A/N: Yes, It's been a while since I've updated. There's a reason for this, and it's called life. I've been busy, I've had some ups and downs, and now it's Christmas time. Also, another random arm injury. Probably from work. I dunno. Anyway, here is 16. I thought it would end up short, but it actually turned out at a decent length. The next chapter with probably be longer. Probably. Maybe. We'll see. I was a bit unsure going into this chapter on how much I liked or not, but as I came to the end, I really liked it and I hope you will too.

Picking Up the Broken Glass

Kawaii Stella

Chapter 16

Beginning Again

When Echo woke up it was a quarter to seven in the evening. She felt very rested, albeit famished. After a slow stretch, and happily finding her quilt had been returned, Echo padded barefoot out of her room to find Marbles. She found him in the very same place she had last seen him: the kitchen.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty!" Marbles smiled as Echo walked in. "Did you sleep well?"

"I guess." Echo said. "Better than last night, at least."

"Good."

"Thanks for getting my quilt back." Echo said as she sat down. "I hope Truehart didn't give you too much trouble."

"She didn't. No more than usual, at least."

"I see." Echo paused. "What's for dinner?"

"Beef stroganoff. I hope that's okay."

"Sounds good to me. I'm pretty hungry."

"You didn't eat lunch today, did you?"

"No." Echo sheepishly admitted. "I wandered around a little but and then slept the rest of the day."

Smiling softly, Marbles patter Echo's shoulder. "That's alright. You needed the rest. Did you remember to take your medicine?"

"I took it right after breakfast."

"Good girl." Marbles kissed the top of Echo's head before heading back to the stove to pop the biscuits into the oven.

Echo leaned back in her chair. She seemed to have run out of things to say, or maybe she was lost in thought. Marbles couldn't tell. After several minutes, Marbles took the biscuits out of the oven and put them in a basket with a red cloth liner. He asked Echo to set the table as he checked on the main dish. Echo set the table rather quickly, although Marbles did notice that her movements were rather stiff as she reached up to pull down the plates.

Easy, sweetheart." Marbles gently warned. "You're still healing."

Echo scowled. She used to be strong. Used to be. Now she was useless and weak. She couldn't hold her own anymore. Her bravery had gone, and her muscle mass was following suit. Echo bet that if her team saw her like this, they wouldn't want her back.

"Echo, sweetie, it's okay." Marbles said, seeing the upset in Echo's soft features.

Echo just shook her head and sat down at the dinner table. Marbles follower her, sat down in the chair besides her, and tenderly puller her into his warm embrace.

"There, there, you'll be alright." He said, stroking her hair.

"No, I won't." Echo squeaked, her vulnerability crashing over her like a monsoon.

"Yes, you will. You're recovering at a very good pace. You'll be up and running again soon. Good as new."

"I'll never be good as new. I'm too messed up, too broken."

It suddenly occurred to Marbles that Echo wasn't just concerned by her physical wounds. It was the emotional ones hurting her the deepest. Her pain hurt him. Marbles had only seen a fraction of the pain Echo was in. An image of that noose flashed before his eyes. He couldn't even begin to fathom how deep her pain really went.

"Echo, baby," Marbles struggled to find the right words. "You're not 'too broken'. Sure others may have left their mark, caused a few cracks and chips, but that does not make you any less of a person. You're still beautiful and amazing in every single way. The Japanese have this tradition, when a bowl or vase is broken, they don't replace it or throw it away. They seal the cracks with gold. Do you know why?"

Echo shook her head.

"It is because they believe that when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful. You may have suffered great damage in the past, Echo, but you've survived it. And that will, that strength to survive, makes you all the more beautiful."

Echo was stunned into silence. She had never heard of such a tradition before. She thought it was beautiful. And to still be considered a person, a beautiful person, despite all her broken pieces, gave her a very warm feeling inside.

Brushing away her tears with his thumbs, Marbles kissed Echo's forehead. "You're perfect just the way you are, baby girl. Don't ever forget that."

Echo enjoyed dinner. The food, flavorful and hearty, warmed her from her head to her toes. The closeness to Marbles was nice. Nearly forgotten to Echo was how nice it felt to not eat alone. Marbles seemed pleased that Echo asked for seconds, and finished every bite. After losing those twenty three pounds to GUILT and being starved, Echo needed all the food she could get. Gaining that weight back was important to her health.

After declaring she was stuffed – whilst still nibbling on a biscuit – Echo helped clear the table, load the dishwasher, and put the leftovers in the fridge. Marbles smiled as he watched his daughter move about the kitchen. She was a good girl. Why anyone would give up such a good kid like her he would never understand. Their loss was his gain.

As they had done the night before, Marbles and Echo settled down on the couch to watch television. Echo covered her lap with a throw and got comfortable. Marbles switched the TV on, and wrapped an arm around his daughter. Curling up close, Echo let herself unwind. She was safe here. She was loved. This was different from how is was on Earth, and Echo liked it, until she thought about it.

On Earth, Echo had never been this closer or comfortable with her birth father. They had never cuddled. David had never hugged her nor kissed her nor told her he loved her. Marbles was her father now, and he did do those things. But he had done those things while he was just her friend, too. Were things supposed to be different, now? Echo knew all too well when she got into too close of a proximity to David, and that's the last thing she wanted to go through again. Echo scooted away from Marbles, hoping this was an acceptable distance. Knowing that Marbles could break bones, Solomon Quinn's hand was proof of that, and Echo did not want to piss him off.

Was Echo uncomfortable? Marbles wondered when she moved away from him. Instead of curled up, tucked into his side, Echo was sitting a good foot away now, upright and stiff as a board. She had her eyes trained on the television set, but Marbles knew the look in her eyes. She was a million miles away. What was going through that head of hers? Was she in pain? Had he done something to make her uncomfortable?

