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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: The characters of the Pretender don't belong to me. No infringement is intended & I'm not making any money from this.
A/N: Many thanks to Rose for putting up with my endless legal questions and to Nancy for encouraging me to continue every time I felt like giving up on this monster. *big hugs*
The Baby Series
Traces of Stars
Melanie-Anne
3 weeks later
Ella Norman stared at her desk, a frown creasing her forehead. Somewhere in the mountain of paperwork was the folder that her boss had asked to see. She was in her second year at the law firm Bellings and Johnson and this was her first big case. When the papers had first printed the stories about the Centre she had been intrigued; when she had been assigned second chair on the prosecution she had been exhilarated, then petrified.
Now she was just exhausted. She'd been up all night in a meeting with Agent Burke and her co-counsel, Lynn Wu.
Locating the folder underneath a newspaper clipping, she quickly flipped through it. Satisfied that all was fine, she hurried to the conference room. Expecting only John Bellings and Lynn, she was surprised to see Burke as well as four other men.
"Ah, Ellie. You're here. Good," John said.
Ella smiled and slipped into her usual seat.
"Miss Norman, I'd like you to meet Jarod Scott, Dr. Sydney Greene, Mr. Broots and Angelo." Burke gestured to each of the men in turn.
Ella's eyes widened and she turned to look at Lynn. Until now, these men had only been names on a piece of paper. "It's nice to meet you," she said as she quickly recalled what she knew about them. The genius, the psychiatrist, the computer technician and the man-child.
"Jarod, Angelo and Broots have managed to decode what was on those files that have been giving us all such a headache," Burke said. "Jarod, would you like to show us what you've found?"
"Certainly." Jarod passed around copies of the files they'd managed to open. "In here you'll find just about everything you'll need to prosecute. Unfortunately a lot of what the Centre did was not recorded. The higher-ups did their best to keep their tracks covered. We did find a list of transactions between the Centre and Russia during the Cold War and, more recently, transactions between the Centre and Iraq. The bank accounts are included as well. And there's a list of names that were mentioned that you might want to investigate."
"There's nothing on Lyle," Burke said suspiciously.
Ella's lightning-quick brain reminded her who Lyle was. They were supposed to prosecute him for murder.
"As I said," Jarod said calmly, "The Centre did not record everything. And you'd be tied up for years if you were to investigate every dirty deed that was sanctioned by the Triumvirate."
Burke shook his head. "I should have known you were up to something when you offered to help."
Jarod smiled. "I assure you, nothing was tampered with. What you see in front of you is exactly what was recovered from the mainframe." He picked up his Halliburton and opened it. "I have something else you'll be interested in."
Ella leaned forward to see what he was doing.
"These are DSA's," Jarod explained. "Digital Simulation Archives. They're what the Centre used to record my simulations on."
"I've never quite understood how that worked," Lynn said. "What exactly do you mean by simulation?"
Sydney cleared his throat and gave a short explanation of the Pretender project and his role in it. When he was finished Jarod slipped a DSA into the player.
"We'll need to keep these," Burke said.
"Of course." Jarod had not brought all of his DSA's. There were some that contained memories he preferred to keep private.
"Thank you for coming all the way to New York," John said, bringing the meeting to an end. "Will you be staying here until the trial starts?"
"No. I have to get back to Maine."
Angelo grinned. "Back to Daughter," he chuckled.
Ella smiled. So what she'd heard about Jarod and Miss Parker had to be true. That would make Jarod Lyle's brother-in-law. Ella wondered how much more complicated this case was going to get.
*
James lay on his prison cot. He was so bored. He'd gone straight from the clinic into custody. His shoulder ached. It was still three weeks before the stitches would be taken out.
He wanted his life back.
"You have a visitor."
James sat up when the guard spoke, surprised. Who'd want to visit me? The only people he could think of were Emily and Miranda but as far as he knew they were still in Maine. Maybe it was Burke.
"Hey, James."
"Jarod! Uh, hi."
"How are you?"
James shrugged. "I've been better. What are you doing down here?"
"Telling Burke and the lawyers what was on the mainframe."
"So I'm a dead man," James groaned.
"No. Someone deleted all references to anything you did. Don't look at me, I didn't alter a thing! It must have been done before you left the Centre."
"Well, it wasn't me."
"Andi asked me to come see you. She worries about you."
"How is she? How's the pregnancy? How's Tommy?"
Jarod smiled. "She's fine. She just misses you. Tommy keeps getting bigger. He asks about you all the time."
James broke his gaze with Jarod and stared at the floor. "And Emily?"
"Miserable, most of the time. She really cares about you, James…. I'm sorry I wasn't more supportive of your relationship."
James let out the breath he'd been holding. "Say hi to everyone for me. And tell my sister to keep that baby safe."
