Dioscuri

The rumors had soon filled the hallways, whispers reaching the last corner of the building. They had started someplace and had been carried on. No one knew where and who had started them, but that person had been smart enough not to be caught.

They were silent whispers. Exchanged in dark corners, at the vending machine, the cafeteria, on the way out of the building to head home or during lunch break.

Was it gifted? Special? Did anyone know? You know who the father is; it should be gifted, shouldn’t it?

~~~~~~~

Parker strode down the corridor, feeling sets of eyes on her back, gritted her teeth and ignored them. It had worn on her reputation, but she could still pull her game off. She glared at the tech who moved towards her, watching him swallow and scuttle out of the way.

Smirking, she moved past him, not minding the eyes on her back anymore. They had something to talk about but eventually the whispers would die down - or she would just shoot some people. The one who had gotten her into this included.

~~~~~~~

They had enjoyed each other’s company. Just during the nights. An on and off thing. A stress-reliever if you want it.

Something to get lost in for a while, find a high, a rush of energy and then part ways to return to snapping at each other during the day and those nights when they didn’t meet up to share passion.

They were both fine with the arrangement. No one had though about consequences… and why should they? At the Centre, consequences were dealt with all the time.

No one had planned on getting this out of their arrangement.

~~~~~~

Sweat lingered on her skin as they both panted for breath, coherency and balance. He withdrew, holding himself above her, watching her with a playful gleam in his eyes before he bent down to her shoulder, biting her.

“I always knew you’d like this,” he murmured.

“Shut up,” she gave back, the words lacking force when he did something delicious with his tongue, distracting her.

~~~~~~

Once more the voices had been no help. But who would have been surprised by that? They hadn’t told her mother her son wasn’t so stillborn, or that she would be killed when trusting Raines, or a lot of other things.

So who would have believed they would be more of a help for her?

You’d think they would have warned her, but no.

Granted, she could have listened to other signs, but she was a master in ignoring signs that pointed to things she didn’t want to know about. She had been able to delude her for a while and when the voices hadn’t been telling her anything either… well then, everything was fine.

Silence, nothing but silence until it had been replaced by whispers… not in her head though, but rather in dark hallways.

~~~~~~

“Drop it, Freud,” she snapped. “It’s not gonna happen. You had enough people to meddle with. My mind isn’t included in the deal.”

It wasn’t worth it either. The voices were silent as though they had never been. Temporarily dormant or permanently, she didn’t know, hoped for the later when they had been damn annoying with their cryptic messages.

For all she cared, they could either get more accurate or stay as silent as they were now.

~~~~~~

It wasn’t being kept at the Centre, though she would have liked to. She didn’t know what to do with the kid anyway and so in the end, nurses were paid to take care of that.

Talk about a loving environment to grow up in, but then again, they hadn’t had one either and they were dealing just fine. Kind of… in some way… or something.

She wasn’t good at doing this mommy thing anyway, and he didn’t play the daddy well either. So the nurses were the better alternative. She’d made the options clear. It had been nurses or the Centre.

Somehow the nurses had won out even though the kid was the natural heir of the building and should be introduced to it soon… then again, it was just a baby so there should be some time left for that.

~~~~~~~

The little boy looked up at her and she returned his gaze, frowned at his outstretched arms. Why the hell had she gone through with this? She should have just stopped this before it got this far. The Centre wouldn’t have cared about abortion laws. They didn’t care about any laws, so it wouldn’t have mattered.

But no, here she was, looking down at a toddler - hers nonetheless - and didn’t know what to do with it.

His eyes slid away from her face and seemed to fixate on a point behind her before coming back to her a few moments later.

She shook her head, picked up his teddy bear and held it out to him. Once he had taken it, smiling brightly, she straightened and left the nurse to take care of the rest.

~~~~~~~

The whispers in the hallways never left, following over the months and years.

Was it gifted? Special? Did anyone know? You know who the father is; it should be gifted, shouldn’t it? He has his mother’s eyes… just colder.

People wanted to know after all and with time passing, someone would eventually be able to tell, because you know such things, right?

With the genes of the parents, such rare genes the Powers That Be had been searching for them, trying to enhance them, it should be gifted after all.

If both parents carrying these special genes - and we know they do both carry the same genes - and pass them on, you’ll get a homozygote organism out of it.

Homozygote for a recessive and rare gene. A coup, even for the Centre, though for once they hadn’t had a hand in it. No one had known they had been fooling around, snarling during the day and kissing - and doing other things - at night.

~~~~~~~

“Has Sydney been of help with the voices?”

“Not really,” Parker shrugged, her chin resting on his shoulder, as she watched him, sweat still glistering on his skin, “they come and go as they please.”

He just nodded, tracing her features first with his eyes, then with his fingertips.

“Did you ever…”

“No,” he shook his head, not needing her to finish the question. They clicked like that, but given their relationship it wasn’t surprising, hell it should be like that, even if it hadn’t been like it all the time.

~~~~~~~~

The first word out of its mouth had been ‘power’ and the not-so-proud mommy had only rolled her eyes. One more thing daddy was to blame for.

He’d been elated though, no wonder there when the meaning of the word was pretty much exactly what he had been striving for all his life.

A perfect offspring then.

~~~~~~~

“You already heard?” he asked, nearly bouncing off the walls with excitement.

Looking up, Parker once more rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I heard. You know, most kids say ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’ when they start talking.”

“Well, he isn’t ‘most kids’.”

She had to admit, he had a point.

~~~~~~~

Had there not been…

~~~~~~

“A what?”

“A genetic disorder,” the doctor repeated.

“So he’s hearing the voices?”

“He’s hearing voices,” the doctor corrected.

“Well, that’s not too bad then.”

“He’s also displaying paranoid tendencies and his cognitive abilities and his height are below that of other kids his age,” the doctor added calmly.

“Meaning?” Parker asked sharply.

“Well, it seems that with your close… relationship…with you being twins and all…”

“Just spill it already,” Lyle growled.

“A common thing among inbreeds. Inbred individuals are more likely to show physical and health defects due to the similarities in their parent’s genes. We’ve known this was a possibility before.”

~~~~~~~

Gifted, special or retarded. The whispers meant the same thing:

Different than the others

~~~~~~~

And in the corner of his room, a little boy sat with his eyes clothed, mouthing silent words following the rhythm of the words echoing in his head.

The Centre shall rise.


The End


Love me, hate me... it's a different baby Parker fic when all there ever is is happy family. No go in here.