Who I Am | #Wattys2019

Chapter 1

London

July 2nd, 1988

An older woman stands there, her long blonde tresses of hair framing her thin face as she looks down at the small infant bundled up in the bassinet in front of her. The baby has tiny black curls on her head with dark brown eyes that stare back up at the woman, full of innocence.

"I'm so sorry little one," the blonde-haired woman speaks softly, gently cupping the side of the child's face. The woman is torn in what she's about to do, and it is written all over her face as she holds both of her hands above the child in the bassinet and begins speaking in Latin.

The child's eyes suddenly glow a bright blue purple color for a few moments, then the color starts to glitch out, as if there's a bad connection, while the woman continues the spell. Then the bright color slowly fades away, leaving just the innocent brown eyes looking at her as the baby's face scrunches up in pain and she begins to cry.

She gently picks the infant up from the bassinet cradling her against her chest, "Everything's going to be okay now Alexandra." The blonde woman looks over as she hears someone else enter the room.

"Is she okay Melinda?" the woman questions as she comes closer, her long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail.

"Yes Laura," the blonde replies, "she's just a little fussy is all, she might be hungry."

"Well," the woman looks at her coldly, "go on then."

Melinda hesitates for a moment, looking from the child in her arms to the woman in front of her, "Would you like to hold her?"

Laura crosses her arms and the blonde woman continues, "You're her mother Laura."

"I have some business to attend to," the dark-haired woman replies, "I'll be back later."

She turns and leaves the room and Melinda looks down at the child whose crying has stopped and is looking at her with wide eyes, fingers entangled in some of her blonde curls.

"I will get you out of here," Melinda says quietly to the infant, "I promise."

London

Present Day

Lexi sits at the small dining room table, a folder lays open in front of her, with pages and photos expanding from it. She holds one photo in her hand and Ketch walks over to place a coffee mug on the table in front of her, careful to avoid any of the documents. Greyson and Ketch have been helping her for several weeks now tracking down leads on the witch Katrina and whoever it was who hired her to take Lexi. She'd lied to Dean when he'd asked if they'd had any luck. They had traced the lead back to a woman name Laura Addington.

"Who's this?" she asks looking at the photo of Melinda.

Greyson sits across the table from her, sipping from a coffee mug of his own, "Melinda Clarke."

"She was the one who dropped me at the orphanage?" the dark-haired girl questions.

"Yes," Ketch replies sitting down beside Lexi at the table, "Logan said she was sent by the British Men of Letters to obtain you, but she never returned."

"Obtain me? Why?"

Greyson shrugs his shoulders, "We don't know. There's no records of why."

"What does she have to do with Addington?" Lexi questions.

Ketch reaches over and pulls another photo out from the file folder as he begins, "Addington..."

He carefully slides the photo of a beautiful woman with dark green eyes and long black hair in front of Lexi as he continues, "is your mother."

Confusion and shock flash across the girl's face, as she reaches for the photo and stares at it, "What?"

There's a long moment of silence as Lexi processes this information and she shakes her head incredulously. "So, my bio-mom Laura, wants Michael...Dean, gone," Lexi looks at Ketch in disbelief, "what the hell is happening?"

"I'm as confused as you are dear," he replies.

"I should call them," she says quietly.

"No," Ketch interrupts her quickly, "you shouldn't. We need to wait until we know what Addington's plan is. Don't you think they have enough on their plates as it is?"

"And I want to know why the Men of Letters wanted to obtain you," Greyson adds, "whatever the reason, it can't be good."

"Where do we start?" Lexi questions Ketch.

He reaches over and pulls a piece of paper off the top of the stack, "I have an address for the son of Melinda Clarke."

"Ok," she replies, "Where?"

"Close to home actually," Ketch gives her a smile, "Salina, Kansas."

"Well that's not weird at all," Lexi replies sarcastically.