Waiting in the Shadows (14 page)

Take care,

Vanessa

Celia's hands trembled as she pressed the button to download the attachment. Soon she was looking at photos of the young Marissa.

The first one showed her sleeping in a cot beside a teddy bear twice the size of herself. There were several more of her as a young baby – one had a man's arms holding her as she splashed about in a bubble bath, the same arms held her up as she gazed in amazement at a brightly lit Christmas tree. The next group were of the family at a holiday resort. There was a picture of the three of them together, smiling into the camera.

Celia peered at the picture of the smiling baby.

‘I must have looked exactly like that as I slept in the Nursery Ward,' she thought. She looked at a close up of the family group.

‘Who do I take after now?' she asked herself as she scrutinised the features on each face, ‘Marissa's mother or father?'

She scrolled through the pictures again, wondering how it would be to be created by love and loved and cared for by a mother and a father.

‘But their love was not enough to save her when their car crashed,' she thought ruefully. ‘And, yet, if it had been, I may not be here now.'

She closed Vincent's email box as she heard voices nearing the office. Abel and Fil came in.

‘Celia! You're still working!' Abel patted her shoulder, ‘Ruby says you've been here all day!'

‘You didn't even join us for lunch!' Fil added. ‘Don't overdo it now.'

‘Any luck researching “race”? Any previous court cases? Definitions? Anything useful? Our lawyers are struggling, even with our own Lab helpers,' Abel asked.

‘You can find useful information where no one else even thinks of looking!' Fil said. ‘What have you come up with so far, Celia?'

Celia shook her head as she opened a file on the screen.

‘Nothing much, so far. There are no previous situations that fall into the same category as we do,' she told them. ‘But I'm not giving up yet. I've one or two ideas that may prove useful. Did you bring me the information you've obtained so far?'

Abel switched on his own laptop and went to pick up Celia's memory stick.

‘Yes, I'll copy it for you now.'

Celia snatched up her stick and pushed it into her pocket.

‘No! Just copy it straight into the office folder! Much quicker that way!' she said.

Chapter Eighteen

Ruby had just reached her apartment door the following evening when she heard someone call her name. She smiled as Beth hurried to her side.

‘Could you come with me, Ruby, please?' she asked, a note of anxiety in her voice.

‘Of course,' Ruby replied. She followed the young girl through a side gate and along a narrow road leading to the village. Her attempts to question Beth had been met with a quick shake of the head.

‘Wait! We will both tell you!' she had whispered.

At the end of the lane, Frank was waiting. He gave Ruby a smile.

‘Thanks for coming. I live just up here.'

Soon they were seated in a tiny flat. Frank gave them each a mug of tea.

‘Do you want me to tell her, love?' he asked gently and turned to Ruby as Beth nodded.

‘Beth's having my baby – but everything is going to be OK. I can look after her and the baby! I've got my old job back, apprenticeship, plumber. He's given me a chance to make a go of it! And I can. I've got this place, too!' he blurted out.

‘Wow!' Ruby sat back in her chair, ‘Slow down a bit!' She looked at Beth who sat tensely, looking at the floor.

‘Have you been to the doctor?'

Beth shook her head.

‘She's fine! But we will have to think about doctors now. She's about six weeks pregnant, we think,' Frank said.

Beth shook her head again.

‘No! I don't want anyone to try to take this baby away from us!'

Frank looked appealingly at Ruby, ‘I've already told her they can't do that, can they?'

‘No, of course not!' she said. ‘You will need to see a doctor, though. Just to make sure everything is fine; it is the first Lab baby.'

‘Why won't it be? Beth is healthy!' he smiled and squeezed her hand. ‘Everything will be just great!'

He looked at Ruby again, his face serious, ‘There's one thing, though. Neither of us wants this to turn into a circus act! Beth wanted us to disappear and start again somewhere. But I said we aren't running anywhere, we've got nothing to hide! We're going to be a normal family!'

‘I'm sure you will be! We will have to speak to Abel, about the doctor and also about avoiding publicity.' Ruby looked at their expressions, ‘Would you like me to speak to him first?'

They both nodded.

‘Beth … we … are a bit nervous about his reaction. But we've made our minds up!' Frank said.

Ruby also felt nervous as she stood outside Abel's apartment later that evening. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Abel looked pleased to see her.

‘Sorry to disturb you, Abel …' she began.

‘Ruby! Come in!' he saw her expression. ‘What is it?'

She took another deep breath.

‘I have to talk to you about Beth and Frank,' she waved a hand as he began to make a disparaging remark about the young man. ‘No, he's much different than when we first met him. I told you how he had stopped me and apologised! He's totally supportive of the Labs. And he's extremely fond of Beth. Very protective of her. She's really inspired him. He's got a job and a flat and …'

‘Why do you think I'll be interested in hearing about the reform of a young Non-Lab thug?' Abel interrupted her. ‘Unless it directly affects us Labs?'

