– Chapter Twelve –
The rest of the day dragged by with Leigh barely leaving Rat's laptop. A million thoughts raced through her mind about the situation. Should she go back home? Would Leekie really hurt her parents, and would he let them go if Leigh returned? Surely Aila, Rat and Katja could take care of themselves. They didn't need Leigh…
But then Leigh felt enormous guilt for even considering leaving them alone. She would never forgive herself if something happened to them and she wasn't there with them through it.
"I'm just torn," she would tell them over and over again. "I'm torn."
The other three clones would only watch helplessly and try to coax her away from the laptop. Rat managed to tap into the audio to listen to anything Leigh's parents might say, but they were mostly quiet, and when they talked, Leigh's name never popped up. It seemed to Leigh they were trying to behave as normally as possible. Once or twice, DYAD officials entered the room to check up on them or bring them food, but never once were Janet and Spencer allowed to leave.
"They don't know anything!" Leigh shouted at the laptop, slamming the table with her fist. "This is all my doing!"
"Leigh, I'm gonna need that laptop back sooner rather than later," Rat insisted after four hours passed. "We can check up on them again in a bit…"
Leigh couldn't bring herself to respond. She only continued to watch, and Rat found she didn't have the heart to take the laptop from her.
"The friggin' hell are we meant to do?" she asked Aila and Katja desperately later on. They were huddled at the foot of the stairs away from Leigh so they could talk.
"She does not vant to leave zem knowing zey are in danger," Katja said quietly. "If it vas our family…"
"Yeah," Aila agreed. "I get it, but watching events unfold on that laptop is NOT healthy and it CAN'T become habit. Look, I say if Leigh wants to go back, she should."
"Are you mad?" Rat hissed at her. "She'll be walking right into a friggin' rabbit cage! Leekie won't forgive her for the mess she's made! And in his eyes, she has made a mess!"
"So she ez meant to just let him harm her parents?" Katja asked.
"No, of course not!" Rat continued. "But if she rushes back there without a plan, she's gonna get herself killed! She can't just keep doing things on impulse like this; she needs help-"
"So you do care," Katja stated.
Rat fell quiet. "Maybe I just feel like this my fault, sort of," she muttered after a minute. "I never should have told her the thing about Rachel…it was so stupid…"
"It was a mistake any of us could have made, Rat!" Aila told her. "And how were you to know about this? We can't blame ourselves; it'll solve nothing. We need to decide what we're gonna do to help now and make sure Beth catches this killer, because I honestly don't know how much more any of us can take."
Rat sighed and stood up, making her way back over to the table to sit down beside Leigh. "Hey…" she said quietly, though Leigh didn't say anything back. The hairdresser looked even more like a zombie now than she had when she found out about Rachel.
Leigh buried her face in her hands and silently pushed the laptop towards Rat, assuming the hacker wanted it back. Rat shook her head. "I'll keep the window up," she told Leigh. "Just let me make sure we haven't been found out, OK? I've never had a constant breach that's lasted this long before. Usually I try to get in and out as fast as possible."
Leigh put her head on her arms. "Cut it if it's too risky. I don't wanna get us in even more trouble," she murmured, looking completely defeated.
Rat frowned. She quietly ran several checks to see if any of DYAD's security measures had been alerted yet. She'd already made a fail-safe just in case. If DYAD tried to trace the origin of the breach, it would mask the signal and reroute to a server in Moscow, giving the false impression that the clones were in Russia rather than Switzerland.
Satisfied they were still undetected for the moment, Rat went to give the stream back to Leigh, but paused and watched intently as the door in the room opened. A figure walked in, showing not Leekie, but rather the face of another clone.
"Rachel…" Rat muttered. She'd recognise the blonde clone anywhere from the photograph in her file.
Leigh forced her head up, confused. She stared at the bewildered look on Rat's face before inching closer to the laptop.
There was no mistaking it.
Leigh and Rat watched the blonde smoothly make her way to the middle of the room, and Janet and Spencer turned their attention towards her. Leigh felt something catch in her throat as she tried to speak.
It was too surreal. It was too much. Seeing Rachel and being unable to speak to her was overwhelming, and Leigh felt incredibly stupid for feeling that way. She almost paid no attention to what Rachel was even doing or saying for a moment. The blonde clone looked like a little doll on the screen. She was as perfect as Leigh remembered her.
"What's she doing…" Rat breathed more to herself than to Leigh.
