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Author: LoneGirl189 Rating: PG-13 Disclaimer: I don’t own anything I-man related, I didn’t steal anything, only thing that I have any claim to would be Amanda, but that’s rather obvious….. Time Frame: Sometime around the end of the season 1 Comments: I would like to greatly thank NekoSama for helping me with this, a lot, and MalteseHobbes for making sure my grammar and spelling were right. J This is the update version, where the entire Amanda Fawkes series started. To read all of them visit: http://amandafawkes.cjb.net/   Family Ties   Cause by tomorrow, I’ll have this thing beat, and everything will be back the way it was, and I wish that it was just that easy…I don’t want to run away from this, but I know that I just don’t need this…cause I’m somewhere in between…This cannot be happening…What is real? And what’s a dream? -Life House, Somewhere in between Darien looked up at the clock. "Aw crap," he said. It was almost 9:30, he was going to be late for work again. "Why didn't my alarm go off?" he said out loud to himself as he ran a hand through his hair to get a few misplaced strands out of his face. "That would be because I turned it off," a voice said. He quickly looked over to see a young woman standing in the kitchen of his small apartment. She looked familiar somehow. "Do I know you?" he said sounding confused. "I am so insulted, Darien. You only lived with me till I was 10. I would think you would at least remember me" she replied with a smirk. "Amanda?... Whoa, you're all grown up," he said, recognizing his cousin. "Yeah, last time you saw me *was* seven years ago. Still, I didn't think I changed that much," she told him. "How old are you now? I know I should know this," he asked as he got out of bed and pulled on a shirt. "23," she replied. "Wow, you really are all grown up," he exclaimed as he headed over to sit at the counter. "Hey, is that breakfast?" he asked as she put a plate in front of him with a waffle on it. "Thought it was the least I could do after breaking into your apartment and making you late for work." She smiled. "Why did you do that?" he wondered as he started to eat. "Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you," she started, putting on a patented innocent face.   'Oh no,' Darien thought as he set down his fork and looked at her with a less than believeing look. He knew what was coming; the last time he had saw her she had gone through the same speech. "I know what you’re thinking, but this time I didn't do it," she continued. "Didn't do what?" he asked. "I gotta friend, he pulled a job, but framed me for it," she replied. "What kind of job?" he wondered, not believing her. He had heard all this before. He picked up his fork again and started to eat, he might as well get a good meal out of this. "He was trying to steal from a woman I was working for, I walked in on him, now they think I helped him, and he told the cops it was all my idea," she explained. "And it wasn't your idea?" Darien questioned as he finished his breakfast in record time. He never realized how hungry he could by not eating at the time he normally did, and these waffles were pretty good. "I'm telling you that, listen, since the last incident I've been on the straight and narrow," she insisted. "Right," Darien sneered, still not believing her. "Darien, I'm serious," she pleaded. "You were serious last time," he reminded her. "Darien, look at me, remember this?" she held up her pinky. "The only thing we ever agreed could never be broken?" "Pinky swear?" He smirked, trying not to laugh. "I’m serious, I didn’t do it," she again insisted as she linked her pinky with his. "Fine, We can talk more later, I’ve gotta go to work," he told her. "What do *you* do for work?" she inquired as she sat down on a stool to eat her own breakfast. "Not important. How did you find me anyway?" he asked. "Mom told me, she told me everything…." she told him trailing off and biting her lip. "I take it she told you about Kevin?" he asked. She nodded. They had all grown up like siblings. His aunt and uncle had originally taken Kevin and Darien because they were the only ones who could, and they hadn't had any kids of their own. Then Amanda came along when Darien was 8. He had left home when he was 18, so he hadn’t been around when she was a teen. The only time he had seen her during that time was when she was 16 and on the run. The cops had shown up at the house when they lifted her prints off of a job. She had come to Darien thinking he would understand. She was, after all, trying to be like him. He could sort of understand that, living in that family, she had two choices of a brother figure to look up to, and she had seen Kevin as the scientific dork and Darien as the cool thief. He turned her in. She didn’t need to be like him, and he didn’t want her to be like him. Now here she was asking for help again, only now she was grown up, and he was relatively positive that she was telling the truth. But there was still something nagging at the back of his mind, and as much as he wanted to believe her, that doubt stayed there. He quickly patted her on the back before grabbing his stuff and heading to the bathroom to change. When he came back out Amanda was cleaning up the kitchen. "Sorry to run like this, but where I work there’s no such thing as ‘sick days’. Tell you what, we can go out for dinner tonight and we’ll talk about everything," he told her as he finished getting ready quickly and rushed out the door. "Fine," she replied, as the door slammed shut. She looked at the rat in the cage on the table. "Should I have told him about that really bad case of bed head?" --------------------------- "Fawkes, where have you been? The fat man's been looking for you and he's ticked," Hobbes started. "Sorry. My alarm didn't go off," he replied as he met Hobbes in the hall. "We better get into his office, but if I were you I'd do something about that hair first," Hobbes smirked. "What?" Darien asked, as a hand went up to check his hair. "Dammit," he groaned. "This day is starting off horrible." He grumbled as he tried to do what he could with his hair as they walked to The Official's office. "Where were you?" The Official shouted. "I overslept," Darien replied as he sat down.   "Eberts," The Official started. "I've already noted it," Eberts replied hastily writing down the note on a piece of paper. "You know, I think I do enough around here to be allowed to be late every once and a while," Darien said in his whiny 'I'm the one with the gland' tone of voice. "Hey, I do just as much as you, visible the whole time, and I'm still on time every morning," Hobbes argued. "Both of you be quiet," The Official snapped. "We don't have time for this. We brought you here to tell you that we have a solo mission for Hobbes, and until it's completed Darien will be here helping the Keeper catch up with paper work." "Why is Hobbes going on mission I can't go on?" he asked as he sat forward in his chair. "That's classified," The Official answered. "What?" Darien whined, sounding half-insulted. "I’m finally getting some recognition," Hobbes started. "And all he can do is complain." "That's not what I meant," Darien countered. "Save this for later. Darien go report to the Keeper." Hobbes watched as his partner sulked out the door. "So why can't Fawkes come on this mission?" Hobbes asked. "Because he becomes too emotional when family is involved," The Official replied. "Family?" Hobbes looked surprised as Eberts handed him a folder. He opened it up to see the police record of Amanda Fawkes. "How are they related? He's never mentioned a sister." "She is his cousin." Eberts stated. "We need to you bring her in." "Why do you need her?" Hobbes asked suspiciously. "That’s classified," The Official replied coldly. "Of course it is." Hobbes muttered as he looked back at the folder.   "Looks like she was following in Fawkes’s steps there for a while. Either she got better, or got a new job. Is that why you’re after her? She steal something from you?" he asked. "Classified," was all The Official would respond. -------------------------- "I want to know how Hobbes would be better suited to a mission than me," Darien complained. "There could be lots of reasons," Claire replied, not looking up from her pile of papers. "Actually, I think you’re being childish about this. For someone who doesn't even want to work here you get rather upset when you get what you want.” "This wasn't what I wanted," he countered. He knew there had to be a reason specific to him, or they would send him out on the mission. He was their top agent, albeit not by choice. "I think you’re jealous that Bobby is getting more attention than you." "I am not. I just want to know what they are hiding from me," he added. "What makes you think they’re hiding something from you?" she asked. "You think they would send Hobbes alone on a mission unless there was something they didn't want me to know?" he asked her. "I hate to admit it, but you’re right," she said as she handed him some papers. "Put these in the file cabinet," she instructed. "They won't be able to hide this from me for long ... Hobbes will fill me in, right?" he asked. "I don't know, it is classified." "Not you to." The doors to the keep opened and Hobbes came in. "Hobbes, hey man," Darien exclaimed, thinking he would be saved from fileing papers for a few minutes. Hobbes looked at him, debating whether to ask him about his cousin. He didn't really want to keep it a secret from his partner. But Darien was rather sensitive when it came to his family, and that also meant that he would probably be biased when it came to judging her. Hobbes decided that he would keep it to himself for a while, unless he decided that he needed to tell Darien. "So they got you stuck on desk duty?" Hobbes asked, changing the mood of the room and hopefully steering Darien away from asking him about the case. "More like secretary duty. She's the one who gets to sit down," Darien said pointing at Claire while he filed papers. "Well, you’re doing something helpful, be glad," Claire smiled. "I could be doing something more helpful at home," he grumbled. "Like what, sleep?" Hobbes asked sarcastically. "Actually, my cousin is visiting for a few days, I could be catching up with her," he replied as he headed back over to the chair to sit, only to have the Keeper hand him some more papers. "Your cousin?" Hobbes said, suddenly alert. "Yeah," Darien said, looking confused at Hobbes’s reaction. "I didn’t know you had a cousin." Hobbes replied, going back to being casual. "Yeah. Amanda, but I think of her more as a sister than a cousin. She was my aunt and uncle’s kid. She