Chapter 12

Claire's sudden revelation of what was actually wrong with Darien sucked the air out of the room. Ed looked up at Claire with distant eyes as he tried to order his thoughts.

"Say what?" Darcy exclaimed in shock to break the heavy silence.

"How? I mean, I thought the report said the peptide solution washed out the memory RNA," Ed said finally.

"I was afraid of this." Claire looked at Ed dismayed. She had wondered for a long time if the peptide had worked. There had been no signs of Simon Cole or Kevin Fawkes sense the shots were administered. But Kevin had given himself the shot and not her; she had only her tests to rely onto tell her if the peptide shot had done what it was designed for. Apparently something had gone wrong.

"Who are you again and why in God's name do you look like Darien?"

Ed and Claire gazed at each other with concern on their faces. "Oh, boy," they said in unison.

Darcy looked at the man that was her husband but apparently his mind was someone else…her dead brother-in-law. 'What would Dr. Phil say about this one?' she thought candidly to herself.

"Dr. Phil? Who's Dr. Phil?" Kevin asked perplexed.

Claire and Ed turned and shot Kevin bewildered looks. "Dr. Phil?" Claire asked.

"Yeah," Kevin stated sternly.

"Who said anything about Dr. Phil?" Ed asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone. A dull ache had started to make its presence known and he quickly brushed it off to being a normal headache.

Kevin glanced at Darcy and he pointed to her, "She did."

"Whoa…wait a minute…I didn't say anything about Dr. Phil out loud, I just mentioned him as a passing thought," Darcy answered.

Ed closed his eyes in frustration, "Oh man."

Kevin looked at Claire intently, "What is going on here?" There was strong conviction behind Kevin's question.

Ed let out a long cleansing sigh as he prepared himself to tell Kevin the truth. "Okay, Kevin…here goes. A colleague of mine discovered a new species of man…"

"A new species? Why that's…" Kevin paused and stared unemotionally at Ed.

A chill ran up Ed's spine from the cold stare he was getting from Kevin. It was nearly predator in nature. He began to become nervous sitting so close to someone who could easily break his neck…over Claire. He hoped that the male dominant instinct wouldn't kick in sending him and Kevin into a fight for Claire. Kevin had once been in love with Claire and he could see easily see Ed as a threat to his territory.

"Wait…I've heard of this…on the radio…I thought it was a joke like with the Martians invading on Halloween." He looked at Ed, felt his fear. 'He's afraid of me…he and Claire…in love…no…I love her…' Anger began to rise in him as he thought about this Darien look alike with the woman he still loved. Sensing that Kevin's uncontrolled dominant instinct was about to kick in, Darcy stepped up to redirect him.

"Kevin, I'm Darcy, Darien's wife."

"His wife? Darien?" He glanced at her and smiled, "You're pregnant too…and how do I know that?" He glanced at Ed and Claire for answers.

Claire pulled up a chair and sat down next to Ed. She glanced quickly at Ed with troubled eyes and then turned her attention to Kevin. "There's something we need to tell you."

Ed began the long arduous explanation of what had happened to Darien. Kevin listened intently to the words but found it increasingly difficult to concentrate. There were so many unfamiliar feelings that he had trouble trying to control. He could sense people walking down the hall, emotions, thoughts…it was all crashing down on him at one time.

"Can you change him back?" Kevin asked to quiet the noise in his mind.

"Yeah, I can. I discovered a way to alter the 1.6% differential to the human 1.1, but…" Ed was interrupted by Kevin's outburst.

"Arnaud!" Kevin glanced angrily at Claire as her thoughts invaded his mind. "How could you give him the cure without doing tests first!?!"

Claire rose to her feet, "If you had given me a way to take the gland out I wouldn't have been put in the position to save Darien's life before I had a chance to run tests! He had become immune to the counteragent, Kevin, and I was running out of time. The Official was going to harvest the gland once Darien went permanent. I risked my career for him. I went against orders!"

"Wait, you mean, Charlie didn't want Darien to have the cure?"

Claire crossed her arms, "Yes, that's right. I had no choice, Kevin. But you did and you chose to give yourself the peptide shot instead of telling me how to remove the gland. How could you do that to your own brother?"

Ed glanced over at Darcy during the verbal exchange with raised brows. He felt like he was in the middle of a family squabble and it made him uncomfortable. A slight twinge of pain forced his hand to the back of his head as his eyes squeezed shut. A low grunt escaped his lips as his face contorted in response to the pain.

The attention in the room turned to Ed. Kevin studied him quickly and knew he wasn't feeling well, "You better have Claire check that."

