Jared's POV

Stupid fucking Kyle.

He walks in at the worst possible time. And this isn't even the first time he's done it. But it definitely is the worst.

We're walking down the hall to Doc's after he so rudely interrupted me talking to...whatever it is. The parasite. My mind is torn between where I came from and where I'm headed to. Melanie's body is back there in our storage hole and it took everything in me to not attack it in any kind of way. All because of the kid. I needed to know. I need to know.

Kyle came in as soon as I asked it about the kid. Melanie's body carried the baby. I know that much. But nothing more. Did the alien conceive the child or...or was it mine? Mine and Melanie's together? I need to know.

I look back one more time even though I can't see her anymore. We're standing in front of Doc's office, not even five feet away. That's why Kyle got me, what I'm here for. The baby. Right now the baby matters. And Jamie. I mentally hit myself. How am I supposed to tell him about this - any of it?

The expression on everyone in Doc's face cut my thoughts off. I went into survival mode. "What is it? Is it alien?"

Doc shook his head. "That's exactly what we're confused about."

"What?" I asked. "What is it then?"

"The baby's human, Jared," Jeb answered. "He's human."

I was shocked to say the least. I thought that if Mela...it, any of them would have a baby, it would be one of them. Not one of us. "How is that possible?"

Doc shrugged but Kyle answered first. "Because what if it's yours?"

I gave him a sharp look. "Shut up, Kyle."

"Well, it's possible," he says defensively. "Didn't you and her -"

"Kyle."

We both turned to look at Doc. I gave him a silent thank you and looked over at Jeb, wondering why he didn't stop him. There was an amused look on his face that told me he wanted to see what I would do. I shook my head at him.

"The point of this is," Doc said. "The child is fully human. No silver at all. I ran some tests, the best I could down here, and either the kid is...Jared's" He nodded in my direction. " - or the aliens can have human children."

I don't know which I wanted to believe. That the kid could be just something the parasites made in the girl I loved's body or that it was me and her's. It'd be so much easier if it wasn't ours. But did I want to think about anyone else's hands on her, the way mine were, to make that child? Did they even conceive the same way we did? I shook my head, trying to get the thoughts out of my head.

"How can we find out?" I found myself asking.

"Well, we can always ask the girl," Jeb chuckled.

Kyle narrowed his eyes at our leader. "It would answer you?"

"She asked me about the kid when we brought her in," he replied. "I'm sure if I ask her if the baby is hers or my niece's, she'd answer."

I nod, but not really hearing it all clearly. Jeb was going to ask the parasite that stole Melanie's body if it the baby was it's or mine. It could play us, lie that it's Melanie's so we'll care about it.

But the baby was also human. There was no way to fake that. If it was playing us, Doc would have found out if it wasn't the alien's. This was too confusing. I wish I could be the one to ask considering it might be my child, but I didn't think I would be able to ask anything. Last time took me a few tries before I got my question out.

I walk towards Jeb. "I want to come with you."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're too close to this," Jeb answers. All signs of jokes are gone, he's all serious now. "You might scare her too."

"How would I scare her?" I ask him. I hadn't done anything to scare her. She had no reason to be of me, at least.

Jeb sighed. "She asked about you and Jamie when I found her out there. It was the first thing out of her mouth once we checked on the baby."

That surprised me but I stayed put. "But how would I scare her? She doesn't even know me."

Kyle scoffed. "If anything, she should trust you then."

I turned to him and gave him a glare. "One might say the same thing about you."

Jeb called me and I faced him again. "Jared, stay here and wait. Doc will be taking care of the little boy but you can't come with me. She might not cooperate."

I scoff now. "I don't see how that would change anything but -"

"Jared," Doc said.

Jeb walked out of the room and I watched him go back to where I wanted to go. I looked down at the baby on the table. His toes were in the air and smiling. He even had Melanie's eyes or at least the eyes she had before. I took the tiny hand in mine and its fingers curled around my index finger. The baby smiled bigger.

"I have to know," I whispered to myself. Neither Kyle or Doc heard me. With one last look at the little boy who may or may not be my son, I ran out the door to the storage hole. Kyle tried to follow me but I showed no signs or slowing or stopping.

When I got closer, I walked more quiet in my steps. I heard Jeb say, "We just want to know more about the child."

I nodded in agreement. It was definitely what I wanted.

"James," I heard Mel's voice say.

I got closer and saw Jeb lean in to her. "Excuse me?"

"James," her voice said again. "My son's name is James."

James? Like as in Jamie? Was I hearing this right?