was born when I was eight, and we were already living with them, so we grew up like siblings instead of cousins," Darien told him as he went back to the filling cabinet and started sorting the papers. "So she’s basically your sister then?" Hobbes asked. "Yeah," Darien replied. ‘Great, the Official wants me to bring in his sister,' Hobbes thought to himself. "I haven’t seen her for a few years, I can’t wait to catch up at dinner." Darien smiled. "Well I gotta go work on this case. I’ll see you later Fawkes, Keeper," he told them, smiling at Claire as he left. ‘Okay, I think maybe I should do some checking on Amanda before I bring her in and cause a lot of problems,’ Hobbes thought to himself as he went to his office. He decided to follow Darien and Amanda when they went to dinner. After all, she might tell him what was going on. --------------------------- "Looks like a nice place," Amanda admired as they walked into the restaurant. "I remembered that you like Italian food," Darien said. "I like food in general," she told him with a smile. "I remembered that too, but I had to pick somewhere to go," he laughed as they sat down in the booth. They were both quiet until after they ordered. "So, you gonna tell me what's really going on?" Darien asked. "I told you the truth," she insisted. "Cut the crap Amanda, I know you and you’re hiding something," he snapped. "Look at me," she pleaded. "I was framed." "But that's not why you're in trouble," Darien said as he realized it. "See, Kevin isn't the only smart one in the family," she said leaning back. "No, but he was the un-challenged champion," Darien countered. "Are you going to tell me what's up?" he asked also leaning back. Amanda sat up straight and sighed. "I'm not real sure how to tell you this." "Come on, you've always told me everything else," he urged. "And you turned me in," she replied coldly. "Come on, how bad could it be?" he asked. "It involves the Agency." "Whoa, this isn't getting off to a good start," he said as the words sank in. "How did you get involved with the Agency?" Darien asked after a moment. "I called, looking for you when I was framed. I was going to jail for life, and then I remembered that you got out, I wanted to know your secret." "How come I never heard about any of this?" he asked. "Because The Official was the one who talked to my lawyer, and he gave me a deal," she answered. "It can't possibly be as bad as the deal that they gave me," he groaned. "Oh yes it could be," she said in a voice more sincere than was nomraly like her. "Give me your hand." "Why?" he asked. "Just do it," she said in an exasperated tone. "Fine." She took it between her two smaller hands and closed her eyes. Darien felt the familiar feel of quicksilver and pulled his hand back only to find his fingers covered in it. "How did you do that?" he said as he quickly hid his hand when the waitress came by. "Remember dad's papers about the gland? Everything you need to create one, but not for taking it out?" she asked. "The Official had them use it to make another gland?" Darien said more as a statment then a question, realizing what she was saying. "Yeah, they figured that it would help in learning how to take it out, if they could repeat Kevin’s research in implantation," she explained. "Well, did it help?" he asked. "Not enough to be worth it." She frowned, Darien’s hopeful look fading at her words. "You won’t rat me out will you?" she asked. "I would never do that, not to them. Hey, Quicksilver’s thicker than water," he told her getting her to smile. "You’re right, it is." --------------- "Cute, Fawkes," Hobbes smirked. He was sitting in the van across the street from the restaurant. Darien didn't even notice the microphone that was in his pocket. It was Hobbes’s own equipment, he had ‘borrowed' when he left the FBI. The Agency didn't give him good enough equipment for this. The rest of their conversation seemed to avoid the gland. Hobbes couldn't believe that they were related. Amanda had blond hair and green eyes, thought he suspected that the hair was dyed. There was some resemblance in the way that they acted, or facial expressions that they would use. Athough she defintetly did not inherite the family height. Not that she was short. But like most people she did look short when she stood next to Darein. She also had a much better sense of taste than Darien/ ‘He’s probably the only one who didn’t get the ‘good taste’ gene in the family.” Hobbes joked to himself, before getting back to the matter at hand. "What is it with this family and getting involved with the Agency?" Hobbes asked himself as the two left the restaurant and got into Darien's car. Hobbes took off the headphones and started the van. Everything seemed fine until Darien pulled over, and waved at him out the window. Hobbes pulled the van in behind the car, since he was already caught. Darien got out of the car and walked over to the van. "What are you doing?" he asked. "My job. The boss man wanted me to find that cousin of yours," he stated. "So you're going to turn her in?" Darien asked. "The official said find her. I never heard anything about bringing her in," Hobbes added. "Hey, thanks man," Darien sighed. "This is temporary, until you can get all this settled with the Official," Hobbes said. "I'll go talk to him tomorrow morning. I was planning on it anyway. I'm