Jarod shook his brother-in-law's hand. "I hope you don't have to stay here much longer."
"Makes two of us."
*
Ella's head pounded. The Centre had done so much that she didn't even know where to begin. Okay, she told herself, start from the top. Big crimes first. She looked up at Lynn who sat opposite with her head in her hands.
"Ellie, what were we thinking, agreeing to do this case?" Lynn groaned.
"That it's the opportunity of a lifetime. Think about it, Lynn, if we win this you could be up for junior partner."
"If we don't die first. This is going to go on forever!"
Ella smiled. "So, let's decide on who's being charged with what and call it a night, shall we?"
"Great idea. So… the Triumvirate…."
*
1 week later
"Excuse me, Mr. Lyle?"
James didn't look up.
"Would you prefer Mr. Bowman?"
"My name is James Parker." Only now did he look up. The man standing in front of him was dressed simply in a black suit. Everything about him screamed 'Centre lawyer.'
"My name is Isaac Henderson. I'm representing the Centre-"
"I'm not interested in helping you," James interrupted.
"Perhaps you don't understand. You are on trial for murder. I'm afraid your options are not unlimited."
"I'm willing to face the consequences of what I did."
"You don't sound so sure of that."
James' eyes narrowed. "The Triumvirate's problem is that they tried to play God. I am not interested in helping you defend them."
"The penalty for murder is death," Henderson reminded him.
"If Raines had gone to the Triumvirate with the information that I had betrayed the Centre, I would have been killed. I didn't intend killing him, I just wanted him out of action until I could get away."
"Fine. So we'll plead self-defense…."
*
Dear James
One month down, only three to go… and then hopefully you'll be free again. Life here is a little crazy. Jarod keeps having to go to New York to meet with lawyers. The last time he went, JJ went too. He came back with a crush on one of the lawyers. Everyone made a huge fuss over him, he says. Apparently they'd never seen a clone before.
Miranda's as moody as ever. The morning sickness has stopped except her temper is even shorter than before. She misses you. Tommy's getting so big. He's made friends with that agent who's staying with us. Did you know that the guy's wife is also pregnant? I feel sorry for him, having to be up here away from her.
Ethan says hi. He says you'd better hurry up and get your ass out of jail so that he can have that game of basketball you promised him.
Anyway, I hope you're doing okay. I think about you all the time. Hope your shoulder is getting better.
I miss you too.
Love Em.
*
1 week later
Miranda hadn't wanted to let everything that was going on affect Tommy's birthday. She, Emily and Margaret had gone all-out for the occasion. The previous day had been spent baking in the kitchen and when JJ had dared venture inside, he'd been chased out by Miranda, who wielded a spatula as effectively as any other weapon she'd ever used.
Tommy seemed to know exactly what day it was and was the first one awake. He toddled into his parents' room and woke them by pulling off the covers. Jarod's yell as the cold air made contact with his skin was what woke the rest of the house. Davies burst into the room, his gun drawn. Seeing that no one was in danger, he muttered his apologies and backed out, straight into Emily.
When Jarod went to investigate how Tommy had managed to climb out his cot, he had to chuckle at his son's ingenuity. Tommy had figured out how to lower the sides of his cot from watching his parents. Once he'd done that, he'd obviously just slid off the bed.
The rest of the family arrived later that afternoon. Even Emily was in a rare good mood and led the 'Happy Birthday' song. Miranda showed Tommy how to blow out the candle. He enjoyed it so much that he insisted on doing it three times.
Emily played photographer when it was time for Tommy to open his presents. He ripped the gift-wrapping off the presents and squealed with delight when he saw all that he had received. Then, exhausted from his busy day, he climbed up onto his grandmother's lap and promptly went to sleep.
*
Ella presented a folder to Lynn and stepped back, biting her lip nervously while Lynn read through it. They'd spent days trying to decide what the charges were going to be. Jarod had been right: to try every applicable charge would take years. The Triumvirate was to be charged with treason, murder and violation of human rights first. In the unlikely event of them beating those charges, they would then have to face charges of kidnapping and fraud. James would face a charge of murder for Raines' death. Had Raines and Mr. Parker been alive, they would have had to face the same charges as the Triumvirate. Once the main charges had been tried, the people who had committed lesser crimes would go to court.
It was going to be a long trial.
"Nice job, Ellie. So, have you found our witnesses yet?"
"What? I've been-"
"I'm kidding," Lynn laughed. "Seriously, you're working hard. But weren't there other people we were going to prosecute? Like Miss Parker?"
Ella shrugged. "The charges were based on the evidence from the files and DSA's."
"So we're just not going to charge her? What about Dr. Green? And Mr. Broots?"
"There's no hard evidence. Besides, Jarod doesn't seem to hold any grudges against them. I mean, he married her, didn't he?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Lynn, let's worry about what we have, okay? Let some people get their happy ending."
