Summary: After another apparently de-aged child turns up, Henry is enlisted to re-age her by using the de-aging machine that's been stored for the past six months in one of the NYPD's warehouses. However, that's just the beginning of the story. Sequel to Stopped Clock-Alternate Facts.
vvvv
"It's like "Déjà vu all over again." Det. Mike Hanson muttered the redundantly mangled saying usually attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra out loud as he and his partner, Det. Jo Martinez, stood just outside the 11th Precinct's Interview Room. He put his hand on the doorknob but paused to give Jo a weary look. "Not lookin' forward to going through this again," he sighed. Then, clearly agitated, he asked, "How did we miss this 'kid' back then?"
Jo merely shrugged and replied, "Lieu said get the facts from the girl just as we did the first time from Abe when he was ... you know ... that size. " At a loss for words, she pointed her finger at the door and let her hand flop down by her side. At that, they entered the room and began interviewing the green-eyed, dark-haired young girl.
A little more than an hour later, they were going over the girl's statement with Lt. Reece, who had observed the questioning from the Observation Room. They'd been able to identify her through a DNA match as actually being an elderly, homeless woman named Elaine Morrow in her 60's who'd accumulated several arrest records connected to her alcoholism beginning in the late 1990's up to 2013.
"So, this lady lived a normal life up until she lost her husband and two children in a housefire in 1993. And she's been drowning her sorrows ever since in a bottle, becoming one of the countless hundreds of bag ladies in the City," Reece summarized as the two detectives nodded their heads sadly.
"But after she'd been dragged through that machine, she at first thought the year was 1964 two years ago and was looking forward to seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show." Reece raised her eyebrows and shook her head. Clearly, she had been a victim of de-aging before Abe and two others and probably even before the murdered Lydia Andrews. "How did we miss her the last time?" she asked, clearly frustrated.
Mike chuckled, scratching the back of his head, remembering that he'd asked a similar question a little while earlier. "As luck would have it, her childhood home was still there and her mother, at least, was still alive. Much older, but still alive. She somehow managed to give her captors the slip and made her way back home. The home that she remembered from her childhood. Can you imagine what the poor old lady thought when she opened the door and saw her 65-year-old daughter nine years old again?" He shook his head in wonder. "Woulda freaked me out."
"Me, too," Jo agreed. "But she did the same thing that Henry did when he recognized his own son turned back into a little boy."
"Um-hm, what most parents would do. Take their child in and care for them," Reece concluded. "Guess she thought there was nothing else she could do except ... raise her all over again."
"Amazing that she was able to keep an 11-year-old hidden for two years, though," Jo said. "Mother must be in her 80's, at least." She flipped the file open and her eyes widened. "Wow," she said, flipping it closed again. "Mother's 77," she said. "Had her when she was just a kid herself."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the three as they digested that sad bit of information and neared Reece's office. As cops, they'd each answered calls to homes with dysfunctional families and some with deplorable living conditions. They could only imagine what life had been like for a teenage girl and her baby that she most likely was ill prepared to raise the first time around. Once they reached the Lieutenant's office, she instructed them to get a hold of Henry and Lucas so they could perform their 'magic' on the latest de-aged victim. Her orders to Henry still stood from the last case: do not play God with that machine. Return the victim to their normal age and leave them to their fate. She then entered her office and made arrangements for the machine to be returned to the OCME's large research lab.
vvvv
"Wow," Lucas gushed as he grinned and crept closer to the gleaming machine. "Didn't expect to see this guy back here so soon." He turned his grin to Henry. "Ever, actually."
"Mmm, yes," Henry replied, squinting at the machine as he drew closer. He viewed it with mixed emotions. Relieved that it had not been destroyed as he had once thought, but fearful of its awesome capabilities.
