Goodbye, Nick

If you like music while you read, try "Stars" by Skillet. It's what I listened to while writing this chapter!

*****

~ ZEV ~

The only truly terrifying part was when the security guards stopped the car at the gate. Nick had a communicator in the car and they'd heard chatter on the radios about staff questioning whether they should enter the lab to make sure Nathan was okay because he hadn't come out. And they thought Nick was with him.

Sasha and Zev held each other, both of them praying, as Zev listened to his sort-of-father lie like a professional when the guards stopped him before letting him through the compound fence. It threw his already twisted emotions into even greater turmoil.

Nick snorted like their question was ridiculous. "Nathan's working late tonight. A sudden discovery—

he thinks the kid might not just be human after all. I'm taking the samples to our friends out of state."

"Now?"

"Nate doesn't trust anyone else to do it."

Apparently, that made sense to them because a few seconds later, the car began to move again.

Zev held his breath for what seemed like minutes. And then, just when he was beginning to breathe again, while he and Sasha stared at each other in the dark, every hair on their bodies standing on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop, the car slowed, then pulled over, the tires crunching on gravel.

The front door thudded and footsteps started around the vehicle. Then the wide, back door opened and Nick was there.

And he was smiling.

"This vehicle doesn't trace because it's used to take samples to our other lab that they don't know. We're out kids. You might as well get into the passenger seats. You'll be a lot more comfortable."

Sasha looked at Zev, who shook his head in disbelief, but a few minutes later they were racing down the highway towards the Gateway. *****

Nick insisted on walking them to the Gateway to try and smooth the path in case there were any guards posted on this side. He thought they'd removed them a couple of weeks earlier, but if suspicions were rising back at the compound he said there was no way to know for sure.

But they met no one in the parking lot and no one on the path. Twenty minutes later, Zan was safely in Zev's arms, Sasha walking right at his hip, they reached the final feet to the cave itself.

Zev stopped walking and turned to look at Nick.

All three of them stood silently for a moment. It was Nick to spoke first.

"I guess this is it. I mean, I'm guessing you won't be back when the kid's older so I can meet him?" There was a genuine hint of hope in his voice.

Sasha snorted, but Zev shook his head. "No."

They stared at each other for a long moment, and Zev's heart began to pound.

Before Sasha, Nick had been the only human Zev actually trusted. And he'd trusted him enough to follow him all the way to hell.

For a moment he let his mind trip back to his childhood, his early teen years when seeing Nick had given him a sense of relief and security. He'd always seemed so big to Zev—so strong. So smart. He'd always had more power. And for the longest time, Zev had really believed Nick was indestructible.

Then Nick split him and Sasha.

Then Nick deceived him into leaving his people in Thana.

Then Nick made him an assassin.

Then Zev watched Nick piss himself when he was faced with Ernie.

But now… now he'd saved them? Worked to be here, ready and prepared?

Zev blinked and they were back here, in the present day and with so much water under the bridge. Nick was still staring at him, a hint of pleading in his eyes.

Zev shook his head and sighed. "Thank you for saving us. Saving Zan."

Nick's eyes lit up. "That's what you're calling him? Zan?"

Zev nodded. "I'll always be grateful for your help, Nick."

"Call me Grandpa."

Zev didn't even huff. "No, Nick. I'm grateful for the good you brought into my life, but that doesn't mean you're good. It means God used you in ways I needed." Then he leaned in until they were nose to nose. "But you are a fucking psychopath."

Nick sighed and looked pained. "I believe it's called a high-functioning sociopath? I mean, I have feelings. Just not all the time."

Zev shook his head. Sasha crowded closer to his back, as if she didn't want him to forget that she was there. Or maybe, she was using him as a shield between Zan and Nick? It didn't matter. He'd happily die for either of them.

And it was fucked up that the man he'd called father was the reason he felt like he might have to.

Nick was peering around him, trying to catch sight of Zan in Sasha's arms, but Zev just shifted his weight to make sure he stayed in the way. Nick's eyes rose back to meet his. Zev could feel the tension in his face, but he tried to keep himself as expressionless as possible.

"When he's grown up, I'll tell him about you. How you saved his life. Ours. But I'm telling him everything, Nick. He's going to learn from me the lessons you should have taught me. What I learned the hard way, he'll hear from the minute he's old enough to understand. He'll never be deceived by anyone the way you've deceived me. Ever."

Nick's throat bobbed and he nodded. "That's good, Zev. You'll be a good dad."

Zev snorted, the desire there to growl, but he wanted to keep the peace, to keep Zan calm, and just so they could get out of there without any more drama.

"Thank you, Zev," Nick said softly. He reached for Zev's arm, but Zev pulled it away, a warning in his eyes and he nodded again. "I… You kept me decent." Zev gaped at him until he flapped a hand. "Okay, fine, you made me more decent than I would have been without you to take care of."

"Newsflash, Nick, separating a kid from everyone he loves, who loves him, isn't love, you fucking—"

Sasha's warm hand appeared on his back and he stopped himself.

Let's just go, she murmured in his head. It's good that he thanked you and you thanked him. Let's just go and start our new life. He's not going to be a part of it, Zev.

Zev sighed because the words were such a relief, he wanted to weep.

She was right. She was almost always right.

"It's time for us to go, Nick," he said.