"Echo. . ." Marbles began, reaching over to touch Echo's arm. When every muscle in her small body tensed as he touched her, he knew something was wrong. "Echo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Echo said.

"Yes, there is. I can tell. You're tense, honey. What's wrong, are you in pain? Did I make you uncomfortable?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Echo was silent. But one split-second glance in Marbles' direction told her that he expected an answer. Sighing, Echo tried her best to word what was going through her mind.

"I'm not. . . good . . . at being a daughter. I'm not used to this." Echo gestured with her hands, words evading her.

"Honey, that's ludicrous. You're a wonderful daughter. Why would you say something like that?" Marbles didn't have a good feeling about where this was going.

"Because . . . things weren't like this with my birth father." Echo admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"We weren't, um, close." Echo decided that was a good way to word it. "We didn't hug or cuddle or anything like that."

"Not at all?"

"Never."

Marbles was shocked. What kind of parent didn't show a lot of affection to their child? Yes, he did know that Echo's birth mother and father had never been married, and that Echo spent most of the time with her mother. Echo's file had said that much. But in his mind, that would have been all the more reason for Echo's father to shower her with affection during the short times he did have her.

"That's all I know from him. I thought that . . .that that's how daughters are supposed to behave. I didn't know that this affection was normal." Echo continued. "Or, rather, I didn't' know how to react to it."

"Oh . . . Echo. No. I don't know what went on between you and your birth father, but, please, let me assure you that it's normal for a father to show affection to his child. It was wrong of him to deprive you of that."

David had deprived her of a lot of things. Picking at the throw, Echo bit her cheek as she thought. Marbles wasn't like David. Marbles had promised to never hurt her. He had promised to help get her through this, and he had. He kept his promises, unlike David.

Echo relaxed, and leaned over to rest her forehead on Marbles' arm. Eyes closed, she said, "I'm just not used to it."

"You will." Marbles stroked Echo's hair. "Do you like the hugs?"

Echo nodded. She loved hugs. They were warm and friendly and safe. Hugs were the ultimate form of comfort. Hugs had held her together in some of her darkest hours. As Marbles wound his arms around her, she smiled. Squeezing her firmly yet gently, Marbles made her worries go away. For Echo to just let go of her fears for this moment was wonderful. She curled up against her father's chest and held tight to him. It was in that moment that it began to sink in. She had a father who loved her!

Later that evening, after Echo had begun to get ready for bed, Marbles came into her room, a basket in his arms. When Echo came out of the bathroom, dressed in a pair of pink pajamas, she seemed surprised.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's for you." Marbles said, motioning for Echo to sit on the bed. He sat down next to her and sat the basket in her lap. "I meant to give this to you last night, but with getting you home and everything, I forgot. I had hoped that this could maybe help you settle in. Make this big place feel like home."

Echo started to pull things out of the basket, looking through the various things. There was a blanket, woven with a soft pink fabric. A sweatshirt, oversized just enough to be perfectly comfy. There was a tin that held a variety of teas and a cute mug to go with it, a box of chocolates, and a tin of pencils and a large sketch pad. Echo smiled as she examined each one. Marbles knew her better than she thought. The only things remaining were three gift wrapped packages which had piqued her interest from the very beginning.

"Go ahead, open them." Marbles encouraged, very pleased that Echo liked her gifts.

Taking the smallest package, Echo opened it first, breaking out into the hugest grin when she saw what it was.

"It's my clan tartan!" Echo gasped, running her fingers over the red, blue, and green lambswool scarf.

"I'm glad it's the right one. While I was looking I found a few different Glasgow tartans. I had no idea there were so many tartans out there." Marbles admitted.

"Sure, there's a tartan for just about everything." Echo said, still fondling the scarf. "Every clan has one, and they take pride in it."

Smiling, and extremely pleased he had chosen the correct tartan – the last thing he ever wanted to do was insult his daughter – he pushed the other two wrapped packages towards Echo.

Echo took the next box and tore off the paper. At this gift her eyes widened. It was a brand new tablet.

"It's all ready to go, charged and preloaded with some data and apps, but still fully customizable so you can use it however you want." Marbles told her.

"Wow. . ." Echo opened the box and took out the thin and sleek tablet. Beneath the tablet in the box was its charger, a stylus, screen protectors, and an instruction manual.

"I know you've got a laptop, but I thought that a tablet would be easier to tote around when you didn't feel like carrying your laptop around."

"Thank you. This is really nice." Echo said, sitting the tablet in her lap. If she couldn't sleep tonight, she definitely would be playing with this.

"One more." Marbles said, taking the tablet and setting the last gift in Echo's lap.

Echo opened the gift quickly, and what she saw made her heart skip a beat and the air leave her lungs. She understood now, why the sketchbook specifically said on its cover that its pages worked well with alcohol-based inks. This was a whole case of alcohol-based markers. A full seventy-two marker set. The kind she always drooled over in the store but couldn't afford. Ivan would buy her a few markers here and there, especially if he thought she'd get upset over something he'd messed up. But this, this was a whole set!

"This . . .this is amazing!" Echo looked up at her father, her green eyes blazing with excitement.

Marbles grinned. "The lady told me that the Copics were good, so that's what I got."

"Good? They're the best!" Echo exclaimed. She took a marker out of the box and examined it with reverence.

"Your art is some of the best I've ever seen, Echo, and I want you have the best tools to express yourself and use your amazing talent." At this Echo blushed. Marbles chuckled and stroked her hair. "I mean it, honey. You're amazing. I can't wait to see what you create with those."

"It's been a while since I've drawn." Echo admitted. "I think it will feel good to be creative again."

"I bet it will." Marbles said. "Now, get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a big day."