The circumstances surrounding the accidental discovery of the latest de-aging victim had been shared with him by Jo and Mike. Five months earlier, the victim's now elderly mother had suffered a fall and broken her hip. The child she identified as her granddaughter, Elaine, was placed in foster care during her hospitalization and eventual transfer to a convalescent home after an unsuccessful attempt to locate other relatives. CPS could find no vital records matching the girl and the explanation they'd gotten from her and her grandmother hadn't made much sense. Hence, the referral for the NYPD to investigate further had come across the Lieutenant's desk three days ago. The unsettling similarities between Elaine's situation and that of Abe's and the others several months earlier could not be ignored. But also, as before, had to be handled with the utmost care in order not to alert anyone outside their ring of confidence to the true facts of the case. And especially to make sure that the secrecy of their ME's immortality remained intact.
As it had been before, Lt. Reece's directive to "not play God" with the machine, was a hard one to follow for Henry. Knowing that once Elaine was returned to her adult self, she would also be returned to face her alcoholic lifestyle. The ME shuddered at the thought of the woman huddling in doorways at night only to be shuffled from place to place during the day in order to avoid harrassment or arrest by the NYPD. He also did not relish having 'the talk' with her, as he had with Abe and the other two, Jeffrey and Sally, to explain what happened to them; that they were not really children, and that it was best to return them to their adult forms so that they could resume living out their adult lives.
Lucas had not been present for any of the previous three 'talks' but because of time constraints (and, supposedly, since they now knew how to proceed quickly with the re-aging process), he knew that he would be present when Henry explained everything to Elaine. It was not something that he looked forward to, either, but he was willing to support his boss in any way he could. Just wasn't always going to be pleasant.
"So, afterward, we turn her over to the uniforms and they just ... dump her back out on the streets or drive her to some nice, safe freeway underpass?" Lucas asked cynically.
Henry bridled at his questions, throwing his head up and pulling in his chin. "Hopefully," he began, "she will endeavor to ... make some pertinent and necessary changes to her current lifestyle." He looked up at his young assistant and speculated, "Perhaps since her mother is facing a long recovery, she can simply live out her life in her childhood home."
"Yeah ... yeah," Lucas said, hope glimmering across his face. "Maybe she won't be homeless after all. She'll figure out a way to live more sensibly after all this." Henry nodded his hopeful agreement, as well.
"Say, why do you think she was able to so easily get away from whoever zapped her?" Lucas asked.
"Whom-ever," Henry corrected him, smiling. "Perhaps they let her go on purpose, having no desire for any elderly, homeless persons to participate in the full spectrum of their experiments."
"Or ... a homeless person was the perfect guinea pig," Lucas offered. "Once they knew the process truly worked on a human, they threw her away."
"Mmm, yes," Henry replied. "She was expendable." He drew in a deep breath and clasped his hands in front of him. "At any rate, you and I are here to set everything back to rights for her," he said with a smile and slight bow to his assistant. "Now," he said, looking around. "She'll be here in a few moments. Let's make sure that everything is in order and the machine is in proper working condition."
vvvv
Two hours later, Henry and Lucas stood in Reece's office and updated her on the strange case of 11-year-old Elaine Morrow, de-aged to a nine-year-old child and re-aged to her current 66-year-old adult form. Reece informed them that Mrs. Morrow had been dropped off at her mother's home, the home that she'd grown up in.
"Henry, I can understand and share your concerns about her simply diving back into th nearest whiskey bottle instead of making an effort to live a more fulfilled life," Reece said, "but there's nothing we can do about that." She looked him directly in his worried eyes. "It's up to her how she chooses to live her life."
Lucas cleared his throat, catching the attention of them both. "What's gonna happen to the machine? Back into the warehouse to collect dust and not be, I dunno, studied and, and its capabilities shared with - "
"Just that," Reece interrupted. "Back into the warehouse." She'd been standing near her desk but now she walked back and resumed her seat behind it. "It's dangerous," she declared grimly. "But at least this way we can keep an eye on it so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands."
"We, as in the NYPD?" Henry queried. He noted Reece's minute hesitancy before replying in the affirmative.
"Lieutenant, exactly which warehouse will it be returned to?" Henry asked.
Reece cast her eyes downward, suddenly interested in the paperwork on her desk. "Need to know, Henry," she replied. Then, looking up at him again, repeated, "Need to know."
