In My Blood

Episode 20 - Closure And Its Consequences

"I don't, but appreciated," he smiled before pushing the plate in front of him aside. "Now, for our deal... not so holly jolly."

I knew it.

"What are you talking about?" my father asked gruffly, and my chest tightened. I never told him about our conversation in the lab after he and Eleven had left the room. Doctor Owens gave a little bounce of his head, his lips pressed together.

"Jane Hopper... that was easy. The Lynn Ives situation? Not so much."

"Elaborate," I pressed, setting my hands on the table and leaning forward. The doctor gave a quick glance around the room, mostly old people and day drunks, before doing the same.

"The Department of Energy was already documented for having run-ins with Project MKUltra," he started, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "The government knows about the Terry Ives mishap, the main details only with a few... but more know about the little magic girl who came out of it. Lynn Ives just... disappeared off the radar, that is, until last month." Owens took a manilla folder from his side of the booth and set it between my father and me, twice as thick as the one he had shown me during our first meeting. "Every reported test, every reaction from them is in here. We're talking birth records, MKUltra, and now, last year. The story on the news is that a gas leak shut down the labs. In here, you're linked to it."

"You've got to be shitting me," my father swore, pounding a fist against the table angrily. I shook my head in disbelief, bringing my hands to my face to rub my temples while simultaneously hiding from peering eyes. "This was all you could do? A lousy essay?"

"There was no way to just erase Lynn Ives off of the earth," Owens tried to reason with him. "Believe me, I tried. The full report I wrote as the last scientist of Hawkins Labs is in there; you can see for yourself. As far as the government knows, there is an assumed connection between Lynn and Rachel, but nothing confirmed. The paranormal activity within the lab caused a similar reaction, and following the shut down it is to be monitored."

"Monitored," I repeated, lifting my head to look at the man. "Not monitored here, I'm assuming." The doctor raised his eyebrows for a moment in agreement. "Where? By who?"

"There are a lot of things I can't discuss in public, and that falls under that category," he admitted. He reached to pull the manilla folder back, but the older Hopper set a hand on top of it warningly. Owens retracted his own, sighing to himself before continuing while my father rifled through the papers. "Our government... not all of it is too fond about what's gone on in Hawkins. If the wrong heads start turning toward you- or... or your sister? Ugly business. Luckily, I'll be there alongside you."

"Explain how that's lucky," my father muttered under his breath, glancing up from the folder with narrowed eyes. His tone made my blood run cold. What I was seeing right now wasn't a normal outburst of anger. This was fiery rage barely being held back.

"I want this to be settled as quickly as you do," Owens reassured the man, gesturing with his hands defensively as he spoke. "We'll ensure that Rachel Hopper has never been connected with Lynn Ives. In fact, the team I'm working with is willing to do pretty much anything."

"Anything?"

"Within reason," Owens answered me, "which is pretty much more than you could imagine. You're an actor, correct?" That sentence caught me off-guard, and I blinked a few times as I tried to regain myself.

"I was," I answered, making sure he heard the past tense. "I mean- I dabbled, for sure. A little here, a little there. I haven't gone back to it since last year." That was when I had taken up cheerleading, and sure that was an act itself, but after everything, it wasn't what I did anymore. "I'm sorry, why is this important?"