Double Life: monsters hide in shadows

The old man grumbled when he heard the door bell, his maid had gone home for the weekend and her replacement wouldn’t come until the evening "I should´ve let Maggie come" he said under his breath as he went down the stairs

"Good afternoon, Mr. Arlington" a bright smile greeted

"Afternoon..." he said with furrowed eyebrows

"I´m Nichole, I´m friends with Josh..."

"Ah,  -he touched his forehead- you spend New Year´s with us"

"Yes"

"Come in -he opened the door- how can I help you?" he coughed

"You´re sick, are you alright?"

"Don´t worry, I´ll be fine, it´s just a cold" he said, she smiled, he took her to the living room and motioned for her to sit

"I´m sorry to come unannounced but I need your help -she started, Alexander watched her with a friendly expression- you see -she looked down- I´m doing something for the twin´s birthday, I know it´s still some time away but... mmm  I need some of their pictures, maybe you´d like to help me"

The man chuckled "You came all the way here for some pictures?"

"Yes, and perhaps a message from you, for Josh, for them?" she showed him a video camera

"Young people" he chuckled again "come, the pictures are on my studio" he took her upstairs

On his studio, he went to the bookshelf and took out a book and from his desk drawer he took another one and placed them over his massive desk "pick your pictures from there" he smiled opening the albums. Nichole standing in front of his desk started to look at the pages and took out a few from both albums

"Ah -the man sighed- I remember this one" he took a picture and stared at it. In it there was little Josh with a pale face, thin but with a smile, he was carried by his father, Maggie was next to them with Aaron by the hand

"He´d just got out of the hospital, right?" she commented in a soft voice

"He´s told you about that?" surprise laced in his voice

"Yes, he showed me this picture at his home -she explained, the man nodded as Nick took the picture and observed it- I was wondering... if you had any pictures of Josh and the little girl"

"What little girl?" the man relaxed on his chair, putting his arms over his stomach

"He speaks of a little girl, she sounds important" she explained, the man laughed quietly

"I thought he didn’t speak of his dreams anymore"

"Aren’t they repressed memories?" she tilted her head to a side

"Look, I appreciate that you believe my grandson, but those were just dreams, something he had to hold on to when he was alone in his room at the hospital, please don’t support him with that, it´ll make him no good"

"He was not alone and those are not just dreams...-she said above a whisper- and you know it" she threw a copy of one of the pictures that Mary Ann had left, in it both Josh and Nichole were together, both in hospital beds, a flicker of recognition crossed Alexander´s face but he quickly composed himself and raised an eyebrow

"Did you do this for him? I thought you didn’t do photography, you are good" he sat straight

"I´m good at some other things too, but you already know that" she walked towards his shelf and took a picture, the picture she´d seen in some of the other houses of the crew

"I never knew why my mom gave you guys this unfocused picture" she stared straight to his eyes "Do you have any pictures of me as a child? I don’t have any" she pouted a little

"Nicky!" he breathed finally accepted that the person in front of him was in fact who he knew she was

"Don´t call me that, I hate it" she frowned, he stared

"This is not possible -he breathed- you´re..."

"Dead? Yeah, twice and Josh is too" she smiled

"What did you do?" he quickly stood up, anger in his face

"I did nothing, what did you do to him?"

"I don’t know what you´re talking about"

"I´ve been told that you´ve given me many advantages -she started to take off her black gloves- I thought I had been born with certain ability -she caressed the leaf of a beautiful bonsai that was on the man´s desk, it withered away in a moment -this, is no advantage -she pursed her lips- but I thought I had been born that way, I thought I had been born that way and not that someone had messed around with me before I even existed"

"Girl, I don’t know what you´re talking about, I think you need help" he moved his hand under his desk

"There´s a button there, right? An alarm, you just pushed it, I heard that you did, don’t worry, about it, it doesn’t work

"You really need help"

"I know -Nic chuckled- you´re to help me, I want proof that you messed with me and my family, I want proof that you made me who I am" she said a calm voice, the man laughed

"You´re accusing me of something and you want me to support your ridiculous theory? I thought you were smarter"

"I am her proof" Nat came in the room, Alexander´s eyes widen marginally but he went back to being calm quickly

"The dead are coming back to life today, huh?"

"Did she put you up to this -the old man asked Nichole- she´s just someone I fired from my hospital, someone very incompetent"

"Actually, she did..."

"You should be smarter, Nicky, but,I guess it is to be expected that you take something out of your mother" He motioned to Nat, Nichole widen her eyes and gasped

"What?" she looked between Nat and Alexander, Nat widened her eyes and opened her mouth but didn’t talk, Alexander chuckled, it was startling how his laugher was pretty much the same as the twins´

"You didn’t tell her?" Alexander said with humor

"Tell me what?" Nic looked at Nat

"This woman is your mother" he motioned to Nat with an evil quiet laugh

"You’re lying. My mother´s name was Miriam and she -the girl pointed to Nat- is not her"

"No, Nicky, sadly, Miriam´s girl didn’t make it, we had to take you from Natalia to give you to Miriam"

"I don’t believe you" Nic whispered

"I´ll show you" he produced a key an unlocked one of the drawers of his desk

"why?" Nichole said in a broken voice

"Why what?"

