I have no clue if anyone reading this is going to care about this, but uploads will now be much more frequent! Yaaaaaaaay!

-RebelliousWaffle

"Hey, Ada," Marek said quietly, entering his daughters room. The gentle colors of the room didn't do anything to soothe his mind. In fact, his mind raced as he tried to break the news to his daughter that Zofia Bosak, his wife, might not still be breathing.

He had no idea how she had done it, but somehow, Ada had made Zofia and Ela forget their anger towards each other and made them act like, well, sisters again. Clearly, whatever Ada said had a profound effect on her mother. And apparently, it had an effect on Ela, as well, as now the two had become totally in tune with one another. There was still the occasional flash of anger or irritation- hating each other for so long left that inevitable- but overall, there had been a massive change.

"Dad?" Ada asked. "What is it?"

"Hey, kiddo. You know how Mom got called to action?"

"Yeah. She had to go in the middle of tag. No fun," Ada said, making a pouty face that only made Marek dread what her mother being dead would do to her.

"Well, she had to go on a mission," he explained gently. Ada wasn't convinced.

"But why did she have to go in the middle of tag?"

"It was a really important mission, Ada, and Mom didn't have a lot of time to prepare for it."

"Why? What was the mission? Couldn't it wait until the game finished?" Ada asked. Marek laughed internally but kept his expression plain.

"I don't know, kiddo. But it was really important and really dangerous. And Zofia and Ela both had to go."

"And they're going to come back, right? Because they're the best fighters ever. I saw them fighting, they called it sparring, and they were both throwing punches and kicks really fast and neither of them got hit," Ada said excitedly.

"Yeah, they really are. But, sometimes, even the best…."

Marek stopped and composed himself, trying to make sure he wouldn't break down. If Zofia was actually dead… among other things, he doubted that he could make enough money to cover Ada's schooling. "Sometimes, the best…"

"The best," a confident voice announced from the doorway, "Always make it back home."

"Mommy!" Ada said, jumping off the bed and running over to her mother and Ela, who stood in the doorway. Ela had a long red scar on her right cheek, and her bare arms had some nasty cuts on them, but she was full of energy. Zofia had a bandage wrapped tightly around her stomach and the assault rifle on her back had some deep nicks and scratches as well as no ammo, but she was alive and full of fight.

Marek stood up slowly. Zofia nodded to Ela, who took Ada away to do… whatever it is that made Ada so happy whenever they were together.

"I thought you were dead," Marek said quietly. Zofia shook her head and pressed a gentle kiss to her husband's cheek.

"So sorry to disappoint," Zofia responded.

"I'm not disappointed, my dear. Simply surprised."

"You really should not be, love. I've gone on more dangerous missions, but I'm still here."

"And I love you for it. What happened to your waist?"

Zofia looked down at her heavily bandaged abdomen. "White Mask with a L85A2. Got me once before Ela shot him. Nothing I can't take, but it hurt."

"Ah," Marek said. "I see."

There was a long pause where neither of the two said anything. Both of them were just glad that Zofia had returned.

"Well, I'd best check on Ela and Ada," Zofia said. "You can join them, if you want."

"I'll see if Ada wants to do anything today while you and Ela clean yourselves up. Would you mind going on a mission to the aquarium?" Marek responded, smiling.

"You know, I think I'm ready to redeploy."