Mona smiled as she watched the triplets giggle and play on the elevator floor.
She had ridden up two floors now.
After she visited what she dubbed the "Batcave", she had gone to the next floor up and discovered an oasis for the children.
It seemed as though the previous owners had very spoiled children.
The floor was filled with arcade games, pool tables, trampolines, vending machines, a huge projection screen and projector, a very large bathroom with multiple stalls, but something that stunned her was the kitchen she found.
A huge walk in pantry held more junk food and sugar then she had seen in any supermarket.
The idea of her children digesting all of the drugging sugar was already causing her a headache.
The next floor had been bedroom upon bedroom, along with something that shocked her completely.
She found an artillery room.
Guns, knives, swords, axes, bows and arrows were just some of the weapons she had found.
Then she found something that explained why the lower floors were made, and why they were hidden.
On the inside of the artillery room, she found the door to have a symbol carved into it.
A Star of David, with a cross interlaced with the star. Underneath this symbol was a Nazi symbol with a band symbol on top.
She had figured out that the house had been a haven for Italian Jews during WWII.
The owner must have been a rich person with a conscious.
After seeing this she had laughed.
These sublevels had been made to harbor those who fled from untimely death.
These sublevels had been made to help people escape the clutches of evil.
Mona had laughed as the irony struck her in full.
Her family had spent a lifetime locked up in the sublevels at the Centre.
No windows, no sunshine……………no hope.
It was a living hell.
Yet …………………..here……………..in this place…………………..these lower levels held a different meaning.
Freedom.
Now as she rode up the elevator with babies, she couldn't help but smile.
As the elevator came to a halt, the door opened to the first floor of the villa.
Then with anything but wobbly legs, the triplets walked out of the elevator.
Mona smiled widely at the sight of her babies, running down the hallway, without falling.
She ran and caught Gretta, as her baby girl giggled and mumbled.
Mona gave Gretta a huge raspberry on her tummy and the little girl laughed and giggled.
Mona laughed against her daughter's stomach.
Yorik and Argyro gurgled merrily and began to walk at a fast rate towards the living room.
Mona's smile made her face glow at the joy she was experiencing at the moment.
She began to walk to the living room to share the news with the others.
She looked at her baby girl who was bouncing with excitement.
She didn't notice Jamieson straightened from talking with Dar and turning towards the door.
Mona couldn't conceal the elation she was feeling at the aspect of showing the oth…..
As Mona's head turned to look over the many faces in the living room……….she stopped in her tracks.
In that moment she was struck with a sight that caused a shot of pain to find its way to her heart and make her want to crawl into a ball and cry.
There in front of her was her mother wrapped up in the arms of the man she now knew to be her father.
But it wasn't this sight that caused her pain.
The sight of her sister Nat snuggling together in a chair in front of the fireplace with Kyle wasn't either.
Or the fact that Emily was sitting in Lyle's lap with his arms wrapped around her waist.
It wasn't the sight of Sydney with Michelle, or Nicholas with his fiancé.
But……for one second……….her mind had pulled a cruel joke on her.
For one second she had seen him.
Dar had been talking to Jamieson on the far end of the room and had turned to look straight into her eyes.
And for one second she could have sworn it was Jarod.
And then a second later she had realized what who it really was.
That's when the sight of everyone else caused her pain.
Because in those few seconds……..with all that she had strived to find in her life………was all under the same room….........................she realized…………….he wasn't in that room.
And with all those people…….all those loved ones………she realized……………she was alone.
She had no one to wrap their arms around her, no one that she could snuggle up with……….no one.
She had everything that Jarod had ever wanted. Everything that he had ever dreamed for had become a reality.
It was there for the taking……………but yet………………her heart dropped at the sigh.
Because she couldn't share it with him………and she never would.
"Mom, are you ok?" Jamieson asked from the far side of the room.
No one had noticed her presents until that point.
All eyes turned on her.
Gretta began to cry in her arms.
It wasn't until that moment that she noticed that she had begun to cry.
Jamieson was there in front of her, taking Gretta out of her arms, within a blink of an eye.
"Mom, please talk to me." Jamieson whispered.
But Mona just kept looking at the people in front of her.
But it was no use.
Catherine and Jacob were both at her side instantly.
Catherine was already soothing Mona with her motherly touch as Mona's tears continued to flow.
"Baby what's the matter?" Her mother asked in a scared voice.
Jacob lifted Mona's chin to be able to see her eyes.
"Marmee………" Jacob whispered out.
Jacob could see the pain in his daughter's eyes.
He had always been able to see it.
He wanted to take the pain away.
"Talk to us." Jacob urged her softly.
Mona reveled in the feel of her father's hand on her face. This small gesture, allowed her know with out a shadow of a doubt, his love for her.
Mona had never had that before. She had thought Mr. Parker loved her all of those years. Trying to make that monster proud of her had been her only desire for years.
She had believed all the lies that he told her, every one of them.
Until……………….Jarod showed her the truth.
Mona's face contorted in pain and she threw herself into her father's body, but he instantly had wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to his body.
She made no sound, as the pain came out in small watery regrets. Her body shook with the silent sobs.
Jamieson signaled to everyone in the room to leave, and soon Mona was alone with her parents.
Jacob held her up as Catherine kissed the side of her daughter's face…….whispering words of assurance to her.
As her crying began to abate, he slowly led her to the closest couch.
Catherine sat next to her daughter and smoothed back the hair that kept her from seeing Mona's face.
Mona had been snuggling into her father's chest, when he suddenly shifted and her mother embraced her.
She found her head resting against the very real beat of her mother's heart.
And she knew there was no sound more relaxing in the universe………..than to hear her mother's heart beat.
"I'm soo sorry for you baby. I should have saved him…….I should have saved you both from that hell." Her mother whispered into her ear.
Mona closed her eyes and let the tears flow silently at the apology. It was in that minute her brain began to override her heart.
The millions of questions that had plagued her through the years running through her head…….and in the end it all came down to one single question.
"Why?" she whispered softly…..soo softly that her mother didn't even hear her.
Slowly Mona moved back to look into her mother's crystal blue eyes.
"Why?" she asked more loudly.
For a moment Mona could have sworn her mother looked panicked. But it was only a second. The next her mother was looking past Mona to her father, and a second later her father spoke.
"Why couldn't we save you?" her father asked confused.
"No" Mona cut in abrubtly. She slowly turned to look at her father.
"Why did we need to be saved?" Mona asked.
The absurdity of the question shocked both her father and mother into silence.
Mona turned back to look at her mother.
"Why did we need to be saved from the Centre? Why did they need us in the first place?" Mona asked without reservation.
Catherine looked with frightful eyes to Jacob. Mona saw the fear in her mother's eyes.
And then her father spoke. But the way the words were spoke, sent a shiver down her spine.
He whispered them.
"Because you were born."