Kevin wasn't sure how long it had been since he was stuck in the basement of Amy and Mike, but it was long enough for Raya to grow before his eyes. She had just been a tiny baby, needing him almost constantly, then she was scooting around the floor, then crawling and walking. A year... Kevin thought, remembering Don talking about her growing and how fast it would be. Kevin didn't believe him when he had told him about it, but being stuck in the basement and sometimes not seeing his little girl for weeks on end, he understood what Don meant now.
The door opened and Kevin looked up. He tried not to lift his head up too quickly, for he had become nauseous due to lack of food and the weird things Amy and Mike injected into his stomach. He wasn't sure what they were doing... It was Mike this time and he had Raya with him, helping her down the stairs as she took them one step at a time. Raya saw Kevin through the spindles first and her gray eyes widened in delight.
"Dah!" she cried out, pointing to him.
"That's right. That's your Daddy." Mike said sweetly to her, although it made Kevin even more nauseous to hear him talk to her like that.
He knew Mike was nothing like what he appeared. Once they got to the bottom step, Raya wobbled her way over to Kevin and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. He hugged her with his only free arm and kissed her cheek. He touched her tiny curls and smiled lovingly at her. He missed her and wanted her to stay with him but he knew that Mike and Amy wouldn't allow it. One day they will abandon me from Raya's memory and she will never remember I exist... he thought solemnly. He looked up at Mike, knowing that he wasn't just being kind and letting Raya visit him.
He wanted something. They always wanted something.
"Do you feel anything different today?" he asked Kevin with a pensive expression.
Kevin shoot his head no but touched his stomach. Mike jutted out his chin.
"You feel sick?" Kevin nodded. "That's a good sign..."
Kevin frowned and motioned for a piece of paper. Mike obliged him and Kevin shakily wrote on it.
Those shots and me not eating is what's making me sick. What exactly are you trying to do?
Mike took the note as Raya still clung to her father's neck.
"It's no concern of yours on what we are trying to do. You just do what we say and let us do what we want to you or Raya-"
Kevin grabbed a hold of his daughter to brace her for impact as he lurched to Mike. He knew he would scare her, but he would never let these people use his daughter so easily. Kevin would gnaw off his own hand to escape to make sure his daughter was safe and away from these two wackos. With the chain attached to him, he could do nothing but threaten, but at least they knew he wasn't screwing around.
Mike smiled. "I thought that might get your attention. That being said, don't try to understand what's going on. Let us do that. If you want Raya to be safe and sound, then I suggest you take whatever the hell we want to put in you and not complain."
"Dah?" Raya said, touching his cheeks with her tiny hands.
Kevin looked at her as she looked at him questioningly, her eyes asking why he was so tense and alert. Kevin sat back and kissed her forehead, giving her an Eskimo kiss. She giggled and Kevin glared daggers back at Mike, motioning for him to return the paper. He did and he moved Raya so he could write what he needed to.
You won't get any results if you don't let me at least eat. Even my first captor fed me during his experiments.
Mike took it and made a face. "I'll bring it up to Amy. Don't get your hopes up."
Kevin rolled his eyes as Mike headed out. Raya started to follow him when he stopped her.
"No, no, no; you stay here with Daddy."
Kevin looked at him as he smiled cruelly.
"Oh, did we forget to mention that we aren't going to take care of your brat anymore? If you thought so, I'm sorry you did. We weren't going to abandon her completely but now that she can walk and do most things for herself, she's a nuisance to our work. She's yours, so you can take care of her."
Mike trudged up the stairs as Raya tried to crawl up them as well. Kevin really couldn't say anything but he didn't want her to get hurt. He made a noise that startled her and Kevin shook his head 'no'. Raya looked up the stairs and then at her father as he motioned to her. She stood back up and waddled to him as he pulled her close to his chest. This was going to prove very difficult. He couldn't speak and neither could Raya. She could barely walk... She could say some gibberish, but nothing much else, and Kevin could barely squeak. Between the two of them, nothing could get accomplished.

