Thwarted Dreams -- Chapter 16

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Colonel Lydecker, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Caroline, etc.).

Caroline sat smiling as she fixed herself a snack in the kitchen a little more than nine months later. Work went smoothly, Jenny got an A on her math test, she got to go to her friend’s slumber party, and I spend a nice quiet night here with my potato chips and the program that I’m recording for Jenny for company. Everybody’s happy.

She laughed to herself as she took her plate of chips into the living room and sat down and hit record on the DVD recorder. When was the last time I actually watched a kids’ show? She lost interest in the program quickly and picked up the pencil that was lying on the coffee table in front of her and a newspaper. She frowned when she saw the headline that was on the front page.

Can’t they find better things to report about? They never did anything wrong, or at least nothing that normal people have done. They’re just people. She sighed in annoyance and flipped to the crosswords, but her mind was miles away. I hope that Zack’s doing okay, wherever he is. I’m worried about him. Do I really have a right to worry? I’ve never met my own boy. He most likely doesn’t know that I exist. She shook her head vehemently. No. He’s my son. I never gave him up. He was stolen from me. I have every right in the world to worry about him.

Caroline nodded to herself and started to work on the crossword. Seven letter word for deceit…hey, both husband and Patrick work! She snorted. Get a grip, Caroline. You’ll only be legally married to the fucker for another month and then the divorce will be final and then I won’t have that name attached to mine and I’ll only have to see him at work or when I’m dropping Jenny off at his house the first weekend of every month. She calmed down and continued to work on the crossword puzzle until the something on the TV caught her attention.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for this special report,” a male news anchor said. “We have just received some new information from the NSA. Apparently, four people in the Seattle area have been positively identified as and confirmed to be transgenic.”

Caroline looked at the TV as four pictures came up and gasped. That’s Zack! My God, he is in trouble. There was a picture of a young woman that she found irritatingly familiar. I know her. I swear I know her from somewhere, but I can’t think of where. There was a picture of another young man and finally a picture of a second young woman a few years younger than the first one. Caroline’s jaw hit the floor when she saw her picture. Oh my…she’s…I have a daughter too? I have another child? She knew it was true, especially seeing the picture next to Zack’s.

“The man whose picture you see in the upper left hand corner is X5-599, the woman in the bottom left is X5-452, the man in the bottom right is X5-494, and the girl in the upper right is X6-405. All four of them were among the estimated three thousand or so transgenics that escaped the Manticore facility just outside of Seattle, Washington when it burned to the ground last June. X5-599, who is also known by the alias ‘Zack,’ and X5-452, who is also known by the alias ‘Max,’ were among 12 young transgenics who escaped the Manticore facility that was located in Gillette, Wyoming back in March of 2009 and were two of four of those 12 transgenics who returned there and destroyed Manticore’s DNA lab. While the other two unfortunately got away, 599 and 452 were recaptured. X5-494 grew up in the Seattle facility. He has no aliases that are known at this time. X6-405, who is also known by the alias ‘Becky,’ grew up in the facility in Wyoming with 599 and 452 and was transferred to the Seattle facility when Manticore consolidated all three of it’s facilities shortly after the destruction of it’s DNA lab. While these people were last sighted in the Seattle, Washington area, the current whereabouts of all four of them are unknown. If you see any or all of these four transgenics, inform the authorities immediately. Do NOT go after them yourselves as they are highly trained and highly dangerous. We will be bringing you this information again at the top of the hour and again on the ten o’clock news. This has been a special report from the Channel 3 news desk and we will return you now to your regularly scheduled program.”

The program returned, but Caroline’s mind was nowhere near paying attention to it. I have a daughter…I have two daughters, Becky and Jenny…and my son… She narrowed her eyes as she felt that hot burning rage, the same one that she’d felt the day that she’d found out about Zack, return. That’s why they tried to kill me! They knew that since I found that information about Zack, I could conceivably get hold of more of Patrick’s information in the future and if something involving Becky was included among it and I found out about her, I’d be planning on snatching her somehow in a heartbeat. They wanted to keep my daughter in hell…those bastards! She tried to take a deep breath again. It’s okay. It’s okay. The reporter said that their whereabouts were unknown. That means that they’re hiding somewhere and they’re safe. Maybe they’re even hiding together. The thought made her smile. Brother and sister together. Maybe they’re as close as I am with Danny and Pete and I was with Chris. Zack still looks a little like Chris. The hair is the same, the eyes are the same…

She hit the stop button. They’re going to repeat that news bulletin again in half an hour and Jenny’s program ends an hour from now. It’s gonna be shot and Jenny will complain anyway. Lucky for her, it reruns tomorrow night. She brought the DVD back to the news report and hit pause when the pictures came back on the screen. There they are again. My handsome son and my beautiful older daughter. She studied Becky’s picture more closely. She’s got blond hair also. Her eyes are similar to Zack’s and mine, but they’re grey. Very pretty, though. That color’s so familiar. I know I’ve seen somebody with eyes that exact shade of grey before. She looked back and forth between Zack and Becky’s pictures before she suddenly got up and ran upstairs to what used to be Patrick’s office, but what Caroline now used as a storage room, grabbed a box marked ‘College,’ and ran back downstairs. She sat back down on the couch, opened the box, and looked through it until she pulled a small photo album out. Caroline flipped to a page, looked back at the TV, and then back at the picture and smiled.

“Dennis Murphy,” she said softly. He’s their father. There’s no doubt about it. His eyes and Becky’s are the same color and I can see it in both of their faces a little bit. Both of them look like a pretty good mix of Dennis and me. She smiled. Hey, at least I have two kids with somebody I actually like!

Caroline put the box back down and hit stop on the remote again and sat back. Damn, I wish I could call Dennis and let him know. I wish we hadn’t gotten out of touch. I know Dennis will accept it at the absolute least and most likely feel similarly about it. I wasn’t the only one to throw that twenty-five thousand dollar check and watch it burn to ash with a smile on my face!

She turned and looked out the window. They’re out there somewhere and being hunted for no good reason. They’ll come through it. I know they can. They’ve survived the hell that they grew up in and I know that they’ll survive this. If they’re mentally and emotionally anything like Dennis and me, they will. Maybe one day I’ll get to meet them and know them. Maybe Dennis will, too. Maybe. Caroline smiled at that thought and sat back and picked the crossword up again. Wherever you are, Zack and Becky, I love you.

The end!