Chapter 10
Sarah sat on a stool in her sister's kitchen, anxiously waiting for Beth to finish whatever the hell it was she was doing. Apparently Beth had decided it was finally time for her to be introduced to the rest of the clone contingent. Cosima's winter break was nearing its end and she'd be returning to school for the foreseeable future so Beth figured it was as good a time as any to make the introductions.
Sarah wasn't nervous, but she felt anxiety bubbling up in her stomach. The last weeks had been filled with so much unsureness and tip toeing that she just didn't know what to expect from anything at this point. All had been relatively quiet considering the level of drama that could possibly exist in their lives at the moment.
Beth had thrown herself completely into the hunt for answers over their existence. When she wasn't working, she was researching behind closed doors and trying to keep Paul from reading too much into her behaviour. Felix had become increasingly put out by their secrecy and always pestered them to find out what the hell was going on with his sisters. Siobhan had started to notice Beth's behaviour and Sarah's general trepidation over everything as well, asking on several occasions what was going on with them. As a result, Sarah had taken to splitting her living time between Felix's, Siobhan's, and Beth's. Her presence seemed to appease them each at least a little bit and keep everyone from asking too many questions. She put up with Mrs. S' casual disapprovals from time to time because it meant she was spending days at a time with Kira with practically no supervision. With Helena still out there somewhere, she felt best when she was with Kira and knew her daughter was 100% safe.
The front door swung open and Felix appeared in the entryway. Sarah nodded at him from her position at the kitchen table and he returned the gesture. Paul glanced back from his spot on the couch and threw a half-hearted wave, too invested in the football game he was watching to actually engage.
"Oi, oi," Felix greeted his sister softly as he took a seat next to her. "About ready to go then?"
"Just waitin' on Beth," Sarah grimaced.
She knew Beth was gonna be pissed when she walked out to see Felix waiting to go with them. She didn't really care at this point though. She didn't know what the fuck she was about to walk into and given Beth's tunnel vision focus as of late, Sarah really didn't know if she could trust her sister to have her back if shit went sideways tonight. At least with Felix going, she'd feel a little more secure and sure of herself. Plus, with him nagging them both every time he saw them about the secrets being kept, inviting him along would bring him completely into the loop. Selfishly, it gave Sarah one more person to lean on with all the drama since her only current support was way too consumed by the entire thing to offer any comfort anymore.
Beth appeared from her bedroom, in the midst of shrugging on her jacket. She immediately honed in on Felix's presence but kept her jaw clamped shut, mindful of Paul's nearby presence.
"Finally," Sarah muttered at her appearance and stood up, already having slipped her signature black boots on.
Beth rolled her eyes at the comment but didn't bother dignifying it with a response. She tossed out a disinterested goodbye to Paul and led her siblings silently out the door. Only when the door was safely closed behind them and they were on their way to the car did Beth turn accusingly to Sarah. "What the hell did you invite Felix for?"
"Hey!" Felix objected and Sarah placed a hand firmly on his arm to keep him from any further speaking.
"I wanted him to come," she explained simply. "Don't you trust him?"
Beth groaned and shook her head in exasperation. "Yes, I trust him. That doesn't mean I wanted him brought in on this though."
"He's our bloody brother, Beth. He deserves to know!"
"Christ," Beth muttered to herself as she slid into her car and slammed the door shut.
"Plus I kinda wanted someone to know where I was," Sarah pointed out, her unease over the impending meeting shining through.
Beth sighed but didn't further protest. She could understand her sister's anxiousness over the meeting and would have to accept Felix's tagging along if it meant Sarah felt more comfortable with the whole thing. At least, as comfortable as one could ever be meeting their own clones for the first time.
The drive was relatively silent, save for the low din of the radio playing bad pop songs. Each of the siblings was lost in their thoughts – thoughts which ironically focussed mainly on the other occupants of the vehicle.
The sound of Felix's loud, disgusted groan cut through the silence and had both his sisters turning around to look at him curiously. He took the opportunity to smack Sarah on the shoulder in annoyance. "Ugh, God! You know I never would've gotten in if you said we were going to suburbia."
Both women snorted in amusement at the statement. Sarah shrugged unapologetically and turned back around. Felix gasped when Beth began to pull over and slow the car down. "Don't stop, oh my God! Someone might speak to us. You know my skin just breaks out whenever I leave the downtown."
"Yeah, yeah," Sarah muttered and braced herself when the car halted, almost as though she were preparing for a physical attack once she stepped out of the car.
