Title: Genetics
Author: Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer: I do not own "Eleventh Hour" or its characters, CBS does. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.
Rating: PG-13
Summary:

Chapter 1 – "A Different Life"

Author's Note: Okay, this is my first "Eleventh Hour" fanfic...I've mostly stuck with "Bones" lately...though I am still working on my epic fanfic. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

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Agent Rachel Young's Residence

"Just a minute!" Rachel called at the knocker at her door. She wasn't expecting any visitors and had just arrived home from shopping, which she wasn't supposed to be doing. Bed rest wasn't exactly something that came easily to her. After being just recently released from the hospital, it had been part of her parting orders. She didn't even feel like being home, it felt so wrong to her. As she hurried to the door, she didn't take the time to look through the peep hole and just opened the door. "You're not supposed to be here ye—" Rachel stopped mid sentence and suddenly felt like she'd been slammed in the chest.

It had been almost a year...

.

.

.

"You have to go," Rachel insisted.

Jacob shook his head, "I can't just leave you. Not like this."

Rachel was holding back her tears. Sure, Jacob having to be whisked away was hard. Not only because she felt like she should be the one protecting him, but also because she didn't think she could do what she needed to do on her own. "I'll be fine," she tried to tell him with her fake smile. She was strong, sure, but she didn't know if she was this strong.

"Don't say that," Jacob argued and pulled her close. It wasn't often that they touched, but he felt the need to hold her close. His hand strayed down to rest on her stomach. It was flat, but he knew that if he left he'd miss the magic of what was growing inside of her. Rachel's pregnancy had been a surprise...one that had been very hard for her to accept and he'd promised to be there for her, but now he'd be breaking that precious vow. "I know you better than that."

She tilted her head a bit, "Promise me that you'll insist on a gun, but try to shoot at the bad guys...no matter what their upbringing." She didn't feel like staying on subject, she just wanted him to make his decision. The right and logical one was for him to go. The F.B.I. was feeling the urgent need to hide him at the moment; there had been too many recent attempts on his life. Rachel, in her state, the F.B.I. no longer saw fit to protect him since there was almost an immediately likelihood of her endangering her unborn child.

"I already made a promise."

"It's okay," she insisted and allowed her head to tuck under his chin. She wrapped her hands in his shirt and allowed the tears to flow. The F.B.I. was taking away her best friend. "I promise I'll be here when you get back," she told him and stepped back, letting go of his shirt. Rachel wiped the tears away. "See..I'm already emotional with all the hormones flowing. I'm just being irrational and emotional."

"You're not irrational," Jacob insisted. "You're just Rachel," he commented with a bright smile. Jacob turned his head sharply in the direction that his name was being called in. His new handler and protector was insisting on leaving. He still wasn't sure that he wanted to do this.

Rachel took in a deep breath before gently pushing him in the direction of the other F.B.I. agent. "Go on, Hood," she encouraged.

"Promise me," Jacob requested, not moving until she said the words.

"Promise me," she challenged with a smile and a laugh. They were both being ridiculous.

Jacob nodded and leaned forward and hugged her again. "I'll be back soon and I'll keep my promise," he told her.

"I know," she whispered and cherished his friendship and their embrace.

.

.

.

Jacob immediately took in Rachel; she looked almost like he'd left her. She just looked exhausted and extremely surprised at the moment. "I'm sorry I took so long," Jacob told her. "The danger was still present and I didn't want to put you in it."

"I was already in it," Rachel admitted a bit angrily. She hadn't meant for it to come out that way. She knew that it was wrong to blame him, but he was the only one who she'd been able to mentally blame for the last couple of months.

"What do you mean?"

Rachel sighed and stepped back to allow Jacob in. When he didn't move, she pulled on his arm to get him to move. She didn't want to have the conversation in the hallway. "I'm not supposed to be standing around so much," she explained and immediately headed for the couch in order to sit and put her feet up. "You're going to get me into trouble because I swear even though the doctor isn't with you, they know if you defy their orders."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's a long story."

Jacob looked around. Everything was neat and tidy. "Something's wrong," Jacob mumbled.

"My life," Rachel mumbled. "Even though you're apparently back, I can't even go back to work until my doctor clears me."

"What's wrong, Rachel?"

