Once Rose and Lila turned 13, the Handler took training to a whole new level. They stopped reading history out of textbooks and instead visited famous events in person.

Lila's fondest ambition was to go back and see the dinosaurs ("Just for a minute, Mum!") but the Handler insisted that they had more important things to do ("Maybe for your 14th birthday, Little One.").

The most notable incident was when the Handler took the girls to the 21st century and had them watch 9/11 unfold live on the television as they ate french fries and drank strawberry milkshakes in a restaurant— Because simply taking them to visit the museum that commemorated the calamity wasn't enough for her.

Rose was just thinking to herself how totally morbid this expedition was when a rather alarming thought occurred to her. "Wait, what did you say the date was?"

The Handler watched Rose closely as she responded. "September 11th, 2001."

Two days after she had adopted Rose. "This is the event Dad— I mean, Reginald— wanted me and my brothers to stop," Rose realized. She stared at the Handler. "Why did you sabotage our plan to stop this from happening? Hundreds of people died, and it encouraged a bunch of racism towards Middle Eastern people. That's totally—"

But the Handler waved aside Rose's protests. "Darling, this event had to happen. You know how things work at the Commission."

Rose felt deeply uncomfortable. This was the side of the Handler that she worked hard to ignore; the part that could watch terrible things unfold and just sit back and smile.

But Lila didn't seem concerned. She was eating french fries by the dozen and had already finished her shake. "Loads of bad things happen all the time, Rose," she pointed out. "We can't be constantly running around trying to make everything nice."

"Well said, Little One." The Handler patted Lila's hand fondly.

Rose went cold all over, and it wasn't because of her milkshake. The Handler is crazy, a tiny voice in her head whispered. But then she thought, No, I'm loyal to her, and she's loyal to me, and the other voice quieted. The cold feeling went away.

So what, if the Handler had done something questionable? Nobody was perfect. She was just doing her job. Besides, the Handler took good care of Rose and Lila. She surely had Rose's best interests at heart.

Rose reluctantly smiled at the Handler and forced down some more french fries, but she still couldn't bring herself to watch what was happening on the television.

For the next couple of weeks, Rose was plagued by a fresh worry—What else would have been different, if Rose hadn't been brought to the Commission? The Handler insisted that she hadn't seriously messed up the timeline by plucking Rose out of 2001, but clearly, that wasn't true.

One evening, during dinner— they were having spaghetti and meatballs— the Handler finally asked Rose why she was "in a mood."

"What do you mean? I'm fine," Rose fibbed.

"Liar," Lila said. She made like she was going to throw a meatball at Rose, who flinched.

"Darling, don't think we haven't noticed." The Handler reached over and pinched Rose's cheek. "I know everything about you."

"That's the thing. You know everything about me." Rose hesitated. She didn't want the Handler to get the wrong impression and think that Rose wanted to leave the Commission, because she didn't. She just needed answers. "I've been wondering… what I would have been like, what my life would have been like, if I'd never come. I'm just curious, is all."

"Ah." The Handler was smiling faintly. "Well, I suppose it's only natural to want to know. Well, I certainly did my research and made sure that I could safely take you out of that timeline. I indeed know all about the life you would have had, and let me tell you, it was no picnic."

"And?" Rose realized that she had been holding her breath. She exhaled heavily and tried to steady her breathing.

Very bluntly, the Handler said in a cool stream of words: "You and your brothers went on all sorts of insignificant 'missions' for several years and became world-famous. Then, two of your brothers died, and what was left of your family fell apart. You went on to have all sorts of romantic relationships; All of them failed. The entire world knew your name and loved it, but no one loved you."

"Oh, yeah, and didn't you say that one of her relationships was with her brother? Wasn't that a thing?" Lila started giggling, but then she saw that Rose was crying and had the decency to look somber.

"I wouldn't have told you, darling, but you wanted to know, and I didn't want to be secretive." The Handler gave Rose a sympathetic look. "Please, forgive me."

"You haven't done anything wrong," Rose replied shakily. She wiped her eyes and reminded herself that she'd been saved from that disappointing version of her life; There was no need to cry about it. She was somewhere much better now, with people who cared about her and an exciting career awaiting her.

Rose never asked about what might have been ever again.