Felix had meanwhile procured a compact mirror and was examining his face. "Yep," he nodded in confirmation and acquired Sarah's attention again. "Right there, acne."
"I don't see acne," Sarah deadpanned, slightly amused by his behaviour despite the situation.
"Am I blushing? There's redness, right there!" he exclaimed dramatically, pointing animatedly at a speck on his cheek. "Tiny little suburban stress zits, emerging in direct proximity to bad architecture."
"Chill, Felix," Beth grunted. "When we get back to the city I'll buy you whatever acne cream you need to recover from the trauma, yeah? Now wait in the car, we'll be back in a bit."
"Wait in the car?" he repeated in shock. "What the bloody hell am I supposed to do in here?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "Ask Sarah why the hell she invited you to tag along."
"Christ, I don't know! For back-up, alright?"
"Back-up? I don't do back-up! I don't even know what back-up means! Who the hell is in that house that you need bloody back-up?"
"That's what I'm tryin' to figure out," Sarah tried to explain calmly.
"You don't know? Christ, Sarah!" he turned his attack to Beth next. "Tell me you at least know who's in that house?"
"Yeah, I do. Now can you calm down?" she exhaled sharply. "Give us twenty minutes, alright? Then we'll go back to the city and drink ourselves stupid. Sound good?"
"Fine," he sat back, crossing his arms protectively.
"Alright, let's go then," Beth said and Sarah followed her lead in exiting the car.
She shook her hands to rid her stomach of the anxiety and took a deep breath as she rounded the car. Beth sidled up next to her easily and tried to muster up a comforting smile. "Just let me do the talking, alright?"
"Yeah, whatever," Sarah agreed and followed her sister through the gate to Alison's backyard. She squinted when the security lights came flashing on and promptly shielded her eyes. "Holy shite."
Beth laughed in agreement. "I know. You never get bloody used to those things."
She knocked softly on the back door and only seconds later it was swinging open. Beth had positioned herself in such a way that Sarah's full figure behind her was blocked from view. Alison smiled at Beth when they made eye contact and stepped aside to allow her into the home. Beth noticed Cosima already punctually seated on the couch. She stepped across the threshold as Alison made her way back over to the couch and ushered Sarah in behind her quietly. She noticed Cosima's brow raise curiously and knew she had spotted Sarah entering.
Alison turned back around and jumped at the sight of the fourth, unfamiliar person. "Oh!"
"Yeah, hope you don't mind I brought along someone new this time," Beth shrugged and flashed them a charming smile.
Sarah glanced at her sister with a mixture of worry and impress. It seemed like all of a sudden in front of their audience, Beth had flipped a switch and adopted a persona of confidence and self-assurance. It was not unlike the Beth she had known practically all her life. What worried her was the fact that that Beth had completely disappeared as of late – so withdrawn and focused on working or researching their cloneage. She knew this woman she was portraying now was all an act, just a temporary put on so as to keep these people from asking too many questions of her well-being. Sarah knew her better than they did and a small part of her took pride in the fact that Beth obviously didn't feel like she had to pretend in front of her.
"Of course," Alison chirped wearily but smiled despite it. "Come in, sit."
Beth spared a glance at Sarah and noticed her sister looking strangely at her and tried to silently question it, knowing they weren't in a place where she could verbalize any such questions. The sisters sat on a couch across from their clones and Sarah found herself staring at the women across from her in complete shock despite having known exactly what she was walking into.
Cosima was staring wide eyed at Sarah with a large smile. Alison was fiddling uncomfortably with her hands in her lap. Beth cleared her throat to break the awkwardness. "Uh, Cosima, Alison, this is Sarah."
"Nice to meet you," Cosima grinned. Alison tossed her a curt smile and continued fiddling. "So I guess Beth's filled you in on everything?"
Sarah looked at Beth, figuring out if she was being given permission to speak for herself now. When her sister nodded in approval she sat back just a little more in the couch and nodded at Cosima's question. "Yeah, she gave me the basics."
"Oh wow, you're English?" Cosima immediately observed the accent. "How'd you find her Beth? I thought Katja was in contact with all the Europeans."
Beth grimaced, knowing the information she was about to reveal may not sit well with either of the women across from her. "Yeah, as far as we know she was. Sarah's lived in Canada since we were twelve."
"I'm sorry," Alison interrupted, holding her hand up to halt the conversation. "I thought you said you ran software months ago and Cosima and I were the only ones that turned up in your police database. How did you find this one?"
