After retrieving her locket and a few other items from the Escher Vault, H.G. settled in an apartment in Rapid City, SD. This way she could be within a few hours of the warehouse, but not be at too great a risk of running into any of the warehouse agents.

H.G. was putting a few things away in her closet when she heard a noise in the apartment. She exited the closet carefully and grabbed the umbrella to use as a weapon. She crept into the living room when she heard someone shout "Mommy" and three little children ran up to her and hugged her legs.

H.G. was stupefied. Who were these children? How did they get into her apartment? Slowly she untangled the children from her legs and bent down to talk to them.

"What are you doing in my apartment?" she asked. "How did you get in here? Who are you? Where are your parents?"

The children looked at each other and then looked at her. Then one of them spoke up and asked "Where are we Mommy? Where's Mama? Did you rescue Christina?"

At that last question H.G.'s stomach dropped. What did these children know about Christina? She hadn't heard Christina's name since she was bronzed. The mention of her name brought her grief back to the surface. H.G. just stared at the children. They called her Mommy yet she knew that she hadn't had any more children after Christina. They resembled Christina somewhat from when Christina was younger, however they each had green eyes, their hair was slightly lighter than Christina's, and their skin was slightly darker than her own. They mentioned rescuing Christina and H.G. didn't quite know what to think. She wanted to hope, yet she was also afraid to hope. She had her hope dashed so many times before.

"Wha...Hmhmmm," she cleared her throat and then finally said, "I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about. I've never met any of you before. I don't know who your Mummy is. And... uhm...what... uhm... what is it that you were saying about rescuing my Christina?"

The children looked at each other and one said to the other, "Do you think this was a artifact?"

Another child said "I don know but I want Mama," and her eyes started to swell with tears. She ran to H.G. and wrapped her little body around her and cried "Where's Mama... I want Mama."

H.G. took the child in her arms and tried to calm her down. She rubbed slow circles on her back and said "shhh it's ok... shhh... shhhh. I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to figure it out. But in order for me to do that I need for you to help me. Do you think you can be a brave little girl and help me?"

The little girl nodded her head then buried her head into H.G.'s body as H.G. continued to soothe her.

"Alright," H.G. said, "Why don't we start with your names. What's your name darling?"

She mumbled something into H.G.'s chest. "I'm sorry I didn't catch that," H.G. said.

Finally the girl lifted her head, and looked at H.G. with her green teary eyes and said, "I'm Charlie," then she buried a thumb in her mouth. H.G. continued rubbing soothing circles on Charlie's back and said, "that's good, you're doing very well Charlie." Privately H.G. mused that Charlie was a bit of an odd name for a girl and thought that it must be an abbreviated form of Charlotte or Charlene.

Then H.G. turned to the other two girls and noted that Charlie and one of the other girls looked as if they could be identical twins. Charlie and her apparent twin both had straight hair that curled just a bit at the ends. The the third child on the other hand had a head full of wild untamed curls. Each of the children had big expressive green eyes.

"What about you two? What are your names?"

The curly headed one answered for them both and said, "I'm Sasha and she's Alex. Why don't you member us Mommy?"

H.G. was sure that she was not their mother but answered, "I believe that's something we'll just have to figure out together. Where did you last see your mother before you appeared in this apartment?"

Charlie answered, "You and Mama were at home and then you left to go to the past and rescue Christina. We were gunna stay with Aunt Leena at the Bed n Breakfast but then the bad men came so Grampa Artie took us to the Warehouse. We were tryin' to hide but then Sasha tripped and then we were here."

H.G. learned quite a few things with what Charlie said. These children were familiar with the Warehouse, so either they were sent here as a way to capture H.G. or an artifact was involved. H.G. doubted that the Regents would ever allow children to be used during a Warehouse mission so that just left the artifact. The only question now was whether these children were from an alternate dimension, from the future, or created via artifact. H.G. also wondered whether she (or some alternate version of herself) was somehow their mother like they claimed or if this was just some case of mistaken identity. Then there was also the "Mama" that was mentioned which was also a bit puzzling. Perhaps the children were accustomed to calling their Nanny "Mama."

