Brooks Montgomery

“That’s very true. How much longer does she have?” Evan crossed his arms, trying to remember. Time had passed so quickly and he wasn’t even sure how long it had been. “Well if you need any help just let me know, you know I’d do anything for Sofia, or you.”

“She’s a little over five months now, so less than half way.” Time was flying by, the stark reality of it flooding him as he realized they weren’t near being ready with a new place. “I will take you up on that offer when we find the place, I’m sure we’ll have to get at least a portion of it set up so it’s not boxes everywhere. I can just imagine the lack of sleep we’re already going to get, unpacking along with that doesn’t sound fun either.”

She took a deep breath, feeling herself breaking down even more. Emily turned, collapsing into Brooks’ chest, heaving a sob. She knew that he couldn’t mean to do anything to her, he wouldn’t, but it still hurt. Never imagining that she actually had been there, that was her past.

Brooks stayed quiet, letting her cry and lean on him in her time of need. It was partially his fault for her being like this. His hand rubbed at her back, trying to calm her down. “Everything’s going to be alright. It’s in the past now.”

Natalie was fully suspicious of whoever planted these eggs being somehow connected to the Institute, or at the very least, the kidnapping of the girl. There was just something so strange about the clue that she wasn’t sure why it fell into her hands to do something about it. Natalie hated the way fate seemed to get her sometimes, as if destinies were written in stone. Her own struggle had been dealing with that very thought for a while now, and this only made those concerns worse. “And how do you supposed they’ll frame me in questioning about why I have the bracelet, where I knew how to find it, and what I believe is going on around here. People want someone to blame. I’d be the poster child for kidnapping if I get linked back to this.”

Brooks knew there was truth in what she was saying. There hadn’t been much, if any, development on Isabelle’s disappearance and now with her bracelet turning up, he wasn’t sure what that meant. Either it was a decent lead to finding her, or just another piece of evidence that would be put to the side and used to blame the woman in front of him. Brooks groaned, hands running through his hair. “I see your point, but we can’t just not do something with it. It was found for a reason, and somehow the reasoning needs to be figured out.”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Emily finally let out a shuddered breath, tears beginning to fall from her eyes “Please tell me that wasn’t a real memory.” Her voice was soft, as pained as you would expect, she was surprised she was even managing to get herself to speak. Truth be told she already knew what he would say but she could hope, wish that it wasn’t what he would say. 

Brooks shook his head slowly, “I wish I could tell you that, but I can’t.” He hadn’t placed it there, never would. It wasn’t a memory he wished upon anyone, but it was one that he could take away. He’d done that too often, though, without asking, which meant she’d have to ask for him to do it instead.

Smiling more at him, Evan nodded, glad the two of them were okay. “Yeah, she probably could beat Hercules in an arm wrestling match but that doesn’t mean she should with a baby on the way.” He let out a brief chuckle before getting more serious “Are you happy about having a baby? I know it was unexpected and it’s a big thing.”

“Oh, I know. But, try telling her that and she gets upset. By that time, though, she’ll be towards the end of the pregnancy so it should he easier to convince her.” At least Brooks could hope. He’d much rather do it by himself than have her help him move. “At first, I didn’t really know what to think about it, but it’s going to be amazing. I’m scared shitless, which probably won’t change all of my life."

“Forgive me if the fact that a stranger says they’ll keep my secret doesn’t ease my mind much. Emily never should have told you.”

“Dude, I know you don’t know me, and I can’t blame you for being concerned about it. She did, though, and there’s not much we can do about it now.”

Evan could hardly believe that something like that could happen to Brooks. Theft like that was very uncommon here and town and Evan really hared that Brooks was dealing with it. “Shit, I’m sorry. If I can do anything for you and Sof let me know, I’ll happily do whatever I can.”

Brooks nodded appreciative that Evan had become a friend to him as well. “Thanks, man. We should be okay with the apartment stuff. I might take you up on that offer when we have to move, though. Sofia might be stronger than both of combined, but I don’t plan on her doing the heavy lifting.”

“I don’t know.” Natalie regarded with a scoff and an eyeroll. She was over all this secrecy that seemed to plague the town, and really, behind every little thing going on these days. Still, as she looked across at the man, she slid the bracelet over the table towards him so he could have a better look at it. “If I turn it in, I’m the one who gets questioned. And I don’t know a damn thing about this girl. The last thing I need is to be taken into custody for something I had nothing to do with.”

