Chapter Nine


"Mike, didn't expect to see you here." Tom remarked as he closed the file he'd been reading to greet his friend a couple days later. Mike stood in front of his desk with Kaito strapped to his torso in a baby carrier facing forward.

"Yeah well, Sasha and Kara are taking the girls shopping this morning." Mike said as he gently toggled Kaito's legs by his feet, he hat to admit he was always amused at how Kaito's tiny toes tried to grab hold of his fingers. He had tried to coax the girls into going shopping but they only ever wanted to leave the house to see Beth with him. So Kara and Sasha offered to take the girls as they didn't mind it when Kara suggested it. For some reason they seemed reticent to be around him but then Sasha assured him that perhaps they were too embarrassed as teenage girl and preteen girl to be shopping with their father for clothes. So he did his best to not take it personally.

"So you came here?" Tom asked, if it were him he'd have stayed at home and kicked up his feet enjoying the temporary peace and quiet before seeing if Sasha was up for lunch and an afternoon delight. But hearing Sasha was out with Mike's daughters... well that put the kibosh on those plans.

"At least I can do something here ." Mike said, which wasn't entirely true. He could probably do numerous things around the house but he needed a friend.

"Like bug me?" Tom offered drily as he signed off the report in front of him.

"Yeah or I was thinking paperwork." Mike said.

"You find a Nanny? Cause you should probably do that instead of hanging around here." Tom told him.

"Nope, I hired Beth." Mike said, Tom stopped what he was doing and looked to the man.

"Beth as in the woman currently hospitalised?" Tom asked sceptical.

"She'll get better. She looked after my girls and they want her in their lives. She also wouldn't take anything for free." Mike said but he understood that a lot better than he had a few days ago as he'd had Tom email reports about the factory. It wasn't new that women in the factories traded sex for protection, food or in Beth's case meds. But damn if it didn't make him feel sick to his stomach to know that she had to live like that, that Christine and the girls had lived in that hell. He owed Beth a lot more than he could ever repay. How could he begin to help her when she'd prostituted herself for meds, to feed his kids and protect them from God knew what. At least he was going in with eyes wide open.

"The men and women come out of those factories very jaded." Tom remarked in a pragmatic tone.

"Yeah, well I think I owe her something more than a thank you card and she'd only accept a job with medical benefits." Mike said.

"Yeah, how are the girls?" Tom asked.

"Getting better, Mia has stopped stockpiling food for the next apocalypse." Mike half joked, he wasn't going to mention that Mia still kept a large portion of canned foods under bed a long with bottle water. He tried to get her to give it up but she just looked scared and half crushed at having to so he let it was still incredibly quiet no matter how hard he tried to get her to speak up. He kept his mouth shut on that too as he just wanted her to be happy.

"At least you know where all the baked beans are going." Tom said with an amused smile letting Mike keep things light and amusing even though there was a serious note to it all.

"Yeah and Sienna is still giving me the cold shoulder but all my taps are working." Mike said, he wasn't sure if he wanted to cry or laugh as he just didn't know his daughters anymore or how to reach them. He felt like there was this wall between them that he couldn't get past.

"That's handy, maybe we should get Ashley and Sienna together. I wouldn't mind Ashley learning some more practical skills." Tom said, at that Mike chuckled as there was nothing wrong with Tom's place. Between Jed and Tom the place was fully functional. Ashley was a well adjusted girl who went to school.

Mike couldn't even broach the subject with the girls. But then he figured Sienna's bad attitude stemmed from a lack of sleep. Sienna fixed things around the house while Mike was asleep. The only reason he found out about it was one night he'd caught her changing a washer in one of the taps. He didn't mind his daughter knowing how to do basic plumbing and house care but preferred he was there to supervise and it be done between the hours of 9am and 6pm.

He was just glad the girls had agreed to leave the house to go shopping. It hadn't been an easy feat by any means but Kara and Sasha seemed to speak the girls' language. It made him incredibly grateful to have the friends he had.

"In time, I don't want them to be overloaded. It's only been a few days." Mike said to Tom.

"Well, why don't we go grab a steak and a beer." Tom offered.

"Sounds good." Mike said.


"We have too much." Mia told Sasha in barely a whisper, Sasha turned to the little girl and looked to the trolley they had which had three items in it and back to Mia. Debbie hadn't been able to go shopping with them as she had a part time job, so Sasha took the day off work. It wasn't like she didn't deserve the time off given she had way too much overtime racked that she wasn't getting paid for. So time in lieu was how she'd get some of it back and frankly she was just curious to meet Mike's kids, and he was a friend. He asked for help, so she was helping him.

"Nah, you need all this and more. We talked about it remember?" Sasha asked her in a gentle and kind manner, Mia gave a nod but twisted her hands nervously as she looked around the shop like she was expecting to be attacked. Sasha crouched down so they were on the same level. "Mia, I know it's really overwhelming but if you want to go home then just say so. It's ok." Sasha assured her.

"I don't see Sienna and Kara." Mia said.

"They went to get clothes for your sister. Close your eyes." Sasha told her, Mia looked hesitant but closed her eyes. "Now take a slow breath in and out and listen carefully. Can you hear the music?" Sasha asked, Mia nodded. "People talking, the air conditioning?" she asked, Mia nodded again. "Ok now focus on the voices, can you hear Sienna talking?"

"Yes." Mia said.

"Does she sound hurt or scared?" Sasha asked.

"No." Mia said.

"Then she's ok, nothing's going to happen to either of you. We have a buddy system. I watch your back and you watch mine. Now, you have to pick out some clothes for you. So we'll start small. Three short sleeve and two long sleeve tops, another pair pants and anything else you want. Oh and pyjamas. Your Dad said it was more than ok as you need this stuff." Sasha said to her with a warm and kind smile to the girl. But Mia made no move to pick anything. Sasha herself wasn't big on shopping but knew Mia's reticence stemmed from months of the hell she'd lived in. Sasha knew it was wrong but decided if she picked clothes she'd wear if she were eight then it might help.

"I really like this chambray button down shirt, it's uber cute and if we get a size larger you'll get at least two winters and in between months out of it. What do you say?" Sasha said as she plucked one off the rack and held it out to Mia to see if it fit across her shoulders. She highly doubted she could wrangle the girl into a change room. But Sasha did see a spark of interest in the girl's eyes as she realised the longevity of the shirt not it's design.

"Ok," Mia said taking the shirt and putting in the trolley. "May I have the t-shirt with the stars on it please?" Mia asked her as she pointed to a blue t-shirt with tiny silver stars on it.

"Definitely." Sasha said feeling like they were finally getting somewhere as it was the first thing Mia had asked for without Sasha prompting her.