"Now, I don't want to have to use this on you but if you try anything, you'll leave me no choice."

Adrian mutters and jolts his head in the direction of the taser resting inside the right pocket in his pants. Eventually, he settles himself down comfortably on the velvet sofa and drags over the small coffee table just out of arms reach to place the yellow folder on.

"This photo was taken at least eight or ten years before my mother set the EDEN Project in motion. They met at University, the two of them were some of the smartest there. At first, their relationship started off as a competition, Miss Chaucer wanted to be rewarded with the right to go to White House and show the president a new, advanced technique that could save millions of people's lives. Varia, the girl, was doing the same. However, they tied. Of course, Earleen hadn't figured out how to get immortality from DNA Harvesting just yet. Her idea was merely a way to enhance people's defences against sicknesses or contagious diseases or allow a mentally challenged person the gift of being able to read and write better. Her idea was innocent back then."

"So what? Miss Chaucer wasn't a complete and utter monster during B.E.F? What a surprise!" Nila sarcastically exclaims but gets shushed by Adrian.

"The president held a meeting where the two would show off their grand ideas in front of him whilst numerous special forces guards stand around the room and watch. She told me it was pretty nerve wrecking. At the time, the president was a man whose name was Charles Hugh Truman. From what Earleen told me he was quite impressed with her and Varia's work, though only one could be picked as the best and instructed Miss Chaucer to send her ideas down to the number one advanced hospital in New York to be studied and perhaps even set into motion! However, Earleen, didn't like that. She wanted to keep her idea for herself, not hand it over to some snobby scientists and doctors in New York and walked out with Varia. Strangely enough and despite their quarrels in the past, Earleen and Varia had grown more and more acquainted to each other. Varia, my soon to be mother was also impressed and flattered that she had the chance to make billions of dollars yet turned it down. From there on, they continued seeing each other. They dated for two years and finally decided to have a child, me. In 2034, that was made possible by Doctor Phillips who implanted a fertilised egg inside of my mother after choosing my genetics and how I'd look. If they hadn't, I probably would've looked entirely different. It sounds freakish, I  know, however, they really wanted to have a baby and because they were the same sex, it wouldn't be able to happen on it's own."

"Skip past a few years later and the president, he mysteriously died, the press claimed that drugs were responsible for his death, others said a heart attack was his downfall. Either way, they needed a new president and because of all the people Earleen helped with her DNA Harvesting, votes came flooding in when she stated that she was going in the race for presidency. She won and became the first female president of what Eden was once called, America. That's when the power started to get to her head.."

------------------------

"Should we make our love public yet?" Varia murmurs blissfully in Earleen's ear before walking around to face her lover with a joyous smile.

But all she's met with is a frantic, worried expression.

"Varia, ever since the 'baby boom' you know how it's been for..people like us. They'll, they'll shame us and I don't want to lose the people who voted for me to take on presidency."

Varia couldn't be any less disappointed, her heart sinks probably deeper than the Titanic. "So what? You're saying you're ashamed of us? You've got everything, everything! We're living in a wonderful hous-mansion, we've got Adrian, you've got a job that many would literally kill for! They can't take it away from you," she pleads, desperation in her voice.

Varia asked for their relationship to finally become public five times in the last two months, however, every time she does, Earleen turns her down. It's starting to get tiresome. Adrian's crying echoes through the hallways in their house and out to the balcony by the ocean which Earleen was originally sitting staring out into the mesmerising ocean. The sea seems to sparkle and the ocean is a rainbow of blues, teals and turquoises that blend in harmony with each other against the soft, almost white sand. Which is nicely accompanied by a romantic sunset. Tall palm trees dance gracefully against the gentle sea breeze. With a sigh, Earleen forces herself up from the hammock she was sitting upright in and runs a hand through her beach, wavy hair. Her hazel eyes looking into Varia's with an apologetic look. She starts to walk inside to attend to her child though Varia stops her in her tracks.

"I'll get him," she mumbles in a displeased tone.

"Shhh, shh," Varia cooes, her luscious brown curls falling over her shoulders and over her eyes as she struggles to pick up the distressed baby. Not even a single hair has grown on the infants head just yet and his hands are still the size of Varia's thumb. She hates to see him so sad but her short arms can't seem to reach the bottom of the crib. She grunts and doubles herself over the long crib to get to Adrian.

