Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles ~

Edward, Stella, Damien and Smita are enjoying a luxurious dinner in a restaurant with a great view of the Los Angeles night lights while celebrating their first grandchild.

They met during the wedding and few other times, so they are familiar with each other.

After they discussed every Cecilia's facial feature several times, they moved to the topic of Cecilia's parents.

"Felix is a brilliant young man. He has so many patents, and I had a chance to work with him on several of them.", Edward said. "You must be proud of your son."

"Yes. I am.", Damien never shied from bragging about his eldest son (or any of his other children). "I also worked with him recently on few things."

"Oh? On what things did you work on if you don't mind telling me…", Edward probed.

He heard that Damien and Smita worked with Felix in the workshop on several occasions, but he was unable to find out the details. As much as Edward admires what Sarah did with Eve, he does not like that he is kept in the dark. How is he supposed to help his daughters if he does not know what they are up to? So, he decided to use this opportunity to find out the details.

"Not at all… As you know, I am a physicist with an expertise in geophysics. Felix was working on a device which is using Earth's magnetic fields to boost its signal. It is fascinating how quickly he managed to create working prototypes out of theory models I presented…", Damien explained enthusiastically. "Do you know that the whole property where Sarah and Aiden are living is a dead zone for wireless signals?"

Stella and Edward exchanged confused glances.

"It seems you didn't know.", Damien smugly said. "That is the result that came out of my model. Any cell phone which is previously not cleared will not have a signal. And it's not limited to cell phones. If you try to take a photo of the property from air or even from space, it will show only as a green forest canopy. No dwellings will be shown. And all that is achieved with only one signal blocker thanks to the fact that it's leveraging Earth's magnetic field..."

Damien finished his talk with: "Last time when we came for a visit, Smita contributed with her knowledge as well."

"You did?", Edward's interest was shifted to Smita.

"Yes.", she smiled shyly. She didn't expect that the focus of other three will be on her.

"I am also a physicist, however my expertise is in optics." Smita saw that Edward wants more details so she continued explaining: "Our experiments consisted on using radiation of different frequencies and measuring how it reacts with matter, especially on human body to register changes within… like a heartrate and blood pressure. And one of the things we worked on was to detect the composition of the matter. I believe that if he perfects it, he will create a device which can do a blood analysis without drawing blood…"

Damien and Smita described what they worked on with Felix and spoke with a belief that they were contributing to the latest products of Orion Enterprise. But Edward and Stella know that none of those reached the company, which means that it was used for their private use.

Edward assumed that the work is aimed to be applied to the drones which Sarah revealed last time when he was in the workshop.

Edward's assumption is correct, but he doesn't know that Felix perfected it and it is implemented not only on drones but into the lens which allows Eve-vision as well.

~ Los Angeles, Cliffside Villa ~

Later that night…

Aiden is on the bed, sideways, facing Sarah who is lying on her back with her eyes closed.

He is observing her profile and he remembered how the first time he did that, they were at the University. The two of them were in the cafeteria, next to the vending machines and she was watching Vivian and Gabriel. It seems like yesterday, yet like ages ago. So many things happened since then.

"Will you tell me what is on your mind? I can't sleep because I feel that you are watching me.", Sarah said with a smile without opening her eyes.

Ever since they left the hospital, Aiden is unusually quiet and mostly staring at her. She can see that he wants to talk about something, and he is unable to let it go, but at the same time he is not saying anything either.

"You know me well."

Sarah opened her eyes and turned her head toward him. She raised her eyebrows questionably.

She can see that he is uncomfortable.

"Whatever it is, just say it.", she encouraged him. "The sooner the better so we can sleep."

"Uhm… I remember that we discussed how after the White corp. company event you will take a test." He said while keenly observing her expression and his hand gently landed on her belly.

Sarah understood what he is asking. And she also knows that he didn't ask so far because he realized that there is no baby, so he didn't want to upset her by bringing back potentially bad memories. But now he had to ask because he noticed her sadness while holding Cecilia. Of course, he noticed. Aiden never misses a slightest change in her.

Sarah's brain scrambled how to answer. She told herself a million times already that there is no point in him knowing what happened because it will not change the outcome, and it will hurt him. She still remembers clearly how excited he was about the prospect of her being pregnant with his child. She does not want to break his heart. But she also knows that he is looking for answers and he will not give up easily. She needs to say something… and she does not want to lie. Not to Aiden.

"I never took the test.", she said after a long silence.

He was disappointed by her answer, and at the same time nervous because she answered. And he wanted to know more. "How come?"

"After they found us, when I woke up…", Sarah spoke slowly while choosing her words carefully. "I was bleeding, and there was no baby."

His handsome eyebrows furrowed, and he closed his eyes while trying to control his raging emotions.

He assumed that it was a miscarriage. As soon as he woke up and he saw that her belly is flat, that possibility was on his mind, but he didn't know when it happened. Now that she said it happened during those few days they were kept captive, several options resurfaced: maybe because she was shot, or because they operated on her arm to remove the bullet without knowing that she was pregnant, or maybe because something else was wrong… He read about the pregnancy when he found out how there is a chance that Sarah is pregnant. And the statistic says that there is a big possibility for a miscarriage in the first trimester.

He pulled her into his embrace.

"I am so sorry you had to go through that on your own.", he whispered in a shaky voice.

Sarah hugged him back and pressed her lips into a thin line.

She felt a relief because he didn't ask for more details, and because he knows (almost) everything. And if it's up to her, she will make sure that he does not find out that last bit.

Sarah knows that the guilt is eating him up. Guilt because he was not by her side for three long months while she fought their demons by herself. She does not want to add to it, it is not his fault and he should not suffer because of that.

Sarah lifted her left hand and pointed at the three diamonds in her engagement ring.

"Look at this… we should let go of the past, and not worry about the future. They are small and insignificant compared to the present. And right now, the two of us are together. And that is the only thing that matters."

He smiled sadly and kissed the ring.

"You are the strongest person I've ever met.", Aiden told her.

"I am strong because you are my strength.", she responded.

He pulled her close to him and they held each other tightly for a long time in silence… until they slept off.

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