A/N: This isn't the chapter I wanted to give you, and it's definitely not the chapter you deserve.
This previous Sunday one of my students, a young woman who I have been with for two years, who I have cared for in her home and at the hospital as well as at school, passed away suddenly. She wasn't just my student - she was my friend, despite all of her medical issues and her severe developmental delay. I love her like a sister. She had been going through some medical issues since January and came home with a lot of new equipment. This last round, she had been home two weeks and two days when she passed.
I am heartbroken and shattered and unable to focus on much of anything. Everything feels wrong. I miss her so much that it's hard to breathe.
So I haven't been feeling very inspired and I haven't had any desire to write. I'm working on a scrapbook for her parents and a slideshow for her memorial service and I'm pretty much a wreck. I managed to get this chapter finished, but there was supposed to be so much more to it and all of the questions I raise in this chapter should have been answered in the "rest" of it... which I haven't gotten through yet. I'm sorry.
I don't know when I'll be back to full speed. I'm going to try writing chapters for my other stories as well. I'm gone to Portland next week (18-22 August) and will have Internet access there but no real plan for writing.
Thank you to everyone who reads/reviews/follows/favorites. I really appreciate all the support.
Jemma bolted, and Skye bolted after her. Without any discussion, Natasha and Wanda darted after the deaf girl. By the time the two Russians got back up to ground level, Skye was crumpled in a ball on the ground.
"Oh, no," Wanda moaned, and she immediately knelt down next to Skye. "Solnishka?"
Natasha bent down and together they rolled Skye onto her back, the snow crunching as they moved. It took a few seconds for Natasha to realize that Skye was still very much alive, her breathing slow and deliberate, just probably exhausted.
"It's all right," Natasha said. "I think she just passed out."
Wanda looked up at the redhead with tears in her eyes and immediately Natasha felt bad. She repeated herself in Russian.
"Oh, solnishka," Wanda murmured, gently patting Skye's face.
Natasha slid her arms under Skye's body and pulled the deaf girl into a semi-seated position against her. "Do you know what they were talking about back there?" she asked Wanda
Wanda shook her head.
"Me neither," Natasha said. "But we have a way to find out."
She indicated the backpack Skye had thrown to the ground.
"Oh, no, is not ours," Wanda said.
"It's not Skye's either," Natasha replied. "She stole it from Melinda."
"For to get Jemma back!" Wanda protested.
Natasha looked around, scanning the campus. Snow was still falling and she couldn't see Jemma anywhere. "Let's get somewhere warmer and discuss this."
Wanda nodded.
Skye's eyes flickered open and she blinked up at Wanda. Her hands rose slowly, her movements jerky, and she signed something neither woman caught.
"Try again," Wanda suggested, making sure that her words were careful.
Need. Papers.
Wanda nodded. "We help you for to stand and go to coffee shop."
Skye twisted around to look at Natasha. "Mad?" she asked, her voice slurry.
Natasha shook her head. "Confused," she said, hoping Skye could read her lips.
Somehow Natasha and Wanda got Skye to her feet, and they fought the snow across the quad to the aptly-named Books 'n' Beans. The café was warm and inviting and had the distinction of also being quiet and private. Wanda scouted out a table in the corner, taking Skye with her; Natasha went up to the counter to order three large hot chocolates.
When she returned Wanda had the first chunk of paperwork laid out on the table, and Skye was curled up in one of the overstuffed armchairs, her eyes again closed and her breathing steady.
"Let her for to sleep," Wanda said without looking up. "She is very tired. Also, does not eat."
Natasha handed one of the hot beverages to Wanda and sat down. "What have you learned so far?"
"Mostly I am not as good at reading the English as I thought before." Wanda took a long drink of hot chocolate then pushed a file towards Natasha. "Is medical papers, yes?"
Natasha set her own drink aside and took the file from Wanda. She leaned over the paperwork, beginning to read the information contained therein.
Subject A-04 is a healthy three-month-old girl. She is of mixed parentage, Caucasian and Chinese. She has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She displays no physical defects and responds appropriately to external stimuli.
Below that was scribbled a note: The ethics committee had serious doubts about the use of this child for the experimentation. Her parents are the lead scientists on the project and we felt that Cal and Jiaying could not distance themselves emotionally. They were reassigned to Subject A-05.
The next page detailed a thorough physical exam on the infant, and the pages after that were filled with test results covering everything from reflexes to eye tracking.
"This… this was Skye?" Wanda asked softly.
Natasha flipped a page and a baby with soft doe eyes and a toothless smile grinned up at them from the file. "Looks like it."
"I have never heard of Cal or of…" Wanda frowned at the page in front of her. "The other person. They are her parents?"