A couple hours later, the door opened and Raya perked up. Kevin was asleep against the wall and she crawled off of him to meet whoever it was coming down the stairs. She leaned over to two small steps and saw Amy's feet.
"Mi, Mi!" she said, only able to say the last of Amy's name.
"Well hello, sweetness." Amy said softly.
Raya held her hands up for Amy to take her but she whisked past the little girl and set a tray on the table. She walked over to Kevin and grabbed his cheeks in one hand, making him wake up as he stared at her.
"Mike told me you told him you were nauseous."
Kevin opened his mouth and pointed to it. Amy frowned.
"What the hell does that mean?"
Kevin pointed to his stomach and then back at his open mouth and then pointed down, a determined expression on his face. Amy was not amused and so she smacked Kevin hard. Kevin was sure she tried to put as much oomph into it as possible. It was a twinkling blow to his sight.
"You don't have to authority to demand things, Little Boy." She snarled. Kevin just glared at her. "We decided that we will feed you a little more than we were, now that you mention it. We will also be bringing Raya's food as well. It's high time you do your own parenting."
Kevin wanted to throttle this woman. Acting like he left Raya to be with them... This bitch is surely mistaken. he thought. He didn't cuss often in his head but Mike and Amy got into some pretty extreme arguments, where accusations and very not nice words were thrown at each other. It worried him for Raya's sake more than anything. Even so, if he could have taken Raya and lived on the streets with her, it would have been better than being here where they were both trapped by crazy people... again. I have a bad habit of getting myself kidnapped... he mused for a second.
"Anyway, she gets underfoot too much and we have a lot of things we are trying to accomplish."
Kevin motioned for paper and Amy got him some.
Can I ask for something for Raya?
She read it. "Like what?"
I can't talk. Is there a way to help Raya?
Amy thought for a moment. "Do you have any knowledge of what things are?" Kevin turned his head. "Like are able to show her or draw her what a word might mean?"
Kevin nodded enthusiastically, seeing a small glimmer of hope. Amy moved her mouth to the side and pulled out a key. She walked over to his shackle and unlocked it to his surprise. He watched it clang to the floor and looked at her in confusion.
"You can't talk, that's true, but Raya is quite smart. There is no reason to waste her own tongue away just because that guy tortured you to muteness. I have rules that go along with this newfound freedom."
Kevin nodded quickly, willing to do anything to keep the shackle off and be able to make Raya better than him. Amy crouched down in front of him.
"One: you and Raya are not to leave the confines of the floor. You stay here, don't even pass the landing. Two: we are still going to experiment on you. You must cooperate fully and without a fight. If you try to cause problems we will go after Raya." Kevin frowned but nodded. "Three: if I find you trying to teach her how to escape or how to say certain things, I will put you in shackles again –two this time- and then I will throw Raya in an orphanage, where you will never find her again. Last but not least, four: you will give yourself to us as a guinea pig of science. Not just with what we are trying to do now, but anything further. If this is a success, we will need someone to be our trial. We won't touch Raya in any way."
Kevin didn't want to agree to it but if it would help keep Raya away from them, he would endure it. He nodded and she smiled.
"Good. Now I have some movies you guys can watch and you can teach her that way. I'll set up a TV down here so you can have full control."
She turned and grabbed the tray she had had before as Kevin stood up, stretching his arms and body. Amy held out the tray to him.
"This is your food. When you are done, set it on the landing."
She left and he sat down again, looking at the food on the plate. He smiled big and also found a little plate that had food edible and easy for Raya.
"Ah..." he called as best he could, which sounded more like a burp than a name.
Raya looked over at him and pointed to the food. She came over and they ate together for the very first time. He was surprised at how easy everything went but he knew that Mike would not be pleased and he would have to hear their yelling and screaming through the vent again. Maybe I can convince them to give me a mattress with a blanket... he thought as Raya held up a Cheerio for him to eat. He opened his mouth and let her stick it in before he acted like he got her fingers. She giggled and he smiled.

As expected, the yelling started at night, when Amy revealed what she had done. Kevin really wished they would bring some blankets because it was really cold in the basement. Raya was shivering and he held her close to try and keep her warm, but he was shivering too. He was getting used to the screaming and yelling, almost like a person who lives next to an airport or busy road get used to the sounds, and he would have liked to snuggle in with the dull muffle of abusive speech in his ears. A thought suddenly occurred to him and he turned his head in the dark. I wonder if Paul has been looking for me. he thought. Then he shook his head. No... there's no reason to look for me. Don took me in because he was nice and Paul liked me because Don did... since Don's dead, he probably forgot about me. He looked down at Raya, seeing she had given up and fallen asleep. At least for Raya's sake, I hope he is...

~*~AMY AND MIKE'S ROOM~*~
"Do you really think that just because he's mute doesn't mean he won't try to escape?"
"I told you that I put in stipulations that would make him not want to escape. All you have to do is threaten that little girl and he'll crumble in your hands. Besides, we haven't gotten anything from the notes and no successes. But, I think by feeding him and making him comfortable, his body won't be so taxed and thinking it needs to try and survive, allowing the experiment to be more plausible."
Mike sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"This is proving way more troubling than it should be, Amy."
"We have to do this. We need to show the world that we are not crazy and that we can do this. We'll get our lives back and then... well... we can do anything."
"They'll never let us back in. After all of this..."
"They will never find out about this. All they need to see if results and if we have Kevin, we have a guinea pig. If we have Raya, we have incentive to make him do whatever we want him to do. And with that, we have a prototype to whatever we want to accomplish."
"-an in memoriam plaque dedicated to Officer Donald Brody for the bravery he exhibited in the line of duty."
"Officer Drows, whatever became of the child Officer Brody took into custody? The one that had been missing for ten years and was found where that mad man was doing grotesque experiments on him?"
"Yeah, the little freak boy." Someone said more serious than that statement should have been said.
"Did he birth those impossible children?"
"Have you heard from him?"
Paul held out his hands and looked at the small crowd of paparazzi sadly.
"Unfortunately, I don't know the whereabouts of Kevin, nor how he is fairing. I'm sure he would have birthed the children by now, considering he was quite far along when Officer Brody had him. It was a solemn day when Officer Brody was killed and unfortunately, Kevin had been there when they showed us the body and we quite broken by the experience. He took off and I haven't been able t find him since."
"Are you actually looking for him?"
Paul glared at the women. "Yes. I am."
"Turn that shit off, Amy."
"Mike..."
"He can't find us. That guy will never find Kevin."