A black car sat in Ty's driveway.

The Prominent Agents didn't have the decency to park on the side of the road. Ty had to park on the side of the road of his own home. Paranoia mixed with elation mixed with nostalgia and complemented by anger. The car was a small issue, but with Jenn's disappearance, his job, and Sam's disappearance, it was one more thing piled on top of a large list.

Walking past the black car, he couldn't stop himself from kicking it. The kick was harder than he'd meant, and it dented the side door. Ty winced at the damage done, but after a second look, he was glad for it.

The first thing he heard in the house was Helia's quiet babbling. Damon had her on his lap, flashcards spread out before them on the kitchen table.

Damon met Ty's eyes, and Ty saw his little brother was trying (but not succeeding in) to cover up the terror he felt.

Ty glanced around the empty living room, and mostly empty kitchen.

"Where are they?"

He didn't need to elaborate on the context of "they".

Damon shook his head. "Vamanos. Y no vuelvas nunca." Let's go, and not come back.

Damon might as well have spoken Dutch for all the sense he made.

"What? Where the hell are they, Damon?"

Again, his brother shook his head. From his demeanor, Ty could tell Damon wasn't going to help Ty find the Agents. Though, his eyes gave him away when they flickered towards the hallway bedroom.

"They're in your room."

It wasn't a question. Ty said the words aloud more to confirm their validity. When Damon's terror shifted to panic, he knew he was on the right track. Helia sensed her uncle's discomfort, and she began to whimper in his arms.

"Come here, baby." Ty plucked his daughter from Damon's lap.

Her cries subsided, but didn't let up completely. She nuzzled her small face in Ty's shoulder. He smoothed the shirt on her back.

"Let's go to Uncle Damon's room."

"No!" Damon rushed to block Ty's path. "We can leave, right now. Don't go in there, please."

The level of desperation Damon exuded should have worried Ty, but worry wasn't in his nature. It was curiosity which prevailed in him, always, and it was curiosity which allowed him to override his sense of what was right at present.

A nag of sanity pressed him to ask, "Why? What's in that room?"

Damon swallowed a ball of spit before answering. "Something you don't need to see." He tilted his head toward Helia. "Something she doesn't need to see."

More abstract answers. If Damon had only been specific, Ty might have chosen differently.

With his free hand, he shoved his brother aside. He had to see what was in the room, even if he would regret it more than printing his double.

In his mind, several imagined scenarios played out:

Sam was in the room, dead.

Martine was in the room, dead.

Someone had to be dead for Damon to be so worked up. Maybe there was another Ty-double in the room, waiting to take over his life. The agents would haul away the real Ty, and hand his daughter over to the impostor.

At the last scenario, he stopped short of opening the bedroom door. Leaving sounded like a fine idea after all.

What if it's Sam, and she needs your help?

Ty took a deep breath and turned the doorknob.

He hadn't even opened the door all the way before it opened up from the other side.

"Ty?"

Even after hearing her voice and seeing her face, he couldn't believe it was her.

"Mommy!" Helia bounced from Ty's arms to Jennifer's.

Ty used his shock as an excuse to assess his wife. She was Jennifer, but she wasn't. Her hair, usually stringy, was thick and shiny. Her face, usually mottled and red from recent hangovers, was smooth, with a natural blush teasing her tan cheeks. Her eyes, usually dull, were bright, alert.

"What happened to you?" Ty edged inside of the room like it might fade away if he didn't.

He noticed Agent Crendan and Agent Zeemo standing near the window. He had forgotten about their summons. They were the reason he was here, the reason she was here.

"What is this?"

His question got swallowed up because Jennifer grabbed him for a hug. She didn't even smell the same. Although, she still felt the same. It was Jennifer. His wife was home.

Ty hugged her back, ignoring how odd it was their reunion was being presided over by two State Agents. Over Jenn's shoulder, he watched them. Agent Crendan's blue eyes were serene, a reflective surface allowing nothing past them. Agent Zeemo had his usual blank stare, but the look came less naturally to him. He was struggling with something.

Ty addressed him first. "Hey, asshole, you've had my wife this entire time? Since when did kidnapping become a State right?"

