Author's note: Hey guys fair warning, this chapter has some pretty foul language because yeah, it's 682, and he swears a lot and stuff. With that said, please enjoy and leave me a review.

Chapter 3

For the next three days, I was kept in the infirmary. Dr. Clef was nice enough to bring some more of my father's journals out of my office and I gladly skimmed through them, trying to find any info I possibly could on SCP-049. I did have his file with me, and while it was useful in some areas, I already knew most of the information on it. What had me was the fact that it was my father who the plague doctor spoke to first. Yes, the doctor in the profile was my dad. He hadn't done any kind of provocation, yet the SCP chose to speak to him first of all people. I found myself wondering why, fascinated by this SCP.

In his journals, dad appeared to be as surprised as I was about it. But he was far more optimistic. The date of the entry was blanked out but I could read the rest thankfully.

My newest client finally felt the need to speak today. It was quite the interesting conversation. He seemed all calm, with no trace whatsoever of fear or anger. For most, this would be alarming. For me, it was rather revealing. It showed me that this SCP isn't afraid to take charge. If he wants to speak he will, on his time and in his own terms. Others have done this, yes, but always with an air of arrogance or cocky defiance.

But not this one. He's by no means arrogant, cocky, or defiant. There was just no trace of it in his voice or demeanor. But what I did find was just plain, simple, calm. There was an honesty in his tone that I couldn't help but find trustworthy. His eyes struck me as sure, confident in his so called "cure". There was calm, calm and certainty. I even dare to believe there was a degree of security in his voice and body language. He fears nothing, and, in simple terms, he's powerful. But only time will tell how he truly is. I have hope for this one, and I'll be keeping several notes during our sessions.
-Derrick O'Reilly

I found dad had invested a lot of time in 049, but oddly enough hadn't given him a nickname, unlike his other patients. I wondered why. He spent most of his time with this SCP, so why didn't he nickname him? It was plausible that he simply hadn't thought of one before he died, but this was years ago, when I was still a little girl. Couldn't he have thought of a name in that time? Dad had named all the SCPs he ever worked with; perhaps the plague doctor had an answer.

Jiminy came and saw me every day while I was recovering. He helped me take my mind off of a lot of things, mostly work related things. I cherished those moments, as it was almost like spending time with a little brother. We simply drew things and watched movies when I wasn't busy taking notes. And after three days I was finally allowed to go back to work. Jiminy couldn't have been more ecstatic.

"Hey there little man" I said as I placed him on my shoulder, "Are you ready for today?"
"Are we gonna go see 682?!" his big black eyes lit up with excitement.
"Yep, I still have his session to do".
"Yay!" Jiminy cheered as I took a handful of skittles with us.

I laughed, as it never ceased to amaze me how much Jiminy loved Draco. Deep down, I liked to think Draco loved Jiminy too. It was getting Draco to admit that was a challenge.

Jiminy clung to me as I made my way down to Draco's containment chamber. Because of his colossal size, SCP-682, AKA Draco, had practically the entire basement area to himself. Personally I wasn't all for him being alone, but Draco seemed to have no problem entertaining himself. In fact, as Jiminy and I were coming in, Draco was already done with his breakfast, which consisted of a small group of D-Class.

"Good morning" I said somewhat cheerfully as I peered down at the overgrown reptile.

Looking at him now kind of reminded me more of a chimera like creature than anything else. For the most part, Draco did appear reptilian, but from the front he appeared to be somewhat furry. He reminded me of an oversized wolf, or even a dark over sized lion. The rest of him though was indeed scaled.

"Ugh! The hell do you want?!" he asked.
"It's time for your session" I answered, "I brought some company".
"Hi, 682!" Jiminy waved at him.
"Oh hell no! Get that damn snot wad away from me!"
"That's no way to treat a friend" I smirked.
"Friend?! Ha! Screw that!"
"Behave, Draco, and we'll get through this a lot quicker".
"Fine, you're here to put me on the couch" Draco literally sat down, "There, I'm on the couch…metaphorically speaking of course".
"Good" I sat down in my own chair and took out my notes, "Now I like to think we made some progress last-"
"What's wrong with your face?"
"What?"

This was unusual. Draco didn't usually care too much for others, but yet he was asking about my newly acquired scar. I wrote this observation down in my notes. It was the first time he'd shown any kind of care since I started working with him.

"The scar. What's with it?" he asked.
"Just a bad run in with 106".
"That guy's an asshole".
"Huh…I would've thought you liked him. Somewhat anyway".
"Hell no! They once tried to pit us against each other, and the grease covered fag dragged me into his damn dimension".
"Wow, that must've been quite an experience".
"Damn right it was. Had a god damn headache for two weeks from that shit".
"Awww…poor 682" Jiminy commented behind me.
"Shut up! No one asked you".
"Draco, be nice".
"No damn way, nice stopped the second I hatched!"

I chuckled a little at that, as it reminded me of a Bill Engvall joke.

"What?"
"Nothing, just thinking. Now according to my notes here, you haven't broken containment in two months. That's almost a record".
"Yeah, whatever…"
"Well it's important" I started, "Because I was thinking of possibly sending in a request to the O-5 Council about possibly having you go visit Abby for a couple weeks at her site. That is, if you keep up the uh…the good behavior".

