Author's Note: For anyone who is curious but did not want to math: Samus is 33 years old. Adam is 50. Maggie is 26, and Morrigan is 90.

Chapter 10

"But why do you have this?" Adam asked, still looking between Morrigan and the photograph. "Why is this room some kind of Samus shrine? Why the hell did you drag her out here claiming that the baby's father had died?"

Morrigan, dressed in a dark green gown, regarded him with her cold gaze. "You really haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

Adam looked once more at the three people in the photograph. There were a man and a woman he didn't recognize, but woman bore an uncanny resemblance to Samus. Or how Samus might have looked if she had lived a gentler life. In the woman's arms, though, there was a young child, likely a toddler, and the child's eyes were unmistakable.

"Is this…" he asked hesitantly, "Is this Samus with her parents? On K-2L?"

Morrigan nodded. "Yes. Virginia sent me that about a year before they all perished. She'd send me framed photographs and little things here and there. Small attempts to make up for never bringing my grandchild to see me."

"Ginny," Adam repeated the name Maggie had mentioned earlier. She had said her Aunt Ginny had been killed. "Your daughter, Ginny… was she Virginia Aran?"

Morrigan smiled genuinely this time. "Virginia Sinclaire-Aran."

Adam took a moment to process, trying to figure out if she was lying and why she would make up such a thing.

"If you don't believe me," the old woman continued, walking over to the desk with the K-2L documents and pulling open a drawer, "then look for yourself." She handed him a folder. "Those are the original birth and death certificates of Virginia Sinclaire-Aran and her child, Samus Aran. And a copy of the death certificate of her husband Rodney Aran."

Adam looked through the documents and confirmed. They were actual, Federation-issued documents, and the information on Samus's birth certificate matched what he had seen on the Roster of the Dead. He lingered on Samus's death certificate. The Federation had officially issued her one despite never having found a body. That was why she couldn't find herself in Records or missing persons. Certified Dead humans were pulled from such databases.

"But why lead her here under false pretenses? Why make up the story about the Purists and Maggie's baby?"

Morrigan laughed and shook her head. "I hired her under true pretenses. Everything about Maggie's pregnancy is true, and she needs a bodyguard. The only part I took creative license with was the father's death. I figured Samus would be more inclined to take the job if she felt there was no one else to protect Maggie. The truth is, the child's father is not so much dead as he is a deadbeat." She looked like she had just sucked on a lemon. "I don't think it will really matter much either way. She thinks he's coming here to be with her once the child is born, but I highly doubt it. I just hope she wasn't stupid enough to mention that she's an heiress."

"But why not just be honest with Samus?"

"That," Morrigan continued, sitting down in a very ornate red wingchair, "is a more complicated issue. You see, I spent twenty-two years thinking my granddaughter and her entire family had perished. It wasn't until her Zero Mission on Zebes that the name 'Samus Aran' made its way into the media. And even then, Aran is a very common name, and the news reports presented Samus as a male for a long time. It was damn near impossible to find pictures of her without that damn spacesuit. Eventually, after the Phaaze incident, I did learn her sex. She appeared without her helmet briefly on an interview I watched. She was showing the effects the Corruption had on her." Morrigan touched her face and traced where Samus's black scars would have been. "It was like seeing a ghost. The girl was the spitting image of my Virginia. And although I had no proof, I just knew. I've known so long now… but I never knew how to approach her.

"I would watch her on television, read about her in the news. I purchased her unofficial biography, but I think a lot of the information in it is made up. There was nothing else to explain her origin. I hired a private investigator, but there were no records of her before her military service, and they had her birthday listed as midnight on January first. That's a government issued DOB if I've ever seen one. Samus Aran was a non-person, a ghost. And I knew it must have been because she was Certified Dead.

"And I just… wanted to get to meet her and know her first before I told her who she was. I needed to know she was truly Virginia's lost child. And after thirty years… can you understand why I haven't been able to say anything yet? You know her. How do you think she would react if she had arrived here and I had sprung it right off the bat that I was her grandmother? I think she would shut me out entirely. But I needed to know this woman. I needed to know her as a person, not a public figure. Needed to find out who the child in Virginia's photos had become."

Adam listened intently and actually found himself believing her story. There wasn't a word of it that was implausible. Every part made sense.

After some time, he finally spoke. "And from what you've seen of her, what do you think of the woman she has become?"

Morrigan's face fell and she looked down toward another photograph in her hands. "She's such a terribly troubled woman. You can see it all over her. Thirty years worth of damage. I think she's become a strong, courageous woman, and I admire her, don't get me wrong. But she makes me sad. I can see how she has suffered. And I only wish I had known she was alive all those years so I could have given her home here."

Adam hated feeling this way. He hated that he never knew how to respond to people in emotional distress, even though he wanted to help comfort the woman. Not sure how much he could help, but willing to try, he knelt beside the woman and gently placed a hand on hers. "Samus has had a difficult life, but as a result of it, she has helped so many people. She's an incredible person, and I think if you got to know her, you would see how much more there is to her than just the warrior. And if I may be so direct, I don't think it's too late for you to give her some sense of 'home' and remind her of her humanity. I think that's something lost in her lately."