Janet and Spencer walked over to Rachel now, and she was gesturing for them to sit. Janet obeyed, but Spencer was looking defensive and frightened, even when his wife placed a gentle hand on his arm to calm him down.
"Wh-what are they saying?" Leigh asked. Rat carefully turned up the volume.
"…absolute madness!" spoke the unmistakable voice of Spencer Callingham.
"For what it's worth, I do not believe you had anything to do with her disappearance," Rachel was explaining in her usual monotone voice. "Your cluelessness and desperation cannot be faked."
"That's Rachel?" a Scottish voice breathed from somewhere behind Leigh.
Leigh didn't need to look to know Aila and Katja had curiously wandered over. "Yeah…that's Rachel…"
"Vhat is vith her hair?" Katja asked.
Leigh clenched her jaw tightly to stop herself from crying again. She should not be missing Rachel this much.
"…feel I must warn you that DYAD always gets what it wants," Rachel was saying now. She had Janet and Spencer's full attention.
"So you're threatening us?" Spencer asked flatly. The completely still Rachel only tilted her head ever so slightly at this comment.
"No," she insisted. "I'm not. DYAD is." Rachel then walked slowly over to the large window on the wall. She became very still when she reached it, and remained quiet for several moments as she stared. "They will use you as bait to bring your daughter back…but you already knew that," she said coldly. "You must believe me when I say I am unaware of the lengths they will go to; whether they will cause you harm or not…my guess right now is they will say anything to Leigh if it means she'll return of her own free will."
"Bullshit," Rat spat venomously. "Of course they'll really harm them – that's what Leekie DOES-"
"-but whatever choices they make, there is only so much I can do to help," Rachel continued. She turned away from the window and strolled back over to the couple. She observed them with that unnerving blank stare for a while, and then crossed the room to leave. She looked back over her shoulder at them as she held open the door. "That is, while you are in here," she finished.
Rachel left as suddenly as she arrived. Leigh shook her head.
"Hang on a minute," Rat whispered in disbelief. Leigh was too busy watching her parents to notice what Rat had. "What…what on earth is she playing at?"
"What?" Leigh mumbled, still staring at her parents.
"The door! Do you see what I see?" Rat asked, pointing to the screen.
It took Leigh a moment, but then she squinted. "Is that…did Rachel-?" she whispered, stunned.
It only took Spencer and Janet a moment longer to notice as well. Rachel had left the door open. The pair didn't wasted no time, and quickly fled out into the hallway to run.
The clones huddled around the laptop and stared for a moment, not sure what to make of the situation. Rat silently closed the feed and backed out of the facility's systems before closing the lid of her computer. Leigh stared down at the floor, her head spinning.
What was Rachel playing at?
The following morning, the household was tense. Everyone was thinking about what they'd witnessed, and what that meant for the rest of them. If DYAD had gone so far as to kidnap people and were planning on blackmailing, what else would they do?
Katja demanded to be given a secure way to contact her own family and warn them to be careful. Before, she'd been sure her kin could handle anything, but after witnessing firsthand that Rat had been right about DYAD's willingness to hurt people, she wasn't sure anymore.
Rat understood Katja's fears, and set up a secure Skype call for her to contact who she wished to warn them to be cautious. Nobody knew if Janet and Spencer had escaped the facility fully or not, as the files hadn't been updated at all. Rat theorized that Leekie wouldn't admit to losing them until he'd completely lost their trail, so it was anybody's guess at this point.
Since witnessing Leigh's emotional reaction to the tense situation the previous evening, the hacker seemed to be making a bit of an effort to be nicer to her, and didn't snap at her nearly as much as she had previously.
While Katja was on Rat's computer talking to the various members of her huge family, Rat kept Katja's computer open in case Beth tried to contact them again. The detective got in touch later that day.
The hacker clicked open the window. "Morning Beth."
"Hey," Beth greeted Rat with a short wave. "I've got someone here who's interested to meet you all." Beth reached out for the webcam and turned it quickly to capture the person in the room with her. Rat almost swore under her breath at the rigid, anxious, but very pink clone now facing her.
"You must be Alison," she stated, managing to keep her voice calm.
"Y-yes. That's me," Alison spoke. Her voice was rather high, and she sounded either stern or uptight. Rat couldn't decide which.
"Nice to see you've finally won her over," Rat said to Beth, who looked a little alarmed at the accusing and distrusting glare Alison shot her way.
