Disclaimer: Yada, yada, yada.

A/N: I don't know if Cruger had an office in the show. But for the sake of the story, he does. They could have built one, after almost seven years. And, updates may be slow in coming. I've got school, tutoring, growing up, life in general to deal with, PLUS, I'm in the middle of the Great Computer War of '07. (My mom and I are fighting over who gets the computer and when), AND I accidentally spilled tea on the keyboard, so even though we took off all the keys and cleaned them, they still stick. So if you see any obvious mistakes like doubled letters where they shouldn't be (e.g. Cruger'ss) or whatever, bear with me. Anyway, on with the story!

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Cruger, Z, and Syd were all staring at Molly with their jaws dropped.

"I—I—Wh—What?" Cruger stammered.

Molly was beginning to think that he had a hearing problem. She repeated.

"I'm Molly Manx. I'm your daughter."

"D—daughter?" Cruger said. "No—no. Y—you must be mis—"

Molly frowned. "You are Anubis Cruger, aren't you? You are—" she handed the photo to him "—this man, aren't you?"

Cruger took the picture, still looking at Molly. He looked at the picture and stared.

It was a picture of him. And Kat. They were standing in front of the base. It looked as though they had just been talking. Cruger remembered this. It was eight years ago. One of the cadets wanted a picture of them for her scrapbook. She gave a copy of the picture to each of them. He had kept his copy. And apparently so had Kat.

Cruger looked at Molly, then back to the picture. And then he just stared at Molly. Then everything clicked into place.

"Come—come with me," he whispered, and turned around and walked away.

Molly's face once again broke into a grin. She began to follow him, but then she stopped. She went back to the bench and grabbed the handle of her suitcase. Then she followed him again. Leaving two stunned women behind.

Z turned to Sydney. "Can you believe…" she couldn't even finished it.

"Commander Cruger has a daughter?" Sydney asked, more to herself than to Z.

"And Kat…" Z said, still unable to believe it.

"Huh?"

"That girl said her name was Molly Manx. Manx, Syd," Z explained. "How many Manx's do you think the Commander would have a child with."

"I was too stunned by the fact that he had a child at all," Syd said, somewhat defensively.

"Yeah."

"Cruger and Kat," Syd said, shaking her head slowly.

"I always knew there was something between them," Z said, and Syd nodded.

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Cruger walked to the Command Center, the girl, Molly, following him happily. His mind was numb. He was barely aware of his surroundings.

They reached the door to Command Center, which slid open in front of them.

Sophie was working at a computer to the side when Commander Cruger walked in. She glanced up for a brief moment, before returning to her work. Then she noticed another person had walked in, looked up again, and stared.

Cruger walked past Sophie, ignoring her stare. He went to the door to his office in the back of the Center, and they opened. He went in, followed closely by Molly.

Cruger sat down at his desk, and indicated for Molly to sit down in the chair opposite of him. Molly set her suitcase and backpack in a corner of the office before complying.

He had no idea what to say to this girl. He started by repeating his earlier question.

"Who are you?"

Molly took in a deep breath, thinking about how she had already gone over this. She guessed that he needed more information. Let out her breath as she spoke, she told him about herself.

"I'm Molly Manx. I'm from Auckland, New Zealand. I am six-and-a-half years old. I'm in the third grade. I—"

"Manx," interrupted. "So your mother, that would be Kat?"

"Mm-hmm," Molly nodded, swinging her feet back and forth.

"Kat." He whispered. His heart beat a little faster. "How is she?"

Molly's face suddenly fell. She lowered her head. "She's dead," she whispered.

Cruger felt as though his heart had been punch. "What? How?" he asked Molly.

But Molly clamped her hands over her ears. She shut her eyes tightly pursed her lips. She shook her head.

Cruger sighed sadly. For one moment, he had thought he could see Kat again. Now those hopes had been destroyed.

Seeing the obvious distress this topic was causing Molly, he decided to change the subject.

"Is that why you came here?" Cruger asked gently.

Molly removed her hands from her ears and looked up. She nodded. "Yeah. But she was planning to send me here soon anyway."

"I see," Cruger said. "Is there anyone I need to contact?"

Molly suddenly became uncomfortable. "Um, yeah. Foster Care."

"Why?"

Molly squirmed in her seat. "Erm. Yeah. You see…"

"Yes?" Cruger pressed on.

"Iranawayfromthem," Molly said in one fast breath.

"What?" Cruger said, not understanding a word she said.

Molly sighed. "I ran—I ran away from them."

"What? Why?"

"They were going to send me somewhere else," Molly muttered. "They didn't believe you were my father."

"Anyone who's not blind could see you're my daughter," Cruger said. "There's no doubt about that."

Molly flashed him a relieved grin. "I know. But on my birth certificate it listed my father as unknown."

"Oh," Cruger whispered, crushed inside.

Molly realized she shouldn't have told him that. She didn't know what to say to make him feel better, so she just gave him a small, apologetic smile.

Cruger looked at Molly, and surprised himself when he smiled back. Kat probably hadn't listed him as the father for fear of Isinia finding out.

Molly, relived by Cruger's smile, grinned even more broadly.

Cruger stood up. "Well. We better get you settled in, shouldn't we?"

Still grinning, she nodded. She hopped off the chair. But instead of heading out the door, she headed to her backpack and unzipped it. She pulled something out and showed it to Cruger.

"This is Lolly Doll," she said. "Mommy made her for me."

Cruger crouched down to be eye level with Molly. He looked at the doll. It was handmade, but not poorly done so. The fabric of her skin was a light blue, almost like Molly's. She had shoulder length, messy, black hair. Her eyes were two small, green beads. Her lips were a darker blue thread stitched into the mouth area of the. She wore a green shirt with denim overalls, and white sneakers, an outfit identical to the one Molly was wearing, though her shoes had two green and blue stripes around her shoes. Cruger smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Lolly," he said.

"Nice to meet you too," Molly said in a higher voice, moving the doll as though it were talking.

Chuckling, Cruger stood up. He waited for Molly to get her things before leading her out of his office, thanking his lucky stars Isinia would be gone for a few more days.

Try explaining this one to your wife.