Lynn smiled. "You're too romantic, you know that?"
Ella laughed at that. "Yeah, we're a dying breed."
*
2 weeks later
The church was empty when Miranda walked through the doors. She stood still for a moment and looked around. She had never claimed to be religious but after an emotional conversation with Margaret the day before, she had decided to pay a visit to the church. The light filtering through the stained glass windows gave the church an almost unearthly atmosphere.
Miranda rubbed her stomach nervously as she slowly approached the side altar where a statue of the Madonna stood. Her thoughts on her mother, she lit a candle, adding a flame to the scattered few already burning.
"Something on your mind, child?"
Miranda turned to look at the woman who had spoken.
"I'm Sister Mary Bernadette," the nun said.
"Uh, Miranda Scott."
Unlike the younger nuns who wore a more modern habit, Sister Mary Bernadette still wore the traditional habit. Yet far from being conservative, Miranda could see the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Grey hair peeked through a slightly skew wimple and the lines on her face were laugh lines, not wrinkles. She reminded Miranda of a nun she'd been fond of when she'd still attended church with her mother.
"I met your husband the other day," Sister Mary Bernadette said.
"What? Jarod was here?" Miranda was surprised that he hadn't told her.
"Yes," the nun said, smiling. "Congratulations on the baby, by the way."
"Umm, thanks."
"Are you still worried about your brother?"
"Did he tell you about that?"
Sister Mary Bernadette nodded. "One thing I can say is that your lives have been far from boring."
Miranda sighed. "Sometimes I wish things were simpler. Don't misunderstand me, I'm happy. But there's a part of me that can't help worrying about how it will all turn out."
"You've been through worse than this and you've survived, haven't you?"
Miranda nodded.
"You sound like you need something to have faith in," Sister Mary Bernadette observed. She'd always been slightly empathic. It was that and her burning desire to be of service to people that had pointed her in the direction of the Church.
"For all that I've done, I'm surprised I haven't been excommunicated."
"You'd be surprised at a person's capacity for forgiveness."
"No, I've seen how much someone's willing to forgive," Miranda said softly, thinking of Jarod's entire family.
"Then what makes you think He won't forgive you?"
"How did you-?" She broke off. It didn't matter how the nun knew, it mattered that she was right.
Miranda knelt at the pew and looked up at Sister Mary Bernadette, a hesitant smile on her face.
"Will you pray with me, Sister?"
A smile lit up the older woman's face as she took her place beside Miranda.
*
3 days later
Miranda lay on her back on the couch, her head resting in Jarod's lap. His hand lay on her stomach and he lazily traced circles with his index finger. Miranda's eyes were closed and she was on the verge of falling asleep.
It was a rare moment of quiet for the two of them. Emily had gone shopping with the boys and Tommy's grandparents had taken him for the afternoon. Davies had returned home to be with his wife after Burke had decided that there was no risk of anyone running away.
"This is nice," Miranda murmured sleepily.
"Yeah," Jarod agreed, his other hand playing with her hair. "Are you still nervous about the trial?"
"Nah, not so much. Everything will be okay. I just want it over already."
"Me too. Burke said they might move the trial date up."
"Really?" Miranda's eyes snapped open. "That would be great."
"Mm-hmm. I just keep having nightmare visions of you going into labor during in the court room."
Miranda laughed. "I'm sure that would go down well."
"Sometimes I think that this is all just a dream and when I wake up everything will be how it was before. I have to pinch myself to make sure it's real."
Miranda sat up and cupped Jarod's cheek in her palm. "Hey, this is real. I'm real and I'm not-" kiss "-going-" kiss "-anywhere-" kiss.
Jarod smiled, pulling her into his arms. "I love you."
"No, you don't. You just want me for my body," she teased, pouting.
"You've got me there," Jarod laughed.
"Pig!"
Not at all apologetic, Jarod nibbled on her bottom lip, eliciting the desired response when she softened in his arms. He then proceeded to show her exactly just how much he loved her.
*
1 week later
Emily announced over dinner that she was moving out. She couldn't live with Jarod and Miranda forever, she'd reasoned.
"We'll miss you," Jarod said.
"Liar. You'll miss having a babysitter on call," she said.
Jarod and Miranda laughed.
"Yeah, Tommy will miss you, too. Won't you, kiddo?"
Tommy gave an impish grin and shook his head, then stuck a handful of peas into his mouth.
"Of course you'll miss her," Jarod said, pretending to sound stern. "Who else will sneak you candy when your mom's not looking?"
"What?" Miranda looked at Emily.
"I do not do that!" Emily protested. "His father's the one with the sweet tooth."
"That's true," Miranda acknowledged, turning to look at Jarod.