"What have you been saying about me to them?" Alison demanded.
"Nothing," Beth said a little too quickly, and Alison simply stared at her with wide eyes and an unimpressed expression.
"Look, I'm taking it you called because you wanted proof of the whole clone thing, yeah?" Rat asked. Alison turned her head sharply to look at Rat again, grimacing at the word 'clone'.
"Yeah," Beth answered instead.
Rat sighed. "Guys, get over here," she called lazily for Aila, Leigh and Katja. "Alison wants to meet you."
Alison, however, looked as though she'd rather be anywhere else but there with Beth, and didn't seem enthusiastic at all about seeing other clones. Rat could only guess she was taking this very hard.
Aila and Leigh made their way over to the laptop, and Rat turned the camera around so that Alison could see them both. Aila waved, but Alison just stared with wide eyes before fidgeting with her hands. "Y-Yes hello, um…OK, fine, I-I guess I believe you…I'm just gonna…" she said quickly before trailing off and disappearing to leave the room.
Beth sighed in exasperation. "Alison…" she groaned, putting the camera back. "Sorry. I'll call you guys back in a bit."
The call abruptly ended. Leigh rubbed her neck awkwardly. "She's not taking it well, I'm guessing."
Aila nodded. "Can't blame her really," she said, standing to return to the kitchen where she'd been making lunch.
Rat put the laptop down again and glanced over as Katja stood. "Done warning everyone, Katja?" she asked.
Katja nodded. "Ja, I zink so," she said before looking as if she didn't know whether to head to the kitchen or head up the stairs to bed.
Rat frowned, concerned. "That cold still hasn't gone?" she asked carefully.
Katja shrugged. "It vill. I have had vorse…" she insisted. Suddenly though, she brought her hand up to her mouth and coughed violently.
Rat stared as Katja looked at her hand and quickly went for a tissue, though Rat noticed a smudge of bright red on her lips. "Katja let me see your hand," she said, her voice almost a whisper.
"It is fine. You do not vant to see," Katja told her a bit too quickly.
Rat felt her heart rate increase and stood quickly to step towards the German woman. "Your hand, Katja!" she said louder, though she looked more scared than anything.
Leigh and Aila peeked out from the kitchen to see what all of the noise was about. They watched with confused looks as Katja backed away from Rat, seemingly trying to hide the hand she'd coughed into. Rat stopped in her tracks before she could even see Katja's hand. She stared for a while, and Katja did not meet her gaze.
"How long has this been happening?" Rat whispered after a moment.
No response.
"Katja!"
Still no response. Leigh and Aila wandered over now as well, and Aila mentally scolded herself. She knew something wasn't right…
"I did not vant to cause concern," Katja said at last. She shrugged, still avoiding looking anyone in the eyes. "It is nothing…"
"Nothing?" Rat repeated, gob smacked. She darted forwards and seized Katja's wrist, bringing her hand up so everyone could see. "What's this then? You're coughing up blood!"
Leigh had never heard such emotion in Rat's voice, nor had she ever seen Katja looking so scared. It was unnerving.
For a moment, everyone was silent. Rat let go of Katja's wrist, her own hands visibly shaking as she did. Without a word, she pulled the German woman into a tight hug. She shut her eyes tight, willing herself not to break down even as Katja finally did.
The rest of the afternoon passed slowly. The entire atmosphere of the house changed with the revelation of Katja's illness. Aila had taken it upon herself to give the German woman's lung functions a complete exam to determine what she could do to help her. The two of them stayed in Katja's room to do so after everyone calmed down.
In the meantime, Rat retreated to her room with her dogs and hadn't been out since. Leigh sat out in the living room with a beer, thinking about the fatal illness she'd heard about. Was this it? Or was this something else? Something that could be treated? She sighed, wondering if she should tell the others. She'd been meaning to, but now she was afraid of scaring Katja even more.
Beth hadn't tried to contact them back yet, which Leigh was happy about. She knew the detective would probably pick up on everyone's somber moods.
Just as Leigh considered getting up to retreat to her own room, footsteps could be heard on the staircase. Aila appeared after a moment, and she looked very tired.
"Hey," Leigh greeted her carefully.
"Hey."
Aila walked over to the kitchen and disappeared for a moment. Leigh could hear her rummaging about for something, and it wasn't long before she shuffled back into view carrying a large glass of wine. She invited herself to sit down next to Leigh and took a long, much needed sip.
"I knew something wasn't right with her," she whispered after a moment.
