Chapter Seven
Kayla felt sick to her stomach as she pulled out the small suitcase that was collecting dust under her bed. She sighed to herself, as she briefly remembered the last time she had used it; to move here.
She pulled out her pajamas, and started throwing in clothing, a book, her hairbrush, all the necessary things. As she unconsciously threw things into her suitcase, she couldn't stop thinking about what was happening to her. The FBI agents had said something about her being in danger. Who was after her, and what did they want? She used to hear stories about people who would come after the orphaned children of rich tycoons, hoping there would be good ransom involved, but that didn't make sense to Kayla. Whoever her parents had been, hadn't been rich, that much she knew. The woman had given her up for adoption because she didn't have the money to raise her. Nobody could be after her for that.
As she felt tears stinging her eyes, fear overwhelming her as she imagined the worst, she heard the familiar sounds of laughter coming from down the hall.
Her roommates.
Kayla sped up, packing faster, glad to be leaving if only to be leaving the hell she experienced in this place. Still, the girls didn't pass their room, they came right in, snickering slightly the way they always did if Kayla was in the room.
Britt fell onto her bed with an exagerated sigh, as Taylor and Carrie joined her at the foot. They talked silently to themselves, giggling away, while Kayla ignored them, as always. It wasn't until Kayla walked into the bathroom to get her toothbrush that the girls actually realized what Kayla was doing.
"Woah, freak, what are you doing?" Britt asked in a venomous voice. Kayla didn't look up, as she added to her suitcase.
"Packing." She replied simply.
"For what? If you've been placed, I'll buy everybody lunch!" Taylor laughed, as the other two joined in. Kayla shook her head, ignoring the comment.
"I just...I just have to go away for a while." She said, not giving anymore information than that. She was sure once she was gone, there would be all sorts of rumours going around, and maybe Terri would set them straight, but she doubted it. She couldn't see Terri telling the girls in the State Home that somebody was after Kayla, that would only cause a panic.
Kayla sighed. Not like they'd be worried about me, but they'd be scared of it happening to them.
Carrie scoffed.
"Guys, who cares where she's going? Don't you realize we'll have the room to ourselves?" She asked. The girls squealed with delight.
"This room will be freak-free! Finally!" Britt exclaimed. Kayla ignored them as she placed the last of her things on top of her pile, and closed the suitcase.
Kayla left the giggles of her roommates behind her as she left the room, closing the door behind her. Her heart was racing. Not only was she afraid of all the unknowns: who was after her, why were they after her, what did they want, but she was also afraid of having to spend time with strangers, FBI agents, no less. She would be protected round the clock by police officers. What kind of company would that be? She sighed. At least they won't make fun of me. She thought sadly. She couldn't believe how unbelievably lonely that sounded.
She turned the corner, swallowing her tears and entered Terri's office again, where the agents were now standing, still talking amongst themselves. It was the man, Mulder, who noticed her presence in the room. He stepped forward with a gentle smile on his face.
"You're ready. Wow that was fast." He pointed out, taking Kayla's suitcase from her. Kayla offered a nod, and stared at the floor. Terri shuffled across the floor toward Kayla, and placed her hands firmly on the girls' shoulders. Kayla looked away, trying to hide the tears in her eyes.
"Take care of yourself, kiddo. Look, don't worry about a thing, okay? You're in good hands, I mean, come on, FBI agents! This'll all get figured out." Terri raised an eyebrow. "But you have to make sure you do as you're told, okay? That means you have to be good, and whatever you do, make sure you take your medication!" Kayla rolled her eyes as she let out a long sigh.
"Hey, I mean it! You want to get better, don't you?" Terri asked. Kayla only stared at her, never giving her an answer.
"Well, I guess you have to get going. Be good, Kayla. Not like I worry about that with you. Call me if you need to, and take care of yourself." Terri explained, patting Kayla's shoulder gently. Kayla only nodded, trying to be brave. She wasn't sad to be leaving, Terri wasn't exactly the most nurturing human being, but she was terrified. Did the people who were after her know she was leaving the State Home? Did they know she was under the supervision of FBI agents? She couldn't help but wonder how dangerous these people were. If FBI agents were coming to Deerfield to take her away so she could be safe, something must be seriously wrong.
Mulder and Scully headed out the door of the office, thanking Terri quietly. Kayla had no other option but to follow the FBI agents.
Scully had no idea what she was doing. She tried to remember all the times she had had to deal with teenage girls, but each time, it had been for a case where she had been forced to detach herself emotionally. This time it was different. Kayla was Melissa's daughter, her birth daughter. Scully felt so awkward. How was she supposed to talk to this girl, without rousing suspiscion?
Mulder seemed to pick up on Scully's silence, and he took over beautifully.
