A/N: I am SO SORRY it's taken a while to update, but I've been deathly ill for a month and completley uninspired lately. Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed, I felt badly holding out for so long so I wanted to get something out. I may go back and rework it later on, but for now enjoy!

Realization

Michael's jaw dropped, his eyes the size of dinner plates. "You…you can't be serious."

"I wish I wasn't," Annie said sadly, her eyes dropping to the ground. "I should have told you when this started. Will you let me explain?" Michael nodded, too shocked to speak. Annie sighed. "He wasn't always like this. He was once a very successful pharmacologist and he loved me and Mom very much. And we loved him too. But…well, do you know why he wears those glasses?" Michael shrugged. "Well, you've seen the scars around his eyes, right?"

"Yeah," Michael said quietly.

Annie hesitated for a moment before saying, "There was an accident. Lideo – Dad – was working late one night in the lab. Something went wrong, someone had mislabeled one of the chemicals, and there was a chemical explosion. Dad was hit right in the face with acidic solution. It's a miracle he wasn't blinded, they said. But something worse happened: the chemicals caused severe brain damage that turned my father from a normal family man into a deranged maniac. Sort of like Two-Face in the Batman comics. He was hospitalized, but the damage was irreversible. He was committed to an asylum, and Mom and I moved out here. Then I met you, and…you know the rest."

Michael just looked at Annie for a time, both of them silent. Annie gazed sadly at the ground, unable to look Michael in the eyes. A small tear escaped from the corner of her eye…and she looked up in surprise when Michael gently brushed it away. She looked at him quizzically, not understanding.

"Annie, it's okay," Michael said softly. "It's not your fault. I understand why you didn't tell me. And now I know why I was sent to find you."

"I still feel guilty," Annie sighed. "Maybe we're both at fault, in some way. I still can't believe what's happened." Straightening, squaring her shoulders, she added, "But you always told me not to let the past ride me down. What's done can't be undone, but it can be prevented from ever happening again. We'll find Lideo and make sure he's put away where he can never hurt anyone again. He's crazy; he's gone crazy. He's not my father anymore, he's someone completely different. I don't think he even knew me when he saw me all those years ago. He wouldn't recognize me now." She sighed again, shaking her head. Closing her eyes briefly, she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "All right, no more of this. Let's go."

Michael nodded and they started walking in silence. After a moment, he reached out and took Annie's hand. She looked up at him and smiled. It didn't take long to reach the ravine, which had turned into a rock pile since the explosion. The two looked around the destruction sadly.

"God…look at this," said Michael softly. "How could anyone have gotten out of this?"

"I don't know," Annie replied. "That's what we're here to find out. C'mon, let's start looking."

"For what?" Michael asked.

"I don't know; why don't we start where that laser cannon was?"

They picked their way precariously up the mountains of rock and rubble to the outcropping where Lideo had fired his cannon from. Lumps of metal, twisted and warped into unidentifiable loops and corkscrews, littered the area, broken glass and razor-sharp metal beams protruded everywhere, and melted slag had pooled and congealed all around. Rust or blood stained some of them. Annie sighed softly, a sad look on her face.

"Daddy, what have you done," she whispered, though it didn't really sound like a question. Michael reached over and squeezed her hand. She smiled up at him tiredly. "I don't see anything useful here. I wouldn't know it if I saw it. Maybe we should go back."

"Back to your house?" asked Michael.

"Back into the city," Annie clarified. "Ask around, see what people have seen or heard lately. Bums and other derelicts usually keep an ear to the ground to avoid being driven from their 'homes' by police, or arrested. They may have some information. That's how I stayed one step ahead of my father while Mom and I were on the run."

Michael nodded thoughtfully. "You might be right. Okay, let's go. Watch your step." Slowly and with the utmost caution, then descended the rockslide down to the ravine and made their way out. The air between them was much less tense on the walk back to the city than it had been on the way out, given their mutual forgiveness of each other. Though they didn't say so, neither felt the other had anything to forgive. Their friendship ran so deep, their affection so strong, that each felt that the other could do them no wrong.

New York may be the city that never sleeps, but it had at least gotten drowsy by the time Michael and Annie returned. The streets were dark and quiet, mostly empty except for the homeless that they hoped to gain information from. An elderly woman wearing a babushka and pushing a rusty shopping cart ambled down the sidewalk towards the duo. Annie smiled gently at her as she drew closer, and the woman stopped, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but we were hoping you could help us?" she asked politely.

"Que você quer? Saia de minha maneira!" the woman snapped.

Annie blinked, taken aback. "Um, okay…"

"Desculpar-me senhora que nós precisamos a ajuda," said Michael. The woman regarded him thoughtfully before smiling a little, almost coyly. Annie tried not to roll her eyes; of course the woman would be willing to talk to Michael.

"Como posso eu ajudá-lo?" she asked.

"Nós estamos procurando um homem nomeado Frankie Lideo," Michael said in an explanatory tone. "Vestiu-se no preto com um ponytail ereto e uns óculos de sol redondos pequenos. Tem você visto lhe?"

The woman thought for a moment before answering, "Eu penso que foi aos apartamentos da skyline. eu vi uma luz da aléia no quinto da janela da parte inferior, em terceiro lugar da esquerda."

Michael smiled gratefully. "Obrigado muito senhora." The woman gave him a little wink before pushing on with her cart. Annie blinked a few times, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened.

"What just happened?" she asked Michael, who chuckled.

"She was speaking Portuguese," he answered.

"And since when do you speak Portuguese?!" cried Annie, only more confused than before. This time Michael laughed outright.

"I'll explain it later," he chuckled. "The point it, she saw him go to the Skyline Apartments. She said there was a light on she could see from the alley, fifth up from the bottom, third in from the left."

"Third from the left, fifth from the bottom…" Annie repeated with a frown. Then her eyes went wide as she whispered, "Oh God, that's my apartment! That's where I was hiding when that man tried to kill me!" Her eyes filled with terror as she looked up at Michael. "Mick, he's looking for me."

Que você quer? Saia de minha maneira!--What do you want? Get out of my way!

Desculpar-me senhora que nós precisamos a ajuda--Excuse me ma'am but we need help

Como posso eu ajudá-lo?--How can I help you?

Nós estamos procurando um homem nomeado Frankie Lideo. Vestiu-se no preto com um ponytail ereto e uns óculos de sol redondos pequenos. Tem você visto lhe?--We're looking for a man named Frankie Lideo. He's dressed in black with an upright ponytail and small round sunglasses. Have you seen him?

Eu penso que foi aos apartamentos da skyline. eu vi uma luz da aléia no quinto da janela da parte inferior, em terceiro lugar da esquerda.--I think he went to the Skyline Apartments. I saw a light from the alley in the fifth window from the bottom, third from the left.

Obrigado muito senhora.--Thank you very much ma'am.