Jeb repeated the name and I let out a gasp. I was hearing it right. Its head looked up to me in surprise. It was obviously not expecting me to be standing there.

And either was Jeb for that matter. He turned around and stood up, walking to me. "I told you to stay at Doc's!"

"I couldn't," I answered. "How do you expect me to sit there and wait?"

He took a breath and looked between me and the girl inside the hole. "Let me talk to her, Jared. Just go stay with the baby."

"Jeb," I said through my teeth. I don't want to get angry at him. He gave me a place to stay after Melanie was taken. But I can't just sit on the sidelines for this one. "Please."

I don't know if he hears the pleading in my voice or sees something in my face but he nods. "Fine. But stay out here, all right? I mean it."

"Okay," I agree.

Jeb walks back into the hole and I sit myself down on the hard rocks in the tunnel. He must be back with her because he asks how she came up with the name James.

There's silence at first. I look into the hall and see it shaking its head. It doesn't want to tell him. Huh. That could help its trick.

"Sweetheart, you have to tell me," he says to it. I cringe when he says sweetheart. It's not, it's a thief. A body stealer. It stole Melanie from me and now it's gonna keep her last secret - whether or not that child is mine or not.

"Jamie," I hear a small voice say.

Jamie? It does know about Jamie? I have to grip the rocks in the ground just to stay seated and not rush in there demanding answers.

Jeb nods to the parasite. "Jamie?"

"Like the little boy," it says. "Melanie's brother."

I'm about to charge in there when it says her name. It doesn't have any right to say her name. Not now, not ever. Jeb looks my way, as if he's sensing my thoughts and convinces me to stay there.

"You know about him?"

Another nod. "Yes."

"How so?" he asks.

"Memories," it replies. It got into Melanie's memories? Jeb was right. I'm too close to this. It kills me to sit there listening to it speak to him, about Jamie or Melanie. Next, it was going to mention me. "I unlocked her memories."

Hmph. The way it talks about the girl I love might as well be talking about a key. Jeb goes along with it though, much better than I would. "How?"

It shakes its head. "It was just...there."

"Just there how?" he asks calmly. "Did you find them on your own?"

"Yes," it says. Something about the way it answers gets to me. Like it's not entirely the truth. But I keep quiet and wait. "When the baby kicked."

"When the baby kicked?" Jeb asks the same question I was just gonna ask.

It nods. "I thought of..." There's a pause then she starts again. "Some of her memories came to me when I felt him kick."

I can't take it anymore. I have to go back to Doc's because if I don't, I'm going to run in there and scare it just like Jeb thought I would. I stand up and get ready to leave when something stops me. "I remembered his father."

It's just a small whisper. But it stops my heart and my breathing, the way Melanie's smile used to. The way it would when she told me she loved me. I stand in place, not turning around to see the look on its face but I know I can't keep walking, either. Not when I'm so close to finding out the truth.

"You know who his father is?"

"Yes."

"Who is it?" Jeb asks. "Was it another one of you or -"

"No," and I can tell she's shaking her head. Her voice sounds like Mel's when she used to do the same thing. "It wasn't one of us."

He takes a long breath. "Is it Jared's?"

More silence. Come on, answer already. My feet stay planted where they were when I first stopped. I haven't moved to do anything but breathe.

Then another small whisper. "Yes."

My heart feels like it's officially stopped. Did it just say the baby is mine? It had to because when I look back to the hole again, Jeb is staring in my direction. He's obviously wondering if I heard what the parasite just said.

I did.

But I can't move. I can't think. I can't do anything. Its head is down, maybe in shame or in grief. I don't know what but I don't care. It said the baby is mine. Could it be? It looked small, less than three months old maybe. And Melanie's been gone for ten. Was it possible?

The night before Melanie left for Chicago, she asked me to make love to her. Very much like she had before we ever slept together. It happened more times than a first and a second but the timing...it seemed to make sense with the baby's age.

I needed to speak to Doc. See if he could find out a definite age. Or...I looked into the parasite's silver eyes, what used to be Melanie's eyes, and shook my head. No. I can't ask it that. Could I?

Making a decision, I walk back to the front of the hole. "How old is he?"

It looks up at me, as does Jeb. "Excuse me, son?"

"The baby," I clarify. "How old is he?"

The parasite looks down to the ground, afraid. Shit. I just ruined everything. But instead of getting more silence, the voice I love so much speaks to me. "Six weeks."

I look to Jeb, calculating in my mind when he would have been born and maybe even conceived. I lost Melanie forty-two weeks ago. it was getting closer to eleven months. It fit. The timing fit.

