A few moments passed between Silco's command to send Olillia in and her arrival in the doorway. Ran pulled the door closed at his instruction, leaving the two of them alone with Powder. The girl in question shoved her chair away from his desk and bolted across the room. Olillia had taken a few steps toward them, but stopped to kneel as Powder approached her, wrapping her in her arms when she slammed her entire body into her. Silco was concerned that they would fall over, but Olillia kept her balance as she embraced the young girl.

"You came back," Powder's voice said, muffled against Olillia's shoulder.

"I would never leave you forever, sweets," Olillia said, her hand resting on the back of Powder's head. "I'll always be here if you need me. You know that."

Silco could see the relief on Olillia's face as she embraced the young girl. As if she was surprised the girl was safe and unharmed. The idea that she thought he would harm the child irked him. Surely she didn't think quite that low of him? He had told her he wanted to help the child, meaning she would be cared for.

Olillia released Powder from her embrace and stood from her kneeled position. Her hand never left the girl's head, only moving to rest on the top as the girl moved to stand beside her, as if she was afraid she would disappear if her touch were removed. Silco was equally intrigued and pleased by her affection for the child. He could use that to his advantage.

"Why don't you return to your room?" he said, directing his words toward Powder. "Olillia and I have much to discuss."

Powder turned her head to gaze up at Olillia, a worried expression covering her small face.

"Don't worry, I'll come to see you again when we're done," Olillia said.

"You promise?"

Olillia held out her other hand with her pinky extended in Powder's direction.

"Pinky promise."

Powder linked her pinky with Olillia's before throwing her arms around the woman's waist one final time. After she released her, Powder shuffled over to grab her coloring stuff from the desk and then disappeared through the office door, leaving Silco and Olillia alone.

Olillia took a few more steps closer to the center of the room, her eyes roving around to see the changes he had made since she was last there. Silco leaned back in his chair with his hands folded in front of him, watching her intently. This was the first time he truly got a good uninterrupted look at her since their reunion.

She was much more put together than their last two meetings, dressed in a creme blouse and purple fitted pants adorned with a brown belt around her waist. Her purple hair was done neatly and hung in long thick waves on the left side of her head and was buzzed on the other side, a braid serving as a barrier between the two different lengths. A cluster of flowers adorned her right temple in a tattoo that curved around her eye.

Seemingly finished with her observation of the room, she turned her gaze to him. The burning anger he had seen in her eyes during their previous encounters seemed to have simmered down to a low flame, but that lingering rage still fueled her. He could see the tension she carried in her body, as if she was ready to fight or flee at any moment. Gone were the soft smiles and easiness of their youth together. She didn't trust him and wasn't afraid to show it.

"Alright, Silco. I'm here. What do you want from me?" she said, breaking the silence between them.

"I thought I made it clear I was offering you a job."

Olillia crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"As a waitress, yes, I remember. But when I made my way through your construction zone downstairs, it looked as if you were transforming the Drop into something else entirely. I fail to see what you need me for in a nightclub."

"You have experience as a bartender, and the bar in the club still needs drinks to be served, which can be done by a waitress. But, I will admit that I had some other tasks in mind for you in addition to serving drinks."

"I refuse to be one of your goons. I will not do your dirty work for you."

It was Silco's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"While I found your quick reflexes and skill with a staff impressive, that is not what I had in mind."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Does Sevika know you think so little of her? That you think she is one of my 'goons,' as you eloquently put it? That her purpose is to do my dirty work?"

He could see Olillia's determination falter a bit before she regained her composure.

"I'm sure Sevika is much higher on the food chain than others you dragged into your service. She doesn't do anything she doesn't want to. But she will go along if she thinks it will end up working out eventually, even if she's unhappy with how it's done. That's why she abandoned Vander. She couldn't see a future with how he was handling things."

Silco knew she had a point. While Sevika had pledged her loyalty to him, he knew it was conditional on his success. Bringing Olillia into the fold may also help win more points in his favor when it came to Sevika, as the two women were friends. She had spoken for Olillia several times and valued her involvement. But that would only work if he could get her to agree to stay in the first place.

"Do you feel as if you are being dragged into my service?" he asked. "As far as I am aware, you came here of your own accord. After telling me that you had no interest in my offer. Perhaps it is your motives that should be questioned rather than mine."

"I have my reasons. First, I need money. For that, I need a job. Secondly, I want to ensure that Powder will be safe and cared for."