Sarah inwardly rolled her eyes at the woman's clear disdain for her when using the words this one. She'd said all of a few words and this bloody soccer mum had already judged her. Typical.
"Yeah, I used the databases to find you two but I didn't need to do that with Sarah because I already knew her," Beth tried to explain calmly although feeling irritatation bubbling up at the contemptuous looks Alison kept trying to discretely throw at Sarah.
"What do you mean you already knew her?" Cosima interjected for Alison.
"So you've been lying to us for the last six months then? Just blatantly keeping another person from both of us?" Alison continued despite Cosima's question.
"She didn't keep me from you guys," Sarah tried to smooth over. "I skipped town. Beth didn't even know if I was bloody alive when all this shit started going down."
"I don't think I was speaking to you," Alison shook her head to herself. "I don't want any explanations from someone like you."
"Hey!" Beth growled harshly. "Don't speak to her like that, yeah? You don't fucking know anything about her and you're passing judgements like you're better than her."
Alison looked in silent shock at Beth over the reprimand and sat back against her couch angrily. Cosima was sitting more forward than ever looking curiously between Sarah and Beth. "Okay so how do you know each other exactly? You seem close."
"We grew up together," Beth shrugged. "Our foster mother adopted us both back in England and brought us here when we were kids. We grew up as sisters."
Cosima exhaled loudly and looked wide eyed at both of them. "Dude, that's complex."
"Yeah well, now that that's explained can we get to why we're actually meeting," Beth sighed. She rolled her eyes slightly when Alison stood abruptly and returned minutes later with a full glass of wine for herself.
"Right," Cosima agreed with an emphatic nod. "Well you called the meeting, so what's up?"
Beth ran a tired hand through her hair. "We have a couple problems."
"Problems?" Alison asked with a raised brow, her voice going a pitch higher at the mere idea of a problem.
"Yeah. The first is that I found out a little bit more about who killed Katja and the others."
Sarah visibly stiffened next to her sister and Beth nearly laughed. She didn't think it was possible for Sarah to be more rigid and uncomfortable looking than before but she had been wrong obviously. Cosima clearly noticed the reaction as well and her face showed that her interested was definitely piqued.
"She attacked Sarah the night we had our last meeting. The killer's bloody one of us."
Alison snorted unpleasantly. "Says her," she spoke contemptuously and pointed at Sarah. "How do we know if we can even trust a word that comes out of her mouth?"
"Enough, Alison! Sarah's my sister and I trust her with my fucking life. If you have a problem with her being included in this then why don't you just say so? Otherwise, I don't wanna hear one more underhanded comment about her, got it?"
Alison sat with her eyes narrowed at Sarah for a moment. She took a long gulp from her wine glass and sat back again. She waved her hand to signal for the conversation to carry on as though nothing had happened.
"Anyway, Sarah was attacked and then a few days later this bitch was calling me at work. Her name's Helena, Ukranian, and basically a religious freak that's been brainwashed into thinking she's the original one of us and we're all abominations of creation or some shit."
"Shit," Cosima muttered. "At least you're alright, Sarah."
Sarah grunted in agreement and offered an indifferent shrug. It was clear she didn't exactly want to be there anymore, or even to begin with.
"Yeah, that's the main thing. I've been trying to track her down ever since but nothing's come up. Bitch is crazy as all hell though so just keep an eye out, God only knows where she's gotten to."
As she sat with the second piece of information running through her mind, she contemplated whether it was a good idea to reveal it. She hadn't even told Sarah about it yet since she hadn't gotten a minute alone with her all day. Sarah would no doubt flip her lid either now or later, it wouldn't really make a difference over when she made the big reveal. Cosima would take everything in stride regardless so that would be fine. Alison may be a problem. She was already off kilter tonight with Sarah's added presence and Beth had a feeling the wine drinking began much earlier than several minutes ago. She sighed inwardly and decided she needed to be out with the news. She could keep certain information to herself or between her and Sarah, but some things Alison and Cosima deserved to know about too and a lot of it was all about delivering it at an appropriate time. She pulled the small object from her pocket and held it up for them all to see.
"The other thing is that I woke up this morning and spit this out."
Cosima was examining it closely and after several seconds resumed eye contact with Beth. "That's an electrode. It's used with electroencephalograms to monitor brain activity and stuff."
"Yeah, I know. All day I've been getting like weird visions or something of these people examining me in my sleep and I think it all actually happened last night."