"That's what the report seems to suggest." Natasha looked up at Wanda. "Did Skye or Summer ever tell you about their parents? What were their names?"
Wanda thought about this. "They do not talk about the parents very much. Skye was in car during accident. Summer feels guilty as she is one who let Skye for to go with parents in car."
"But no names?"
Wanda shook her head. "Grandparents were John and Louisa. Nice people. Did not know them for long. They thought we were dangerous because …"
She looked down at her bracelets.
Natasha picked up on the subtext. "Some people have difficulty understanding things they've never experienced."
"Thought Pietro and I were bad influences on Skye and Summer," Wanda went on.
"I know that's not true," Natasha said.
Wanda blushed and looked back down at the papers. "What else does say?"
They read on for the better part of an hour. Whenever Natasha thought the information couldn't get any worse, it did.
Skye's deafness was not caused by meningitis. It was the result of human experimentation. The scientists at the now-defunct lab, including her parents, were working on cancer treatments. They were using two kinds of subjects, both ostensibly "volunteers" – infants, because of the rapidity of their cell regeneration, and prisoners, who would receive a reduction in their sentence if they participated. The scientists never told the prisoners that the failure rate of the treatments in adults was nearly 100%, so the reduced sentencing time took maybe a week off a sentence at most.
Natasha turned a diagram one way and then the other, wondering what it was supposed to represent. Eventually she figured it out – she was looking at Skye's ears.
"Tumors," Wanda said, pointing at the scan. "Here and here."
"How do you know that?"
Wanda shrugged. "Some things are for knowing. Other things are for recognizing."
Natasha looked at her in shock.
"Also, is says here," Wanda added, and handed Natasha another page full of medical jargon.
Rare types of cancer, especially those prevalent in children, had been introduced into the infants' systems. The experimental treatment followed. In Skye's case, the treatment had killed the tumors. It had also severely damaged her inner ears.
As it turned out, she was one of the lucky ones. Of the twenty-five infants involved in Skye's trial, twenty-two died within the first six months.
"How are people allowed for to do this?" Wanda asked Natasha.
"They're not," Natasha replied honestly. "This is so illegal it's not even funny."
When Skye's cancer was cured, samples of blood and tissue were taken and kept for future research endeavors. She was then released to a foster family – Steven and Elizabeth Johnson. An "exit summary" of the child noted that Skye was a year old at the time of her departure, extremely underweight, lethargic, and emotionally stunted. She was sickly and unhappy and nearly completely deaf.
"Mamochka," Wanda breathed as she turned the next page in the file.
Natasha peered over. Sure enough, there was Summer. "They're not sisters."
Wanda shook her head. "Summer is to belong to Steven and Elizabeth."
"So if they were the ones who died, where are Skye's real parents?"
"Do not want for to know," Wanda replied, shuddering.
"And how does Garrett play into all of this? And why does Melinda have all this information?"
Wanda rifled through another stack of papers. "Says here Henry Garrett was scientist at the facility. Found out Skye was being released against wishes of important scientists."
Natasha took the papers Wanda handed her. Not only had Skye been one of three infants to survive the experiments, she had been the only one released from the lab. None of the test subjects were ever supposed to leave. Somehow Skye had been smuggled out, forcing Henry Garrett to approach the administrators with his suspicions. Those administrators enlisted Henry Garrett to "wipe out" Skye's parents.
"By that time Cal and Jiaying must have fled," Natasha said, thoughtfully tapping the table. "So when Henry went to take care of them, he saw Steven and Elizabeth Johnson, not Cal and Jiaying."
"He did not know difference," Wanda said, nodding. "Killed wrong people."
"And someone saw him," Natasha went on, "and reported him to the police. Henry was arrested and sent to prison. The heads of the lab were never brought into court or charged with anything. Garrett's trying to get revenge for his brother, who was only doing what he thought was the right thing."
"Killing is not right," Wanda said firmly.
"No," Natasha agreed. She sighed. "This is all very informative, but it doesn't tell us why Melinda had all these papers in her office."
"Perhaps she does for research," Wanda said. "For to know about students she mentors."
"Then why wouldn't she just tell Skye about it?"
"Skye does not know. Perhaps professor does not want for to tell her."
"And why is everyone still going along with this lie?" Natasha continued. "And who is Summer, really?"
She looked up at Wanda, who had gone very still and very pale.
"Are you all right?"
"Headache," Wanda managed to get out, and as she raised one hand to her forehead Natasha saw she was shaking.
"Can I do anything?"
"Is very bad." Wanda pressed her hands against her forehead. "Is… how do you say…?"
