Mated To An Enemy

Myka took a deep breath and nodded with a gentle smile.

Every relationship was different.

While Myka had also lost his parents, his memories of them had long been tainted by the horrors of the last year he had spent as their science experiment. Peter didn't have bad memories of his parents. They were good people that he still missed to this day.

This wasn't something Peter could share with Myka, but it was something he could share with Sadie and eventually with Stefan.

Peter was extending his hand to Sadie as his parents had taught him to do through their actions.

He would never be a man who could easily tell his family or friends he loved them. He would never stop feeling shy around others when Myka displayed his affection. He would always show his concern through criticism and cutting remarks.

But he was also the man that wanted to heal all those around him. He traveled across the territories to yell at Myka because he thought something might have happened to him. The same man that risked his life to keep Sadie safe. That told her to run and then prepared to die in hopes that his death would give her the time to escape.

Peter had a different way of communicating his love and affection for people. A way to let them know just how important they were to him.

When they had talked about the adoption with Sadie and Stefan, they had told them that they would never pressure either of them to think of Peter and Myka as their parents.

Peter had wanted to make it clear that he nor Myka would ever expect to be called dad, but they would always be there for Sadie and Stefan.

They promised that no matter what the future brought, they would always have a home and a family with them.

But here he was, telling Sadie she was his mother's granddaughter.

‘Then what does that make you, Peter, if not her dad...' Myka laughed to himself.

He put his arm around Sadie's shoulders and pulled her close. Sadie leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and then rested his chin there.

Myka also had a different way of communicating than Peter did, but he was a little more straightforward.

“I know that Peter and I told you and Stefan that we don't expect you to think of us as your parents,” he whispered. “But I hope you won't mind that we think of you as our daughter.”

Sadie was quiet, but after a moment, she took a breath.

“How could I accept a gift like this if I did,” she whispered.

Myka smiled and closed his eyes as he squeezed her and kissed her head again.

“Good girl,” he whispered back.

After a few silent moments, another voice joined their conversation.

“What do you think of me?”

Myka looked over his shoulder to see Stefan standing only about a foot away. The look on his face and how he avoided Myka's gaze made it clear that he felt uncomfortable and anxious.

Myka pulled away from Sadie so he could turn to look at Stefan.

“Would you like to sit with us, Stefan?” he asked.

Stefan swallowed, and with a quick glance, he nodded. He moved around them, sitting down in the dirt beside the fire to look at it rather than at them. But even from the side, he clearly wore a pout on his face.

Sadie and Myka looked at each other with a knowing smile. Myka gestured for Sadie to speak to Stefan.

“Hey,” Sadie called to him.

“What,” Stefan replied, refusing to turn and look at her.

“Why are you pouting?” Sadie asked, leaning forward and poking his shoulder.

Stefan shook his shoulders, trying to knock her hand away.

“I'm not pouting,” he huffed.

“Looks like you're pouting to me,” she said.

“I'm not!” he huffed again.

“Stefan,” Myka called to him now.

Stefan glanced but didn't turn to look at Myka.

“What did you mean?” Myka asked. “When you asked what I thought of you?”

Myka was sure that Stefan had overheard the conversation between him and Sadie. He had heard Myka ask her if it was all right for him and Peter to think of her as their daughter. Did Stefan want to know who he was to them?

Stefan kept his eyes on the fire. He didn't respond to Myka's question.

“What's that?” Stefan asked, waving his hand at the journal.

“It was a gift from Peter,” Sadie smiled. “A journal that belonged to his mother.”

“Oh,” Stefan said.

“Actually,” Sadie continued. “I think it might have originally been his grandmother's. At the beginning of the journal, it has different handwriting. And some of the later notes mention that ‘mother was right' when talking about some of the revisited plants.”

Myka smiled and nodded.

“Makes sense,” he said. “Nomads tend to pass on journals, maps, things like that to their children when they go their separate ways. Peter's family came from a long line of nomads.”

Sadie looked down at the journal in her hands and smiled again. Stefan saw this action. He turned away and swallowed the lump in his throat before glancing back at Myka.

“What about your family?” Stefan asked.

Myka licked his lips and smiled.

“I'm the first nomad in my family,” he said.

“So, no maps or journals to pass down, huh?” Stefan sighed, scratching his boot into the dirt at his feet.

The comment didn't seem to hold any particular feeling from Stefan. But something about it made Myka feel like he needed to explain. Like he needed to reassure Stefan and Sadie that it wasn't that he didn't want to share his past with them, just that it wasn't a happy story.

Myka took a deep breath.

“I have nothing to give either of you from my parents,” Myka said with a heavy sigh. “Even if I ever had anything of theirs, I wouldn't have kept it. And I wouldn't want either of you to have anything from them or to know them. They were.... Not good people.”

A heavy silence passed between them all. Stefan was the first to break it.

“Did they hurt you?” he asked quietly.

Myka nodded.

“Like Holden hurt me?” Sadie asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Myka closed his eyes and swallowed.

“I told you before that I also had been to the lab,” he said softly.

Sadie nodded.

“It was my parents that took and kept me there,” he said.

Sadie's eyes widened, and then she looked away.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

Myka lowered his eyes and gave a soft smile. “It's all right.”

“No, it's not,” Stefan said firmly.

Myka lifted his eyes to the boy sitting before him. Stefan looked back at him with a serious and firm expression.

“It's not all right,” Stefan repeated. “Parents are supposed to love and protect their children. Always.”

Myka swallowed. He felt a heaviness in his belly.

“Like my dad did at the Reef, my mom... when she got us out,” Stefan continued. “And my sister....”

His voice faltered at the mention of his sister. Stefan looked away but continued to speak.

“It's not all right that your parents did that to you,” he said. “Family should protect you, just like you and Peter protected Sadie.”

The heavy feeling in Myka's stomach was growing into his chest. He didn't know what it was or how to get rid of it. But he knew it was related to Stefan and the serious look in his eyes.

“Stefan...” Myka whispered. He swallowed, trying to think of what he could say to ease Stefan's mind. “I just meant... that it was ok because Alice saved me... she got me out, and I was all right in the end.”

“Of course she did,” Stefan replied with a nod. Then, after a moment, he added, “I would have to.”

Stefan looked down at the book Peter had given Sadie, then up at Sadie and Myka.

“I would protect all of you,” he said quietly.

Stefan met Myka's eyes only for a moment before he turned away toward the fire without another word.

‘I see...' Myka thought to himself. The heavy feeling in his stomach and chest, the serious look in Stefan's eyes... they made sense now. ‘So, this is how you communicate....'

Myka looked down at his hands and smiled. He wished Peter could be here for this moment.

It would take time to earn their place in Stefan's heart. But at least Myka knew now that there was a place for them in it.