Now you know who / what Rachel is. Wasn't going to reveal this early, but it felt right with the flow.
Rachel wasn't sure what to think of her encounter in the mountain. A part of her still wondered if she'd been hallucinating. The figure had warned her against trusting any outsiders. Why would she have imagined something like that? As crazy as it seemed, Rachel felt as if this had been a real encounter. She sighed. She didn't know anymore what was real and what was fake. She was having flashbacks of memories which seemed too extreme to be real, yet too vivid to be imagined. Rachel wondered who she really was. Perhaps she was an escaped mental patient? Most of her "memories" had included her being tested on. It would certainly explain her seeing the harvest goddess. Then again, would a person who had been in a mental institution really have such logical thoughts? Her head hurt just thinking about it. It was terrifying in its own right to have no recollection of the past. Something in her urged her to keep searching for the truth. She tried as hard as she could to hold on to the glimpses of memories that would go through her mind so fleetingly. It hurt her mind at times to think about.
Rachel decided after the occurance with the Harvest Goddess, it was time to go home. She needed to rest her mind for a bit. When she appeared in the farmyard she saw Tina talking to Henry. He looked rather displeased at the converstaion. Rachel was sure that Tina was asking Henry questions about her. For some unknown reason that journalist had a determination to get Rachel's story out there. Henry waved Rachel over to where they were standing. She could hear Henry clearly speaking with Tina at this point.
"Look if you want to know about her, why don't you ask her yourself?" Henry asked. It was evident by the tone in his voice that he was annoyed with the conversation that he was having with the young journalist. Tina turned to look at Rachel with a scowl planted on her face. Rachel looked stoically back at the girl. She was not going to give into any emotions that she might feel for this girl.
"I don't trust you," Tina stated. She stood close to Rachel. Tina was a good three or four inches taller, so she was looking down in Rachel's face. "I am going to find out what it is you are hiding!"
"Why can't you accept that maybe I am not hiding anything at all?" Rachel asked.
"I will figure it out," Tina replied, ignoring Rachel's comment.
"You know I think you've asked enough questions, I would like you to get off my property now," Henry interjected. He stood between Tina and Rachel.
Henry felt no loyalty to Rachel, but he knew that Felicity did. He loved his wife so dearly and would do anything for her. Felicity would not stand for Tina insulting Rachel in such a manner on their property.
Rachel was once again surprised by this act of kindness by her employer. She took the opportunity to stand behind him. She was still a bit frazzled from her encounter in the mountains, and to come home to Tina threatening her, was not something she could handle at this moment.
"I will still run this story!" Tina shouted. "None of you can stop me!" At that moment Felicity came out of the house. She looked quite upset at all the yelling going on in her yard.
"Just what is happening?" Felicity asked. Tina turned to Felicity, at one point they had been really good friends. She could only hope that her friendship with Felicity was enough to gain her access to what she needed.
"I just got kicked off your farm! That's what happened!" Tina exclaimed.
"Now just one minute!" Henry exploded. If there was one thing he could not stand it was people who told half truths to make themselves look better. "I kicked her off because of the way she was treating Rachel!" Felicity looked bewildered. She did not know what to think about the situation that she had stumbled into. She wanted to believe the best in everyone. Would Tina really be rude to someone? Felicity turned instead to Rachel.
"What happened?" She asked. Rachel lifted her head. She had not expected to be a part of this conversation any longer.
"I came back to the farm and Tina was hassling me, Henry was standing up for me, Tina told me she was going to get my story one way or the other. The thing that she doesn't understand is that there is a reason why I don't want my story out there!" Rachel burst out. She was angry with Tina for being so persistant.
"Hello you don't have to talk like I'm not standing right here!" Tina shouted waving her arms back and forth. The sarcasm in her voice was thick. "Why are you so intent on hiding? What are you hiding?"
"Tina," Felicity interjected. "How do you know she is hiding something?"
"How can you all be so naive?" Tina asked. "Whatever! I will get my story!" She stormed off the farm. Rachel sighed. She was grateful for her employers for standing up for her, but she was running out of time. Clearly Tina was going to post her story, then it would be out there. She needed to remember, before the story hit the public.
Small Town America, every country song immortalized it to a level near heaven. To Vaugn it was his own brand of hell. Small towns were full of nosy people who were always in everyone's business. Gossip ran rampant, and nothing was ever kept a secret. He only hoped that if the girl was close, that fact would be her undoing. It was the doctor's fault in the first place.
Vaughn closed his eyes. He thought of the reason behind all of this. His beautiful sister, Chelsea Rachel Regison. Chelsea, his baby sister, had fallen in love for his best friend. It was the oldest, most cliche story ever, but Vaughn would have done anything for her happiness, and for Will's. When Chelsea had fallen ill it had been devastating. She was experiencing multiple organ failure with no cure. She needed multiple transplants, but getting those were difficult. She'd been given five years to live, four years ago.