Zeemo didn't cringe, yet he did blink erratically. Ty was encouraged. Maybe one of the agents wasn't the tin man after all.

As if sensing weakness in her partner, Crendan answered for him. "State rights dictate that a citizen can be moved for Un-Diligent Conduct, something your wife was engaging in daily." To Jenn, "Will you please excuse us for a few minutes, Mrs. Benning? I believe your presence is creating an unnecessary emotional reaction."

Jenn removed herself form the tangle of Ty's arms. She kissed his cheek and walked out of the room. Ty protested, yelling for her to come back, to stay. She smiled at him, a smile that said I know why it's going to be okay but I can't tell you yet.

When she left the room, she didn't close the door. She sat at the table with Damon, Helia in her lap. Ty was glad she had remained within his view, and he knew she had done so purposefully. It was a smart, sweet gesture, which weren't traits inherent in Jennifer.

He shifted his attention to the agents. "What did you do to my wife, and where the hell is Sam?"

"One question at a time." Crendan said.

Zeemo answered the first question:

Jennifer was no longer an alcoholic drug user. She was also averse to infidelity, as previously she had taken part in such actions frequently. Ty flinched at the information. Though he had suspected Jenn's lies, he had never caught or asked her. Like most things about their eroding marriage, he had repressed it. Hearing confirmation of her betrayal stung his eyes with tears. Zeemo noticed, and he actually apologized. He had assumed Ty had known of his wife's friendly ways.

Agent Crendan frowned, taking advantage of her partner's pause to continue the explanation herself. She was more direct than Zeemo, and she went through Jenn's changes as quickly as she could.

"Jennifer believes she took part in a rehabilitation and therapy program. In reality, the real Jennifer couldn't handle relinquishing all drugs."

Real Jennifer?

Ty immediately flew to strike at whoever he could reach. Sensing the potential violence a second before it could occur, Zeemo positioned himself in front of Crendan. It took all of Zeemo's strength to hold Ty back as Crendan calmly went on speaking.

"We worked quickly to scan your wife's body, building a composite with our own modifications. This version of Jennifer is no longer drug dependent. She is your wife as nature intended, without all the environmental and mental corruptions."

"As nature intended!" Ty was yelling. "Nature intended for my wife to be alive, my real wife! You killed her, and tried to replace her with a thing. Get it out of my house!"

Above the clamor of the protests, Crendan ignored Ty's anguish. She was bound by her superiors to disclose all the particulars to Benning, and to accept whichever position he chose. It didn't matter what choice Benning made. Either way, the State would win.

Ty stopped struggling against Zeemo. He breath came hard, his cheeks wet with grief.

"Ty? Mi amor, que pasando?" Jennifer lingered in the doorway of the bedroom.

Helia was bubbling from the kitchen table, bouncing in her uncle's arms. She was visibly happier than she had been for weeks.

With every step Jennifer advanced into the room, Ty stepped back. Her bright eyes were full of concern.

"They didn't hurt me. They made me better by taking away my selfish drives. Now we can have a normal life, together."

He couldn't hear it. If he could have, he would have chuckled. All Ty fathomed was an animated kiosk walking towards him. He put out one arm to ward away the thing looming ever nearer.

"Por favor, esperar." Crendan's switched to Spanish fluidly. "Give us a few more minutes with your husband." Her voice was warm with life she rarely used.

Jennifer hesitated. She looked like she wanted to stay and plead with Ty, but she nodded.

"Close the door." Crendan commanded her.

Jennifer listened.

Once the door closed, Ty released a long exhale. Then, he remembered.

"No, I can't leave that thing alone with my child, I can't." He went to the door.

"Why is she any less human to you than Sam?"

Yes, why was Jenn less human than Sam? How was it he could so easily accept his own creation, but he couldn't accept a similar (and much improved) replica of his wife? They both blinked, breathed, and bled. They both had their own minds. What else did they need to make them human?

****

A/N: Jen is back, sort of. Her appearance circles us back to the overarching question throughout the story: what makes someone human?

Is an engineered person different from a naturally born person? Is a naturally born baby different from a baby obtained through in-vitro fertilization? (Sounds like a crazy question, but some have called such children unnatural and worse).

Click the adorable star, por favor :)