Then H.G. thought about the "bad men" that Charlie spoke of and dread settled in the pit of her stomach. Old grief, guilt, and maternal instinct rose up when she thought of the "bad men" that had taken her daughter Christina's life. While she still had a difficult time accepting that these children could possibly be hers somehow, she was determined to do her best to protect them from ever meeting a fate similar to Christina's. Then she thought somberly that if she succeeded with her plans for the world then she herself would most likely be the instrument of these children's demise. After-all, if the world is thrown into a new Ice Age, then millions of children would die. She didn't like to think of herself as the instrument of death to billions of people; however, she also still believed that the world deserved a fresh start apart from the damage that was wrought by mankind.

H.G. felt conflicted; and that's not something she wanted to feel regarding her plans. Although nowhere in her plans did she think she would come across three little girls that called her "Mommy." She decided not to think on those plans too much at the moment. She had bigger things to worry about right now. Like for example, what to do with these girls that were looking to her to help them get back to their "Mommy" and "Mama."

"Is there any particular item in the Warehouse that you remember touching before you came here?"

Each of the girls shook their head. "No Mommy, we were going to go to your section in the Warehouse but then I tripped and I don't know what artifact I fell on before we got here," Sasha answered.

H.G. looked at each of the girls and asked "So how old are each of you?"

They each simultaneously said "five," then Sasha further explained "We're triplets Mommy."

Charlie untangled herself from H.G. and said "I'm hungry. Can I have some chicken nuggets Mommy?"

H.G. didn't know what chicken nuggets were but responded with "alright, let me get my shoes on and then we can go to one of the restaurants around here."

H.G. soon learned that it was a bad idea to take three 5 year olds to a restaurant. Things were fine at first, but as time wore on the children got more and more antsy. H.G. took the children to one of the restaurants that she liked to frequent for their soups and salads. H.G. was impressed when the girls proved their ability to read the menu without assistance. But the girls were upset when they didn't find chicken nuggets on the menu and they complained when none of the other options on the menu looked appealing to them.

Sasha started crying and Charlie joined in on the tantrum. "But I want chicken nuggets Mommy. You said we can have chicken nuggets."

"Darling they don't serve chicken nuggets here. But I assure you that the soup and salad is prepared very well. I'm sure that if you give it a chance you won't be disappointed."

"But I don't want a salad," Charlie cried. Sasha and Charlie were really getting loud in their cries and other customers were starting to take notice. H.G. didn't know how to respond. H.G. never really had to discipline Christina much because her governess had taken care of most of that. Of course there were the few times when Christina had been overly tired and everything just seemed to set her to crying. H.G. suspected that that was the case here with Charlie and Sasha and was just grateful that Alex wasn't joining in on their tantrum. Alex was distracted with a strange rectangular contraption in her hand. But then as H.G. was trying her best to calm Sasha and Charlie, Alex started to yank on H.G.'s sleeve and call "Mommy, Mommy" over and over again to try to get her attention.

"Just a minute Alex, I'll be right with you," H.G. said.

"But Mommy my phone isn't working. I tried to call Mama but it won't work."

Sasha and Charlie were still crying loudly and then Alex started to join in on the crying. "I want to talk to Mama," she cried, and then the cries just turned into a litany of "Mama," and "I want chicken nuggets," and "I don't want salad," and more "Mama, Mama, Mama," from all of the children.

One of the restaurant servers approached H.G. and said, "Ma'am I think it might be best if you step outside while you wait for the food. It will give the children a chance to cool off and won't disturb the rest of the customers."

H.G. was both angry and embarrassed. The nerve of the server asking her to leave as if he's never seen a crying child before. H.G. herded the children outside but that just made them more agitated screaming "No," "But I don't want to leave," "Okay, I'll be good," "I'll eat the salad Mommy, I don't want to go."

"Ma'am we'll have your food ready for you shortly," the server said as he was leading H.G. and the children outside to cool off.

It took H.G. a good seven minutes to calm their cries and reassure them that they were not leaving to go home hungry. They were just going to cool off for a while.