Brooks normally would have countered the attitude with a sarcastic comment, but he was more interested in the bracelet. It was odd that an egg would hold such a thing, only increasing his suspicion that the institute had some sort of hand in putting all of it together. He was just happy nothing crazy happened at the potluck like it did at the rave. Brooks reached for the jewelry, turning it over in his hands. “I doubt they’d take you into custody like that. Ask questions, yes, but like you said, you know nothing about her. There’s no reason for them to think you had anything to do with it.”

It was pretty obvious that Emily was far from okay. She was seized up and looked like she wasn’t breathing as the memory replayed over and over in her head, feeling every ounce of pain and fear as she did that original day. No, it couldn’t be a real memory. She couldn’t have been at the institute; that was impossible. It had to be impossible, how would she have not known.

Brooks waited, hoping she would just say something. He would have taken her yelling at him over the silence. Silence was bad, knowing that she was probably replaying the memory over and over again since it had been repressed for years. “Emily?”

“Wait you keep comics under your bed like some pre-pubescent boy? At the very least I pegged you more for playboy magazines.” Nate joked easily, his tolerance almost wearing off as he tried to drink himself to death so he wouldn’t have to face the facts that Brooks was laying in front of him. “So you think my sister broke into your place, with some of her friends, and then…trashed it? And then on top of that, stole your comic books?” Nate rolled his eyes. “You have got to be joking. You’re drunk Brooks. Just…why don’t you take your conspiracies somewhere else.”

“Are you kidding me? Most of them are limited edition, and who the fuck needs playboy when I have a girlfriend who’s hotter than the women they display.” Brooks didn’t understand what the problem with that was, especially since Nate was enjoying his time reading them. He finished off the last of his drink before nodding his head up and down. “Yes, that’s exactly what I think. Those comics are hard to get, you said it yourself. How is she just going to up and get those out of the blue? And mine are missing! It adds up.” He sighed, feeling as if this wasn’t go anywhere. It was the guy’s sister of all people, Brooks would have a hard time convincing him otherwise. “I’m not that drunk. You’re just not thinking clearly.”

There was a lot more commitment to actually looking at houses, and it felt like things were finally coming into place for once. With looking at houses, Sofia felt a gut-wrenching twist every time she seemed to sat in front of her computer at work to peruse the real estate in town. And, she hadn’t even thought about future kids that could possibly come into the picture. She was very much focused on the here and now. Snuggling against him, her lips curled. “Never again?” Big brown eyes gazed back over Brooks with her doe look, before she glanced down to the bump. “Daddy didn’t mean it sweetie. You can snuggle with us anytime you like.” She spoke directly to her swollen middle before leaning back into Brooks. “A nice warm bath does sound nice right about now. That, along with a massage, and maybe a fruit smoothie. And chips and guacamole.” She began thinking out loud with her laundry list of things she had been craving. “Maybe some peanut butter cookies too. And a nice juicy steak.”

Those eyes would be his demise, no matter what it was. If their daughter had them too, it would be his undoing. Brooks followed her gaze down to her stomach, chuckling lightly as she spoke to it. “Alright, she can snuggle with us whenever she wants. Guess that means I should savor the time I have now being able to do this whenever I want.” His hand running over her curves to enjoy every inch, kissing lightly at her neck. The cuddling, the banter, it was the happiest he’d felt with everything they’d been going through. She’d always provide the happiness he needed just by being there for him, and he was going to repay her in any way he could. “A bath and a massage are easily doable,” he whispered into her ear, still continuing his exploration of her body as if it was the first time. Her list of cravings were random, but not the weirdest combination he’d heard thus far. “I will gladly make you anything I can with what we have here. I’ll only take off the briefs, but I’m not putting any more clothing on unless absolutely necessary.”

That memory wasn’t one she would ever suspect. It was cold, and dark and there was so much pain. Whether she had locked that memory away herself or someone else had, it wasn’t welcome. Even before this, she had never actually thought she herself had been to an institute and it was possibly worse than she could have imagined. As Brooks pulled away she was trembling, staring forward eyes unseeing, tears stinging her eyes as she relived that horrid time of her life again and again as if it were the only memory in her mind now. She couldn’t breathe, she was just a kid, locked away, screaming in her head.

