Chapter Text
Ethan had no idea how everything had gotten so terrible.
One minute he was a simple married working man, a system engineer who had no idea just how much his life was going to change. Then the Baker family and Eveline happened as he went to find his lost wife and that was the end of all normalcy for him. After the Bakers, they had tried so hard to go back to being a normal married couple, had even started a family, but he knew it wouldn't ever end for them. He knew that Louisiana would always be there in their minds.
Then Chris had come with him with this news.
"What are you talking about? Mia is at home." He said, holding Rose in his arms as Chris had requested he bring her with him.
"No, that's not her Ethan. I'm sorry but the woman who is at your house is a woman named Miranda she's able to mimic anyone or anything she wants so she's pretending to be Mia."
The words seemed to hit him hard. If the woman in his home wasn't his wife, if this was the truth then why was she there? As if reading his mind Chris looked down at Rose and spoke again.
"We think Rose is the one she is truly after. Have you noticed any clingy behavior towards Rose, any alarming signs?"
When he now thought about it, Ethan had noticed that Mia's behavior had been a bit odd the last few months. The creepy Bedtime stories, the constant clinginess over their daughter, him waking up a few times to find Mia standing at Rose's crib. There was the outburst today when he had brought Rose with him as well, rather than leave her at home with her mother. Mia had looked furious, a horrifying look on her face that he hadn't seen since the Bakers.
He had dismissed this all as protectiveness over their one and only daughter. He had felt a certain comfort having her presence near him as well. After everything they had gone through, after what had happened with Eveline, he was able to dismiss the odd behavior.
Now he realizes, looking down at his daughter that maybe he shouldn't have done that, maybe he should have questioned it more.
"Why, Chris?" He asked quietly, looking down at his daughter sleeping peacefully in his arms, "We were done with it all, we moved here and now this is happening."
"I'm sorry Ethan, I wish I could tell you it ends but I've been looking for that End since '98." He said quietly, reaching a hand out to place it on his arm firmly.
Nodding firmly, Ethan looked from the baby up to Chris, to his friend, and he saw the same tired look he always saw when Chris had brought up his past. He spoke about it vaguely before explaining in small details just some of the many horrors he had experienced himself from that first incident as a Stars officer in the mansion.
He supposed he had it easy compared to all the horrors that Chris had to encounter, all the people he had to see die right in front of him but it still didn't make him feel any better. He was a simple man with a simple life until everything happened, until his wife had gone missing only for her to show up again three years later.
He just wanted a break that was the reason Mia and him pushed past everything, he ignored the lies that had not only almost ruined their marriage but had almost killed them both. It was why he had pushed past the anger he had over her lying because he at least had his wife back, the woman back he had mourned for three years before that message came through, it was why they had Rosemary.
"What do we do? If Mia isn't actually Mia if she's that Miranda you say she is, then where is the actual Mia?" Ethan didn't know if he wanted to know the answer despite asking it.
"We have men searching around for her, but so far no signs. We think that Miranda took her somewhere and hid her away when she took her place in your house. We think that if the real goal is Rose then she thought that looking like her mother was the best way to soothe her," Chris started standing up and looking down at Rose, the baby that Chris had become an uncle to in the last few months since she was born, his goddaughter, "My men are currently dealing with Miranda, and you, Ethan, are going to take Rosemary and we will relocate you again to a different location at least until this is all dealt with."
Placing Rose back in her stroller Ethan stood as well, looking at the peaceful expression she wore as she slept. "Okay, if you think this is what's best for Rose."
"I will keep searching for Mia, but Ethan, I would look at the worst-case scenario. You know I don't want to be right but If Miranda had no use for her then.." His words trailed off but Ethan understood clearly what he was saying. If Miranda didn't need her then she would have killed her, after all having Mia show up again could completely ruin her plan if she was pretending to be her.
"Thank you for telling me this Chris." Ethan said softly before heading past Chris out to the front of the facility where there had already been a van waiting for transit.
He felt a tug on his heart thinking about Mia. Mia who never truly returned from Louisiana, a part of her always left there just like a part of him would always be there. No matter where she was now, alive or dead he knew that the only thing in the world that mattered anymore was getting Rose somewhere safe.
Getting her strapped in and sitting down beside he heard the front car door shut before the van started to move away to their new destination, to another new home. Looking over he felt his lips curl into a small smile at the peaceful sleeping baby happily smiling in her sleep, feeling himself relax for only a split second before hearing a loud crash, and then his world was suddenly darkness.