Welcome to the Heist

Ethan found himself nodding and wished that he hadn’t. She was already hysterical. Did he really need to add to that. But he couldn’t stop his mouth from moving - some things never change. “I did. Heidi. I did.” That’s all he could say. Paul and Ben had spared him the details about what had happened, but he knew for sure that he had died. He watched her small chest rise and fall rapidly and he knew that she was about to fall into a panic attack. That was until his words finally sunk in. She recognized them immediately. The knife tumbled from her hand again and she held them empty hand up to Ethan. It felt like the two of them were hovering in the silence for hours. But slowly, he watched Heidi catch her breath.

The way his arm slithered round her waist, holding her waist so that his forearm was set closely to the middle of her spine and its hand was gripping to the opposite hip while the opposite hand, his right hand, was caressing her face as if she were a delicate flower ready to break. It was all so familiar and recognisably, the touch and feel of his arm, was the sole thing that Heidi remembered most. Ethan would always wind his arm around her like a vine and hold her face so gently, as if she were the very moon in his hands. Despite this, it still stung to be touched. This was just a ruse. A trick her mind was playing on her. Even the words he had spoken prior, which were true to what Ethan would have said couldn't sway her mind to believe that this really was him before her and not a figment of her imagination.

Even though her body was so much smaller than his, Ethan could feel Heidi tense up at the sound of his voice. She was going to go into shock. But shock for Heidi was different than everyone else. It usually involved screaming, kicking, hitting, and maiming. She pulled her body away from his and he felt the knife clip his neck. It wasn’t enough to make him seriously bleed, but he could feel the slight warm run down his neck. With frail hands and a mess of nerves, Ethan slowly walked over to his children’s crib and set Harlow down. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the knife Heidi had held in her hand fall to the floor.

It's not him.. They told me he was dead, he died in my arms.. "You died in my arms!" Heidi said with a mixture of agony and disbelief in her voice. There was a strange sound filling her ears and it took a moment before she realised that it was a sob that wasn't coming out. Why would people lie to her? Why would they allow her to believe this? It was the cruelest, most demonic thing - and even Heidi knew she wouldn't go to that length. Allowing one to believe their husband was dead. Shallow gasps started erupting from her throat and the blonde knew the waves of an panic attack were starting.

As far as Ethan knew, for the first three weeks since he had been resurrected, no one but Ben and Paul knew he was alive. For three weeks, Ethan’s body and mind were forced to heal and recover. He had been attached to several IV lines - all of which were feeding him the vitamins and minerals that his body needed to reconstruct his immune system and thought process. Slowly, Ethan’s memories began to come back to him. Who he was. What he did. Who he loved. What he had spend all of three and a half years trying to do. But once he had the okay from Ben, Ethan knew the first place he would go. To Heidi.

Heidi felt her vision blur. Not by tears or her vision just being obscured by something in the air - they were blurring with disbelief. She felt her entire body go rigid, more stiff and heavy than a dead body. No.. He's dead.. Ethan's dead.. Immediately, she came off the man, feeling her blade slightly nick his throat in the process. As her feet padded back a couple steps, she looked at the person before her. The hair wasn't the strong golden brown of Ethan's, nor was his back. This wasn't Ethan, he had died. Ethan was dead. Heidi knew because she had spent day in and night out repeating it to herself, muttering the words low enough that only she could hear and no one else.

Do you think any of that is going to matter to them Heidi? They need their parents, and they’ve already lost their father don’t make them grow up without a mother too. Ethan didn’t care about what happened to him, all he cared about was you - because he loved you more than anything in this world, and all he wanted was you, and your children, to be safe. Yes, it was stupid and it foolish but he did it for you, and as mad as I am I cannot blame him for his choice because I would have done the same; I did the same. And If they’re going to follow in his footsteps they’re going to do it regardless of whether you’re here or not, and Goddammit Heidi I would rather you be here to help try to stop them than leaving it all to me… rather than leaving them to make it because that’s all the know. I know exactly why he took the gene; I’ve known all along and you can hate me from keeping it from you but he made me promise, just like you made me promise not to tell him that you were pregnant. We follow in our parents footsteps Heidi, we all do - Lord knows I have, even though I didn’t want to, but without you Heidi they’ll follow the wrong footsteps… be there to show them the right way.

When they don't need me, I'm gone.

Do you seriously think that I can do that? Do you think I have it… you think I’ve got it in me?

Ya.. You have to.

I get that… Heidi I do. But you’re not a psycho, and those children they’re all you have left of Ethan - would you really risk losing that? Why would you give that up?

They're not Ethan. They're shadows of him.. and they'd do so much better without me tainting them because if you didn't know, the reason why he took the coding was to keep them and I safe. It's my fault he took that shit and what if they follow in his footsteps since they're shadows of him? What if they do something so reckless like that and get themselves killed just like he did for me and them, huh? I can't fucking handle that, Renee. I fucking caused Ethan so much torture in what, the radius of a year? They can't have me their entire lives.. They can't.

No. You have to go kill the bitch..

Alright, if you are going then I’m going with you. You can’t get rid of me when it comes to this, Heidi. 

I can't get rid of fucking anyone. You're all like flies. Fucking constantly buzzing and there.. I just want to be alone but now, oh, let's watch Heidi. Let's make sure Heidi doesn't go kill herself because she can't handle her h-husband dy..dying!

You can. Harlow and Ethan need you. I’ll help you all I can.

They need my tits. That's it. I'm a fucking piece of shit, Adrian. I let my husband die, who the fuck would want that in their life. No one.

For your children. For little Ethan and Harlow - because they need their mother… because they won’t get a chance to live if you’re not here.

What, a life with a psycho mother? Who just wants to kill everyone and wouldn't think twice about it? I mean.. Ethan was the only o- He's fucking gone and every time I look at their faces, it kills me because I see him. 

They are just movies, D, only movies. Don’t dwell on them, don’t think about it. You need distraction from everything. 

Think, Si. The shit we've been going through only happened in the movies and now it's reality. Ha.. Yea, yea.. Yea.. I can't fucking sleep, I can't eat but my dad's forcing me to. I can't even look at the babies because I see him in them. I can't even.. I can't.

Heidi… D. They don’t have his body, they don’t. What could they possibly do to a dead body? They don’t have it.

Si.. Movies.. You never watched movies..