Note: Sorry for the wait. Life has been crazy. Like insane. But it's slowed down for now!
Well, we all have learned a valuable lesson: if the episode title has 'heart' in the name: we will be emotionally devastated. Vincent will be missed dearly and probably kept alive in this story. Since I am about a year and a half behind, timeline wise, things may change.
Some Ripley and Conners wackiness. They will still be the comic relief they were in the orginal, only with a more twisted sense of humor and expanded back stories.
Hope you enjoy the chapter.
Spoilers for the last two Harry Potter books up ahead.
Xxx
"Hey, a dead person!" Ripley squealed and pointed.
"Don't sound so cheery!" Conners scolded her, eyebrows raised in alarm.
"You don't see them every day." Ripley scoffed and walked up to the platform.
"Thank God," Conners muttered and trailed behind her. The body on the platform had hair, more than she did. "Holy crap. Did her hair grow?"
"That story about nails and hair continue to grow after death is just a misconception. Once a person or an animal dies, both nail and hair growth stops. What people perceive as nail and hair growth after death is merely an optical illusion. After death, the body dehydrates, which makes the skin shrink around the skull and skeleton. With the shrunk skin, more nails and hair get exposed, making them appear as growing. Funeral workers moisturize the body with creams to keep it hydrated*." Ripley said cheerfully and went back to studying the body, glee all over her face. Conners face-palmed and went back to her book. She worried about Ripley sometimes. A lot.
They were at the Jeffersonian, three days after their last visit. Starbuck was there for the DNA test. Shed had spent the whole time fretting. She had been keeping this a secret from her grandparents, which had been eating at her. While she had kept secrets and lied to them before, they had been small. Not something that altered family history. Her friends knew and had been very supportive of the whole thing. They knew that she had always wanted more family, and a brother had been at the top of the list. Ripley was an only child and Conners was a middle child who only had half-siblings that she wasn't close to. They were each other's family, and that meant supporting each other in high tech, Maury esque escapades.
"Look at that fine specimen. And that one. Makes me glad to be alive," Ripley whispered.
"Dude, I knew you were sick, but come on! Tijuana was bad enough, but necrophilia? That's gross, even for me," Conners gagged, a look of pure horror on her face. Ripley turned to her, looking confused.
"I am not talking about dead people you sicko," Ripley snapped. "Them."
She pointed at the men standing by a door on the other side of the lab. One was tall and skinny, with stubble and a sort of emo look about him. The other was a little bit shorter, but more built and was clean shaven. The former was a brunette and the latter was blond.
"The tall one looks like he wants to kill himself," Conners muttered.
"Let's go say hi."
"I don't wanna say hi…"
But it was too late. Despite her looks, Ripley was almost freakishly strong. She had her friend across the room in a matter of seconds.
"Hi," she said, smiling broadly.
"Hey," the blond guy replied, nodding.
"You work here?" Ripley asked, twirling her hair around a finger.
"Yeah," the emo said, his eyes fixed on her breasts.
"I've read that one," the blond said to Conners, referring to the book in her hands. She was still reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. "That's the one where Snape kills Dumbledore, right?"
Conners paled as much as she could. "Snape kills Dumbledore?"
Meanwhile…
Cam withdrew the cotton swab from Starbuck's mouth and put it inside a tiny Ziploc bag with a label that said 'Medoza, S' on it. She placed it next to a similar bag that was labeled 'Sweets, L'.
"And we're done. The results should be in by the day after tomorrow," Cam said.
"Cool. Um, thank you Dr. Saroyan," Starbuck mumbled.
"Yeah. Thanks so much Cam," Sweets added.
"No problem," Cam smiled at both of them. They left the room a few minutes later. Cam, while she wasn't one of the bone people, could tell just by looking at them they were related. They had similar facial structure and hair, though hers was longer and not held down with hair care products. She hoped she was right. Sweets didn't seem to have much family and he had sounded so excited when he called and asked for the test.
"So, dinner tonight?" Starbuck asked. They had agreed to have at least one meal together before the results came in. If they were related, then it would be a stepping stone to becoming a family once again. If they weren't, then maybe they could become friends. Starbuck had started to drift over to his side of thinking, but remained mostly skeptical as not to give herself false hope.
"Definitely," he said.
Before he could add where, there was a shout from the main area. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE LOVED HARRY'S MOM?"
"Oh crap," Starbuck slapped her palm to her forehead. "That's my friend. Can you text me the details for tonight? I have to take care of this."
"Sure."
Xxx
Sweets invited her to the diner, which was one of his places. Next time, they would meet on her turf. His second promise, one that was easier to keep than the first.
"How was your day?" Sweets asked. It came out so shrinky, so squinty, so stiff that both of the burst out laughing.
"Fine. How was yours?"
"Also fine. I had to field questions all day about where you came from and who you exactly are."
"I would have gladly done that instead of having to take a test on yoga positions."
They laughed at the bizarre day and quieted. It still amazed Sweets that after years of hoping and wishing he could find her and then making himself deny she had never even existed after he failed (his adoptive parents, even though he thought of them as his real parents had changed his last name, and he didn't know if her grandparents had or had not and if they had to what), she was finally here.
Even though she still thought that they might not be related, Sweets just knew. And even if she wasn't, maybe they could be friends. They did get along well enough.
They commenced telling each other their life stories. Sweets told her about growing up in a quiet suburb with his kind, elderly parents. They encouraged his vast mental abilities and made way for every opportunity, no matter what they had to sacrifice. He told her the madcap stories of his adolescence, which was spent in college. As there were few, he played them up to keep her smiling. As children, he hadn't seen her smile enough. Now, he would make up for it. He told her about the Jeffersonian, and she outright busted up laughing at some stories and grew solemn at others.
After him, it was her turn. Starbuck explained that her grandparents, Raul and Esmeralda had relocated to Rockville so her grandmother could get her thyroid cancer treated. They were good people though. They had raised her Catholic and done everything they could to give her a normal life. As Lance thought, she didn't talk until she was five, and only started speaking freely at seven. She told him about her motley crew of friends, how she read all the time and had spent hours reading the letters, looking at the pictures and surfing the Net hoping she would find him. He learned she liked to read and dance.
They parted ways around nine. He went to go see Daisy and she went home. They agreed to see each other in 38 hours, when Cam would have the results.
Xxxx
*quoted from hairgrowth dot tv