Claire shot Kevin a surprised glance and then looked at Ed. Ed in turn looked at Kevin and then looked up at Claire like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He knew he was in trouble. She had asked him to tell her when he wasn't feeling well. Claire stared down at him with her hands on her hips, "What's wrong?"

"I'm just getting a headache that's all," Ed motioned as he twirled his hand around his head, "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" An aggravated filled grunt from Claire echoed in the room. "Ed, I told you to tell me when you're not feeling well? I need to check that and run some scans." Claire picked up her phone to contact Tara.

Ed rolled his eyes, "C'mon, Claire, it's just a headache."

Claire glared at him, "Yeah, and what if it's not?" Claire paused as she contacted Tara and then glared at him again, "And you're a doctor too you should know better."

Kevin turned to face Ed, "You're a doctor?"

"Yeah," Ed answered rubbing his head as the pain subsided.

Kevin looked at Darcy. "My brother actually got married…amazing." He turned his attention back to Ed, "It's remarkable…the resemblance. Are we family?"

"Ah, no…I ran some tests and we don't share the same mutation in the UEP in the DNA of the Y-chromosome. We come from different paternal and maternal lines."

"You do know your stuff, I'm impressed. But…" Kevin scrutinized Ed some more. Ed was beginning to feel like one of his samples being examined under a microscope. "…it's so strange hearing science talk coming from you. When I look at you I still see Darien."

Ed smiled, "Yeah, it's been interesting to say the least."

Kevin became serious, he was beginning to feel attracted to Ed. Ed looked at him suspicious, "What?"

"Don't take this wrong, but…I'm…this is strange…but I'm ah…feeling…something." Kevin felt awkward but he couldn't help but feel sexually attracted to Ed. But this was impossible; he's only attracted to women. How was this happening?

Darcy realized it when she sensed the strong emotion coming from Kevin. If another dominant male had entered the room, they both would have sensed the female pheromones and a battle for her attention would ensue. She giggled because Darien himself had gone through this with the others and then Ed went through it when he returned with a gland in his head. But after learning with Darien, they understood the situation and were able to suppress the desire but with Kevin, this was all new to him. Ed and Kevin both looked at her oddly. "I'm sorry, it's just so funny that it's happening again."

Ed shot her an irritated glance, "What is happening again?"

"You…and that gland…it's female remember…Kevin is getting a whiff of the pheromones it's sending out."

Claire returned in time to hear the conversation. "Just like with Darien and Bigfoot…" Claire noted the odd stare from Kevin, "It's a long story and I do want to talk you about that, but he did think Darien was a female because of the same thing…the female pheromones that the gland emits. Apparently dominants can not only pick up our neurological impulses but they can sense pheromones too, both male and female. You're picking up on the female pheromones that are coming from the gland in Ed."

Ed rolled his head back and groaned. It was happening again and it was becoming extremely annoying. Kevin looked at Ed in shock. "A gland? You mean a quicksilver gland?"

Claire walked towards Ed. "I'll explain that later, right now, I need to run some tests on you," she glanced at Ed. "Come on, Tara's waiting." She turned her attention to Kevin, "You might as well come too. We can let the others know what's going on and fill you in all at the same time." She looked at how pale Ed was getting, "I might need your help anyway."

Walter found the whole situation with Kevin interesting. Kevin knew about Walter and he wanted to talk to him about the QS 9300 Project, but for now, his attention was on finding what's happening to Ed. Sloan found it strange but after all the things she's seen, it didn't surprise her. Tom kept his eye on Kevin, like Darien, this was new to him and he would need guidance with being a dominant. Hobbes couldn't believe this was happening, "This just keeps getting worse." The Official wasn't pleased and had ordered Claire to come up with another peptide shot.

"You'll give it to him as soon as it's ready," the Official had ordered sternly.

"After we find out what's wrong with Ed." Claire had answered with strong conviction behind her words.

After the scans were taken and all the other questions answered, Kevin sat looking over some of the results as Ed rested on a bed. The headache had grown worse and medication was needed almost constantly. Kevin glanced over at him and decided to get to know him better. He got up and sat next to Ed with the papers in his hands.

"So, you married Claire?"

"Yes."

"And you're a scientist?"

"Yeah, a bio-anthropologist." Ed strained to concentrate on the conversation. He was at the point that even the lights bothered him. His eyes remained closed as they talked.

"I see."

"Look, I know about you and Claire."

"You do?"

"Yeah." Ed's fingers began to tingle and he began to rub his fingertips together.

"So, she married a scientist who looks like Darien…that kind of tells you something doesn't it?"

