TEDDY

No, this cannot be. I can't react, I just look at him with eyes full of surprise and horror as I cling tightly to my son's small body.

Of all the places in the world, among thousands of people, why here and why him? Why in these moments just when my mind was thinking about him? Why now that my children, our children are here? Owen is not stupid, it's a matter of seconds for him to put two and two together, not to mention that both Henry and Allison are the vivid image of him, except for the green eyes of my little girl and my boy's blond hair, all their traits are completely of the Hunt family. Maybe that's why I couldn't forget him after all these years, not only he left me two beautiful children, but every day I see him in them.

I don't know what to do, I want to turn around and run away. Apparently not only I thought about it, but I did it because once again he takes me by the arm this time holding me tightly.

"Teddy, wait!"

OWEN

I can see the shock in her eyes, her eyes are wide open and she looks so scared that I'm afraid she'll faint at any moment. She clings tightly to the boy's body who's trying to lift his head from her shoulder to see what happens, but she holds him still with her hand.

"Owen". She finally says, in a choked sigh that if it weren't because our bodies are inches away, I wouldn't have been able to hear amid the bustle of all the people.

"Teddy, honey, hurry up, we have to board now!" The man who accompanies her shouts at her from a few meters ahead while he hands his passport and boarding pass, as well as the girl's. She seems to be struggling between turning around and leaving or not and starts pacing in her place. "I'm coming". She says, but more to herself. The boy finally manages to free his little head from her hand and turns to look at me. As soon as my eyes make contact with his it's as if a sharp blow had left me without air. Those eyes, that face... that boy is identical to me.

"Teddy". I repeat again to make her react, but she doesn't, she just stands there looking at me terrified.

"Owen, please". Her voice is pleading and that breaks my heart, she didn't like my presence, on the contrary, the only thing I did was to upset and hurt her. The boy looks at me warily with his head buried into Teddy's neck and clinging to his Sheriff Woody doll. She turns around to go to the boarding gate and I stop her again.

"They... they are mine, aren't they? They are my…"

Words aren't needed, I can see it in her eyes, in a matter of seconds tears are pooling in her eyes and her jaw trembles, she holds the little boy now hugging her neck tighter against her body, as if wanting to protect him from me, as if she were afraid that I would take him from her arms.

"Goodbye Owen". She turns around and heads hurriedly towards the boarding gate, the little boy looks at me shyly over Teddy's shoulder and then waves me goodbye. I stand there, watching as she hands in their boarding passes and their passports.

"TEDDY!" I shout, not being able to contain myself. She gives me one last look before getting lost in the tunnel to the plane.

No, I can't let them go! She didn't confirm anything with words, but even after all these years it was enough for me to look her in the eyes to know the answer. Suddenly I feel dizzy and suffocated, this is too much to process in just a few minutes, I still didn't recover from the shock of seeing her again after so many years and now this. I am a father. They are my kids. She hid them from me all this time. I can't let them go, I can't lose her again, I can't lose them, I want answers, I need answers and I need them now.

I head for the boarding gate stand and as soon as I get there the young lady in charge of receiving boarding passes stops me with her thick English accent.

"Gentleman, your boarding pass please".

"This isn't my flight, I just—"

"Then please clear the area".

"No, you don't understand... my children are on that plane!"

"Are your children being taken against their will?" The young lady sounds concerned. I don't know what to answer, they are definitely not being taken against their will, they don't even know that I'm their father. I can't stop Teddy from taking them.

I look around trying to think what to do, but my head spins with dozens of questions. Why didn't she tell me? Why did she hide them from me all these years? I don't even know how to feel, I don't know whether to be happy at the thought of being a father, to be upset with her for hiding them from me, I don't know, I'm too shocked to think and feel clearly.

"Passengers on flight N958 bound for New York, please board gate 13"

It's my turn to board, but I can't go back, I can't go back to Seattle without first facing Teddy. Without thinking twice, I take my things and run.

TEDDY

As soon as I get to our seats I sit Henry and then I drop into mine. I lean forward with my elbows on my thighs and my hands covering my face. I breathe deeply and slowly. Immediately Conrad notices it.

"Honey, what's up?!" He asks me, worried, kneeling next to me.

As soon as I look into his eyes, the tears run like rivers through my cheeks.

"Teddy, what's wrong?! You are scaring me!"

"Mommy?" My little girl stands next to Conrad. She looks scared. Then I feel Henry's little hand on my back. Luckily Conrad is immediately in charge of the situation.

"Children, everything is fine. Allison, go back to your seat. Henry, fasten your seatbelt. Don't get off your seats, Mommy and I have to talk".

