Where We Go | Book Three

27. There's Always Something Else

Ben's face paled, and his mouth dropped. "Will?" he breathed.

The man stepped forward. "Ben?"

They both began to walk towards each other, slowly at first and then quicker. When their bodies collided, Ben wrapped his arms around his stepdad and buried his face into the shoulder of his white lab coat.

"I'm sorry," Ben almost sobbed. "I'm sorry."

"No," Will replied, holding him tighter. "You don't have to apologise."

Ben's body shook with his chest, rising and falling in heavy breaths. "I do... For what I said at EDIN... For walking out," he mumbled, stumbling over his words. "I should've said goodbye when you left."

Will pulled him away to see his face, holding him at arms-length. His face had quickly reddened, and streams of tears poured down his cheeks. "Ben don't apologise. I would've done the same after what I told you... I'm so sorry about what happened to Em. I should've done more about it. I knew how much she meant to you, and I still did nothing." Will's grip tightened around his arms as he went to pull him in for another hug, but Ben stepped back, wiping his eyes with an already damp sleeve.

"I suppose it's a good thing we've got her back then..."

I had dared to stare at each one of them individually. To see how their faces paled and their eyes widened. Every one of them gaped back with hungry curiosity and, for some of them, a slight feeling of failure. 

They hadn't made a cure first. 

It only became real when I returned my stare to Dr Lawson. Her eyes, like the others, were wide. But they were focused, and her body moved in slow motion as she stepped over to stand before me.

"That is indeed the question on everyone's mind right now... How?" she whispered, raising a hand to my face. I stopped myself from flinching at the touch. "That's impossible."

"Not impossible," I confirmed, placing a vial of the daily serum into her hand. She trembled beneath the touch. "Very much real."

She stared at the vial for a moment before closing her fingers around it. Her gaze shifted, wandering my face, and tracing the scars that hugged my skin with a delicate finger. "For how long?"

I shrugged. "A month, maybe... We've lost track of time."

She turned to Ben. "How?" she asked again with more urgency than she had the first time. "How do you know who I am? Who are you?"

Ben pressed his brows together and looked to Will who still stood beside her. "You didn't tell her?" he questioned. Will gave a small shake of his head.

Dr Lawson scowled. "Tell me what?"

Ben pulled his lips into his mouth, taking a breath before speaking. "You knew my mum, Jackie Robertson. My name is Ben... This is Em and Chris."

"Jackie," she whispered. "You're Jackie's son?"

Ben nodded. "You've heard of me?"

Sarah's eyes glimmered on the surface, but she blinked it away quickly, leaving only the trace of a smile on her lips. "Yes," she replied. "I know of you."

Will cleared his throat. "I suppose it's also time I tell you that Jackie was my wife..."

Dr Lawson raised her brows. "Well," she scoffed. "This is certainly turning out to be a happy family reunion." Her focus turned back to Ben. "The cure, who made it?"

"EDIN," he said simply. "They were working on a cure for a long time... I just had what they needed. Right place, right time," he shrugged.

"EDIN made this cure?" Dr Lawson questioned. "They haven't made contact with us in over a year."