Declining Grace

Chapter Eight

Confusion

Delainia stood in Shawn's arms for a few more moments before her mind began to race. She had to get her father away from Homeland Security before Kaleen got home from school…or at least come up with a plausible lie for why their father wouldn't be back home for awhile. How could she tell her baby sister that their father was arrested for doing something horrible – what, she didn't know - but she knew it was bad. Diana and Tom had said as much. She had to find a way to protect her sister. Kaleen had already been through too much. She didn't need to add this stress to the list.

"What do I do, Shawn? What do I tell Kaleen? Should I go to the offices now and find out what the charges are against my father? Do I wait for Kaleen to get home? Should have I have her stay with Maia this afternoon?" Delainia's voice cracked in exhaustion, "I'm so sick of trying to make the decisions all the time. I'm so tired of this all happening…I'm sorry. I shouldn't be complaining to you. It's not like your life is all sunshine and rainbows."

"Never apologize for telling me how you feel, Delainia. Not after what just happened here. Why don't I take you somewhere so you can think? I know the perfect place."

Delainia sighed as she contemplated running away from all this. Shawn stood eagerly next to her, his face earnest in his desire to help absolve the pain she was feeling. Finally she nodded. "Only for a few minutes. Then we have to focus on my current problem." Shawn wrapped a gentle arm around her waist and led her to his newly repainted car. Delainia smiled at him slightly when she slid in the front seat. "I can't wait until we have to deal with your problems."

Shawn laughed as he walked around to the other side of the car. "Baby, there are not enough days in a year to cover all my issues."

Delainia's eyes scanned the mountains in front of her. She recognized the scene from the pictures and the coverage on the news. They were at Mt. Renier. The place where her father had returned, along with the other 4, 399 disappeared. She was disturbed to see it up close, disturbed to see the place that had brought about the topsy-turvy occurrences to her life after she had just started to put it back together. She didn't want to be here and she was surprised Shawn wanted to be here as well. Why would he want to come back to the place that had thrust a new life upon him?

"Why did you bring me here, Shawn?"

"You recognize the place, then. You know where we are."

"Mt. Renier. I would have had to be living under a rock not to recognize this place."

"It comforts me when I come here when I'm –"he paused, searching for the right word, "in need of escaping reality. Coming here gives me this sort of ethereal calm, knowing that there are other people out there, affected by what happened. I'm not alone. Being here reminds me of that."

Shawn's lowered his brown eyes to Delainia, to see what she thought of her theory. She seemed almost upset by being there, which had never been his intention. He had brought her here so she could find the same comfort that he did. Sure, she wasn't a 4400, but she'd been just as affected by the whole situation as he had been. It didn't matter that she hadn't disappeared.

"I guess it doesn't make much sense, Delainia. I was just trying to explain to you what it's like to be in my shoes, in a 4400's. And while you're not one, you might as well have been. You're life's been ruined by it just like mine, and that little girl your sister is friends with, and your father. I'm just trying to help. But it doesn't look like it helped much."

"It's not that, Shawn. I just feel so lost. Being here makes me feel like I'm in a fishbowl and it's like they're up there laughing at what they've done. Whoever they are. I feel like I'm just stuck here, wandering around, muddling through, and I'll never get to move past my father's disappearance or return or his powers and whatever. I'm just going to be left wondering what to do, how to raise Kaleen without hurting us both."

Shawn stood next to her, his feet at the edge of the lake. The lake was calm, no motion, no animals or sea life. It was still. Delainia brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and wished for some kind of breeze to relieve the stillness of the scene. It was almost unnerving to be there with no one else but Shawn. Shawn slid his hand down and squeezed Delainia's. She sighed and looked up at him.

"I know he's sick, Shawn, but I know he can get better. He just needs more time to adjust. He was so in love with my mom, he just hasn't been able to accept that he's gone. You can't blame him for loving her. He just needs time. Just time."

Shawn nodded, trying to understand what Delainia believed. It was obvious to him that if Tom had arrested Patrick, there was a good reason for it. He didn't think his uncle would just randomly arrest people, no matter what his differences with Tom were. There had to be a reason that they took Patrick into custody, and while they weren't aware of what it was, it must be bad. But to Delainia, her father, the man who loved her no matter what, was being jerked away from her just as he had been years ago when she was a child. A lot of responsibilities were left on her shoulders, caring for Kaleen (not that it was a new responsibility) and trying to protect her father from whatever it was he had done. She didn't need any more problems with him doubting what she said about her father.

"I know how hard this has been on you and your sister. But we have to deal with this somehow. Now let's go down to the Security offices and talk to my uncle. He'll be able to tell us more. We'll find out what's happening then."

Delainia nodded. She took a deep breath and allowed the mountain air to wash inside of her. She tried to smile at him as she slid into his arms for a hug.

"You're right. This place is strangely comforting."

"I think they meant for it to be that way. I think that's why they picked this place to gift wrap us for the world."

Delainia accepted his explanation, as incredulous as it was. She pulled away from him and walked slowly back to the car without waiting for him to catch up with her.