"Do we have to do this, Kevin?" Ed rubbed his head when he felt a mind numbing migraine coming on.

Kevin was about to answer when he sensed something from Ed, pain. Concern washed away any hints of jealousy. Kevin reached out his hand and gently put it on the man's shoulder, "It's getting worse."

Searing flashes of pain that resembled white lighting filled Ed's senses. His hands shot to his head and he cried out in agony. Kevin reacted quickly and stood up, "Hang in there."

All Ed knew was the pain, the pain that crackled in his ear like popcorn. Another wave of pain and his arms flopped to his side. He just lay there in an agonizing sea of pain unable to move.

"Oh crap!" Kevin rushed back to his side after calling Claire and bringing a syringe with him full of medication. He injected the contents into Ed's vein as Claire, Sloan, Tara and Walter rushed into the room.

"What happened?" Claire shouted as she stood by Ed's side checking his eyes.

"He's getting worse." Kevin shot a worried glance at Claire.

"The gland?" Claire said as if reading Kevin's mind.

"I'm afraid so...and I think something else might be wrong too," Kevin let a sigh. He knew this was bad, very bad. Tara sensed the urgency in his demeanor; he obviously knew something was terribly wrong. He ran a few quick reflex tests and Ed didn't react at all.

"That can't be good," Sloan commented.

"Paralysis." Kevin stated despondently.

Hours later, Kevin looked over the results of all the scans and the blood work-up. He paced around the room mumbling to himself. He stopped and looked at Claire despondently. The conclusion was something that Claire isn't going to like hearing. "Claire," he called out to her. She looked up at him from her mircroscope. "I know what's wrong."

"I don't like the look on your face," Claire stated.

"You won't like what I have to say either." He glanced down at the floor and then back to her again, "The gland…it's dying."

All the blood rushed from Claire's face. She stared across the room dully when she heard Kevin's words. The next thing she knew everyone was in the lab listening to Kevin give a run down on Ed's condition. She has no idea where the time went between Kevin telling her about the gland to the other's joining them. She glanced around the room but all she could do was keep her eyes on Ed. He's cheated death so many times, can he do it again?

"How did this happen?" Walter asked.

"I'm not sure, but it might have to do with whatever Darien injected him with. It caused some sort of break down on the molecular level. The drug may have acted like a poison…I just don't know for sure, but the important thing here is the cause. The bio part of the gland is breaking down which is causing the tendrils to pull away from the connection to the brain stem and the blood vessels. In other words, the tendrils are going through an atrophy stage. As they're drying up, they're pulling on the nerves and vessels Arnaud attached them to. The force on the nerves is causing the paralysis and the force on the blood vessels could cause something similar to an aneurism to occur at any time. "

"Well, what can be done for Dr. Tate?" The Official asked.

"I have no choice but to take the gland out."

"You can't, you'll kill him!" Claire stated sternly.

"Claire, he'll die if I don't. At least this way, he may have a fighting chance," Kevin added.

"A slim chance at that," Claire said folding her arms in front of her.

"At least it's a chance," Kevin paused. "Look I know how you feel…"

"No you don't! I won't let you touch him, not until we find a better way," Claire said.

"I think I might have a way," Tara said as she walked into the room.

All eyes turned to her. "It's radical, but it'll give him a fighting chance."

"And that would be?" Walter asked.

"We give Ed the dominant gene therapy." Tara waited for the onslaught of negative feedback. After the silence of everyone being stunned, she might as well have been hit with rotten tomatoes.

"What?" Claire asked in an alarming tone. She couldn't believe what Tara had just suggested.

"No, out of the question," Sloan protested.

Tara rolled her eyes. "Listen to me first okay…I ran some models…with Ed's human DNA he has no chance of survival, but with dominant DNA he has a fifty-sixty percent chance of survival." She looked around the room, "You want him to have a fighting chance don't ya? This will do it. This will give you the edge you need. Right now, his chance is what? Five percent? Don't you see the advantage we could give him? Then when he's out of danger you can give him his genogenesis therapy. He'll be back to human status in no time at all."

"Genogenesis therapy?" Kevin asked.

"Another long story," Tara retorted.

"I don't like it," Sloan said. "There's got to be another way."

"All I ask is that you consider it. But think about this as you discuss my proposal, Ed's dying." Tara said.

Claire shook her head, "I don't know, Tara. Darien went through an awful lot of pain during the conversion cycle. I just hate to put Ed through that right on top of what's happening to him now."

"I don't think he's feeling any pain right now." Kevin noted as he held up a set of EEG imaging scans. "He's paralyzed right now remember? I suspect that if we don't do something soon, his major organs could stop functioning too or as I stated earlier, he'll suffer a type of cerebral aneurism."