"Small suitcase, Kayla, I really expected more from a lady." He joked. Kayla managed a small smile, as she looked away with pink cheeks. Scully had to grin to herself. Mulder had always been so good with the kids, in every case, he could always bring a smile to their faces, even in the most frightening situations.
A cab was already waiting for the three of them, as Mulder had called one ahead of time, while Kayla was still packing. Mulder opened the door for Kayla, who thanked him, as she settled herself inside, pulling her seatbelt on. As Mulder shut the door, he moved around to place the suitcases in the trunk. Scully gave him a smile.
"Thanks." She said quietly. He looked at her.
"For what?" He asked. Scully shrugged.
"For being here." She paused. "I wouldn't know how to do this on my own. When have I ever had to take care of a teenager?" Mulder smiled.
"You'll figure it out." He said quietly. "Let's get out of here."
Kayla sat in the lobby of the hotel with Mulder, while Scully checked them in. Mulder asked her a lot of questions, but none of them were about these strange person or people who were after her. He asked her about school, and what she liked to do for fun, and casual things like that. Kayla began to feel a little more relaxed. She even felt like she could ask him questions.
"You said your first name is...Fox?" She asked cautiously. Mulder laughed.
"I know. Weird, right?" He asked. Kayla only shrugged.
"Not weird." She said quietly. "Just different." Mulder rolled his eyes.
"That's the good thing about being an FBI agent." He laughed. "You get to go by your last name." Kayla seemed to think about something for a moment.
"Like...Agent Reynolds?" She said quietly. Mulder nodded wholeheartedly.
"There you go." He smiled. "That sounds very professional." Kayla felt her cheeks growing pink as she turned away from the agent. She sighed to herself. For a moment, this almost felt normal. It almost didn't feel as though she were taken away from the State Home because she was in danger. It felt like she was actually having a normal conversation with someone other than Terri or Dr. Mitchell.
Scully walked over then and held up two sets of keys, tossing one set to Mulder.
"We've got adjoining rooms." She pointed out. "One's a single, and one's a double. Mulder, you'll be on your own. Kayla will stay with me while we're here." Kayla swallowed. She wouldn't even get her own room? How awkward was it going to be staying in the same room as an FBI agent who had barely said two words to her, other than asking her questions about potential dangers surrounding her? She sighed to herself.
Kayla dropped her suitcase on the floor in the hotel room as Scully immediately walked over to the window, shutting the blinds. Kayla understood what she was doing - she had read enough mystery novels to understand Scully was protecting Kayla by hiding her. Kayla sighed, feeling uncomfortable. Scully wasn't like Mulder; at least Mulder talked to her. Scully seemed almost nervous around her, but Kayla couldn't understand why. Maybe she wasn't used to working with people Kayla's age, she didn't know.
It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door, and when Kayla went to answer it, Scully ran ahead, and put her arm out protectively, signaling to Kayla that she wasn't supposed to answer the door. Scully waited for a moment, as she leaned up against the door.
"Who is it?" She called.
"It's me, Scully, open up." Mulder called from the other side. Scully let him in and Kayla immediately felt upset. She couldn't even answer the door. Who on earth was after her?
"I just thought I'd let you know I'm on my way to contact the state police to explain the situation. I'll arrange around-the-clock police surveillance and guards for this room. I'm hoping they'll be starting tomorrow morning." Mulder explained. Kayla felt her stomach drop, and her heart began to race. This was happening, this was actually happening; someone out there was threatening her, and all of this attention was on her. She breathed out as Mulder went to use the room's phone.
Scully noticed, turning around to face her.
Once again, she was struck with the resemblance between the girl and Melissa. Scully tried to forget about it. Kayla was visibly shaken by what was going on, and Scully tried to think fast.
"Uh," Scully started, trying to think of something she could say to distract Kayla, something to get a conversation started that had nothing to do with what was going on. Scully as lost, though. Emotions were clouding her capacity to think. She had never been awkward in social situations, she was an FBI agent after all, but this was different, so different. This girl was her neice, Melissa's biological daughter. Nothing about this situation was like anything she had ever faced before. How was she supposed to pretend like this was a normal situation?
Scully looked at Kayla carefully. She couldn't talk about family: Kayla was an orphan, and lived in state homes her entire life. That wasn't exactly the conversation starter of the year. She couldn't talk about friends: Terri had been clear Kayla wasn't well liked at the State Home.
Scully felt discouraged, as Kayla walked back toward her suitcase, kneeling down on the floor to open it up. Scully mentally slapped herself: this girl was obviously frightened, and Scully couldn't find anything to say. She sighed.
But then she found her chance, when Kayla pulled out a paperback novel from the top of her suitcase. Scully smiled, as she took a step forward.
