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Jake slowly sensed his body and mind coming out of unconsciousness. The last thing he remembered was looking at the gaping, bloody hole in his stomach and then passing out in the snow. He opened his eyes slowly and tried to sit up. He couldn't pull himself up and felt sharp pains shoot throughout his stomach. He then felt two hands on his shoulders, forcing him to lie back down, and a familiar voice said, "Careful, son. It's going to take some time to train the new muscles before you can move very much."
Jake turned his head groggily to the left and looked up to see where the familiar voice was coming from. Sitting at his bedside was a familiar-looking man. The man's hair was thinning a little at the top, and his brown hair had gray streaks throughout, but he still looked relatively young. The man had piercing blue eyes that had such a familiarity to them. Behind him stood two women, a young man, and a teenage girl.
The older woman was attractive. She had auburn hair and beautiful brown eyes. She was dressed in green military fatigues, much like the man sitting at Jake's bedside. To the older woman's immediate left was a beautiful blond, blue-eyed woman. Jake figured that she was in her twenties. Her blond hair was pulled up into a bun and covered with a black military beret. She was also dressed in green military fatigues. In fact, everyone was dressed the same except for the young teenage girl.
"Jake, how are you feeling, son?"
Jake suddenly snapped out of the trance he was in and tried to figure out who these people were and where he was. "What? Oh ? I'm feeling okay. My stomach just hurts. Where am I?"
"We'll get to that later, but first, let's get some introductions out of the way."
Before Jake could respond, he suddenly remembered Skip. He tried to sit up from instinct, but he couldn't.
"Careful, son. What's wrong?"
"There was someone with me. His name is Skip. Where is he?"
Jake felt the man place his hands on his shoulders to comfort him. "It's okay, Jake. Skip is in surgery right now. Doc will take good care of him."
Relieved, Jake relaxed a little and focused more on the people that were in his room. "Who are you? And ? where am I?" he asked.
The familiar man smiled at him and said, "Jake ? look at me carefully. You know who I am."
Jake took a long good look at the man and looked deep into his blue eyes. The man just continued to smile. Suddenly, it hit Jake like a lightning bolt. "Dad!"
Instinctively, he tried to sit up and hug his father, but he couldn't. He didn't need to. Adrian leaned down, hugged Jake, and whispered in his ear, "Jake, it's me. It's your dad."
Jake squeezed his father and began to sob. He could feel his father's tears on his ear. He knew that his dad had missed him just as much as he had missed his father.
After what seemed like an hour of hugging and sobbing, the woman with auburn hair walked next to Adrian, placed both of her hands on the back of his shoulders, and said with a slight accent, "Well ? aren't you going to introduce Jake to the rest of the family?"
Adrian sat up and wiped the tears from his face.
Jake looked at the three ladies in the room and the young man and said, "The rest of the family?"
Adrian, still wiping the tears away, looked at his family in the room, then back at Jake, and smiled. "Yes ? the rest of the family." He waved for them to stand around Jake's bed. The woman with auburn hair stood next to Adrian, who was still sitting; the blond woman next to her. The young man walked around to the other side of the bed, as well as the teenage girl. All of them gave Jake warm smiles.
Jake felt a little uncomfortable, being in a vulnerable condition and everyone in the room a stranger on another world. Even his own father was a stranger. Nonetheless, here he was, being introduced to a brand new family.
Adrian pointed to the woman standing next to him. "This is Anyta, my wife."
Jake looked surprised.
Anyta leaned down, gently kissed Jake's cheek, and said, "I am so happy to meet you, Jake."
Jake smiled as he looked into the warm brown eyes of his stepmother. There was something familiar about her, reminding him of his mother and aunt. "I'm glad to meet you too ? uh ? Mom."
Adrian pointed at the blond woman standing next to Anyta. "This is Kylee, your sister. She was also in charge of the special ops team that rescued you and the slaves."
Jake smiled warmly at his new sister. Kylee reached down and grabbed his hand. She spoke in perfect English. "Dad has told us so much about you, Jake. I've always dreamed of meeting you ? big brother."
Adrian also added, "Kylee has proven to be a great leader in our cause. She's been elevated to captain and commands great respect from her troops in her squadron."
Jake looked questioningly at his father. "Cause?"
Adrian smiled. "We'll get to that later, son. But first, let me introduce you to everyone else." Adrian pointed to the young man standing to the right of Jake's bed. "This young man is your little brother, Bantyr. He's in basic training right now. He's also not a bad pilot himself."
Jake looked at Bantyr and examined his new brother. He had dark brown hair that was cut in the typical military style and chocolate brown eyes.
Bantyr smiled and shook Jake's hand. "It's good to meet you, Jake."
Jake smiled back, pulled Bantyr in close as he winced in pain, and hugged him. "Don't be so formal, little brother. Give your big brother a hug."
After the hug, Bantyr pulled back and smiled shyly. Jake turned to his father and said, "He almost looks like Adam."
Adrian gave Jake a questioning look. "Adam?"
"We can get to that later, but first, who is this beautiful young lady standing next to Bantyr?"
"This is your baby sister, Jake. Her name is Lexis."
Lexis leaned down and gently kissed Jake on the cheek, her long, blond hair brushing across his face. "I am so glad to meet you," she said as she reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a half torn picture. Jake looked at the picture and instantly recognized it as himself when he was about four years of age. Lexis continued. "Dad always talked about you. So, I asked if I could have the only picture he had of you."
Jake took the picture and looked at it carefully. As he looked at the picture, a flood of emotions swept through him. He remembered the time he had spent with his father before he disappeared. He began to weep as memories flashed through his mind, and here he was now on a strange planet reunited with his father and his new family.
There wasn't a dry eye in the room as everyone cried with Jake. Jake finally stopped the flood of tears in the room. "I have so many questions for all of you. But first, why is everyone in this room dressed like a green beret, except for Lexis?"
Adrian laughed. "Like I said earlier, we'll get into that later. I want you to rehabilitate that stomach first. Doc said that when he was finished with your friend, Skip, he would stimulate your new stomach muscles with a new medical program that he and Sean had developed. It's designed to help your muscles regain full strength within days as compared to months with normal physical therapy."
Jake nodded, but he wanted answers now. "But, Dad, I want to know everything that has happened to you."
"I also want to know everything that has happened with you too, Jake. But like I said, I want you and Skip healthy to hear everything. You two have traveled thousands of light years through space and landed right in the middle of a war."