Unloading on Jacob is what she felt like she'd be doing if she explained everything to him. "Not right now, Jacob."

"Then when?" he pressed.

"The last year," Rachel told him honestly. "It feels like a different life. I don't feel like I should burden you with the details."

"Why not?"

Rachel stared at him; he'd taken a seat across from her. "You'd blame yourself."

"You don't know that."

"They were only going after you to get to me," Rachel explained. She noticed how his eyes widened and concern started to pour out. "I'm okay," she told him quickly putting her hands up. "Cranky, yes, but okay. My body is just not liking change."

"Where's the baby?" Jacob finally asked. The house was too neat...too clean...too quiet. He suddenly felt like he'd missed so much in the time he'd been away from Rachel. He'd been through four handlers/protectors in that time.

Rachel suddenly felt like she needed to guard herself, it was odd, she knew. Jacob was not a threat in any way. So, why did she feel like it? "She's in the hospital. She was born a month and a half early..."

"But she's going to be okay?" Jacob asked.

"They think so, she had problems when she was born, but she's been doing a lot better. I just got out last month. The doctor said I was pushing myself too much."

"What's her name?" Jacob asked. He'd done the math in his head. The infant was about four months old now, but he didn't understand why Rachel would have been in the hospital for three months. Sure, having a baby required hospitalization, but not that much.

"Her name is Hannah Alexandra," Rachel told him. "Hopefully, I'll get to bring her home in a few days."

"Why were you in the hospital for so long?"

Rachel frowned, she couldn't think of a quickly and easy way to tell him all that had happened. Telling him the whole story seemed like it would only hurt him. She didn't want to do that. She was glad to have him back. "It's a long story."

"I'm willing to listen," Jacob told her as he leaned forward in his chair.

"What if I'm not willing to tell it?" Rachel challenged. She wasn't sure if she could live with torturing him with such information. He would feel responsible, she knew that much. He would probably feel cheated as well; she knew that she felt that way.

Jacob smiled slightly, same Rachel. "Why keep it from me?" he asked.

"I'm allowed to have a private life."

"Okay," he told her quietly.

Rachel sighed, "If I tell you, I just know that you'll be upset and that's not something I want. All I want is to have somewhat of a normal life. I wouldn't mind some extra help, either. I can't even paint my extra room for Hannah's nursery because the doctor doesn't want me up and about climbing ladders and such."

"I would still like you to tell me," Jacob admitted. "And since I'm here, I don't see a better time than to paint it now, so that it's ready when she's released."

Getting to her feet, she walked to the room that was to become the nursery. Rachel hated to stand in there. It wasn't because it reminded her of Hannah, but rather that it reminded her of all the time she'd lost...all the things that she hadn't been able to experience while she was pregnant. From reading books and magazines, she'd read how important women had thought it was to nest, to form the nursery. Everything was still in boxes. Nothing was set up yet. Nothing was ready. Tears fell down her cheeks. "They weren't after you, Jacob," Rachel whispered.

Her wavering voice caught him first, followed by her words. He stepped closer and listened. If she was willing to tell the story, then he was willing to listen. He wanted to know what had happened in his absence. "Were they after you?" he asked quietly. He had never wanted her to be in danger.

Rachel shook her head. "Not exactly," she spoke truthfully. "They were after Hannah." She reached up and tried to wipe the tears away, she felt stupid. "They designed her; she's supposed to be genetically superior. Their plan didn't go as they had hoped, when they did an amniocentesis, they found out before I did. "They had wanted a boy. They had wanted a perfect child. Hannah was sick...and a girl...and not what they wanted. They kept me for a while...and then I managed to escape..."

The information was shocking, he hadn't been informed of anything that Rachel had said. He hadn't been there at all for her. Who had been there? Jacob knew now why she said that he'd blame himself, but rightly so. He had promised to be there for her.

"I got pretty banged up in the process... I nearly lost Hannah... It's one of the reasons why I had to deliver her so early," Rachel explained.

"What does Hannah have exactly?"

Rachel smiled, "Ever the scientist."

"I'm sorry if you feel like I'm overstepping."

"She has Goodpasture's Syndrome, but she's better now. Hannah had to have a transplant."

