"You assured me she would work with Tom; he is more stable and has no history of self harm. How can you do this to her? Are you insane or just cold hearted?"

Mrs. Jones answered then, her usually calm, boring voice raised and rather hysterical.

"What are you on about? What am I doing wrong? They are the perfect match both upset about the loss of family and both experimenting or have experimented with ways to get over the grief."

"I don't believe you! She has just finished counseling, and you want to pair her up with a suicidal maniac who will properbly convince her to start cutting again or that death is a glorious way forward. Dear God do you have no compassion for the girl?"

"I object, I care for Cassie immensely. Perhaps you care too much and it is clouding your judgment. She is strong, brave and is very, very capable. Maybe this is a way forward for her, she must cross this bridge to get on with her life."

"I don't believe you! Fine you have her injuries/death on your conscience!"

Alex heard footsteps and almost too late he realized Smithers was returning and ran toward the desk.

****

Almost too late! Smithers flew through the door in a fury, Alex was convinced her was going to start throwing lab equipment around and started to look for a place to hide safely. He was saved from his rather worrying predicament by another figure entering the room.

As he turned to glance at the man who had entered, Cassie raced past him and hugged the man tightly.

"Steven, you never said you were working on the mission, are you our new daddy?"

The big man laughed and shook his blonde head as he hugged the girl. Alex could tell instantly that there was a long history between the two. Not a sexual history though, more of a father and daughter friendship. At least some of us are convincing he thought with a laugh. It might take a lot to convince someone Cassie was his sister, but there would be little doubt that this man could pretend to be her father, and more to the point convince everybody else of that fact.