{Emily}

I woke up in a cold sweat and when I looked around the room and saw I was at my place I breathed a sigh of relief. Oh good! It was just a dream! Nobody's going to take my child away from me and test on them if I got something to say about it!

"Are you okay?" I looked over and saw Toby staring at me with concern.

I nodded. "Yeah I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Is it the same dream you had last time?" He asked.

I nodded. He sighed, "It's okay you need to calm down. I'm right here, okay?"

"I don't know why it's the same dream over and over again," I said. I shook my head. "Maybe it's because I'm on edge? I gotta figure out a way to protect my child and you."

He snorted. "Yeah I don't think I need much protection."

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"I think I've started developing abilities of my own? Or maybe I'm just imagining things?" Toby said.

I paused. "Huh?"

"I'm going to try and do what I did before, just don't freak out okay? Because you might not like it," He said.

He got out of bed and took his clothes off and the next thing I saw terrified me! He slowly started to change into an Anaconda right before my eyes! "What the fuck?"

"Calm down, I'm not going to eat you or anything," He laughed.

I gulped. It reminded me of Sergeant 22 because she could change into an Anaconda too and she would threaten to eat me if I didn't cooperate with the testing they were doing on me at the time. "It's just that Sergeant 22 would change into an Anaconda and threaten to eat me when I didn't cooperate with the testing!"

"Oh," Toby said and he quickly changed back into a human and put his clothes back on. I felt myself shaking because of the memory of Sergeant 22. He pulled me into his arms and consoled me. "Shh, I'm sorry I didn't know. I won't do that again."

I shook my head. "No, no it's fine. It's Sergeant 22's fault, not yours."

I was still shaking a little bit and I took a couple of deep breaths and calmed down.

"Better?" Toby asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright then, maybe you should go back to sleep?" Toby suggested.

I shook my head. "I'm not tired now. So I might as well get up."

I looked over at the sighed because it was three o'clock in the morning! I got out of bed even though I was surprised by the time.

"You know, I think you should take some time off work," Toby said.

I shook my head. "Nope, I need my job."

"But you're pregnant and we don't know how far along you are," Toby said. He paused and he looked like he was thinking about something. "Well maybe we get a private Doctor and see how far along you are?"

I shrugged. "Alright then, fine by me."

***

{Toby}

Emily and I went to the Doctor and the Doctor told us that Emily was at least a month along with her pregnancy. I was still super excited about becoming a father and Emily seems to be getting excited about becoming a mother now. Although she does keep waking up in the middle of the night because of having the same nightmare.

Emily and I told Anna the good news and she freaked out and was overly excited about it.

One day I managed to pull Anna off to the side and show her my new ability and she freaked out about that too. But not the way Emily did. She crossed her arms and pouted, "No fair! I wish I could turn into an animal! That would be so freaking cool!"

"Yeah but I don't want to do it in front of Emily because she'll get freaked out by it," I said.

Anna tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

I told her what Emily told me about that past memory of what Sergeant 22 did. Anna's eyes went wide in anger. "That little bitch!"

I shushed her. "Shhh! Calm down Emily's sleeping right now."

She nodded. "I know, I know. It's just I get worked up every time I hear something about her past knowing what she went through makes my blood boil!"

I nodded in agreement. "The question is what do we do now? I mean, I can always turn into my Anaconda form and eat my enemies?"

Anna laughed and then paused. "Wait, did you say we're going to protect her?"

"Yes, how long have you been friends with Emily?" I asked.

"Well since we celebrated her birthday this year I'd say six years, why?" Anna responded.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"It seems you've been doing a great job of protecting her so far, so if we worked together it'll mean more chances for protecting her right?" I said.

She smiled. "Yeah works for me, considering we still don't know who's on Dominic's side and who isn't."

I nodded. "Yeah and it's safe to say that I'll pretty much be staying here to help take care of Emily. I might even consider moving her into my apartment later on. Not to mention I'm going to have to figure out a way to get her to stay home and rest as much as possible."

Anna paused and looked like she was thinking about something. "You know what? I got this covered. Emily will listen to me before she listens to anyone else."

I shrugged. "Alright then."

Anna did what she said she was going to do because once Emily woke up she convinced her to stay home for the rest of the week.

***

{Dominic}

I practically squealed in delight when I saw that Toby could change into an Anaconda like Sergeant 22 can!

"Okay, what's got you so happy today?" I heard Sergeant 22 say.

I looked at her and chuckled, "Looks like Toby already gained an ability somehow. I have no idea how but I haven't done any other extensive testing other than putting that medicine in his food."

She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so what is it? What can he do?"

"He can turn into an Anaconda just like you!" I cheered.

Her jaw dropped. "What! Now that I don't believe!"

I grinned as I showed her the video of Toby showing his new ability to 32401's friend Anna. Sergeant 22's jaw was dropped even lower than it was before. She composed herself, "Okay then, this is an interesting development."