Earleen watches, leaning against the doorframe as she tries to stifle a laugh forming in her throat as Varie struggles  but accidentally lets out a chuckle, earning a furious glare from Varia. Eventually, Earleen decides to give Varia a helping hand and pulls little Adrian out of his light baby-blue painted crib. The crib also has a mobile attached to it, which spins multi-coloured giraffes, elephants and goofy looking monkeys to the sound of a sweet lullaby. In Earleen's eyes, the crib looks old and..well, old. However, Varia insisted on getting a traditional crib, not those fancy pansy ones she'd see on the shelves in stores that come with robot nurses. And usually when it comes to Varia, nine times out of ten, she's forced to oblige. But on this one thing, Earleen's not going to back down on.

Varia's skeptical sea green eyes meet Earleen's and they seem to share a moment of telepathic communication as Earleen sets Adrian against her shoulder, gently patting his back.

"I can't do that V. At least not now," she trails off for a couple of moments until her eyes suddenly shoot back in Varia's direction and Varia can swear there's a tiny little floating lightbulb dangling above Earleen's head. "And I don't have everything, not yet," she continues, which leaves Varia incredibly confused.

"What do you mea-"

"Just follow me," Earleen urges and walks out of Adrian's room with him looking over her shoulder, casually trying to devour the cotton material of Earleen's teal coloured sweater.

"Remember Doctor Phillips? The one that helped with the pregnancy?" she asks, keeping her head straight as she strolls into her and Varia's newly renovated office.

A few boxes are strewn across the room here and there and the wide, spacious office is cramped with white boards, chairs, piles of paperwork and folders and all sorts of old memoirs in the various boxes that they still have left to unpack. Earleen dodges past the towers of furniture and personal belongings to her desk, where multiple photos, test results and paperwork are scattered across.

"Well, when I informed him about my DNA Harvesting method, he got so excited and started rambling on about how when he was in university two years ago, he was immensely interested in genetics. He claimed that this idea, once crossed his mind but when he confided with his professor, he thought Doctor Phillips was insane. But now I've finally done it! However, his idea, it wasn't about improving our immune systems or anything like that. No! It was about something much more controversial...immortality!" Earleen exclaims and shoves a few photographs, accompanied by results and analysis' on how far Earleen and Doctor Phillips have gotten with their research.

"You can't possibly be serious?" Varia questions, throwing her fiancé a smirk but then she realises just how serious Earleen's expression is and her smirk disappears. "You are?"

Somewhere. Somewhere way back in her mind, a little red flag pops out, with tiny little text saying, "Danger!" on it.

"If what you are saying is possible at this time in technology then...you, it just. It can't happen! Giving people immortality would overpopulate the world, Earl. We've already got seven billion!"

Earleen smiles and stares off into the distance, out the windows that line the office wall which shows off a miraculous view of the beach. The sun just peeking it's head over the multiple hills on the horizon. "But just imagine it! No death, no sickness, no crime. No one would have a reason for it! It would be a peaceful, worry-free society."

"But-" Varia starts to contradict but gets abruptly cut off.

"It would be brilliant," Earleen states whilst laughing excitedly and Adrian starts to look grumpy from Earleen jiggling him up and down so Varia cautiously and gently takes Adrian in her arms.

"And what do you expect to gain from this?" she asks.

Earleen doesn't open her mouth however, her eyes tell a different story when she turns her head to look into her fiancé's eyes. Varia can almost see the flashing lights and red carpet events and noble prize presentations rolling through Earleen's head like a movie and a displeasing acidic taste settles in Varia's mouth.

"I'm not quite sure, but I think it's going to spectacular. But hey, don't worry," Earleen murmurs reassuringly whilst settling a hand on her lover's right cheek and her other hand against Adrian's back. "These are only experiments. Nothing more."

Skip past two years and the society that Earleen had always dreamed of was coming in to play. When Earleen saw on the news about the Russian nuclear bomb being deployed. She called it a 'opportunity'. An opportunity? Millions of people dying, an 'opportunity?'. Varia is now more than just worried, she's distressed. Distressed for the wellbeing of Earleen, of Adrian's mother and of her fiancé. She fell in love with a woman that wanted to help others. This isn't her.

One night, she decides she's stayed quiet and patient in the shadows long enough.