Then Sasha said, "After we're done cooling off and go inside, then can we maybe have chicken nuggets. Pleeeaaaaseeee" "Please, please, please," Charlie chimed in.

H.G. sighed exasperatingly. "They do not serve chicken nuggets here," she repeated for the Nth time. Then to stave off another tantrum she continued with, "But...we'll have to go to the store after we are finished here and if you all behave yourselves then we may get these...chicken nuggets...at the store if they're sold there."

"Yes!" Charlie was pumping her fist while Sasha was jumping up and down in excitement. Alex was just about to hand the phone over to H.G. when the server called them back in. H.G. bent down to Alex's level and said, "Alex I promise I will take a look at this when we get back home." H.G. could tell from Alex's expression that she wasn't happy with having to wait but she also didn't look like she was going to start crying again. To further appease her, H.G. scooped her up and carried her on her hip. The kids were really too old to be carried, but H.G. could tell that Alex really needed to be coddled at that moment. Alex snuggled into H.G. and remained that way until H.G. gently prodded Alex to release her so that they could both eat.

While they were all eating H.G. noted that another reason it was a bad idea to take three five year olds to a restaurant was because they were extremely messy when they ate. Granted it was quite difficult for a young child to properly shovel salad into their mouth; however, it seemed that more salad ended up on the chair, floor, table, and on their clothes, rather than in their mouths. The soup seemed a little easier for the girls to maneuver but it still ended up smeared all around their mouths, splotched on their clothes, and Sasha even got some of it in her hair. H.G. did her best to clean the girls off in the restaurant washroom before they headed to the store.

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At the store H.G. put Alex in the seat of the cart and instructed Sasha and Charlie to hold on to the side of the cart so that H.G. could keep track of where each of the girls were at all times. However, that only lasted while they were shopping for toiletries. Once they made it to the food section Charlie and Sasha started walking out in front of the cart in order to add the foods that they liked to the cart. Since H.G. had always had a maid to cook for her, she didn't really know where to start when it came to shopping for groceries. So she indulged Sasha and Charlie's little exercise of adding the foods that they liked. She also didn't want another meltdown due to not having something that they wanted. Although she knew that indulging every whim wasn't a good idea; she also knew that she was very much out of place in this world and was happy for the girls to provide their input so that she didn't have to think about it too much. She was a little skeptical of the freshness of the food items since most of the things the girls added to the cart came in bags and boxes. H.G. made sure to add a few fresh fruits and vegetables to the cart to ensure that at least some things were edible and familiar to her. She was nervous about providing meals for the girls since everything looked so foreign to her and she had no idea how to cook a proper meal.

Just when H.G. thought that they would be finished in the store, Alex asked her if they could buy some toys. H.G. decided that it was probably a good idea for the girls to have a few things to entertain themselves with so she told them that they could each pick out two toys. The next thing she knew the girls were running towards the toy section and H.G. was trying to keep up behind them to ensure that she didn't loose anyone. Her instructions to stay close and not to run in the store fell on deaf ears. It only took three minutes for her fears to be realized when she couldn't find the girls.

She was walking up and down each isle to look for the girls, and her heart rate and level of fear increased with each additional minute that passed. Finally she spotted Sasha but Charlie and Alex didn't appear to be with her. To keep herself from loosing Sasha again she scooped her up and sat her in the shopping cart seat. H.G. put the toys Sasha chose for herself into the cart and asked her if she knew where her sisters were. Sasha shook her head but told H.G. where she had seen them last.

Next H.G. found Charlie surrounded by a large stash of toys. H.G. scolded Charlie for running off and told her that if she wanted to keep two of her toys she had to stay near. Charlie cried that she couldn't make up her mind about which two toys were best and so she wanted all of the toys in her stash. H.G. was at the end of her rope and didn't have the patience to deal with another tantrum at the moment so she just grabbed two of the toys, put them in the cart and yanked a crying Charlie behind her. She had a difficult time pushing the cart and holding on to Charlie's hand so she released her hand and threatened that if Charlie didn't stay near she wouldn't get any toys. Thankfully Charlie didn't run off again, however she continued to bawl for the toys that remained in her stash.

