She was running, the walls closing in around her. It was a tunnel of some kind. She ran and ran into the darkness ahead, racing the footsteps coming from behind her. Suddenly she felt her foot catch on something, and she was falling; falling through the darkness to land on the cold, hard ground. The mob of feet drew near as she struggled to get up or cry out, but she was frozen. She could just make out their silhouettes, drawing up to the edge of an eerie glow now surrounding her. With one last step, the light began to reveal the faces of her attackers.

"Mom?"

Carol woke with a start, searching erratically in the dim moonlight of the room for a face. Her eyes drifted over Ben's peacefully sleeping form next to her, to the child on her left with terrified blue eyes.

"Ollie," she breathed in relief, "what's wrong honey?"

"I can't sleep."

The green numbers on the bedside clock read 2:26am.

"Can you lay down with me?"

"Sure baby."

Carefully she lifted Ben's arm, ducking out underneath it, and gently placed it down on the bed before crawling into the tiny cot next to her son.

"What have you been thinking about all this time?"

"Gene."

A pang of guilt gripped Carol. "How is he?"

"He's okay. He doesn't know what happened though. He keeps asking if his parents are here, and I don't know what to tell him."

"What did you say?"

"I just said I didn't know and that they'd probably tell him if they were."

"Good. I'll talk to Stephen in the morning and if he thinks Gene is well enough, I'll tell him, okay?"

"Okay. What's going to happen to him when we leave? His whole family is gone."

"Don't you worry about that, that's grown up stuff. I'll take care of it when the time comes. You just worry about keeping him in good spirits: he's going to need a friend tomorrow."

Ollie nodded and he was silent for a moment, his eyes dropping to the sheets. "Do you think Dad is okay?"

"I don't know sweetie. I haven't heard anything."

"Do you think he –"

"I don't know. I wish I did, I wish I had something better to tell you, but I have no idea, and I don't want to guess and give you the wrong idea."

"I know. It's okay."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay mom. You saved us."

"I know. I just wish you didn't have to see the things I did."

"But you wouldn't do that stuff all the time, you had to."

"Does that mean you forgive me?"

"I wasn't mad at you."

She couldn't help but smile away her tears with such an angel in her arms. "Good. I don't want you mad at me."

"Me either."

"Anything else you want to talk about, or are you ready to go to sleep now?"

"I think I'm ready for sleep."

"Night sweetheart." She gently kissed his forehead.

"Night mom."

---------------------------------

Morning came much sooner than Carol would have liked, which a much less attractive tray of breakfast. Ollie and Gene trotted off to the cafeteria in search of something more appetizing while Carol pulled a chair next to Ben's bed and poked at her unappetizing meal.

"I was worried when I woke up and you were gone."

"Sorry. Ollie couldn't sleep."

"It's okay. Just missed you is all."

Carol blushed and dropped her gaze to her spongy omelette.

The room fell silent, oddly silent, with neither one of them sure how to respond. Thankfully their friendly neighbourhood scientist came to their rescue, his head popping in the open doorway.

"Hey Carol, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure Stephen."

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No, not at all."

She dropped her plate to the bedside table like a hot potato and bolted for the door.

"What's up?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid."

Her face fell instantly. "It's Tucker, isn't it?"

Stephen nodded silently; she knew everything she needed from his solemn expression. Tears sprang to her eyes and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault Carol. You were just protecting Ollie."

"How do I tell my son I killed his father?"

"He loves you Carol, and you did what was necessary to save his life. He knows that. He'll forgive you."

"What about Gene? Did you find anyone in his family alive?"

"No. We're looking into whether or not it was a genetic thing, but Gene was the only one in his entire family to survive the initial infection."

"Did you tell him yet?"

"No. I wanted to talk to you first."

"Good. I think I should be the one to tell him. I need to tell him what I did."

"I thought you might say that."

"What's going to happen to him when it's time to discharge us?"

"He'll go into foster care."

"Let me take him. Please, Stephen? Let me take him. He's Ollie's best friend, I can't let him end up with just anyone. You know I'll take good care of him. His parents would be happy if I took him in, I know they would."

"I thought you might say that too. I already talked to family and children's services, and they're going to start processing the forms as soon as you call."

She threw her arms around him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. Where's the phone?"

"Down the hallway at the desk. Just ask the woman there to dial FACS for you."

Carol nodded and was gone in a flash.

Stephen smiled sadly and stepped into the near empty room, walking over to Carol's abandoned chair next to Ben.

"Hey man, how's it going?"

"You tell me", Ben gestured at his leg.

"Well, the good news is that all your stats throughout the night were good and stable, and the post surgical x-rays were clean. The bad news is, there was some muscle damage, so you'll need to be in a brace for a while, and you'll need to keep using crutches until you've completed physio."

"Great. A doctor hobbling around the hospital on crutches, won't that be sight."

"You know very well it could have been a whole lot worse."

"I know, I know", he grumbled.

"How are things with Carol?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, I'm not blind. I know you have a thing for her."

"What? What thing?"

"Don't play dumb with me, doctor Ben."

"Ok fine. Thing with Carol are… complicated. I don't know. Last night it seemed like maybe she was coming around, but then this morning she seemed really uncomfortable, so I don't know. I think she wants it, but she's afraid of losing what we have, which I would never let happen, but I think it still worries her."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know that either. There isn't much more I can do, is there? She knows where I stand. I guess I just have to wait, and reassure her however I can, and hope she changes her mind."

"Well, good luck. I think it's only a matter of time. Anyone who sees the two of you together can see it. She'll get there."

"Thanks."

"Take it easy on that leg today, alright?"

"I'll try."

Ollie and Gene raced through the door on either side of Stephen and he spun around to avoid a collision.

"Whoa, take it easy there guys. We don't want you getting hurt and have you stuck in here any longer, right?"

"Sorry", they echoed.

Stephen chuckled and shook his head, looking both ways before exiting the room this time.

"Ben, do you know where my mom is?"

"Sorry Ollie, I'm not sure. She left to talk to Stephen a little while ago and she hasn't been back yet. He didn't tell me where she went."

As if by magic, she suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Ollie, can you come for a walk with me please?"

"Sure mom, can Gene come too?"

"Not right now honey, I need to talk to you, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

He didn't have a good feeling about this.


TBC