At that time, Snowhill psychiatric institute, Seattle, Washington

He walked through the door, as he did once a month. The woman at the front desk nodded as he looked to her. He went inside the hall, passing room after room, ignoring the people walking around. He was known by the personnel and they knew he wouldn't be there long. He didn't smile, he didn't frown, he had no emotions displayed. He walked into the room he'd went to every month.

Only this time, it was empty. He looked puzzled, but simply turned around and found a doctor.

"Excuse me. Where is the woman who lives in that room?" he asked indicating it.

"Oh, she left."

"Pardon?"

"She was released."

"When?"

"Uh... two days ago."

The man turned around and walked away. Once outside, he took out his phone, and dialed. "Mr. Lydecker? We need to talk. I'm on my way."

*

That night, Logan's home

All had returned to the hotel room. Except Liz, who wanted to remain with her daughter. Both women were invited to stay at Logan's. But Liz couldn't sleep. It had been a very eventful day. It hadn't completely sunk in yet. She sat by the window overlooking the city night sky, when she heard a small cough from behind. She turned to find Max standing there.

"Hey."

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked her mom.

"No."

"Me either," she said, sitting next to her. "Uh... M... Mom?" Max asked, a grin appearing on her face at the mention of the word Mom. Liz smiled too, knowing her wait for the word to be spoken was over. The two women already had an unspoken admiration for each other, even though they had only met a few hours before.

"Yeah?" said Liz.

"I wanted to know about... some things."

"Like what?"

"Well... Gina... and your time after you tried to escape... If you don't want to, I'll understand, I just..."

"It's alright," said Liz, nodding.


"Gina... I never thought I would meet someone like her in a place like Manticore. She was the one that helped me through it. We were sitting together on the bus, and everyone had begun the trip in silence. Eventually, some of them began whispering to each other. She turned to me and... she smiled... and I knew I could count on her. She had red hair, it was... just below her shoulders and she wore it in a ponytail almost on top of her head. Her eyes were sparkling blue, they lost their shine after a little while... She was from Montana, had just a hint of an accent. She'd went off to Idaho to try living on her own... and then they found her. She needed money to make it, so she went.

"I remember, on our first night there, she told me about how her mom would sing all the time... Gina herself had a beautiful voice... she would sing to us when the guards weren't around... When I suggested the escape, she didn't think it was a good idea, but I convinced her. She had felt a connection with her child as well and I don't think she would have come otherwise. We spent four months planning it and finally, one night, we tried. By then, our bellies had grown so much that it was hard for us to sneak around very well..."


"So what happened?" asked Max.

"She was scared the whole time. We had gone to bed and when the coast was clear, I gave her a signal that it was time. You should have seen her face, she just went wide-eyed. Eventually, she got up, and we started going... she was really nervous the whole time... Somehow, we took a wrong turn, because before we knew it we'd been walking around for an hour. We were almost at the exit, we could almost feel the freedom, and then... they found us. I could feel her shaking behind me.

"They told us to stop. There was no doubt for me, I didn't want anything to happen to you so I stopped. I... I knew Gina, I knew she was a risk taker, and somehow... I... knew she wouldn't stop. And she didn't. Right there, when Lydecker... shot her... I could see all that we'd been through... seven months just flashed before my eyes... and it made me sick to my stomach."


"Seeing her lying there in her blood... knowing she was gone... I was outraged but too shocked to act upon it. I pleaded for them to do something, to try to save her baby... and I guess they did... But I never knew that back then. I was dragged off to a room and strapped to the bed. I tried to break free... but eventually I fell asleep from exhaustion."


"That first morning after I woke up in the isolation room, I couldn't even talk... I was still in complete utter shock. When it finally hit me, about two days later, still strapped... it came down hard... the attempt at escape... Gina's death... the isolation... basically all that had happened since my arrival at Manticore... But Gina most of all. For so long, even beyond my departure from the base, at least a year after the incident, whenever... I went to sleep, or even closed my eyes... all I could see was her... lying dead on the ground... it haunted me... I felt like it was just my fault... that if I hadn't dragged her into the escape, she would have had her baby and they would have taken her back to Idaho, and might still be alive today..."

"Mom... it wasn't your fault. You tried to save her, you tried to take her out of the bad place... even if it ended badly, you can't blame yourself." Liz looked to her daughter and smiled.

"I spent the two months until you were born... trying to keep my mind off of it... imagining what you would look like... I tried getting used to the idea that I wouldn't see you grow up..." Max and her mother continued talking through the night, nearly twenty years apart from each other seemed like it never happened.