She tossed a Russian word at Natasha.
"Migraine," Natasha answered.
Wanda nodded.
"Okay," Natasha said. "Just… lean back and rest. We don't have to look at any more of the paperwork. We don't have to solve anything now."
"Is… overload," Wanda mumbled, her hands jittery. "Is not good."
Natasha forced Wanda to lay back against the armchair and watched as the clammy, pale girl drew into herself, her hands shaking against her lap as she closed her eyes. When Natasha was sure Wanda was asleep or at least dozing, she pulled out her phone.
Someone had some explaining to do.
Phil looked up at Melinda, kneeling amongst the paperwork Garrett and Ward had left behind. His face was ashen. "Why did you have this in your office?"
Melinda didn't look at him.
Maria touched Melinda's shoulder.
"Why did you have this?" Phil repeated, his voice getting louder. "What right do you have to know all of this? Skye doesn't even know about this!"
Again Melinda said nothing.
"And you have one on Katia? Melinda, is there something you're not telling me about these students? Why were you keeping these files? Why did you take such an interest in these girls?"
"Mel?" Maria asked quietly.
"I don't answer to you, Phil," Melinda said.
"I thought you cared about Skye."
"I do!" Melinda barked.
"Then why would you keep something like this from her?"
"She was never supposed to know!"
Trip exchanged looks with Bobbi. "Maybe we should go," he suggested softly.
"And miss this?" Hunter asked.
"'Lin, what is it?" Andrew stepped forward.
"I don't have to explain anything to you," Melinda sneered. "I did what was right."
"We don't even know what you did," Phil said. "At this point your motives are the least of my worries."
Maria's phone signaled that she had a text message. She pulled it out and read it. "Guys, not that this isn't both troubling and puzzling, but we've got a distress call."
What happened to Wanda? Skye wrote on the paper Natasha had handed her.
"She said she had a headache," Natasha answered, making sure Skye could see her face. "We had some… interesting news."
The papers, Skye guessed.
Natasha nodded. "Do you want to know what's in them?"
Skye shook her head. She wrote, No. It's not going to change anything for me. Whatever happened in the past is in the past. I'm not there anymore. I'm here and I can only move forward.
She looked over at Wanda, who still sat in the armchair, eyes open but unfocused, hands shaking, mouth moving.
Also we have much bigger issues, Skye wrote. Is she saying anything?
"It's mostly gibberish," Natasha answered. On Skye's confused look she took the notebook and wrote, Syllables. Little strings of words. Sometimes in Russian. Nothing that makes sense. Has this happened before?
Skye nodded, looking serious. Mostly when she stops taking her meds.
Do you want me to call anyone? Natasha wrote.
Pietro, Skye wrote. She fished her phone from her backpack and pulled up Pietro's number before handing the device to Natasha.
The door to the coffee shop opened, admitting Trip and Phil and Maria. Skye's popped up from the table and moved towards them, hands flying. Something's wrong with Wanda and the papers are making Natasha upset.
Did you see the papers? Phil asked.
Skye shook her head. No. I don't care about them. I care about Jemma and Wanda.
Her face softened, though. Any word from Jemma?
No. Sorry, Phil replied.
They approached the table where Natasha was speaking rapid-fire Russian into a phone and Wanda was still seated, fingers flicking at her mouth, babbling syllables tripping from her mouth. Without any direction, Trip took the seat next to Wanda and slipped his hand into hers. Maria sat down at the table and began gathering up the papers and arranging them.
Phil put a hand on Skye's shoulder to prevent her from going back to the group. I have to tell you something, he signed.
Fine.
All of those papers and reports Ward and Garrett had, the ones you stole from Melinda's office… they were about your parents. About some things that happened when you were a baby.
Skye watched him warily.
Your parents… were not Steven and Elizabeth Johnson, Phil signed hesitantly. Steven and Elizabeth Johnson were your foster parents. They took you in after you went deaf. Summer is not your biological sister. We have no idea where your biological parents are.
Skye's eyes went wide and she backed away from Phil.
Your biological parents were involved in an extremely illegal medical research operation, Phil went on. That's what made you deaf, Skye, not meningitis.
Skye felt like the room was sliding down around her, as though it was some sort of Impressionist painting left out in the rain. Her knees wobbled.
John Garrett's brother was the one who killed Steven and Elizabeth Johnson. Because he was sent to prison Garrett's come to extract his revenge on you. Your biological parents, the ones who tried to use your infant body to cure cancer, are still out there somewhere.
Skye shook her head, hard, and then a look of revulsion crossed her face. She took in a short breath and then turned to the right, located a trash can, and vomited into it.