She felt naked without her suit. The pajamas were soft but not right. And Rosie didn't have a safe place to nap, so she was fussy about not getting a nap, but was content to play in her lap. Her leg itched in agitation as something inside wasn't set right. She wanted to reach in and fix it. But that might scare momma.

If she had her suit this injury wouldn't have happened. Sloppy girl. Stupid girl. She can't protect Rosie without her suit. A damaged big sister is one which has already failed. And she cant fail Rosie.

The man in the sweater knocked on the door and let himself in startling Taylor from her self corrections. Taylor's mother had told her this would happen and was sitting in with them when he did. Taylor stared up at him as Rosie quickly moved behind her and onto her shoulders. Was he going to try to kill them? Taylor still wasn't sure why her mother had seemed mad earlier when they had woken up here. What had she done wrong? She had protected Rosie.

It must have been for not killing the splicer. That was sloppy on Taylor's part. She would have shared the ADAM with her mother after Rosie had drained it of what she needed. Still maybe this was just a new rule.

After all, this room seemed nicer anyway so maybe it was a reward? The screen on one wall played cartoons, it was nice and dark, there were no windows, and no one bothered them other than her mom coming to visit. Taylor was perfectly content.

The man entering was tall, but still shorter than Taylor, and had a scraggly beard that hid his jaw. "What are you drawing?" He asked about a piece of paper that sat in front of her with her art work. She had thought about drawing more fish but she had tried so hard already to be good. To act like what she thought a daughter was supposed to act. She had done her best to sound like a non-splicer grown up. She had let herself be apart from Rosie. She had been nice. It gave her a headache and she wasn't going to put Rosie in danger. She wanted to have a relationship with her mama, but if it came down to it, Rosie came first.

Always.

"Mr. Bubbles, I mean my Big daddy. I-" She cut herself off and squeezed her eyes shut. Stupid stupid stupid. Think before speaking. Sound grown-up not like a Little sister. They didn't know the right words so she had to find the words. She wanted to hit her head to remind herself of that.. "He… was my guardian." That sounded right.

She hated liars. She hated lies. But there was no way her mother would want to be near her if she told the truth. She had to still want her. So she'd… play with the truth, she'd find the next best words to describe Rapture. It was against the Rules to lie but it wasn't really lying. Her mother wouldn't lie though. Would she hate Taylor more for lying?

"He seems nice. I like that orange you're using." In spite of herself Taylor gave a small smile of pride and Rosie peaked up to look closer at her drawing before retreating back down her back at the sight of the splic- of the man. Of the man. She missed the cage she had where Rosie had toys and drawings and ribbons and could feel safe.

After another moment of silence Taylor remembered her manners. "Um, thank you." She said,

"Do you like to draw?" The man asked.

"I do. It's my favorite thing I'm allowed to do."

"What do you mean? I doubt anyone would stop you if you wanted to do something else." Her mother stiffened at that comment judging by the sound she made.

"The Rules say we can only play with toys, draw, or play the games. And the games aren't fun and the toys are for the Little Sisters, not me."

"Who gave you these rules? They must be pretty important for you to want to follow them." The man said, scribbling something on his clipboard. Taylor didn't really understand the point of them. The words written were really hard to read unlike the books she read to Rosie. And she could never get her hand to grip the pen right so she preferred not to try to make letters.

"Mama Tenabeum and Papa Suchong." Her mother was angry now. She could hear her breath hitching and speeding up. She turned to her partly so Rosie would still be behind her and not facing the man. "But I know they weren't our real parents, you're my real mama." She said smiling worried she would upset her mother.

"Did they take care of you before?" And at this she gave a swift nod. Her leg kept itching. She'd fix it in a bit. "They made me like I am and gave me my job. Papa Suchong was scary at first and not around after a while. But Mama was nice. She was sad a lot of the time though."

"What was your job? It must have been important to have so many rules." She nodded again as Rosie tapped her shoulder multiple times before laying a thin fist in a hit at her. Rosie really needed her nap. How much longer would this man be asking questions?

"We collected ADAM from the angels. And that's what the big dad… no. Our guardian's. Gah." She paused, her head hurting. Why couldn't they just know this stuff? "Were for. They had drills and guns and fireworks and would scare… no they would kill anyone who got near us." She paused for a moment.

"They weren't always enough. Mine died. Other's lost their little sister or were both killed. The splicers would group together to make the big daddy dumb and green or break his armor open and kill him." She bit her lip.

