It has been a year since Jennifer Lewis had started working for the ARC, and since she'd had to put up with being called Claudia Brown every so often. It was Nick Cutter who wouldn't stop it. But, in his defence, Jenny had to admit that'd he'd been using her real name more often these past few months. At least, he was trying.
And yet, Claudia Brown began hunting Jenny in her dreams. Jenny would never mention it to anyone, but for the past few weeks she'd been seeing Claudia in her dreams. Whenever they came face to face, it was silent at first. It was always Claudia who broke that silence with a very simple and innocent sentence that caused Jenny to wake up every night: "They need you." After that, Jenny always had trouble falling back to sleep.
But today it was different. She didn't have to be at the ARC until noon and Jenny managed to drift back off into a dreamless slumber.
In the meantime, the rest of the team was dealing with a very unusual incursion.
"Could someone tell me why there are two children in oversized clothing in my office?" Lester's voice bellowed through the ARC as he pointed from Becker to Sarah, further to Abby and then let his finger finally stop on Connor. "Connor, care to explain?"
"Why do you think I can explain it?"
"Connor, the boy is wearing a Star-Wars jumper which is way too big for him...do I need to say more?" Lester's eyes moved from the computer geek over to the kids. The girl was wearing a light grey hoodie, which was also a few sizes too large to fit properly. Both kids had light brown hair and their identical features didn't leave room for any other conclusion than them being siblings. While the girl seemed to be at ease, concentrating on something in front of her, the boy paced back and forth through the office with a scared expression on his face.
Before Connor found the right words Abby spoke up, "Connor knocked the boy over! We walked to work today, because the genius here beside me forgot to refill the tank. When it began to rain we jogged the rest of the way, and as Connor ran around the last corner he basically ran the kid over."
"I didn't mean to! I just didn't see him." Connor tried to apologise.
"The poor boy fell into a huge puddle. And since neither the girl nor the boy answered our question about where or whom they belong to, we took them with us." Abby gave her boss her best puppy dog eyes, "Lester, come on, they were drenched. There was no way we could have left them out there on their own." She nodded her head towards a window to emphasize her words. In the last hour, the weather had changed completely. It was dark, raining cats and dogs, and the only light source was the quick flashes of lightning.
"Great!" Lester clapped his hands together, obviously not pleased about the situation, "And what do you want to do with them? We are not a kindergarten."
"We could play a game or two!" Sarah jumped in to help her friends.
Connor gave a big lopsided grin as he suggested, "And we could spoil them with cups of hot chocolate!"
Lester's eyes grew huge, "And if there is an anomaly alert...do you want to take them with you?"
"Sure why not? It would be a great adventure for them!" Becker smirked, clearly enjoying the fact that Lester was nearly having a nervous breakdown.
"That's enough!" James raised his voice. "Abby and Sarah, you take care of them! Try to find out who to call so they can be picked up soon!" Lester turned around and headed out of the hub before anyone could say more.
As they were told, Sarah and Abby made their way to the kids. As they entered the office, Sarah introduced herself. "Hi, you two! I'm Sarah. We haven't met yet. What are your names?"
The boy quickly hid away behind his sister and the girl stared at Abby and Sarah suspiciously. After a long pause she finally answered the question. "I'm Julie, and this is my brother Nathan!"
"How old are you two?" Abby asked as she stepped closer to them.
The little boy risked a glimpse from behind the chair his sister was sitting in.
"I'm ten years, and my baby brother is six."
Nathan forgot about his fear by his sister's words and stepped out of his hiding place with his hands on his hips, pouting, "I'm not a baby!"
"But you are younger than me!" Julie teased her brother with a caring look in her eyes.
Just as they had begun to relax a bit, Connor and Becker entered the room with two steaming cups of hot chocolate. Within seconds, Nathan had disappeared again, causing the men to frown.
"Did we do something wrong?" Connor whispered to Abby.
"No, he just seems really shy," came the answer from the blonde.
"Maybe I have something worth to overcome your fears, Buddy!" Becker walked further into the office and knelt beside Nathan, who had turned his face away from the soldier. Becker pulled out a small bag with mini marshmallows and held it out to the boy.
All curious, Nathan slowly turned his head around, carefully taking a look at the item in Becker's hand. "I can really have some?" The boy asked quietly.
"Sure, what would hot chocolate be without marshmallows in it?" Becker answered earning a massive grin from the kid as he reached for the bag.
The kids came to trust the team over the hot chocolate and after some more small talk and a game of Old Maid, Abby brought up the question they needed to be answered.
"Julie, is there anyone we can call to pick you up?" As she asked the question Abby was confused about the slightly numb feeling in her stomach, obviously caused by her words.
The young girl swallowed and her brother's face went pale, tears appearing in his eyes. "Don't!" he begged with a thin voice.
"But maybe they can help us!" Julie had walked over to her brother, taking him in her arms. At the touch of his sister, Nathan's tears began to fall.
"We don't know where our mum is. She disappeared a couple years ago. She always came back until that day." Tears were forming in the young girl's eyes. "She kissed us goodbye and said she couldn't wait to see us in the evening for our weekly movie night. She had promised to watch 'Cars' with us. She never turned up."
The team stared at the kids, unable to find the right words.
"We were sent to a foster family when our neighbours found out that we were left alone. That was a week later. I tried my best to look after Nathan, but when we ran out of the pocket money from which I bought food; I had to ask someone for help." The tears were now rolling silently down her cheek as she held onto Nathan who was sobbing into the hoodie.
"Two weeks ago, we got told that we won't be able to stay with our current foster family and that they are planning to split us up! We don't want to be split up, Nathan is the only family I have. And I want my mum back." Sarah took the girl into her arms in comfort. Julie was now sobbing like her brother.
To everyone's surprise, Nathan dried his tears with his hands and started to talk. "I've seen my mum here a few days back, when we were on our way to school. I'm sure it was her! Julie won't believe me, but I don't lie. Please help us find her!" He looked pleadingly from one adult to the other.
"We will do our best!" they all agreed. They weren't really sure it'd be possible to find their mum, but no one had the heart to say that to the kids.
In that moment of silence, the office door opened once more and Cutter appeared in the door frame. "I hear we have new team members!" His smile froze the moment he laid eyes on Julie.
Connor didn't recognized the change in his team leaders face and said, "They are looking for their mum, we will help them, right?"
"S-Sure!" Cutter stuttered, visibly shaken. The girl's eyes were so familiar. "What's your mum's name?"
Abby, Sarah and Becker exchanged worried looks at the sound of Nick's voice.
"Claudia, her name is..."
Nick muttered the rest of the sentence along with Julie, "Claudia Brown."
While Sarah and Becker looked rather confused, Connor's eyes went huge and Abby asked carefully, "Isn't that the woman you asked for when you came back through that anomaly two weeks ago?"
"Yep!" Cutter sank down into the nearest chair, hiding his face in his hands.
Suddenly Nathan screamed in delight, "Mum!" and before anyone could stop him, he was out of the door and running towards the woman who had just entered the hub. The boy threw himself into her arms, leaving Jenny no other choice then to catch him. "Mum, I've missed you so much!"