Afterward

The past and the present

A few years have passed and Steve finally told his foster family about his life in the lab. The Wilsons were shocked to hear that something like that actually happening.
"I don't know who my real parents are," Steve said, the injury on his left arm now a scar. "I'm not sure even if I have parents. For all I know, I may just be cloned from some random bad guy!"
He picked up the photo of Doctor Kliesen he kept hidden and finally showed it to them.
"She's the one that helped me get out of that place," Steve said, handing the photo to them. "That's Doctor Kliesen. She managed to fake my death and help me escape from there."
Harper took the framed photo and looked at it with her husband studied it over her shoulder. They realised that there were some resemblances between her and Steve.
"Is she your mother?" Harper asked, looking at the young boy. "She looks a bit like you..."
"I-I don't know," Steve managed to say. "I don't think so, but I don't know for sure."
"Where did you say this woman is from again?" Jacob asked, going towards the boy and sitting down next to him on the bed.
"Germany," Steve said. "Her full name is Emma Kliesen."
"Emma Kliesen, huh..." Jacob said, getting up. "Wait, I have an idea."
He left the room and returned with his laptop. He sat on Steve's bed again and opened the laptop. It made the starting up sound that everyone knew about.
He went to the browser and started typing out something. His eyes lit up when he found what he wanted.
"Harper, come have a look," Jacob said, motioning Steve to move in a little. He moved too, making space for Harper to sit on his other side. "I found her."
And so he did. He managed to find her on G Corporation's website.
"It says here that she is an expert in biology and anatomy," Jacob said, reading her blog. "It says here that her husband, Leonard, is a speleologist. He went on an adventure one day and never came back."
"Sounds like Indiana Jones to me," Harper said with a slight chuckle. "Did they ever have any children?"
"Uh... one," Jacob said. "It isn't mentioned if the child is a boy or a girl, but it says here that they love speleology too."
"What is their name?" Steve asked, interested.
"The identity of the child isn't revealed," Jacob said in dismay. "But I'm sure he or she is around your age. Emma is still young. She was only born in seventy-three."
"She's Adam's age," Harper mused. "Oh where could he be...?"
"Who's Adam?" Steve asked curiously.
"He's our son," Jacob said. "He's like this Leonard fella. He went out on a trip once, and never came back."
"But it isn't like him to do that," Harper said, her eyes slightly glistening with tears. "He never leaves without informing us. And it's not like him to not contact us."
"What does he look like?" Steve asked, interested. "Come on, grandma! I wanna see!"
Harper got up and went to her room to get the photo album. She returned with a thick book of photos. She put the album on the ground and sat in front of it, motioning for Steve to join her. The ten-year-old boy happily jumped off the bed and joined her.
Harper flipped through the album and showed him a few of Adam's childhood photos. There was even one with him wearing makeup.
"Whoa, what happened to him?" Steve asked, amused.
"His friend coated his face with makeup when he fell asleep at her place," Harper said with a chuckle, remembering how he returned that day. "He had no idea, and didn't even stir when she did that. She developed the photo and gave it to us, though."
"Wasn't it Alisa?" Jacob asked, remembering. Harper looked up and nodded at him. "Didn't Adam go to Japan to pay her a visit?"
Harper's eyes widened as she realised.
"Yes!" Harper exclaimed. "He went to visit her, but never came back!"
"Where did he go?" Steve asked, confused.
"Tokyo," Jacob answered. "What was her father's name again?"
"Bosconovitch," Harper said. "Doctor Geppetto Bosconovitch."
Jacob picked his laptop back up and searched for him. He managed to find him on a scientists' blog.
"Gracious, he looks awful now!" Jacob said, showing his screen to Harper.
"What happened to him?" Harper asked, surprised. "I know he's old now, but he has changed drastically!"
Jacob continued reading his page and gave a sympathy sound.
"It says here that Alisa died when she was eighteen," Jacob said. "She was found dead in their home in Japan. It was assumed she had killed herself."
"Poor Alisa..." Harper said, shaking her head as she remembered the sweet young girl that was good friends with her son. "Whatever did she do that for?"
"It is unknown," Jacob said. "She was never found."
Steve was silently noting everything they were saying. He had heard the name Bosconovitch somewhere, back when he was still in that painful lab. He planned to return to that lab later in his life to find information about his biological parents.

***********

Steve sat in his old room, thinking about his childhood in that very home. The Wilson's didn't have the heart to give him Adam's room when he moved in and let him stay in the guest room instead, hoping that he would one day return. Adam was pleased for that because now, he used that room with Nina.
He thought about how small the world was. What were the chances that he had been adopted by his own grandparents? They had no idea that he was their grandson, and he had no idea either. All he knew was that he felt at home with them.
A sudden noise interrupted his thoughts.
"Oi!" Adam called, standing at the doorway of his room. "What are you doing?"
"Dad..." Steve said, a slight smirk forming on his lips.
"I've been calling you for ages now," Adam said, coming in and setting himself on the sofa in front of the bed. "Why are you so deep in thought?"
"I was just thinking how I was living in my dad's old house all along," Steve said with a shrug. "Little did I know, I had been growing up in the same house my father had been growing up in. And I had no idea."
"I had no idea either," Adam said with a slight chuckle. "But at least, I know that my parents got to see their grandson grow up."
Steve chuckled.
"Do you know that grandma showed me some of the embarrassing photos of your childhood?" Steve said with a smirk. "Even the one where you wore makeup."
"Then how come you didn't recognise me when you first saw me?" Adam asked.
"I did," Steve said. "Not at first, though. But I did as time went. I started to piece everything together and see that you were their son and I am their first grandchild."
"Life is full of surprises, huh?" Adam said, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "I never thought that my son would grow up with my parents too. In fact, I still believed that my son was dead."
"And thank goodness too," Steve said, glancing at the photo of him with Emma Kliesen on his desk. "If Emma hadn't faked my death, I might've been killed for real!"
"Don't say stuff like that, Steve," Adam said, sitting up while looking at his son. "We're very lucky that Emma was there to save you. If not, shudder to think what might've happened."
"You told Steve to not say stuff like that, but you're imagining the same thing too," Nina said, coming entering the room too. "We must be glad that she was there."
"And I'm glad I visited Doctor B when I did," Adam said, watching his wife sit down next to him. "If not, I wouldn't have seen you."
"Yeah but I still think your idea was kinda twisted," Steve said with a chuckle. "Doctor B did warn you about the fate of your future child. If Emma wasn't there, I might've been an actual test subject that would've turned into some hulking monster with Kazuya's blood and end up like Jin or something."
"Speaking of Jin..." Nina said, smirking. "Wonder what he's doing now in Japan..."