008. Scent

She burns everything in her place that smells like him. It isn’t enough, but it’s at least something. Kicking him out of her car in front of a hospital hadn’t exactly satisfied her feelings of betrayal, loss, and rage. Maybe if she had hurt him or taken revenge somehow while he was still in her control and vulnerable it would be so bad. Hell, it’s the least she would have done to anyone who tried to break in her place and hurt her creations. But he’d been there, and she had known immediately that she couldn’t. Not after loving him.

036. Discover

Egg donations are costly. They take time, put the donor at risk, and are expensive for a very small number of eggs. Not to mention that the older the donor, the more rapidly the quality declines.

Those facts are why she gathered her own sample at twenty-two rather than waiting. Well, that and the opportunity to try her own methods.

It takes time and two different collections to produce a large number of fertile eggs, but the results are dramatic enough for her to donate the extras.

Which is why she has at least four biological offspring in the city.

077. Help

“Do you have any idea what time it is? Because if you do -“

“I’m sorry,” says a terrified woman’s voice on the other end of the line that Elenore doesn’t recognize, “It’s just, we didn’t know who else to call, and we need help for-“

“Who are you?” growls Elenore, not liking the sound of this in the least. “How did you get this number?”

“I…I’m Shannon Carpenter. You donated the egg for our daughter, Zoe, under certain,” she pauses to swallow, “conditions.”

Elenore sits up, finally and absolutely awake. “Tell me exactly what happened, and don’t spare details.”

033. Connection

If Nore had been a proper doctor with a license, it would have been a chaotic clusterfuck at best. Hospital privileges, professional ethics, interdepartmental politics all would have shaved off precious seconds, minutes, and, god forbid, hours that could be better spent putting the broken child back together again.

But she isn’t. She’s a woman with connections and a habit of collecting favors that she calls in. Two different government agencies invade the hospital and quarantine the little girl, allowing Elenore to work in privacy and security. The questions that will come later are worth no one seeing her face.

014. Now

This isn’t the first time she has operated on a child. Nor is it her first time repairing fragile tissues and damaged organs that would have most others give up. It is the first time she has to fight to stay in the moment, to see the body she’s working on as an organic machine, to become detached. Why she’s failing to put that clinical distance into place now, on this badly injured child, makes no damned sense. All they share are genes and the imperative that got her out of bed. That should be nothing compared to her training.

009. Glass

Two parents watch from the other side of the cold glass that protects their child from infection. They hold hands, fearful of what will happen if this stranger with their daughter’s eyes and nose and chin fails, and frightened of what she’ll want from them if she doesn’t. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Zoe was supposed to grow up know the details of her conception only in the abstract, and certainly never being attacked by whatever that thing was at the park. Nothing is what it should be, and that means they could lose everything. Because Zoe is their everything.

046. Water

It isn’t until one of the CDC doctors forces a bottle of water into her hand that she realizes how long she’s been working. The shakes settle in quickly from low blood sugar and physical exertion. Zoe has gone from looking like part of a horror movie set to a very injured, but recovering, little girl. People are talking, saying how remarkable the transformation is, and it’s all passing over her head. The work isn’t done. She has more to do. Can’t they see that there’s only so much time to save the capillaries? But she’s too exhausted. Too human.

039. Slip

It takes twenty-four hours for ‘Nore to give her offspring a second chance at life. Everything in her is empty as they look at her. This was her miracle, and now everyone else wants to know what’s going on. What does she want from the parents of the child? Why did she help her? When is the hospital going back to normal? Is Zoe ever going to be normal again?

She slips away from them before the questions get any further. They can all hunt her down after she’s caught her breath and has actually begun to understands what happened.