Sarah's neck snapped to the side so quickly Beth was sure she had given herself whiplash. "You're bloody joking."
"Wish I was," Beth grimaced. "But then I got to thinking that the only way they could've done testing on me was if someone gave them access to me, right?"
"Paul," Cosima filled in. "I mean it would make sense. We're like an experiment, right? If it were my experiment I'd want someone close by to monitor it, make sure everything went accordingly."
"So you're saying we all have people in our lives who are watching us and reporting back to whoever is in charge of this whole thing?" Alison reiterated angrily.
"I think so, it sure looks that way," she nodded grimly. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions about anyone, just be on the lookout for it."
"It means we need to be really careful with our contact with each other," Cosima added. When the other women looked at her, prodding for her to continue she cleared her throat slightly. "Well uh, there's a chance that you know if they find out we're suddenly self-aware one of two things could happen."
"Which are…?" Beth trailed off, curious as to what the scientist was thinking.
"It would either be like, a Eureka moment, or a cue to terminate so…"
"As in kill us off?" Alison asked in alarm. "So now we have two people trying to kill us?"
"Yeah, so let's just all be careful, okay?"
Out of the corner of everyone's eye, the security lights outside flicked on and the room brightened slightly. Alison stiffened for only a half second before she was placing her glass gently on the coffee table and pulling a drawer on it open harshly. She grabbed a gun out of it quickly and was stampeding out the door before any of them could do anything.
Beth glanced at her watch and muttered a swear under her breath. Sarah glanced at her in annoyance, only wanting to get as far away from suburbia as she could. Seeing Beth stand nearly as quickly as Alison did and walk out of the house had her alarmed though. She followed after her sister without hesitation.
She walked onto Alison's patio to see the uptight woman holding a gun up, aimed at her foster brother. Beth was standing between the two with her hands up, coolly trying to calm Alison down enough for her to lower the weapon. Sarah felt rage coursing through her at the sight of the absolute terror on Felix's face as he looked into the eyes of a clone with a gun pointed at him.
Beth seemed to have successfully reasoned with Alison to drop the gun. She couldn't really be sure though since all sound had seemed to disappear in that moment. As Beth took a step back to make sure Felix was alright, Sarah marched forward and swung her fist back without a second thought, slamming it into the side of Alison's face.
"You point a gun at my brother again, I will kick the living shite out of you," she growled angrily, feeling slightly satisfied at the wounded look Alison sported while clutching her face. She turned to Beth raging still. "Let's get the hell out of here."
"Yeah, just a sec," she agreed and began moving to the house again to retrieve her belongings.
Cosima appeared in the doorway before she got very far and smiled easily at Beth and Sarah. She handed Beth's phone to her. "Think I could hitch a ride back to my hotel?"
Beth shrugged and nodded an okay. She threw her arm around Felix's shoulder and shoved him playfully. "Come on, dipshit. Now you'll get the whoooole explanation, yeah?"
"Bloody Christ," he muttered still in shock and spared a sideways glance as they all made their way back to Beth's car. Alison seemed to have retreated back to the safety of her home, far from Sarah's aching fist.
"My thoughts exactly, Fee," Sarah agreed with a chuckle, finally feeling at ease now that she was out of that goddamn house. "Soccermum's a bloody bitch."
"Can't argue there," Felix muttered, still obviously shaken at having a gun pointed at him. "You knocked her down a few good pegs though."
"Hey," Beth chastised. "I know she wasn't exactly welcoming to either of you, but go easy on her. This shit flipped her entire life upside down."
"And it didn't ours?" Sarah contested defiantly.
"Just go easy on the punching from now on, alright?"
Sarah laughed as she slid into the backseat next to Felix. She opted to give Cosima shotgun in favour of getting to be close to her brother for the ride home or to whatever bar they'd surely visit now.
Cosima turned around in her seat and threw a kind smile at Felix. "Hey, I'm Cosima by the way."
"Right," Felix nodded. "Someone wanna get to explaining this – like right now?"
"Talk and drive, Elizabeth," Sarah commanded, propping her boot cladden feet on the center console in front of her.
The entire bloody meeting had had her on edge and she hated it. She hated Alison, although Cosima actually seemed pretty cool. She was glad as hell to be out that house and getting far away from the suburbs. She needed a strong drink stat. She needed to spend a fun night out with her brother and sister and that was exactly what she was gonna do. They all needed it more than ever right now. No matter what kind of bullshit they were having thrown at them, the three of them would stick together and remain a united front.