I've decided to split the last chapter in two as it was getting way too big! Don't worry though, I'm almost finished the second part so not long to wait :) Enjoy and please review x
Emily watched as he pulled a small photo from his inside pocket, stroking its surface before handing it to her. A woman in a navy jumper smiled out at her, blue eyes gleaming where the sunlight sparkled off them. She could see the resemblance immediately – the pronounced cupids bow and mesmerising eyes were identical to Matt's, and Emily wished she had had the chance to meet the woman who had brought him into the world.
"She's beautiful," she said softly, tucking the photo into his pocket and gently running her hand through his hair. "What happened to her?"
He had been expecting the question, but even so, he felt his throat close in on the words he had been intending to say. The memories were faded now but the pain never diminished.
Matt reached over and took Emily's hands in his, relying on her for some support. He didn't like to admit it, but he had always depended on her to keep him strong, especially now. "My mother and father were both determined to change what had happened to the earth – that's how they met. They had long had a passion for science, and they set about trying to go back in time to stop whatever had created the horrific world they lived in. And they managed it. They stepped through an anomaly and went back, into the past, in order to find the exact point that everything had changed.
Except, things didn't go exactly to plan, and after two weeks my mother realised she was pregnant. They knew they couldn't go back to the future, considering the damage it could do to the unborn child… to me, and so they stayed."
He stopped for a moment to breathe; his mother's face now disappeared from memory. All he had left was that photo, but it wasn't enough to fill the hole she had left.
"Once I was born, though, my father decided we had to go back. We had been away almost a year by that point, and he didn't want my mother becoming too comfortable in the past, where we were safe. Stepping through that anomaly was the worst mistake they ever made…" Matt's eyes closed as bitterness engulfed him, remembering when his father had finally told him the truth about how his mother had died. He had loved his father, right up until the day he died, but he hated him too, no matter what his motives were for going back.
"She died in the future, didn't she?" Emily said, already knowing the answer.
Matt nodded. "They should have waited, or my father should have gone first. Future predators swarmed them the minute the anomaly closed, and the smell of fresh blood was enough to drive the creatures insane. My mother died trying to protect me from them."
Emily remembered the terrifying animals Matt spoke of, and gave a visible shudder as she imagined an entire pack surrounding the poor woman and her child. It didn't bear thinking about.
"I am truly sorry, Matt."
He sniffed hard and gave her a weak smile. "The rest I've already told you – I grew up in the future, determined to finish what my mother and father started, and eventually came back home. The home my mother had always wanted for me."
"And Bella is the same? Conceived in one time and born in another," Emily said, more to herself than to him. Her brows furrowed as she tried to understand. "But why did Jess tell you? I mean, I would have expected Becker or Abby to have been her first choice, or even me at a push. Why you?"
Matt shrugged and turned to face her, having been staring off into the distance while she spoke. "I suppose I'm the only one with a connection to the future. She came to me once she had been discharged from hospital, and told me everything. I put her mind at rest – I didn't explain everything to her, but I made sure she knew everything would be all right and that Bella would be fine, no matter what. How wrong was I?"
Emily shook her head, curls bouncing around her face. "You have been incredible – I don't think I have ever seen you so focused before. Bella was never in any danger."
"Except now she's been kidnapped by God only knows who, Jess has disappeared and Becker is bloody AWOL. That entire family has been smashed to pieces in a matter of months, and I have no clue how we're supposed to get them back together…"
They sat in silence for a moment, hands entwined together as they tried to comprehend what had already happened today. But there was still something nagging away at Emily, and she wasn't sure he would appreciate her voicing these particular thoughts. Then again, when had that ever stopped her in the past?
"You still haven't told me why you're so mad at Becker. He's your best friend, but recently you've been treating him like some kind of nemesis. Does it have something to do with Bella?"
She saw his jaw lock and instinctively knew she had put her foot in it. Whatever had happened between them, he evidently didn't want to talk about it.
"Never mind, we can-"
"He reminds me of my father," Matt interjected, his voice low and hoarse. "My mother tried to protect me from the future… tried to keep me safe. But he dragged us back because he was selfish, and we were the ones who suffered. Becker's the same."
"That's not fair, Matt. Becker has done everything he can to protect Bella."