"Uh, Tommy, it's bath time," Jarod said hastily, picking up his son and taking him upstairs, eager to be away from his wife's accusing stare. When he heard the women's laughter, he knew he wasn't in any trouble.
*
2 days later
Ella sipped her coffee slowly as she checked her emails. She'd just finished reading a message from her mother when Lynn walked into the office, a huge smile on her face.
"What's up?" Ella asked.
"Another witness came forward. Well, two actually. They say their daughter was kidnapped in the 'Seventies."
"Ah, the plot thickens. So who's the missing daughter?"
Lynn's smile faded. "Elizabeth Patrick. She, uh, she was in one of Raines' experiments and, uh, died from the complications."
"Oh… Do they know?"
"Yeah, Burke told them."
Ella stared into her mug, thinking about these people who had lost their daughter not once, but twice. Jarod and his family certainly were fortunate, Ella thought. She didn't know about Kyle; he'd never been reported missing and when he'd been 'released' from the Centre, Raines had erased any reference to him. This was fortunate for James – otherwise he would be facing another murder charge.
*
2 weeks later
"Angelo! What are you doing here?"
Miranda walked into her kitchen to find Angelo sitting at the table eating a bowl of cornflakes. He jumped up to hug her, then put his ear to her belly. Then he looked up and grinned. Miranda tousled his hair affectionately.
"Good morning, Miranda."
She turned around to greet Sydney, kissing his cheek. "What are you guys doing up here?"
"We wanted to spend some time with you before things got too hectic," Sydney replied.
"Gwampa!" Tommy tugged on Sydney's pants, demanding to be picked up. Sydney looked at Miranda in delight.
"He called me Grandpa," he said, tears in his eyes.
"As far as we're concerned, you are his grandfather."
Angelo laughed as, his hand on Miranda's stomach, he felt Sara's gentle kick.
"She likes you," Miranda said.
"Sara special."
She kicked again, more forceful this time. Angelo's grin grew even wider.
"Married life suits you," Sydney observed, not for the first time. "You look happy."
"Who would have thought this day would ever come?"
"I had my hopes," he admitted.
That surprised her. She smiled at Sydney, at the man who had been her father in every way that mattered and sent a quick prayer of thanks heavenward.
*
James re-read his sister's latest letter. He was happy that all was well with her. The same could not be said for him though. His lawyer irritated him, he hated prison, he missed his family and he missed Emily. Thankfully, he'd been told that the trial would begin in two weeks instead of four.
He had a feeling that these two weeks were going to be the longest two weeks of his entire life.
*
JJ glared at Burke, sulkily folding his arms across his chest like a typical teenager.
"No!" he repeated emphatically.
Burke sighed. "Won't you even think about it?"
"Agent Burke, let him be," Margaret said. "He's even more stubborn than Jarod. You're not going to win."
"I don't see what the problem is," Burke said.
"The problem is that I was treated like an experiment my whole life. I don't want the jury making a big deal out of me being a clone. I mean, what's the big deal about that anyway?"
"The big deal is that years before scientists around the world cloned a sheep, the Centre created you."
JJ shook his head. "I said no. I'm just like everybody else."
Burke threw his hands in the air, giving up. He had a splitting headache and he'd only been arguing with the boy for half an hour.
*
Ella had to smile at the piece of paper she held in her hand. Somehow word had gotten out that their firm was handling the case and now someone wanted to buy the rights to the book. She crumpled it up and threw it in the bin. Jarod had made it quite clear at the outset that neither he nor his family would even consider such a request.
She checked her diary for the following day before heading home. First on the agenda was a meeting with Burke. She groaned inwardly; he was not her most favorite person.
*
The week leading up to the trial
Everyone was a walking bundle of nerves. Miranda, moodier than ever, went to see Sister Mary Bernadette twice. After yet another argument with Burke, JJ stormed out of his house and begged Jarod if he could stay at their place for a few days. On top of the stress of the upcoming trial, Jarod was upset at losing a patient: a little boy who had fallen into his family's swimming pool and drowned.
Broots and Debbie arrived in town, also hoping for a few days peace before everyone went down to New York.
Tommy had everyone in an uproar when he was stung by a bee. It wasn't serious as he didn't have an allergy but he cried for hours, doing nothing to improve the general mood.
Two days before the trial started, everyone flew to New York. They were met by FBI agents at the airport and, to their dismay, discovered that they would be guarded for the entire duration of the trial. Because it was such a high-profile case, the prosecution didn't want anything to happen to its witnesses.
That night, just before she went to bed, Margaret stood on the balcony of her hotel room. Staring past the city skyline, she searched the sky for the faint traces of stars.
Well, Catherine, she thought, our life's work is finally finished. I just wish you could be here to see it.
Certain that Catherine was smiling down on her, she turned and went back inside. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and she needed her rest.
