MOTHERS

◙four◙

Lorelai's hands were shaking as she typed out the message in the group chat—a group chat that none of them had used in about a month or so.

"A guy from Price Laboratories is here, at my house, and he wanted me to tell you to come here, quickly. Something about the babies we gave birth to."

She set the phone down, drumming her pastel pink nails to the counter as she watched Jacob, who was still seated on the couch, peering around at the lacking décor. She hadn't put up any artwork or pictures, preferring to spend most of her money on things that went into closets. In her lifetime, she'd never lived somewhere long enough to decorate, to customize a home to her liking. But though it was plain, the room was spacious, cozy, and its tan and white color-scheme soothing to the mind.

Jacob didn't come off as soothed; he looked uncomfortable. He maintained that neutral face, but he couldn't sit still, and kept craning his neck to observe every inch of the room, including behind him at the bookshelves filled with tomes Lorelai would never read.

She thought to offer him something to drink—heck, she almost wanted to propose that they go get some weed, to mellow him out—but her phone pinged three times in a row, drawing her awareness to it.

Tegan: Be over in a minute, I've gotta see this.

Esme: I call bullshit, but I wonder what he wants? Coming over.

Auryn: I'll be right there.

"They're on their way," said Lorelai, finding her throat scratchy and her mouth dry. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and at the last second, found one for Jacob, too, in case he'd need a drink. She took both bottles and her phone and put everything on the coffee table, next to Jacob's mysterious briefcase.

"Oh, great," he said, appearing as if he'd been snapped out of a dream and was only then realizing where he was and what he was doing. "The sooner we can leave, the better. I have a bad feeling about this area, more so since my colleagues all vanished."

"You said they might have defected," said Lorelai, settling on the chair she'd sat on earlier, crossing her legs at the ankles. "But you think they disappeared? Kind of sounds like they took an opportunity to get out of the lab and ran the fuck away from it."

Jacob winced, and reached for the water bottle Lorelai had brought over for him. "It's not like that, in there." He unscrewed the top, but with difficulty. Almost as if he lacked the strength to open the bottle, though it wasn't sealed too tightly. "I know it comes off as a harsh place, but we're restricted to the lab's premises for a reason, and we're all aware of that when we sign our contracts. Those guys..." He finally got the top off and hurried to gulp down half the bottle. "They were trusted employees, men Dr. Price has praised in the past for their contributions to our causes. It'd make no sense for them to take off. And yeah, I might have implied they defected, but..." He drained the bottle, then set it onto the table. "I needed you to understand that regardless, this is bad. Really bad. The sooner we get back to the lab, the better."

The doorbell rang, and Lorelai excused herself to go open it. The first arrival was Esme, high heels and hooped earrings and attitude and all. Exactly the same as when Lorelai had last seen her the month prior for a neighborhood block party. Not that she liked to attend such things, but she'd been coerced by the implication that there'd be good food and good times—she'd had neither.

Once the door opened, Esme shrugged a thick thread of dark brown hair behind her ear, and tipped sideways to peer behind Lorelai.

"Uh, hi?" Lorelai moved to let her in, but kept the door open, as she anticipated the others would get there soon. Esme lived the farthest away, and Lorelai saw her Porsche parked in the driveway, next to Jacob's big black van.