Note to all of you who crave more funny moments between Peter and Nathan: I'm sorry, but the brothers won't be in the next few chapters. Chapters Six to Eight will deal with Noah, Claire and Claude. I needed to get some stuff out of the way to set the path for what's to come. I hope you're not too disappointed. Please, stay with me, it will get better (and you need to know what's happening here for Part Two to make sense).


Chapter Six

Odessa, Texas, May 1992

Nearly two months after they'd adopted Claire, Bennet was brought home from an assignment by Thompson. He'd meant to catch his boss for a one-on-one anyway but still, for the entire drive home Bennet hadn't known how to break one particular subject that had been weighing on his mind for days now. So he'd sat in the car fidgeting nervously with his hands, unsure how to start.

"I think my wife suspects something," he finally announced when the car stopped in front of his home. He got out and stood near the white fence surrounding his garden. "She went through my bag. She found a gun and a sedation kit."

Thompson followed him to the fence and leaned his arms on it. "That's a particular kind of stupid on your part for letting her find them."

"I know, I know. The baby's been keeping me up for days. It was sloppy," Bennet sighed and rubbed a hand over his tired face. He didn't know when was the last time he'd slept through the night. Claire had kept him and Sandra up, crying and wailing all the time. She had two new teeth growing and that had troubled her mostly at night.

Bennet sighed again and went on: "I think Sandra thinks I'm some sort of a serial killer."

Thompson shot him an amused look. "She's better off thinking you're a serial killer than knowing the truth."

Well, Bennet wasn't sure he saw it like that but he was clever enough not to voice his thoughts. "I don't know what to do," he admitted instead.

"That a new sensation for you, Bennet?" Thompson still sounded more amused than worried.

Finally Bennet asked what had been on his mind ever since Sandra had found his equipment: "Is my wife in danger?"

Thompson's face turned serious at once. "If I said yes, what would be your next move? Would you pack up Sandra and little Claire and make a run for it or would you turn her over?"

Bennet hesitated just a second but Thompson's eyes gleamed dangerously. He had noticed the faltering. "I'd do what I've always done… what I'm told. But you didn't answer the question. Is she in danger?"

Thompson eyed him silently for a while. "Relax," he relented at last. "As far as I know she's safe. And as long as you'll come up with a plausible lie for her, one that won't come crashing down and biting you in the ass any time soon, she should remain safe as stone."

Bennet's brow furrowed at that particular phrasing but Thompson simply turned around and walked back to his car. When he'd sat inside he added: "So think fast, Bennet, and come up with something solid. Or else I'm afraid the company will."

He closed the door and seconds later the car sped off. Bennet looked after it for a long time, brows still furrowed in confusion, before he took a deep breath and eventually made his way up to the front door.

Two days later Bennet once again came home from work. Seconds after he'd stepped into the entrance hall he was greeted by his wife rather tersely.

"We need to talk." Sandra turned around and walked back into the living room.

"Sandra, if this is about the things you found, the gun and…" Bennet came after her and softly placed a hand onto her arm.

"Partly," she sat into her favorite armchair and then tensely looked up to him. Bennet remained standing.

"I admit that I was kind of shocked when I looked into the bag and found a gun staring back at me. I didn't know you owned one or that you'd even know what to do with it, soft sap that I know you are." Sandra took her husband's hand in hers and squeezed it with affection.

Bennet allowed himself a quick smile. That didn't sound like she was too angry, did it?

"Honey…"

"No, wait. I'm not done yet." Sandra pulled him closer so that he came to stand directly by her side. She looked at him with a mysterious smile. "You know that I'm no friend of weapons but… these are dangerous times we live in and, well… it will put my mind at rest to know that you're willing to protect our family at all costs."

"I am," Bennet confirmed. "You know I love you and little Claire with all my heart and I would do anything..."

"I love you too, honey." Sandra stood up and pulled her husband into her arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and then pulled away to look at his face again.