Now it begins, was her last thought as she climbed into bed next to her husband.
*
A/N: Many thanks to Rose for putting up with my endless legal questions and to Nancy for encouraging me to continue every time I felt like giving up on this monster. *big hugs*
The Baby Series
Traces of Stars
Melanie-Anne
3 weeks later
Ella Norman stared at her desk, a frown creasing her forehead. Somewhere in the mountain of paperwork was the folder that her boss had asked to see. She was in her second year at the law firm Bellings and Johnson and this was her first big case. When the papers had first printed the stories about the Centre she had been intrigued; when she had been assigned second chair on the prosecution she had been exhilarated, then petrified.
Now she was just exhausted. She'd been up all night in a meeting with Agent Burke and her co-counsel, Lynn Wu.
Locating the folder underneath a newspaper clipping, she quickly flipped through it. Satisfied that all was fine, she hurried to the conference room. Expecting only John Bellings and Lynn, she was surprised to see Burke as well as four other men.
"Ah, Ellie. You're here. Good," John said.
Ella smiled and slipped into her usual seat.
"Miss Norman, I'd like you to meet Jarod Scott, Dr. Sydney Greene, Mr. Broots and Angelo." Burke gestured to each of the men in turn.
Ella's eyes widened and she turned to look at Lynn. Until now, these men had only been names on a piece of paper. "It's nice to meet you," she said as she quickly recalled what she knew about them. The genius, the psychiatrist, the computer technician and the man-child.
"Jarod, Angelo and Broots have managed to decode what was on those files that have been giving us all such a headache," Burke said. "Jarod, would you like to show us what you've found?"
"Certainly." Jarod passed around copies of the files they'd managed to open. "In here you'll find just about everything you'll need to prosecute. Unfortunately a lot of what the Centre did was not recorded. The higher-ups did their best to keep their tracks covered. We did find a list of transactions between the Centre and Russia during the Cold War and, more recently, transactions between the Centre and Iraq. The bank accounts are included as well. And there's a list of names that were mentioned that you might want to investigate."
"There's nothing on Lyle," Burke said suspiciously.
Ella's lightning-quick brain reminded her who Lyle was. They were supposed to prosecute him for murder.
"As I said," Jarod said calmly, "The Centre did not record everything. And you'd be tied up for years if you were to investigate every dirty deed that was sanctioned by the Triumvirate."
Burke shook his head. "I should have known you were up to something when you offered to help."
Jarod smiled. "I assure you, nothing was tampered with. What you see in front of you is exactly what was recovered from the mainframe." He picked up his Halliburton and opened it. "I have something else you'll be interested in."
Ella leaned forward to see what he was doing.
"These are DSA's," Jarod explained. "Digital Simulation Archives. They're what the Centre used to record my simulations on."
"I've never quite understood how that worked," Lynn said. "What exactly do you mean by simulation?"
Sydney cleared his throat and gave a short explanation of the Pretender project and his role in it. When he was finished Jarod slipped a DSA into the player.
"We'll need to keep these," Burke said.
"Of course." Jarod had not brought all of his DSA's. There were some that contained memories he preferred to keep private.
"Thank you for coming all the way to New York," John said, bringing the meeting to an end. "Will you be staying here until the trial starts?"
"No. I have to get back to Maine."
Angelo grinned. "Back to Daughter," he chuckled.
Ella smiled. So what she'd heard about Jarod and Miss Parker had to be true. That would make Jarod Lyle's brother-in-law. Ella wondered how much more complicated this case was going to get.
*
James lay on his prison cot. He was so bored. He'd gone straight from the clinic into custody. His shoulder ached. It was still three weeks before the stitches would be taken out.
He wanted his life back.
"You have a visitor."
James sat up when the guard spoke, surprised. Who'd want to visit me? The only people he could think of were Emily and Miranda but as far as he knew they were still in Maine. Maybe it was Burke.
"Hey, James."
"Jarod! Uh, hi."
"How are you?"
James shrugged. "I've been better. What are you doing down here?"
"Telling Burke and the lawyers what was on the mainframe."
"So I'm a dead man," James groaned.
"No. Someone deleted all references to anything you did. Don't look at me, I didn't alter a thing! It must have been done before you left the Centre."
"Well, it wasn't me."
"Andi asked me to come see you. She worries about you."
"How is she? How's the pregnancy? How's Tommy?"
Jarod smiled. "She's fine. She just misses you. Tommy keeps getting bigger. He asks about you all the time."
James broke his gaze with Jarod and stared at the floor. "And Emily?"
"Miserable, most of the time. She really cares about you, James…. I'm sorry I wasn't more supportive of your relationship."
James let out the breath he'd been holding. "Say hi to everyone for me. And tell my sister to keep that baby safe."
Jarod shook his brother-in-law's hand. "I hope you don't have to stay here much longer."
