Who Are You?

Chapter One

4/20/2016

"I'm expecting Kelly Hansen any minute now," Stephanie told her secretary. "When she gets here, you can send her right in."

"Yes, ma'am...I mean, Stephanie."

Steph smiled warmly at her young subordinate, trying to help her feel less nervous. "Thank you, Annie. That's all." She sat back in her chair and re-opened Kelly's file. She's awfully young for this sort of work, the Director noted to herself - won't even be 26 for two more months. Then again, Stephanie's mother had just barely turned 26 when she'd joined the OSI. (Or, by virtue of her bionics, was drafted to be an operative.)

"Annie said I should come right in."

"Thanks for coming, Kelly." Steph motioned her to a chair. "Can I get you some coffee? A soda?"

"No, thanks. Did I do something wrong?" Kelly asked.

"Not that I'm aware of. You've done an exemplary job for us so far. Three assignments, all successful. Outstanding work."

"Thank you."

"I called you in this morning because James and I have been completing everyone's dossier, and yours has a blank we need to fill in, for security reasons."

"O...k..." Kelly seemed to have suddenly developed a bad case of nerves.

"Under 'Parents', you listed Jack Hansen, but you left your mother's name blank."

Kelly's mind was scrambling, trying to decide what to say, what to do. She knew her new boss could spot a lie at 20 paces, but what if it was a lie for a really good reason? Kelly stared at her feet, at the desk, out the window...scrambling for something to say.

Stephanie could only think of one reason Kelly would be so reticent. "Kelly, even if Jack was with a ...a prostitute," she said gently, "we wouldn't think any less of you."

The operative shook her head. "That's not it. Could...can't we just...leave it blank?"

"Just a formality, but an important one." She studied Kelly's face. "You do know who it is; I can tell. Kelly, there's nothing you can't tell me -"

When she finally uttered a name, she was so quiet and the name so unexpected that Steph was sure she'd heard wrong. "I'm sorry - what did you say?"

"My mother's name...is Jaime Goldman.

------

When she and Kelly had finished talking, Stephanie - mostly on auto-pilot - sprang into immediate action. She pulled a file from the 'Retired' cabinet, checked a detail and swore softly to herself. She told Annie to cancel all of the day's appointments and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" the cheerful voice on the other end said in greeting.

"Mom?"

"Honey, what's wrong? You sound awfully upset."

"I need to talk to you. Can I come over right now? Please?"

"You know you don't need to ask; you come any time you want, 24 hours a day."

"Um...I really need to talk to you alone. Is there an errand you could send Dad on, or something?"

"Steffie, you know I don't keep anything from your father."

"Ever? 'Cause this might be something you should -"

"If you've got a problem, he'll want to help, too. You know that."

"Mom," Steph said carefully, "I think you are about to have a problem. I'll be right over."

------

Jaime and Oscar were waiting for her in the den. Stephanie had no choice but to tell both of them. She shouldn't have been surprised; her parents had always been a united front. They'd recently celebrated their 35th anniversary, and were still just as close and as much in love as the day they were married.

"What's on your mind, Steph, and how can we help?" Oscar asked.

Stephanie looked pleadingly at her mother, who merely raised an eyebrow at her, so Steph sighed and plunged in. "You remember that brand-new operative, the one who's been doing such a great job?"

Jaime nodded. "Kelly, right?" She turned to her husband. "Jack Hansen's daughter," she told him. "Poor thing."

"I had to call her into the office this morning. She'd only listed her father's name in her background material. She left 'Mother's Name' blank." Steph tried to think of a delicate way to say Mom, did you cheat on Dad with one of your worst enemies? Nothing delicate or even tactful sprang to mind.

"Honest mistake, right?" Jaime asked. "She fixed it?"

"Well...sort of."

"Steffie?"

"Kelly said...that you're her mother."

"Excuse me?" Jaime was completely floored.

Oscar, on the other hand, chuckled. "Babe, you could do so much better than Jack Hansen."

"That - is very unfunny," she told him. She looked at her daughter, who wasn't laughing either. "You don't believe that nonsense, do you?"

"Well, no...but she has your blood type, Mom, and it's not a common one. She wants a DNA test."

"There's no possible way she could be -" Jaime abruptly switched trains of thought. "Steffie, call Michael Marchetti. He can take the samples and perform the tests a lot more quickly than a lab. I wish it could be Rudy, but..." Her voice trailed off. Rudy'd been gone a little over a year, and Jaime (as well as many others) still mourned the loss.

"I've got the number if you need it, Steph," Oscar told her.

"I have it, but thanks."

------

Michael arrived the following afternoon, took the needed samples from Kelly and Jaime and compared them to each other, as well as to the data on file for Jack Hansen. He uttered a few expletives, shocked by what he saw, then ran the tests again with the same results. How in the world was he going to tell the Goldmans?

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