Abby was SCP item number 053, a little girl who, when seen for a short period of time, made the person want to kill her. If they're successful they die of heart failure shortly after, and Abby regenerates not having any knowledge of what happened. When confronted with Draco, it seemed to have a reverse effect. Instead of harming her, he seemed rather relaxed and, to some small extent, protective of her. They're relationship was interesting to say the least. It was part of the reason I didn't give up on Draco. I knew he was good, somewhere deep down. Way deep down.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "How is she?"
"She's doing good" I told him, "I heard she's taking special online classes and everything".
"And she's safe, happy?"
"She's all that and more. But she misses you".
Draco seemed to scoff a little. "She can get along just fine without me".
"Don't worry, 682. She's A-okay".
"Will you get the hell outta here?! Again, no one fuckin' asked you, fag!"
"Draco!" I stood from my chair, "Calm down or Jiminy will be on you before you can blink!"
"Yeah! If he can even move that fast!"
"Oooo, can we have a race?!" Jiminy asked.
"Jiminy, don't encourage him" I said.
"Awww…I wanted to race 682…maybe play some tag too".
"No one cares what the hell you want!"
"Carson does!"
"Okay guys stop! Jeez, I feel like I'm babysitting except I'm not getting paid".
"Sorry Carson".
"I'm not".
"Thanks Jiminy" I looked back over at Draco, "And I know you aren't".
"Rumor has it we're getting a newb"
"That's none of your concern".
"Is it a Keter?"
"It's SCP-049!" Jiminy exclaimed happily.
"Ugh…great…now I get to listen to him rant about that damn disease he claims is everywhere. I swear the damn guy's a germaphobe or something".
"Thanks Jiminy" I rolled my eyes.
"At least it's not another Keter".

Draco was protective of his space. He thought it was bad enough he had to "share" the facility with Larry, and so another Keter would probably be a bad idea here. Thankfully the Plague Doctor was a Euclid. But I dared to ask the question.

"And if he was?"

I regretted the question the minute I asked. Draco snapped his jaws at me, dangerously close. His yellow eyes glittered with malice. He snarled.

"I'd rip his damn throat out next time I break containment…just like I did your precious mentor".

If ever I wanted to beat Draco, it was that moment. I was ten when that happened and I almost lost another father figure. During a confrontation when he was still in training, Dr. Cool had gotten too close to an angry Draco. He lashed out, slashing Dr. Cool in the throat. He was expected to die, but to everyone's amazement, especially mine, he survived. But not without cost. His voice box had sustained heavy damage, but thankfully the Foundation was able to make him a new, electronic one as well as a respirator which served as a life support system. I was scared of this change at first, but somehow I knew my savior was still in there. He was colder after that, but I never gave up on him. He never did on me, and I owed him so much. I found I honestly loved and respected him no less and still cared for me at least. It was more than enough for me.

I stood, feeling nothing but anger at Draco. It wasn't a good idea to keep up a session if you or the subject in question get emotionally distressed.

"This session's over. C'mon Jiminy".
"Awww, why Carson?"
"'Cause she's pissed".
"Let's go, Jiminy" I couldn't stand his smug attitude at the moment.

Jiminy followed me out, a little disappointed. I didn't like feeling like this. I hate feeling bad for something that wasn't my fault. It's a problem I've always had, and it's gotten me in trouble multiple times. I'm not sure how I feel about reincarnation but I've always felt that in a previous life I was an empath of some kind. I've always felt stronger about certain subjects than most people would think. A lot of the time, it felt like I was an emotional sponge, feeling things for people when they should be feeling that way themselves. Like say for example, something should make someone angry or upset, but they don't feel that way. If I'm in the room with that person, and I hear or witness it in any other way, I feel that anger or sadness for them. I used to listen in on arguments just to make sure no one got hurt, physically or emotionally. Dr. Cool himself quickly broke me out of that, which actually even for him was a challenge. I wasn't a difficult child, really, but the few times I actually was difficult, it was HARD. It was even worse because both of had a tendency to be bullheaded.

I considered that man my savior for many reasons. I met him the night my father was killed, and I'll admit I was terrified of him. Even before he had the respirator, he was imposing as all hell. He reminded me of a wolf, and not one of those fairy tale big bad wolves. He looked fierce sure, but he didn't kill for pleasure. This wolf only killed to survive. He found in the closet of my room, hiding behind a bunch of old coats and bags of summer clothes. I remember it was dark, raining, and cold.

I tried to run from my hiding spot, but he grabbed my neck, not too tight, just on the back, and kept me close. I don't remember much else except that I'd passed out from a mix of exhaustion and dehydration. When I came back, he was there. He explained what happened to my dad and assured me that I would not be put into foster care. Instead, he'd been given permission by the other O-5s to serve as my legal guardian until I was eighteen. He didn't know much in the ways of love, but he kept true to his promises to keep me safe as long as he could and to teach me all he knew in hopes that one day I would use it.

It wasn't a bad upbringing, like I said, just hard. How anyone could turn their heart to stone like that was beyond me. I couldn't do it, which disappointed him somewhat. Well, if I tried to please all, I'd be pleasing no one. Regardless, I loved and respected him as another father figure ever since then.

"Carson?" Jiminy's bubbly voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"Huh? What?" I asked.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just thinking is all".
"About what?"
"Just past stuff. Nothing for you to worry about little guy".
"Oh okay…was it because of 682?".
"A little, but I'm also anxious about 049 coming here".
"Awww don't worry. He won't hurt you".
"I'm not worried about getting hurt".
"Then what's wrong?"
"I'm afraid, but for some reason I don't know why".
"Oh…well don't be scared. I won't let anyone hurt you, not ever. I promise".

I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks little man, I appreciate it".