CHAPTEREIGHTEEN_THE HISTORY OF THE GEN-MODS
October 15, 2032

 It’s now the next week. Ever since the Gen-Mods revealed themselves in London, there had been similar events all over the world. It turned out that the nation with the largest concentration of the superhumans were in the US.

 As it was in London, the international reaction was mixed. No one really knew they existed, and if they did, there was fear they could hurt someone. But after the Gen-Mods showed they were harmless, people became very cautious, but are beginning to warm up.

 At the Hartsfield house, Ellie is getting ready for something she knew was inevitable: Meeting the parents. Declan wanted her to meet his parents, and Ellie’s parents wanted to meet with him. So it decided that both families would meet at the Hartsfield house.

 As Ellie was nervously getting everything ready, Declan dropped by early. He saw her stressing out, so he hugged her, and told her, “It’s okay, Elle. My parents are going to love you. Especially since you’re my mate.”

 She sighed, and said, “I know. I just wanted to make a good impression on them.”

 “I know you do, but it’s me who has to impress your parents. Not the other way around, okay?”

 Ellie nodded her head, and then he kissed her nose. 

 It’s an hour later, and the Emerson family arrived at the Hartsfield house. Even Aria came along, and James was allowed to be part of the dinner. As soon as everyone sat down, Declan’s father, Stephan, spoke up, “I would like to say is that I’m very proud of my son. He has a mate who loves him, and he’s about to co-star in a major movie.”

 Declan shyly smiled. Aria asked Stephan, “Oi! What about me? I helped, and Aaron is my mate!”

 Stephen chuckled, “Of course, Aria. I’m also proud of you.”

 Aria smiled. Adam cleared his throat, and said, “Well, we find the Gen-Mods fascinating. I was actually thinking about what the backstory of the Gen-Mods was. I mean, having babies being created instead of born exploded around 2015. It was huge yet controversial all over the US.”

 Stephan gave a small smile, and then look at his plate. His wife, Alyssia, told him, “You can tell them. They’re family now.”

 Stephan sighed, and he began: “Okay, my past is very…interesting. I remember when I was young boy in the 90s. I was reading this book for my Year 3 book report, called Frankenstein. I was fascinated with the idea of creating people. I wanted to try to make this happen, but it was impossible.

 “So I made it my mission to learn as much as possible concerning human anatomy and biology. My grades for those two classes were very high, along with maths. Then during a group science project for the GSCEs, I met my Alyssia there. She was just as smart as I was. She was determined to become a doctor one day. So we started dating. I remember one prom night, we had our first time. A month later, Aly turned out to be pregnant.”

 Alyssia added, “Yeah, I was. I was scared. I mean. I had just turned 17. I was about to start the Upper Schools, which back then were just optional. So I started going over my options. Then one day something didn’t feel right. So I had my baby checked out. I…I had a miscarriage, and I was told that I will never be able to pregnant again. That was my one chance, and the baby died.”

 Stephen continued, “Yes, it was very sad. I was just as upset as she was. I saw how devastated she was. That set the wheels in motion.

 “I created a team of scientists who were friends of mine. We constantly met in different libraries, discussing how we could create humans. It took us months, but we were finally able to try to create a baby. So we moved to Boston in America. We attended MIT for our research and our tests. Also, at the time it was illegal in the UK to try to genetically modify humans.

 “I gathered two of my scientists, a guy and a girl. They were barely 18 at the time. We took out an egg from the girl, and a bit of sperm from the boy. We had already successfully created an artificial womb. We placed the egg and the sperm into the machine, and we watched and studied the process. In about six months in, the fetus was fully developed. So we released the baby from the machine, and gave him to the couple. They named him Adam, of course.

 “I remember their parents’ reactions to this, that their kids were being stupid to be willing to become parents. But that was what they wanted. As we studied the baby’s development, we saw he was learning quite quickly. I also saw how attached the parents got to the boy. They eventually got married, and gave birth to their own kids. But Adam? Well, as we speak, he’s the youngest top surgeon to date in Boston, and is now married.

 “Soon after the success of Adam, we began hiring young hetero couple. It was a mixture of married and unmarried couples. We created babies for them, and saw the same success. We also saw the couples became quickly attached the children that we allowed them to keep them, and treat them as their own.

 “As our team grew, some of the scientists approached me about the possibility of ‘enhancing’ the children by giving them superhuman abilities. Super agility, strengths, endurance, intelligence, you name it. So we did something I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. We added a trace amount of canine DNA, primarily wolf. Then I expressed worries about the children possibly acting like animals. So we created a microchip that would control their brains and their DNA. It was done so they would have their humanity intact.

