"Mama?" Sara called out.
Her shirt was completely wet after having an impromptu water fight in the bathroom. Her small bare feet padded out into the corridor. "Mama?" she called again.
Sara swore she heard a loud thud. "See, you were imagining it," Scott shouted from the bathroom. "Come back here and clean up the mess you made."
Sara frowned then shrugged. "I did not make this mess," she shouted as she turned back to the bathroom. "You're a tattletale!"
Between the two of them, they managed to clean up the water spilt all over the floor as best as they could. The damp toilet paper were all thrown into the toilet bowl. "It won't go away," Sara complained, flushing the toilet for the third time.
"That's cause you can't get the cover closed," Scott pointed out.
"This is stupid," she declared. "I'm hungry. I'm going to ask Mama for a snack."
"I want a snack too!" Scott said trailing after Sara, leaving the toilet bowl piled high with damp toilet paper.
"Mama!" Sara called as she walked down the corridor leading towards the kitchen.
Sara cocked her head. The kitchen was empty. Mama wasn't anywhere. "Where's she?"
Scott shrugged. "Is she in her room?" he suggested.
Sara turned back, walked past the bathroom towards her parents' room. She was a big girl now, she thought with a smirk. She didn't need to stand on her tippy toes to reach the holo-lock. A light touch was all that was required to palm the door. It slid open to reveal an empty room. "Is she in the lab?" Sara asked, poking her head out of the room.
The lab was a room the twins were never allowed in. It was the same for their father's workroom but the fruit was always sweeter if it wasn't forbidden. Sara drifted over to the door. "Do you think Mama is inside?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't know," her brother replied anxiously. "Where is she? I want Mama…"
Sara huffed impatiently, quickly tiring of this weird hide and seek Mama was playing. "I want my snack," she declared.
"Me too," Scott replied, his voice small, no longer jovial.
She glanced at Scott. He was chewing his lip, his mouth pulled downward. Sara recognised the signs. On a whim, she smacked him on his arm. "Stop that."
"What?" he shot back irritably, his hand clasped over his arm. "I wasn't doing anything!"
She grinned back at him despite the butterflies beating their wings inside her belly. "Come on," Sara said with false cheer. "She must be in the lab. Why don't you check? I'll go check the living room."
Scott nodded, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. Sara put on a brave face and left Scott to try his luck with the door. It was usually locked, but hopefully they'd get lucky.
Sara's bare feet took her to the main door where they kept their shoes. One glance at the shoe rack, she knew her mother was still at home. "Mama never goes out and leave us alone," she muttered under her breath.
Fear and anxiety started bubbling up. Her chin started to quiver. "Sara," Scott called, his voice turning into a high whine. "You found her?"
"I'm still looking," Sara shouted back, mastering her tears.
Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the kitchen. Sara froze. There was a dark coloured puddle on the floor and an odd metallic smell in the air. She edged towards the puddle. The smell was getting stronger the closer she stepped towards it.
Her feet stopped at the edge of the puddle. It was red. Was it blood? Sara's mouth went dry. Her thoughts raced.
"Mama?" she whispered as she stepped over the puddle.
Gingerly Sara peeked around the island, her fingertips white from gripping the edge. Sara froze. A scream was stuck in her throat. She stared and stared not quite processing what she was looking at.
"Mama?"
Something wet and warm touched her toes. Sara flinched and took quick steps backwards, her feet smearing red marks across the floor. Mama was lying still on the ground with a growing pool of red. The lump in her throat grew large and it threatened to choke her.
"Mama?" she called louder still, her eyes stinging with tears.
"Sara," Scott wailed. "I can't open the door."
Scott's voice jolted her. "Call C-Sec!" she shouted. "Mama needs help!"
Sara yanked the dangling end of the tablecloth. Plates and utensils came crashing down onto the floor. Heedless of the red puddle, she rushed over to Mama. Her trembling hands bunched the cloth up and pressed it against Mama's head. Tears streamed down her face as she fought to keep her hands steady. Mama told her to press against her skinned knee when she fell. "If it is bleeding, you should press on it so that the bleeding stops," her mother's words echoed in her head.
Mama was bleeding. Sara remembered her lesson so she pressed, ignoring the mess she was making sitting in the red puddle.
"Sara?" Scott called his voice hitching. "Did you find Mama?"
Sara pressed and pressed, arms trembling from the effort. "Call C-Sec! You remember what Papa taught us?" she shouted, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
Sara heard Scott ran back to his room. Their parents had given them omni-tool cuffs for their recent birthday. The first thing Papa drilled into them were the emergency numbers. Sara hoped Scott remembered the numbers because her mind was drawing a blank. Everything was red and everything smelt funny. All she knew to do was to press the cloth against Mama's bleeding head.
