– Chapter Nineteen –
The trip to Leoben was one of the longest and dullest the group had been made to endure yet, but eventually they found themselves staring up a large hill just outside the Austrian town. They'd gotten a bus from the airport to this spot, and now the directions Leigh had been given instructed them to walk the rest of the way.
"Bloody perfect..." Rat muttered, looking between her suitcase and her dogs.
"Hopefully it won't be too far. I mean, they've gotta have access to the town to get supplies and stuff, right?" Aila said, looking around. The prospect of a walk uphill didn't bother her in the slightest. She'd missed getting daily physical exercise.
"I just hope there's something there after all of this," Leigh sighed, looking tired and irritable. She was trying not to get her hopes up too high in case Rachel had lied.
"Only one way to find out though, isn't there?" Aila said, positive as always.
Without another word, the group began their walk, Aila and Katja taking the dogs' leashes to help Rat, who was having a bit of a fight dragging her case up the rocky hill. After what seemed like hours, they finally reached the top and looked around, not seeing anything that particularly stood out as a shelter from DYAD. After a few minutes though, Aila spotted smoke rising up in the distance. It came from an area cloaked in trees and branches, well out of view. It soon became apparent there was a decent-sized log cabin hidden away in the foliage.
"Woah..." Aila remarked at the structure. "Nice hiding place...let's hope this is it." She slowly approached the door.
Leigh felt nervously suddenly at the prospect of seeing her parents again. How would they react? Would they be angry at Leigh for what she had started? What if they were living in fear? What if she had ruined their lives?
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," she chanted as she hurried to catch up with Aila. Rat glared furiously at Leigh, but shook her head, deciding she was too tired to tell her to shut up and risk starting an argument.
"Vat do vee do if your parents are not here? If robot voman set a trap like Rat said?"
"Dunno," Leigh shrugged. "Run like hell and smack Rachel later."
Aila turned back and reached out her arm to beckon Leigh forward. She gave the hairdresser a stern look, telling her if anyone should knock, it should be her. "Go on," she urged Leigh.
"Yeah...shit," Leigh whispered. She joined Aila, while Rat and Katja hung back a bit with the dogs. Leigh raised her hand, hesitated, and knocked three times on the door.
Nothing happened for a few minutes. Leigh knocked again. Still no response.
"OK they're not here; let's go," Leigh blurted out, turning abruptly to leave, but Katja stood in front of her looking unimpressed.
"Vee did not come all zis vay to give up so quickly," she said bossily. "Vee vill break in."
"We'll do no such thing!" Aila scolded the German.
"Vee cannot stand out here all day either, and I am sick of trains. I vill go and look zrough zee vindows and see if I can spot Mr and Mrs Leigh."
Katja moved quickly, earning alarmed stares from the others. At that moment, however, the front door creaked open. Aila, who was still standing by the door, turned sharply and jumped back in surprise to see a large blue eye staring fearfully through the crack.
It belonged to an older woman with long blonde hair and faint wrinkles on her face. Aila barely had time to take her in before the woman shrieked in surprise, flung the door open and pulled Aila into a tight hug, clearly overjoyed. Aila gave a girly scream and froze on the spot, her eyes huge at the unexpected contact. Leigh could only watch in dumbfounded shock as her mother clung to Aila tightly.
"Oh my God, Ashleigh! We've been worried sick!" Janet shouted, almost sobbing now.
Aila took the first chance she got to jump back, stumbling a bit as she trembled. "U-Uh wrong clone, ma'am..." she stuttered.
Leigh was full on glaring now, deeply offended. "MUM! DO YOU REALLY THINK I'D BE WEARING PINK EVEN IF I WAS UNDERCOVER?!" she demanded sharply.
Janet looked between the two with wide eyes, apparently at a loss for words, though one look at Leigh's annoyed face told her she had indeed made a mistake. "A-Ashleigh? Oh my, I'm so sorry! I didn't recognise you with the hair!" Janet was clearly a bit embarrassed as she looked at Aila, who was now giving an awkward smile and a wave.
"Hallo!" Katja said, poking her head out from around the corner.
