(Trip is 27, Lance is 24, Grant is 23, Leo is 21, Jemma is 21, Skye is 19), Avalyn is 13 and Liam & Juliet are 6. + Avri is 9 and Amidala is 1.
"Hey," Cynthia greeted as soon as she entered the apartment. She put the keys over the table by the entrance door and rattled the plastic bags, "brought chinese."
"Uhm, great," Grant hummed, pushing himself up from the couch to meet her at the door. After putting a kiss on her lips he told her, "You've got drops of blue ink on your ear."
"Damnit! Those little rug rats," she whined. "I hate 'em."
Grant chuckled, taking the bag from her and leaving it over the coffee table in the living room, "No, you don't."
Sighing, Cynthia admitted whilst hanging her jacket on the coat hanger, "No, I don't. But they get on my nerves sometimes."
"They're a bunch of toddlers, running around. How much harm can tiny people that fit in overalls do?" Grant pointed out, fetching their cutlery, because they both loved chinese food but didn't do well with chopsticks.
"Someone here has clearly never watched Chucky. That classroom is like a battlefield every goddam day. Laugh it, Grant," he laughed, and so she resumed when he took a seat next to her on the couch, "You spend a day with them and you'll see that being a SHIELD agent is piece of cake."
The two of them, as if in auto-pilot mode, put their feet over the coffee table and cross one ankle over the other, enjoying dinner.
"What were you watching?" Cynthia asked, grabbing the remote control.
"Baseball recaps."
"I hate baseball," she mumbled after filling her mouth with food.
"No, you don't," he shook his head and smiled.
"No, I don't. But I prefer basketball." She was flipping through the channels, trying to find something interesting that would interest the two of them. "What time do you leave tomorrow?"
"Five-thirty. I'll try not to wake you."
"If you wake me to give me a kiss, I won't complain," she grinned. "Where to this time? And don't say classified."
"Egypt," he told her before downing some more food.
Cynthia lightly elbowed Grant on his side, getting his attention. When he looked at her, he saw how her gaze had changed; her green eyes showed concern only. "Come back safe, Grant."
He gave a short nodded and pressed a kiss onto her brown hair, "Always do, Cyn." Getting the remote control from her, he continued on zapping – he wasn't comfortable yet with those talks – stopping at the local news' channel.
"– the local hero's story now. Twenty-four-year-old Sarah Porter, nurse at the Metro-General Hospital, helped a woman deliver twins. The act itself is already praiseworthy as Sarah is not an OB/GYN nurse, but what else is admirable is that Sarah aided the pregnant woman while both were trapped in an elevator."
"She's badass," Cynthia commented, causing Grant to chuckle quietly.
When they turned their attention to the TV again, the reporter was already voicing over the news piece, "It all happened last night when the intense winds and thunderstorm caused the power to go out. Sarah Porter and Elizabeth Nixon were sharing an elevator at the local mall, when the elevator stopped. The backup generators didn't work and after pressing the alarm button several times and obtaining not response from the premises manager, the two women realized that they were on their own. Elizabeth started worrying and went into labor. For the next hours, Sarah did her best to keep the woman calm. Once power was restored, police found Elizabeth cradling her twins, Ivan and Navi, both of perfect health."
The nurse Sarah Porter was giving her testimony. Grant dropped his fork, eyes focused on the TV screen. Sarah had brown, wavy hair, her eyes were of a hazel color and her face… well, Grant was sure that he had seen her before. He was sure he knew who she was, and it wasn't until she waved her hand while talking that Grant confirmed that it was her indeed. Sarah Porter had a small birthmark on the inside of her wrist in the shape of a last quarter moon.
"It's her…"
"Grant," Cynthia put her hand on his arm, giving it a light squeeze.
"But –"
"I know, babe," she moved closer to him, and pressed a kiss on the side of his forehead, "I know she has the birthmark and the same name, and that she lives in the New York, but take it easy, ok? You remember what happened with Elias, don't you?"
Posting on social media that he was looking for his younger siblings was a great idea, but Grant's idea failed when he mentioned that the last time he had seen them, Sarah was ten, and Thomas was a little baby. There were many that took advantage of the fact that Grant only knew his brother as a little baby and contacted him saying that they were Thomas. Grant was ready for that eventuality, and with Cynthia's help, he managed to get pass many liars. However, Elias Blumberg seemed to be Grant's lost brother. It turned out he wasn't. He was a fifteen-year-old who befriended bad people, and his mother no longer cared about him. He was a drug addict, and even though he took advantage of Grant's good will, he still helped him. Elias was now clean of drugs and Grant was still keeping an eye on him.
"She looks like her. I don't know," he sat on the edge of the couch. "There's something about her that reminds me of Sarah."