"Then where is he? He dragged Jess into the future because he missed her, without any thought for the consequences of his actions, and as a result, Bella was born. I'm not saying that was directly his fault, but he should never have risked crossing timelines. And wallowing in his own grief while his child grew up without him is just… I can't tell you how painful it is to have both parents disappear before your eyes, especially when one of them can barely look at you without thinking of the other. My father constantly reminded me how much I looked like my mother, and it hurt him every day to see that I was all that remained of her."
She saw the tears pooling in his eyes and pulled him closer, squeezing him tightly as he fought a sob. She couldn't imagine the pain he had already suffered, but she promised herself that she would never allow him to feel it again.
xxx
Abby watched her husband as he scanned the CCTV, his eyes desperate to find anything he could use to trace their niece. She was as worried about Bella as he was, but the guilt etched in every crease of his face showed just how hard he was taking this.
"If anyone can find her, Connor, you can," she whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek for reassurance. He nodded but didn't look convinced – his mind was too far away for her to reach him, and she wasn't sure how to get him back.
Just then, Connor gave a gasp and quickly paused the video, zooming in close on two men bundling a rather frightened little girl into the back of one of their SUVs. "It's them," he said coldly, typing in several different computer codes before pulling up yet another window.
"Matt! Emily! Connor's found something!" Abby called, her hand resting on his shoulder as she prayed to anyone who was listening that Bella would be all right. She would never forgive herself if something happened to that little girl.
Their footsteps thundered on the floor as they came rushing over to the computer, gathering together as they watched Connor continue to work.
"What is it?" Matt asked after a moment.
With another click, Connor placed two files side by side on the screen. "Oliver Lawson and Tristan Alexander Cox. Both trained in the army and were then drafted to MI5, where they spent three years as undercover operatives at a major science facility experimenting on humans. But as of two months ago, they are now working for…" Connor paused, his cursor hovering over the one name he had never expected to see.
"James Lester," Emily whispered, looking at Matt for some kind of answer but realising he was just as stunned as the rest of them. "Lester can't be involved in this, surely?"
Abby and Connor shook their heads simultaneously, not able to believe their boss, Bella's godfather, could have anything to do with her kidnapping.
"Let's find out, shall we?" Matt said icily, turning on his heel and marching off in the direction of the Medical Bay.
xxx
Rowland pressed the mobile to his hear, listening intently to the person on the other end. His face relaxed, his lips curved into a rather unnerving smile, and he gave a short, clipped laugh before ending the call sharply.
Jess had no idea what this meant, but she had a feeling it wasn't good.
"I have a surprise for you – one last treat before we say our last farewells."
It took her a moment to respond – for the last ten minutes she had been feeling physically sick at the thought that her daughter could be in danger or hurt… or worse.
"Is she still alive?" Jess forced the words out, her eyes filling with tears as she imagined Bella all alone, terrified. It was as though someone was slowly digging a blade between her ribs, and it had now reached her fragile heart.
He twirled the gun absent-mindedly before his eyes to came to rest on those frantic, deer-like eyes. "We're hardly going to kill our greatest asset. Give us some credit, Jess. We know what we're doing."
"And… what will you do? What will you with Bella?" Her mind had already gone over so many horrific possibilities, but she needed to know, no matter how painful it was to hear.
Rowland paused before taking a step towards her, a look of pure glee crossing his face as he closed the gap between them. "Whatever we want."
xxx
Everyone waited in the dim corridor, listening intently to the raised voices of Lester and Matt inside the locked medical room. They knew how angry Matt had been when he stormed off to get some answers, but in the back of their minds, they couldn't help thinking that every other approach had failed, and that perhaps aggression was the only way left to get Bella back.
"Don't lie to me, James! If you have anything to do with her kidnap then you better tell me or so help you-!"
"Don't you dare accuse me without any proof! That girl is just as much my family as she is yours, and I would do anything for her. As for your ridiculous theory that I was somehow involved… it's beyond imaginable!"
There was a moment of silence before the door finally clicked open and Matt exited, looking exhausted and dishevelled as he accepted a hug from Emily. "Does he know anything?"
"Well, either he is a brilliant liar, or he's just as clueless as we are. I don't think he's involved."
