Prologue
The couple reclined on the sofa, unopened packing boxes surrounding them.
Claire grinned. "Did you feel it?" Adam, who was her husband of eight months, had a hand on her barely rounded middle. "I felt it." Claire, who was six months
pregnant, smiled and looked up at his face. "Do you think it'll be a girl or a boy?" He thought for a moment, not looking back at her. Then he faced her and with the
thoughtful pouting that she found so endearing when they were dating, said "I'm actually thinking it might be a boy, but I could be wrong." She reached up and patted
his cheek lovingly. "I'm sure whatever the baby is, it'll be like you. Oh. Speaking of the baby, do you think it might be like us?" He shrugged and opened
his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Adam leaped up to get it, his stride fast compared to Claire, who had followed him to the door.
Peering through the peephole, he saw the face of Noah Bennett leering back at him. He put on a fake grin, one he used many times when talking to Claire's family.
Opening the door, Claire looked over Adam's arm, which had been holding the door open. "Hi dad," she said with a small smile. Noah shuffled closer to the door, and
placed his hand on the door to prevent Adam from closing it. "Hello Claire-bear." He turned to Adam, but didn't greet him. "Adam." He didn't reply, but just nodded to
what Noah had said. "So why are you here at such a late hour?" Adam asked, lacing his speech with a sort of false sweetness, but Noah could hear the bitter dislike
behind his words. Noah answered, in a tone almost matching the one Adam had just used. "I came to see my daughter."