"Is that all?"

Silco could see that she had another reason, one that she wasn't sharing. The way her eyes focused on him was enough to make him question if Powder was the only person she came back for. She wouldn't have been so angry with him if she didn't care about him at least a little bit.

"Yes, that's all."

Stubborn as always.

Silco leaned forward in his chair, shuffling some papers around on his desk. He pulled out the list of ideas he had been composing to present to her if she had decided to return. He held the paper out in her direction, forcing her to finish her journey across the room to grab it. She stood in front of his desk, her brown eyes skimming over the list.

"Serving drinks, cleaning, laundry…" she read the list out loud, stopping to look at him over the edge of the paper. "What am I, your housewife?"

Her question brought a long-dead daydream of his from the past to the forefront of his mind. One of him coming home at night to find her waiting to greet him with a warm smile and embrace. It was a dream he had fantasized about many times. Silco banished that thought from his mind and focused again on the real Olillia before him.

"Childcare… Silco, I told you I'm not her mother."

"I'm not asking you to be. That position would be temporary until I can find a more permanent solution. You obviously care for the girl, and she trusts you. Your presence in her life will make the transition into her new situation much easier."

He could see by the softening of her expression that Olillia agreed. She sighed in resignation and handed the list back to him before crossing her arms over her chest again.

"Fine. It won't be anything different than the reality of the past few years anyways. While he definitely thought of her as a daughter and loved her, Vander didn't give Powder the care she needed. Most of that fell to myself or Violet."

"Something that I am still interested in hearing about. Sevika told me that you disappeared for a while and only came back to help care for the children. Care to elaborate on that?"

Olillia narrowed her eyes and him, the softness from before fading back into her guarded anger.

"Until I get some answers myself, I won't be sharing my personal choices with you, Silco."

Silco pressed his lips together in a thin line. There she went, demanding answers again. He wasn't even sure what answers she wanted or if she would be satisfied with what he told her. It seemed ridiculous for her to withhold information on something that wasn't that serious.

"What answers do you think I hold that will give you closure?" he asked.

Olillia's eyes widened in surprise as if she hadn't expected him to be willing to provide her with what she wanted. She leaned forward and braced her hands against the edge of his desk, forcing him to make direct eye contact with her.

"What are your plans for Powder?"

"I plan to give her a place to live and to provide what care I can for her. While I may never have thought fatherhood was in the cards for me, it seems to have been chosen for me regardless. She chose to come back here with me. I did not force her to return. If I can help her grow into someone that will be the future of Zaun, I will consider my work successful."

That answer seemed to satisfy her question. Silco had a feeling that it was the one with the least amount of impact on the situation. Olillia had made it clear that she had returned to ensure the girl's well-being, so it was likely that she would have an active part in the outcome of his goal for her.

"On the subject of the child," he continued. "I have noticed that she seems uncomfortable with being called Powder. I believe the name contributes to her inability to move past the traumatic events she experienced by losing her family."

Silco could see that Olillia was bothered by the idea of Powder being in pain, so he figured she would not fight him on this matter.

"I feel it would be best to let the girl choose what she wishes to be called. If she wants to remain as Powder, then so be it. But I'm going to leave it up to her."

Olillia nodded in agreement before continuing with her next question.

"Now that you're on top in Vander's place, what are you planning to do? Are you still all about fighting against Topside and putting in place your glorious Nation of Zaun?"

"Yes. Obviously, much work needs to be done, and I have some blunders of Vander's to repair, but my goals have not changed."

Olillia stood back from the desk, removing her hands from the edge and letting them fall to her sides.

"I guess it's good to know you still have some of that revolutionary spirit in you, even if it is tainted by violence and greed."

Silco could feel his anger bubbling up inside but stomped it back into submission. He had explained to her already that the violence had been necessary to bring about change, but she seemed still stuck fighting against it.

"Violence is a fact of life, Lil. While the outcomes may be unfortunate at times, those sacrifices will be the building blocks for a better future."

"Sometimes those building blocks leave scars that never heal," she countered.

Silco wasn't sure if she was speaking literally or figuratively. Or whose scars she was referring to, his or hers. He got somewhat of an answer when she gestured to his face.

"I'm assuming that's Vander's handiwork?"

He raised his hand to trace the lines etched into his face, moving his fingers lightly over the spot beneath his corrupted eye.

