Paul smiled at Kevin as he laid in the hospital bed with one child in each arm. He looked annoyed and miserable at the same time and Paul couldn't help but tease him a bit.
"Well... at least you got those triplets... albeit in a strange way."
Kevin gave him a hard glare but looked at the twins in the crook of either arm. With the other boy technically born on the same day, Paul was right and he had had a weird set of triplets. He just hoped it would be the last time he would be pregnant. The nurse came in and grabbed up the two boys to take them back to the examination room. Raya watched her take her brothers away and got up to go to her father.
"Daddy, I have so many brothers now!"
He just smiled, exhausted and mentally drained. The whole transformation thing took a toll on him as well as almost immediately having to have his twins when he got to the hospital. As Paul had promised, no one disturbed them. Kevin was sure he had threatened the staff on pain of jail for life if they attracted anyone to the predicament at hand.
"I went ahead and asked them to get a sample of your blood so they could look into your biological makeup." Kevin turned his head at that. "I was wondering why that guy said you were the 'perfect guinea pig' and my friend Henry got some information from Mike and Amy about your body. I'm having them run tests."
Kevin nodded and yawned, ready to have a nice little nap.
"I'll take Raya home and give you some privacy. Dear god, if you get kidnapped again I'm going to have to put a homing device on you, okay?" Kevin gave a smile. "Just try not to get taken again."
"Bad people keep finding him, Mr. Paul." Raya said, defending her father.
"I know, sweetie, it's called a joke. I know Kevin can't help it." he said as they walked out.
Kevin had to agree that it was starting to get a little comical at how often he was kidnapped. For now, though, Paul had placed two officers outside of his door who would monitor the flow of people. Kevin just hoped they were trustworthy cops and not working with someone else. He seemed to run into shady people all the time.