Morrigan held Adam's hand as he stood and helped her to her feet.

"You seem like a nice young man, Adam. I'm glad she keeps you around." Morrigan smiled. "Let's go down to the kitchen and get some breakfast, hmm?"

A spinach omelet and two cups of coffee later, Adam still found himself sitting at the table with Morrigan. An Earth native himself, it was refreshing to be back on the home planet swapping stories with another Earthling. They had visited a lot of the same places, it seemed, and with his family only just a couple of hundred miles south, they had grown up in relatively the same environment.

"So, Adam," Morrigan said, pouring herself another cup of tea, "Tell me about your family. You have a wife, correct? Any children?"

That was the moment Adam realized he had forgotten to call his wife when he got to Earth. Damn, he thought, Marza's going to be pissed at me. Again. He would have to check his messages soon. She had probably left five already.

"I have two daughters," he replied, quickly glancing at his watch. "Abridgette just turned sixteen this year, and Evianna is…" He paused and thought for a moment. "Evianna is thirteen now."

Not winning father of the year any time soon, are you, Malkovich? He scolded himself as he scrolled through his watch, looking for his call log.

Two missed calls and a voicemail from Marza. Okay, that wasn't as bad as he had been expecting.

One missed call and a voicemail from Admiral Dane. Probably just checking in to see how he and Samus were doing on Earth. He figured the Feds would probably be getting worried about them by now. Or worried about what she would do to the planet, more specifically.

Seven missed calls and seven voicemails from Samus. All within the last half hour. All marked urgent. Shit. That wasn't a good sign.

"Excuse me for a moment, Ms. Sinclaire," he said, pulling his earpiece out of his jacket pocket and putting it on. "I have a couple of messages I need to listen to, and I think they may be important."

Morrigan put up her hands and smiled. "It's quite all right. Take all the time you need. I've greatly enjoyed having a breakfast companion this morning."

Adam nodded as he played the first message.

"Hello, Adam," Marza's voice came directly into his ear. "It's Marza, remember me? The girls and I have been waiting to hear from you all night. Your GPS says you're already on the planet, and I wanted to make sure everything is all right. We're looking forward to seeing you and want to know when you're going to get over here! Anyway, I know you're busy. Tell Sam we said hello and give her a hug for me. It's been ages since I've seen her. Anyway, love you, Dear. Bye!"

He made a mental note to call her later as he skipped over the message from Dane. Next was Samus's first call.

"Adam? I need you to call me."

That sounded sufficiently ominous that he decided to play the rest of the messages.

"Adam, seriously, give me a call. Maggie turned her ankle and took a fall. We're at the ER. There are more things, though, and I need to talk to you."

"Adam, seriously, pick up your damn phone!"

"Adam, you asshole! I know you're awake! This is an emergency and I shouldn't have to call you four times! What's the point of having a damn phone if you never use it?"

The last three messages continued in the vein of the first four, each one declining in civility. Samus could be quite the wordsmith when she put her mind to it. The thing that bothered him wasn't the colorful language with which she chose to describe him and his absentmindedness; it was the fact that he recognized in her voice that she was calling him from the interface of her powersuit.

As soon as the last message finished, Adam shot out of his seat and hit the callback button on his watch. He dashed through the front door as he heard it ringing on the other end.

"Hello?" Samus answered, sounding tired and irritated. "Adam? Where the hell have you been?"

"Samus, what's going on? You said Maggie turned an ankle?"

"Yes, but she's fine. We're finishing up with the doctor now. I made sure they rushed her through."

"Of course you did."

"But that's not the problem. Adam, we were ambushed at the grocery store. I took out five gunmen. I didn't get a good look at them, but I saw a Purist tattoo on one of the corpses. They've apparently figured out where Maggie is."

That caught his attention. "Was anyone else harmed? What was the damage?"

"Everyone's fine. No one else got hurt. I followed up with the people who escaped the shootout. As for collateral damage, I broke a window, knocked down a candy display, and blew up part of a wall. So, overall, no real damage."

Samus had a very different definition of "damage" than most people.

"And what about you, Lady? Are you all right?"

"I'm just fine."

"How many times did you get shot?"

"Twice."

He knew it. She wouldn't have switched into the power suit if she didn't need to. It was too conspicuous. A seven foot tall, bright orange cyborg was a real attention-getter in a small town.

"Do you need me to come pick you up?"

"No, I can drive."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah… actually, there is. Let Morrigan know what happened, and prep my medical kit for me. I need to stitch myself up." After a moment, she continued "My head is in kind of a bad place right now… I'm too on edge and don't think I could let a doctor near me. I'm sorry if I've been a bit… agitated."

"It's all right, Lady. No offense taken. I'll let Morrigan know, and if you need help with anything else, just let me know."

"Thank you," she said as she disconnected.

Adam sighed and turned back into the house. He was not looking forward to having this conversation with Morrigan.