"Being held under a river filled with toxins does irreparable damage, especially if there was a convenient wound for them to seep into."

He saw Olilia's body tense up even more than before, her eyes darting away from him to break their focused stare.

"Does it bother you?" he asked.

"The scars? Your eye? No. The fact that Vander did what he did? Of course. I don't know what happened between you two, but I don't see what could have transpired between the bridge and the river that led to your confrontation and him trying to drown you."

Silco was taken aback by her statement. The fact that his disfigured face didn't bother her was encouraging. She hadn't reacted negatively to his appearance so far, but he figured she was simply being polite. Instead, she seemed more bothered by what had happened between himself and Vander at the river.

"What did Vander tell you?" he asked.

Olillia continued to avert her gaze, and her left hand lifted to rub at the opposite shoulder. It seemed as if talking about the events of that night reminded her of her own wounds. Her blouse covered the area that had been injured, but given the injury she had that night, Silco figured she had to have a nasty scar herself.

"I thought talking about the past didn't matter to you," she said.

"I simply wish to know what lies he told you so I can set the matter straight."

Olillia's hand paused in its movements before balling up in a fist and falling to her side. She turned her gaze to him again, and he could see the pain in her eyes. Despite the fact that he was sitting right in front of her, the memory of that night brought her pain. Same as it did for him.

"He told me that he went to talk to you, and you attacked him. He said that pushing you under the water was a means of self-defense and that he didn't mean to hold you under so long."

The blatant lie made Silco feel as if Vander's hands were once again wrapped around his throat, holding him under the water as he fought to break free of the larger man's grasp.

"Did he mention how he got his injuries? Or did he cover that up as well?"

A flicker of guilt flashed across Olillia's features at the mention of Vander's injuries, which confused Silco. Sevika had mentioned that Olillia had attacked Vander when he told her what had happened. Perhaps some truth had been mixed in with the lies.

"His arm…his side…he said you stabbed him."

"Indeed I did. Just when it looked like I had stopped fighting, I was able to grab his dagger and use it to release his hold on me. He got the slash on his arm when he tried to grab me a second time and pull me back under."

Olillia's hand lifted from her side once more, running through the longer strands of her hair. Gone was her defiant manner, replaced by a panicked and guilt-ridden expression.

"I helped sew up his arm. I can't believe I helped him…"

"I'm sure he put on a good show. As you said before, I was quite angry with him that night."

"Silco…I'm sor…" she said, the last word hanging unfinished.

Silco raised an eyebrow as he waited for her to finish her sentence. The distraught look on her face faded into one of angry confusion, and she turned to look at him again.

"Why didn't you come to me? I know we weren't on the best of terms that night, but you still could have come to me, and I would have helped you. I went to that riverside to look for you as soon as I found out what happened. Didn't you trust me?"

"I was running a bit short on trust that night," he said with a clipped tone. "I went somewhere I wouldn't be found. To someone that could help me."

"And then proceeded to let me think you were dead for nearly eight years. I deserved better than that, Silco."

"I deserved better than to be drowned by my best friend and brother, but here we are."

They seemed to have reached an impasse. Olillia stood staring at him silently, her anger simmering just below the surface once again. Just as he had thought, his answers hadn't been satisfactory. She was just as upset as when they started, if not more. Silco sighed and passed his hand over the unmarked side of his face, rubbing his good eye.

"This conversation has gotten us nowhere. I gave you the answers you asked for, yet we have made no progress in a favorable direction. Do you want the job or not?"

Olillia rolled her eyes at him before grabbing the list off his desk once more. She glanced over the contents one final time before sticking her hand out in his direction as she had for Powder. Silco raised his gaze to meet her eyes and leaned forward to grasp her hand. She gave it a firm shake before quickly retreating once again.

"I'll be back tomorrow to talk over specifics. For now, I have a pinky promise to keep."

Without another word, she turned and walked to the office door.

"Lil," he called after her, causing her to pause before she exited the room.

"Sevika told me what happened that night between you and Vander. I value loyalty and what you did was an excellent example of that quality. I appreciate it."

Olillia's hand hovered over the doorknob for a second before she grabbed it and opened the door, disappearing into the hall as it closed behind her. Silco let out another sigh and spun his chair around to face the window behind his desk, thinking over their conversation.

Progress is progress, even if it is minuscule.

A/N: Please review and let me know what you think!