Janet's eyes wandered from Leigh, to Aila, to Katja, and finally to Rat, who was shaking her head a bit as she watched the whole scene play out. Janet had never seen so many clones in one place before and wasn't entirely sure what to make of them and the two dogs, who were wandering around Rat as far as their leashes would allow.
"So do I get a hug or what?" Leigh grumbled as she crossed her arms, still looking annoyed. Janet could see at this point it was a mask for anxiousness. Without a word, she stepped forward and hugged her daughter tightly.
Leigh let out a huge sigh of relief. For reasons she still wasn't sure of, Rachel had been true to her word.
The clones spent the next hour or so settling into the house Janet and Spencer had been hiding in. Leigh introduced them all to her mother, who welcomed them warmly without hesitation. She invited them to sit down, made them all drinks, and then stood before them all in front of the fireplace, looking quite concerned.
"Where's Dad?" Leigh asked.
"He popped into town," Janet explained. "We're out of milk."
"Seriously?" Leigh asked her mother with raised eyebrows. "He's risking his neck and going out just for milk?"
"Oh Ashleigh, don't be so silly," Janet chuckled, dismissing Leigh's comment with a wave of her hand. "Who's going to find us here?"
"We did!" Leigh challenged her. "And that's because RACHEL told me where to find you! How the hell did she even know anyway?!"
"Yes...Rachel told us you would come."
Everyone stared at her.
"Excuse me?" Rat let slip before she could stop herself. Janet glanced at her.
"You and Rachel are in regular contact?" Leigh asked in disbelief.
"Well she did help us escape DYAD," Janet tried to reason. "We wanted some answers, so we contacted her once felt we were safe. She said she wanted to help us find you."
"And you believed her?" Leigh panicked.
Rat fidgeted a bit. She felt as though Leigh had a point...just because Rachel helped them this time didn't mean she wouldn't decide to rat them out later on. She could easily bring DYAD to this place or have the Callinghams tracked if she was in regular contact with them...
"Ashleigh, please, she sent you here, didn't she? Besides, what good is tea without milk?"
"Mum, are you bloody serious?" Leigh whined.
"Leigh, you cannot talk. You cannot get zrough zee day vithout tea," Katja commented smoothly.
Janet cackled loudly. "Oh yes, that's Ashleigh for you."
"And beer these days too," Aila piped up.
Leigh stared at her. "Aila!"
"Beer?" Janet repeated, eyebrows raised. "Last I heard, it was wine-"
"Mum!"
"-in particular, wine she and Rachel used to steal together in their teenage years-"
"MUM!" Leigh groaned.
"What?" Janet asked innocently while the clones stared at Leigh in disbelief. "I remember how drunk you both used to get. I'd never seen you and Rachel getting on so well. I seem to recall Rachel-"
Aila couldn't help herself and giggled at the mental image of a teenage Leigh stealing wine and getting wasted, earning a glare and a shove from Leigh. "You hush!" she snapped. Aila just grinned at her. "Mum, nobody wants to hear about my teenage years!" Leigh shrieked, pulling at her hair now. "We have more important things to discuss!"
"Yes, yes, I know that. Your father should be home soon, anyway," Janet said with a shrug. "Now then...I would like a proper explanation for all that is going on-"
"Yeah, me too," Leigh grumbled.
"-but we ought to wait for your father to get back. Oh, he'll be so pleased to see you! We really were worried sick..."
Leigh folded her arms, shrugged, and stared at the ground. Twenty minutes later, the sounds of the front door opening could be heard. A man with graying hair walked into the room without looking up, rather reading something on a piece of paper.
"Honey, they didn't have the same brand of yogurt we usually get, so I had to-" he broke off as he finally looked up, his eyes widening in stunned shock at the room full of clones.
Leigh raised an eyebrow at how long it took him to notice them. "Wow, you haven't changed a bit, Dad..." she said dryly.
Spencer dropped the bag he was holding and grinned widely. He wasted no time rushing over to envelope Leigh in a tight hug, obviously ecstatic to see her. Aila smirked slightly, glad Leigh had gotten the proper attention first this time.
Leigh again introduced each of the other clones. Spencer greeted them and then went to put the groceries away, before quickly returning to the living room, sitting beside his wife.