"Makes two of us."
*
Ella's head pounded. The Centre had done so much that she didn't even know where to begin. Okay, she told herself, start from the top. Big crimes first. She looked up at Lynn who sat opposite with her head in her hands.
"Ellie, what were we thinking, agreeing to do this case?" Lynn groaned.
"That it's the opportunity of a lifetime. Think about it, Lynn, if we win this you could be up for junior partner."
"If we don't die first. This is going to go on forever!"
Ella smiled. "So, let's decide on who's being charged with what and call it a night, shall we?"
"Great idea. So… the Triumvirate…."
*
1 week later
"Excuse me, Mr. Lyle?"
James didn't look up.
"Would you prefer Mr. Bowman?"
"My name is James Parker." Only now did he look up. The man standing in front of him was dressed simply in a black suit. Everything about him screamed 'Centre lawyer.'
"My name is Isaac Henderson. I'm representing the Centre-"
"I'm not interested in helping you," James interrupted.
"Perhaps you don't understand. You are on trial for murder. I'm afraid your options are not unlimited."
"I'm willing to face the consequences of what I did."
"You don't sound so sure of that."
James' eyes narrowed. "The Triumvirate's problem is that they tried to play God. I am not interested in helping you defend them."
"The penalty for murder is death," Henderson reminded him.
"If Raines had gone to the Triumvirate with the information that I had betrayed the Centre, I would have been killed. I didn't intend killing him, I just wanted him out of action until I could get away."
"Fine. So we'll plead self-defense…."
*
Dear James
One month down, only three to go… and then hopefully you'll be free again. Life here is a little crazy. Jarod keeps having to go to New York to meet with lawyers. The last time he went, JJ went too. He came back with a crush on one of the lawyers. Everyone made a huge fuss over him, he says. Apparently they'd never seen a clone before.
Miranda's as moody as ever. The morning sickness has stopped except her temper is even shorter than before. She misses you. Tommy's getting so big. He's made friends with that agent who's staying with us. Did you know that the guy's wife is also pregnant? I feel sorry for him, having to be up here away from her.
Ethan says hi. He says you'd better hurry up and get your ass out of jail so that he can have that game of basketball you promised him.
Anyway, I hope you're doing okay. I think about you all the time. Hope your shoulder is getting better.
I miss you too.
Love Em.
*
1 week later
Miranda hadn't wanted to let everything that was going on affect Tommy's birthday. She, Emily and Margaret had gone all-out for the occasion. The previous day had been spent baking in the kitchen and when JJ had dared venture inside, he'd been chased out by Miranda, who wielded a spatula as effectively as any other weapon she'd ever used.
Tommy seemed to know exactly what day it was and was the first one awake. He toddled into his parents' room and woke them by pulling off the covers. Jarod's yell as the cold air made contact with his skin was what woke the rest of the house. Davies burst into the room, his gun drawn. Seeing that no one was in danger, he muttered his apologies and backed out, straight into Emily.
When Jarod went to investigate how Tommy had managed to climb out his cot, he had to chuckle at his son's ingenuity. Tommy had figured out how to lower the sides of his cot from watching his parents. Once he'd done that, he'd obviously just slid off the bed.
The rest of the family arrived later that afternoon. Even Emily was in a rare good mood and led the 'Happy Birthday' song. Miranda showed Tommy how to blow out the candle. He enjoyed it so much that he insisted on doing it three times.
Emily played photographer when it was time for Tommy to open his presents. He ripped the gift-wrapping off the presents and squealed with delight when he saw all that he had received. Then, exhausted from his busy day, he climbed up onto his grandmother's lap and promptly went to sleep.
*
Ella presented a folder to Lynn and stepped back, biting her lip nervously while Lynn read through it. They'd spent days trying to decide what the charges were going to be. Jarod had been right: to try every applicable charge would take years. The Triumvirate was to be charged with treason, murder and violation of human rights first. In the unlikely event of them beating those charges, they would then have to face charges of kidnapping and fraud. James would face a charge of murder for Raines' death. Had Raines and Mr. Parker been alive, they would have had to face the same charges as the Triumvirate. Once the main charges had been tried, the people who had committed lesser crimes would go to court.
It was going to be a long trial.
"Nice job, Ellie. So, have you found our witnesses yet?"
"What? I've been-"
"I'm kidding," Lynn laughed. "Seriously, you're working hard. But weren't there other people we were going to prosecute? Like Miss Parker?"
Ella shrugged. "The charges were based on the evidence from the files and DSA's."
"So we're just not going to charge her? What about Dr. Green? And Mr. Broots?"
"There's no hard evidence. Besides, Jarod doesn't seem to hold any grudges against them. I mean, he married her, didn't he?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Lynn, let's worry about what we have, okay? Let some people get their happy ending."
