Hey, gang! Here's an update. Still no word from that other fan fic site as to why this story disappeared there. Colour me disgruntled.

But! Thanks to all of you who are still reading, and sending me support! Special thanks to my patrons for helping me get the stuff I need to keep going. Aaaannnd happy daylight savings time to those of you who are falling back. I wish they would get rid of it, but at least this time of year we gain an hour of sleep! ;)

"I told you there was such a thing as clones!" Teo slapped Michael on the shoulder to emphasize his exclamation. "Sometimes things on the internet are real."

I breathed a small sigh of relief. It looked like Teo was taking the news about my past pretty well. Michael, however, still looked pissed, bemused and more than a little worn out.

"I'm really sorry, guys," I said. I'd been apologizing throughout the story of our finding out we were clones, finding each other, DYAD, Neolution, Topside, Castor, Delphine, Shay, the cure and that creepy Prolethean cult. "I wanted to protect you from all that. I hoped it was over, especially after moving all over to stay off the radar. And I love you guys; I wanted you to be happy and have the child you wanted. And it was like, suddenly I was healthy, and it really made me appreciate my functional uterus, so… I followed my heart." I scanned their faces and wished I could know what they were thinking. "And out of that, we made this miracle, this little boy that shouldn't have been possible, this… our son, who is amazing and unique and brilliant and also so unbelievably, completely normal," I expounded, the full force of my feelings briefly breaking my voice. I swallowed and finished, in both a declaration and a plea. "I'm not gonna apologize for that."

There was a brief silence as they both regarded me. Michael's face looked vaguely pained, while my sweet friend Teo's eyes filled with tears. This could be it. The moment they told me to get out, forever.

Instead, Teo came forward and pulled me to him in a tight embrace.

"Te perdono," he said, with great emotion as he hugged me, "and I understand. I'm sorry all those crazy things happened to you. This, this is not good news, but I'm glad you shared it, and I love you."

A noise came from behind him, something like a cross between a scoff and a trembling gasp, and my gaze flew to Michael. He didn't say anything, he looked at both of us like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, somehow. Finally, he rasped out:

"I need to take a walk… around the yard." The last part was clearly so we understood he was going out, but would stay nearby, in case he was needed. He turned and walked abruptly out through the kitchen and then to the deck. Teo looked down at me, and I know my lip trembled.

"He'll come through it, you'll see," he reassured me. "He just needs a little time."

"I hope so," I sighed deeply. "I… I don't know how much time we have. But I'm going to get the best help I can, from my sisters and our friends. And if… if I ever feel like my being here is putting Sevvy and you guys into more danger than if I left, you know I'll be gone so fast—"

"Shh, shh. I know," Teo told me, and squeezed me again. Then he looked back and forth between me and the computer. "So, what's next?" he asked. "You said you wanted to talk to Sarah yourself." He briefly raised an eyebrow, as if realizing for the first time that my vague references to semi-estranged sisters, particularly that one, carried a lot more baggage than I'd ever disclosed, but he seemed to shake it off quickly. "Will she help us? Will I meet her?"

"Yeah, yeah, totally," I nodded. "She's, she's always the one who takes charge like, like some kind of action hero, you know? She's… I guess she grew up a scrapper," I finished, somewhat lamely.

"So… are you going to call her? Do you need me to step out?"

"No, no… I mean, yes, I will call her, you don't have to leave. I just… I just want to do one thing first," I told him, and felt my lips curling inward and pressing together, my awkward version of my love's habit of biting her lip. "I just, I just need to talk to Delphine," I said, and the last few words came out in a rasp, teetering towards a sob. He squeezed my shoulders, his expression understanding.

"Okay, girl, you do that," he told me. "I'll just check on Sevvy for a minute, okay?" I nodded, thankful to my bones for him, yet craving his absence, just for a moment, so I could reach out to her, my love. I needed her support so much.

I was on my new flip phone before he even cleared the doorway into the hall, and dialed quickly from memory, chewing the inside of my cheek as it rang, and then:

"Allo, you have reached the number of Dr. Cormier," her voice came through, achingly sweet and familiar to me despite the crisp professionalism of her recorded message. "Please leave a message and your number after the tone, and I will get back to you as soon as I can." I blinked back tears in the moment of static, and then heard the beep.

"Baby," I breathed, then cleared my throat. "Delphine, I… something has happened, something with Sevvy and I really need to talk with you. It's… he's alright, but I think…" I stopped mid-sentence. I really couldn't know if they'd gotten to her line, if it was compromised, could I? I mentally chastised myself for saying too much, but I had just heard her voice and…

"So…" I clutched the phone to my ear, working to keep from breaking down in that moment. "Please call me," I finally pled. "I really need you right now."

