Thick & Thin

  "Come 'ere." Tony held out his arms, and Dex stood and moved over to sit on the edge of the Therian-sized bed, then leaned in to hug his dad, his head coming to rest on Tony's shoulder.

  Dex shut his eyes tight, refusing to think about what could have been. Every day his team dealt with the possibility of losing someone they cared about. He couldn't go down that path.

  "You two are such dorks."

  With a sniff, he wiped away a rogue tear before sitting up. He let out a laugh at his brother's bedhead. "The only dork here is the one I'm looking at. Nice do. Didn't know you joined A Flock of Seagulls."

  Cael touched his hair and groaned, then ran his fingers through it. "They're releasing Dad in a couple of days."

  "I don't know why they can't release me today," Tony grumbled. "I'm fine."

  "I know, right?" Dex held back a smile. "I mean, I don't understand how that bullet didn't bounce off you, what with you being indestructible and all."

  Tony huffed. "Smartass."

  "I think the doctor just wants to keep him here so he can flirt with Dad some more." Cael wriggled his eyebrows, and Dex gasped. His lips curled into a wicked grin.

  "Is that so?" Dex turned his attention to his dad. "Is he cute?"

  Tony refused to answer, so Cael answered for him. "He's a tiger Therian. I've dubbed him Dr. Scotty the Hottie. He's Scottish, by the way. His hair is amazing."

  "Ooh. A sexy ginge." Dex put his hand out and received a high-five from his brother. "Nice one, Chirpy." He winked at his dad. "Bet he looks great in a kilt. And he's a doctor. Wow. That's a nice profession, isn't it? Helping people, healing them." He paused and held his dad's gaze. "Bet he's the real honest type too."

  Tony barely blinked, his gaze never wavering. Clearly he hadn't told Cael about Sparks. "Bet he is," Tony said pleasantly. "Speaking of secrets. There something you wanna tell us?"

  Touche, Father Mine. Dex nodded. "You're right. There is."

  Cael gasped. "You're pregnant."

  Dex arched an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

  "Sorry," Cael said with a laugh. "I'm running on chocolate bars."

  Tony laced his fingers over his stomach, his lips pursed. "Your brother's going to tell us how he singlehandedly killed the asshole who shot me."

  Cael stared at him, and Dex could see the wheels turning furiously in his head. "You killed Moros? On your own?" Cael shook his head, seeming unable to believe it.

  "Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro."

  "No, it's not that. Dex, Moros was a tiger Therian with years of military training. The guy was huge and lethal. I know you've been training, but biologically.... How...?"

  Well, it was now or never. Dex braced himself. He opened his mouth to reply but then closed it. Where the hell did he start?

  "Dex?" Cael was worried, and he had every right to be. Dex just hoped this wouldn't freak his family out.

  "I, um, I killed him with, uh...." He let out a shaky breath, willed the change, and winced when his claws pierced his fingertips. It was the only thing he had some control over at the moment. Fuck, he was never gonna get used to this. He held up his clawed hand. "These."

  "Holy shit!" Cael's jaw dropped, his eyes focused on Dex's fingers. "What...? What?"

  "Yeah, so, um, I'm part Therian now." He cleared his throat. "Jaguar Therian."

  The room plunged into silence, Cael and his dad so still they could have been frozen in time. Dex was going to say something, anything, just to put an end to the eerie quiet, when Cael erupted.

  "What? When the fuck did that happen?"

  Holy shit. Chirpy dropped an f-bomb. That couldn't be good.

  Cael put his hands to his head as he paced. "Oh my God. Dex, what--oh my God." He spun to stare wide-eyed at Dex. "Sloane. His marking you. The anomalies in his blood. He did this to you? His blood did something to you."

  Dex explained everything--from his original symptoms with his itchy eyes to being able to escape from Wolf, from Sloane's DNA fusing with his own to his newfound Therian traits. As much as he didn't want to tell them, they needed to know. Cael reacted as Dex had expected. He was all but vibrating with fury.

  "You died?"

  Dex studied his brother and dad very carefully.

  "I'm going to kill him!" Cael sped to the door, and Dex caught him before he could leave the room. He wrapped his arms tight around his brother, a feat that was far easier with his new strength, and Cael knew it too, which just pissed him off more. "I don't care if he's your boyfriend. I'm going to kick his ass!"

