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Switched
Chapter 10
FOUR DAYS LATER
Holding a cup of steaming coffee, Kathryn stood before a long window in a spacious San Francisco apartment and looked out at the city. Black clouds hovered over the buildings, threatening to break forth rain any moment, and a strong west wind howled all around.
"I hope the Doctor isn't much longer," she said to Chakotay who was sitting on a couch nearby. "My courage is failing by the second."
Chakotay was just about to answer when the door chime sounded.
"That's got to be him," Kathryn said, turning from the window. "Come in!"
The door opened and the Doctor came in.
"At last," Kathryn said. "What kept you?"
"Kept me?" the Doctor asked? "I said 14:00 hours. It's now only 14:06 hours. And with all the stairs I've just had to climb, be grateful I'm here at all. Not that stairs are a challenge to a hologram, but they're a mighty inconvenience."
"Why didn't you take the elevator, Doctor?" Chakotay asked.
"Because some dim-wit repair man has locked the entire system. 'Don't sweat,' he said. 'They'll be going again in five minutes.' I said tell that to someone with claustrophobia. And were they going again in five minutes? No they weren't. So I took the stairs, all thirty flights of them. You might have to as well if you ever want to leave this building. If they leave that cowboy in charge, it will be doomsday before the lifts move."
"I'm sorry for your trouble," Kathryn replied. "But I'm glad you're here. I've told Chakotay everything...about my parents...and he's helped me see that I really need to address the matter."
"And not a moment too soon," the Doctor said. "I was hoping that's why you called me here."
Kathryn sat next to Chakotay on the couch and gestured to the chair opposite. "Please, take a seat, Doctor."
"Thought you'd never ask," he said, sitting down and making himself comfortable.
"Kathryn naturally has lots of questions," Chakotay said, "but the one I'd like you to answer is this: Is there any chance a mistake has been made and Kathryn is the biological daughter of Edward and Gretchen Janeway?"
"I'm afraid not," the Doctor answered. "The tests I've done, and the parental match test we requested, are 100% conclusive. It's an absolute fact that the Captain is the daughter of a Marette and Draye Brenton."
Kathryn spoke now. "What is the next step, Doctor? Who do we inform about this?"
"Firstly, we need to have my finding confirmed by a second Doctor. Then we inform the doctors of all individuals concerned."
"I'd rather my mother heard it from me," Kathryn said. "Not that I have any idea how I'm going to tell her, but I'd rather she did."
"Then I suggest you tell her before I consult another doctor and get the ball rolling," the Doctor replied.
"I will," Kathryn answered. "How, I don't know, but I will." She paused. "But it would help if I had something to tell her...I mean about what happened. You believe that I and the real Kathryn Janeway were mixed up at birth...that we went home from hospital with the wrong parents...but is there anyway we can confirm that...unofficially? Because maybe there wasn't a mix-up. Maybe this Marette Brenton didn't want a baby and I was transplanted into my mother. Or maybe my mother had fertility treatment and the wrong embryo was put inside her. I know it says on my medical file that I was naturally conceived, but maybe that's wrong. Maybe I wasn't."
"I would agree with the possibility," the Doctor said, "except that in your absence I've done some homework. I've accessed the records for Bloomington Birthing Center, where you were born, and found that a Marette Brenton did indeed give birth there the exact same day as Gretchen Janeway. In fact, their babies were born only minutes apart. It was quite a busy night as far as births go, five other babies being born within hours of each other.
"Then I was definitely mixed up with the Janeway baby after I was born?" Kathryn asked.
"Yes," the Doctor answered. "But whether the Janeway baby was mixed-up with you remains to be seen."
Kathryn's eyes widened at this. "You mean...maybe more than two of us were mixed up?"
"It's possible, but extremely unlikely. A DNA test will confirm whether the baby taken home by the Brentons was Gretchen Janeway's. If it turns out to be the daughter of another couple then...well, obviously the circle widens."
Kathryn took a sip of coffee and steeled herself for the next question. "My biological parents...the Brentons...have you found anything else out about them?"
"As a matter of fact I have," the Doctor said proudly. "Quite a lot of things. Marette Brenton was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on 21 January 2285. Her maiden name was Willis. At eighteen she married a man called Trent Dorval but divorced him five years later. In her late twenties she moved to New York City and married Draye Brenton there in 2329. A year later they moved to Bloomington, where Draye was born in 2270, and lived there until the winter of 2332. They then moved to Austin, Texas."
"Are they still alive?" Kathryn asked.
"I'm afraid not," the Doctor answered. "Draye Brenton died over twenty years ago and Marette just before Voyager got stranded."
"I see," Kathryn replied. Even though she'd never met them, she felt a sadness at this news. And yet...and yet another part of her was relieved. If they were dead, she'd never have to face them.
Chakotay gently took Kathryn's hand in his and she squeezed it, glad of the comforting support.
"Their daughter however," the Doctor continued, "who we hope is the biological daughter of Edward and Gretchen Janeway, is still alive. Her name is Lacey."
"Lacey," Kathryn echoed. "The name that should have been mine."
"She's married, to a Starfleet captain, and has two grown-up children from a previous marriage. She lives here in San Francisco, but is presently accompanying her husband on a deep space voyage."
"Then she has to be a Janeway," Kathryn said, tears filling her eyes. "Space is in the Janeway blood." She then broke away from Chakotay, got to her feet, and wandered over to the window. "Thank you, Doctor," she said quietly. "You've done well."
"I haven't finished yet," the Doctor declared. "There's one more thing. On the 20th of May 2332, Marette Brenton didn't give birth to just one baby, she gave birth to two. You have a twin, Captain."
At these words Kathryn froze and all the color left her cheeks. Then she came to life again and turned slowly towards the Doctor. "A twin?"
"If the Brenton's didn't go home with two wrong babies, then her name is Cayla and she lives in Dallas."
Kathryn desperately tried to absorb this. Siblings she had half-expected, but a twin? It was unimaginable.
"Of course," the Doctor continued, "I might be wrong and it's actually Lacey that is your twin, not Cayla. But as Cayla is the same blood group as you, and Lacey is not, I suspect Lacey is the baby you were mixed up with. I was able to find out their blood groups as they both registered as blood donors in their twenties."
"Kathryn's twin," Chakotay asked, "she can't be identical to Kathryn, can she?"
"Twins can always be identical," the Doctor replied. "According to Marette's medical file...which I was able to look at because she's dead...there is a prenatal entry which states she is expecting identical twins. But after the birth, it's stated she gave birth to non-identical twin girls. It's not unknown for doctors to make such a mistake, especially when twins have their own amniotic sac as the Captain and her twin did, but it's very rare. Identical twins have almost identical DNA, so when twins of the same gender have their own sac, it's a DNA test doctors use to determine whether or not they are identical."
Kathryn felt as though her head was spinning. "This just gets harder and harder to believe," she said. "Something else has to be going on here. How could any doctor draw up medical profiles for twins and fail to notice they're not even closely related?"
"As I've said, Captain, it isn't routine for doctors to check a baby's DNA against its parents or siblings to see if they're related. As to the different blood groups, well, that's not uncommon in non-identical twins. The doctor who drew up their profiles would just assume that's what they were."
Kathryn turned back to the window, gazed out, and tried to comprehend the incomprehensible.
"You were switched at birth, Captain," the Doctor reaffirmed. "Without a doubt you're the daughter of Marette and Draye Brenton and, identical or not, you have a twin."
END OF CHAPTER TEN