Dangerous Science

Chapter 5
Deceptive Tranquility

One Year Later

Since the events at the NIH lab a lot had changed in Rick’s life. He no longer lived in his Pentagon City condo, no longer spent his weekend nights clubbing in Georgetown or trendy Adams Morgan. He’d even given up his Audi, the brilliant little sports coupe he loved to zip around town in. His work life had changed too. He spent fewer hours at the office now, he had other duties to look to at home.

Home for Rick was now a little split-level in far-flung Leesburg, Virginia. It was over an hour’s commute to the city but it provided a quiet environment for his little family. Part of Rick liked the quieter surroundings. It had a cosy feel to it that reminded him of his childhood in the suburbs. All in all it wasn’t a bad life, it just wasn’t where he’d seen himself at this age. He’d always imagined spending his late twenties jetting around the world to dangerous places, kicking ass and taking names. But now he admitted those were just the silly dreams of an immature young man. This life was actually much more satisfying, albeit in a very different way.

Rick watched through his kitchen window as the sun crept towards the horizon, setting over his back fence. It was one of his favourite times of day, when the afternoon became evening. He finished drying the last plastic cup, placing it back in the cabinet. He was just about to relax when a noise to his right caught his attention. He glanced over at the plastic baby monitor on the counter-top. The red bars on the base were lighting up and muffled sounds emanated from it. Rick sighed, the girls were up from their afternoon nap. There was no rest for the weary.

Ricked padded down the hallway to the last door on the right. It was left slightly ajar and he quietly pushed it open, striding into the nursery. He’d made it himself, painted the walls in pastel pink and baby blue, hung the mobiles from the ceiling, even laid down the soft pink carpet. It was littered in plastic blocks, stuffed animals and teething rings now. On the far side, back-lit by the window, was a giant changing table, taken right from the lab. To either side were two cribs, their bars high enough to coral a fully grown woman. The curtains were drawn shut but the late afternoon sun illuminated the room enough to keep Rick from stepping on an unseen toy as he tip-toed into the nursery.

As Rick made his way to the side of Sara’s crib, reflecting on how upset he’d been when he’d been assigned to care for the women. Naturally he hadn’t want to cramp his bachelor lifestyle, let alone to take care of two oversized babies. He’d demanded reassignment, threatened to resign. But it had done no good, the orders came from the top. The girls needed to be monitored, needed to be watched over by someone already read in on what had happened to them. There weren’t many choices.

The crib legs were very short, placing it low enough that Rick could lean comfortably on the top of the rails, gazing down at Sara. She was awake alright, lying there in just her diaper, sucking away at her pacifier and gazing up at her daddy with wide eyes. It had taken a few months but Rick had adapted well to the new situation. He’d begun to really bond with ‘his’ girls and he’d come to realise that he was the only thing keeping them out of a cold, sterile institution. At first he only wished to save Sara from that fate, still feeling Penny got what she deserved. But with time he came to see that the nasty doctor was long gone and this innocent little infant shouldn’t be punished for past misdeeds she couldn’t recall or begin to comprehend.

Rick reached down and gently ran his fingers across Sara’s tummy. She squirmed and giggled around her binkie. Rick’s fingers moved downward to her diaper, slipping under the waist and feeling for wetness. Sure enough she was soaked. “Guess we’ll have to get you into a new diapee my little pee-pot,” Rick whispered. Then he turned on her mobile, waiting for her to become entranced by the spinning objects before moving to the other crib.

Penny was already up too. Her binkie lay discarded on the mattress beside her as she’d moved to her favourite pastime. Her legs were drawn back with her right foot pressed up next to her ear and her left foot jammed in her mouth. She grinned with oral satisfaction, smiling around her toesies. Her position gave Rick a perfect view of her only clothing item, her diaper. He reached down and felt her exposed bottom. It was lumpy and bloated as expected. She always liked to make poo-poo during her afternoon nap.

“Okay Penny, let’s get you cleaned up,” Rick cooed to her, scooping her up out of the crib and carrying her to the changing table.

Penny made silly noises up at him, chewing at her fingers while a line of drool traced its way down her cheek. He ripped open the tabs on her disposable diaper and lovingly wiped her brown, messy bum clean.

“Boy, you sure do like spreading your poopy around don’t you?” he commented.