The team gave a collective sigh before deciding to return to the Hub, intending to trace the SUV the two agents had taken in their haste to escape unnoticed with Bella.
"Who would try to frame Lester?" Abby asked aloud, linking arms with an unusually quiet Connor.
Matt shook his head. "Someone who wants us blaming each other, I suppose. If we are suspicious of each other, then our attention is deflected away from whoever is really responsible. But it has to have been someone close to the ARC, or close to Lester himself to be able to pull this off."
As the team rounded the corner, all of them considering the possibility that it may have been a close friend who wanted to harm Bella, they froze at the sight of one very distraught looking Becker standing on the middle of the Hub, gazing at the anomaly he had just opened…
xxx
"What the Hell do you think you're playing at?" Matt roared, grabbing a locking device from one of the computer desks.
Becker looked to Connor to explain, and the scientist gulped before stepping forward. He had kept quiet too long. "I opened an anomaly so Becker could go back in time to see Jess."
The entire room stood still as though the very building was holding its breath. Matt turned slowly to look at him, expression unreadable.
"You did what?"
"Connor was only trying to help-"
"Then he shouldn't have let you anywhere near an anomaly!" he yelled before returning his piercing stare on Connor. "Didn't you think what might happen if Becker went to find Jess? Didn't you wonder what he might do?"
Connor shook his head, looking like a frightened child as pushed back his hair.
"I didn't do anything, Matt," Becker said, knowing he had to come to Connor's defence considering what his friend had done for him.
"You're the biggest liar of them all. I know exactly what you did, and it's because of your stupidity that Bella is now in danger. Why didn't you just think?"
Sensing that the two men might square off to one another, Abby quickly came to stand between them, looking from one to another until she saw both begin to calm down. "I know we're all upset, but we have to focus now. Connor, start tracing that SUV. Emily, go back and see if Lester can remember anything these men said to him before they took Bella-""
"Hang on… What men? Where is my daughter?" Becker asked, suddenly looking round him for the first time and realising she wasn't there.
Matt brushed past him and finally closed the anomaly, placing the locking device back in its case. "While you were showing Jess the sights of her future life yesterday, we've been trying to put right your mistakes. Two agents came into the ARC while we were at an incursion and knocked Lester unconscious. They took her, Becker. Bella's been kidnapped."
Becker felt as though he had just been winded, and he stumbled back a step or two, only steadied by Abby's hand on his arm. But it was the sudden switch from grief-stricken husband to dedicated husband which suddenly got him thinking straight.
"What can I do?"
Matt stood slowly and then gave him a relieved smile. "It's good to have you back."
xxx
Half an hour later, Connor had tracked down the SUV to do a disused warehouse ten miles away, and Emily had managed to assemble a list of all possible suspects from Lester. As Abby trawled through each name, checking backgrounds, family and any connection with the two agents, she suddenly came across one name which fitted the profile completely.
"Matt!" she called, and within seconds he was by her side, Becker close behind.
"This is Mortimer Rowland. A special agent with connections to every government department in Britain and America. He's close to Lester – they worked together for almost three years – and seven months ago he was the mentor of Oliver Lawson for a three week training course. I think it's him."
The two men nodded, their certainty growing as they re-read the concrete facts. "Where do we find him?" Becker asked, feeling strangely detached from the situation as he was handed an address from Abby.
"I sent men round to each of the suspect's homes, just in case. We should know more any minute."
"Abby?"
She jumped slightly as she heard one of the men through the coms. "Go ahead, Greg, we're all here," she replied hurriedly.
"We're at his flat now, and… he has a Hell of a lot of files on Helen Cutter."
Abby turned to Becker, their eyes conveying what they were unable to say.
"What else?"
There was a moment's silence, and Abby wondered whether something had happened.
"We found plans… they involve Bella and Jessica. He fabricated a story that Bella was in danger and then convinced Jess to leave. She's in a flat somewhere nearby, we think, judging by the comments he's made in his diary. As for Bella, we think he's going to take her to see Jess one last time before they leave for a secure science facility. We don't have long to find them – ten minutes at most."
Becker felt his heart sink as the reality of the situation finally hit home. He had no idea what his decision had meant for everyone – all he knew was that his wife and his daughter were in danger, and it was all his fault.