The expletives swirled around his head as he realized what he had done. Brooks knew that Emily had missing years, but with the amnesia she was experiencing too, this wasn’t what he wanted. He only wanted to open up her mind to the memories she had before finding the egg. The way she was reacting only worsened his guilt, placing his hands together in his lap so as not to cause anymore damage. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “Ar-are you okay?”

Evan gave a little sigh of relief at Brooks’ insistence that they were okay. He couldn’t imagine anything happening to them, especially not to Sofia. She was like a little sister to him and he would protect her with everything he could. “Your place was broken into? That’s awful, man. Did you call the police?”

Brooks’ head nodded, “Yeah, it was completely trashed.” His hand ran through his hair, stressed just thinking about it. At least it had lead to more promising things now that they would be moving into a house. “We did, they made a report for it, but not much else. Insurance claims were put in too, we’re just waiting for all of it to go through.”

She couldn’t tell where in her mind he was, not that there was all that much to look for in her memories at the moment. But that was one thing, the institute, last time she heard of it it stayed on her mind as well and she couldn’t know why. It’s not like she had ever been there. If Brooks hadn’t told her about it, she wouldn’t have even been able to guess that she had abilities. Though with that, some part of her still thought that he had shown her some memories of her with him instead of her seeing them himself. Feeling herself grow impatient at what probably would lead to nothing, she had to stop herself from huffing. How long did this normally take? Did they do stuff like this at that institute?

Brooks could tell she was growing impatient, and honestly, so was he. This may have been a new experience, but he didn’t realize how hard this was going to be. At least she was thinking about the institute, that helped. It was strong in her mind, seemingly wanting to lead him somewhere past the wall. He sighed, digging a little farther until he was able to find something. This time it wasn’t just her imagination of the institute, but an actual memory of it. Brooks let go over her hand quickly, not sure if those were the exact memories she wanted to come out.

“A lot of stuff?” That made him pause from opening his door “What’s happened? Is everything okay?” Evan asked, concerned for his friend. “You’re looking for houses? Good luck with that. Finding apartments is hard enough, I can’t imagine how stressful house shopping is.”

Brooks nodded, “Yeah, Sofia is good, I’m good. The not good part was my apartment was broken into, and my grandmother’s wedding ring was stolen. It was the one I’m going to propose to Sof with, but don’t tell her that. She doesn’t know.” If felt nice to finally get that out there, instead of being vague so she didn’t catch on. “I’m letting her take the reins on that. She tells me which ones we need to go look at, and once we find one I get to decorate it. That’s the deal.”

“I don’t let him fight my battles for me. I can handle myself.” Pearl said, anger coursing through her at that point, a heavy grip throttled her fists as she stared at the drunk man. Sighing at all the proof he had on her, she shook her head. “That doesn’t prove anything.” She gutted before he seemed to move to a different point. Her eyes only narrowed. “None of us broke into your place and none of us stole your damn dead grandmother’s wedding ring, alright? So drop it. Just go back inside and enjoy your lame party now that you’ve ruined my night.”

She was right, it didn’t. There was no real proof she had even been there. Brooks was going off a feeling, one of which that could be contested. He’d sounded paranoid about her since they met compared to how everyone else felt about her, but if this was any indication, he had been right all along. His fists clenched at the mention of his grandmother. It took everything in him to not lash out physically at her. Brooks thought she deserved it, but no one else would have seen it that way. “I know you or one of your friends have it. Give it back, and I won’t press charges.” His breathing was heavier now, needing to get away from her before the anger grew worse. “You deserve to have a shitty night anyways.”

Natalie stared across the table at the other, trying to get a sense of his intention. It almost seemed harsh on her end, but the last thing she needed was all of this taken out of context, and for the missing girl to fall back onto her. She pulled the bracelet out and held it so the whole thing could be seen between them as she glanced back at it. “You know that damn golden egg chase the town sent us on….I found it in one of those.” She cautiously stated, being more forward than she cared to be, especially over the topic. “I don’t know what to do with it because I can’t turn it in. But…I feel like it could help in finding her.”

Brooks was patient, waiting for her to open up about it. He knew it was strange of him just to sit and throw himself into a conversation she was having with herself. But, this was important, and a clue to a topic that had died down in the last month. “What the fuck? What does the egg hunt have to do with her disappearance?” Brooks had thought the town put together the whole thing, except now he had other ideas. It could have been the Institution, but that would have added a whole other layer of confusion to the matter. “Why can’t you turn it in? If it can help, then you should.”