Project Family: New Life

Wesley?!

Matthew watched as all the agents run away. He then shifted back out of his wolf form, laughed to himself, and walked back to the house. He comes back inside to see Deborah and the kids, waiting in the hall. He then remembers about the mysterious force that saved them that was still inside their house. He nods to them carefully and motions for them to stay where they are. Matthew walks up the steps and enters the house, walks through the doorway, and finds a man down on his knees breathing heavily.

"Stand up and turn around.", Matthew calls out to the man and waits for a response of some kind. He waits patiently and finds the man still has not moved. He goes to call again but watches as the man rises to his feet and turns around to him. Matthew is thrown off by the man's face but looks on. The man had a sorry face. His face was covered in many small scars, a large scar over his right eye, and stitches in his nostrils. His body is thin but muscular and fit to be one of the strongest bodies Matthew has ever seen.

"Who are you? Why would you help us?", Matthew looks at the man and can tell he is thinking of a response.

"I- I just saw people attack this place and wanted to help. I picked up the scent of a baby in here and it drove my want to help.", Matthew looked at him in surprise and wondered how he was able to smell Bailey. Matthew and the man heard something move in the hall and both moved their attention to the sound. Matthew, looking at the hall, remembered about Deborah and the kids waiting there.

"So, you truly have no other ulterior motives. Such as stabbing us in the back when the time is right.", the man almost smiles at the remark.

"No. I won't. I know Syntec too. They are after me because they thought they killed me six years ago."

"Well, you're clearly not dead whoever you are. As long as your goal matches ours, you may stay and move with us. This spot is no longer safe.", the man nods in understanding.
"Thank you for this... ", the man looks to him, realizing that no names have been given yet. Matthew picks up on the man's reaction quickly.

"Matt. Matthew Fredrick. And you are?"

"Wesley. Wesley Nathanial.", the men shake each other's hands. As they do, they hear something, or someone, drop to the ground, and start crying. Matthew lets go of Wesley's hand, runs to the hall, and down it, to see Deborah on her knees crying. He can hear her muttering something under her breath, but he can't make it out. He walks over to her and places a hand on her shoulder and helps her to stand again. Once she is standing, she quickly moves out of the hall and comes face to face with the man she thought she lost all those years ago.
"Wesley? Is that really you?", Wesley blinks at her, looking at his wife, who he thought he'd never see again.

"Deborah, my love. You're ok!", the two run into each other's arms and hold each other close. Matthew and the kids walk out and watch as the couple is reunited. After a couple of minutes, the two break apart and kiss each other passionately. Samantha and Woodland make a sound implying that they are grossed out by the kiss. The adults chuckle at their reaction causing Deborah and Wesley to break their kiss and look at the kids. Wesley turns and notices all the kids and seems to remember something that he had forgotten. He looks at Deborah, searching her eyes.

"Our child?", Deborah nods and looks around the room. 

"Benjamin, come out honey. There is no need to be afraid love.", Welsey looks around and watches as a boy comes out of the hall, looking down at the ground.

"Ben, it's ok. Nothing is going to hurt you.", Benjamin doesn't raise his head, but he does walk closer to where Deborah and Wesley were. Deborah moves over to Benjamin and lifts his head. She makes eye contact with her boy and almost is able to send a mental message informing him that she is there for him. Benjamin understands that she is and couldn't be more grateful for that. He takes a deep breath in, gathers his courage, and looks up to this new man he doesn't know anything about. Wesley approaches Benjamin. Benjamin backs away in fear but no more than one inch. Wesley backs up quickly, upset he scared his son, but lends Benjamin his hand, as a way to calm the boy. Wesley hopes that won't scare Benjamin and watches as Benjamin doesn't move away or closer. Thus, Wesley takes this as a green light. Wesley reaches his arms out and places his hands on Benjamin's shoulders.

"Hello, my son. I'm thrilled to finally meet you.", Benjamin feels uneasy by Wesley's tone but is unsure as to why he would. He ignores those feelings and moves forward to crush Wesley in a hug. Wesley is unsure how to react at first, but then he wraps his arms around Benjamin and squeezes Benjamin's arm with his other hand. As Wesley hugs his son, he can feel warmth enter his body for the first time in years. He smiles, letting some tears fall down his face. Deborah, watching with tears in her eyes. However, she doesn't want to interrupt this beautiful moment but knows some important things need to be said and done before Syntec came back for them again.

"All right, something tells me you two are going to get to spend more time together. So let me speak to you all.", Benjamin and Wesley break their hug and watch as the others in the room sit down on the couches, ready to listen to Deborah.

"Ok, so, one thing is clear. Our home is no longer safe. We need to move and find a new place."

"I agree. Syntec is relentless. We know this better than most Deb.", Deborah looks at Wesley and understands what he means, smiling at him, happy to be side by side with him once again. She makes a mental note that she needs to tell him about Matthew and him being a child of Syntec, but, for now, takes his hand into hers. Wesley smiles at this gesture, having missed it. She lightly blinks and goes back to the topic at hand.

"Right. They will come for us. How they found us this time? I'm unsure and nervous about the fact that they did this quickly. I think this time, we need to move out of the state.", she watches as everyone around the room nods in agreement. When she went to suggest a couple of different places for them to go, Benjamin jumped up and ran to another room in the house. She looks around the room only to read the same confusion on everyone's faces. She nods in acknowledgment. A second later, Benjamin comes running back in with a map in hand. Deborah sees the map, smiles softly, and thanks Benjamin for the map. He nods, sits down, and Deborah opens the map, laying it out to be seen by everyone, pointing to it again as she speaks.

"All right. Here's where we are, and here is where Syntec's cluster of locations is. As you can see, most of California is taken and is not safe. But, if we move up to Washington, we will be safer. Syntec hasn't moved there yet and only has two locations in Oregon.", everyone sits in silence, processing what she has just said. Naturally, everyone was nervous about leaving what they considered a safe zone, but it was for the good of 'the project' and their own lives.

"I think it's a great plan, Deb. We should head out soon though. I remember seeing Nelson move some ground crews into this area and around Location 10.", Deborah nods to Wesley and looks around the room to get everyone else's confirmation. As she scanned the room, she saw everyone nod slowly.

"All right, it's settled then. We pack up our things now and leave by noon. I know a guy that can get us a car so we can drive to Washington.", everyone nodded, with a look of determination, and split off to start packing what they needed.