and led her to the bedroom. He pulled her nightshirt off over her head as she yanked his shorts down along with his boxers. She pulled his t-shirt over his head and he bent to remove her panties as she sat down on the bed.

"Lay back, sweetheart. It's been too long since I ate your sweet pussy!" Jason was grinning as she gave him her most smoldering look.

"Good, because I love it when you eat my pussy." She replied, her eyes full of love and lust.

He moved up her thighs, kissing and licking until he reached her sweet pussy. He spread her lips with his fingers, and tasted his wife's honey. She moaned as he kissed and sucked her clit, their mind meld taking them both to the heights of ecstasy as she came around his tongue and into his mouth. "Mmmmmmm you taste so sweet, my love." He said as he licked and sucked her.

"I need you inside me, my darling heart." She said in Romulan.

"As my heart's desire commands, my lady." He replied also in Romulan, She moved onto her side and he moved in behind her. She lifted her leg back and over his as he entered her from behind.

She moaned again as he thrust deep into her, loving how he filled her up to her cervix. He thrust slowly, reaching down in front and rubbing her clit. She screamed as she came around him, clamping down like a fist on his cock. He could feel his balls tightening again. "God, baby! I'm gonna come!" He said as he felt it rising.

"Yes, my love! Come in me. Let me feel your seed in my womb!" She shouted as she came again.

He erupted into her, coming over and over as she came around him. They shuddered together as their climaxes ebbed finally.

"I love this position, baby." Delaara moaned as they spooned after they'd finished.

"So do I, sweetheart. While I prefer looking into your eyes as we come, I know that isn't the best way right now." He kissed her neck and she shivered as his tongue reached her ear.

They fell asleep again as Jason pulled the sheet over them.

*****

"Well, we're home early." Evenlina remarked to Bryan as they walked in the front door.

"True, sweetheart. It didn't take as long as we thought." Bryan chuckled. "The kids will be surprised, though."

"I still can't believe that Jason found the right girl, and during the middle of a dogfight!" She laughed.

"The strangest things can happen, sweetheart," he said as he set his padd down on the coffee table in front of the holovision set.

"Don't I know it, darling." Evelina replied. "Do you think they heard us last night?" She winked at her husband.

Bryan laughed. "I doubt it, Evie. If they had, we would have heard about it this morning. You remember that time when he did hear us!"

"When we came out for breakfast, and he had his hands over his ears." Evelina grinned.

"Exac-" Bryan started, then froze. His eyes rolled back and he fell, smashing the coffee table.

Evelina saw him twitching, and moved to hit her combadge when she froze as well. It was as if burning icicles had suddenly appeared inside her entire body. She tried to cry out, but couldn't as she also fell to the floor. Her last thoughts right then were of Jason and Bryan.

*****

Jason awoke to the crashing sound of broken glass coming from the living room. He was up and moving at once, grabbing his boxers and shorts and throwing them on as he reached under the bed and grabbed his old Phaser pistol. He moved out to the living room and saw his Mom and Dad, twitching on the floor. His Dad laid over the remnants of the coffee table that he'd fallen against. Their movements were jerky, and stiff. He pulled his combadge from his pocked. "Colonel MacKenzie to Starfleet HQ I have a medical emergency at my residence. Please send a medical team immediately!"

He had barely stopped speaking when the thrum of the transporter signalled the arrival of Doc Tavolk, Dr. Siln, and a few more medical personnel.

Doc did a quick tricorder reading and told Mae to take them back to HQ and put them in suspension. She nodded once and beamed out with them. He turned to Jason.

"Colonel, what happened?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, Doc. Delaara and I were asleep when I heard a loud crash out here. I got here and they were twitching on the floor. Their movements were jerky, almost like a robot." Jason was having trouble describing it.

Delaara had put on her nightshirt again and came out. She looked sleepy, yet had overheard everything said. She hugged Jason.

"Then I will keep you both informed as much as possible. I need to go see if I can find what's wrong with them." Doc said as he hit his combadge and disappeared.

Jason flopped down on the couch and checked the chrono on the wall. It was barely 1500 hours. They shouldn't have been home until around 1800. Something wasn't right, here.

