Convergence II: Ella's Mystery

Chapter Nine: Red

Ella shuffled in the office chair, staring at the clock on the wall. It read 3:50pm, roughly. She wasn't very good at telling time, but she knew, if anything, that between the 10 and the 12 was between the 50 and 60 minute mark.

Today, at 4pm, there'd be a rerun of Nick, Ella and Jackie's footage from them saving the world. She didn't mind missing it, since she lived it.

And, just like clockwork, Mrs. Badgley set a teacup in front of her.

"Oh, thank you," Ella responded politely.

Mrs. Badgley nodded. "I find that tea helps the soul."

"You're oddly chipper." Ella smiled a bit sideways. "Did something happen?"

She let her smile become more apparent. "You could say that."

Ella held the teacup gently in her hands, the soft ticking of the clock accompanying her voice. "Nick asked me if I'd found anything. Just out of the blue. And I know it was you who told them I was looking."

"It was." Mrs. Badgley nodded. "But I only told them that. No worries at all."

"Well, I did find something."

"Really?" Mrs. Badgley set her teacup down, paying a bit more attention now.

"A lot of things, actually." Ella admitted, revealing the necklace from Lydia's house. "This belonged to my mother. It has their initials on it. The letter B and the letter M. My aunt had this."

"It's gold." Mrs. Badgley examined it carefully. "Real gold."

"I didn't know that," said Ella, putting the necklace back behind her shirt. "And this photo. It's of my mother."

As Ella showed Mrs. Badgley the black and white photograph, the old woman peered closer. "She doesn't seem to bare much resemblance."

"I look like my father, mostly." Ella shrugged. "But apparently, we have the same eyes."

"Were you able to find anything on your father?"

"...Yes." Ella nodded. "That was the part I got the most information from. I was even able to find him."

Mrs. Badgley seemed to grin, genuinely happy if Ella was. "Really? And how did he react to you?"

"He didn't." Ella almost laughed. "I saw him. I wasn't far from him at all, actually. Nick helped me find him, and I almost did just knock right on his door."

"So? Why didn't you?"

"He had a wife. A new one. And a newborn."

Mrs. Badgley's expression scrunched. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be!" Ella waved her hands up, still sort of smiling. "I wasn't sorry about it. See, I thought about it at first like he'd replaced me. It wasn't the best situation, and I'd definitely put myself into it. But... when I turned around, Nick was still there. They weren't going to leave me anytime soon, and I'd been worried about changing my life the way I was definitely about to. So, not having a father didn't seem so bad if I still had a family."

"So." Mrs. Badgley adjusted her hair a bit. "You went through all of that trouble to find who your family really was, and after all of that, you still stayed?"

Ella nodded quickly. "Yes."

"I think I just gained a whole lot of respect for you, Ella."

She giggled. "I don't know about that. I'm just grateful for the life I've been given."

"You gave yourself this life." Mrs. Badgley pointed. "You came to them yourself, and you marched right up to them and asked for mentorship. That alone takes a lot of courage." She paused. "But then, you helped them save the world. You did all of this yourself, and you've come this far. I've never seen you drop that determination for one second."