“Aaadaaeeh!” she squealed happily.

“I’ll take that as a resounding yes,” he quipped.

Most women thought they were ugly after lying in bed for an hour, ruining their hair. Rick usually agreed, but his babies were the exception. Penny’s hair was wild, she was covered in filth, slobbering over herself, yet she remained beautiful. Her skin had a healthy glow, her eyes were blankly innocent, filled with wonder, truly endearing. She still had a lovely figure and in her reduced state she showed not an iota of reticence about baring her whole body before him. Rick pecked a kiss on her forehead before taking a fresh diaper from the pack under the table. Soon he had her bottom safely and snugly enclosed in a new crinkly white garment.

“Okay, now you’re clean as a whistle, let’s get some food in that tummy,” he crooned to her, undoing the strap and lifting her into his arms.

Rick enjoyed the feeling of a warm body cuddled so closely against him. He breathed in the sweet smell of baby powder emanating from the pretty young woman and couldn’t help but smile. Taking her into the kitchen, Rick headed straight for the giant high-chair made especially for her. She sat still just long enough for him to snap the tray in place, securing her in the seat. She patted her hand across the tray, a line of spittle hanging from her chin till it connected to the tray while she gaped at the room around her as though she’d never seen it before. It was like that every day. Rick wondered if she was able to form new long-term memories at all. He doubted it. She seemed to exist without a sense of past or future. There was only the present for her.

With one baby safely in her high chair Rick was able to re-diaper Sara and carry her in to join her sister, placing her in the second high-chair.

“There we go, all comfy?” he questioned.

Sara slapped her hands loudly on the tray. “Nummy-nums!” she babbled, reaching out towards the refrigerator.

“Okay, we’ll get you nummies, just hold your horses.”

Rick decided to start them with some yoghurt. Taking out two cartons he began with Sara, knowing she was likely to make a big, loud fuss if he began with Penny. The ‘younger’ girl seemed oblivious, waving her long bare legs around and chewing on her knuckles and fingers interchangeably.

“Open wide darling,” he cooed to Sara, who obligingly opened her mouth wide as she could.

Rick spooned the peach yoghurt into her mouth as best he could but he knew he’d need to feed her more than one carton to get that amount in her tummy. She seemed incapable of chewing and swallowing properly. Her tongue moved forward each time she opened her mouth, pushing the light orange gook out over her lips and down her chin. It didn’t help that she wouldn’t stay still. She fidgeted throughout, twisting her head and body. Luckily Rick had already done her hair up in pig-tails to keep it from getting messy like her face. He hadn’t bothered with a bib since she wore no shirt to be protected. He could clean off her breasts after the meal.

When Sara was done with two cartons Rick moved onto Penny. He didn’t bother cleaning her up since the main meal was still to come. In any case Penny was tougher to feed than Sara. She didn’t even like being fed half the time and would whine and blow raspberries at him the whole time. By the time she was done Rick needed to gather a wet washcloth and clean the yoghurt from her hair and hands before she spread it further.

It was as he was sitting exasperated before the now mostly clean big baby that his cell phone rang. He dropped the washcloth as soon as he saw the number on the caller ID. It was his old boss, Henry Mortinson.

Rick punched the answer button instantly. “This is Dobson,” he answered.

“Rick, it’s Henry, we have a situation down here. I can’t give you details here. You need to come in... now.”

“Well I’m a bit busy at the moment sir, y’know I can’t just leave these two alone.”

“There’s an agent on the way to watch them for you while you’re gone. He should be there in ten minutes. You should be ready to go by then.”

Rick was shocked by the urgency in Henry’s voice. He’d always known the man to be cool and collected even in the most dangerous situations. It really unnerved him.

“I’ll be there asap sir.”

“Good,” Henry barked and the line abruptly went dead.

Rick cleaned up Sara as best he could and carried both girls to their playpen. Well it wasn’t really a playpen so much as a play-room. He’d just covered the walls in cushions, removed any sharp or dangerous objects, anything small enough to be choked on and filled it with plush toys and Fisher Price baby toys. He secured the girls in the room and got them playing with some toys. Then the doorbell rang. The babysitter was here, and that meant it was time for Rick to be leaving his world of domestic tranquillity and returning to something much more dangerous.