"If it becomes too much for him, we can keep him sedated. I've ran tests and it won't effect the conversion process." Tara added.

"Okay, now I need to know. What exactly happens during this conversion process?" Kevin asked.

"Well, the DNA is changed by gene splicing. The brain becomes smaller…"

"Wait…smaller?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, smaller."

"But that doesn't fit with the evolutionary process. The dominant brain should be bigger."

"Yes, that's true. The human brain is larger than that of the Neanderthals. But our brains are just more compact for better efficiency, thus the smaller size."

"Oh…" Kevin paused. He continued, "Smaller…I think I have an idea on how that can be an advantage. We need to figure out how to remove the gland safely while Ed is converting. That should be the best time to perform the procedure. How long will the conversion process take?"

"About six hours or longer. It depends on the person," Tara answered.

"Ed may not last that long." Kevin looked around the room, "We don't have a choice. Okay…let's get to work," he said.

Hobbes and Ray came in with some food and drinks. They put them down on the table and noticed, Kevin, Claire and Tara busy going over something on the laptop. They were obviously in a deep discussion about the procedure to remove the gland and at times visibly at a disagreement. Hobbes decided to go sit next to Sloan and Tom who were keeping an eye on Ed. "So, how's he doin'?" Hobbes asked as he pulled up a chair.

Sloan looked at Ed and then at Hobbes. The look on her face showed it all. Time was running out for Ed. His breathing had become labored since he was given the DNA serum. "Not good, Bobby. Even if they do find a way to remove the gland safely, Ed may not even make it through the conversion process," Sloan said as she gripped Ed's hand tightly. Tom put a hand on her shoulder for strength.

"He'll make it." Hobbes' tone was filled with certainty.

"How do you know?" Sloan asked.

"Because I know him, seen him in action. He's strong. Plus I know those three…" Hobbes gestured towards Claire, Kevin and Tara. "…well, maybe I don't know Kevin as well. But they're all smart. I've seen Claire come up with stuff when her back was against the wall and saved not only Fawkes' life but the entire Agency. She'll find a way to save Ed too."

Sloan smiled. "Thanks, Bobby." She looked at Ed, he was so pale and had broken out in a sweat. "I guess he needs to hear us talk positive doesn't he?" She soaked a wet cloth and applied to his forehead. The fever had set in that Tara warned would be the critical part of his conversion.

"Yeah, even if his mind is on the fritz…maybe he can still feel the vibes."

"He doesn't need to hear that we've given up on him," Tom added. "I agree with Hobbes. Ed will pull through just like he always does."

Sloan leaned over and kissed Ed on his cheek. "Hang in there, Ed. I know you can do it." Ed remained motionless.

"Okay, now that I've brought food and those guys are in some pretty serious discussions. I'm going to find Arnaud and rip his heart out and stuff it down his throat." Hobbes said.

Sloan looked at him with curiosity, "I thought he was dead?"

"A body was never found. But I hope he is alive…so I can kill him myself. And a bad arm won't keep me from doing it either." Hobbes turned and left the lab.

"I actually feel sorry for Arnaud," Sloan stated.

Tom's brow curved up in an arch. "I don't."

Across the room, Tara, Claire and Kevin agreed on the procedure to remove the gland. Kevin put his hand on Claire's shoulder, "It'll work…trust me."

She looked into his eyes and saw confidence in them. She partly smiled, "Then let's do it."

Ray, Tom and Sloan sat silent in the waiting room. Sloan glanced up at the clock and shot Tom a despondent glance. He reached his arm around her shoulder and drew her in close to his body. She found comfort in the closeness of his body and nestled to him as her head rested on his shoulder.

Claire was next to Ed holding his hand as he was prepped for surgery. She glanced up for a second to see Kevin going over the trays to make sure the necessary instruments were there with Tara.

She turned her attention back to Ed as the tube was placed down his throat and into his lungs. The anesthesiologist hooked the other end to the life support system and the machine began to breathe for Ed. She bent down and kissed him on his cheek. "I love you," she whispered in his ear. The tube was taped down.

Kevin walked over with Tara and glanced at Claire. "Are you sure you want to be in here?"

"I've got to be here. If he dies, I want to be at his side."

Kevin half smiled. He put his hand on her shoulder, "You're a strong woman, Claire, always have been. He's lucky to have someone like you." He glanced at his watch, "Let's get started." As they left to wash up, Ed was flipped over gently onto his stomach and the tube was readjusted to accommodate this new position.

TBC…