Red Room

RR50 Born to Run

Thea went hours out of her way to get back to her brother after the fight with Romanoff and the Echo agents. She had to be sure that no one was following her and after several cars and many more miles, she finally made it to the safehouse. The little cottage looked abandoned; weeds and dead vines climbed from the snow and choked the stone, covering the door. Thea knew better though and went around to the back and knocked the secret knock. It was silly she knew, but it used to be a thing between them and their father. Memories flooded her mind of the game they used to play; her and Luka used to hide for hours and listen for the knock. She could remember the excitement that flooded her body when she would hear footsteps, and would stay as quiet as she could, not budging at all until the knock was recognized. They were then allowed to open the door and would win the game. That was all training she knew now, her life had been dedicated to hiding from the bad men, from Echo.

She was pulled from her thoughts when the door opened, and she flew into her brother's arms. He looked tired but seeing his sister safe brought some life back into his eyes. "Come in, come in, get out of this cold."

She stepped into the warmth and immediately went to Juliette, picking up her sleeping baby and holding her close. Luka joined her, and they curled up on the comfortable couch next to the fire. She breathed in Juliette's scent and couldn't help but remember Alec, who had died protecting his girlfriend and child.

"You're thinking about Alec again, aren't you?" Luka asked knowingly.

Thea sighed and laid her head against Luka's shoulder. "He should be here right now," she stated. Thea had met Alec while working with HYDRA. Luka had warned her to not get too close, they couldn't trust anyone but each other and he could be the perfect opportunity for Echo to send someone to get close to them. Alec wasn't Echo though, and he and Thea had fallen in love. Against Luka' wishes, Thea trusted him enough and told him about their life and about her, how she was special. She didn't believe that she could love him any more than she already did but when all he did was pull her close and promise that he would protect her from anything that wanted to hurt her or Luka, her heart grew. Months later she found out that she was pregnant. She was so afraid that Echo would find out she was going to have a child and it be like her, so she ran. Alec convinced her to come back and together they worked on a plan to keep their child a secret. When Thea was beginning to show, they faked a sickness that required Thea to take a leave of absence and then went off the grid. Her and Luka moved in with Alec then so that Thea's house would look vacant during her time away in case someone came looking for her.

While they were supposedly gone, Luka came across information that confirmed that the absence stirred up Echo. There were multiple resources deployed to try and find her to keep tabs on the situation. Luka was able to forge medical records that would trace back to out of the country and it seemed like Echo backed off then. After Juliette was born, Thea went back to work while Luka cared for Juliette when she or Alec couldn't be there.

The love that Alec had for Thea and Juliette finally convinced Luka to trust him, but it was soon too late. Someone tried looking into Thea's absence once more; they knew that something was going on though they never figured out how. Juliette was about a month old when someone followed Thea home to Alec's house. Alec found a man watching Thea from the living room window through a slit in the curtain when he went out for more firewood. Alec attacked him to keep his families secret, but the man managed to get the upper hand and stabbed him. Thea reached him just in time during the fight and managed to kill the man. She made Luka watch Juliette while she got Alec into the truck and took him to the hospital within HYDRA. He died later that night when his oxygen line exploded in a 'freak accident.' The Echo agents who were a part of HYDRA knew that Alec and Thea were close, and they sent their condolences, but not before Thea hacked into their system and saw the video. Echo agents had entered the room and questioned Alec about what had happened that night and what he knew about her. Alec wouldn't say a word, so they murdered him.