getting really sick and tired of him screwing with me and my family," he finished. "Fawkes, you had better calm down before tomorrow," Hobbes said. "Don't count on it," Darien grumbled. "Well, I gotta go, need to go by the store and pick up some Advil, Amanda's getting a headache," he sighed. ------------- “I’ll be fine, I just haven’t slept in a few days,” Amanda said as she walked into the apartment, and Darien followed behind her. “I just want to be sure, you never know,” Darien said as he shut the door and went into the kitchen to get some water. He wasn’t at all surprised to turn around and see Amanda laying on his bed. He took the Advil out of the bag he had carried in, and took the glass of water over to the bed. “I’m sorry,” Amanda said before she sat up and took the bottle from him and opened it. “What?” he asked confused as she took the pills, and took a sip of water. “For causing you so much trouble....and not just now. I know I shouldn’t have come to you and put you in that situation last time,” she told him before putting the glass on the nightstand and laying down. “You didn’t know, and where else were you going to go? To Kevin's?” he said with a laugh. “He wouldn’t have been as nearly as nice about it as I was. Besides, it didn’t matter where you would have gone, it would have been the same result,” he told her. “Uh huh,” she mumbled as she started to fall asleep. Darien took her shoes off and pulled the covers over her. She had changed a lot since the last time he had seen her. It was almost like every time he saw her after a few years, she was a new person. It also made him angry. She was still trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, she still had a chance, but now that was gone. If she was right about not being involved in the crime, she could have gotten out on appeal or something. This way there was no chance, and she was going to be stuck at the Agency for the rest of her life. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he didn’t want that to happen. --------------   "Okay, now Fawkes stay calm, this kind of situation calls for cool heads," Hobbes whispered to Darien as he stormed down the hall. "Don't worry I know exactly what I'm going to say," he fumed as he opened the door. "What is it, Fawkes?" The Official asked sounding annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of the going through some paper work. "When were you going to tell me my cousin was another one of your lab rats?" he asked casually. "What did you tell him?" The Official asked Hobbes angrily. "I didn't say a word, she told him," Hobbes said. "Where do you get off doing that to her? She's only 23, she had her whole life ahead of her," Darien said sounding very upset. "She was going to prison for life. I saved her the same way I saved you," he replied. "No, it's not the same. She didn't screw up her life. You could have let her go," he said. "Now what kind of deal would that have been?" The Official asked. "You're a real piece of work you know that?" Darien shouted. "I try," The Official smiled sarcastically. "Where is she?" Eberts interjected. "Why should I tell you?" he asked. "She needs her shots just like you. We modeled the gland after the one in your head, same flaws." "Why did she leave if she needs counter-agent?" Darien asked. "She hasn't had her first Quicksilver madness episode yet, so she hasn't been told. She was informed that the shots she was recieveing were antibotics," Eberts put in. "How long till she needs a shot?" Darien asked, now sounding worried. "Any time now, which is why we need to find her soon," The Official informed him. "Aw, crap," Darien said as he rushed out of the office followed by Hobbes. "Why didn't I think of that?" he said as he got in the van, starting it while Hobbes climbed into the passenger side. "Come on Fawkes, I didn't think of it either. She'll probably be fine when we get there." Hobbes said trying to reassure his partner. "I hope you’re right." Darien said. ----------------- "You were wrong." Darien groaned as he entered the trashed apartment. "This isn't good. Where did she go?" Hobbes asked.   "Who said I went anywhere, Bobby boy?" Amanda purred from somewhere in the room. "Aw crap," they both said in unison as Bobby pulled out his gun. "You gonna shoot me? I don't think you have it in you," she said as she de-quicksilvered. She was sitting on the kitchen counter. Darien couldn't help but looked at her shocked. He had gone quicksilver mad, but he had never witnessed it in someone else; just way her eyes looked was disturbing. The person he was looking at wasn’t Amanda. She started playing with Darien the rat, tapping on his cage. "You need to come with us, Amanda." Darien lowered his hands trying not to threaten her. "We can get you some counter-agent, it'll make you normal again." "Why would I want that?" she asked as she jumped off the counter. "I like myself much better this way." She took a few more steps forward and Hobbes aimed his gun. She looked at it, then raised her gaze to look at the pair again. "Oh, you think I'm afraid of that? I've got nothing left to lose, buddy. Shoot me if you want, I'm taking one of you with me," she said as she lunged at Darien. There was a shot, but it hadn't come from Hobbes. Amanda stopped in her tracks and reached behind her to take a tranquilizer dart out of her back. "Now, that wasn't very nice," she said when she turned to the Keeper. Amanda's eyes rolled back in her head and she fell forward, caught by Hobbes. "How did you get here?" Darien asked Claire as they brought Amanda to the van. "The Official called and told me that you had found her, so I came knowing that she was going to need a shot soon," she replied. "You knew about her?" he asked. "Not until it was too late to stop her," she sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. "I hadn't exactly found a good time to walk up and say ‘By the way, Darien, your cousin has a gland and the Official doesn't want me to tell you.’ Timing is everything," she explained. "I guess," he groaned as he got into the back of the van with Amanda. He held her hand the whole way to the Agency. He remembered his reaction the first time he had he had gone Quicksilver mad. He couldn’t believe how he had acted when he woke up, all he wanted after that was to get rid of that gland and all the problems that came with it. He was still extremely angry that she had to go through this, she was like a sister to him. He wished that he could just wave a hand and make it all better, but he could only wish for things to be that easy. In reality, there was nothing he could do. He felt the van stop and Claire came around the back and opened the doors. There were some agents waiting with a gurney to take Amanda inside. He had to let go of her hand for them to get her out of the van. They brought her to the lab and transferred her to the chair. Claire got out a shot of counteragent and injected Amanda. "How long is she going to be asleep?" Darien asked. "A couple more hours," she replied. "Can we move her somewhere more comfortable?" Darien asked. "We can move her to a bed in another lab," Claire told him, smiling slightly. After they had her moved Darien grabbed a chair and sat next to the bed. He only laid down his head for a minute, but he was asleep within seconds, emotionally and physically drained.   Amanda slowly opened her eyes. She looked around the room. She didn't recognized where she was, but she did recognize that snoring. She turned her head to see Darien asleep with his head lying on the bed. She flicked his ear until he woke up. "Stop that!" he said as he finally sat up. "I was having a good dream," he whined. "What about?" she asked. "That none of this ever happened, the gland never existed, and no one was every arrested," he said with a sigh. "Nope, that's too good for us," she said sarcastically. She was quiet for a few moments after that "What happened to me?" she asked. "It's a side affect of the gland, Quicksilver madness. You need a shot every 6 days, or when this gets close to full," he said pointing to his indicator. “So that’s what those shots were about...” she muttered to herself as she looked at the snake tatoo. "When do I get one of those?" she asked. "You already have," he said holding up her arm. There was rose on it. "The different petals turn green as you reach maximum," he explained. "I'm going to be trapped here for the rest of my life aren't I?" she asked. "Just as long as I am," Darien answered. "Hey, at least I'm not alone." She smiled. "I got you to teach me everything I need to know." "You’re luckier than I was." "Well, that's what you always tried to do for me, make my life easier than yours," she said. "This wasn't exactly what I had in mind," he sighed. "Me either," she said smiling. "What do you think they’re going to do with me now?" she asked. "Probably make you an agent, probably pair you with a partner. I doubt they'll let us work together," he frowned. "Well, you’re really making me feel better." She grinned as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "Whoa, should you be getting up?" Darien asked. "I feel fine, and I've got 6 days right?" she asked. "Approximately." "Well, I don't want to stay here, and I think I should get working on cleaning up that apartment. I kind of trashed it." She winced. "Fine, we better go before the Keep shows up. She'll never let you go," he said. "Keep?" Amanda asked confused. "That's another thing about having a Q-gland…" he started to explain. They were walking down the hall when they bumped into Hobbes. "Where are you two going?" he asked suspiciously. "I’m going to go help Darien clean up his apartment. After all, I trashed it," Amanda stated. "The Keeper is letting you go?" Hobbes asked. "Don’t worry Hobbes, she has to come back for a shot just like me. She’s not going to be running out on the Agency again," Darien remarked. "Fine, I’ll see you both tomorrow then?" he asked them. "Unfortunately," Amanda groaned as she and Darien turned away and continued walking down the hall. "So, he’s your partner?" Amanda asked. “I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him the last couple of times we saw each other.” "Yeah, Bobby Hobbes," he told her. "This is an interesting place." Amanda commented. "It always has been, and trust me, it only gets worse…" he said as they continued walking.   Cause by tomorrow, I’ll have this thing beat, and everything will be back the way it was, and I wish that it was just that easy…I don’t want to run away from this, but I know that I just don’t need this…cause I’m somewhere in between…This cannot be happening…What is real? And what’s a dream? -Life House, Somewhere in between