  Dex was hardly about to bring up the fact that the only way Cael could kick Sloane's ass was if Sloane let him, which Sloane might, considering the guilt he carried about all this, but that was something Dex would deal with later. Right now he had to find a way to calm his hissing and spitting cheetah Therian brother.

  "Cael, please."

  "No! No." Cael pushed Dex away, and Dex released him, his heart breaking at the pain and unshed tears in his brother's big gray eyes. "Sloane marked you. His blood changed you, and you died, Dex. If Ash had done to me what Sloane did to you, you would be out there beating the shit out of him, and you know it! Admit it."

  "You're right. I would be. But...." Dex put his hands up in front of him and blocked the doorway before Cael could make another attempt. "This wasn't Sloane's fault. I asked him to mark me, remember? We knew it would change me in some way, even if we didn't know about the anomalies or the extent of the change. Do you really think Sloane would have done it if he'd known? He was there, Cael. He was there when I died. Think about that. Think about what he must have been thinking, feeling. You know Sloane. He's never going to forgive himself for it, no matter how much I ask him to."

  Cael seemed to think about it before dropping down onto the couch, deflated. Dex quietly took a seat beside him and pulled him close, his voice soft as he kissed the top of Cael's head. "I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere."

  Cael turned and buried his head against Dex's shoulder, his body trembling with quiet sobs. It was all finally catching up. The last few weeks had been hell on his brother, and it was all crashing down around him again. Dex held him close, running a hand over his head. He met his dad's gaze. This conversation was far from over, but they were done for now. The look Tony gave him said he wasn't going to get into it now, which was fair enough. The man was recovering from a bullet to the chest, for crying out loud.

  When Cael had exhausted himself and pulled back with a sniff, Dex gave him a smile. "Can I give you some good news?"

  Cael's pout was adorable. "Yes. That would be a nice change."

  Dex showed him his left hand.

  Cael blinked down at it, then up at Dex. "Is that what I think it is?"

  Dex's smile spread wide. "I know you want to kill him, but maybe you can wait until after the honeymoon?" He laughed when Cael threw his arms around him, squeezing him tight. Cael released him and huffed.

  "I guess killing your future husband would be in bad taste."

  Dex chuckled. "Yeah, it would."

  "I can't believe you're getting married! Does the team know?"

  "Not yet. I'm guessing Sloane's probably telling Ash."

  "Who else knows about, you know?" Cael worried his bottom lip, and Dex put a hand to his shoulder. "Seb, Hudson, and TIN. I'll tell the team, but no one else can know. Moros took that information with him to the grave." Dex didn't see the point in mentioning Moros's threat about a looming war between Humans and Therians, or the fact he hadn't been working alone in his quest to make certain Therians remain the "superior species." No sense in worrying his family until he knew more. Either way, the whole mess with Moros wasn't over. Dex could feel it. "Apparently, I'm the first."

  "How do they know you're the first? The world is a pretty big place." Cael looked thoughtful. "There were a lot of names on Shultzon's list. All of them First Gen Therians containing anomalies in their blood, just like Sloane."

  "Well I'm the first TIN knows of. Maybe there are more like me out there,
somewhere, but they're staying off the radar, because TIN hasn't found them. For now, what I am has to stay secret, for all our sakes." He stood and took a deep breath. Time for whammy number three. "Speaking of TIN, they made me and Sloane an offer, and we accepted. After the wedding, we'll be sworn in, and after the honeymoon, we start as TIN operatives."

  Tony bolted upright, growling and cursing at the pain it caused.

  "Dad!" Dex rushed over and helped ease him back against the inclined bed. "Jesus, Dad. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

  "Me? Boy, are you out of your goddamn mind? No. Absolutely not." Tony sucked in a sharp breath, the vein on the side of his head looking like it was about to blow. "You are not working for those assholes."

  "Dad--"

  Tony's deep brown eyes burned with fury. "Who recruited you? I want the name of that son of a bitch."

  No, you don't. "It doesn't matter who made the offer. It's done." Technically it would be done after Sparks spoke to the team. It was one of Dex's many conditions. The team would have to know and be okay with it. That was going to be fun.