"They'd rip open the little sisters to steal their ADAM. My friend Suzy died that way." She took a moment to think about Suzy and realized she could barely remember the girl's hair color. Her face flushed from shame at her failure of being a good friend. Stupid girl. Rule breaking girl.

"And when I got old enough I was given armor like theirs and had more gam- surgeries on my body by the liar and things that made thinking painful. And then I was given Rosie and she went to collect ADAM. I got powers from the plasmids." She raised her hand to show, "Fire," She felt her hand combust and burn as the skin reknit itself to continue providing fuel,

"Make things float," dousing the flames in fresh skin she raised it to move a doll across the room. "Teleporting, Bees," She hated that power. She hated the feeling of bees growing in her skin and crawling around in their false hives. They way they fluttered tickled in the worst way.

"be really strong, know how to… how to…" Her head tried to deal with conflicting bases and ideas. Knowledge of things she didn't understand flowed to her without understanding of what it was for. "Do stuff like write and work on machines. And to make a bubble push people away if they got too close."

"Where did Rosie come from?" He asked writing more down in a way that sounded like a dull file.

"I don't know. When we'd go to the surface to rescue little sisters, we'd carry them in our cages. But I never saw Rosie on those trips."

"Why did you need guardians then? I heard you sound pretty able to handle yourself." He said and sounded actually curious.

"I didn't get powers for a while until I had taken enough ADAM from the angels and their plasmids rubbed off. I don't think Rosie has had enough yet. Plus it's hard to move around." She explained and wincing stretched out her long leg unable to ignore the itches anymore.

"Could I get my braces back soon? Something didn't set right when I was protecting Rosie earlier and it really itches." He asked why it itched then which she felt was a stupid question. "Because my muscles rip when I move too much and when they do they can heal wrong."

He raised his hands and said he'd make sure she'd get her braces back. She decided not to cut open her leg in front of him to fix the muscles since he was being nice.

"You mentioned something about Angel's. Could you explain what makes them so important to you and Rosie?" He asked, the lamp by the chair he sat in lit but dimmed to not hurt their eyes.

Taylor took a breath. "Angels… angels are bodies. Corpses. Ones that died from bullets or big da- protectors, or overdosing on ADAM. It didn't matter. We were supposed to gather it all so more ADAM would be around.

The doctor was looking paler than he had. "How did you gather it?"

"We had syringes, like the one Rosie had, we'd go looking for ADAM, we can smell it," At this she paused to explain the smell, how did you explain heaven to someone who had never seen it? "It was… it smelled like iron and cinnamon and caramel. Once we'd smell it, we'd look for it. It was the best smell, like dreams and good memories." Her eyes closed for a moment as she found herself back in Rapture during her good days. When ADAM had been plentiful and her belly had been close to bursting from how many angels she found. It took a long minute for her to open them.

"And, then we'd stab the ange- corpses to get it. Then once the vial was full we'd drink it so our slugs could make more." She tried not to think about the ones she drained as a Big sister. She wasn't bothered she killed them, they would have hurt Rosie. But it was what came with their deaths and the ADAM she took. Those brought memories of their lives, their skills, their emotions. All without context and direction so it was a noxious slab of pain and confusion.

He stopped writing and looked up at her. "Slugs?"

"Sea slugs." Taylor said, angling herself to show the higher scar on her midriff. "They make ADAM, but they need a host. But once you get too old the slugs only make enough to heal you from wounds."

Her mother had gone very still and Taylor could hear her gripping tightly to the metal of the chair.

"...And you've had these for a long time? Does it ever bother you?" The man asked, his face almost as pale as ice.

"Since I was 5. Not really. Mine doesn't really do much, Rosie's still moves a bit though. It doesn't hurt though, not since…" She closed her eyes trying to say the words. It was a secret how little sisters were made. She wasn't supposed to tell secrets. No, she needed to talk. It wasn't against the rules. Yes it was. Bad, bad, bad. She had to tell to protect Rosie. She had too.

"Not since we had them implanted. That… that was the worst day of my life."

"We don't have to talk more about it if you don't." He said, pressing his glasses to his nose. At this she hastily nodded her head. At this point Rosie was wriggling on her back and let out a scream of exhaustion. It was well past her nap time.

Taylor stood at once. "Rosie needs a nap. We're done here. Come back later." She said firmly directed to both her mother and the doctor. She didn't need help guarding Rosie. The doctor opened his mouth and her eyes boiled red. Shut up shut up shut up you.

