An Experimental Family (BeeDuo)

Chapter 3

Over the next couple weeks, they all moved past the conversation about the three being experiments, and M-93 learned how to act like kids his age, Hannah taking it upon herself to catch the seven year old up on what he should know. Now that he had the opportunity, not pent up in silence in the cages and confined by the strict rules of the lab, he was a very quick learner, picking up reading and writing fairly quickly. It was definitely doing him good to be around kids his age.

After M-93 almost made a kid cry because of his face in the beginning, Niki quickly made an eye patch for the young boy, which he adored and rarely ever took off.

'Toby' and 'Mark' we're becoming well known among the parents that brought their kids to daycare, the two new employees, and it was clear that some kids were picking favorites towards them over Niki and Hannah, though the two young women took no offense to it.

"I'll never pick favorites," one of the younger 6-year-olds stated defiantly when T-2 played a game to see which helper was the best, though that same kid eventually shuffled his way over to Niki, leaving Hannah alone in the corner.

"Might as well retire, clearly I'm not wanted here," she joked, feigning disappointment, though some of the kids took her seriously and ran over, insisting that she was good and was the best.

"I can't believe that you would manipulate the children like that," T-2 stated. "How dare you."

Hannah started sputtering in defense, but the other three of them were laughing, including some of the older kids who understood what T-2 meant.

"Now the kids are laughing at me!" Hannah exclaimed, though it was obvious she didn't mind, a smile still wide on her face. "I've been betrayed," she scoffed.

After that day some of the kids started separating attention between each carer, insisting that they loved all of them equally, but that didn't go on for very long before they went back to their obvious favorites.

Winter came, and it was the first time the three ex-experiments actually got to experience Christmas. Sure the two oldest had seen all about it while living on the streets, but they never really understood the concept. It was too cold to worry about gift giving; they cared more about warmth and their well-being.

The whole building was full of joy, no extra daycare kids to worry about over the Christmas break, putting up ornaments with everyone, it was definitely the best time of the year so far.

R-1 got a deep purple scarf that was the same color as his teleportation particles, hand-knitted by Niki. It was the softest thing he'd ever felt, and he promised he'd never leave it. From Hannah he'd gotten a small stuffed animal cat that he named 'Enderchest', though he didn't have an answer as to why. It just felt right. Maybe he'd heard it somewhere.

T-2 got a knitted bee scarf from Niki, and a small duck plush, which he named Benson.

M-93, just like the other two, got his own pink knitted scarf and a chicken plush, which was dubbed Y-08 by the boy, the name belonging to an experiment that grew up alongside him.

Different kids got toys, some of them donations from people, others were hand-made by Niki or Hannah, and the occasional store-bought item was there. There wasn't much, but no matter how big or small, the kids loved them anyway.

They were happy.

It wasn't until one fateful day a couple months into them being there in the middle of February that things went down.

There was a knock at the door, though it was a little harsher than usual, almost like a threat. Niki had answered it, though visibly relaxed when she saw who it was. Confusion still laced her features however.