  "Like hell it is!"

  "Dad, please. Calm down."

  Tony put his hand on Dex's shoulder. "Son, you listen to me. They're not the THIRDS. They're about results. Nothing more."

  "You think I don't know that?" More importantly, how did his dad know that? That question would have to wait. Right now Tony was too pissed off for Dex to get off topic. He knew his dad too well. Tony wasn't about to be sidetracked. "Come on, Dad. I'm not that naive."

  "Damn it, Dex. You want to play games with TIN? Are you insane? It's dangerous."

  "And what we do now isn't?"

  "It's not the same, Dexter, and you know it."

  Dex let out a sigh. "Why don't you tell me what's really upsetting you?" This wasn't just about TIN. His father was a rational man. Emotions rarely got the better of him. A small part was likely due to getting shot and the drugs pumped into him, but even then. This was Anthony Maddock. The man who'd taken on an entire city for the right to adopt a Therian baby.

  "You want to know why I'm upset? Okay. Trouble finds you, Dex. Look at what's happened since you joined the THIRDS. Hell, it wasn't that much different in the HPF. Now you're going to be sent into a war zone where rules and laws don't mean shit. If something happens to you, your brother and I will be kept in the dark."

  "You won't."

  "How do you know?"

  "Because that's one of our conditions. You think Sloane and I are going into this blindly? They want us. They want me. The only way they get me is if they agree to my terms."

  "And they're just going to agree."

  "Yes. They want the first Human-Therian hybrid on their side."

  "So you're going to leave us?"

  Shit. Dex turned to Cael, the hurt on his brother's face a punch to the gut. "It's not like that. We'll still be at the THIRDS, just in new roles. It won't change anything."

  "Won't change anything?" Cael jumped to his feet, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "It changes everything, Dex! You won't be on Destructive Delta. Who's going to be our team leader? You'll disappear for days, weeks, maybe months on end, and we won't hear from you. If something happens to you, we won't know until you come home in a damn box!"

  "Nothing will happen."

  Cael threw up his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize your new Therian skill set included clairvoyance and immortality. Dad's right. Shit always happens around you. For fuck's sake, Dex, you died! You fucking died."

  "You want to lash out at me? Fine. You know why I'm doing this? So I can protect my family and not find out thirty fucking years later that they were murdered by a bunch of assholes with delusions of grandeur!"

  Cael flinched. He slowly sank back down onto the couch.

  "I won't go through that again. I won't be helpless, waiting around for the next power-hungry psychopath in a ten-thousand-dollar suit or uniform full of shiny medals to take away what I love most because they want to shape the world in their image, or they just couldn't stand to live without that fucking private island mansion. Fuck them. I'm going to strike before they do."

  "And the law?" Tony asked, his voice steady once again.

  "You worry about the law. I'll worry about the assholes who think they're above it."

  Tony's expression softened, and Dex braced himself. He could deal with an angry Tony. He wasn't intimidated by his sergeant dad, and neither was Cael. Not the way everyone else was. How could they be? They respected him as their sergeant, but fear him? Never.

  This was the man who'd carried them on his shoulders when they were little so they could see the fireworks during the Fourth of July celebration along the East River. The man who made them chicken soup when they were sick, cradled them in his arms until they fell asleep, and didn't move from that spot until they woke up.

  When Dex was seven, Tony bought him a black cape and black cat ears for Halloween because after watching Batman Returns, Dex couldn't decide if he wanted to be Batman or Catwoman, so Tony suggested he be both. This was the man who dared anyone to bat an eye at a six-year-old Cael for dressing up like Wonder Woman for Halloween because he liked her pretty bracelets.

  When Cael was ten years old, Tony's Therian boyfriend told Cael that he chirped like a weak little kitten and needed to "man-up." The guy was dumped so fast that all these years later he was probably still wondering what the hell happened. Frankly, Dex was surprised Tony let the guy walk out and hadn't sent him off on a stretcher. His dad must have been feeling merciful that day.

  No, his dad didn't intimidate him, no matter how angry he got. Now, when his dad looked vulnerable? That scared the shit out of Dex. Tony was his rock. There was nothing the man couldn't withstand. He was Dex's hero, and heroes never faltered. His didn't. Couldn't.

