Orphans Beloved…VIII "The Key to Life…"
Summary: Like my Immortal Beloved bits in my Buffyverse stories, these are fragments and short bits, some longer…Just to fiddle with ideas, possibly forming longer tales later. I do plan at least one longer tale, "Nessun Dorma" but that's just getting sketched now.
Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.
"Cos?..." Sarah in street clothes, near Mrs. S' place.
"I knew you'd be visiting Kira today so I took a chance…Sorry if I startled you, I've been waiting for hours." Cosima in drab overcoat, dark glasses, hat.
"You get that outfit doesn't exactly make you inconspicuous." Sarah noted.
We have to meet…" Cosima, stern look. "And I think this one is too big to risk any chance of surveillance."
"That big…?" Sarah eyed her. "You've found out something that big?"
"Enough that I didn't want to call you guys." She nodded. "But I don't want to mention it except in a perfectly secure place…Paul free." She eyed Sarah.
"Fine by me. Allison will freak though when you exclude Donniekins."
"I said Paul…He the one with obvious connections. Donnie's ok by me."
Slight frown which Sarah repressed. Hell, now I'm defendin' the bastard?
"Fine. Lets hope that trust of our lives isn't misplaced. Where?"
Cosima motioning for her to bend close…Whispering… "Pretend I'm a guy kissing you. If they just watching it might put them off."
Paranoia's catchin' I see…Sarah thought…
"The University, the Donner building…The third floor stairwell…At the other end from the street. You come in at 1:00pm tomorrow. We can slip into a classroom. Curtains and no one can be sure which room we're using. Wear this…" she slipped a photo into her hand.
Sarah eyeing…Cosima in a sweater, blouse, and trousers, with…Thank God, no cornrolls, hat.
"You can get the exact outfit at the Gap. I'd better go." Cosima straightened, adjusting hat firmly on head, and headed off.
Great…We'll be matchin'…Nice. And Donnie should look great in this outfit.
"It was great seein' ya, hon!" Sarah called. "Call me!" repressing grin…Cosima making vague waving gesture.
The Donner Sciences building, stairwell…1:10pm next day…
"Al?" Sarah hissed at the figure in stairwell…From the nervous hand-clenching and despite the concealed face, easy to spot.
"Al? Must you?" Allison frowned. "I hate that."
"No Donnie?" careful look.
"He volunteered to opt out. He thought it would ruin Cosima's idea to have us all look the same."
"Nice look for you…" Sarah smiled at what was obviously the last look Allison would have donned short of going for the "Vic"…
"Cosima needs to start thinking about her appearance and how she presents herself…" Allison sighed.
"Cos? She's got it together, she's fine…" Sarah frowned. "Don't go trying to tell her how to dress like a suburban housefrau…That's not her thing."
"She's a college grunge…I get that, I was a bit more casual in college myself…But when you go out into the real world…"
"I'm still tryin' to absorb that you went to college…Major in home ec or what?"
"English Lit…If you must know." Frown. "Should we be talking? Cosima was worried about surveillance."
"If someone's on to us and using a Sound Blaster 5000 or somethin' to hear us, they're not gettin' much. How are the kids?"
"Good…They're good. Donnie's taking them for pizza."
"Wish we'd gone with them. Kinda hungry myself." Sarah noted, looking round. "Donnie well? No more dead girlfriends surfacin'…? Or porno tapes poppin' out?"
"No." Brittle tone. "Paul kill anyone recently?"
"Not that I'd know of…I'm not hangin' with the guy, Al…"
"There…" Allison, breaking off her frown to note Cosima's approach…
"Ladies…" Cosima, in same outfit… "Let me go in first, though almost no one is up here, it's just used as storage now…Room 316, it should be the most isolated and no connecting doors. Come in ten minute intervals and anyone seems to recognize you, you went out the back door and realized, yeah, you had been in the right room." She entered the third floor hallway, closing door.
"This must be big for Cos to get so…" Sarah noted.
"Yes…" Allison, tensely.
"Did you take your meds?" Sarah asked, a bit more kindly.
"I wanted to be sharp for this…" Allison shook her head. "And Donnie doesn't let me drive on them."
"Pat on head for Donniekins…" Sarah smiled. "I mean that nice, Ally."
"I know…" wan tone.
"You can go next…Cos has a calmin' effect on you, I know." Sarah grinned.
"I don't dislike you, Sarah." Allison noted, quietly. "It's just…We clash at so many levels…And I have so much trouble accepting all things. I envy your calm, frankly. But I appreciate you're doing your best."
