America
"What are we supposed to do?" I asked Maxon, who was pacing back and forth, once again running his hands through his hair. When he didn't reply, I looked over to Aspen, who was standing hesitantly at the edge of the office. 

"Perhaps we could incorporate some kind of DNA test into the selection?" Aspen suggested, "that way the press won't get wind of what we know, and we can confirm it before the entire country finds out."

I tried to catch Maxon's eye, but he continued to pace, mulling the idea over in his head. 

"I think its a good idea," I said, after some time of silence.

"Yes," Maxon mumbled, "yes, we can make it an activity, say we're trying to determine their ancestry or something like that." 

"I'll arrange it," said Aspen, "you two need to get yourselves some food and some rest, you have enough on your plates as it is."

"Thank you, Aspen," I gave him a weak smile, as he left the room.

I stood from my seat, and made my way over to Maxon, needing his support and knowing that he needed mine. Maxon stopped pacing and took my hands in his, rubbing his thumbs over the back of my hands again and again.

"I don't know how to feel America," he confessed, "no matter how happy I've been for the past nineteen years, there's always been this hole, but now..." he trailed off.

"We're so close to getting her back, but you don't want to get your hopes up in case it comes crashing down around us," I finished his thought easily, as it was exactly how I was feeling.

"Exactly," Maxon nodded, I could see the turmoil going around his head swirling in his eyes.

I rested my head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close, as I wrapped my arms around him and listened to his heart beating.

Our small quiet moment was interrupted by an outbreak of yelling in the corridor outside. Maxon and I broke apart and glanced at each other before we headed out to the corridor to see what was wrong.

"Shal, you can't seriously think you're going to do this without me saying it's okay!" AJ was yelling at his brother, "it's my selection two, or have you forgotten that!"

"Oh please!" Shalom scoffed, "If there's a single one of them on this list that you think you could spend your life with then you have a strange taste in women!"

"You're being shallow and narrowminded!" AJ accused, "you don't even know them, and you already seem to be certain that you hate all of them."

"Not hate," Shalom replied, "I am indifferent to them, and that's the issue."

"What's going on here?" Maxon had strode over and stood between our sons, both of whom had their fists clenched as if they were about to start throwing punches.

"Shalom seems to think that he's sending half of the selected girls home without even asking for my input!" AJ pointed a finger at his brother, "he's written one of his stupid lists of all of them that he didn't like in the first two minutes of meeting them, and he wants to eliminate them before the first day is even over!"

"Shalom is this true?" I looked at Shalom, who seemed to shrink slightly under my gaze.

"It's not like any of them are going to be the one either of us marries," Shalom said, it was only now that he had unclenched his fists that I noticed he was holding a piece of paper, which I assumed was the list that AJ had mentioned.

I snatched it out of his hand, "is there anyone specifically on this list who you want to keep?" I asked AJ.

"Joslyn Burch for a start," Aspen said.

"She laughs too loudly," Shalom countered.

"So do you," Aspen pointed out.

"If AJ wants to keep her, she stays," said Maxon, looking from one boy to another, "it has to be a unanimous decision, we've told you this before."

"Anyone else?" I asked.

"Gwendolyn Punch, Ursula Frente, Celia Gardener-"

"Celia Gardener stays," Maxon said, a little too forcefully, causing both of the boys to give him a strange look.

"So she's what's got you wound up so tight," said Aspen, after a brief silence, "what's so special about her?"

For once neither Maxon nor I had anything to say.

"Shalom, you're not to get rid of anyone without AJ's consent," Maxon quickly changed the subject, "AJ, I know that you won't like it, but you're going to have to eliminate girls who you can't see a future with, otherwise it's just cruel to them and to yourself."

"Don't change the subject!" AJ said, "what's so special about Celia Gardener?"

I looked at Maxon, who sighed, "we can't keep it from them can we?"

"No," I said quietly.

"Keep what from us?" AJ demanded, "what's so special about Celia Gardener?" he repeated, seemingly extremely agitated now, AJ, like Maxon, did not like not knowing things.

"You boys must keep this to yourselves," I told them, with a small sigh, "the only person other than the ones standing right here who can know is General Leger."

"We promise," said Shalom.

"We suspect that Celia Gardener may be Celeste," said Maxon.

Both of the boys' mouths fell into 'O' shapes. 

"What?" AJ asked.

"You heard your father, we think that Celia Gardener could be your sister," I said.

"It's not just because of the red hair is it?" 

"Not at all," Maxon shook his head, "you two may not have noticed, but the girl resembles you two quite a lot. That was what struck us at first, then we looked into it more, and found that she was adopted, and none of our records shows who her birth parents are."