"You had to give her a kidney?" Jacob questioned. He was vaguely familiar with the condition and knew that it was extremely rare in infants. In a preemie, he had a feeling that it was almost always fatal.

"I was too messed up to help her," Rachel said and found herself crying again. It had hurt her to not be able to do something so small as to help her daughter survive by giving her a kidney. "I personally think it's pretty messed up when I can't even be a match to save my own daughter because I'm too banged up."

"It is," Jacob agreed. "But she received a match through the national transplant database. That's amazing that they were able to find her a donor so quickly that matched her."

"They didn't exactly," Rachel informed him and slowly faced him. This was the hard part. She'd dreamed of this conversation, but hadn't ever thought she'd ever say it.

"Then how did Hannah get a match?"

"I couldn't, but your sister was tested and was a close enough match. Alex was only a match, Jacob," Rachel said and stopped to try to breathe.

"She would have had to be some kind of a genetic match."

Rachel nodded, "I was confused and so the doctors did a genetics test. They pulled my DNA from Hannah's and Alex matched several of the father's. Hannah is your child, too, Jacob," Rachel finally managed to get out.

"I have a daughter," Jacob whispered. A child wasn't something he'd dreamed of since his wife had died. Having a romantic relationship had been out of the question. Though, he had strong feelings for Rachel, he hadn't done what would be biologically needed in order for her to produce his child.

"Yes," Rachel whispered. She felt like the weight was a bit lighter, but she still felt like the last time she'd seen Jacob was in another life. Them sharing a child together was not something that still felt real. The only way she'd thought of Hannah was as her own.

Jacob looked up at her. "How is it possible?"

"When they had us—"

"The Genesis Group?" Jacob questioned. The Genesis Group was who the F.B.I. had been protecting him from. They were even more dangerous than Geppetto, or at least that was how they seemed to him, especially now. The group had abducted both him and Rachel when they had been in pursuit of one of the people that they had taken for genetic material. Rachel had been separated from him. When they'd escaped, they'd both ended up in the hospital to be examined. Rachel had shown signs of experimentation. There had been puncture wounds in both of her hips along with swelling in her uterus. They hadn't put any of it together for another two weeks when Rachel had discovered that she was pregnant. She'd been implanted with a child. They had never talked about the paternity or maternity of the child, but now...now things were in the light and it was shocking.

"Yes," Rachel responded. "I don't know how they managed to use your DNA. I haven't figured that part out yet, but apparently it happened."

"It wouldn't have been that difficult for them."

"They'll leave Hannah alone now," Rachel told him. "She's genetically inferior for whatever purposes they have. Maybe I'm defective," she teased lightly.

"You're not," Jacob insisted.

"I don't know if I can work for the F.B.I. anymore, Jacob. I hate to say it, but running after bad guys and protecting you may have to be behind me now."

"I don't blame you," Jacob told her. "I have to admit that being under their protection hasn't been very fulfilling in any way. I wouldn't mind...if you'd let me be in her life...trying to be here for you and Hannah now."

Rachel smiled. "You don't have to do that." Jacob offering wasn't a surprise to her. He was like that.

"I want to. She's my daughter, too."

"I wouldn't mind help in constructing the nursery," Rachel admitted.

"I think that I may be able to handle that," Jacob told her. "Just let me know what color you want the room. I'll get started on the painting and then with the help of the instructions I'm sure I can construct the furniture."

"Don't you want to see her?"

Jacob stared at Rachel. "Can I?"

"I told Alex that I'd be by around four. She'll stay with her for a while... I don't know how she does it. She's been trying to take care of her family along with being here for me and Hannah."

Jacob smiled, he was glad to hear that in some way that Rachel was having some help. Help was something that he had promised to provide Rachel, but he appreciated his sister stepping in for him when he couldn't be there. Now, though, he fully intended to make up for everything that he'd missed. "I'd really love to see Hannah. I'd also like to thank Alex."

"I hope you like the name," Rachel said realizing that Jacob hadn't had any input on it.

"I think it's beautiful."

Rachel smiled. "Give me a few minutes to change. I was supposed to be napping, but I had to go out and get some groceries, but do me a favor and don't say anything to Alex. She'll get upset that I didn't have her pick up the items. In all fairness, I really needed the time out of the house and back into the chaos of everyday life."

"I promise."

.....................................

TBC...