Leigh hesitated. "She tried very hard to hide it, Aila…"
"Yeah, but I should have seen it sooner," Aila snapped a little. It was clear she was furious with herself.
Leigh shifted a bit closer to her. "Well blaming yourself won't do any good," she said, trying to sound stern. Aila shot a glare at her. "I won't let you anyway. You couldn't have known about it. Look…I need to tell you something. Something I should have explained sooner, and I'm only telling you now because we can't afford to take more risks."
"Oh?" Aila asked curiously, visibly calming down and relaxing after a moment. She waited as Leigh finished her beer and set the bottle on the floor by the foot of the sofa. Leigh then rested her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands, and stared at the wall opposite them.
"Back when I first found out there were other clones, I learned something else too. Do you remember me saying once that I wouldn't be here doing all of this if it wasn't for Rachel?"
"Aye," Aila told her slowly.
Leigh paused again. "She was the one to tell me other clones existed. She was…she was really upset, Aila, even if she tried to hide it. I could tell. She was talking to me about…about some illness. I mean, I have no idea what this illness is; she didn't give me details. Hell, I don't even know if Rachel knows the full extent of it…"
"Leigh, what are you talking about?" Aila asked, frowning now.
"Rachel told me the clones are prone to health risks. Health risks you'd know nothing about, with next to no hope of receiving a cure. Those were her exact words. She also told me she'd been trying to get me to work for DYAD, because then I'd be better protected, or more informed, or whatever, if I started to show symptoms."
"So DYAD has the cure?" Aila gasped.
Leigh shook her head, shrugging. "I don't know. I don't know anything at this point. I wanted to tell you all sooner, but I just…with everything else going on…"
"Yeah…" Aila said. She emptied the rest of her wine glass with one long gulp.
Leigh sat up straight and looked directly at Aila. "All I know is Rachel cared," she spoke seriously. "She's shit at showing it, but she does. Why else would she have let my parents get away yesterday? Why would she have told me all of this when she knows the consequences she'd face for doing so?"
Aila couldn't bring herself to respond. Too many thoughts clouded her head.
"Aila…what if Rachel's the answer?" Leigh asked now. "If she does have more information, what if we get her to give it us?"
"And what if she's already too corrupted by DYAD to go against them?" Aila tried to reason.
Leigh sighed and looked away again. "I thought she was," she admitted guiltily. "And I gave up on her too soon because of it, but I'm starting to think I was wrong. I kind of wish I'd gotten her to come with me, but…if this thing Katja's got is the illness Rachel told me about…"
A long silence followed.
"Rat will never trust Rachel," Aila spoke at last. "You know that."
"Yeah, I know," Leigh muttered, shaking her head. "But I need to do something. I need to speak to Rachel somehow. I need to know everything she knows about this illness, because if anything happens to Katja and it turns out we could have prevented it…" she trailed off.
Aila sighed. "Yeah, I see your point. This sucks. Do you really think Rachel would be willing to tell us?"
Leigh shrugged. "Only one way to find out," she muttered, standing slowly and heading towards Rat's room. She didn't know what she was going to say to the hacker, but she needed to try to make her understand that Rachel was their best bet for getting information.
"NO."
Leigh had spent the last few minutes explaining to Rat all she'd explained to Aila. The hacker sat quietly, still visibly upset about Katja's condition, but as soon as Leigh mentioned Rachel's name, her usual angry temperament showed itself again.
"Just let me explain," Leigh told her as calmly as she could. "I just think Rachel's scared of them more than anything-"
"She's in too deep!" Rat snapped defensively. "Far too deep! Someone like her cannot be trusted!"
"Why'd she leave that door open yesterday then?" Leigh sounded just as defensive now.
"I don't know!" Rat shouted. She threw her arms in the air, stood up, and began pacing the room. Both her dogs eyed her cautiously, clearly uneasy at the tense situation. "I've been asking myself the same thing over and over! The only conclusion I can come to is that she's tricking them somehow-"
"Tricking them?" Leigh repeated, laughing sarcastically in disbelief. "How?"
"I don't know; maybe she thought they'd go to you if she let them go; maybe she's having them followed!"
"She wouldn't do that," Leigh said more to herself than to Rat.
"And how would you even know?" Rat challenged her.
"Look, you think you know everything about her, but you don't; not really!"
