Disclaimer: I don't own Higher Ground or any of it's original characters. I do own Carla.

AN: Sorry for the long wait, I had an oral presentation last week; and the amounts of reading I had to do for that were simply inhuman. It's also not very long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. BTW, the Big Brother thing refers to Orwell's 1984, not the TV show.

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Now it was Peter who was searching the campus for David. He was seriously questioning his earlier decision to leave David alone. The boy had barely reacted at all to the news and refused to talk about how it made him feel. Of course, the solitude might do him some good, help him to fully absorb his father's death. There was even the possibility that he needed to cry and wanted to be alone for that. On the other hand, he could do something stupid. And that's why Peter had to find him.

Coming closer to the docks, he was met by a reassuring sight. David was there and he didn't look like he would do something stupid at all. More important, he was talking to Daisy. Maybe even talking about the news Peter had given him. But the distance was too big to hear anything and Peter didn't want to eavesdrop anyway. He would have preferred that David talk to him, but he was glad that he talked to someone.

Assured that David was okay for now and in the knowledge that his interference would be appreciated by neither David nor Daisy, Peter turned around to walk back to his office. Doing so, he almost came face to face with Carla, who had obviously been watching him.

She smirked at his surprised expression. "Do you always go around watching your students like that? If so, you will be responsible for any cases of paranoia among them. Why don't you install surveillance cameras to give this place some real Big-Brother-is-watching-you-feel?"

"This morning I had to give David the news that his father was killed. I had to make sure that he was more or less okay and preferably not alone." Appreciating her humor, he added. "As for Big Brother, if we ever have telescreens installed, you can be the instructor for the morning PT."

Carla did her best to look indignant. "I would never have any part in turning your school into an authoritative surveillance state!" Then, thoughtfully. "What about David? How did he take it?"

Peter sighed. "That's the thing. He barely showed any reaction at all. I was afraid he'd bottle it all up. But now it looks like he's talking to Daisy and I'm glad."

She looked at him quizzically. "You do know that – maybe not in this special case – but that sometimes, you just have to give someone a bit of solitude, that sometimes, talking is not what someone needs, right?"

Peter furrowed his brow at that. He had the feeling that she was trying to say something more than the obvious but he didn't quite get it. "Yes, I've thought about that. But it's hard to know if someone really might benefit from being left alone, or if it would hurt them even more."

A nod. "You're right about that. It's hard. But hey, you're the counselor. It's your job to know things like that."

That brought thoughts back into his conscious mind, thoughts he had tried to push out of his mind completely, but had only succeeded in pushing to the back of his mind. Contemplating not being fit to be a counselor here, much less the principal of the school . . . thoughts about quitting . . . He was quick to push them back where they belonged, he didn't want to get into that spiral of self-pity again. Next thing, he switched the topic, trying to steer clear of dangerous waters. "I suppose. But, on something else, Sophie told me you were going back to California tomorrow?"

"Yes. I've made the decision I came here to make; and I don't want to leave Robin alone any longer than necessary."

Peter looked at her shocked. "You left your son alone? He's too young for that!"

Now it was her turn to look shocked. "No! No, of course not! God, what kind of mother do you think I am? He's with my parents in law." She was still shaking her head.

"Oh. Sorry. So what is your decision?"

"I'm taking early retirement. I still don't know what I'm gonna do after that, but being here has just shown me once more that I can't possibly spend the next years behind a desk."

Peter absorbed that and nodded. Then "Do you have any pictures of your son? I'd like to see them."

This sudden interest in Robin startled Carla, but she managed to hide that. "People say he looks a lot like me. I don't know about that. It's hard to see something like that in your own family. As for pictures, I have tons, but not with me. The only pictures I carry in my wallet are of dead people." And that are way too many by now . . .

"Carla, Peter." Unnoticed by them, Sophie had approached.

"Oh, hi Sophie." Carla was glad to have an excuse for disappearing. "excuse me, I'll leave you two to yourselves."

Sophie watched Carla walk away, then turned around and asked, exasperated. "What is it with you two?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh, c'mon, Peter! Every time you talk between yourselves and I interfere, she looks like I were rescuing her."

"I don't know what you're talking about, we were just talking." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Well, I'm beginning to see why she said it would never have worked out between you . . . ", Sophie said contemplatively.

Peter was surprised by that. "She told you that?"

"Yeah, she did. Anyway, that's not why I came here. – There are parents in your office, the belong to one of the Trackers. I don't know what they want, but you should go see them."

Peter sighed. He hated surprise visits by parents. He didn't have the opportunity to prepare himself to read the students file and to speak with the groups counselor. Also, surprise visits rarely meant good things. More often than not they meant that the parents wanted to take their child out of Horizon prematurely, when the kid wasn't ready yet.

"I'd better go there then.", he said, resigned to the fact that this day wouldn't get any less stressful.

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After a while of sitting next to him and staring into the water, David had asked her to leave him alone. Daisy understood his need for solitude and went to fulfill her promise to him.

She found the rest of the Cliffhangers in the lounge, most of them obviously working on their writing assignment. She looked around and found that there were only few other students and none of them paid any attention to the part of the room the Cliffhangers were in. Daisy remembered that most other groups had some activity scheduled.

Shelby was the first to look up when Daisy approached. "Hey Dais. Where have you been?"

Daisy only smiled at her and addressed the whole group. "Hey guys, can you listen to me for a second?" A chorus of "Sure" and "What's up?" answered her.

"I'm sure most of you noticed that David has been nowhere to be seen today." She waited for the affirmative noises to die down. "Well, the thing is, today he got the news that his father died. He seems a bit shaken; and he told me that he would feel better if he didn't have to tell you. That's why I'm doing this."

With that, Daisy sat down, intent on starting on her own writing, trying to ignore the ongoing discussions about David, his father, their assignment and what the connection was between all of that.