 “Once we saw more successes and an explosion of parents wanting to avoid pregnancy, Aly and I decided it was time to create our child. During the creation of Declan, the power went out. We needed the electricity for his development. We turned on the generator, and went back to work. We saw the damage was done. He was developing, but slower. He was also short-circuiting. I was devastated. When he was fully developed, I gave a near-lifeless son to Aly.”

 Alyssia said, “Yes, it really was heartbreaking. I saw Declan was trying to stay alive. Then he looked up at me. I saw sadness in his eyes. It was like he knew his time was almost up. So…so I told him that I love him, and to keep fighting. I gave him a gentle kiss on his head. Afterwards, I saw him smile. I remember crying for joy when he said his first word to me. He called me, ‘mummy.’”

 Stephan added, “It was a miracle to see our son develop quickly. He did short-circuited frequently when he was very young, but now it’s extremely rare. He’s grown up, and that’s why I’m very proud of him.”

 Declan gave a shy smile, and looked down bashfully. Ellie held his hand, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

 Alice asked, “Alyssia, I don’t mean to intrude but…the baby that was miscarried…what was the gender?”

 Alyssia, who was sitting next to Declan, held his hand. Then she faced Alice, and said, “It was a boy. When I was considering my options, I thought that if I were to keep my son, then I was going to name him Declan, named after my brother.”

 Ellie spoke up, “So if the baby had lived, do you think he would be like this Declan here?”

 Alyssia smiled, and said, “You know, I think he would’ve been. But I love this Declan here.”

 Then Adam cleared his throat, and said, “Well, I should probably confess something. When we heard about this project of creating babies, at the time Alice and I were just married. We were full-on hipsters, and it seemed just about every couple was having their babies created. So Alice and I talked about going to the Agency. Then one night…well, I got her knocked up with these twins here. So we decided against going to the Agency.

 Aaron told them, “Well, it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway since Ellie here is a Gen-Mod now.”

 With that, everyone except for Aria and Declan stopped eating. They all stared at Ellie, whose face was turning red from shame. 

 Then she told everyone, “Look, it wasn’t my choice! It was forced upon me! Besides, on the bright side, I don’t have to wear computers and prosthetics for my role. Everything is all natural now.”

 With that, the parents of both families facepalmed. Ellie glared at Aaron. She mouthed to him, “Asshole!”

 Aaron shrugged, and said, “They were going to find out eventually.”

 Ellie then facepalmed herself.

 A few hours later, as everyone has dispersed, Declan met up with Ellie in the kitchen. He told her, “Well, I think the dinner went well.”

 Ellie smiled, “Well, other than Aaron blurting out that I’m a Gen-Mod now part, yeah, it was good.”

 “They were going to find out eventually.” 

 “I know. I just wanted to wait things out a bit.”

 Then there was silence for a few minutes. Declan broke it by saying, “I…I need to be honest with you. I know exactly how you got converted.”

 Ellie looked at him, and asked, “What?”

 He gave a shaky breath, and explained, “You know I have radiation in my system, yeah?”

 “Yeah.”

 “Well, when I marked you, hints of my radiation was placed in your system. All you need was the permanent iron to start the transition. Hence why your vomit was glowing during your transition. It was radiation. Ellie, I’m so sorry.”

 Ellie was stunned by this. She placed her hand on the mark he gave her a month ago. Then she looked up at him. She walked up to him. She moved the cloth cover the corner of his neck and his shoulder. Then she opened her mouth, and bit him hard. She tore into his skin, and licked the wound. She pulled away, and smiled. She saw she marked him.

 Declan was shocked by this gesture. He expected her to be upset, but instead, she marked him. He asked, “Why did you mark me?”

 Ellie sighed, and said, “Because I love you. I’m your mate, and you’re mine. It took me time to get used to you, but my love for you has grown this past month. It became even more intense after I got converted. You’re everything to me, Declan. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

 With that, he smiled. He kissed her lips passionately. She kissed back passionately. Then she pulled away, and whispered, “I’m ready now.”

 Declan whispered back, “Are you sure?”

 “I’m on birth control injections. I’m fine.”

 He smiled. Ever since he marked her, he had been feeling urges to have sex with her. His father called it “the first mating.” But Declan didn’t want to push her. He wanted this to be her decision. So to hear her say she was ready made his heart jump for joy. 

 So he carried her to her room, and closed the door. He laid her down gently. He asked her one more time, “Are you sure you want to do this, Elle?”

 She gently caressed his face, and said, “I’m very sure about this, Declan. I want to do this with you.”

 He smiled, and kissed her lips gently. He made sure he was gentle with her as they got deeper into the mating. When it was all over, they both whispered to each other the three words: “I love you.”