Mia awoke to the cries of Rose who was lying between the couple, it wasn't a loud cry but clearly she sounded angry about something - or was asking for something. The woman rubbed her eyes, bringing the baby close to her and taking her in her lap before getting up. She left the room quietly so as not to wake Ethan, closing the door and heading for the stairs turning on the living room lights, she heard the sound of rain and stopped to watch through the window as she stroked Rose's back in an attempt to calm her. The baby held her mother's clothes with her small hands and soon understood that the girl was hungry so she went to the kitchen to prepare the bottle, holding her with her left arm to do the process of heating the milk. She looked at the clock and it was 4 am, not as early as usual and this made her relieved as she thought she needed some more rest after what had happened the day before - Mia had thought about calling the specific number Chris had given, but Ethan had insisted that everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. In her head, she imagined that her husband would return home and they could finally enjoy their days together with their daughter, but Heisenberg was being a pain in the ass...on the other hand, however, she felt some empathy for the man. Clearly he had problems relating to people, understanding their points of view - and in some strange way, he saw Miranda in her without knowing why.

It was a more complicated situation than expected, as she was sure Ethan wasn't going to turn him over to the BSAA anytime soon, and Heisenberg doesn't seem happy with the idea of serving as an object of scientific study - after all, he was half-human being.

"Here, Rose..." She finished preparing the bottle and settled the baby on her lap, taking care that she didn't choke. "You're up late today, uh? Good thing you didn't wake Daddy."

Mia walked as she fed her, heading toward the garage to check if Karl was still asleep; She opened the door slowly, looking around: no sign of him there. She walked into the living room, walking around the car and checking to see if he was inside, but he wasn't either. She left, going to the other rooms but Karl was apparently not in any of them, when she heard noises coming from the roof - it was quick, but it was enough for her to notice amidst the noise of the rain. Rose finished using the bottle, so Mia took the opportunity to go upstairs and wake Ethan for a few seconds.

"Hmmmm...?" Ethan grumbled, opening one corner of his eye still sleepily.

"Can you keep Rose sitting for a few minutes? She just drank some milk, I'm going to go to the bathroom and take a shower."

"Hand that glutton over." He replied, stretching out an arm and placing the girl close to him, keeping her sitting up already starting to fall asleep.

"Thanks, love. I'll be right back." She kissed his forehead and left, closing the door and looking up at the ceiling before heading downstairs. "What are you up to?" she said, whispering.

Outside in the heavy rain, Karl was sitting on the roof without his hat - his hair didn't float when it was wet and no one would see him there anyway - except for Mia, who appeared on the sidewalk with an umbrella in hand.

"HEISENBERG! WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" She shouted, trying to balance herself amidst the strong wind.

Karl growled briefly, clearly annoyed at the sudden appearance.

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" He replied, putting his hands around his mouth.

Mia frowned, opening her mouth in protest at how rude Heisenberg was being. She then went inside for a few minutes, causing the man to sigh with relief at finally being alone again - but was soon surprised by a returning Mia with a ladder, leaning against the wall still with an umbrella in hand, climbing each step furiously.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU FUCKING CRAZY BITCH?!" Karl shouted, he knew the strong wind would knock her over and who knows what would happen to him if it did, so he slid to the edge, fixing his feet on the rail and using his powers to hold the ladder steady until she finished climbing.

"...Thank you." She finally replied at the last rung. "Anyways...GET DOWN NOW!"

"WHY?! You guys don't want me there, so stop pretending that you care about me, for fuck's sake!" Karl protested, making Mia even angrier.

"I would have kicked your ass out of here long ago if that was the case! But I'm about to do it with you sitting up here!" She pulled him up by his blouse, surprising the man. "Get down, now!"

Karl pushed her hand away, huffing. He slammed his hand on the roof, splashing water as he stood up, grabbing the branch of a nearby tree and picking up momentum to land on the ground, turning to Mia still standing on the ladder. He pulled her hard back and catching her in his arms - all extremely aggressive yet oddly careful. She screamed as she fell but was relieved to be rescued and put down, sighing with relief. Karl took the ladder retracting the steps and entered the house, soaking the entrance carpet.

"Stay right here, I'll get some towels." Mia said, finally calmer as she closed the umbrella and left it drying on the ground.

