Cosima had been barricaded in her room for weeks. No news from Peter. His whole family just up and left without a trace. It didn't sit right with her. No way he'd leave without saying goodbye. She'd thought about their last conversation many, many times. She'd pored through miles of research, trying to fit the pieces together. DYAD kept coming up clean, supposedly she could trust her own parents, but the question remained, why would parents secretly study their kids?

"Sweetie…" Ana knocked on the door softly. "Dinner's on the table."

"Not hungry." She continued typing away as Ana opened the door a crack.

"You have to eat, hon." It was the only comfort she could really offer since her friend disappeared. She was starting to have her own suspicions, but she didn't dare share them. She gradually let herself find a seat on the foot of Cosima's bed.

"How are the applications coming along?" Perhaps a change in subject could stir a few more words out of her sullen teenager. College applications seemed like a safe start.

"Fine." Cosima stuck to her brevity. No one really worried about her getting into a great school.

"I wish you'd talk to us about it, Cos." Ana finally relented. Their family wasn't in the business of being coy, might as well try to put it out in the open again.

"I don't wanna talk about it." He was gone. There was nothing they could do to fix it. But still, there was something that'd been on her mind. Her parents were usually honest with her, she had no reason to distrust them. Here goes nothing. "What's your deal with DYAD?"

Ana had to expect this question eventually. Frankly, with Cosima's inquisitive nature, she was surprised it took her this long. They'd talked about the birds and the bees, she knew she was born through In-Vitro Fertilization, she might as well know the whole story.

"We'd tried IVF a few times before we had you." Ana explained. "One reason or another, it wouldn't take. We were researching medical trials, and DYAD came up. What they had, it…it was miraculous, hon." This, coming from a scientist.

"So, you enrolled." Cosima crossed her legs under her. "How'd it work?" Her second favorite question.

"We were precisely matched to a surrogate fertilized egg, and I was pumped full of hormones to make sure you stuck around in there." Ana shrugged. That was the gist of it, as far as she knew she agreed to. Her suspicions would stay under wraps. There was no need for Cosima to get herself wrapped up in it. "And, lucky for us, you decided to hang around." She leaned in closer, nuzzling Cosima's shoulder.

"Lucky me, I could've been hitched with some prepsters in Connecticut." Cosima finally allowed for a smile to escape.

"Don't think they would've let you get away with dreadlocks." Ana laughed, brushing a hand through Cosima's new 'do.

"Though, Darwin might argue growing up in a different environment I wouldn't want them." Cosima gleefully piled on the science.

"There's my little genius." Ana beamed, hoping this finally got Cosima out of her funk. "Anything else you want to know? We're an open book."

"There's just one more thing." She replied after careful consideration. She was satisfied with the answers she'd gotten, but there was just one more thing that was bugging her.

"If DYAD was so great, why do you get mad when dad talks about them?" She'd heard those fights that went on when her parents thought she was fast asleep. "I have ears, ya know."

Ana couldn't bring herself to tell the truth. She didn't want Cosima looking into Neolution. She didn't want her to start asking the same unanswered questions she had. No. Her primary responsibility as a mother was to keep her daughter safe and sound. "Your father was offered a job, and I decided we weren't going to pick up and move to Toronto." She replied simply. It wasn't a lie, but it certainly wasn't the whole truth. "Sometimes you don't always agree with the people you love, and that's okay, sweetie."

Cosima felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. None of this was going to bring back Peter, but at least she could stop worrying about her own parents.


"All quiet on the Western front?" Frederick asked, taking his dishes to the sink as Ana took the liberty of finishing her lesson plan on his open laptop.

"Think we cured her teenage angst." Ana finished the last few tweaks of the slideshow. She was distracted by the email that popped in his inbox. Final offer contract. From DYAD. "Fred, what's this?" She turned the screen around, giving him a heartbeat to answer before she grew livid.

He hadn't meant for Ana to find out this way. "The software I've been working on, DYAD wants to buy it, that's all." He was backpedaling already. "It's got a lot of potential for genetic research. Dr. Leekie says it can help more families like us."

Throwing in the Neolutionist's name only hindered his cause. "Families like us?" She scoffed. "You believe that coming from the guy who tried to recruit us to work for his neo-eugenic better human nonsense?"

"It's not like that, sweetheart, I promise." Dr. Leekie had managed to make him fully entranced. He truly believed he was doing the right thing.

"Get out." Her low timbre made it all the more frightening. There was no need for Cosima to be overhearing this argument too. He kept this secret from her, and it was unforgiveable. She would not have it in her house. Not tonight.

"Ana…" He tried to plead his case.

"Out."


Strapped to the bed, lights dim, brusque hands poking and prodding. A pinprick, a needle, maybe?

Cosima awoke gasping. She eyes darted frantically to the walls. She was alone. The nightmare was so vivid, it was like Peter's horrific encounter was haunting her. But it wasn't real, she assured herself.

Downstairs, the front door lock clicked firmly back in place.