Just a one shot of what it might be like for Ruby to find her father.

"Who are you?"

Ruby remembers uttering these words. She brings the image of the man in her mind often, the way he looked down at her, the way he held her hand in his. He had seemed sad about something.

She and her mother, Dawn, moved out of that apartment two days after the man had come by. They went somewhere better, somewhere safer, and Ruby noticed her mother seemed almost happy again. There were no more nightly visits from the landlord. They were free.

"Who are you?"

Ruby looks at the photographs of the man when her mother isn't around. She knows where they're hidden. Her favorite is the one of him smiling, as though he's just heard the funniest joke in the world. She wonders what he was like, what made him happy and what made him sad. She wonders about him a lot.

"Who are you?"

Dawn had told her the man was just a friend and that he had gone away, but Ruby suspected there was more to it. She caught her mother taking one of her photographs of him once and looking at him when she thought Ruby didn't notice.

Ruby wondered if her mother loved that man.

...

Ruby grew up, and she went away to college. She was only 18, but she felt ready. She didn't want to end up like her mother and trapped in a job she hated. She wanted to be something bigger.

But something happened along the way. She got caught up in a whirlwind of emotions after spending an evening with military men in a bar. The stories they told and the idea of being a hero...it all made her want to sign up.

So she did.

Ruby made it into the military, and she was commended on her fighting skills. Someone called her a natural. She loved everything about the training.

When she went to war, she learned quickly that death was always a constant thing that stared her in the face. She found she didn't mind that either.

"Ruby Smith?" one Sergeant asked. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Joseph Smith, would you?"

Ruby stared at him.

"Who is that?"

"You kinda look like him," the Sergeant went on.

"I don't know who that is," Ruby said firmly. The Sergeant shrugged and went on his way.

Ruby almost forgot about this interaction until one day she saw pictures. They were in a gathering, having fun and drinking to take the edge off. It was in between missions. Ruby saw photos on the wall, and her eyes picked out the one man she recognized.

The man from her photos.

She peered at the name, and she almost choked.

Joseph Smith.

...

"Mum?" Ruby said into the phone. "Is Joseph Smith my father?" It had been driving her crazy for hours.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"I'm looking at his picture," Ruby said, standing in front of it. "He is the same man in my photos. Who is he?"

Dawn sighed loudly. Then she uttered the words that made Ruby freeze on the spot.

"He is your father."

...

Ruby spent days thinking about Joseph. She felt a sense of comradery knowing he had been in the military too. She wanted to meet him, to know him. She just didn't know how to find him.

Then she learned the ugly truth, and it was a punch to the gut. Her father had lost his mind after an attack and killed five innocent people out of revenge for his five teammates being murdered in front of him. He had spent a long time missing, but he was now in jail.

Her father was in jail.

This raised a bunch of questions for her. She felt sick at what he had done, but she could empathize with him too. If it had been her, she might have done the same thing too. War changed you. War made you do and think things you wouldn't normally think or do. War had long lasting effects. She'd only been at it for a few years, but she could feel PTSD creeping at the back of her mind. She had seen some pretty horrible things.

Ruby finally found where her father was being held, and she went to see him.

...

Joseph Smith had done a lot of years in prison. He was very used to the routine, so when he was told he had a visitor, he was very surprised. He had no idea who would come see him let alone anyone who knew he was even there.

When he sat down in front of the glass, he stared at the young woman sitting on the other side. She already had the phone in her hand. He lifted his, curious. She was in military clothes, which made him feel cautious. Were they wanting him to somehow come back and do more killing, the way they had trained him to?

"Yea?" he asked a little roughly. He didn't talk much in prison.

"Hi, Dad," she said. "It's Ruby."

Joseph dropped the phone with a bang. He was taken aback and suddenly emotional. His own daughter had come to see him. She had found him. He picked it back up with shaky hands, pressing the receiver into his ear hard.

"Hi," he said.

"I would have come sooner if I'd known. I only just found out you were my father," she went on.

"You're in the military," he said dumbly.

"I am. It's how I found out about you."

"So you know what I did?"

"I do," she nodded slowly. "But I get why."

"No, you don't," he shook his head. "No one does. It's unforgivable."

"Everything is forgivable," she countered. "You just have to want it and want to do it."

Joseph stared in wonder at his daughter. He had thought of this moment for a lot of years since he had held her hand after dropping off the bag of money and photographs.

"She didn't tell you I was your father," he noted.

"No," she shook her head. "She said you were a friend."

"You still have the photographs?" he asked. He had to know. It was one of the best memories he had of Cristina, her taking his picture.

"I do," Ruby nodded. She had one. She had taken it when her mother wasn't looking, the one of him laughing. "They mean more to me now that I know who you are."

Their time was almost up, which made Joseph sad.

"It means a lot that you came here," he told her. She put her hand on the glass, and he put his on the other side over hers.

"Dad, I just want you to know that despite everything, I still think you're a good man, that you served your country and did the best you could do. Anyone could have reacted the way you did," she said. Joseph felt choked with emotion again.

"Does it look like I'm a good man in these pictures?"

"If you want to be a good man, then be a good man."

Cristina's words were always with him.

"It doesn't make it right," he commented.

"No, but you're doing the consequence of it now," she said. "That's important to remember."

"Don't let what happened to me happen to you," he said, knowing they were running out of time. "Get out before it gets to that point. Promise me."

"I promise," she nodded.

"Time," the guard said.

"Bye, Dad," Ruby smiled sadly.

"I always loved you," he said. "Know that."

He hung up the phone, and as he walked out, he looked back to see her watching, tears sliding down her cheeks. He couldn't help but feel a spark of hope that she'd come see him again.

For the first time in a long time, he felt a little bit of happiness.