I hung up quickly, covering up my mouth with the inside of my elbow to stifle the part of me that wanted to collapse. She'll call soon, she'll call, I told myself. Then I took a deep breath and went to dial Sarah's number, but the phone vibrated and the small screen lit up before I could do it. My empty hand flew to cover my mouth. No one is supposed to have this number, my brain yelped, but then I realized: MK. I fumbled for a moment with the unfamiliar buttons, then opened the text.

- Aunt Cosima, it's Kira, the message read.

- MK gave me your number. Please pick up when I call you. -

"What the—" I barely had time to mumble out loud, and then the phone bleated in one of those horrible, built-in tunes that they come with. I shook my head to clear it and answered.

"Hello?" I started, with trepidation.

"Aunt Cosmia, thank God!" my niece's voice broke in, clearly concerned. "What's going on? Are you alright? Is Sevvy okay?"

"Uh…" It took a moment for my brain to catch up. "Uh, hi, Kira. Yeah… yeah we're okay right now. How— why did you—"

"Cosima, you know how I know," she deflected me, all matter-of fact. "I got in touch with MK when I felt something was wrong with you. Tell me what's going on."

That kid and her crazy psychic powers. Neither my past scientific inquiry nor my following years of metaphysical wanderings had been able to explain it, but it was just true: Kira felt us, me and my sisters. And after a brief phase of denial during high school, she was better at it and more inexplicably spooky than ever.

"Um, well…" I took a breath and tried to sort out how best to relate it to her. I decided to get straight to the point. "Some guy came to Sevvy's new school and gave him a note when we weren't looking," I simplified. "He's okay, but the guy was definitely, like, DYAD or FBI, or something. Fucking creepy as hell. The note basically said I, we were being watched and I'd better stay put until I was contacted or…" Tears squeezed from my eyes again. "Or something might happen to him."

Kira was silent for a moment, then took in a deep breath of her own.

"So, you got MK to help you cover yourself. Are you still with the guys? Did you tell them?"

"Y-yeah," I answered. "It's... I'm not sure how it's going with them. I mean, Teo… he's my knight in fucking... Spanish armour, but Michael, he's— he's mad. I've never seen him like this…"

"Okay," she told me, her voice coming through in a solid, reassuring tone. "Got it. I knew it was something like that." She paused for a moment, as if mulling things over, then continued. "You haven't told my mom yet, have you? But you have to. What can I do to help? Do you want me to come out there? Do you want me to talk to her first?"

This kid. It was like she was the best of us, distilled down, somehow. Smart as hell, composed, loving, protective, mature, and well, obviously, beyond the ordinary in some telepathic, grok-king sense. Also, she had managed to grow some of the most amazing hair this side of Delphine, I swear. She'd never tell me her secret as to how she styled it, although it was moot now, since I'd re-dreaded myself. I let my thoughts sort themselves out for a couple seconds, then reassured her.

"Kira, you don't have to do anything," I said, "I can handle this."

"Yeah, okay," she responded, with what I interpreted as some stifled uncertainty in the rhythm of her words. "I could… well, I'm sure you can tell her. Just… I'll be here if you need me," she finished. Maybe she suspected I was being stubborn. I was pretty sure I was being adult and honest and capable, from my viewpoint. "You know how Mom can be," she added, as if in an uncertain afterthought.

"Yeah, um, I know," I managed. Things were continuing to become more surreal every moment. I squeezed my eyes shut and wished really hard that that meant I was dreaming. But her voice broke through my thoughts again, as clear and unlikely as any reality I've ever known.

"Listen, Sevvy knows you're upset," she said, cold cocking my internal monologue. "I can… I can feel him, too," she admitted, "and he can feel you." I felt like the ground was spinning out from under me. I mean, there had been little things, maybe signs now and then, but… Fuck, maybe I'd been in denial, or just away from him too much. And what if… what if that was why they, whoever these people, these threats were, were after us? What if what had happened with Castor's brains and the weaponizing had—

"Breathe, Aunt Cosima," Kira said, "we'll figure it out, we'll do something. Just… call me if you have trouble with my mom. And, seriously, if there's anything I can do…"

"Sweetheart," I blurted, not even sure what I was thinking myself, at this point. "I will, I'll keep it in mind, But…" A hope came to me. "Can you reassure him?" I asked.

"It doesn't work that way. At least not for me," she answered, and while I was used to having questions, to being curious and wanting to figure things out, I think I was shorting out a little bit at that point. "But I can get out there at any time. You just… do whatever you need to get some support." Her voice became lower, pressing, reassuring. "We'll get through this," she told me, and when I couldn't answer she said a quiet "bye for now" and hung up.

And I, both shaking and thoroughly shaken, dialed another number in a desperate haze.