Delaara sat down next to him and put her arms around his neck. He leaned into her. "Something isn't right, here." He gave voice to his fears.

"I know, baby. Do you think they could be Founders in disguise?" She asked.

"No. They're definitely Mom and Dad. No changeling could mimic them THAT perfectly." He knew. He just knew that they were his Mom and Dad.

"Clones?" She asked.

"I thought that at first, but no. No clone could be programmed that perfectly, either. They know EVERYTHING about me. Even stuff that nobody outside my immediate family knows. Hell, Rash was the only person that knew my mom called me Jayjay. That rules out robots or androids as well. No android would even pass the thorough physicals that were instituted during the Dominion War to make sure no Changelings infiltrated Starfleet." He shook his head slowly. "They were acting as if they'd been poisoned somehow."

Delaara's eyes shot wide open. "Orions!" She shouted it as a curse. "They sometimes use nanobots to incapacitate or even kill their slaves if they escape. We need to get to Starfleet Medical immediately!"

They dressed quickly and hit their combadges, beaming directly to Starfleet HQ's medical facility.

"I need to see Doc Tavolk immediately." Jason said. "Tell him Colonel MacKenzie is here to see him."

"He's in surgery at the moment." The nurse said. "You can wait here if you like."

"Which OR is he in? I have vital intel on what his patients are probably suffering from." Jason was determined to tell Doc what he'd learned.

"I'm sorry, sir. I can't divul-" She started to say.

"Listen to me! Doc is operating on my parents right now, and my wife has intel which Doc is going to need! I am Colonel Jason MacKenzie, CO of Striker Wing, and my parents' lives are hanging in the fuckin' balance. Now, WHICH OPERATING ROOM IS IT?!?!" Jason was pissed off, and not about to take any more lip.

"OR five, Colonel. My apologies, sir." She said, visibly shaken.

They were sprinting for OR five as soon as Delaara said a quick 'thank you' to the nurse. When they got there, the Operating Room was pandemonium. Orderlies and attending physicians were running everywhere at Doc's orders as they prepped the two patients as best they could for surgery.

Doc looked up to see them standing outside the observation window and moved to the door.

"Doc, check for nanobots or some over form of toxins!" Delaara told him. "Orions sometimes use them in time-release form to poison former captives if they escape!"

Doc raised one eyebrow at that. "I will, Commander. Thank you for the insight." He nodded once and returned to the OR. An orderly came and escorted Jason and his wife back to the waiting room.

The wait was excruciating. Every second seemed like an hour, and every minute seemed like a day, as Jason paced back and forth. His parents were fighting for their lives, and Doc would do his best to save them. Delaara finally took his hand as he passed her, and pulled him to the seat beside her.

"Doc will do everything in his power to save them, baby." She stroked his bearded cheek.

"I know, sweetheart," he replied. "I just got them back, and now I might lose them again." Jason was nervous and had a cold spot in his chest.

Delaara's combadge beeped. She rose and walked out of the waiting room to answer it.

Jason sat and prayed. His hands were folded and his eyes were closed as he sat forward in the chair with his head on his hands.

Delaara returned after a moment. "Rachael and Rash are on their way, as are Cole and Donie." She said with a smile as she sat down and took his hand.

Jason grinned. Ryan and Rachael had been his entire family for the first two years after his parents disappeared, and were presumed dead. First Ryan, his brother in all but blood, then Rachael after she'd welcomed them aboard, introduced them to her friends Mac and Elizabeth, who became more surrogate family. Jean-Luc, who had acted more and more like a father and mentor to him as his career progressed. It had been nearly six years since that day at the Academy when he'd been given the news by Jean-Luc himself over the comm.

Ryan and Rachael materialized followed shortly by Cole and Donatra. Delaara had briefed them as much as she could about the situation. Rachael handed baby Brandon to Ryan and hugged Jason to her, whispering in his ear that it would be all right. Then it was Donatra's turn to comfort her adopted cousin. She hugged him tight and kissed his cheek.