Henry marched out of Reece's office, a scowl of determination on his face, and with Lucas in his wake.
"Where we going, Boss?"
Henry abruptly turned to him just as they reached the elevators. "To find that warehouse."
Lucas frowned. "Uh, I don't think we're supposed to. You heard what the Lieutenant said back there. 'Need to know'."
"Yes," Henry replied emphatically. He and Lucas entered the elevator and Lucas punched the button for the morgue.
"No," Henry said, punching the button for the garage. "We're going to find out where that warehouse is."
"But ... why?" Lucas asked, confused.
"Because, as the Lieutenant so clearly pointed out, I need to know," he replied with a clenched-teeth grin.
"Uh, I don't think she meant that you - " he cut his sentence off at Henry's pointed stare. "Oh, oh, right, right, you and I, uh, need, well, you need - "
"Lucas! Focus!" Henry admonished him.
Henry crept out of the elevator into the parking garage and stealthily made his way to the service elevator. Lucas mimicked his movements as he followed him, hunching his long frame down to make himself smaller. Henry stilled them both, flattening himself against a wall near where the machine was being loaded into the back of a box truck. Lucas, still mimicking his moves, did his best to also flatten himself against the wall. He figured that was better than hunching down and having his bony knees sticking out. Luckily, the shadows and a post obscured their presence from the workers and the uniformed officer standing by in a security capacity. Henry suddenly recognized him as the officer who'd escorted Jeffrey and Abe to their re-aging sessions. He waited for the truck to begin to leave before gathering the courage to emerge from the shadows and approached the officer in a rushed manner.
"Oh! Too late," he exclaimed, feigning disappointment at the sight of the truck approaching the garage's exit. "Oh, Officer Deidrickson," Henry greeted him. Lucas scooted up alongside Henry and did his best to adopt his demeanor.
"Dr. Morgan," the departing Deidrickson replied to the familiar but unmistakable voice. He turned and walked back over to them. "What brings you down here? I wasn't aware that anyone would be accompanying that apparatus to the warehouse." He looked at Lucas, giving him a quick once-over and looked back at Henry.
"Last-minute decision," Henry replied, grimacing at the half-truth. Last-minute on his part, at least. "I and my assistant, Mr. Wahl, were to be riding along to the warehouse."
The officer hesitated momentarily, eyeing the both of them again, then turned his attention back to the truck. He turned back to them and took out a small note pad and pen. "Well, here's the address of the warehouse," he said, quickly writing, then tearing off the small piece of paper from the pad and handing it to Henry. "You'll have to find out the exact spot it'll be placed in once you get there, though."
"Well, thank you very much, Officer Deidrickson," Henry grinningly told him as he took the piece of paper with the address on it from him. He raised the paper in his hand and shook it as he added, "You've been very helpful."
The officer tapped a finger to the brim of his patrol cap and turned and left the garage through the loading deck area. Henry and Lucas calmly watched him leave and their smiles dropped immediately once he was out of sight.
"Now, Lucas," Henry urged him as he looked around the parked cars, "where's your car?"
"Uh, I take the subway, Doc," Lucas replied. "Sorry."
"Even better," Henry said. "We'll take a cab." They both sprinted out of the parking garage to the street and he hailed a cab. "We'll attract less attention to ourselves this way." Lucas nodded uncertainly as he climbed into the back seat of the cab with Henry, who promptly gave the address to the driver. "It's a matter of great urgency," Henry informed the driver.
"You got it, buddy," the driver replied and gunned the cab into traffic, jostling its two occupants in the back seat who immediately struggled to fasten their seatbelts. As the cab careened through the thick traffic from lane to lane, pushing the red lights and barrelling through intersections mostly on the tail end of yellow lights, Lucas felt the need to voice his misgivings.
"Are we gonna get in trouble for this? I mean, you know, all that 'need to know' stuff? Should we be doing this?"
"Courage, Lucas," Henry replied confidently. "We're on a mission."
/AllOverAgain/deja-vu-all-over-again-meaning