RETURNING HOME
Chapter 6
Settling In
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Alex awoke as the smell of cooking bacon permeated her nose and drawing attention to the growing rumble in her stomach. As she climbed out of Ray's bed she noticed her bag and a clean towel sitting on the bed next to her, but for the time being she left the items there and went out to find Ray. She wandered out into the living area and saw Ray standing over the stove cooking bacon in one skillet and omelets in another. Alex always knew he could cook but had never actually seen him do so and was amazed at the skill he showed in the kitchen. She watched as he expertly tossed up the pan getting a perfect flip from the omelet think how she was only able to do that with her powers. He smiled as he noticed her standing there and motioned for her to go take a shower. She nodded her head and went back to the bedroom to grab her towel and clothes. About ten minutes later a clean and freshly dressed Alex walked back out to the living area to find a fully prepared breakfast and Ray waiting at the table for her.
"You didn't have to do this for me", she said blushing slightly,
"Don't worry about it, it's nice to have someone else to cook for", he returned with a smile.
They ate their breakfast while talking about old times and what stupid things they did as kids such as sneaking into the chemical plant to steal a video tape of Alex, which Annie for some reason still had. Even though they had done many stupid things growing up, for some reason it always seemed to work out in the end. Once they had finished eating Alex sent Ray off to get ready for the day while she cleaned up the breakfast table. He tried to protest but she was already scrubbing the pans while they stood at the table arguing with each other about who would clean.
"Man Al, that's not fair, you're my guest you shouldn't have to work", he grumbled.
"Hey you made it, we ate it, and I'll clean it. Besides it's not like it's exactly hard", she said as she finished loading the dishwasher.
"Alright you win this one, but next time I want to hear any arguments", he said trying to get her to concede.
"We'll see", she said lightly poking him in the chest, "Now go get ready, we need to get going soon."
After Ray got dressed they headed out towards the car, once they got in and started the vehicle Alex noticed a strange man trying suspiciously not to look suspicious. She motioned Ray to drive out the back way from his apartment complex to avoid him and fished out her cell phone.
"Dad", she said slightly worried.
"What's wrong Alex, you didn't come home last night" he responded.
"I stayed the night at Ray's, but that's not why I'm calling. As we were leaving for the school this morning there was a man standing in the parking lot", she said looking back to see if he was following them.
"Did this man have a thick mustache?" he asked suspiciously.
"I didn't get close enough to get a good look but it's certainly possible", she answered.
"Annie said she thought someone was following her too, but couldn't be sure", he said, "I want you and Raymond to head over to the plant so we can compare notes on this person."
"Dad, we can't do that, both Ray and I have to go to work today, and since it's only the second day I'm not sure how well it will look if we're both absent from our classes", Alex said shaking her head.
"Well alright but I want you both there as soon as possible", he said, "And Alex, if someone is following you please be careful with your powers. The last thing we need is the wrong people finding out."
"I understand dad, we'll see you this afternoon", she answered with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"Well be careful, both of you and Alex, I love you", George said to his daughter.
"We will and I love you too Dad", she answered before hanging up the phone.
"Well what did he say?" Ray asked.
"He wants us to go to the plant this afternoon to meet him and Annie", she responded.
"We'll head there straight after school", he said turning while onto the main street in town.
"Ray, I'm scared. What if he saw me this morning? I haven't felt like this since I was a teenager", she said timidly to him.
Ray stroked the side of her face and took her hand, "You know I never have and never will let anything happen to you."
She smiled slightly and grasped his hand, "I know, I've always known I could rely on you."
They rode the rest of the way to the school in silence holding hands and enjoying the security being with the other brought. Once they arrived at the school Alex and Ray gathered their bags from the trunk of the car, and walked inside arm in arm. Once they got to the split in the hallway they gave each other a quick kiss and agreed to meet for lunch and went their separate ways. Alex strolled down the halls to her classroom and made it inside just before the bell rang. Having to take the back roads and make sure they weren't followed took extra time and with Ray making breakfast they really had to rush to make it to the school. She had just gotten her lab coat on as her first students of the day entered the classroom. She motioned for them to take their seats and began sorting out her lesson plan for the day waiting for the stragglers to arrive. Once everyone was accounted for and seated she opened her book and looked at her class.
"Alright who here can tell me a few basic chemical compounds we use in our everyday lives?"
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Dr. Thomson returned to his hotel room and decided to catch a little sleep before he continued his work. Once the school day was over he would be heading back out to see where Alexandra Mack and Raymond Alvarado would be going and what other impressive things this girl could do. He couldn't be sure but through the blinds he thought he saw something going on that wasn't normal. If he could only get a good look at what this girl could do he may be able to find a way to make is useful for the director, and he could finally be seen as something other than a useless bookworm. He lied down on the bed and had just closed his eyes when his cell phone began to ring. He know it would be his boss and groaned slightly as he hit the accept button on the phone.
"Yes Director", he said slightly tired.
"What have you found out Doctor?" the director's voice came through the phone.
"There's nothing too out of the ordinary with any of them, with the exception of Ms. Alex Mack, who seems to have some unique abilities, but I have not been able to get close enough to make specific observations.", he replied hoping this would intrigue his employer.
"Dr. Alexandra Mack is not a real concern at this moment. Her father is the true interest to me", he came sharply through the phone.
