(Author's note: So sorry about the delay! College and lack of muses)

Topher exhaled as River slept on the couch. It wasn't hard to imagine her as a seperate person and not Bennet. Once it was, but as time passed she was just River. As the days passed he realized if he took pictures of her brain he might be able to find a way to fix her.

One of those ways was to imprint her as her without her problems. The trouble here was most of her problems were physical. Additionally, if she wasn't set up to take imprints...
"Brink, a minute?"

Topher looked up as Mal entered. He then climbed up the railing.
"What's the problem, Captain?"
"The pictures on the top floor. 'To Remember'."
"Dolls, the lot of them. What about it?"
"A couple of them look familiar."
"I thought it had been hundreds of years." Topher sat at his desk.
"That's why I'm confused." Mal sighed as he took the photo out of his pocket. "This says Caroline. Add a few years or so and she looks like my mother."

Topher paused and looked at him.
"Who's your dad?"
"Never met him. Mom didn't like talking about him. When I got older I asked if it was because he didn't care. Mom told me he was noble and if he could have been there he would."
"Huh. You know, you do remind a bit of Ballard."
"Who?"

Topher shook his head.
"Agent Paul Ballard was put on a case to keep him quiet and out of trouble. It backfired and he found a place the FBI pretended didn't exist."
"What's this got to do with me?"
"He was looking for a girl as the light at the end of the tunnel." Topher took the photo. "Caroline. He'd never met her, but she'd vanished into the Dollhouse. That's what made him dig."
"Did he ever find her?"
"I see I have your attention." Topher exhaled. "Not exactly. By the time he found her she'd become Echo."

Mal fell silent as Brink stared at him.
"How can that be your mother?"
"Was my mother just another doll...?"
"Just? Ha!" Topher shook his head. "She began to /retain/ after I wiped her. When we eventually put Caroline back in she became another part of Echo. Your mother was not like the others. Echo could program herself with any previous imprint. She was the one who broke the system. Well. One of them. Who else?"

Mal held up the picture of the blonde man. And Topher screamed before hiding under his desk.
"That's Alpha!"