Leigh sighed quietly to herself and sat down beside Aila. The room fell into silence once more as the hairdresser gathered her thoughts before speaking.
"Rachel said you would be coming," Spencer spoke up before Leigh could begin.
"Yeah," she nodded at her father. "Mum already said. I'm not happy about it."
"Why not?" Janet asked. "You and Rachel have never had issues before."
"I wasn't wanted by DYAD before," Leigh reasoned, eyebrows raised. "I've fucked things up for them, haven't I?"
"Language!" Janet and Spencer barked, causing Leigh to flinch. Katja snorted in amusement and Rat and Aila just stared.
"Why don't you tell us about that?" Spencer asked his daughter. "You vanished without a word, Ashleigh, and we were all worried about you. Even Doctor Leekie-"
"Don't talk to me about Leekie," Leigh snarled. "He locked you up at DYAD, remember?"
"It's not as though he threw us in a cell or anything, Ashleigh," Janet sighed.
"He was going to use you to bait me!" Leigh insisted. "I wouldn't put it past the creep to have hurt you if he felt he had no choice! Rachel obviously thought so too, or she wouldn't have left that door open for you to leg it!"
"How did you know that?" Spencer asked.
"Never mind that," Leigh snapped.
"But Ashleigh, how can you not trust Rachel after she did that?" Janet asked.
Leigh shrugged. "I don't know what I think of Rachel anymore! I don't think she even knows what she wants herself!"
"So why did you cause all of this?" Spencer questioned again. "I think you owe us an explanation."
Leigh sighed. Her father was right. His life and Janet's had been turned upside down because of Leigh's actions, and if she wanted to know the truth about her and Rachel, she knew she had some explaining to do first.
So, at long last, Leigh told her parents the truth they had been waiting for. She told them what Rachel revealed to her about the mystery illness all those months ago, how Leigh applied for a position at DYAD to try and find out more information, how she learned someone was killing off the subjects, and how she couldn't ignore it like DYAD seemed to be doing. She explained why she had to go without a word; she was scared of being tracked, of being stopped by Leekie for potentially ruining things...how she didn't know what Rachel was capable of if she decided her loyalties lay with DYAD...
Rat, Katja and Aila listened carefully as Leigh talked. They knew all of this already, but they hadn't heard Leigh talk about it in such detail until now. It was strange for them seeing the looks on Janet and Spencer's faces, especially when Leigh told them about Aryanna's death. Leigh's parents couldn't be blamed for worrying.
"I think it's madness," Spencer said, shaking his head. "I understand the need to do something, but it's not your job. Why couldn't someone else handle this?"
"Because nobody was going to!" Leigh said tiredly. "DYAD...they were more concerned about the subjects becoming self aware, and that's not right, is it?"
"And you're all OK with this?" Janet questioned, looking around at the other clones. "You're OK with putting yourselves in constant danger because DYAD refuse to do their job? What about your families? They must be worried sick."
Rat and Aila froze at this comment, neither willing to say anything in response. Katja shifted, shrugged, and looked up at Janet. "My family back in Germany, zey are helping. Of course zey are vorried, but..." she trailed off with another shrug.
Leigh sighed. "Mum...listen. I can't explain it. I thought it was crazy myself. I couldn't understand why I felt so...strongly about going off and doing all of this. Rachel said it was insane, and she was right, but I...it's instinctive. I look at these girls, and I see myself. I can't abandon them. I know it's the same for them, too." She looked around at the others briefly, who were now watching Leigh intently. "Katja's family understand that."
Janet and Spencer frowned and glanced at each other worriedly, and Leigh guessed they were worrying for her safety. She knew that the chance of getting killed herself was a very real one, but she wasn't willing to be swayed now she'd started this, wherever it may lead. She truly believed what she said. If she didn't help these girls, nobody would.
Aila spoke up quietly then. "If Leigh hadn't done what she did when she did it, I would have died four months ago. The very day we met was the day I was attacked by whoever's killing us. Leigh saved my life. Whether it's dangerous or not, she's right. Nobody else was going to step in, and no body else is going to besides us. We all understand the risks, but...I believe it's worth it to try."
"Aila..." Leigh said, glancing at the doctor. She never really stopped to appreciate the Scottish clone's support, though here was the proof that what she was doing was worth it.