***************************

The next day, the nurse was showing Kevin how to properly feed his first son when the doctor came in.
"Hello, Kevin, I'm Dr. Berkshaw. Your guardian asked me to do a test on your blood to see if we could figure out what's going on here." Kevin nodded a little. "I have some interesting news."
She looked at the nurse and she left, leaving Kevin to struggle with the baby. He didn't get to take care of Raya when she was born, Mike and Amy doing that until she was old enough to do everything by herself, so this was the first time he was having to do this. The baby made a noise and Kevin tried to hold him properly. Dr. Berkshaw walked over and moved him around.
"Here, that might help."
Kevin nodded and continued feeding the baby as he looked up at Dr. Berkshaw in expectation.
"So we found out that your biological makeup is... very interesting. It looks like what Professor Jenub was saying had a deeper meaning than we anticipated. Your cells seem to almost be like dual-cells." Kevin turned his head. "It's a little complicated to explain but I'll try. When you are conceived, your body starts to produce what's called stem cells and then kind of inject them with coding as to what they will be doing. The coding is what tells a cell to become a foot instead of a hand or a fingernail instead of a liver. With your cells though, it's almost like it carries a Trojan stem cell within the cell."
What's a Trojan? Kevin asked, holding up his writing pad.
"It has to do with Greek mythology. The city of Troy was overtaken by the enemy when they built a large horse and hid some men inside. They acted like they had retreated and the Trojans pulled the horse inside as a victory trophy. That night, though, the hidden Greeks crawled out of the horse and laid siege to Troy, conquering it. When people use it nowadays it has come to mean any trick that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected place, hiding behind something trustworthy."
A wolf in sheep's clothing?
"Kind of but it's on a deeper level than that. It essentially means the same thing but one kind of refers more to a person than a thing." Kevin nodded and the baby let go of the bottle, done with his meal. Kevin pulled him up to burp him as he nodded for her to go on. "In this instance, your cells carry a Trojan stem cell within them and if something activates it, it allows your body to do incredible things, like carry children."
Kevin wrote on his notepad awkwardly. So the stem cells make me be able to do a bunch of stuff?
"Essentially, from what Mike and Amy explained, you really are the best guinea pig for anyone in the scientific field of study. Your body will absorb whatever formula is made and can be tested on many different levels. You could be used for medical advancement to find cures for illnesses, you could be used for experimentation of certain things, you could be used for biological research... so much can be gained from you and your body is malleable enough to do it with. Professor Jenub said that you were rewritten, reprogrammed, right? That's what you had written out."
"Uh huh."
"You were kidnapped when you were eight and found when you were eighteen... so that means the mad scientist had a decade to splice and hash your cells into what we see now. Now, as for activation, we're not sur,,e but what we do know is that there is something that activates the stem cell and enables it to do the function of whatever the formula is asking of it. In the case with your pregnancies, it allowed your body to harbor a child. In the case of Professor Jenub's formula, it allowed you to harbor a child as well as have a rapid pregnancy. This half-serum he had for your first baby seemed to only progress the growth to term... In the case of Mike and Amy, they didn't know what activated the stem cells and just injected you with whatever they made up. That being said, the creature Paul said you turned into was a result of having some of the active agent in whatever serum caused the monster inside your cells already, sitting dormant but still producing results. It would explain your ability to growl and snarl, your dexterity and strength. Either when they made the baby or when Professor Jenub injected you with his serum, it fully activated the stem cells and allowed you to turn into that thing."
Kevin cradled his son in his arms as he went to sleep and made a face.
"Freak." He said softly.
Dr. Berkshaw smiled a little. "No, sweetheart, you're not a freak. You've been used and abused by people trying to capitalize on the way your body was made. Admittedly, anyone of science would want to have you as their guinea pig just because you're able to give so many answers in a quick setting and on a human, where the answers would be 75% more accurate than on an animal. I understand the want."
Kevin sighed, wishing he wasn't so 'desirable'. They could have the stupid Trojan stem cells if they wanted. He didn't want them and he definitely didn't care how valuable he was to the scientific community. He was still Kevin, a human.
"I do have some good news though." Kevin looked up. "We might be able to get you to speak properly. Although very softly, you'll still be able to have a voice." Kevin turned his head in curiosity. "We decided to check on what exactly was causing your voice problems and found that your vocal cords are tight. When you talk, your vocal cords need to be loose to enable all the sounds to be given properly, be able to expand. Yours, though, are tight like violin strings. Probably from the strains of your capture." He nodded. "But, if we get you into speech therapy, they might be able to give you some exercises to stretch those vocal cords out and let you talk a little better."
Kevin smiled brightly and Dr. Berkshaw did too.
"I thought you might like that. You're a very smart boy, Kevin. You taught your daughter how to speak even though you couldn't and taught her how to read and write. I think it's time you get a bit of TLC for you as well."
TLC?
"Tender loving care."
He nodded and yawned, tired again.
"Here, I'll take him back to the nursery. You should be able to get out soon so rest up."
He nodded and fell asleep almost immediately after she left.

