Toronto, Ontario, Canada
October 1st, 1989
Casey Levison came home on a skateboard with his headphones on listening to Jump by Van Halen on his walkman. His older sister, who was living home while at college, Tristan "Tris" Levison was sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework. Casey was the spitting image of Five Hargreeves at sixteen years old. Suddenly, Tris started to have stomach pains at the table. She collapsed over as she started to give birth. A traumatized and fearful Casey called 911 as Tris gave birth to not one, but two babies that day. Twin boys.
She was rushed to the hospital with the babies while her brother called their dad on a payphone outside the hospital. When Casey came back, he saw Reginald Hargreeves talking to Tris in her hospital bed and offering her money for her babies. An overwhelmed Tris was actually considering it, but Casey tried to talk her out of it, getting a bad vibe from Hargreeves. He begged her to at least wait until their dad got there in order to make a decision. Tris asked Hargreeves to wait, which he did, reluctantly and exasperatedly.
Their father came, completely overwhelmed and confused by the fact that he had two new grandkids. Tris explained that she had no idea how it happened or why. Leo Levison, their father, told her to do whatever she felt was right. Tris decided to ultimately give the boys to Hargreeves for the money, and she got paid twice as much for twins.
After that, Tris tried to forget about that day and live her life about as well as she could. Meanwhile, Casey did extensive research on Reginald Hargreeves throughout the years and tried to keep track of what he was doing with the twins and the other children that he adopted. It got to a point where Hargreeves took out a restraining order against Casey. The relationship between Casey and Tris would be very strained after that.
The fraternal twins would be named by Hargreeves as Number One and Number Five. When Grace became their mother, she named Number One "Luther" after Martin Luther, and Five refused to be named, as all his other siblings were getting named and he wanted something that set him apart and made him different. So, he forever wore "Number Five" as a badge of honor.
Mexico City, Mexico
October 1st, 1989
Paloma Robles Banderas was a caretaker to her Aunt and her father, who were very strict and critical of her. No matter what she did, it was never good enough for them. One night, while she was making dinner for them, she began to give birth to a baby. It wasn't long until the entire neighborhood surrounded the house, listening to her shouts.
Stubbornly believing that she had premarital sex and kept her pregnancy hidden that whole time, her Aunt and father called her a whore and threw her out of the house. Sitting on a bus bench, completely overwhelmed and shell shocked by what just happened to her, she went to a homeless shelter and sat there with a baby, not knowing what to do. Eventually, Hargreeves found her, and offered her money to take her baby. Scared and desperate, Paloma took the money and gladly handed the baby over. She saw the money as a chance to escape her old life and tried to put everything behind her and moved to Monterrey.
This baby would be named Number Two by Hargreeves. When Grace named the children, she named him "Diego" after Diego Velázquez, a Spanish painter.
Istanbul, Turkey
October 1st, 1989
Piper Kendrick, an Afro-Scottish woman travels to Istanbul to take photos for a travel magazine. In the middle of Hagia Sophia to take photos, out of nowhere, Piper started to give birth to a baby girl right in the middle of the mosque. The people around her saw it as an immaculate conception and a miracle.
Hargreeves came to the Turkish hospital she was at and offered her money to take her baby. She decided, after careful consideration, that she was too traumatized to accept responsibility for the baby and sold it to him. She would forever wonder if she made the right decision.
Hargreeves would call this baby Number Three. Grace named her Allison after the Elvis Costello song 'Alison'.
Berlin, Germany
October 1st, 1989
Marcella Brodbeck was a successful business woman engaged to and living with an equally successful man named Emil. The two were planning a wedding and life together. At work that day, sitting at her desk she started to go into labour and gave birth right there on the office floor.
At the hospital, Emil came to see her and saw the baby as a miracle and wanted to raise it as their own. Marcella, meanwhile, secretly didn't want kids and just wanted to focus on her career, and finally told him that on that day. Hargreeves came to the room and offered her a way out by offering her money for her baby, which she gladly took.
This would end her relationship with Emil and cause her to have problems in all her relationships in the future. After that, she threw herself into work. An interesting fact is that much like her biological son, she developed a bit of a drinking problem due to stress and even a little bit of guilt, spending time in and out of rehab for her alcoholism.
Hargreeves would name this boy Number Four. When Grace named the children, she named him Klaus after "Brother Klaus", the patron saint of Switzerland.
Los Angeles, California, USA
October 1st, 1989
Andrea Gim is a bike courier and the child of Korean immigrants. She lives in an apartment with her single mother in Koreatown. She came home from work one day and laid down in her bed to take a nap. She woke up and started to give birth in her bed.
She and her mom were both horrified by the fact that she seemed to have an immaculately concepted baby. Hargreeves came to her apartment and offered her money for her newborn baby which her mom encouraged her to take, having given birth to a baby she wasn't ready for herself and didn't want her daughter to go down the same path. Andrea decided to take her mother's advice and sold the baby to Hargreeves. Andrea would use that money to travel the world and become an explorer.
Hargreeves would name him Number Six. When Grace became their mother, she would name him Ben, after Benjamin Franklin.
And we all know Vanya's story...
Grace named Vanya after famous female violinist "Vanya Milanova".