"And you DO?" Rat yelled. Leigh fell quiet. She backed down and sat on Rat's bed, quite shaken. "Look, Leigh! You want to see the good in her, but I'm telling you, it's just not there! It can't be if she's working for them!"
"She's scared," Leigh repeated, shaking her head and staring at the floor. "She hates DYAD; she always did, ever since we were young! Only she's gotten so good at hiding it over the years…I just thought…maybe we could convince her to join us-"
"Oh, get real!" Rat told her viciously. "NOBODY walks away from DYAD!"
"I did!" Leigh reminded her. She stood up again, fists clenched, and anger clear in her eyes once more.
"Yeah, and look where it got you," Rat shot quietly.
Leigh clenched her fists hard. "Where it got me? I'm out here busting my arse to try to save the lives of other clones! Clones DYAD doesn't care about! But this is something we can't deal with on our own! Warning people about a killer is one thing, but this is an illness that we know nothing about! If there's even a chance that Rachel could help-"
"She CAN'T!" Rat yelled then, and something in her tone made Leigh stop. "DYAD can't do SHIT about this! They like to THINK they can, but what they call a 'cure' is nothing short of TORTURE!" she seethed, before apparently realising her own words. She went silent then and turned away from Leigh, biting her lip hard as she tried to calm down and control herself.
Leigh stared at her. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing," Rat said quietly, refusing to look at Leigh. "It doesn't matter. Fact is, DYAD don't have a cure."
"Rat, if you know something-"
"I said it doesn't matter!" Rat's voice echoed now. "Just...just get out!"
Leigh stared at her. She stared for what felt like an age; her mind blank, and her anger slowly dissolving into nothing but numbness. What was Rat hiding? What was she so afraid of that she had to resort to spying and hating and belittling everyone she came across?
"It's funny, you know? You're more like Rachel than anyone else I've ever met," Leigh found herself saying at last. Rat looked up at her, aghast. "And I tell you something...that's some bloody achievement."
Leigh turned on her heel and left the room, slamming the door behind her as she went.
The next morning, Rat cautiously knocked on Katja's door, not wanting to disturb her from her sleep. When she heard the woman's vague reply, the hacker quietly ventured into the room, seeing Katja was still in bed, but somewhat awake.
"Hey…" she said, lightly sitting on the edge of the bed. "Did I wake you?"
"I vas avake…sort of…" Katja mumbled, stretching. "Vat is it?"
"I just…wanted to see you…" Rat said quietly.
Katja frowned. "Do not vorry yourself over me, Rattyrat," she said gently but firmly.
Rat sighed. "How can I not, after…you know…" she mumbled pathetically.
Katja nodded, lightly putting her hand over Rat's. "I know, but do not let it drive you mad, ja? Vee need you to be vorking at top notch, not distracted by zis."
Rat sighed and decided to change the subject. "It's our birthday today."
"Is it?"
"Mmmhm. March 24th." Rat looked down at the German woman with a forced smile. "We're officially twenty-eight now."
"Vee are old, " Katja grunted with a small, sad smile, inwardly wondering if this would be her last birthday.
Rat looked away, and Katja guessed she was having similar thoughts, and a moment later her suspicions were confirmed when the hacker pulled her knees up to her chest. Her shoulders shook slightly with quiet sobs.
Katja sat up slowly, looking concerned. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Rat cry. "Talk to me…vat is it? Just zis…zing…or did somezing else happen?" she asked quietly, frowning subtly.
"It's EVERYTHING. This, and also I…said something I shouldn't have…" Rat said quietly, looking at the floor in front of her.
"Huh?" Katja questioned. She allowed Rat a few minutes to pull herself together.
"Leigh…I said too much…I started to talk about…about…about her…Leigh's gonna start asking questions about her now…"
Katja struggled not to smile with relief. She had worried for a second that something really terrible happened, but she could not voice that out loud. This was a huge step for Rat. "Vell zat is a good zing, ja?" she said as tactfully as she could. "You need to trust each ozer."
"I'm trying! I just…I can't talk about that! Not…not yet…" Rat said, sounding angry now.
"Vhy?"
"I just…I can't. I already said too much…"
A pause followed. Katja rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Zen Leigh is alvays going to be angry," she spoke slowly. "And you are alvays going to be angry also. You and her, you are zee same. Both angry; alvays angry, and half zee time, I do not know vhy. You are both angry for zee sake of being angry."
"That's NOT true," Rat hissed, but Katja carried on talking before she could get another word in.