"But will you still love me when I've become so fat that I can't bend down to tie my own shoes? When I'm gonna annoy you to death with weird cravings for gherkins and ice cream in the middle of the night?"

"What?" Bennet looked confused for a second. Sandra was looking at him with a small smile and bright shining eyes and…

"Oh my God, Sandra!" He suddenly cried when it all fell into place. "You… you're…"

"Yes," Sandra beamed. "In about six months Claire will have a baby-brother or sister. I'm not sure which yet."

"But how…" Bennet stuttered perplexed, "I mean, how… we tried in vain all this time and now suddenly…"

"I know, it's crazy, isn't it? I mean, I nearly went crazy over the fact that we wouldn't succeed and… then we got Claire and… I don't know. I wasn't even thinking about pregnancy anymore, so… perhaps we were trying too hard earlier, I don't know." Sandra shook her head and leaned up to kiss her husband. "All I know is that I'm pregnant now and I couldn't be more happy at all."

Bennet took her into his arms again and kissed her deeply. Then he whispered into her ear. "Me too, Sandra. I love you!"

"I love you too," Sandra gushed back before she pulled him in for another kiss.

That night their love-making was slow and tender. Bennet took his time to thoroughly worship his wife's body, he wanted to make her understand how much the news of her pregnancy meant to him.

And, he thought afterwards with his back against the headboard trying to get his lungs and racing heartbeat back under control, it really meant the world to him.

Ever since they'd had the great luck of adopting Claire as their own Bennet's opinion on kids and his view of himself as a father had changed dramatically. Sure, his whole life had been turned upside-down by fatherhood and it had been a difficult thing to adjust to but… now, two months later, he couldn't imagine ever being without his family again. And in only a few months' time there would be another small but oh so wonderful addition to it.

Another life for him to cherish and love and protect at all costs.

"Mmhm, honey," Sandra's sated voice pulled Bennet out of his thoughts at last. "Do you know what I'd really love right now?"

"No, what?"

Sandra cuddled up to his right side and smiled. "You'll probably think I'm crazy but… do you remember those flowery onions I brought home from the Grunberg's barbecue last week? I'd love one of those right now."

"Really? Those strangely-shaped…"

"I know, I know," Sandra buried her face in the crook of his neck. "You think I'm crazy!"

Bennet kissed her cheek and whispered: "No honey. I just think those weird cravings you mentioned earlier are kicking in already. But I suppose one can't ignore the pregnancy hormones."

He moved to get out of bed but Sandra stopped him with a hand on his arm. "No, I'll go get them myself. You probably won't find them anyway." She slipped out of bed and snatched the next best piece of clothing from the floor. Bennet noticed that it was the pajama top he'd worn earlier, before Sandra had pulled it over his head in a rush to get him naked.

"Hey, I may be only a paper-salesman but I'm not a complete dumb, you know," Bennet complained mock-shocked and threw a pillow after her. "I'm fully capable of identifying some weird flowery onion-thingy in the fridge!"

Sandra dodged the pillow and laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that, honey. Even I get sometimes lost in the depths of my own fridge. With all those vegetables, cakes, the baby food and your million cans of ice-cream it's like a jungle in there." She stopped in the door frame and turned around. "Well, a particularly freezing jungle, that is."

"Alright, you jungle-queen. Go already!" Bennet smiled and then called after her: "Oh, and would you fetch me one of my million cans of ice-cream, please? I think I'm in the mood for 'Chocolate-Crunch'!"

"One Chocolate-Crunch coming up, alright!"

Bennet nestled back into the bed and listened to Sandra's bare footsteps on the stairs. Then the more floppy sound told him that she'd reached the tiled kitchen. When the fridge's door creaked tale-tellingly his mouth already began to water at the prospect of enjoying one of his favorite ice-creams in bed. With his wonderful, beautiful wife that would in a few months give birth to their child.

Bennet listened for sounds from the kitchen again and noticed the wild rummaging was followed by a triumphant "A-ha!" eventually.

Ah, good, she'd found it!

