It was a late night for Sarah. Long after the fight with the clone Galvanaxs, she found herself wide awake. Her mind was both exhausted and racing as she waited to hear on news from her father, who had yet to come home.

The city was a disaster. She had to remind herself of that. Because of her technology, there was so much damage and people were dead. Waiting on her father to come home was a reasonable consequence for her. In fact, she felt she deserved so much more, since, if she had only been more careful, none of this would have happened. All the people lost in the attack would still be alive.

Still, this would be less torturous if she knew, at the end of the wait, her father would come home. She had been confident at first, but as reports came in claiming they were locating many of the missing people, Sarah began to worry. Of course, some of the missing people were turning up alive, but as the night wore on, more and more people were being found dead.

Her father had no reason to be so late. He wasn't working in any of the more destroyed parts of the city. His office building hadn't been one to crumble. And Sarah knew fate would be cruel by allowing her family to survive her mistake while hundreds of others paid the price.

At least, that was what she had thought. Now, she was starting to think fate had something else in mind.

Very quietly, the door to her room opened. A sliver of light shone in just as her step-mother poked her head inside. When she saw Sarah was awake and on her phone, she opened the door wide and walked in, turning on the light.

"Have you heard from him?"

Sarah shook her head. She didn't bother to ask the same question in return. She assumed her mother would have let her know if her father had come home or was on his way. With a sigh, her step mother approached the bed and sat down.

"I'm beyond worried at this point," she said honestly to Sarah. "I'm not helping myself either. The mayor announced he would be covering some of the funeral expenses for some families and I looked to see if we would qualify and… I can't think like that."

"Jenny…"

"I know, really, it doesn't matter what I think," her step mother went on. "He either survived or he didn't, and nothing about what I believe right now will change that, but in times like this, people are always told to stay positive," Jenny started to chuckle lightly, "I guess I never really wondered why. Do you think it hurt less, if you've been optimistic before bad news?"

"I think it hurts regardless," Sarah answered her step-mother.

"Well, he's going to turn up," Jenny stated, though her voice wavered slightly, betraying her confident tone. "I mean, they're still looking, and even though it's not many, some people are still alive. We could be the lucky ones, right?"

Sarah didn't know if she agreed or not. She didn't think she had the same definition of lucky as her step-mother did. Of course, if her father returned home alive, Sarah would consider herself lucky. At the same time, if her father was dead, Sarah would pay the price for her mistake. At least she wouldn't have to live with the guilt of knowing that everything in her life ended up being okay while she simultaneous ruined the lives of hundreds of other people and their families.

She was rooting for the former, though. With her father by her side, she could learn to cope with the guilt.

Jenny noticed her step-daughter's unusual silence. She hadn't known Sarah her whole life, but the younger woman had always been full of hope and energy and excitement. When Jenny and her husband first revealed to Sarah that they were dating, Sarah had been more than happy for them. She had embraced Jenny as part of her life. When she learned her father and Jenny were going to be married, she had the same reaction. When they told her they were going to move to a new city and Sarah would have to go to a new school, Sarah still reacted positively. Jenny had begun to wonder if there was anything that could shake her step-daughter, or if Sarah was an eternal optimist; doomed to always seeing the bright side.

It seemed she had her answer today. There was something that could break the younger woman's spirit. Jenny just wished she was more equipped to handle it.

She tried her best, and started with putting a hand on Sarah's leg.

"No matter what, you still have me," she said with a little smile. She didn't want to focus on the idea that her husband was dead, but that had to be what had Sarah so worried and quiet. "I'm still going to be here. This will still be your home. We'll get through it all together. You know that, right?"

Sarah nodded her head, but didn't seem anymore comforted. Jenny tried again.

"Your home is with me," she added. "You weren't part of the package. I married you too, and I really meant it."

Sarah nodded her head again. Still, there seemed to be something wrong. Jenny tried once more.

"Kid, I love you."

"I did it," Sarah whispered. Jenny frowned.

"Sorry?"

"The monster, he cloned himself using my technology."

Jenny paused, her brow raising just a bit. Sarah was smart. It had been the first thing her husband had told her about his daughter when they first met, and it had been said as a warning before he introduced them. Jenny hadn't been sure what he meant at first. Plenty of people were smart. Plenty of children were smart, but Bill hadn't been talking about regular straight A student kind of smart.