"Why everything? Why would you do that to me?" her eyes were glassy, he stared for a moment

"Simple, because I could, but don’t worry, it´s nothing personal, I wasn’t doing anything to you, sadly only you survived but see, it wasn’t to you, it was me, I am a scientist, I live to learn, to discover, to experiment"

"You´ve ruined my life"

"Ah, don’t be such a teenager, I made you better than that, if you see it objectively, I gave you strength, speed, a better brain, you don’t get sick, anything that you´d like to try would be easier, you have more chances to succeed, that´s what I gave you, success" He said as he opened the bottom drawer of his desk

"You made me kill my mother, you made me kill my best friend, you made me kill my boyfriend, you made it so easy for others to use me like you used me"

"That´s what you call casualties" he said

"My wife was not a casualty -Karl said entering the room- you are responsible for her death. You destroyed my family"

"Mh, I see Mary Ann was right, stupid of me for not digging there... oh, well, Karl, it´s not unlike what you do with your girl, here, murdering people, young people, innocent people, calculating everything, making money, because you make money don’t you? Your girl’s school is expensive, Nati´s clothes are and yours too. See, Nicky, he is the one you should..."

"Shut up!" Nic interrupted "just shut up!"

"Now you don’t want me to talk? -he said in laughter- does it affect your sensibility that I say you´re a murderer?"

"You´re the murdered -Karl said- you´re a monster"

"No, you are the monster" Alexander replied

"Perhaps... and as such I will kill you now, I wanted you to see how your family was vanished as you vanished mine but be sure that once you are gone they´re next -Karl said with hatred- you know your boy wouldn’t resist if my girl... “ he trailed off, Nichole watched him, astonishment in her face that she quickly covered. She closed her eyes and leaned her head towards the door that Nat had left ajar. Alexander started to shake his head

"I won’t let you kill my boy, I sacrificed my project, the work of my life to protect Joshua, you won’t come here and take him away from me! -his voice carried authority- I should´ve taken care of her a long time ago when Mary Ann let me know but you hid her well, congratulations, but your gold mine and my mistake ends here" he took out a black gun and as Nichole heard the sound she opened her eyes, it all seemed like slow motion, she saw the man was quick despite his age, she saw he had a great aim, right on her chest, she heard Natasha and Karl urging her to move away, she heard the familiar steps rushing in…

"Nicky!" Karl shouted. Nichole eyes watching green eyes right in front of her, she saw him move quickly to his left, aiming to Nat but instead he fell as she heard Nat firing her own gun.

"Grandpa!" the familiar steps had finally reached their place

Karl fell on her arms with a loud gasp. She fell under his weight and rolled him over, off of her

"Father?! -she gasped- why?"

"My little girl -he touched her face- I need your help, help me, make me go, touch me"

"No"

"Yes, yes, this is not a fatal wound but I can’t feel my legs or any pain, do you know what that means?"

"Paralysis"

"My wife can’t take over everything. You, you, if i die, you are to take it all"

"I don’t want anything"

"Camille, you have to take care of Camille"

"She´s got you and her mom"

"No, no, Miriam, she´s Miriam´s take care of your sister"

"NO, you´re... that´s impossible, let me go"

"Nat, she´ll tell you all, trust her, she knows. Now do as I say. I know you´re angry and that´s ok, you should but darling, help me" Nichole saw in his eyes the father she´d had when she was a little girl, the father that drove her to her ballet lessons, the father that was in the pictures next to her mother with a tiny baby in her arms, the father she hadn´t had for over half of her life

"You´re the worst father but I´m not killing both my parents"

"I am sorry for what I´ve done to you" he said and taking advantage of her astonishment he took her hands, hard. The familiar quick pace of her own heart as his did the same came, he was gone in a second.

“Father!” she gasped, not really making a sound. Once again the world had turned way too fast leaving her with a new reality, one that she didn’t know, however, she did know where she was, her mind was fast with thoughts, Alexander had fallen, Nat with a gun and josh, Joshua was there,  Nat had a gun. Nichole stood up, looked at Natasha who was pointing to the frozen in place boy in the door way

"Drop that!" she snarled and walked towards the door. Josh moved to a side, his back to the long shelf.

"You finally saw who I really am -for a second her eyes were glassy- My promise to you" she tossed a small rectangular package to him and shot a glance to Nat who showed her hands in a surrender motion. Nichole left the room.

****

A/N: this scene was the first one of the ending that I saw, it changed a lot as the parts in between came to my mind. The first time it had been in the hospital, then also, Karl surprised me with that he did, the first time I didnt see that, so DL was going to finish in a different way but then he decided to do what he did and DL changed... A lot changed but I think I like how things happened in here