Carter shuffled around the room, trying to move as steathly as she could. She winced, biting down on a knuckle as she caught her knee on the sharp edge of a table.

"You're going to break his heart, you know that?" a voice came from somewhere in the dark and it took all of Carter's reservation not to scream. A light came on and the blonde winced as the entire room was bathed in the glow from the bulbs overhead. She blinked a few times and then looked over to see Stephanie standing by the stairs. The older woman wore a set of silk pyjamas and had bare feet. Her straight hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore glasses on her face.

Carter scrambled for an answer to her question but she came up empty handed.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Stephanie," Carter shrugged. "I'm not a toy, he can't just pull me out of the cupboard and show me off whenever he feels like it. He hasn't bothered about me in over 12 years."

"Carter," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "You're so blinded by your hatred and by the hand that life has dealt you that you can't see by the end of your nose, sweet girl." Stephanie sighed. "If you want to leave then I can't stop you. But the least that I can do is make sure you have some warm clothes," she added, her eyes running over Carter, noting that she wearing the clothes from the previous night at the police station. "And make sure that you have enough money to get you to wherever you're going."

The door closed behind Carter and she began to make her way down the driveway to the gates at the end. Stephanie had assured her that she would open them from the inside and Carter nodded to herself as she saw them opening.

Her step mother had loaned her a pair of rather snug jeans and a plain white long sleeved tee. The leather jacket that Carter had been wearing was slung over the top and the $200 that Stephanie gave her was slotted into her back pocket. Hooking the small duffel with her other clothes in it over her shoulder, Carter slipped through the gates and out onto the streets of Weston, CT.

She had walked along the side of the road, holding her hand out to traffic in order to flag down a ride. She needed to get to Westport to get the train back to Grand Central Station in New York City. The condition Caspar was in when she had left the party still niggled in the back of her mind and she was already plotting the lengths she would need to go to to find him.

She finally managed to catch a lift from a truck that was passing by. The driver was heading out of state but was passing Westport on his way. He dropped her at the front of Westport and Saugatuck, giving Carter a wave as he drove off. She shouted her thank you, waving to him before heading towards the station. It was a large station and the building was made from wood with an old slanted slate roof. Electrical pylons stood tall overheard and the lines that powered the trains hovered high above the rails.

Carter made her way onto the platform, noting that there was no office. The sun was just beginning to come up and there were a few commuters dotted along either side of the platforms, some heading for New Haven and some to New York. After buying her ticket, Carter took a seat on one of the benches, pulling her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them to secure them.

She closed her eyes, thinking about the events of the last 48 hours. Her brain was frazzled from everything that had happened. There was no question that she had managed to get rid of some of the anger and frustration that she held towards her father but there was definitely more under the surface. There were questions that Carter wanted answered but to stay and wait for those was too painful for her. And regardless of that, she doubted that she would get the answers that she wanted.

At some point, she must have dozed off as she woke up to the screeching of brakes from a train as it rolled to a stop in the station. Shaking herself awake, she noticed that there were several more people around her now. She stood up and joined the queue of commuters getting on the train.

"Carter!" she heard her name being called. "Carter! Are you here?"

Looking over her shoulder she saw her father glancing over the top of the crowd to see if he could find her. He was at least a foot taller than the majority of the crowd and his eyes landed on her with ease.

"Dude! What the hell are you doing here?" Carter hissed as she stepped out of the line, coming face-to-face with him. "You're seriously a pain in my ass."

He seemed to be a little out of breath, maybe from exertion, but Carter doubted that. It seemed that he was worried, from the look in his eyes, and possibly a little scared. He placed his hands on her shoulders and Carter tried not to visibly recoil from him.

"Don't get on the train, sweetheart," Carter bit her tongue at the pet name. "Stephanie told me that you'd left-"

"I'll bet she did," Carter retorted, rolling her eyes. "So you decided to come running after me and you thought that you could change my mind? Did I give you some inclination that I wanted that? That I wanted to you to chase me down and give me some soppy speech that would make me come back with you?" she continued, knowing how spiteful she was being but unable to make herself stop. "I don't need you in my life! What part of that can't you understand?!" she asked, wrenching herself from his grip to turn back towards the line of people queuing for the train.

"The part where you're lying," Paul replied, forcing Carter to turn around.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused. "I'm not-"

"Yes you are! There is a difference between wanting me in your life and needing me, Carter. You've been alone for so long that you don't know what it's like to have someone there, someone who is willing to stand beside you and support you, to love you. You don't know what it's like to be a part of a family, sweetheart, and that is why you're reacting this way."

"And who's fault is that?" Carter asked, trying to to force back the tears that were threatening to spill over. "Who made sure that I didn't have a family? Who made sure that I knew that I wasn't wanted?"

"It wasn't me!" Paul insisted. "I have been scared out of my mind for the past 12 years wondering where you've been and what you've been doing. If you've been in school and how you're doing at school. I've thought about you growing up and about whether you went to prom, wondered whether you learned to drive or whether you had a good job and made a career for yourself. I've thought about if you've gotten married or had babies and most of all I've thought about all of the things that I've missed out on. I don't know who it was that told you that I didn't want you but if I ever find them then I will kill them. The biggest mistake I ever made was not searching hard enough for you, for not making sure you knew that I loved you, Carter. You're my first born, my baby and I will never let anything bad happen to you. Please, I'm begging you, don't get on the train."

Paul ran his hands over the top of his shorn head, trying to hold back tears of his own. He had just gotten his daughter back and the last thing he wanted to do was lose her again.

Carter hung her head, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"If I stay, will you shut up with all that soppy bullshit?" she asked, turning around to face him.

Paul pulled the truck into the driveway, spinning the wheel with one hand to bring it around to the path to the door. He looked over to Carter who was huddled in the front seat, staring out of the window towards the house. She gulped and he reached over to pat her hand.

"Everything is going to be okay," he tried to sound reassuring.

"Says you," Carter rolled her eyes with the quip. She pulled the handle on the door and slipped out, closing the door behind her. Paul killed the engine and followed his daughter out, and the two were met by Stephanie who walked down the path towards them.

"I'm so glad you came back, Carter. I made some breakfast if you would like to eat?" she suggested, reaching towards Paul. He wrapped his arm around his wife and both looked to his oldest daughter.

"I'm tired. I'll be in my room," she murmured, heading for the doorway.

Paul sighed and attempted to go after her but Stephanie stopped him with a hand placed on his chest.

"Leave her. It's going to take some time."

"I just wish that I could get her to understand. She's so consumed by-" he trailed off, letting out a deep breath.

"I know. But, like I said, give her time. She'll come around."

"I hope so," he replied, patting Stephanie's side.

"Have I ever been wrong before?" Stephanie quipped as they walked into the house and shut the door, not liking Paul's resounding laugh as a response.