Samson steps into the living room as Betty emerges from the mudroom/garage entrance. He looks at her...wondering. Betty gives him a small smile as Bruce and Laurie follow her into the house.
"Welcome," Samson tells them. "Now all of you go get out of those wet clothes. I think we all need some hot food and a number of drinks. You're talking, I'm cooking. Now go..."
............
Samson is cooking food while Bruce, Laurie, and Betty talk across a small dining table off the living room. Betty has drawn all the curtains.
"...and they just let you stay?" Betty asks Bruce who nods back.
"I think it was novel at first, they don't get the spiritual tourism up there on the Northern Plateau. And I'm good at fixing things so..." Bruce looks at Laurie. "It was peaceful" he admits, she lifts her eyes to meet his. He looks back at Betty. "For a long time that's all I wanted. When I heard the rug dealer down in town had gotten internet...my brain started going and eventually, I couldn't resist. That's how I got to Sterns"
"And trimethadione..." Betty adds.
"I didn't think you could synthesize an inhibitor that complex but he has been. I mean five years ago..."
"We're all a lot further along than we were then, but Sterns is way out in front on that score. He had some kind of ethics cloud around him at Cal Tech but it didn't stop him. His work is unbelievably brilliant" Betty admits. Laurie stands from her seat, her eyes on her cell phone in her hand.
"I'll be right back," she tells Bruce who watches as she walks away from them and out the front door with her cell phone.
"So, Brazil for the corablanca?" Betty asks Bruce, causing him to turn back to her, he nods.
"He's synthesizing it but I had to try to get it at the source. It took a long time just to get there. And I couldn't get a thousandth of what I'd need. If he's even right..."
"And now?" Betty asks him.
"Laurel and I go find him, I suppose. I don't know if he's really got something and it's a much longer shot without the data but I've got to risk it..." his eyes track Laurel through the window as she talks on her phone. He needs to be there for her, for them. And he can't do that if he's constantly looking over his shoulder, ready to run. And he can't drag her around with him. Not pregnant. Not with a baby or a toddler. He needs to create normality for them and then deal with whatever comes after.
"No, you don't." Betty corrects before she gets up and goes to a bookshelf with a vase on it. She shakes out a small flashcard on a ring, with a lanyard. She goes back and hands it to him. "I got in there before they carted it all away. I hoped it would tell us something someday"
"Does the General know you have this?" Bruce asks.
"I don't think so" Betty answers.
"He was there in Brazil. When they came for me. I saw him"
"Oh my god...he's crazier than anybody knows. I'm so sorry... How?"
"I've twisted it round every possible way" Bruce admits. "Is there any way it could have been Sterns?"
"I hear he's a total anarchist. Hates authority. Doesn't think he should answer to anybody. That's why he got in trouble" Betty admits and then nods towards Laurie. "Do you think that..."
"Laurel?" Bruce asks. "No" he answers quickly. "No, he was surprised she was there with me, and she would never....she would never do that" That he is sure of. Laurie would never betray him, and not for Ross. And not now. Not with..this baby. She would know the risk to it to be around Ross. And their child or not, Laurie would never put a child in danger. Samson enters the room.
"I think we're all set," he tells them.
.................
Bruce, Laurie, Betty, and Samson eat together at a kitchen table. Convivial, determinedly light, staying off the obvious weight of it all for a moment. Samson is telling a funny story.
"..and I said, "Miss So-and-so, I've been analyzing your 'condition' for nearly three months and I think I can say conclusively that your issues are more Caffeinated-UnCaffeinated than Manic depressive..." They all laugh, even Bruce chuckles.
"...You're not so much Multiple Personality as Spoiled Brat..." Betty adds.
"Your problem isn't ADD so much as laziness" Laurie teases Betty who shoots her a smirk.
"It makes you sound cruel. But Samson takes a few of these to pay for all the free work he does" Betty then offers for Samson.
"Pro-whiners to pay for the pro-bono..." Samson offers. Bruce looks down at Laurie who smiles a little pushing her food around her plate, she's barely eaten anything. He touches her shoulder, she turns to him, his hand finds her cheek and he gives her a smile. Normality. Dinner with friends. He can almost imagine this as their life once he gets his cure. Babysitter at home looking after their child. Probably Scott or Jean. She searches his eyes, sees something in them that softens her gaze slightly.
..................
Bruce sleeps curled around Laurie who sleeps in his arms. His hand has subconsciously moved to rest on her stomach. He's feeling better about her pregnancy. Not great but..better. With the cure so close he can imagine a normal life, with the cure....he could cure his child of his altered DNA. He thought about it as he watched her sleep earlier. If the cure works on him, why couldn't it work on his child? Take away his radiated side and leave in the mutated DNA. The child would just be another mutant. He brushes his nose over her neck and holds her closer to him.
..................
Laurie pulls on her jacket as she and Bruce get ready to leave. Betty waits near Laurie, ready to hug her goodbye.
"Thank you, Betty," Laurie tells her warmly, Betty smiles and nods.
"Promise me you'll both be careful" Betty counters, Laurie smirks.
"Promise" Laurie assures her before pulling her into a hug. Bruce watches from the door to the garage, a soft smile on his lips.
"Laurel" Bruce hurries her along gently. She nods and pulls back from Betty before moving to him, her fingers around the car keys in her pocket.
................
Laurie drives her car around the campus roads, Bruce watches her, can't stop watching her. Now he feels better about their future. About their family. He's lighter. He glances out the window and then lets out a breath.
"Stop a second..." he tells her. She pulls the car over. Bruce gets out of the car and steps up onto the grass and across the walking paths to a spot with a tree and bench and a view of the buildings and lawns. Laurie moves next to him. "What were we doing here? I mean what were we really trying to accomplish?" he looks at Laurie. "Do you ever ask yourself that?"
"We were trying to...understand" She answers. "Crack a puzzle. Advance things a little"
"I think that's what we told ourselves. At least the General was honest about what he wanted out of it. I don't think we were as honest"
"No, you've turned this on yourself too hard. You do this" she turns to him, his eyes following her. "We did talk about it and we were all comfortable. The worst you can say is that you rushed it...but you took your own risks, you didn't ask anybody else too" she scolds him.
"But it wasn't me that died"
"Nobody thought something like that was possible..."
"I don't know...Nature took a long time to build us like we are...this whole delicate wonderfully sophisticated system refined over billions of years. We come in and monkey with it...think we can improve it overnight. Sooner or later it's going to blow up in our face..." Laurie's cell phone rings in her pocket, she touches Bruce's arm before she pulls the device free and answers it.
"Professor" she greets, Bruce watches her features shift, terror and panic taking over, she spins on the spot, eyes searching the people around them. "Thank you" she whispers and then hangs up the phone, she turns to Bruce and he realizes.
"They're here" he offers, she nods. He stares at her only a moment before he grabs her arms. Eyes taking in every line of her face. His hand hovers on her waist before he takes it, his thumb pressing to her stomach, it's all he can show without letting her know he knows. He takes a breath. "You've got to get as far away from me as you can, right now" she shakes her head.
"Go!!"
"No" she argues. "I'm not leaving you, not now...." she tells him firmly. "We're in this together" she whispers taking his hand. He looks down and clutches to her before nodding. He knows that he doesn't have time to argue with her.
"Stay close" he offers, she nods. They run just as soldiers appear through the trees.
A/N - I THINK I AM GOING TO STRUGGLE TO GET THIS TO FIX INTO 30 CHAPTERS. NEXT FEW CHAPTERS MAY HAVE TO BE ON THE LONGER SIDE.