White walls and an overpowering antiseptic smell hit Bevis telling her she had found the medical unit in the building. The bustle of crisply dressed people in white threw Bevis back to the day of the accident. Placing her hand against the wall and closing her eyes, she breathed in, waiting for calm instead of rising anxiety. This was different; it would be different; it had to be different. Her parents were behind those doors somewhere, and no one would tell her she couldn't see them.

"You can walk in there and find them," she chanted, "you are going to see them ..." she opened her eyes and pushed through the swinging double doors and stepped into the passageway leading to many rooms, "... they are here somewhere ..." forcing herself to walk down the corridor calmly instead of the way her screaming nerves were telling her to.

"Are you Bevis?" a woman in white asked.

Nodding, Bevis waited for the words that she couldn't see her parents, but the woman smiled and pointed down the passageway.

"Fourth door down on the right," she smiled, "they're both in there."

Exhaling through pursed lips, Bevis nodded and smiled, "Thank you."

At the doorway, she hesitated to hear her parents talking, the words drifting to her as she took a moment to gather herself as sudden emotion slammed through her, swiping at her eyes; she swallowed hard.

"I told you we should have trained her while we had the chance," her father said, "now she is in the world you didn't want her any part of and hasn't a clue of how to deal with it."

"I wanted something more for her than living with looking over her shoulder every moment of her life," her mother said, "I'm not going to apologise for that."

"You don't need to," her father sighed, "but do you see how unprepared she is?" her father's voice held a pleading note, "could we have done anything differently to protect her better. These people will not stop coming," her father said, "I don't know how to stop them ... they just keep coming like an insistent swarm of bees."

"Good analogue," her mother chuckled, "you should have said killer bees."

"Honey, you need to eat something," her father said, "please get something to eat ... I'm going to be alright here."

"I'm not leaving you unattended," her mother said; Bevis heard the unbending note and decided it was an excellent time to enter.

"Then it's a good thing I've come," Bevis said, stepping into the room, "go and get something to eat. I'll stay with Dad."

"See, I'll be attended," her father said, "now go ..." he raised a hand as her mother opened her mouth to speak, "I won't hear nonsense anymore. Go and eat something. You need to take a break."

Nodding her mother left the room, Bevis turned to her father, but he had raised his index finger to his lips and pointed at the door. Bevis moved to the doorway, looking to find her mother standing where she had been.

"Go and eat, Mom," Bevis said, smiling at her blushing parent, "Dad insists, and ... I've got this."

Nodding and sighing, her mother turned and walked the length of the passage before turning around and freezing as she noticed Bevis watching her. Bevis waved at her and chuckled as her mother grimaced and left the medical unit.

"I think she's gone," Bevis said, watching the door, but her mother's face didn't appear again. Turning into the room, Bevis shook her head, "now I know where I get my stubbornness from."

"Perhaps that is a good thing," the tone of her father's voice drew Bevis' attention to his face. He wasn't smiling, "a perfect thing."

"What is it?" Bevis asked.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head, "how have you been?"

"Now I know where I get the evasiveness from," Bevis said, shaking her head, "can't run away from the things in your blood."

"Where did you hear that?" her father asked, his gaze suddenly alert.

"At a place, I've been staying," Bevis said, "you've heard it before."

Nodding, her father stretched out a hand and waited for her to put her own in his, "A friend from a long time ago used to say that."

"Does the friend have a name?" Bevis asked; her father nodded but remained quiet, "Is that friend still alive?"

"I ... don't know," her father whispered, "since being in hiding, we haven't spoken with anyone but our handlers."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Dad, what does the number mean?" Bevis asked.

"What did you find out when you looked it up?" he asked, watching their hands as he waited.

"You mean on the internet?" Bevis asked, frowning, "Well... everything from a street address to an intelligence agency. Wait a second, how did you know I looked it up?"

"Never take anything at face value," her father whispered, looking at her then, "always find out for yourself."

"You used to say that to me all the time when I was growing up," Bevis whispered, "I never forgot it."

"What is the address of the company I worked for?" he asked.

"Oh, that is ..." she paused, frowning, "... no .... not possible."

Pulling out her phone, she put the name of his former company into the phone and looked for the address. Looking at her father, she narrowed her gaze on him, reading through the information supplied on the company he worked for.

"How many citizenships do I have?" Bevis asked, inhaling deeply as she waited. Pieces of information that never made sense to her fell into place, forming a picture in her head she wasn't sure would true or something anyone else would believe.

