What Happened

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



Note from Author:   Shortly after "Second Chances".



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Sam Bell stood outside his mother's bedroom, feeling anger simmer inside him. Her sobs were muffled but clearly audible, even through the bedcovers and door.

Pat came up next to him. "How is she?" his wife asked softly.

"No better," Sam said grimly. "She's scared... and I don't blame her."

Pat rubbed her arms, as if she were cold. "It's just so... so hard to believe. That they... they made her young again and put fake memories in her head."

"Most of what she knows is right," Sam replied. "But... oh, Pat. I don't know what to do."

****

Pearl was at the breakfast table the next day, her eyes reddened with crying. Robbie and Anna ran over to their grandmother and hugged her, talking about some art project they had finished with their mother. Pearl seemed to welcome the distraction, squeezing in a card game with her grandson.

Sam sighed and began to read the editorials in the paper, when a sharp rap at the door made him jump. Pearl glanced at it, her large blue eyes betraying sudden apprehension. "Sam," she said quietly.

Sam glanced at his mother as he went to the door. As he turned the handle, a man in a neat dark suit barged in, almost hitting the door against Sam's arm. "Mr. Bell!" the man enthused, sticking out his hand. "How nice to meet you!"

"Charmed," Sam said stiffly, not taking the hand.

Pearl got to her feet and began to walk quickly toward her bedroom. But the reporter was in front of her before she reached the hall. "Ms. Bell," he said with a charming smile. "You are as lovely as reported--more so, in fact."

Pearl began to tremble. "I don't want to talk to reporters," she whispered.

The reporter's smile didn't even waver. "I can understand your apprehension, Ms. Bell."

"If that's true," Sam said loudly, stepping between his mother and the reporter. "You will leave my home immediately."

The reporter tried to look over Sam's shoulder. "Ms. Bell, I'm not just reporting for a newspaper--I'm furthering the knowledge of humanity, furthering the miracles that the Taelons-"

Something seemed to snap inside Pearl. "Taelons?" she whispered, her voice rising in pitch. "Taelons? TAELONS?" She was screaming now. "Don't say a word to me about Taelons! They never did ANYTHING for me! Get away from me! Get out of here! GET AWAY!"

The reporter's smile sagged away as the deaged woman began to shriek at him. Sam took the opportunity to grab him by his sleeve and shove him out the door, locking and bolting it shut. He spun and grabbed Pearl by the shoulders. "Mom!" he said soothingly. "Mom, it's okay, he's gone."

Pearl was hyperventilating, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Hey, hey," Pat said softly, coming up behind her. "Why don't you go lie down for a while, Pearl?"

Pearl gulped and walked into her bedroom, unsteadily. Tears were still streaming down her smooth cheeks. Pat and Sam watched her, and Pat put a hand on her husband's arm. "It's okay, Sam," she soothed. "We're going to have her see a shrink tomorrow. She'll be fine, she'll get over this."

"Will she?" Sam wondered aloud, still watching the door that his mother had vanished into. "Can any of us?"