"Thanks…Best to go…And I'm just as nervous about all this as you, sis. I'm just a bit more used to shit in my life."
"Never talk that way in front of my kids." Firm tone as Allison went out into the hallway, closing door.
Room 316…Carefully checked, curtains drawn down.
"Well?" Sarah eyed Cosima…The three in exactly matching outfits…Excepting the shoes, Allison having chosen a pair of running shoes. "The pants cover them." She insisted.
Our wild and independent clone…Sarah grinned at Cosima.
"I wanted you here because I figured something out that could be important, from what we were talking about the other day." Cosima began. "Sarah, Helena didn't kill you when you met because you weren't Beth, right?"
"I like to think I kinda made it difficult but yeah…" shrug…
"She's following a sequence…The three in Europe, Katja, Beth…God knows how many others…And I doubt Jesus or God is coming to her and telling her whom to kill next."
"A sequence…? Someone's given to her, naturally?" Allison asked, carefully.
"And I might know what it is, in part…You remember I suggested Helena might be a 'mercy-killer'? And Maggie Chen might not be part of some nutty group getting rid of what they consider abominations but might be using Helena to do her job."
"Dear ole Dad or whoever, lookin out for his girls…Yeah…" Sarah nodded.
"Katja was likely dying…They sent Helena to terminate… 'Sacrifice'…The subject before her symptoms became too painful…They knew the likely outcome."
"Beth wasn't dying…" Sarah blinked… "I think…Unless you know something?"
"She was bipolar and suicidally depressive…" Cosima noted calmly. "And they knew inevitably she'd kill herself…So…"
"A sequence…They have the list…" Allison blinked. "They know which of us is going to die and when?"
"But being depressed doesn't mean Beth would surely have done it…Paul…" Sarah began…
"Call it a key…" Cosima nodded. "They're estimating the outcome based on probability…They put in the modifications, and most are based on known genetic diseases or predispositions to disease. They make the best estimate they can and when symptoms start to show…"
"Helena or someone else to clean up the mess…" Sarah, nodding.
"Then…" Allison gulped… "I'm next…" she looked at the others…Backing a little…
"We don't know that, Ally." Cosima shook her head. "And not all the modifications add up to guaranteed death…They must have wanted to study a huge range of diseases, some not fatal at all. Heck some of us could be experiments in near-immortality."
"I'm already confirmed sterile…I've been falling apart from anxiety. I'm done…I've finished my role." Allison shook her head.
"Allison, don't talk like that. What did Donnie say? The best thing I've heard from him so far… 'You won't die.', right?" Sarah took her shaking hand. "And there's no sign Helena's marked you out."
"Ally, I didn't bring you here to freak you…This is important." Cosima noted. "If there is a key…A key to our lives…We have to get it, find out what was done to us and when it's slated to start and, if we can…Get help."
"What if we can't… 'Be fixed'…" Allison noted, staring at the others. "All we'll know then is how much time we've probably got."
"Diseases like these aren't fixed in stone…" Cosima shook her head. "These people are making estimates, but Sarah's right…There was no certainly Beth would kill herself and Katja might have been helped."
"Except they don't want us 'helped'." Sarah, grimly. "They want us to die, to finish their little experiment neatly. Helena's just a way to keep us from dying in public view…So they can keep anyone from connecting us as we croak one, by one. Some 'mercy-killin''…More like Nazis using gas instead of shooting."
"I'd say you right, more or less." Cosima nodded.
"Helena…Helena must have the key." Allison noted.
"She may just get it in pieces. Probably from Maggie Chen earlier, now from God knows who." Cosima shrugged. "And Dr. Chen might not even have had the list."
"Dr.?" Sarah eyed her…As did Alllison…
"Yeah, I found her. Dr. Margaret Chen…Reasonably prominent in her field, molecular epidemiology." Cosima eyed the others. "Beth was absolutely right, she was one of the field people…Probably a supervisorial sort. I think you both can guess where her last confirmed workplace was."
"Dyad." Sarah noted.
"Yep." Nod.
"So…Beth must have traced her there and guessed that Chen was given the kill orders." Sarah noted. "She tried to get her alone, hopin' she had the key…And I guess she didn't. So Beth killed her, to stop her and maybe hopin' it would slow Helena down enough for us to have some time…For, what?"
"To find the one person who is sure to have the key to life." Cosima, wan smile. "Dear ole Dad, Dr. Aldous Leekie...The man who almost certainly wrote our book."
"Not just our book…" Allison sighed. "Our Bible."