Scott's voice was muffled as it drifted from his room. Sara bit down on her lip. She tasted something metallic. "Mama, wake up!" she cried, unable to hold it back any longer. "I'll wash my hands. I won't be bad. Wake up!"
"Come now!" Scott shouted from his room. "Please!"
Sara didn't remember much after that. She pressed and pressed but the red was everywhere. She screamed and fought when a C-Sec officer came to take Mama away.
"No! No!" she struggled as arms dragged her away.
Her eyes searched for Scott and found he was being similarly restrained by another. Tears and snot ran down his face. She couldn't hear what the officer was telling her. All Sara knew was she had to keep pressing.
"I trained and worked as a C-Sec officer and what do I get saddled with? Babysitting! Literally!" she muttered under her breath as she raked her fingers over her crest. "Kasi T'ersi, C-Sec Officer and baby-fucking-sitter."
She stalked through the corridors of Huerta Memorial Hospital and found the right place. Kasi stopped at the nurses' station and asked, "I'm here to pick up the Ryder twins, do you know where they are?"
One of the nurses stood up. "Follow me."
"Their mother had fallen at home and was sent here," the nurse said as they walked through the confusing maze of corridors. "Has their father been informed?"
Kasi nodded. "Their father is an Alliance soldier. His return to the Citadel has been delayed due to a complication at work. The Alliance has been informed."
"The twins are understandably traumatised by what happened so be careful how you speak to them. We didn't manage to get them changed so you have to take care of that when you get them home."
Kasi fought not to roll her eyes. "The Alliance will push the information it up the chain. Their father should be back soon. I don't think I'll have to watch them for more than a day or two."
"What they need now is something familiar," the nurse continued. "Try to be gentle with them."
They're kids. All they needed were a bottle and a nappy change. How hard could that be? They probably sat and cried while someone else called C-Sec. Kasi took a deep breath and steeled herself for a trying couple of days with whining brats.
"They are around that corner. My colleague is with them," he said.
Kasi nodded. The nurse left, and she went on by herself. She froze when she saw the kids. One of them, the boy, was sitting on the chair, feet dangling. His hand holding the girl's hand. The girl was sitting next to him, a twin to the boy in everything, but she was all red. Her shirt and shorts were all bloodstained. Her hands and knees brown with dried blood. Her knees drawn up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. Her face was tear stained as was her brother's. The twins held onto each other like they were two pieces of flotsam tossed about in the rough seas.
The girl's eyes darted and found Kasi's. Kasi's breath caught in her throat, she would have taken a step back if she wasn't prepared. The girl's brown eyes were afraid but there was a glint of protectiveness. Her hand tightened around the boy's, jerking the boy's attention to Kasi. Taking a deep breath, Kasi approached the twins.
Alec's cabin was too small. He had too much pent-up energy and nowhere to spend them, and he had taken to hovering over the shoulder of the pilot. If only he wasn't embedded deep for a reconnaissance mission, if only he didn't have to maintain radio silence, if only his mission didn't go to hell. If only, if only, his mind was only filled with if onlys.
Two days ago, Alec had arrived back at base camp, anxious to get in touch with Ellen, to let her know he was safe. He had been delayed in the field, spending extra days cleaning up the mess. Instead, he found an urgent message from C-Sec when he got back to base. His world spun off its axis when he got the news. Alec wasn't a person to collapse at the first sign of bad news. He was trained to harden, to attack the problem head-on with plans and logic. He shored up his defences, protected his people and planned his counter-attack.
But his base was his home. His people were his family and they were left defenceless without him there. The twins were five. Fuck, they were just five. His mind kept throwing him images of Scott and Sara crying and scared, calling for him and he wasn't there.
Scott was straightforward, how he felt was clear on his face. ISara was trickier. His baby girl would try to hold back, to pretend she was ok even when tears were rolling down her face. For the first time, he wondered if he could continue being in the Alliance.
It had been a mad dash back to the Citadel. He had no news of Ellen's condition or the twins. His attempts to get news from C-Sec was met with a wall of red-tape and bureaucracy. In the end, he had called the Alliance. Thankfully Alec managed to get a hold of Anderson and he called in a favour. "Of course, Ryder," Anderson agreed. "I'll look in on Ellen's condition and the twins as well."
That was one day ago. Anderson had called back. "Ellen had fainted at home. She fell and cracked her head open. The doctors are worried she is suffering a concussion so she is being kept at the hospital for observation. The twins are currently being watched by a C-Sec Officer."
As much as the news put his mind at ease, Alec was still worried. Ellen had been having random bouts of nosebleeds and recently dizzy spells. It had gone from inconvenient to worrying.
By the time the frigate docked at the Citadel, the pilot was glad to see the back of Alec. Alec cut a wide path through the crowd at the docks. He didn't care what people thought as he cut to the front of the queue using his N7 credentials. With his duffle bag in his hand, Alec got into a skycar. He was going home.