Patrick Grace shifted in his chair uncomfortably. It was aluminum steel. Why anyone would make a chair out of such cold, hard material was beyond him. Even worse was the reason he was sitting in it. No one had come in yet to explain to him what was going on. They'd mentioned something about Coral being dead and then mentioned several other women that had been killed across the country. Bloody Americans didn't know what they were talking about, not that they would help link him and Coral to those women. He couldn't understand why they kept talking about them. Kept sliding pictures of these women to him under the door, there faces peaceful and cold in death. He didn't know why he could only hear a booming voice over the intercom, like the person believed they were some higher being, as they spoke condescendingly to him over the speaker. He didn't know why they wouldn't just come in the room and talk to him. Did the speaker think the intercom empowered him? All Patrick wanted was to go home to his wife and daughter. He wanted to be someplace happy and warm, hear Laini's laughter as Coral told knock-knock jokes to her. But they wouldn't even tell him if Laini was okay or if Coral had been notified. They just kept taunting him about Coral being dead.

He could feel his anger starting to boil. They refused him proper explanation or representation. They talked about Coral as if she'd died long ago and Delainia was all grown up, which he knew wasn't true. He felt as if he'd been tossed into some sort of nightmarish insane asylum, in fact, he probably had been. That was the only way to rationalize what they were telling him. He didn't know why anyone would try to make him believe such things about his precious family. But there was a pang in the back of his head, words from Delainia about a little girl named Kaleen that was his. One that was Laini's own age, but Delainia had sounded so mature when she'd said it. Not at all like the little girl he saw in his mind.

Patrick gripped the arm rests until his knuckles turned white. He couldn't fathom what was happening to him and he wasn't so sure he wanted to. He looked at the Styrofoam cup the woman named Diana had brought him. He gulped the water and continued to stare into space. He would never figure this out and he was pretty sure he was ready to quit trying.

Tom rubbed his temples with his fingers. There was no relaxing the pounding in his head, a possible side effect of whatever Grace had done to him. He didn't regret going in like he did. They'd captured him and they had proof of what he did. Now they could hold him legally and keep him safe, as well as the civilians outside the Security walls. Diana was pacing again in his office and the movements were not helping his own headache.

"Diana! Stop! You're making me nauseous. And believe me; I don't need any more help in that area. Grace did enough for me in that arena."

Diana slowed in front of his desk and propped herself up against it. She didn't apologize for her nervous habit, though she did explain it.

"We were right. He's been doing it. He's able to get inside people's heads and it makes me feel a little bit violated. But you talk to him and you can hardly be angry with him. He's so confused. He's truly a kind man, with the exception of the agitation that arises when we mention his family. His family is his weakness and you can't blame him for loving his daughter and wife too much."

"No, but you can blame him for kidnapping women and trying to force them to become his late wife."

"He's just lost a piece of his mind since returning."

"Is that what they wanted? To make this guy psychotic with the ability to get inside someone's mind? What kind of ripple effect is that going to make?"

"Hundreds, Tom. It's possible they want him to turn people for the 4400, instead of against them. He could make anyone support the 4400. He could bring people together; make them work as a team. If we're trying to save the future, we may need a little bit of teamwork."

"But if it only works once…"

"We don't know if it works once. We know what he does, so we were able to stop him from affecting me."

"Why didn't it infect his daughter?"

"Because they're blood related?"

"What about Shawn or the others?"

"The 4400 could be immune as well. There are 100 possibilities for this guy."

"I still don't understand the purpose of it."

"Don't worry about that. There's a lot about the 4400 we don't understand. I don't think we ever will, but we can continue to try."

Tom sighed and closed his eyes as his hands lowered to the bridge of his nose.

"How long did it take you to get rid of this dazed headache?"

"Pop some aspirin, Tom. You'll have it for a while."

Tom groaned just as his phone beeped.

"Yes, I'll come down and get them. Hold them at the front. Thanks."

Diana raised her eyebrows in interest. "Visitors?"

"Shawn and Delainia are here."

Diana nodded and followed Tom out the door to receive them.

Delainia stood outside the door, her badge shining in the fluorescent lighting. She'd talked with Shawn's uncle and Diana about her father and they'd told her what had been happening. She didn't want to be afraid of her own father, but what he'd been doing in the name of her mother made her slightly so. He was almost obsessive about their family and she'd tried to take it as dedication and confusion. But he was losing his mind. She'd let Kaleen be with him when he was losing his mind. She was responsible for protecting her little sister. Their father could have done harm to her and Delainia would have never been able to stop it. She wanted to hate her father for what he had been doing, for making her fear him and fear for her sister, but she couldn't. Not this shell of a man.

She reached for Shawn's hand before she opened the door. He had been allowed to take her as far as the door, but after that she had to go in by herself. They were putting her father in isolation to stop people from coming into contact with him. The fewer people who talked with him, the safer everyone would be. She tried to take a deep breath, tried to find her courage, but she just couldn't. She looked up at Shawn, her eyes connecting with his, and pain washed over her. His eyes were so gentle, so sweet and kind, as he tried to absorb what she was feeling that she could barely handle it. She hadn't had anyone look at her that way in a very long time. It made her feel safe and vulnerable all at once, but she wouldn't trade it in for anything. She leaned up and kissed him softly before twisting the knob and entering the room. Shawn stepped back to watch the exchange through the pane of glass while trying to shake the feeling of invading Delainia's privacy in watching.