Stunned, Jenny reached down and patted the children on the head, slightly awkwardly, as she glanced around the room until her eyes met Nick's. Whatever was going on, it was probably Cutter's doing. It usually was. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Mum, we've missed you!" Julie exclaimed.
"I'm not your…"
"You are." Nick said stepping forward. "Jenny, meet your children, Julie and Nathan."
"Nick, I think I would know if I'd give birth. Twice."
Nathan burst into tears, "Mum, it's us! Don't you know us?"
Jenny shut up. These weren't her kids, regardless of what Nick might think, but she was clearly upsetting them. They'd have to discuss it in private, if she could get the kids to let go of her. She wrapped a protective arm around each of them, trying to calm them down. Nick didn't seem to notice the look she gave him, silently pleading for him to be quiet for once. Instead, he began pacing and speaking harshly.
"They are, because they're Claudia Brown's children and you are Claudia Brown. You just don't remember that! Somehow she's turned into you, but you're all one and the same in every little detail! Except personality of course, but… but it doesn't make sense. No one but Helen and I should remember her. By all rights, these kids shouldn't remember her!" He turned sharply suddenly and gestured wildly at the teary and wide-eyed kids who were staring at him and clutching onto Jenny tightly still. "These kids shouldn't have even been born!" He shouted.
"Shut up, Cutter." Abby ordered.
Nick turned to her, "No, Abby, don't you get it? They…"
Abby stepped forward and put her hand on Nick's arm. "Cutter," she said gently, "Listen, I know you're upset and I understand what you're saying. You're right, as always, it doesn't seem to work whatsoever, but the fact is, the kids are here and they are children and they're frightened and you're scaring them more right now. We need to talk about this, but we need to talk in private, yeah?"
Nick calmed himself visibly and smiled at her, "Yeah, yeah, okay, you're right." He turned tail and walked from the room. Abby winked at Jenny and turned to follow him.
"Wait!" Jenny called after her, "What do I do with…?" She gestured at the kids.
"I'll help!" Sarah said, coming forward and reaching for Julie. "Come here, Honey, there's just been a bit of a misunderstanding, okay? Everyone's a little confused right now and we'll tell you what's going on when we know; I promise. In the meantime, why don't we…" she trailed off and looked at Becker wondering what exactly she would do with them.
"We could take them to Abby and Connor's flat," he suggested, looking at Connor. "Connor probably has some video games they can play or something."
Connor shrugged and fished his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Becker, "You can use the nintendo, but you'll probably have to stop at the video store and rent a more age appropriate game. I'm gonna stay here with Abby and the Professor and try to find out what's going on. Whatever you guys do with the kids, don't make a mess and don't let Rex escape or Abby'll kill me!"
Jenny glanced at Becker and Sarah and then said, "I think I'll stay here too, this whole thing is just a little too strange for me."
"Mum, we wanna stay with you!" Nathan said, speaking up finally.
Becker came and knelt in front of him, "She needs some time to rest and maybe get her memory back. I need you to be a brave boy and come with Sarah and I, okay?"
Nathan hesitated and looked up at Jenny who nodded encouragingly at him. Finally he nodded and put his hand in Becker's, "Okay."
Jenny ran off quickly, trying to find a place where she could hopefully have a bit of privacy to think.
Abby had locked herself in the interrogation room with Nick. They sat across from each other, and Connor stood just behind Abby. They were silent for awhile.
"It makes no sense!" Connor said suddenly, "If Cutter's Claudia Brown ever existed, than they shouldn't have been born here."
Nick didn't say anything; he'd become silent and was staring at his hands. "Shut up, Connor," Abby said harshly. She turned to Nick and spoke gently, "It's doesn't make sense, but that's not what's bothering you, is it Professor?" She stood and moved closer to Nick, sitting beside him and placing a hand on his arm.
Nick looked into her eyes and then mumbled, "How could she?"
Connor stared at them in confusion, "How could who do what?"
Nick jumped to his feet, slamming down on the table with his fists, "Why the hell didn't Claudia Brown ever tell me she had kids?"
"Oh." Connor sat down and did shut up. This was a relationship issue then, not a scientific one; he'd better let Abby deal with it.
He turned to Abby, "She outright lied to me. We discussed it once. We were out for a walk and we'd noticed a sign on a shop saying they could do small picture portraits for a dollar. Claudia impulsively said we should get our portrait taken, though I thought it a bit odd at the time. She said when she was a child she'd wanted to be a catalogue model and used to love getting her picture taken, so we did it. She was so excited about it, and even ran home to get a change of clothing so that we could take a few different ones. It made me smile to see her excited about something so silly, because it wasn't normally like her, but she said it reminded her of her childhood. Her older cousin had wanted to be a photographer and had often followed her around with a camera making Claudia model for her, which was where the obsession had started."
Nick knew he was rambling, but he was too upset to care as he continued on, "Anyway, while we were waiting for the prints to come out, we got to talking about other things in our childhood and then just to things kids do in general and at one point I asked her if she'd ever want kids of her own. She told me yes, but not yet. She said she was too focused on her career for kids at the moment but someday she'd imagine herself having children. She lied to me, Abby."
Abby could see his eyes watering, and laid her hand on his arm again. "I'm sorry, Professor," she mustered out.
Connor jumped to his feet then, a look of pure excitement on his face, "She didn't lie to you, Professor! I've got it! It all makes perfect sense now!"
Abby and Nick turned to him in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Claudia wouldn't have lied to you Professor, and I'd read her file, there was no mention of children."
"But…"
"We're living in a different timeline, Professor, according to you. If your Claudia Brown had kids, they wouldn't have been born now, yeah? But these kids are born, and they remember her so they don't belong to your Claudia Brown. Claudia, yes, but not the one you remember. A different Claudia, living in this time line with a different life!"
Nick frowned, "Do you think…"
"It's gotta be, Professor! It only makes sense. We don't remember her, because we've never met her, but it doesn't mean she'd not out there somewhere still."
"But what about Jenny?" Abby asked, "Isn't Jenny this timeline's Claudia Brown? And she doesn't remember the kids either."
"Then she's not her. They're twins, perhaps. Jenny and Claudia, but they aren't the same person."
"Wouldn't Jenny know if she had a twin? Besides, they have different last names and Jenny isn't married, yet. Brown would have to be the maiden name since it was Claudia's name in the first timeline, yeah?" Nick asked cautiously.
"I don't know," Connor admitted, "I'm working on that, but not necessarily. Perhaps there's some reason why they don't know about each other."
"Like that movie!" Abby said suddenly, "The Parent Trap, remember?"
Connor nodded, pointing at her, "Exactly! It's a long shot, but it makes sense. We should dig up Jenny's file and see what can find out, yeah?"
Abby and Nick grinned at each other and nodded, "Let's go!"