"I'll follow down every lead with you, same as before," Cynthia promised, "but you have to promise me you won't it get to your head. This woman may not be your sister Sarah and I can't bear watching you break your heart again."
Even though Grant and Cynthia had only been dating for a year, he trusted her from day one. He told her everything about his birth family, and she was nothing but supportive, running down every lead to find his siblings.
Grant nodded his head and rested back on the couch again, "I can take it easy."
"Good," she pecked his lips, caressing his cheek with her thumb. "And we can investigate this another day. We have all the information to begin the search whenever we want. But, now you're leaving tomorrow for two weeks and I want to spend this night with my boyfriend. Is that alright?"
"Yeah," he offered a small smile, and leaned forward to kiss her. "We can do this when I get back."
At five-thirty, Grant got out of bed, fetched his duffel bag and pressing a kiss onto Cynthia's hair.
"I'll come back safe," he whispered, brushing a few hair strands off her face, putting a kiss on her cheek as well.
Cynthia was awake and as soon as she heard the door closing, she kicked back the bed sheets and dashed to the living room. She replayed the news report from the night before and noted down the details that might be useful to start her search. She couldn't bear to watch Grant's hopes be defrauded again. After Elias, they had chased other leads that led nowhere, and Cynthia was hell-bent on the idea of being the one who'd deliver the good or bad news to Grant.
A couple of hours later, upset with the fact that she was a kindergarten teacher with no hacking skills, she called Skye. The teenager lent a precious help, doing some research on Sarah Porter. Skye didn't find anything on the woman before the age of twelve, which made Cynthia feel hopeful. After a quick shower and an even quicker breakfast, Cynthia called in sick and headed to the Metro-General Hospital, in hopes to find Sarah.
"Hi," Cynthia smiled, resting her arms over the counter. "I need to speak with Nurse Sarah Porter. Is she around?"
"Yes, I am," a voice said behind her. Cynthia turned to face the woman, "You are?"
"Cynthia Ellison," she presented her hand for a handshake, which Sarah politely conceded. "Do you have a minute?"
"Sure," Sarah tilted with her head and spun her heels, "Follow me."
The nurse guided Cynthia to the medical staff's break room and gestured to the chairs around the round table.
"Want something to drink?"
"No, thank you," the kindergarten teacher said, taking a seat.
Sarah filled herself a cup of coffee and sat across from her, "What is it that you want to speak with me?"
"Your brother is looking for you for a long time now."
"I –" Sarah seemed confused, "I saw my brother this morning. I'm sorry, who are you really?"
"I'm Grant's girlfriend."
Sarah got up quickly and grabbed Cynthia's arm, forcing her to stand up, "I'm sorry, I don't know who that is and I want you –"
"Yes, you know Grant. He's been looking for you and Thomas for a long time."
"I've told you I don't know who Grant is," Sarah insisted, pushing Cynthia towards the door.
Cynthia started talking as fast as he could, "You were born at home, on the 5th of January and you were never registered you because father Brody despised you and was so disappointed because you were born a girl. As your family lived in the middle of nowhere, there was no one to confirm that you existed. You've never been to school until you were twelve and you were adopted by Jack and Amelia Porter. He's a firefighter; she's a chef at a restaurant downtown, Podium. But going back to your biological family; you have an older brother, Christian, and two younger brothers, Grant and Thomas," Cynthia felt the grip on her arm getting loose. "He had just been born a couple of months ago, and your mother Esther hadn't had the time to go to the registry office downtown and register him either, so when Grant took you and Thomas away, the police had no idea that you two existed."
"Are you really Grant's girlfriend?" Sarah's eyes were brewing with tears.
"Yes. We saw you last night on the news, for helping deliver the twins on the elevator. Congrats on that, by the way."
"Is Grant okay?"
Cynthia firstly nodded and then supplied, "He's fine. He's working out of the country for the next two weeks. That's why I came to see you, alone. I need to make sure that you are his sister because I can't bear to watch him get his heart broken again."
"He promised he'd come back for us," Sarah mumbled on the verge of tears.
"Grant," Sarah wailed, tears streaming down her face.
"It's for the best, Sar. Christian and dad are wolves. I can't let them hurt you and Thomas."
"And you?"
Grant looked down, his fists clenched, nails digging into his palms in rage, "It doesn't hurt anymore."
"It does," the girl claimed. "He's gonna hurt you so bad. Don't go home, Grant. Christian is bad too, but you are not."
He looked up at his sister and told her, "I'll come back."
"It's a promise."
"I waited for days on end but he never came," Sarah clamped her mouth, her whole body shaking, "Our father once beat him up so bad that he couldn't move for a whole week. I thought… I though he had killed him."