‘Beth's pregnant by him!' Ruby blurted out. ‘They are both really pleased! They're going to be a real family! It's a real chance for Labs and Non-Labs to integrate! Of course, Beth is going to need to have medical supervision …'

She stopped talking as Abel stood up.

‘So, for the sake of integration, you have encouraged a Non-Lab and Lab to embark on some romantic idea of family life! Have you
any
idea what you may have started?'

Ruby stood up to face him.

‘Just wait a minute! I did not encourage anyone to do anything! I've only just learned about it myself! I'm here to ask you to help them; not to come down on them like a ton of bricks!'

Abel sat down, and put his head in his hands.

Ruby sighed, ‘Look, Abel. This was bound to happen, sooner or later! Young people together, whether they are Lab or Non-Lab …'

He looked up, ‘You are a Non-Lab. You know what you are. You know how your body works; how you develop; how you produce young. We know very little yet of how Labs will develop outside the laboratory!'

‘I think we might as well be optimistic. Both Frank and Beth are healthy. So, chances are their baby will be fine …'

Abel got up and paced around the room. Finally he gave a sigh.

‘I will phone the Compound doctor immediately. Ask Beth and Frank to go to the office.'

Ruby put a hand on his arm.

‘Abel! I promised Beth and Frank I would stand by them on this, and I will! They have done nothing wrong, just behaved as young people have done since … since people were on this earth! They need sympathy and help through this!'

Abel gave a brief nod and left with Ruby following him.

‘Well, as far as we can tell, the pregnancy is proceeding as a normal human pregnancy should,' the doctor told Beth and Frank as they sat nervously in front of him. Frank beamed at Beth.

‘I told you, love! Everything is going to be fine!'

‘Looking at the scan,' the doctor continued, lighting up the image on a screen, ‘I would say you are nearer to three months than the six weeks you calculated.'

‘That doesn't seem right!' Beth frowned. ‘But as long as the baby is healthy …'

The doctor spread his hands, ‘Everything seems as normal, just further on than we would expect. We will monitor you closely, of course.'

Frank beamed at Beth again, who returned his smile, ‘Our baby, Beth! Our baby!'

‘Would you like us to allow the others to come in now, Beth?' the doctor said.

She nodded her head as Frank frowned.

‘Don't worry, Frank. All the Labs are going to be interested in what's happening,' she told him.

The doctor spoke into an intercom and Celia and Ruby entered. They looked at the image on the screen and Ruby hugged Beth to her.

‘Oh, Beth, Frank! Your baby! You can almost see his, or her, little arms and legs!'

Celia looked impassively at the screen, ‘It would probably be best to keep this out of the public eye for the moment.'

Frank nodded in agreement, ‘Yes. We don't want reporters following Beth around! She needs to take care of herself, now!'

‘Abel has agreed that you can both move into the empty staff accommodation for the moment, until the baby is born,' Ruby told them. ‘You can continue to work outside the Compound, Frank.'

‘We will show you the entrance we use. You must be discreet,' Celia added.

‘Oh, that would be great! Thanks!' Frank said. ‘By the time Beth has had our baby I'll have nearly finished my apprenticeship. I'll be earning better money. We'll have a really nice home for our family, Beth!'

As the doctor arranged further appointments with Beth, Ruby spoke to Celia.

‘It's so exciting, isn't it? But you're right; with Abel in the middle of talks with the government, I think it's better if we keep this story to ourselves for as long as we can.'

‘I don't think that will be for too long, somehow!' Celia remarked. ‘News stories seem to have a way of getting out!'

Ruby frowned. Celia was probably right. She decided to phone Isaac; ask him to prepare a positive news story ready for when the storm broke.

A week later Frank was walking out of the village when he saw Steve and Callum.

‘Oh, hi, Steve, Callum. How's things?'

Steve shrugged, ‘Pretty much the same here. I've heard you're back at Milton's; finishing your apprenticeship?'

‘That's right. Decided it's time I sorted myself out a bit,' Frank nodded. ‘The old man agreed to give me another chance!'

‘Your new girlfriend inspired you, did she?' Steve grinned. ‘Getting serious, is it?'

‘Yeah, we're OK. Better get back to work. Old Milton's a stickler for time keeping! Catch you later, eh?' Frank gave him a wave as he continued walking.

Steve stood looking after him.

‘Gross! Running round with a bunch of freaks!'

‘Yeah!' Callum agreed. He paused, ‘But he might be right about, you know, doing something, you know, work and stuff …' He looked at his friend. ‘I've been thinking myself, might think of, you know, joining up …'

Steve looked at him, ‘You? Join the army? Go around killing people?'