Aila looked at her and smirked, sticking her tongue out at her. "Don't tell me you're gonna get all soppy on me now. That ain't like you," she teased lightly.
Leigh shook her head, turning back to her parents as her expression became serious. She took a deep breath, before coming right out with what she needed to know before she lost her nerve. "I know Rachel's my sister. Tell me how that happened."
Silence fell around them for a moment while Leigh waited. Janet shifted a bit. "I'd like to know how you were made aware of that," she said in a small voice.
Leigh resisted the urge to glance in Rat's direction, though she was fully aware of the hacker gazing at her intensely. She wasn't willing to give anything away about Rat and the things she was able to do for the time being. It wasn't Leigh's place.
"That's not important," the hairdresser managed. Her throat felt tight suddenly. "But it is true, then? Rachel's my twin."
Janet and Spencer looked at each other, looking worried again now. Leigh was sure they turned a shade paler.
"How much do you know about it?" Spencer asked.
Leigh paused. "Not much. Just that you handed her over to the Duncans because of a last minute change of plans."
There was no denying it now. Both the parents looked incredibly guilty. Katja and Aila looked at each other at the same time, both apparently uncomfortable. "Should we...would you rather we left?" Aila began, thinking the family needed privacy to discuss it.
"No," Leigh said. "It's fine."
Janet and Spencer frowned. They would rather talk to their daughter about this in private, but they weren't going to argue about it. "It was out of our control," Janet began unsteadily. "I suppose we should start at the beginning."
"Please do," Leigh said.
"We'd been struggling to have children for years before you and Rachel came along," Janet explained in a slow voice. "But we wanted to be parents enough that when DYAD approached us, we decided to accept their offer. They told us about this enormous experiment, and we were sworn to secrecy. We couldn't believe it – human clones.
"Before I got pregnant, your father and I were introduced to the Duncans. They were scientists, as you know. They worked for DYAD; they were directly involved in the experiment. Doctor Leekie explained that us and the Duncans would receive one child each. Both children would be raised with the knowledge that they were human clones, but their circumstances would still be different."
"Meaning one raised as a normal kid while the other was groomed to be a robot-bitch," Leigh muttered darkly.
Janet stared at her daughter, clearly disapproving of such language and attitude, but she didn't have the heart to express it. "Yes, exactly," she said instead, nodding. "You would be the only self-aware clones in the entire experiment."
"Did you know there were others? Other clones?"
"Yes," Spencer admitted. "We knew there were others around the world. Other clones who knew nothing about it." He couldn't help looking around at Aila, Katja and Rat. Leigh suddenly understood why her parents hadn't been shocked to see them all.
"See, I never knew there were others until Rachel told me a while back," Leigh whispered.
"You weren't supposed to know," Spencer said gently. "That was one of the differences between you and Rachel. She's part of DYAD itself. Of course she's aware of all they stand for."
"Yeah," Leigh agreed, shrugging. "So what happened? Why'd you give her up?"
"Well, unlike me, Susan Duncan did not carry her child herself," Janet told her. "Instead, she and Ethan paid a surrogate mother to carry their child for them. The child would be handed over when she was born, but then things went wrong."
"The surrogate mother suddenly vanished without a trace," Spencer said. Leigh watched him carefully. "Nobody is really sure why. Perhaps she hadn't thought it through properly, and suddenly the idea of giving up the child got to her...perhaps she wanted the child for herself..."
"So she did a runner?" Leigh asked. "And DYAD never found her?"
"They've been searching for her for years," Janet said, her voice squeaking a bit at the memory coming back to her. "Nobody knows where she is or what became of the clone child she carried. Leekie was furious."
"That he was," Spencer agreed. "But then, in his opinion, a miracle happened. It turned out we were expecting twins. While I'm sure Leekie's still determined to find the lost clone, he...was satisfied, I suppose, that the experiment could continue as originally planned."
"So they made you give Rachel to the Duncans instead," Leigh whispered. "And you agreed."
"We had no choice, Ashleigh," Janet insisted. She was looking very upset now. "We'd signed all sorts of documents and things agreeing to DYAD's terms; there was nothing we could have done."