"Alright then. We'll come back later." With that the pair began to pack up. Rosie leaned upward as Taylor moved to one of the two beds and held her. "I'm not that tired but I didn't want you to break the rules Big Sister." She confided her thin lips, having a warm smile as her glowing eyes blinked heavily.

Taylor kissed her forehead and began to sing a lullaby to her.

"Shush now

The screams are quiet away from the liars

Let the shining halls grow ever higher

Because Lamb burns on her vile pyre.

In my embrace

No one will hurt you

You'll always be safe

Sleep now like a statue

Rosie my sister

The angels are calling

I'd do anything to assist her

So search for the angels as soon as they stop bawling."

oOo

"To put it gently? In my professional opinion there is no way, shape or form, that Taylor and Rosie should be allowed on the wards. What they need is more hands on." Doctor Crest said simply to Director Piggot and Annette Hebert.

Piggot was of the opinion that neither girl should be near the wards program. She was desperate for manpower but she was not going to put a victim of a fucking biotinker on the wards.

"And what would you suggest?" Annette asked, her hands twitching. Likely for a cigarette if the smell on her clothes was any guess. To Emily the woman had the appearance of cracked stained glass. Intact on the surface but about to shatter if the wind blew.

Crest raised his hands. "Nothing. One meeting isn't enough to determine a child's future. But from what I saw today, and what I expect in the coming weeks, the best option for Taylor, not the PRT, or the wards, will be institutionalization."

"No. I have spent ten years looking for my daughter and now you tell me I have to lose her again?" Annette cried out. Well that was expected, Piggot thought.

"You'd still be able to see her. The institute is less than two hours from Brockton. You could visit daily. Ms. Hebert, I'm not suggesting this from malice. This is the best thing for Taylor and Rosie. She is unstable and likely will kill someone, she distrusts most and physically can not be away from Rosie. The Institute would be a place where she can learn to trust and socialize. There she'd be able to be in a safe environment and be helped."

He pulled out a sheet to show her. "I'm not suggesting spending her life locked away. I'm talking about several months or a few years at most of heavily monitored care. After that, something with more freedom, an apartment on site say, and eventually we'll likely be looking at her being with you and a specialized program for her."

Annette was silent for a time so Emily spoke herself. "Mrs. Hebert. I want another ward on staff. Two would be a godsend. What I don't want is a pair of children who have spent god knows how long being experimented on. They wouldn't be good for the wards, for the PRT, or the city."

Annette ground her teeth loud enough to be heard through the room. Emily ignored it, she was nearly there. No mother wanted to harm their child and getting her to agree to asylum was the quickest way to get those two kids out of her building and into somewhere good for them would be a relief.

"I agree with Dr. Crest. Let them have time to come to terms with their new reality. If it's socialization you are worried about we could discuss supervised meetings with various wards." Emily said, thinking of it on the spot.

It would be a good way to get some of the wards to see what actual trauma was instead of their minor issues. It would also have Taylor associate or see the wards as friends which would make her joining the wards on her release, assuming that ever happened, more likely.

A win-win where she had the moral high ground.

Annette stared down at nothing and everything for a time. Her eyes stared into the blank distance where all thoughts laid.

"I'm going to talk to her. I'm not saying yes… but you make a compelling argument. Dr. Crest do you honestly think this will work and help Taylor?"

"I don't know. Once again I haven't had enough time to get to know Taylor and form an opinion. But as of now? Yes. This is the best thing for her."

The next hour was spent discussing plants and going over contracts. Within the next week Taylor and Rosie would be sent to somewhere that knew how to deal with them. It was rare Emily solved problems with paperwork but on the times it did bring a smile to her face.

oOo

Collin was amazed at what he was looking at. This sub was the most outdated pile of junk he had ever seen. He was absolutely in love. DNA scanner's the size of a thimble hidden in a wooden lever, able to read someone's DNA from half an inch of wood. Railing mounts on the sides covered in some readings that he couldn't wait to go over. A design fully meant for deep sea travel in a way that seemed reminiscent of an early car. Despite its small size early testing showed it could easily reach 2000 meters under water. He had no idea how far it could reach when being stressed.

Already his mind was a thunderstorm of ideas on how to incorporate it into his own designs for armor. So much was basic but once you peeled back the layers…

He gave a small smile despite himself. He knew he likely should hate it. Hate it for being made by a tinker who worked with or sold to a biotinker whose subjects were children. But it was useful. It would make his armor stronger, his gear better. Several upgrades, and the raid on the biotinker base he was planning?

A large promotion was in his future.

/\\\

AN: Thanks to BigBadBen and to Geas for all the help!