re: Rebecca
I actually don’t believe that Rebecca was working with the Agency while pregnant with the MC! (I just really like the Unit Babysitters AU is all, lol)
Dear god, this got long.
Let me first apologize to my dog, for keeping her up with the click-clacks of my keyboard.
I’d also like to apologize to my sleeping schedule, and as a result, my chem class. If I put even half as much effort into studying chemistry as I did into this, I would not be struggling.
Finally, I would also like to apologize to Jesus, because I just spent the first half of my Easter Sunday writing about hot vampire lore.
Below is a large theory regarding not only the MC’s possible ages (there are multiple), but also whether or not Rebecca was pregnant while working with the Agency, and also at what age the MC’s dad disappeared. There is also speculation on the cause of the Disappearing Dad, but not nearly enough as everything else.
Good luck.
First, what we know:
- The last person to stick up for U!B was Rebecca
- This incident was approximately 10 years prior to the events of Book One
- Rebecca has raised the MC as a single mother “for most of the MC’s life”
- The MC is rather young for to have become a Detective so early in their career
- The MC (if they have Bobby as an ex) went to college
- This means they either joined the police force at 18 or 22, depending on whether it was the US or UK usage of college
mild-depth explanation of difference in usage
UK usage:
- sixth form
- usually attended from 16-18 years of age
- pretty much prep for university
US usage:
- literally the same thing as university
- usually attended from 18-22 years of age
- grants degrees
- Note: you have to be at least 18 to join a police force in the UK or US
- This of course, varies by region
- As do the requirements, but I’m not getting into that
- Most agencies require at least two years of experience before you become a Detective, but a longer time is more common
- Rebecca was raising the MC on her own while they were young enough to still require nannies
Ok, but Rose, what the hell does this have to with Rebecca being preg—?
Shhhhhhhh...this will all make sense soon...A few ground rules.
I think many will agree that full autonomy and independence is reached at age 18 on both sides of the pond, no question—as in, legally speaking, there’s nothing stopping the MC from doing what they want at 18. They can go off to college/university, or more importantly, at eighteen, they can join the police force.
I also mean fully autonomous and independent, such that, the MC is no longer being actively raised by Rebecca. If you can agree to eighteen being a good emotional and legal cut-off age, then please continue.
Ok, I do, but Rose—
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...For the MC to have been raised by Rebecca for a majority of their life (that is, over half the time they were being actively raised, from birth to eighteen), then the MC’s dad has to have left the picture by the time the MC was 8 or 9.
Unless the MC’s memory was tampered with—fully possible—then it’d be rather weird for the MC to not mention their dad at all when thinking on their childhood with Rebecca.
As such, for it to not be weird to not think about their dad, the MC has to either not remember him, or has to have gotten over their disappearance (mostly) by now, so I’d say 5 years old is a pretty good age to either forget or ignore a disappearing dad.
Can we agree on that?
Yes, ok, but seriously, Rose—
Shhhhhhhhhh...shut up. I'm getting to it.Now, here is what I propose…
The impetus for Rebecca joining the Agency was directly related to the disappearance of the MC’s father.
Rose, you already said that once—
SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH. LISTEN.The impetus for Rebecca joining the Agency was directly related to the disappearance of the MC’s father.
I am saying that Rebecca didn’t join the Agency until after the MC was born.
Ohhhhhhhh, ok...well why didn't you just say that to begin with Rose?
I—um!!! Uh...er...Rebecca has raised the MC as a single mother for “most of the MC’s life” but not all of it, which means that the MC, up until a certain age, had both parents, but was still young enough to either not remember, or not grow too traumatically attached to their disappearing dad.
And here’s where I’m gonna tie this back to my earlier question of how Rebecca knew that the MC had mutated blood…
The MC’s dad disappeared as a direct consequence of the MC having mutated blood.
Ohhhhhhh, SHIT. ROSE—!!!
I know right??? Ok, ok, chill, lemme finish...So…let me ask you to imagine this scenario:
Imagine, if you will, a normal human woman and a normal human man.
They are in love.
They have a beautiful child.
They are a family, blissfully unaware of the supernatural world around them, ignorant of the mutation within their child.
Imagine one night, the child begins to cry. The mother mumbles something, “It’s your turn.”
The father smiles and groans, obliges and gets up to check on the baby.
Imagine him screaming.
The mother wakes up, runs to the nursery to find her husband: Dead.
A beast stands above his crumpled body, and the baby is crying in earnest.
She can feel her heart breaking.
The beast snarls at her.
Fear grips the mother.
The beast turns away from her, satisfied in her complacency…
“At least one of you listens…”
The beast turns to her child.
The child screams louder.
It breaks through her fear and she lunges, taking down the monster.
The monster is stunned for only a moment, but the moment is long enough for more strangers to appear.
The beast throws her across the room, and she’s dazed, but still well enough to push herself up and slink over to her baby as the beast is distracted by the new intruders.
“Take it out! It can’t get away!”
A fight begins, but the mother has no time to pay attention, grabs her child and runs.
She doesn’t get very far by the time the fight is over, the monster howling, growling, snarling for release.
“THE CHILD WILL BE MINE.”
Fear grips the mother.
“Shit.”
“What do we do?”
“Did you see her tackle that thing?”
“…take them to the Agency…”
She can hear the last one mutter, “…make sure to test them both.”
Rose...stop making me cry, damn it!
[evil cackling]So in conclusion:
- The MC was anywhere from 18-22 (at the youngest) when they joined the police force
- There is technically no age cap though
- The MC is anywhere from 20-24 (at the youngest) at the start of Book One
- There is technically no age cap though, you can headcanon your Detective to be as old as you like
- The MC was likely around the age of 5 when their father disappeared (regardless of whether or not it happened as I speculated)
- The MC was more than likely born before Rebecca joined the Agency
- It’s possible that the reason Rebecca is goddamn hell-bent on keeping the MC safe is because this is not the first time the MC has been targeted
- If Book One is not the first time the MC has been targeted, it explains why the MC has a case file already
Er, wait, Rose. What does this have to do with the incident ten years ago?
...oh that?Well, it’s unlikely that Rebecca climbed to her position within ten years. That type of leadership position takes decades, and also a single-minded work ethic.
I don’t know what Rebecca could have possibly done to win Unit!B’s loyalty…but it’s unlikely that her reason for joining the Agency and the Incident are related as there’s simply not enough time to rise through the ranks within ten years.
I speculate that Rebecca has been with the Agency for almost twenty years, ever since whatever caused the Disappearing Dad Dilemma, and in one of her last hurrahs as a field agent helped/saved Unit!B in their time of need, thus giving the Agency a reason to make her their handler.
By then, the MC is already, presumably, in their teens, within a few years, they’ll leave the nest, and who knows if Rebecca even knows Unit!B well enough to talk about her child, to explain what happened to her husband (for all we know, the whole mutated blood thing has been hush even in the Agency because it’s almost better to leave the possibility of mutated blood a rumor, so no one’s curiosity gets the better of them), so Rebecca never really feels the need to tell them about her child.
It’s not that she doesn’t trust them, it’s that it’s simply not relevant to any of their missions.
Until the day that Rebecca has dreaded most, arrives—when her child is, once again, the target of a monster.
And she will do everything in her power to keep her child safe, to keep her child from the same fate as her husband.
“I won’t lose you.”
Anyway, happy Easter!!! 