"Damn it, four fucking days," he muttered under his breath as he pressed his palm against the holo-lock.
The door slid open as soon as his identity was verified. Instead of the usual laughter of Sara and Scott to greet his return, he got silence. Instead of Ellen smiling at him, he got a strange asari looking up at him when he entered his own home. For some reason, his eyes went straight to the asari's still booted feet. A vague sense of anger rose from his chest. It's yet another reminder that things were not right.
"Where are they?" he asked, his voice gruff and to the point.
"Inside," she replied. "They're sleeping."
Alec glanced at his omni-tool. In his haste to get home, he had totally forgotten about the time. It was well past midnight. The asari stood up, ready to take her leave but Alec walked straight to the rooms after removing his boots. The asari hesitated before doing the same to hers and following him inside.
The first door on the right belonged to Scott. It was empty. The asari pointed at Sara's room. He pressed his hand on the door and it slid open silently. Activating the red light on his omni-tool so that he had enough light to see by, he entered on ninja silent feet. Alec was after all a father of twins, he was trained by babies with hair-trigger hearing. Both of them were curled together in a tangle of limbs. Sara's arm around Scott's shoulders protectively while Scott had his fingers intertwined with Sara's. Alec could imagine that's how they looked while in the womb.
He sighed and smoothed Scott's hair from his head. His fingers found dampness on his pillows, his face tearstained. Gently, he brushed them away before turning to Sara. Her brow was furrowed even in sleep, her eyes rolling rapidly behind her closed eyelids, in a dream state. Alec brushed his lips gently over both his children's foreheads before leaving the room again.
Once back out in the corridor and the door safely closed, Alec turned to the asari expectantly. The asari straightened and squared her shoulders. "I'm C-Sec officer Kasi T'ersi. I've been watching Sara and Scott for the past four days."
Alec nodded for her to continue. "Scott has been crying himself to sleep every night. He refused to sleep unless Sara was with him," Kasi said. "Sara has been-"
Muffled shouts and screams started to come from the room. Alec didn't wait. His palm went immediately to the holo-lock and he slipped in before the door opened fully. Someone thrashing about the bed, muttering incoherently. "Sara, wake up," Scott begged, his voice higher than usual.
Tapping on his omni-tool to activate the lights. Scott winced and stared at him. "Papa," he sobbed.
"Baby girl," Alec called, his daughter was curled in a ball, hands clenched.
Her mutterings getting louder and clearer. Scott crawled away from Sara and hugged his leg. With one arm around Scott, Alec bent over his daughter and called her name . His ears caught her words.
"Mama, wake up. Mama, wake up," Sara whispered over and over.
His heart clenched, he tightened his grip on Scott's shoulder. Gingerly, Alec placed his hand on her smaller shoulder and shook. That snapped Sara out of her nightmare. Her eyes looked about wildly, confused at first by the bright lights and the people around her. Then Sara's brown eyes found his own and tears welled up in her eyes. Her face crumbled and she wailed.
"Papa, I tried. I really tried," she said as she buried her face in his chest.
"It's ok, baby girl. Everything is ok," he said as he rocked her gently.
Alec sat down and both of them shifted closer to him. As if they were afraid he might disappear as well. Their small hands clutched onto his shirt, buried their faces against him. His hands rubbing their backs in a bid to comfort them. His jaw ached at how hard he was clenching it.
Alec shot a look at Kasi, seeking an explanation of what his daughter was saying. Kasi kept her silence. It wasn't until Alec managed to get the twins to fell asleep before they had a chance to speak.
"What is Sara talking about?" he demanded.
"Your daughter, sir, was found keeping the pressure on your wife's wound. Your son was the one who called C-Sec," Kasi said. "I don't know how you run your household here. I don't know if this is something you taught them to do but your children, Scott and Sara, are remarkable. They are heroes. Your wife might not have been alive if it wasn't for your children."
Alec clenched his jaw. He knew all this but he hadn't realised the severity of Ellen's injury or how much the twins had done. "Your daughter is mostly ok in the day, helping her brother through what needed to be done on a day to day basis. It's the nights when she falls apart. She gets these nightmares," Kasi went on. "I was there to pick them up Huerta that first night. Your daughter was entirely covered with blood. She had to sit in the blood keeping pressure. This isn't something any regular five-year-old is expected to do. Your son called C-Sec and provided accurate information so that they sent the medics in as quickly as they did. You, sir, have remarkable children."
Alec kept quiet for a moment, taking in the words Kasi was saying. Finally, he spoke. "I know, I know they are remarkable. Thank you for your time and effort for staying with them."
Kasi shook her head. "I did nothing much, other than to help them take things from high places. I dare say if left on their own, they would have found a way to get things done."
With that, Kasi took her leave. That left Alec alone in a house so quiet, too quiet. The silence was overwhelming.