I can't breath in here. I leave without a word and walk back into the tunnel. I'm not that far away when I feel wetness on my cheeks. I hadn't cried since I lost Melanie. But right now, seeing her and hearing about my child, our child. It's too much. I get it out and as soon as I can, I walk back to me and Jamie's room.

Jamie is sitting there on the bed when I enter. But I'm surprised at who I see with him. Maggie. "Jared!"

He runs to me, excited. I fake a laugh, pretending what just happened didn't. At least to not tell him yet. I don't think I'm ready to. "What's going on here?"

"I'm not in trouble for not being in class," he tells me. Maggie gives me a tight smile, like she's pretending too. I guess she didn't tell him yet, either.

"That's great, buddy," I say and ruffle his hair.

"What's going on out there?" he asks. "I heard people fighting."

I shake my head and smile. Another fake one. "It's no big deal. They want us to go on our raid sooner than planned. Jeb tried to tell them we'd be fine to wait."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed. "I thought they found something out there."

"Found something?" I ask. "Like what?"

He leans in and whispers to me, out of Maggie's earshot. Too bad he doesn't know she knows more than he does. "One of the aliens."

"Aliens?" I laugh. "Don't be silly. There's none of them out there."

"You sure?"

His eyes look worried. I look to his face and then his aunt's and make a decision. "Um, Maggie, can we have a moment, please?"

"Jared, I don't think that's wise," she says.

Maggie never liked me. Not since the day we met, when she held a sword to my throat and demanded to know who I was. "Please."

"Well, all right," she says in a tone that doesn't sound approving. "But if my brother says anything about this, I said not to."

"I'll keep that in mind," I tell her as she walks out.

Jamie looks at me once she's gone, curious. "What is it, Jared? What wouldn't Uncle Jeb want you to tell me?"

I sigh. First, my heart had to break and now his will. "There was an alien out there, Jamie."

"Okay," he says. "Why couldn't you tell me? Did you think I'd be scared?"

"No," I shake my head. "Not scared."

"What then?"

I take a deep breath and just tell him. "Melanie's body...is here. The parasite who took her body over came here looking for us."

His face stays very still for a thirteen year old boy. "Where is she?"

"That doesn't matter right now," I tell him. "What does is...she brought a newborn with her. And...it's your nephew, Jamie."

"It's Melanie's baby?" he asks.

I nod. "Me and hers."

"Oh," he says then his face turns joking. "Ew, gross! You two made a baby!"

I laugh for the first time since before seeing her walk in. "Yes, we did. And it's not gross."

"That's what you think," Jamie muttered.

I smiled again at him but then got back to the point. "The baby's human, Jamie. And maybe when and if you're ready - hell, if I'm ready - I can take you to see him. If you want."

"I want to," he says. "If that's what I have left of Melanie, then take me there."

"Okay," I say and ruffle his hair again.

We both stand up and walk in the direction to Doc's. "So where is she?"

"It's a secret," I tell him.

"Kyle knows," he says. "He said he got to go to a secret place then laughed. Does he know?"

"He knows," I agree. "But you're not going to see her."

"But I want to!" he yells. Some of the other people look at us and I move him faster and laugh it off. "She's my sister, Jared. How is it fair you've seen her but I can't?"

"Because she's not your sister," I answer. "Not anymore. And I've seen her because I was here when they brought her in. And she brought my...my son here. I had to see her."

"But Jared -"

"No, Jamie. I'm your guardian now. Just, please, listen this once, okay?"

"Okay."

The room we were supposed to meet in was abandoned. There was not a single sound to be heard and I felt something was off when I walked into the building. Just looking at it, I knew something was wrong. But now, standing in the room we were supposed to be reunited, it all made sense.

Jamie was behind me. He was looking for places to hide. He was so sure that Melanie was here and that she would be somewhere, not answering us in case she thought we were parasites. But I knew. She was gone.

In the corner of my eye, I notice a piece of newspaper. It was a ripped off edge and with a small note written in it. A small sentence of words was written on it:

not fast enough love you love jamie don't go home

I curled the paper in my hand and sank to the floor. That was Melanie's last note. Her last I love you to both me and her little brother. My eyes blurred and Jamie came beside me.

"What?" he asked. "What is it? Did you find something?"

I handed him the paper and watched his own expression as he took in Melanie's last words. His own eyes filled with tears too and he sat beside me, crying, just as I was. He handed me back the note where I stuffed it into my pocket. I would never be without it ever again.

I may have lost the woman I love but I would make a promise to myself to take care of her little brother, no matter what. I would keep him safe.