When Will had presented the idea to him, Vaughn had thought he was crazy, but as Will provided more and more information, He was able to convince Vaughn that it was the best way to be able to save his little sister. Will had heard of a doctor in who had experimented in replication of living organisms such as animals. He had never tested this on humans. The replication had been banned and the doctor had disappeared, but Will used his resources to find the Doctor hiding out, licking his wounds in Flowerbud.
When Will had proposed that to Doctor Martin, that he try his replication on a human, He had been more than happy offer up his lab. Will had the unlimited resources needed to fund such a project, even if it was highly illegal. "Project Rachel" as they'd called it was well underway. But the stupid doctor had wanted to do more than just replicate. He wanted to see if he could teach the girl things. So in the time it took her to stabilize and have all the tests done to insure Chelsea would be safe accepting organs and other such needed material from her, the girl had learned to talk, walk, and become a whiz at computers. Then she'd escaped. For two years they waited for the girl to stabilize, and those idiots who guarded her had allowed her to escape! And now Chelsea only had a year at best!
"Damn it!" Vaughn shouted slamming his fist against the table. Alex looked up from his paperwork. Gina his nurse stood with her mouth agape, staring at Vaughn. She was not accustomed to such language. Martha the old receptionist glowered at Vaughn.
"Young man I'll have none of that language in here," Martha chastised.
"Sorry ma'am," Vaughn muttered. He was a lot of things, but his grandmother had always taught him to respect his elders "I was just thinking bout something. I suppose it'd be a good idea to go outside for a walk and cool off some."
"I quite agree with that," Martha replied with a beaming smile. Vaughn tipped his hat and left.
Don't look at Jack, Lyla thought to herself. It was quite impossible not to stare at him. She liked watching as he moved easily around her shop. He was not quite the person that she pictured to be in her employ, but he would get the job done. He was, however, the type of man she's always dreamed off. Muscular, earthy, and a bit rugged around the edges. Even his age didn't bother her at all. He was handsome in a way that no one else in town was. She found herself staring at him all too often, and daydreams would follow.
The bells on her door jangled, abruptly pulling Lyla out of her current daydream about her handsome employee. Her friend Louis walked through the small doorway of her shop. He was such a sweet man in his lab coat and thick rimmed black glasses. Lyla dearly loved him, but as a friend. Unfortunately, he was madly in love with Lyla.
"Hi Lyla," Louis stated. "I'm here to check your seed combiner. How's it working?" Lyla blushed. With Jack being in the store she hadn't even used it. Louis was an inventor. and he had brought her over a new seed combiner just last week. He was always bringing her some sort of gadget to make her life easier. She often felt bad taking them, but when she once tried to refuse, he had almost cried. So Lyla accepted them and allowed him his pick of any flowers in her shop. He seemed to accept them as a fair trade. She only hoped that he wouldn't expect her love in return. She was less willing to give that out so freely.
"To be honest Louis I haven't even used it yet. I've been so busy with my new help around. Jack this is my friend Louis!" Lyla called.
Jack emerged from the back room he was working in. He sized up Louis very quickly. He was a brainy, intellectual, nerdy type. He could easily see that the poor man was in love with Lyla, who had very sternly put him in the friend zone. Not that he blamed the man, Lyla was gorgeous. Louis' glare seemed to bore holes through Jack. It was clear that Louis did not like the fact that another man was around Lyla. He inwardly laughed and was half tempted to assure the man that nothing was going to happen between himself and Lyla, but held his tongue.
"Nice to meet you, Lou," Jack replied. Sticking his hand out.
"It's Lou-is!" Louis stated carefully pronouncing both syllables. He reluctantly grabbed Jack's hand in return.
"My apologies," Jack said. He couldn't help it. This man was to easy to rustle. "Well Lyla, I should be getting back to work." He winked at the pink haired lady, who blushed in return. Louis continued to glare even as Jack's back was turned to him. Jack couldn't help but let out a small chuckle under his breath. These innocent games were what broke up the monotony of undercover work.
Gwen rubbed her temples Jack had sent her stacks of paperwork on Maion. So many stories and rumors, yet no actual proof of allegations. She found his last report most interesting. Will Regison was working on something called the "Rachel Project." Nothing else was known about the project. Maion dealt with pharmaceuticals, but often would test on human subjects too soon and without authorization. Fines had been given, but nothing else. It infuriated her to think about the poor victims of this corporation.
Then there was the recent information about Doctor Alex Martin. Jack had gotten an intense background check into him. He had changed his name from Doctor Trent Schuster just before coming out to Flowerbud. What was even more intriguing was his history. He had worked on genetics altering and animal replication. He had only dealt with small lab animals, but had started making great strides, until it got banned for inhumane treatment of the replicated specimen. At the time he'd been pushing for replication of human organs, and possibly even humans. But after the ban on animals, all talk of human replication had stopped.
Gwen wondered if perhaps he was back at his old tricks? A horrifying thought crossed Gwen's mind. What if he were actually replicating humans? She needed to bring it up in her debriefing with Jack. Maybe she was just thinking crazy, but her gut told her that she wasn't far off the mark.
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