Cynthia hugged Sarah, running her hand up and down her back in a futile attempt to sooth her, "He almost did. That son of a bitch almost killed Grant." After parting the hug, Cynthia continued, "In the next morning, Brody didn't find Thomas so he asked your mother about him. Grant only remembers her begging that she didn't know anything and then -" she blinked, trying not to cry, "then he only remembers a pool of blood on the kitchen floor and your father burying your mother in the backyard."
"Son of a…" Sarah sobbed. "He killed her! I know she was as guilty as he was because she never tried to stop anything he did, but –"
"It got a lot worse, Sarah."
"No," Panic spread across her face. "What happened?"
"After asking your mother, he turned to Christian. He beat him up until he managed to run away and call the police. Christian didn't even look back when he pushed Grant into the house and ran away."
"Christian!" Grant let out a distressed high pitched scream as his brother shut the glassed door and held the door knob so that Grant couldn't get out.
Grant kept on glancing between his father that approached him and Christian on the outside, not letting him open the door. The little boy pounded on the door, begging and crying. Brody was coming closer in slow steps, terrifying Grant to his core. He cried, big tears pouring down his face, his shrill screams echoed throughout the house. His legs gave in and Grant knelt on the floor, hands tightly grabbing the doorknob, looking up at his father. His pupils were dilated, darker, more sinister.
"It was you," Brody's voice came out low. He grabbed Grant by the collar of his T-shirt and pulled him up off the floor effortlessly. "If you tell me where you Thomas is, I won't beat you as much as I want to right now."
The boy shook his head, "I won't tell you."
"Then so God help you," he said before smacking Grant's head against the glassed door.
Christian jumped back, eyes wide open in horror at what he had just seen. He ran away without even thinking of walking in the house and rescuing his little brother.
"The police found Grant tied up to the radiator, unconscious, bloodied…" Cynthia started to cry. "I read the police's report. I saw the photos. Your father was an animal. If he wasn't dead, I would have killed him with my bare hands."
Sarah threw her head back, hands resting on her hips, trying to breathe in and out without breaking into tears again, "They arrested him, didn't they?"
"Yes. And he's been dead for a couple of years now, no need to worry anymore."
"How did he die?"
"Brain cancer. He got out of jail after being diagnosed."
"I hope he suffered," Sarah said. "And Grant and Christian? What happened to them?"
Cynthia breathed thoroughly before explaining, "They were split and put to adoption. I don't know if Christian's family was good to him but the family that adopted Grant is amazing. How did it go for you and Thomas? From what I read, the Porter's seem like a good family."
"They're perfect," Sarah told her with a smile. "Thomas still lives with them. He's a sophomore and captain of the football team. He's a good kid."
"I'm so glad things worked out," Cynthia sympathetically rubbed her forearm. "You know, it's not that I don't believe you but I want, I need proof that you are Grant's sister."
"I understand. You want to make sure." Sarah ended up smiling, acknowledging, "You really care about him. He's a lucky guy." Tugging gently on her hair with both her hands, Sarah broke a couple of strands of hair and gave them to Cynthia, "I think you can get something from Grant to run a DNA test."
"I'll let you know about the results as soon as I have them."
"Look for me here."
A few weeks later
"Ready for it, Shooter?"
Grant rested his head over the steering wheel, "I think I'm gonna throw up."
Once the DNA results came, Cynthia gave the news to both Sarah and Grant. It was a match. They had finally found each other after fourteen years. Sarah gave Cynthia her apartment address and invited Thomas over so that the siblings could reunite.
Cynthia stepped out of the car and opened the driver's door, pulling Grant by the arm, "C'mon, stop being a little boy."
A bit reluctant because of the nervousness, Grant got out of the car and looked at the apartment building behind him. His stomach growled and he felt sick. He was worried and anxious and could barely stand on his legs.
"You've done so much, Cyn, but if Sarah and Thomas don't like me, I don't want you there… I have to do this alone."
"No, you don't," she said, holding his hand. "I'm with you, every step of the way. We've walked down a long road and I want to finish this with you. You have no idea of how much I admire you, Grant. You are a winner, you never gave in, and even though many lied to you, you never gave up. And I can tell you that the moment I realized that I love you was when you decided to help Elias when you didn't have to. I had never met anyone like you and I don't want to miss the chance to see you finish this stage of your life. You deserve to be happy, and I want to be there too. Don't you think that I deserve to see this through the end?"
"Of course. You helped me so much. You were the one who always stood by my side, the first person I absolutely trusted from day one."
"So, still think you need to do this alone?"
Grant intertwined his fingers on hers and smiled, "No, I don't. I'm such a lucky guy," he confessed, kissing her.
Next chapter will be the last one and we'll jump forward in time a little more.