Suddenly a loud crash pierced Bennet's ears, like broken glass or something. Damn it, that had sounded like something heavy had smashed onto the floor. "Did you hurt yourself?" Bennet shouted concerned. There was no answer but then he could suddenly make out heavy footsteps and then...

"Arrrgh, Noooooaaah!" Sandra screamed.

"Sandra!" Bennet jumped out of bed at once. He could hear sounds of a struggle from downstairs and Sandra kept on screaming. Something heavy crashed onto the floor again and the sound of shattered ceramics echoed loudly through the house.

"Sandra!" Bennet cried again, struggling with his pajama bottoms and pulling his gun out of its holster at the same time.

Bottoms barely pulled up he ran down the stairs in wild terror, his wife's panicked cries sounding louder and more desperate with each second.

Just when Bennet rounded the corner from the living room to the cooking area the cries suddenly stopped. A deadly silence settled over the kitchen and Bennet stopped dead in his tracks at the horrible sight that greeted him there.

The back door had been smashed and was hanging in broken pieces from the hinges. The fridge stood wide open and a can of milk along with apples, bananas and peaches lay scattered all over the floor between millions and millions of pieces of broken glass and pottery. And amongst all the chaos stood his wife, stock-still, paralyzed upright like a statue.

"Sandra, are you okay?" Bennet asked breathlessly and took two steps towards her. A sharp pain sore through his right foot when he stepped into shards of broken glass but Bennet didn't stop moving forward. He had his loaded gun stretched out professionally, ready to shoot any intruder, and when he noticed a blurry movement out of the corner of his eyes he didn't hesitate a second but turned to the left and fired his gun three times.

The man who'd wanted to make a run for the back door was hit squarely in the chest and fell to the floor like an axed tree trunk. He didn't move but Bennet nevertheless rushed over to make sure he was truly dead.

The attacker was dressed in black jeans, a black leather jacked and his head and face were hidden by a woolen mask. Bennet bent over and quickly pulled it off, he needed to see that face. Gray hair spilled out from under the mask and the dull brown eyes looked lifelessly enough. Most of the man's face was covered by a wild gray beard.

"Oh God," Bennet gasped in shock when he recognized the man. William Meadow, known by his friends and co-workers as 'Stonemason' only, had worked for the company. He had been one of them, with the ability to…

Bennet let out another gasp when realization finally hit him. He let go of the dead man's body and stumbled over to where Sandra still stood in rigid shock.

And now, from close proximity, Bennet could see why. The gun slid out of his trembling hands and clattered to the floor, forgotten.

"Sandra!" he whispered and gulped heavily when tears threatened to close up his throat and blur his sight. Bennet quickly blinked them away before he stretched out a hand to carefully caress Sandra's face.

It felt cold, and hard. Skin wasn't supposed to feel like this.

A sob escaped Bennet's tightly pressed lips and he cried "Oh no, Sandra! No!" over and over.

His left hand came up to stroke over his wife's head. A head that had been full of beautiful wavy blond hair only minutes ago. Now it was suddenly gray and stiff, frozen to solid stone.

Just like the rest of her.

Her hair, the skin on her face, her arms and her long and slender legs… her entire body had turned to stone.

That beautiful body that had been rosy and full of life, that Bennet had held in his arms, had caressed and made love to not an hour ago, was now ashen and gray. His wife, his beautiful Sandra, the love of his life and his reason for being, had been turned into a lifeless, bloodless statue of stone.

Bennet choked on his tears and fell to the floor in terror and pain. He shouted out in his hurt, he gasped and gulped and cried like he'd never cried before. He lay there crumbled at the cold and stony feet of his dead-frozen wife and wished for the world to swallow him up so that he wouldn't feel this pain anymore.

Somewhere in the house a phone began to ring and muffled cries from upstairs indicated that Claire had woken up, too. But Bennet didn't hear any of it, he remained slumped at his wife's still feet, his body shuddering from the force of his desperate sobs and his mind blank in pain.

TBC