"You like to read?" She inquired. She had to smile, when Kayla looked up at Scully, and her face seemed to brighten. She nodded with a shy smile. Scully nodded too, and knelt down next to Kayla.
"I love reading." Kayla said, surprised Scully was talking to her. "It's...it's my favourite thing to do, actually."
"What's your favourite book?" Scully asked, finding it easier to engage in a conversation when there was something to talk about.
Kayla seemed to drift away, as though scanning an invisible bookshelf, trying to pick one book that was her favourite. Scully smiled to herself, as she remembered Melissa doing the same thing. She had liked to read as well.
Kayla smiled as she shook her head.
"I can't pick just one." She admitted. She looked up at Scully with a shrug. "There's too many good ones." Scully nodded, feeling tears in her eyes. This was so much like talking to Melissa, it hurt.
"Uh, what are you reading right now?" She asked, nodding toward the small book Kayla was holding. Kayla picked up on the fact that Scully seemed upset about something. Had she said something wrong? She wasn't sure, but she handed Scully her book.
Scully flipped it over to read the title.
"Pride and Prejudice." Scully shook her head. "I've never read it." Kayla nodded, taking the book back from Scully.
"It's really good. We had to read it for English class a couple of years ago, but now, well, I guess now, I just read it because I like it. I don't have many of my own books, so I have to keep reading the same ones over and over again." She smiled. "I think I've almost got this one memorized."
"Wow." Scully managed, not being able to take her eyes away from Kayla. Melissa's daughter. Scully swallowed.
"Okay," Mulder said suddenly. Scully snapped out of it, and rose to her feet, focusing her attention on Mulder, as he hung up the phone. "There's gonna be police guards round the clock around the hotel. There's always gonna be one guard outside of this room, and one inside with Kayla when we're not here." He explained. Scully nodded, but Kayla jumped up immediately.
"What do you mean, when you're not here?" She sighed, when they both looked at her silently. "You're gonna make me stay here, aren't you?" Mulder sighed, but nodded.
"Yeah, Kayla, until we can find out who's after you, and why, our only priority is keeping you safe." He breathed out. "I know it's gonna suck, staying in a hotel room with police officers, but it's for your own safety, okay?"
Kayla stared at him, but finally nodded.
"I guess." She murmured.
"Cool." Mulder gave a nod to Scully, and left the room as Kayla lowered herself to sit on her bed. Scully sighed, trying to understand the fear and frustration this young girl must be feeling. Scully quietly approached Kayla, and sat beside her on the bed.
"Can I ask you some questions, Kayla?" Scully asked. Kayla breathed out, but nodded. Scully knew it was the last thing Kayla wanted to talk about, but Scully needed answers, and maybe somehow, it would help Kayla feel better if Scully approached the issue calmly. She didn't want Kayla panicking over something that wasn't absolute. At least, not yet.
"Kayla, we're trying to figure out why anybody would want to come after you. We don't have a lot of answers right now, so if you know of any reasons why anybody, anybody you can think of, would want to come after you, it would be helpful for us to gain some leads. Can you think of any strangers who have approached you lately, tried to talk to you? Do you know anybody who's angry, or been in contact with you lately?" Scully asked slowly, doing her best to pace her voice as quietly and calmly as possible.
Kayla simply shook her head in frustration.
"No." She said, her voice shaking ever so slightly. "I mean, I never leave the State Home, except to go to classes, and they're right in the building. I don't know anybody except for the people inside the place." Scully nodded, trying to process. It didn't make sense to her. Kayla was a quiet girl who kept to herself and never left the Group Home. Who in the world would go after her?
"These people...who are after me..." Kayla swallowed. "Do they want to...kill me?" Scully sighed, but shook her head.
"It doesn't look that way, Kayla. It looks like whoever is after you wants you for something, but we want to figure out why." She explained. Kayla breathed out.
"It doesn't make any sense. Why would anybody want me? I don't have any money, I'm nothing special! I'm just a stupid kid who has nothing to offer anybody!" Kayla paused. "Do you...do you think it has something to do with them?"
Scully puckered her brow.
"Who?" She inquired.
"Them. My parents. The ones who gave me up, whoever they are." Kayla explained.
Scully looked at the girl, and realized this girl had no idea where she came from. She didn't know anything about her parents, she didn't know anything about the donated eggs, and the fact that she was carried to term by one woman, but mothered by another. She didn't know who her surrogate mother was, and she certainly didn't know anything about Melissa.
Scully swallowed, as she tried to offer Kayla a reassuring smile. Without realizing it, Kayla had given Scully their first lead. It was all in the file, the file that had been left with her by some stranger. It only made sense to go there first. Her name was right in the file.
Her name was Janette Reynolds, and she was the woman who received Melissa's eggs.
She was the one who carried and gave birth to Kayla.
And she just happened to live a town over from Deerfield.