Twenty minutes had passed and they still hadn't found Alex when H.G. heard a store announcement relaying that Alex Wells was at the front of the store and looking for her mother. H.G. was full of apprehension as she made her way to the front of the store to collect the child. When H.G. reached Alex she saw that the girl was crying really hard as one of the store clerks tried to console her. Alex ran up to H.G., hugged her legs, and continued to cry. H.G. was sure that she had never heard children cry as much as she did that day. Every time one child cried the other two joined in. She had no idea how she was going to survive her time with these children with her sanity intact.

The store clerk motioned H.G. over and showed her two very big boxes that he said Alex had refused to part with claiming that her mother had promised her two toys. When H.G. saw the size of the boxes she finally had to admit that in some alternate world she must have spawned these children. Because only a child of H.G. Wells would take instructions of two toys each and attempt to stretch those instructions to include two very big and expensive play sets. H.G. didn't have the energy left to argue anymore so she just added the boxes to the cart and made her way to checkout.

As they were exiting the store H.G. realized that she had no way of getting all the things she bought to her apartment, so she just took the store cart with her as they walked home. Thankfully the children all stayed within her reach and didn't run off. They were however tired to the point that they were frustrated and whining incessantly. The good thing about the children being so tired was that it wasn't too much of a hassle to get them into the bath, brush their teeth, and go to bed. H.G. realized that she didn't buy a change of clothes for the girls while she was at the store, so she put clothes, a step stool, and a few other items on a list to purchase the next day, and re-dressed the children in their underclothes.

Alex hadn't forgotten that H.G. had promised to look at her phone when they got home. So, as H.G. was tucking the girls into her Queen sized bed, Alex once again produced the phone to show to H.G.

The cell phone that James McPhearson had given to H.G. was very different from the phone that Alex showed her. So, H.G. once again found herself a bit out of her element. H.G.'s cell phone was simply a device that flipped open and had a few buttons on it to make phone calls. The cell phone Alex showed her had a touch screen with many little icons. H.G. looked at this device, not quite sure what any of the icons were or what made Alex believe that the device was malfunctioning. Thankfully Alex was quick to demonstrate for H.G. as she clicked on an icon, pulled up a list of names, and then clicked on "Mama" when an error message popped up saying that she was not connected to a network.

H.G. took the phone from Alex and explained to her that when the girls arrived in her apartment they arrived in what was either the past or a different world. So, that meant that in this world the girls weren't supposed to exist. So, there was no "Mama," and although H.G. would take care of the girls she also wasn't the "Mommy" that the girls knew and loved. At seeing the distress on Alex's face H.G. assured her that this didn't mean that they were stuck forever being without their Mama and Mommy. H.G. got into bed with the girls and pulled Alex close to her as the two of them looked through the pictures stored on her phone while Charlie and Sasha slept soundly next to Alex. Alex tried to stay awake and continue to look at the photos but it was a loosing battle and she quickly found herself joining her sisters in slumber.

H.G. on the other hand was utterly captivated by the photos on the phone and was unable to sleep as she continued to browse through the pictures. Alex had informed her that the phone had once been "Mama's" before she gave it to the girls to share. She recognized the woman that Alex pointed out as Mama on the phone as one of the Warehouse agents she ran across in London. Looking at a picture of the woman now, she was able to see pieces of her in her children. The girls' green eyes. Sasha's wild hair. Their skin coloring. However she was also able to see pieces of herself in the girls. This meant that some alternate version of herself had had children with an alternate version of the American Warehouse agent. Furthermore, flipping through the pictures she could tell that those alternate versions of themselves had built a happy life together. It was a little difficult for H.G. to wrap her head around this idea of a version of herself that was happy and loved. Based on what the girls had said earlier the H.G. in the pictures had still lost Christina, and yet she was able to build a happy life for herself. H.G. was riveted by those pictures and found herself looking through them for many hours through the night. When a message popped up indicating a low battery H.G. took out the charging cord for her phone and was pleased to find that it fit the device in her hands. H.G. finally let sleep claim her, as the phone lay on her nightstand, and hugged Alex close to her while listening to the soft breaths of the three girls.

To Be Continued