"You do not trust her with zat information, and yet you do not have valid reason vhy? No, Rat, you cannot accuse her of anyzing just because she knew Leekie all her life. Zat does not prove anyzing ozer zan your own paranoia. And she, she is just as bad, alvays staring out vindows and carrying saucepan and beating herself up over zee fact she cannot vin your trust. Don't you see vat a vicious circle it ez?"
Rat sighed. "I doubt she beats herself up over something as stupid as that," she muttered, but then seemed to pause for a moment to really consider her own words.
"You vere saying?" Katja asked gently as Rat buried her face in her hands.
"FINE…you're right. I KNOW you're right…I just I can't!" she said pathetically, though she seemed to have lost much of her fire. She glanced back at Katja. "I'm just…" she trailed off and clamped her mouth shut firmly, looking away again.
"Scared," Katja supplied the word knowingly, and the way Rat visibly tensed up let her know she was on the right track. "You're scared to trust, scared of betrayal, scared of not just zem, but of everyone…you vere scared of me once too. Do you remember? Maybe saying too much too soon is making you even more scared, but maybe zee very fact zat you did ez meaning zat somevhere in zere, you vant to be able to trust vithout fear again."
Rat said nothing for several minutes, wiping her eyes. Katja watched her, knowing Rat had unwillingly put herself into uncharted territory; territory she perceived as the door to what she feared the most...but Katja knew this would be good for Rat in the long run. Maybe with the support of the crazy little family they'd created, the hacker could finally allow herself to let go of her fear and heal, one baby step at a time.
Rat burried her face in her arms. "Sorry. I'm being stupid. You don't need to deal with this right now…not with…" she trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
Katja sat up properly to put an arm around her. "I vill not be beaten. Not by zis."
Rat forced a smile but shook her head. "That's your trouble. You think you're invincible," she told Katja, who only grinned.
Then, Katja yawned and stood up from the bed, running a hand through her messy hair. "Rat…zis zing vee call fear…it ez not real, you understand?"
"The hell? Of course it's real," Rat told her, but Katja shook her head.
"No. No it ez not. Ven I vas young, I vas cautious of most zings, alvays anxious and vorrying about zings that might or might not happen. My grandmother…my adopted mother's mother…she vas the same. I used to spend much time with her. She vas great, but…she had issues vith anxiety and feared most zings…"
Katja stopped a moment to breathe. Rat thought she was going to start coughing again, but after a few seconds, Katja managed to compose herself.
"She lived to very good old age, my grandmother," she continued, staring at herself in the mirror now. "And ven she died, in her nineties, I realised zat she had spent her whole life scared; her whole live living vith zis vorry that bad things vould happen, but zey did not; nozing tragic anyvay…and I zought to myself, 'I don't vant to be like zat. I don't vant to vatch my life pass by, and suddenly be ninety and regret not taking the chance to be happy because I vas scared of vat could have happened'…no, Rat, that is no vay to live. It is no vay at all."
Rat stayed quiet. She waited for Katja to turn back around to look at her.
"Fear," Katja said, "ez not real. It is nothing but madness, Rat. It ez madness in our heads vee torture ourselves with. Vee only fear vat might happen, but vat is the point? You spend all zese years behind your screen being too scared to trust, and for what? Revenge? To torture yourself with vat you cannot change?"
"It's not like that," Rat whispered, eyes brimming with tears. "I'm not doing it for revenge...not really...revenge would mean I'm doing it in her name, and she wouldn't have wanted that. So no...I'm doing it so that they can't keep hurting us. That's all."
Katja nodded before speaking again. "Listen to me. Vee are family here; all of us. Leigh…Aila…zey do not know how much of an impact zey have had on both of our lives. I know you appreciate zem, Rat. You are just too scared to admit it, and you don't have to be."
Rat seemed to stare off into space for several minutes, before shaking her head and wiping her eyes again. "You're too good to me. Sometimes I wonder why you even put up with me. I've been horrible since the day we met. Leigh…she said I'm just like Rachel, and I don't know if I can disagree. I let DYAD warp me, just like they seem to have warped Rachel over the years…" she sighed, biting back more sobs.
Katja knelt down in front of Rat, waiting until the hacker lifted her head slightly to meet her gaze. "I choose to stay vith you because vee are family. Is this not so...schwester?" Rat just nodded quietly, having nothing to say back to that. Katja smiled. "Come on. Vee get you cleaned up and zen have birthday cookies."