"What-fucking-ever..." Karl whispered, crossing his arms seemingly giving up arguing with the woman. Fuck, Ethan was right...she was pushy.

Soon she returned with two pink towels, handing him one of them. He wiped his face lazily and tossed it over his shoulder, glaring at the woman who returned his gaze, approaching him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, pulling away slowly.

"Relax, I'm just drying your hair!" Mia carefully threw the towel over his head, placing her hands on top of it and making circular motions. "You shouldn't even be complaining after what you did yesterday."

"Too late." harsh as usual, but this time he didn't expect all that attention. Slowly he remembered Miranda's sweet and kind image, the one he preferred to keep in his memory. She and Mia looked alike, maybe it was just maternal instinct - it was likely.

Karl sighed, lowering his gaze.

"...Listen…"

"Go ahead." Mia lowered the towel, looking him in the eye.

"...I..." a pause, it was hard to look someone in the eye when he was being sentimental. "...Ever since I left the village...I've been feeling out of place, lost...a little lonely. I mean, they're not new feelings in me, but they seem more intense since I stepped afoot here. She..." Karl ran his hand through his hair, pushing the strands away from his face. "She... tortured me. With everything you can imagine. She had no reason, she could just show up and drag me into a cell...and..." He gestured near the button of his shirt, at which Mia nodded for him to continue.

He unbuttoned it with trembling hands, leaving the Cadou showing thus with the burn marks and scars. "The ones on my face were on other occasions, but... this here was her."

Mia watched the marks in silence, without sketching any reaction that might hurt his feelings. Karl quickly covered it up, buttoning it back up.

"She used to do these things saying that she loved me, that I was worthy of that treatment... then I only realized how cruel she was after I went through her lab archives. I realized that...it was all a lie, you know, the words of reassurance...that I was her favorite son." he lowered his gaze, squeezing the towel that were in his hands. "W-What I mean is... I'm... sorry for what I did yesterday, and for now. It's just that I..." a tear fell to the floor, he was struggling not to cry. "...I'm tired of lies. I'm tired of feeling like an object. When I saw what was written in the letter I got so angry - I felt backstabbed... Ethan was the first person I could trust, do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand you... I understand perfectly." Mia wrapped the towel in her right hand, drying the tear that was running lightly down his left cheek. "I was arrested before too, I served as a guinea pig... it was the scariest thing I've ever been through in my life, but now it's just become a distant nightmare, just the same for you."

"I'm sorry, I..." Karl pushed her hand away carefully, heading in the direction of the garage when Mia held his hand.

"You said yesterday that I was...talking like a certain person. Was it her? The woman?"

"..." Karl lowered his head, letting out a shaky laugh. "Yes."

"I... how can I keep those thoughts from coming? I mean... do you have anything you want me to avoid talking about?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"What...? No - " he let go of her hand slowly, turning to her. "No, that...that's something I need to avoid, it's out of your control...I…"

"...so it's okay if I give you a hug?"

Karl was silent for a few seconds - that question was simple but sure, his brain was going back and forth in denial, in a desperate attempt to take the action to get out of there and avoid opening up too much, to give away too much information about his fears and uncertainties - it was all a survival trigger, but, he had already made the mistake of telling about the violence he had suffered after so many years of just telling it over the pages of his diary and keeping it under lock and key - Mia, who was the most suspicious, was now offering hima hug? Did he deserve it after what he had done? No.

"You are a monster."

"You are a disgusting creature."

"You are special."

"You're nothing but a traitor."

Miranda's voice came over him like dark clouds, hovering over him and making him weaker and weaker, as if she were there - holding him by the throat, choking him as she repeated each sentence slowly. Karl didn't know how to push those words away so he squeezed his eyes shut, running out of strength to stand and kneeling with his head down - crying silently in front of Mia, who promptly bent down wrapping her arms around him trying to calm him down.

"It's okay...she's dead now, there's no way she can drag you back there again." Mia whispered as she felt the man's wide arms embrace her - startling her for a few seconds. For a minute she wanted to cry too, the conversation reminded her of her own experience at the Bakers' house but she kept silent until he calmed down.

Karl didn't know what was happening to him after years of maintaining a rude and sarcastic posture, but he certainly felt a huge weight lifted off his back after opening up to this woman - no judgments, no torture, and no words that hurt more than blades on his skin.