"You could have ran," Leigh suggested.
"What kind of life would that have been for the two of you?" Spencer asked. "We knew Rachel would be cared for. We still had one child. It was enough. It was enough when we thought we'd never be blessed with one at all."
Leigh felt sick. She couldn't get her head around it. She couldn't imagine giving up a child so easily. "Rachel wasn't cared for though, was she?" she asked, voice shaking now. "Not properly. Look what they've done to her..."
"Susan and Ethan loved her; you know that," Janet said. "Nobody could have predicted what happened to them! After they died, we offered to take Rachel in..."
"But Doctor Leekie decided to raise her himself. He would not even discuss it with us. He still allowed the two of you to interact, of course, which we're both very grateful for...but she was always going to be groomed for DYAD."
"And that makes me so angry!" Leigh shouted now. "She's so messed up! All she does is hate and judge and demand; she doesn't even know how scared she is to let anyone in! All this time she was my sister, and we never had a proper chance to be together! I want to love her so much, and I just..." she trailed off, buried her face in her hands, and fought to hold back tears.
Janet stood up and crossed the room to sit next to her daughter. She put an arm around her. "You still can," she said carefully.
"How?" Leigh demanded. She looked up abruptly at her mother. "How, after what Leekie's done to her? I don't think she even wants help...if she does, she doesn't know how to accept it..."
"She cares," Janet insisted. "If she didn't, she wouldn't have helped us."
"She doesn't know, does she?"
"No," Janet said quickly. "Neither of you were to find out."
"I'd still love to know how you did though," Spencer muttered.
Leigh said nothing. She stared at the floor for a while, forgetting the other clones were there. "I don't know how she'd take something like this. Can I just ask one thing?"
"Go on," Spencer urged her.
"Why Rachel? Why did she get handed over and not me?"
There was a pause.
"There was no real reason, really," Spencer said. "You were born first. They simply allowed us to keep you, while they took the second child. That's really all there is to it."
Leigh swallowed hard. "Who named her?"
"Susan and Ethan did," Janet said. She had tears in her eyes now. "They...changed her birthday, too. Made out she was born three weeks later than you. I suppose they felt they had to."
Leigh sighed and closed her eyes. "You told me originally that she was my twin...right? Am I remembering right, or am I making that up?" she asked numbly.
"No, that's right," Janet sighed. "Leekie was so angry with us for that, and now you know why. We weren't supposed to tell you that, but we thought it'd be easier for you to understand over the concept of human clones. You were so young...so confused..."
Leigh bit her lip hard, sighing. She'd heard enough for now. Without a word, the hairdresser stood and walked from the room.
Janet and Spencer agreed to allow the clones to live with them for as long as they needed to, though there weren't enough rooms in the house to accommodate everybody immediately. For that night, most of them would have to sleep on sofas or in chairs until they could buy extra beds and more supplies in the morning.
Leigh hadn't been down from her chosen room since she'd left earlier, and while most of them agreed to give her space, Aila still wanted to check up on her, just as she had when Katja was upset after meeting Lucas. The doctor climbed the stairs slowly with a fresh cup of tea, making her way towards where she'd been told Leigh was staying. Knocking quietly, she opened the door to find Leigh sitting on the sofa she'd be sleeping on, looking out the window in silence.
"Hey. Can I come in?" Aila asked with a soft smile.
Leigh glanced over and frowned, but nodded. "Hey..."
Stepping into the room and closing the door behind her, Aila made her way over to the sofa and sat down. She offered Leigh the cup. "Tea?"
"Cheers," Leigh said, offering a weak smile as she took the cup. She realised she hadn't had any tea at all in the last few days. "I'm OK, really. Just trying to let it sink in before I decide what to do next."
"At least you have some answers now," Aila said.
"Yeah, but I can't help wondering how Rachel doesn't know. She must have access to her own files, and mine. I mean, obviously the bit about us being twins would have been removed, but then how the hell did Rat get that information..."
"She must have been able to dig deeper than Rachel ever could," Aila offered with a shrug. "You know how clever Rat is."
"Yeah...true," Leigh mumbled. She took a sip of warm tea. It was extremely refreshing.