  "Have you thought about what this could do to you?"

  Tony's soft words snapped Dex from his thoughts.

  "You'll be neck-deep in the most putrid, soulless filth this world has to offer. You really think you're going to walk out of that unstained?"

  "I can handle it," Dex assured him. He even managed a smile.

  "You're a good man, Dex. This isn't a job for good men."

  "Even good men have darkness in them."

  Tony pressed his lips together. He didn't like that answer. Mostly because he knew Dex had his own darkness inside. They both knew it. Dex gave his dad's arm a gentle squeeze.

  "I'm not going to lose myself. I have you and Cael to think about."

  Tony let out a heavy sigh. He wasn't going to win this, but he was damn well going to give it his best shot. Dex didn't expect any less of him. "Who's going to keep you from getting lost in the shadows? Who will protect you out there?"

  Dex didn't falter. "My husband."

  "That's a hell of a lot of responsibility to put on the shoulders of a man like Sloane."

  "Meaning?" Dex tried not to let his father's words get to him. He knew what his dad was saying, and he hated that he had a point. That didn't mean he was going to accept it.

  "Without you, he'd drown in his own darkness, and you expect him to keep you afloat?"

  "Yes." Dex stood and ran a hand through his hair. He had faith in Sloane. In them. They'd get through the darkest, nastiest shit they'd encounter. Together. But to do this, he needed his family too. "Dad, I need you and Cael to trust me."

  "No, what you need is our okay, and I'm not okay with this."

  Dex nodded. He moved his gaze to Cael, who sat quietly on the couch, a frown on his boyish face and his attention on the floor. "Cael?"

  Cael closed his eyes. He shook his head. "I'm not okay with this. I'm not okay with you leaving our team and going off who knows where to do God knows what. I just don't get it. You guys never trusted TIN. I don't... I just don't understand."

  Dex's heart sank. He nodded and turned toward the door. All he could do now was prove to them that he could do this, that he could do so much more.

  "But," Ca
el said, stopping him, "I know you. You're smart, and you wouldn't go into this without having something up your sleeve. I also understand why you're doing this. There are things you can do with TIN that you can't do at the THIRDS. You're gonna be trained some more and probably become hot shit. God help us all. But, yeah, I get it. You were always going to move on to bigger things."

  "Cael...."

  "I'm not patronizing you, I promise. I mean it." He made his way over to Dex, his smile sincere. "I help protect this city. I do good at the THIRDS, and that's more than enough for me, but you? You're special, Dex. Why should I be surprised that my big brother wants to play a part in protecting the world?"

  Dex gave a sniff before letting out a laugh to keep himself from getting emotional. "For fuck's sake, Cael."

  "Shut up. I mean it." He smiled brightly. "Wow."

  "What?"

  "Your eyes. The way the amber spreads out into the blue. It's cool."

  "Oh." Dex cleared his throat. "I need to learn to control that."

  "Maybe I can help."

  Dex was surprised by the offer. He brought his brother in for a hug. "Thanks." Did Cael know how much this meant to him? When Cael pulled back, he looked worried.

  "You and Sloane leaving the team is going to hit Hobbs the hardest."

  "I know. I'm going to talk to him privately."

  Cael nodded, but the worry was still there. Dex understood his concern. Hobbs's selective mutism and social anxiety made it difficult for him to accept change, and for many years, Destructive Delta had been a safe place for him. It was the one team in the whole of Unit Alpha that had changed a total of two times in its existence, and both those instances had been forced upon the team. The first being Seb's transfer out, and the second Dex's recruitment after Gabe's death.

  It was going to kill Dex, but if he could just get Hobbs to hear him out, maybe Hobbs would come to understand and even accept the change. Dex wasn't expecting it to be easy. Nothing was ever easy where Destructive Delta was concerned.

  "Dex, come here."

  Dex went over to Tony's bed and sat. He could see his father's emotions at war with one another, and he had no doubt Tony was fighting with everything he had. Dex didn't say a word. Despite what most people thought, he knew when to shut up. After several seconds, Tony gave a decisive nod. He looked up at Dex, a deep frown on his face.

  "If you stop being you, I will ground you for life. No matter what happens, you're my son."