Three fingers were displayed on his free hand, "Your mother and I only have one."

"How do I get three?" Bevis asked, "It's not possible."

"It is if you know the right people," he said, "the third nationality on your birth certificate is the only protection we could find for you at the time. It may still serve you well."

Nodding, Bevis sighed, "What happened at the hospital all those years ago?"

"What do you mean?" her father asked, frowning, "you were there, they told you ..." his gaze snapped to hers, "... didn't they?"

"Told me what?" she asked, "I watched you being wheeled through the emergency room doors. One of the men from the accident came to the hospital and spoke to one of the nurses," she said, noting her fathers worried expression, "relax he didn't see me ... but no one told me anything, I wasn't even allowed to see your bodies, I didn't know if you were alive or dead. If you were alive, I didn't know how you died or what caused it, and no one told me what happened behind those doors or if there was anything wrong with you at all."

"Oh, Bev," her father squeezed her hand, "we were told everything was taken care of and assumed that also meant you were told what happened."

"No one told me anything," Bevis said, "I was taken to your memorials. I thought you were dead," she shook her head, "your company was really good to me, helped me start my business, helped me get established when I had to move cities to get away from being stalked. But until now ..." sighing Bevis shook her head, "... not a word of why they did whatever they did."

"Let me tell you now," her father said, indicating she sit down and waiting until she had done so, "after we were attended, we heard who was responsible for the accident and also that you were the one who pulled us from the wreckage, thank you," he kissed the back of her hand, "while we were in recovery we were told of the visitation by one of the henchmen and also the car parked outside the hospital belonging to the Calderones. We wanted you to come with us," he sighed, "but our ... superiors thought it would be better is the world thought we were dead. I've never seen your mother cry like that before or since when she was told you needed to believe we were dead to sell it. I asked if you could be told the truth after the fake funeral," shaking his head, he looked at her, "I didn't understand why you didn't come to the storage unit until now."

"No one told me you were alive," Bevis said, "no one said anything; I've lived for years knowing my parents are dead, and I don't know why. Imagine how I felt when this rabbit hole started, and the discovery that you were both alive came to light. I thought I wasn't worth the effort or time to be kept in the loop or told what was happening. A daughter you name with a boy's name, left out of everything important, part of a family who at the end of it all doesn't want her with them," Bevis shook her head, swallowing hard, "my entire life I've been reaching beyond whatever life has thrown at me. I have been out of my depth ... every time."

Tears gathered in her father's eyes, "You are always worth the time and effort," he whispered, "never think that we wouldn't want you with us. You're our daughter."

"Then why didn't you reach out and tell me yourselves," she asked, swallowing hard on the rising emotion.

"Didn't you get my letter," he asked, "I sent it to your apartment."

"When?" Bevis asked, "If it was the apartment I was staying in before the accident, I couldn't stay there after a week or two ... the Calderones were stalking me, tracking my every move, threatening me nearly daily. The only way I could escape was to move to another city and start over."

"Oh dear, that's how they knew we were alive," he closed his eyes, "they must have intercepted the letter."

"What is done is done," Bevis said, inhaling and sighing, "where are you two going from here?"

"Three," he said, "you mean three."

"No, Dad," Bevis said, "I have to stay and finish this. Chelsea, Jake and Jason cannot finish this without me."

"Who?" her father asked, his gaze alert and intense.

"The family struggling to hold the Calderones at bay and hold onto their lands while protecting the people on it," Bevis said.

"Josiah is still alive?" her father whispered in astonishment.

"You know their father?" Bevis asked, surprised.

Nodding, her father looked at her, "Then that is where your mother and I will go. We need to finish this as well."

"You'll need to go on your own," Bevis said, "we need to get Caroline and Angie back before the Calderones do something that will change the course of history."

"They have the women," her father gasped, "that is not good."

"No, it isn't," Chelsea said from the doorway, "sorry to interrupt, but I need Bev. We have information."

Nodding, Bevis stood, kissing her father's cheek, "Don't leave here until it's safe to."

Suddenly he pulled her into a hard hug burying his face into her shoulder and whispering, "Remember the training of your childhood and follow the instinct of your blood."

Hugging him back, Bevis nodded, emotion making her unable to answer. Stepping back as he released her.

"I'll see you when it's done," she whispered, turning she followed Chelsea from the room.