"You mean she's a doctor?" Thomson asked clearly surprised.
"Doctor in the field of chemistry, you should have really done more research", the director responded.
"I see", he said beginning to feel a little nervous.
"I will be forgiving this time, it's your first field assignment so a small mistake was bound to happen, but I will not be so forgiving next time. I have already got a facility being set up and you are to report there ASAP for further instruction." The Director said without an ounce of emotion in his voice.
"Yes sir", Thomson responded, "But what about the Mack's?"
"I'll worry about the Mack's; you get that facility running I want to have it fully operation by the time we make our move." He said before dropping the line.
Thomson felt like a fool, not only had he neglected his main target for this girl, he had neglected to find out all pertinent information about her. Now because of his neglects he was essentially being given another desk job regarding this project that was his idea and he was supposed to get the information without having to start a full blown operation. He felt a pang of guilt because he knew that his failure would cause this family more pain than he wanted to inflict upon anybody, but because the director had stepped in this was going to go far worse than it should. He finally lied down and fell asleep thinking of other ways to keep an eye on Dr. Mack while at a desk job.
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George and Annie Mack arrived at the chemical plant a little after 10 am. They left late and took alternate routes to make sure they weren't followed on their way to work. Once they got there they went straight to George's office where he called for the head of security Nicole Wilson and his distribution manager David Watt. Once they were both in the office George proceeded to explain to them the situation with this Dr. Thomson. He had Nicole pull an image of him from the office security system and told Dave to distribute those to his drivers. George told them how he wanted him nowhere near the plant or his home, and wanted the staff to detain him or call the police if he showed up on the property. Once all the details were in place he sent his employees back to their individual jobs and tried desperately to focus on his own.
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Thomson arrived at the facility his boss had setup and immediately went to the office that had been prepared for him. Once he was settled in to his office he pulled any and all information he could on the Mack family; There was George who had been a researcher under Danielle Atron before she was arrested for presenting fraudulent test data to the FDA and after the reconstruction of the plant was named CEO, Barbara his wife owned a PR company and did most of the plants fundraisers and other activities, Ann the oldest daughter graduated with honors from MIT and is now the head of the research department at the plant, and finally Alexandra had graduated from the doctoral program at the California Institute of Technology and was currently dating her childhood friend Raymond Alvarado who graduated with a liberal arts degree and now taught music appreciation as well as the high school band. He realized that he truly wasn't dealing with normal people, in fact every single one of them had at least one degree and were all in fields where intelligence played a factor, but there was still something about this Alex Mack that intrigued him since he first saw him. After a bit more digging he found out that she was a mediocre science student during her grade school years but in college seemed to excel in her degree plan which meant something happened that sparked a true desire to go into this field and he would find out what it was because he had a hunch it played into why she was so peculiar. Thomson began to whistle to himself as be began drawing up a plan for a surveillance net. He would be damned if he couldn't know this families every move right from the comfort of his own office.
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Alex and Ray drove through the check in gate at the plant and parked in the designated visitor spot. They got out of the car carefully making sure they couldn't see anybody following them as they headed inside. Once they entered Alex immediately felt a chill run down her spine. Even though it had been over a decade since the whole plant explosion incident with Danielle she still felt a little scared when entering the place. They made their way to George's office and sat down to wait for him just like he had instructed. After a few minutes Alex saw her father and sister enter the room with similarly worried looks on their faces to Ray and her. Once they had all made themselves comfortable George handed his daughter a photograph which caused Alex to nearly jump out of her skin. As she looked over the photo she could feel herself begin to glow and knew this was the man she had seen outside of Ray's apartment that morning.
"So I'll take it that this is him", George said as Alex only nodded.
"I've seen him several places and he always tries to seem like he's doing nothing wrong, but you can just tell", Annie stated.
"Alex if that's the case you won't be safe anywhere", Ray butted in.
"None of us will Raymond, not even you", George corrected, "He wants GC-161 and I think he'll do just about whatever it takes to get it."
"So then what do we do? I mean it's not like we can go into hiding and still make it to work every day", Alex said clearly frustrated.
"Well I think we all need to be around each other as much as possible, and I have a hunch if he knows that we know he's watching us he'll back off", George said optimistically.
"And that means?" Alex asked slightly sarcastically.
"We're all moving in with Mom and Dad", Annie said deadpanned.
"I guess we should go grab your things from my apartment before you head home tonight", Ray said.
"You're coming too Raymond", George said, "You're just as much part of this family as Alex and since you've been involved with this whole fiasco since day one you're also in danger."
"Mister Mack, I don't want to leave my apartment", Ray said with a slight pleading look in his eye.
"Sorry Raymond, but I'm afraid I have to insist", George returned, " But on the bright side if all goes well you'll be back in just a few days."
Alex gave her father a hug before she and Ray headed back out to the car. Once there they headed out of the plant parking lot and back into town. Alex frowned slightly because she knew Ray was not happy about having to leave his apartment when he felt he should be out doing whatever he could to protect her. After a few minutes of driving Ray noticed Alex watching him worriedly, so he took her hand and smiled as best he could in an effort to comfort her as he thought to himself that there was no way he would ever let anything happen to her.
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A/N: Here is my latest chapter. The next one will skip to the beginning of the winter break so be prepared for the jump. I love reviews so please do so.