I nodded. "No kidding! I really can't wait to capture 32401. I know she's pregnant and now that I know Toby can shift into an animal already, I think I'll capture her a little bit earlier than what I first intended."

Sergeant 22 gasped, "What! You mean you're actually changing your mind about something? Who are you and what have you done with Dominic?"

I chuckled, "Yeah I know. However, this will be the first time and the last time I'll ever do that. I intend to keep it that way."

"So when are you going to give us the go ahead to capture her?" Sergeant 22 said with eagerness in her voice.

I couldn't help but laugh because she sounded like a little kid telling her parents what she wanted for her birthday. "Next weekend on Saturday."

She grinned. "Wow that's very specific but okay then. Works for me!"

As soon as Sergeant 22 walked away I turned my attention back to security camera footage with an evil stare. Soon 32401, very soon you'll be home right where you belong…

***

{Susan}

"Well something's got you in a good mood today!" I made my way over to my friend Aria.

I sat down at the table that she had reserved for us at a nice sit down restaurant. It was a modern day classic American type restaurant that had a 50's diner feel to it. It was from what I've heard one of the most expensive places to eat in town! I was surprised when Aria suddenly wanted to meet up out of the blue and at this restaurant on top of that.

"Oh yeah, I'm in a good mood today!" I said, "Remember when I told you about my adoptive little sister who ran away from home six years ago?"

Aria nodded. "Yes? Why?"

"Well my boyfriend was able to pull more of his resources together and we found her! She's coming home soon! I can't wait to see her again!" I said. I couldn't keep my excitement about capturing 32401 down if I could.

"That's awesome! We need to buy some cake to celebrate," Aria said with a grin.

The waiter came by and took our orders and my excitement about 32401 being captured and brought home continued to grow. I tried to keep my mind off it as I talked to Aria but I couldn't. As a matter of fact, I barely heard a word she said.

***

{Toby}

"Ow!" I said as Emily practically stabbed me with a fork just trying to eat a piece of fruit from the kitchen table. Emily laughed at me when she did that. Even though she's getting excited about becoming a mother, her crazy side is starting to turn into a psycho side and the baby isn't born yet! "I swear, woman! What's wrong with you?"

She stopped laughing and growled. "My name is Emily! And that's my food!"

I raised an eyebrow. "It is? I don't see your name on it!"

"If you want some food, check the fridge! That bowl of fruit is mine!" Emily snapped.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. I smiled when I looked over and saw the label maker that I bought because of situations like this. I grabbed it. "Okay then," I made a label that said it was the property of Emily Key on it. "This bowl now has your name on it! It is now the property of Emily Key!"

Once Emily saw me put the label on the bowl of fruit she laughed. "Wow. I got my own label maker! I was kidding about the food! You can have it, I just wanted a reason to stab you with my fork!"

I paused. "Seriously? You are becoming a little more psycho each day! You do realize that the baby hasn't been born yet right?"

She shrugged. "Oh well, let's chalk it up to pregnancy hormones which are getting on my nerves by the way! One moment I'm happy, the next moment I'm sad and then the next moment I just want to do crazy things like stab someone with a fork and you're the perfect target for me! Considering you caused this!"

I turned around and glared at Anna when I heard her laughing.

"That's not funny!" I snapped.

"Yes it is!" Anna said, "At least she's targeting you and not me!"

Emily gave a sinister laugh and glared at Anna. "Thanks for putting yourself under my radar. I'll keep that in mind the next time I want to stab someone with a fork for no good reason!"

At that remark, Anna stopped laughing. I gave her a pointed look as if to say 'that's what I thought.' Emily stood up from the table and grabbed the bowl of fruit. She turned around and went into the living room and sat down on the couch. After she sat down she grabbed a handful of grapes and popped them into her mouth as if she were eating popcorn.

Anna sat down next to Emily on the couch. She tried to snuggle with Emily after somehow managing to get the bowl of fruit from her but she pushed her away. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What," Anna pouted, "I just wanted to snuggle with my best friend! Besides, you seem like you need a hug!"

"No, I don't need a hug! Don't touch me!" Emily snapped. Emily snarled at Anna and she backed off.

I rolled my eyes and went over to the couch and sat down in between them. I smiled when Emily chose to bury her head in my chest.

"Hey no fair!" Anna pouted, "I should be allowed to do that too!"

"Anna, please shut up," Emily mumbled. The next thing I knew, Emily fell asleep with her head still buried in my chest.

"She's cute when she's sleeping," Anna said.

"Yeah I know," I said. "Although I do kind of feel sorry for her. I can't even begin to imagine how bad her emotions are right now. At least I'm able to make her laugh by doing stupid things like using a label maker so I don't get stabbed with a fork for no reason."

"That's why I try to give some emotional support when I can," Anna chuckled, "She really did look like she needed a hug though."

I smiled. "Yeah. But right now it looks like she just needs to sleep."

Anna nodded. As I watched Emily sleep I had no idea that soon my life and Emily's would be turned upside down even more than what it already is.