Sarah never needed help with her homework, except for many reminders to do it. Jenny wasn't sure Sarah went to school to learn anything academically, but more just to be able to socialize with kids her own age. She couldn't see how a child who would design and create her own working hover board could benefit from any regular run of the mill science class, even if she was a grade ahead. She couldn't understand how a child who could solve complicated math problems in her head in a matter of seconds could benefit from a regular math class.

Sarah didn't see academic struggles. She saw challenges, and she had always been able to overcome those challenges.

Outside of school, Sarah thrived on problems. They inspired her to come up with many wacky inventions. Jenny remembered her first Mother's Day as Sarah's step-mother being gifted with a toaster that would toast, spread, plate and serve breakfast in the morning. Sarah's inspiration had been hearing Jenny complain that she always had to get up earlier than everyone else in the house to make sure her husband and step-daughter ate a real meal. Now, breakfast was ready for everyone as soon as they came to the kitchen. All Jenny needed to do was program it the night before.

So, when Bill told Jenny how he once had to visit the principal's office because Sarah had taken the class pencil sharpener and upgraded it to sharpen three pencils at once (an act of vandalism, the principal had called it), Jenny was not surprised. She was, however, surprised to hear Sarah not only felt she had invented an actual cloning machine, but that the aliens in this city had used it to cause this much trouble.

"Your technology?"

"They used my holo-clones," Sarah nodded her head. She wanted to confess to someone, but was still trying to be vague about the details so as not to reveal herself as a Ranger to her step-mother. "They got their hands on one and that's how that monster was able to make eight of himself."

"And you believe that?"

"I know it," Sarah insisted. Jenny wasn't sure what to do here. All the parenting books Bill had offered never covered what to do when your step-daughter claimed aliens had used her cloning technology for evil. She scratched behind her ear as she looked to Sarah.

"Seriously?"

Sarah nodded her head again. Jenny decided to believe her step-daughter, if anything, just to figure out how Sarah could believe herself on this. "Okay, let's say they did."

"They did."

"How did they get your cloning technology?"

"One of my clones was in the forest outside the city," Sarah said. "I had her out there with my friends while I was in the school keeping an eye on the other clones I created to help me fulfill all my extra-curricular. That Sarah malfunctioned and my friends didn't know enough about what happened to take home the holo-projector that created her. A monster must have seen what happened, collected it and adapted the technology himself."

So far, Jenny had to admit, Sarah's story sounded believable. Sarah had been talking about joining more school activities so she could put that on her college applications. She had signed up for many and Jenny herself had wondered how Sarah would juggle them all. As far as she knew, if anyone could create a cloning machine, it would be Sarah.

It was hard to believe, but there really was nothing farfetched about the story.

"Okay, so that monster stole your technology," she said. "It was only meant to be used for extra curricular, right?"

"It was just the prototype," Sarah nodded her head. "But I should have…"

"You didn't hand it over to the monster," Jenny reasoned.

"But when I knew one went missing…"

"You had no reason to think a monster even knew your holo-projector was missing," Jenny continued. "So, I know it doesn't feel that way, but it's not your fault. That monster is still to blame."

"You'll say that even if dad doesn't come home?" Sarah asked. Jenny took a moment to answer only because she wanted to be sure she was answering with the truth.

"Sarah, in all the time I've known you, you've never tried to hurt anyone," she said. "Anything you do build, you do it to make people's lives better and easier. I don't have a single doubt about this. You are not responsible."

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. Jenny moved in closer.

"I mean it, kid."

"Jenny…"

"I'll be angry if your father is dead," Jenny said. "But not with you."

"And when all those people look for someone to blame."

"Do they have any reason to think it was you?"

Sarah shook her head. She had been careful with her clones so as not to get caught. As of now, only her team and her step-mother knew about the technology.

"Then they'll blame the monster who did this," Jenny pointed to Sarah's phone, where the updates from the aftermath of the attack were still coming in. "And the way I see it, that blame isn't misplaced. You didn't create those clones to hurt anyone. You didn't clone that monster yourself. You didn't attack the city. He did. He's responsible. And I know that's hard to believe. I know you might never fully believe it, or me, but that's the truth."

"And what about dad?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Jenny said. "One way or another, I guess. In the meantime, you can trust what I said before. I'll still be here for you. This will always be your home."

"Thank you," Sarah nodded her head leaned into her step-mother. Jenny hugged her tight.

"Thank you for trusting me," she said with a smile.