He asks one of the flight attendants if she can keep an eye on the children and then he takes me by the hand and leads me to the area that separates first class from business.

"Teddy what's going on?!"

"He was there".

"He? Who? What are you talking about?!"

"Owen". It was all I could say before bursting into tears. He takes me in his arms trying to calm me down. "It's over Conrad, he knows the truth, he realized it!" I said, hiccupping.

He takes me by the shoulders forcing me to look him in the eyes. "You mean...?" I nod. "No Teddy, this isn't over. He was the one who gave up all this from the beginning, he can't do anything to you, he can't take the children away, they don't even have his last name!"

"He can take me to court, demand a DNA test!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there".

"What am I going to do, Conrad?!"

"At the moment nothing, but if he shows up then I'll have a long conversation with him and I assure you he will never bother you or the children again, okay?"

I just nod while I clean my tears with the top of my hand. He hugs me again and then the flight attendant interrupts us.

"Madame, gentlemen, please go back to your seats, we are about to take off".

"Mommy, why are you crying?!" Allison asks, standing up from her seat as soon as she sees me, but Conrad stops her.

"Mommy is fine honey, she just has a headache". He tells her to reassure her, sits her down and fastens her seatbelt and takes his place in the cabin next to her.

I sink into my seat and immediately Henry sticks his little head over the edge that divides our first class cabins. "Mommy, take it". He gives me his Sheriff Woody doll. "It's to make you feel better, he always makes me feel better". A lump forms in my throat and I take the doll.

"Thanks baby, now sit down. We are going home!" I say, smiling cheerfully, trying to sound ok when inside I'm devastated but I won't let my children see that.

OWEN

After a heated argument with security that didn't want to allow me to leave the boarding area, and another with the people of the airline to solve the issue about my cabin baggage I'm finally out of the airport, now I have to think about what I'll do and what I won't do. Definitely returning to Seattle is not an option, where I have to go is to Germany, to Landstuhl.

I don't know how to start, my head is completely blocked and I can't think clearly. I feel everything at once, after years of not feeling anything, I'm feeling everything at once and it's overwhelming. I want to laugh, I want to cry, to run, jump, shout to the world that I am the father of two children.

I drop to the floor on my knees crying and laughing at the same time. I am a dad. I am really dad.

People look at me curiously, but I don't give them importance. I AM A DAD!

I must think very well about my next step. I take out my cell phone and I call Megan.

"Hey, you, how was London? Ready to come back? We miss you!" Megan tells me as soon as she answers my call.

"I'm not coming back". I say, bluntly.

"What?! Why?!"

"I'm a dad, Megan!"

"WHAT?! Owen, don't play with that! What did you do? Don't tell me you knocked up an english girl!"

I laugh, for the first time in years I laugh! "No sister, none of that. I'm a dad, I'm the father of twins, a boy and a girl... with Teddy!"

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" Megan shouts on the other side of the phone.

"Listen, I don't have much time to talk, please don't say anything to mom yet. Soon I will call you to give you more details".

"Wait! You don't pretend to leave me with this uncertainty. I need to know the details!"

"Not even I know the details, but I'll call you as soon as I have them... I AM DAD, MEGAN! A DAD!" And I hang up the phone before she keeps questioning me.

I go back inside the airport to the sales counter to buy a plane ticket for the next available flight to Frankfurt. I need to see Teddy, I'm so upset with her, I want to know why she did it, why she hid my children from me. I need to see my children! I want to know them, I want them to know me, I want to let them know who I am!

I manage to get a flight to Frankfurt that same night. The hours go by painfully slow. I try to think about how I'll confront Teddy, I know I did wrong and she was right to be upset with me, but what she did was bigger, to hide my children's existence, that's unforgivable! I want answers, but I don't want to fight with her, especially for the children, I don't want their first image of their father to be fighting their mother, after all they don't know me, I don't want them to hate me even before they know who I am.

Finally, the time comes to board and I can't stop thinking about what I'll do once in Landstuhl, according to a colleague who works at MedCom Teddy still lives in the same place, which I find strange, I still remember her apartment perfectly, although large it only had one bedroom, but now with two kids… whatever, I'll go there.

I arrive in Frankfurt and immediately I take the train to Landstuhl, the closer I get the more nervous I feel. After almost 5 hours between plane and train I finally leave the Landstuhl train station, I take a taxi and I give Teddy's address, it doesn't take me even ten minutes to get there. I get out of the taxi and my legs tremble, I enter the building and I go to Teddy's apartment, number 3, I breathe deeply and knock on the door…