‘It's not all like that, you know. You do other stuff, too. Learn stuff and things; like those guys at the Centre. I got talking to one of them on gate duty. He got me some brochures and stuff. And we got talking about life on duty up there, at the Compound. And he told me …' he stopped suddenly.

‘Yeah?' Steve prompted him.

‘Well, he only hinted at it really; didn't give any names, but … he sort of said that one of the Labs might be knocked up!' Callum looked at Steve. ‘What if it was …?'

‘Frank's freak?' Steve burst out laughing. His face grew serious, ‘This is a big news story! It could mean a few bucks for us! Come on! Let's make a few phone calls, matey!'

‘Hey!' Callum said, ‘Hey, it's probably not even true! It's probably just some rumour!'

‘Never mind!' Steve shouted as he ran towards his house. ‘It'll make a great story! “Frank, mummy freak, and baby freak”! Ha!'

‘Yeah!' Callum laughed, ‘Yeah! The freak family!'

The following afternoon, Beth and Frank were chatting happily as they made their way to the village shop when suddenly a car drew up beside them and two men jumped out.

Beth shielded her eyes as a camera flashed in her face.

‘Is it true that you're pregnant?' a second man said, pushing a microphone in front of her. ‘When exactly is the baby due?'

‘What the hell do you think you're doing?' Frank shouted, putting his arms around Beth. ‘Get away from us!'

‘Just a few questions!' the man continued. He turned to Frank as the camera flashed again, ‘And you must be the father-to-be, Frank isn't it? How do you feel about being the first human to father a Lab child? And what do you think the future holds for you all?'

Beth shrank into Frank's arms.

‘I don't know where you got your information from, but get away from us right now!' Frank snarled.

‘So are you denying it, sir?' the first man continued, hurrying to keep up with them.

By now a number of people had stopped and were watching with interest.

‘Is she one of those from the Compound?' someone asked.

‘That man said she's having a baby,' another said.

‘Young Frank, there, he's not from the Compound,' the first said.

‘He's taken up with one of them,' Steve had joined the crowd and was looking on with a nasty grin on his face. ‘Must be nuts if you ask me! She'll probably give birth to a monster with two heads!'

Standing beside him, Callum sniggered.

‘Two heads?' a woman shuddered.

‘Stands to reason, doesn't it? They're not normal!' Steve continued.

‘Have you any fears for your unborn child?' the man asked Beth as the camera kept flashing. ‘What kind of tests have been carried out, so far?'

‘Look! I said get away from us, OK?' Frank raised his fists.

‘Hey, we just want a story!' the man answered.

‘Frank!' a voice shouted.

He looked up to see Abel pushing his way through the crowd towards them. He wrapped his arms around Beth.

‘Come on! Move out of the way!' he screamed at the crowd, forcing a pathway for them.

Soon they were standing inside the shop.

‘I'm calling for help,' he explained to the startled shopkeeper as he grabbed her phone and dialled a number. ‘There's no way in here from the back is there?'

She shook her head silently, a nervous expression on her face.

A few minutes later an army jeep drew up. Beth, Frank, and Abel were bundled into the back. The driver sounded his horn as the vehicle edged its way through the crowd.

Some of the reporters followed the jeep while others turned towards the shopkeeper.

‘Do many of those from the Compound shop here? Do you know the pregnant girl?'

Steve stepped forward.

‘I can tell you about the father, Frank, we went to school together. He's changed completely since he took up with that girl; it's like she's hypnotised him!'

‘Ah, you must be … Steve!' a young reporter said. ‘Aren't you the one who phoned our office? And a few other newspaper offices, too, by the look of it!'

‘It's a story that needs telling, that's what I think. He was my mate, you know, before
they
came along!'

The crowd gathered around him as he settled down to give his version to the reporters.

Back at the Centre, Frank sat with his arm around a sobbing Beth.

‘What happened?' Celia asked. ‘How did the press get to know about this?'

Ruby shook her head, ‘The story was bound to get out sooner or later. This is the first Lab baby born. There will probably be many others over the years and they won't attract so much attention!'

‘I'm so sorry! I never wanted Beth to have to face …' Frank stammered, pulling Beth closer to him.

Abel patted his arm, ‘We cannot hide away from reality. We must be ready for these situations!'

‘I would like to hide away from all those people for ever!' Beth said tearfully.

‘It would be better for her to be moved to a quieter, safer place until the baby is born, Abel,' Celia said.

Frank looked at Beth and nodded.

‘I've phoned Isaac; his interview and photos are going to be published in tomorrow's paper. We can count on him to give a more balanced view!' Ruby said. ‘He also suggested moving Beth to his aunt's house further north. It's not too far, Frank. You could visit her quite easily.'