They were both quiet for a while. Leigh finished her tea before Aila spoke again. "Your parents are in regular contact with Rachel," she said carefully, not looking at Leigh. "You still have a chance to tell her everything."
Leigh froze for a moment. She frowned and shrugged. "Yeah. I had considered it, but I don't know if it's safe to contact her now. Leekie's bound to be pissed off at her for what she did, and what if he has her calls and things monitored?"
"True," Aila said. "Well you never know; maybe she'll contact your parents again. If she does, you might have chance to talk to her."
"Yeah, maybe," Leigh grumbled. "I have to admit I'm worried about her. I don't know what Leekie's capable of anymore...I've never seen the side of him I saw the other day..."
Aila put a reassuring arm around Leigh, surprising the hairdresser a little. Leigh looked right at her. "Don't ever think for one minute it wasn't worth it," Aila told her. "I know it's tough. But despite everything, I'm glad be here alive with you lot with the hope of living a normal life one day. I wouldn't have that without you."
Leigh bit her lip and nodded briefly. She pulled Aila into a proper hug. Aila smiled and hugged her back, content to reassure the hairdresser. She knew when Leigh set out on this journey, she had no idea what she'd set herself up for, and often second-guessed herself and thought it was all for nothing...but the doctor meant what she said. She would stick with Leigh until the end.
A few days after their arrival into Leoben, the clones settled into their new surroundings. They felt guilty for imposing on Janet and Spencer out of the blue, though the two didn't seem all that bothered about the extra company.
One evening, everybody sat around the living room in various places while having dinner, since the dining room table was far too small for all of them to fit. The evening news played quietly on the TV, though nobody paid it much mind since the reports were in German. Janet explained she and Spencer mostly kept it on for background noise.
After she'd finished eating, Janet stood up and glanced down at Leigh, who was slouching on the floor beside Aila. "Ashleigh, when you've finished, come here for a moment. I'd like to show you something."
Perplexed, Leigh abandoned her unfinished meal and followed her mother right away. Aila glanced down at the plate lying on the floor, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Leigh's bad manners, but Janet didn't seem too bothered.
"What is it?" Leigh asked when she and Janet moved across the room.
Janet pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Leigh. It was a small photo album, small enough to sit in the palm of her hand. "Since you know about Rachel now...well...I feel like you should have this."
Leigh reluctantly opened it up. The first photo was of two new born babies lying together, wrapped up in blankets. Leigh felt a strange gut-wrenching sensation to see it.
"I took that photo the day after you were born. Susan and Ethan came to take Rachel shortly afterwards...but I wanted to capture the final moments you were both mine."
Leigh nodded sadly. "She didn't have a name when this photo was taken, did she?"
"No," Janet confirmed. "Neither of you did. It felt wrong to name one child and neglect to name the other, so we waited until they took her..."
"Right..." Leigh responded. She flicked through the album. There were various photos of Leigh and Rachel together throughout their childhood and teenage years. Leigh vaguely remembered both her parents and the Duncans taking photos when the girls interacted. Whether the photos were part of the experiment or for the girls' entertainment only, Leigh wasn't sure. It was still nice to see the pictures, though. It was even amusing to see an adolescent Rachel smiling at something amusing Leigh must have done in one of them. She wondered how Rachel would react to see it.
"I can't believe I've never seen these before," Leigh mused.
"Well the album was always at home," Janet told her, shrugging. "You just never cared to look through our photos."
"Point taken," Leigh chuckled. "Well...thanks. And thanks for clearing it up. It'd been doing my head in for a while."
Janet watched her daughter for a bit. She sighed heavily. "We were gutted about giving her up, you know. It wasn't easy."
"I know," Leigh said. "And...I don't blame you. I'm sorry if it felt like I did."
Janet nodded and hugged her daughter. Leigh felt safe in her arms. It hit her suddenly how much she'd missed her parents, and the guilt at causing them so much worry became overwhelming. If she was certain of one thing, though, it was how much her parents loved her. That had always been obvious.
Aila glanced over at the two, saying nothing. She stretched and looked outside, pleased that it wasn't completely dark yet. After a moment, she stood up and excused herself from the room, bringing her plate into the kitchen to discard what was left on it before making her way towards the door.