********************

"Okay, I got these onesies and these onesies. I wasn't sure what you wanted." Paul said, holding up a descending hanger of onesies on each hand.
One set had tiny animals on it and the other had trucks and stuff. Kevin pointed to the animals and Paul nodded.
"Good, animals. I thought so, but you know." He started taking the onesies off the hangers. "By the way, you need to name these kids. It's annoying calling them One, Two, and Three."
"I wanna name one!" Raya said, looking at her brothers over the table. "Daddy, can I name one?"
Kevin made a face but if she came up with something halfway decent then maybe...
"Pah." He said. Paul looked over as he held up his notepad. I already know one name.
"Oh?"
Donald.
Paul smiled. "I think that's a great name."
"I wanna name this one Bwake." She said, pointing at one of them.
"Blake?"
"Uh huh!"
Paul looked at Kevin. "You like Blake?"
Kevin shrugged. It was better than what he thought she was going to say.
"Wait! I don't want Bwake! I want Dywan!"
"Dylan?"
What about Blake Dylan?
"I like that. So we got Donald and Blake."
"And Raya!"
"And Raya... hmm. You should give the last boy a kind of obscure name since Raya's name isn't exactly normal."
"Kye."
"Kye?" Kevin nodded. "I kind of like that... Raya, Donald, Blake, and Kye."
Kevin nodded but then turned his head a little.
"Pah." Paul looked up. "Name?" he said, pointing to himself.
"Kevin..." he said with a funny look.
He shook his head and grabbed his notepad.
Kevin ______?
Paul looked at him and smiled.
"Drows, of course. That's my last name."
Kevin was surprised at the answer and wanted to cry. In fact, he did, silently. The first person to ever treat him well as Don but Paul was a close second and now he wanted him to have his last name like he was his own son? He knew Donald would have done the same thing if he had lived, but knowing Paul would do it too just was too much. He wiped his tears and tried not to make any noises.
Raya looked up and saw her dad was crying.
"Mr. Paul, Daddy's crying."
Paul looked up as Kevin wiped his nose. He smiled and looked back at Raya.
"He's happy. Those are tears of joy."
Kevin held up his notepad. Even with all these kids? Even though I'm a walking victim? Even... even though I can turn into that thing?
Paul finished dressing the boys and told Raya to keep an eye on them for a second as he took Kevin's hand in his.
"In regards to the kids, yes, of course. Will it be a bit crowded? Yeah... I might have to find a bigger place. As for you being walking victim, I'm hoping that it stops now. I won't let them take you anymore and I'm going to tell them all that if they want to try, they will have to come through me. The monster thing... well... as long as you don't turn into it and destroy the house it's the lesser of the evils I think."
Kevin nodded slightly as Paul lifted his head back up to him.
"You come with a lot of baggage, kid, that much is true. But I wouldn't take anything else in the world than for you and your kids to stay with me as if you were my own family. You just know that. Besides, my girlfriend already thinks of you as my kid and that if we get married you would be her stepchild." Kevin smiled. "So stop moping, Kevin Drows: we're going home."
Kevin grinned and they finished getting the boys ready for leaving.

**********************

As they left the hospital, Kevin was overjoyed with knowing he was going to be part of a family. Sure, most of it was his kids, but they would love him and he would love them and Paul would love them all.
"Excuse me, are you Kevin?"
Kevin stopped and swallowed hard. Don't turn around. Don't turn around. You might get kidnapped again. Leave it alone...
"Hey, are you Kevin?"
Kevin just couldn't help himself and turned slightly as a nurse held out an envelope to him. He let out the breath he was holding in.
"Someone dropped this off at the front desk for you. I forgot to give it to Dr. Berkshaw to give to you."
Kevin took the envelope gingerly and nodded at her, bustling quickly with Donald in his arms to where Paul was waiting.
"What happened? You scared me for a second." Kevin held up the envelope. "Oh, okay. Get in the car before you're spirited away from me. Here, give Don to me so I can strap him in."
Kevin did and got in the front seat of the small SUV, opening the letter.

************************

Don't get all high and mighty, Guinea Pig.
You may have the police on your side, but your body is a prize to anyone with a dream. We will find you. We may not act on it for a long time, but we will take you again. You belong to science and you always will.
Never forget that, Kevin.
Never forget what you were made for.
Never forget that you will never be safe, you will never be alone, and you will never be free.

**************************

Kevin licked his lips softly, his breathing getting tight.
"Daddy? What's that?"
Raya pulled him from his fears and he smiled at her.
"Note."
"From who?"
Kevin thought for a moment but smiled a little, crumbling it. I'd take all the chances in heaven that God will allow even if the demons of Hell might take me again. I can't live in constant fear. I have things to protect and people who love me. I won't let this consume me anymore.
"No one."
Raya smiled and Paul got into the driver's seat.
"Alright, let's head home."
Kevin nodded. "Mmm." Home...

A/N: thank you all so very much for tuning it to this story. the support has been great! i appreciate every comment! if you'd like to see more of a certain type of story, just let me know and I'll try to get it up here.