Lynn smiled. "You're too romantic, you know that?"
Ella laughed at that. "Yeah, we're a dying breed."
*
2 weeks later
The church was empty when Miranda walked through the doors. She stood still for a moment and looked around. She had never claimed to be religious but after an emotional conversation with Margaret the day before, she had decided to pay a visit to the church. The light filtering through the stained glass windows gave the church an almost unearthly atmosphere.
Miranda rubbed her stomach nervously as she slowly approached the side altar where a statue of the Madonna stood. Her thoughts on her mother, she lit a candle, adding a flame to the scattered few already burning.
"Something on your mind, child?"
Miranda turned to look at the woman who had spoken.
"I'm Sister Mary Bernadette," the nun said.
"Uh, Miranda Scott."
Unlike the younger nuns who wore a more modern habit, Sister Mary Bernadette still wore the traditional habit. Yet far from being conservative, Miranda could see the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Grey hair peeked through a slightly skew wimple and the lines on her face were laugh lines, not wrinkles. She reminded Miranda of a nun she'd been fond of when she'd still attended church with her mother.
"I met your husband the other day," Sister Mary Bernadette said.
"What? Jarod was here?" Miranda was surprised that he hadn't told her.
"Yes," the nun said, smiling. "Congratulations on the baby, by the way."
"Umm, thanks."
"Are you still worried about your brother?"
"Did he tell you about that?"
Sister Mary Bernadette nodded. "One thing I can say is that your lives have been far from boring."
Miranda sighed. "Sometimes I wish things were simpler. Don't misunderstand me, I'm happy. But there's a part of me that can't help worrying about how it will all turn out."
"You've been through worse than this and you've survived, haven't you?"
Miranda nodded.
"You sound like you need something to have faith in," Sister Mary Bernadette observed. She'd always been slightly empathic. It was that and her burning desire to be of service to people that had pointed her in the direction of the Church.
"For all that I've done, I'm surprised I haven't been excommunicated."
"You'd be surprised at a person's capacity for forgiveness."
"No, I've seen how much someone's willing to forgive," Miranda said softly, thinking of Jarod's entire family.
"Then what makes you think He won't forgive you?"
"How did you-?" She broke off. It didn't matter how the nun knew, it mattered that she was right.
Miranda knelt at the pew and looked up at Sister Mary Bernadette, a hesitant smile on her face.
"Will you pray with me, Sister?"
A smile lit up the older woman's face as she took her place beside Miranda.
*
3 days later
Miranda lay on her back on the couch, her head resting in Jarod's lap. His hand lay on her stomach and he lazily traced circles with his index finger. Miranda's eyes were closed and she was on the verge of falling asleep.
It was a rare moment of quiet for the two of them. Emily had gone shopping with the boys and Tommy's grandparents had taken him for the afternoon. Davies had returned home to be with his wife after Burke had decided that there was no risk of anyone running away.
"This is nice," Miranda murmured sleepily.
"Yeah," Jarod agreed, his other hand playing with her hair. "Are you still nervous about the trial?"
"Nah, not so much. Everything will be okay. I just want it over already."
"Me too. Burke said they might move the trial date up."
"Really?" Miranda's eyes snapped open. "That would be great."
"Mm-hmm. I just keep having nightmare visions of you going into labor during in the court room."
Miranda laughed. "I'm sure that would go down well."
"Sometimes I think that this is all just a dream and when I wake up everything will be how it was before. I have to pinch myself to make sure it's real."
Miranda sat up and cupped Jarod's cheek in her palm. "Hey, this is real. I'm real and I'm not-" kiss "-going-" kiss "-anywhere-" kiss.
Jarod smiled, pulling her into his arms. "I love you."
"No, you don't. You just want me for my body," she teased, pouting.
"You've got me there," Jarod laughed.
"Pig!"
Not at all apologetic, Jarod nibbled on her bottom lip, eliciting the desired response when she softened in his arms. He then proceeded to show her exactly just how much he loved her.
*
1 week later
Emily announced over dinner that she was moving out. She couldn't live with Jarod and Miranda forever, she'd reasoned.
"We'll miss you," Jarod said.
"Liar. You'll miss having a babysitter on call," she said.
Jarod and Miranda laughed.
"Yeah, Tommy will miss you, too. Won't you, kiddo?"
Tommy gave an impish grin and shook his head, then stuck a handful of peas into his mouth.
"Of course you'll miss her," Jarod said, pretending to sound stern. "Who else will sneak you candy when your mom's not looking?"
"What?" Miranda looked at Emily.
"I do not do that!" Emily protested. "His father's the one with the sweet tooth."
"That's true," Miranda acknowledged, turning to look at Jarod.
"Uh, Tommy, it's bath time," Jarod said hastily, picking up his son and taking him upstairs, eager to be away from his wife's accusing stare. When he heard the women's laughter, he knew he wasn't in any trouble.