Leigh blinked, glancing at her. "Uh...what're you doing?" she asked curiously.
"Just going out for a run," Aila told her.
"Want some company?" Leigh offered, remembering how much fun they had running around the hills of Appenzell.
Aila hesitated, but then shook her head. "It's fine. I'll be back shortly. It's getting dark, so I'm not gonna go far or be out long. I've just missed getting a bit of exercise."
Leigh nodded to her. "Alright," she agreed. It was only natural for Aila to want to run again now they were in a safe area when she'd been unable to for so long. After all, with their luck, they had no clue how long the area would be safe for. She might as well take advantage of it while she could.
The panic and stress the clones had been feeling since their confrontation with Leekie began to ebb away. Days turned into weeks, and everyone was settled and relaxed. Once or twice, Rat mentioned Janika, and insisted on taking the fact they were now in Austria to their advantage to speak with her and let her know they were nearby. Janika was happy to chat, and often got carried away.
"Why is it you lot are always the ones to deal with the dramatic things? Nothing has happened to me so far, apart from the friggin' evil beast kitty trying to take my bat; speaking of which, it sorta disappeared! Maybe it got run over or something; who knows-"
Rat stared with raised eyebrows as Janika rambled away. Once or twice, she attempted to get one of the others to take over and speak to Janika instead, but none of them were keen on the idea. Janika was certainly a handful, so Rat found herself quickly making excuses to end their calls after making sure the Austrian clone was still safe.
Beth was proving just as difficult to communicate with. "Where have you all been these last few weeks?" she snapped angrily when Katja decided to give her a call.
"You said not to bother you last time we spoke!" Leigh shot just as irritably at the cop.
"I didn't mean disappear completely! I've been trying to get hold of you!"
"Vhy?" Katja asked.
"Because usually there's always at least ONE of you online on Skype, and your status has been offline for ages! Excuse me for wanting to check you're not dead!"
Katja sighed and held back a cough. It seemed Beth was edgier and more stressed every time they Skyped. Katja thought she'd changed a lot since the first time they spoke to her. She was certainly losing her cool, and the fact she refused to waste time talking about it caused the others concern.
Katja updated Beth on everything that had happened, but this only seemed to worry Beth even more.
"Just stop pissing around and get me those samples so we can put an end to this!"
Beth hung up.
To everyone's great surprise, Janet's laptop received an incoming video call late one evening. The older woman hurried towards it and stared at it in shock.
"It's Rachel!"
"What?" everyone gasped.
"Well – before you all came here, she'd been Skyping with us about various things – you know, to update us and such – but after what's just happened, I didn't think it'd be safe for her to..."
"Please tell me you're not going to answer her," Rat spoke up, trying to sound as polite as possible. Leigh glanced at her. She could tell Rat was worried about DYAD tracing the call and finding them.
Janet didn't respond, but she answered the call, much to Rat's distress. The disapproving face of Rachel Duncan greeted them on the screen.
"Hello," she said in her robot voice.
Leigh twitched nervously. "What the hell are you PLAYING AT?" she demanded before her mother could say anything.
"I am simply checking that you all made it there safely. I could not do so immediately upon my return to London, for I had a lot of explaining to do concerning my actions."
"I'm surprised you're still running things there at all," Rat grumbled, though the look on her face suggested she wished Rachel had lost all her power.
"I have convinced Aldous I can be trusted, and I intend to stay true to my word," Rachel spoke firmly. "This will be the last you shall hear from me. Good evening."
"WAIT!"Leigh shouted. "Don't hang up!"
Rachel glared at her screen, clearly unimpressed at Leigh's yelling. "What is it?"
"Give it to me," Leigh said, taking the laptop from her mother and running out of the room with it.
"Leigh, stop this nonsense," Rachel demanded as Leigh set the laptop down.
"Shut up, I need to talk to you. How do you know they're not tracing your calls?"
"They trust me," Rachel told her.
"After what you did?"
"I told you; I have it under control. The less you know about it, the better."
Leigh stared. "Right. Well, listen...I..."
"Leigh, this is inappropriate. I shall not engage in this ridiculous video call."
"But I want-"
"You made your choice to stay away, despite my best efforts to bring you home," Rachel interrupted her. "Now you must live with it. Do not contact me again, or the consequences may be severe."
