What's Next? -- Chapter 12

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, 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 (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Caroline opened the door to her house and walked inside. “Jenny? I’m finally home.”

“I’m in my room, Mom,” Jenny yelled back.

“I’ll be right there,” Caroline said. She turned to Jenny’s babysitter, who had just entered the room from the kitchen. “Thank you so much for looking after Jenny.” She opened her purse and took out some money and handed it to the babysitter.

“It was no problem,” the babysitter said cheerfully. She took the money, picked up her things, and left.

Caroline watched her leave and locked the front door before she walked upstairs to Jenny’s room. She saw that the door was closed, so she knocked on it. “Can I come in, sweetie?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jenny said.

“Thank you,” Caroline said. She opened the door and walked inside the room and saw Jenny sitting on her bed looking out the window. “Did you and Missy have a good time?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Jenny said.

“What’s wrong, Jenny?” Caroline asked, concerned.

“I don’t know,” Jenny said. “I guess it’s this whole thing with Dad. I still don’t get it. Why did Dad want to kill you? You didn’t do anything bad.”

“I know,” Caroline said.

Jenny looked at Caroline nervously. “Mom? If Dad wanted to kill you and helped do or covered up or whatever it was that you said he did with that stuff, does that mean that he was really bad, like evil bad? Does that make me as bad?”

“No, not at all,” Caroline said. She gave Jenny a big hug. “Everybody’s different. People go through different experiences. Your father made certain choices earlier in his life and he most likely didn’t know where they would take him.” I personally doubt it. “Regardless of what your father did, he wasn’t all bad. He was funny and smart and he loves you very much.” She let Jenny go and smiled. “You only inherited the best parts of your father. You are not bad. You are a perfectly normal, wonderful girl.”

“Thank you, Mom,” Jenny said. “Is Dad or that other guy going to get in trouble or go to jail for what they did?”

“No,” Caroline said. She mentally sighed in frustration as she recalled the conversation that she and Dennis had with the president after the first day of negotiations had ended. “Neither your father nor Mr. Lydecker will not be prosecuted for what they did. It’s complicated.”

“Weird grown-up complicated?” Jenny guessed.

Caroline couldn’t help laughing. “Exactly.”

“Okay,” Jenny said. “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“I’m glad I have a brother and a sister now,” Jenny said. “Being an only child is boring.”

“They aren’t going to be living here with us,” Caroline pointed out.

“I know that,” Jenny said. “It’s still nice not to be an only child.”

“I know,” Caroline said. She looked at the clock next to Jenny’s bed. “You’ve still got more than an hour before you need to start getting ready for bed. Do you want me to make you a quick snack?”

“No, I think I’ll just read,” Jenny said.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Caroline said. She left Jenny’s room and walked down the hall to her own room and went inside. She walked to her closet and opened it and pulled out a box marked ‘home movies’ and randomly took out a DVD and opened the case and popped the disc into the DVD drive on her laptop at her desk and sat down and watched it.

Oh my God, I remember this! Chris’ twelfth birthday party. She grinned as the watched the converted movie. I still remember that old movie camera. When did Dad finally get the first camcorder, that kind of huge thing? Eighty-six? Eighty-seven?

She saw Chris grinning and apparently talking with another boy his age and sighed. I would have to pick a home movie that had Donald in it. She saw her younger self, not even five years old at the time, walk up to the two older boys but Lydecker made a face at her and her younger self pouted. Caroline shook her head. The old footage didn’t have sound, but she remembered the exchange perfectly.

“Chris? My sneaker came untied and Daddy’s too busy helping Mommy with the cake to tie it again. Will you do it?”

Lydecker made a face at her. “We’re talking, Caroline.”

Caroline pouted. “I’m sorry, but I almost tripped.”

“Relax, Donnie,” Chris said. He bent down and tied Caroline’s sneaker. “There you go, Caroline.”

“Sorry I snapped at you,” Lydecker apologized.

Caroline stared at him for a few seconds before she shrugged. “It’s okay. Chris, did you see my Barbie doll? The new one?”

“You left it in your room,” Chris said.

“Thank you,” Caroline said. She started to walk away.

“If we’re lucky, she’ll get less annoying once she finally turns five,” Lydecker said.

“She’s not annoying and you know it,” Chris said. “You only think that she’s annoying because she’s my little sister. You even think that Lisa’s younger sister is annoying.”

“I guess so,” Lydecker said. Caroline continued up the stairs to her room.

Who knew what would happen so many years after that innocent conversation? Caroline thought as she continued to watch the movie. The phone rang and she clicked to pause it and grabbed the phone. “Hello?”

“Sweetheart, what is going on?”

“I guess you heard about the interview, Dad,” Caroline said. I knew he’d call me before the night was over.

Caroline’s father sighed. “Caroline, they broadcast the interview nationwide. I saw the entire thing. Why didn’t you say anything to me sooner? Why didn’t you tell any of your brothers? Were you telling the truth?”

“What you heard was the nice version,” Caroline said. She filled her father in on the entire story.

“My…the whole time, Donald was…” Caroline’s father was at a loss for words. “Still, Caroline, why didn’t you tell us any of this earlier?”

“I was trying to protect all of you, Dad,” Caroline said. “Those bastard breeding cult members tried to kill me and Jenny and Dennis because of who we are. If Becky’s boyfriend hadn’t been watching Jenny and if Zack and Becky themselves hadn’t been trailing Dennis and me at that park, we’d be dead. I don’t doubt for a minute that if they’d succeeded, they would have moved on to you guys. I didn’t want to drag you into this mess. I didn’t want you to worry.”

“I’m supposed to worry. You’re my only daughter,” Caroline’s father said, but he sounded calmer than before.

Caroline couldn’t help laughing. “You’re starting to sound like Mom.”

“Maybe I am,” he conceded.

“You definitely come out a winner in this,” Caroline said. “You’ve got two more grandchildren. That brings your total to eleven now. Now you can finally brag to that guy Anderson that you have more grandchildren than he does.”

“Very funny, you little smart aleck,” Caroline’s father said. They both laughed. “Pete and his family are getting into Columbus next week. If you can make it, come by and…and bring Zack and Becky with you. If they have somebody that they’d like to bring along, that’s fine as well. I’d also like to meet Dennis if it’s possible.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Caroline said. “The wrap-up work here is almost done and with any luck, I’ll get some leave. Pete will probably get a kick out of seeing Dennis. They were on the football team together back at West Point for Pete’s last two years there.”

“Mom? Are you on the phone?”

“Just a second, Dad,” Caroline said. She put a hand over the receiver. “Yes, Jenny, I’m on the phone with your grandpa. Do you want to talk to him before you go to bed?”

“Yeah,” Jenny yelled back.

“That was just Jenny,” Caroline said. “She wants to talk to you.”

“I can’t wait,” Caroline’s father said, laughing. “Put her on.”

“Here she is,” Caroline said, handing the phone to Jenny, who had just come into the room. She got up and walked outside of the room to give Jenny some privacy and smiled a little to herself. I’m glad Dad took the news as well as he did. I hope Danny and Pete do as well!

TBC