*
2 days later
Ella sipped her coffee slowly as she checked her emails. She'd just finished reading a message from her mother when Lynn walked into the office, a huge smile on her face.
"What's up?" Ella asked.
"Another witness came forward. Well, two actually. They say their daughter was kidnapped in the 'Seventies."
"Ah, the plot thickens. So who's the missing daughter?"
Lynn's smile faded. "Elizabeth Patrick. She, uh, she was in one of Raines' experiments and, uh, died from the complications."
"Oh… Do they know?"
"Yeah, Burke told them."
Ella stared into her mug, thinking about these people who had lost their daughter not once, but twice. Jarod and his family certainly were fortunate, Ella thought. She didn't know about Kyle; he'd never been reported missing and when he'd been 'released' from the Centre, Raines had erased any reference to him. This was fortunate for James – otherwise he would be facing another murder charge.
*
2 weeks later
"Angelo! What are you doing here?"
Miranda walked into her kitchen to find Angelo sitting at the table eating a bowl of cornflakes. He jumped up to hug her, then put his ear to her belly. Then he looked up and grinned. Miranda tousled his hair affectionately.
"Good morning, Miranda."
She turned around to greet Sydney, kissing his cheek. "What are you guys doing up here?"
"We wanted to spend some time with you before things got too hectic," Sydney replied.
"Gwampa!" Tommy tugged on Sydney's pants, demanding to be picked up. Sydney looked at Miranda in delight.
"He called me Grandpa," he said, tears in his eyes.
"As far as we're concerned, you are his grandfather."
Angelo laughed as, his hand on Miranda's stomach, he felt Sara's gentle kick.
"She likes you," Miranda said.
"Sara special."
She kicked again, more forceful this time. Angelo's grin grew even wider.
"Married life suits you," Sydney observed, not for the first time. "You look happy."
"Who would have thought this day would ever come?"
"I had my hopes," he admitted.
That surprised her. She smiled at Sydney, at the man who had been her father in every way that mattered and sent a quick prayer of thanks heavenward.
*
James re-read his sister's latest letter. He was happy that all was well with her. The same could not be said for him though. His lawyer irritated him, he hated prison, he missed his family and he missed Emily. Thankfully, he'd been told that the trial would begin in two weeks instead of four.
He had a feeling that these two weeks were going to be the longest two weeks of his entire life.
*
JJ glared at Burke, sulkily folding his arms across his chest like a typical teenager.
"No!" he repeated emphatically.
Burke sighed. "Won't you even think about it?"
"Agent Burke, let him be," Margaret said. "He's even more stubborn than Jarod. You're not going to win."
"I don't see what the problem is," Burke said.
"The problem is that I was treated like an experiment my whole life. I don't want the jury making a big deal out of me being a clone. I mean, what's the big deal about that anyway?"
"The big deal is that years before scientists around the world cloned a sheep, the Centre created you."
JJ shook his head. "I said no. I'm just like everybody else."
Burke threw his hands in the air, giving up. He had a splitting headache and he'd only been arguing with the boy for half an hour.
*
Ella had to smile at the piece of paper she held in her hand. Somehow word had gotten out that their firm was handling the case and now someone wanted to buy the rights to the book. She crumpled it up and threw it in the bin. Jarod had made it quite clear at the outset that neither he nor his family would even consider such a request.
She checked her diary for the following day before heading home. First on the agenda was a meeting with Burke. She groaned inwardly; he was not her most favorite person.
*
The week leading up to the trial
Everyone was a walking bundle of nerves. Miranda, moodier than ever, went to see Sister Mary Bernadette twice. After yet another argument with Burke, JJ stormed out of his house and begged Jarod if he could stay at their place for a few days. On top of the stress of the upcoming trial, Jarod was upset at losing a patient: a little boy who had fallen into his family's swimming pool and drowned.
Broots and Debbie arrived in town, also hoping for a few days peace before everyone went down to New York.
Tommy had everyone in an uproar when he was stung by a bee. It wasn't serious as he didn't have an allergy but he cried for hours, doing nothing to improve the general mood.
Two days before the trial started, everyone flew to New York. They were met by FBI agents at the airport and, to their dismay, discovered that they would be guarded for the entire duration of the trial. Because it was such a high-profile case, the prosecution didn't want anything to happen to its witnesses.
That night, just before she went to bed, Margaret stood on the balcony of her hotel room. Staring past the city skyline, she searched the sky for the faint traces of stars.
Well, Catherine, she thought, our life's work is finally finished. I just wish you could be here to see it.
Certain that Catherine was smiling down on her, she turned and went back inside. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and she needed her rest.
Now it begins, was her last thought as she climbed into bed next to her husband.
*