Rachel ended the call immediately, leaving Leigh feeling stung. "Bitch," she whispered. She was so sure she was ready to tell Rachel everything, but now the chance was gone. With a helpless sigh, Leigh took the laptop back into the living room and handed it to her mother.
She wanted to tell Rachel so badly, but how could she if Rachel didn't want to talk to her? Sighing slightly, the hairdresser flopped down on the sofa, entranced in her own thoughts. If she ever saw Rachel again, she'd just blurt it out full stop, she decided. It seemed like that was the only way she was going to get it done.
Leigh turned her attention to Rat, who was sitting in a chair on her own laptop. "What was it like for you when you found out about Katja?"
Rat glanced up, having not been expecting that at all. She frowned, thinking about it for a moment. "Well...it was weird. Surreal, even. Here I'd just lost who I thought was my only sister just weeks before, and then I found out I had another sister who I'd never heard of in Germany. It was a lot to take in. After the shock of it wore off though, I do remember being really angry that she'd been kept a secret from us all those years. Also wasn't pleased about the German part." She gave a slight smirk at her own words.
Leigh raised an eyebrow, baffled. "Why?" she asked. The hacker didn't particularly strike her as being someone who had anything against Germans.
"Because Ratty trying to speak German is a horror show," Katja said, grinning widely.
"Hush you," Rat scorned as she poked Katja in the arm with her foot. She tried to look annoyed, even though she knew what Katja said was absolutely true. She turned her attention back to Leigh. "Yeah...German was my third language at school, and well...it didn't exactly stick with me. At all. Always said I'd never have a use for it anyways, so it didn't matter...and then that happened."
Katja covered her mouth with one hand to try to stifle her giggling. "Ja...ven she first contacted me...it vas bad. Funny to zink of now zough."
"Yeah, well your French sucks just as badly, so shut up, ya pain," Rat retorted, smirking. Katja just grinned and stuck her tongue out at her sister, who surprisingly returned the gesture.
Janet watched the clones curiously as she closed down her laptop, unable to conceal a smile. It was interesting and surreal seeing them interact.
Leigh grinned widely. She was surprised to see Rat grinning back rather than taking offense to Katja's remarks. "I was supposed to learn German as an extra language," Leigh said thoughtfully. "Rachel tried to force me to do it with her, but I told her to sod off because I knew I'd be shit at it. I was annoyed at myself too at the thought of meeting Katja. Thank God she can speak English."
Rat's grin grew even bigger and she raised her eyebrows. "You mean we actually have something in common?" she shot at Leigh, who shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Who vould have zought it?" Katja added. "It ez not my fault neither of you speak good German. I can't believe you vere both annoyed at me."
Leigh made a move to grab a cushion and hit Katja with it, but she thought better of it. Katja was tough, but she was also sick, and Leigh thought it would be wrong. "I never said I was annoyed at you, you spazzcase," she said instead. "Honestly, Rat and Rachel are the only two people who manage to piss me off."
Rat let out a loud, hollow laugh, and Leigh couldn't help smiling. "Charming!" Rat teased.
"As if I don't piss you off too," Leigh said boldly.
"Never said you didn't, Callingham," Rat said smoothly.
"Are you two actually managing to havea laugh?" spoke a Scottish voice from somewhere behind them. Aila shifted into view, looking stunned and amused. "Did you suffer a head injury or something?"
"Very funny doc," Rat shot at her.
"You all may as well have been sisters," Janet spoke up as she crossed the room to join them. They all looked around at her in surprise. Rat and Leigh stared at each other, apparently both repulsed at the idea of being raised together. "What?" Janet exclaimed. "I suppose it's a genetic thing or something, the things you all come out with. It's funny to watch. Anyway, I'm going to make a start on dinner."
"I'll do it," Aila said quickly.
Janet stared at her, surprised. "You don't have to do that, dear," she insisted.
"No, no, I want to be useful," Aila told her. "You've done enough – and I don't mind..."
Aila turned quickly and headed for the kitchen area, leaving the others to stare after her curiously. Katja was the last to turn her attention away from her, and she frowned subtly to herself when she finally did.