Apparently, after Delaara had briefed her cousin and friends, they in turn had briefed just about everyone else within twenty light years of Earth. Alex and Jenny were the next to show up, having been downtown at Tesla Records. They'd walked in with safety goggles in hand, and it was apparent that they rode to the hospital on Alex's Hog.

"Razor and I have your wing, Cobalt." Jenny said as they both hugged him, and brought a smile to their CO's face. Rachael had reclaimed Brandon from Ryan and sat down to wait along with the rest of them.

Donatra used her considerable charms to get an orderly to check on the progress of the surgery, and he ran to check for the gorgeous woman who had winked and asked so nicely. Cole chuckled quietly, and Jason had laughed in spite of himself and the situation.

Then the older, yet still stunning redhead walked in and sprinted towards the OR as she was pulling on gloves and a face mask.

Jason just had enough time to recognize Beverly when Jean-Luc entered the waiting room followed by Will and Deanna.

They sat and Jean-Luc gave him a reassuring smile, as did Will. Deanna told him that she was there if he needed to talk, which made him smile. "Thanks, Dee," he said as she squeezed his hand.

The hours passed, then Doc came out looking absolutely haggard. He removed his surgical cap and mask, and was running his fingers through his hair. Jason stood immediately and marched up to him. Doc looked at him. Doc saw the look on Jason's face.

"Jason, I will give it to you straight. we were able to save your mother, but your father was too far gone. I am sorry, my friend." He placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, and Jason hugged him.

"I know you did all you could, Doc. Thank you." Jason whispered to him as he released his Vulcan friend. Jason knew Doc's worth probably more than anyone else there except for Rachael. If it would have been even remotely possible to save his father's life, Doc would have done it.

As the others gathered around, he gave them the skinny. "It was a time released toxin inside microscopic nanobots in their blood stream, which were released upon having been away from the Orion home system for more than 72 hours. Your father was the first to be affected, as half the nanobots in your mother's system malfunctioned, and failed to release the poison. She will take a few days to fully recover with the proper medication. She should be able to return home today or tomorrow, though."

"How did they miss that on the physical?" Delaara demanded. "I'll have their heads!" She had regressed to full blown RIF Commander, and was ready to take some incompetent lives. Jason was truly afraid of her for the first time since she had punched the console on the Orion battle raider so long ago on their island.

"The nanobots were well hidden, Delaara. The Physical Med Team could not have spotted them until they released the toxin. When the time ran out on the timer, the outer DNA coating the nanobots dissolved, then a second switch released the toxin. It was how we were able to find them in Jason's mother and flush them from her system. While the toxin release had malfunctioned, they had shed their DNA camouflage already." He explained, and that seemed to calm Delaara down.

"Sweetheart," Jason whispered to Delaara. "My Mom is still alive, and will recover. Doc did everything he could, and nobody could have foreseen this."

She turned to him and hugged him. "I'm so sorry, baby. I know it's not his fault." She went on to explain to everyone how twenty years ago, she had been part of a task force that had rescued several Romulan diplomats from Orion custody. They had all died mysteriously, three days after being rescued.

Jason turned to Doc. "Can I see my Mom, Doc?"

"She is in Recovery now, Jason." Doc smiled his hint of a smile. "This way." He led them all down to Recovery Room 1.

Evelina MacKenzie was sleeping peacefully on the recovery bed. Jason and Delaara went in and sat in the two chairs at her bedside. Jason took his Mom's hand and squeezed, and Delaara added her hand as well.

They sat like that for some time. Her vitals were stable and strong, and Evelina finally opened her eyes to see her son and daughter-in-law. Delaara saw her eyes open and smiled radiantly, nudging Jason, who had been praying again. He looked up and saw his mom was awake. "Mom!" He leaned over and hugged her.

"Jayjay. Where's your father?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"He.. he didn't make it, Mom. You were both poisoned while the Orions held you captive. Doc Tavolk did everything possible to save you both, but he was only able to save you." Jason was nearly in tears already, but Evelina squeezed his hand.

"Jay, it's ok. He died free. He got to see his son and daughter-in-law before he died." She smiled. Jason had always admired his Mom's adaptability. She had a few tears running down her cheek at the news, but she would live. She would thrive in the face of adversity and the loss of the man she loved.