Chapter 15

"…and then I woke up and I was in the dark place again. Only this time my hand was handcuffed to a pipe and my head hurt." Sarah stopped to take a breath. And a huge bite out of her ham sandwich, the crumbs dropping onto the paper plate on Matt Sung's office desk.

"Your head hurts? Why didn't you tell me your head hurts?" Alec demanded in a worried tone from his seat beside her.

"'Cuv i' duvn' 'urt 'ow," Sarah said matter-of-factly through her mouthful. ("'Cause it doesn't hurt now.") She swallowed. "Anyway, Max came and got us out and we met Logan, and Brit, like, totally threw herself at him, and then we saw you kick those guys' a—" She caught Alec's eye and revised what she was going to say. "—butts. And then, well, you know."

Matt tapped his pen thoughtfully on the pad where he'd been taking down Sarah's description of her experience of the last couple of days. "Yeah, I think I do," he said slowly. He hesitated before speaking again. "You know, you are taking this extremely well, Sarah. The other kids' reports were a little bit more…tearful than yours."

Sarah shrugged as she popped the last of her meal in her mouth and brushed her hands off over the plate. "I got my big cry out back at the library. I'm alright now." She smiled prettily at the detective, who noticed she was still sitting as close to Alec as she could. When Matt had ushered them into his office, Sarah had refused to relinquish her limpet-like hold from the X5 until the sandwich had been bought, after which she had let go at Alec's coaxing and attacked the food with a fervor that was really quite astounding to behold in someone so small.

Matt met Sarah's eyes. "You were really brave back there. Your dad should be proud of you." He smiled at both of their shocked faces.

Alec recovered first. "How did you know that I'm her dad?" he asked defensively and not a little suspiciously.

Matt laughed. "Now I know for sure. It takes one to know one. I've got a kid of my own. Besides, she reminded me of someone and I just realized that it was you." He stood up and walked around to their side of the desk. He bent down to her level before speaking again. "You take care now, okay, Sarah? And stay out of trouble." He straightened and shuffled among the papers on his desk. "Oh, and I believe this is yours," he said, handing her a small plastic evidence bag.

Sarah took it and opened it. Her mother's locket. "Thank you, Detective Sung." She beamed a dazzling smile at him and gave him a hug. "I'll try to be good, but I'm beginning to think getting into trouble is genetic," she whispered conspiratorially, shrugging, and making Alec arch an eyebrow.

"And who told you that?" he drawled.

"Max did," Sarah returned sweetly with a saccharine smile.

Alec shook his head with a wry chuckle and ruffled her hair. "You're killing me, you know that?"

Matt opened the door for them while trying unsuccessfully to hide his amusement. "You think she's a handful now, wait 'til she gets older. Then the gray hairs and wrinkles will start appearing." Stepping out and gesturing down the hallway, he continued, "We called Mr. Berrisford to let him know that Sarah's safe. He's on his way. You can wait for him in the room around the corner."

Father and daughter sobered immediately. Thanking the detective and bidding him goodbye, they made their way to the designated room.

----------------------------------------------------

That was where Max found them ten minutes later when she came in looking for Alec. Sarah was curled up in his lap, her face nestled comfortably in his shoulder. She was fast asleep.

Alec glanced up at Max as she sat down in the chair beside him. "She must be tired. She fell asleep as soon as she climbed up here." He smiled gently into his daughter's hair.

Max pursed a smile at them. "She's had a long day. She seems like a good kid. You know, she really is as cute as you told me she is."

Alec nodded. "Yup. She got some good stuff from me, huh, Maxie," he quipped, eyes twinkling at her.

"Yeah," Max agreed, "Too bad she got a full set of those smart-aleck genes, too. She coulda done without them." Her own brown eyes sparkled right back at him.

Alec's eyes widened in mock offence. "I'm hurt, Max. She wouldn't be mine without 'em."

They laughed quietly at the well-used jest so as not to wake the sleeping child in Alec's arms but she stirred anyway. She must have inherited her father's super-hearing as well. "Daddy?" she murmured sleepily into his shirt.

Alec beamed down at her. "Hey there, Sleeping Beauty. Have a nice nap?"

"Mmmh." She turned her head to peer bleary-eyed at him. "Time's-it?"

Alec shifted his arm carefully so he could glance at his watch without dropping his precious lapful. "Almost 4:30. Your grandpa should be here soon."

Sarah's face immediately turned dour. "I don't want to go home, Dad. I wanna stay with you. Please? I'll be good. I won't bother anyone," she begged desperately.

Alec tuned his gaze away before he got hit full blast with the pleading look he knew his daughter was wearing. He couldn't give in this time. "No, baby," he said, shaking his head, "You have to go home with your grandpa." He sighed. "It's not that I don't want you to live with me, I do, really. There's…there is nothing in the world I want more than to be with you, but I need you to stay as far away from this—this war as possible." He swallowed and kept his eyes shut and his will steeled against what he knew was coming. All his senses were attuned to her, the uneven quality of his child's breathing, the light lavender and vanilla scent of her, mixed in with something indescribable that was all Sarah.

Her head was still nestled against his shoulder, and her hair tickled his neck and chin as she moved so she could see him better. "But I'm afraid that I'll never see you again and—and I'll miss you." Her last words were whispered, but Alec heard them anyway. He mustered the control to look down into his daughter's limpid green eyes, again shining with tears.

His own were watery, too, as he managed to choke out, "Sarah, if this is what I have to do to keep you safe, then it's what I'm going to do. You can't be involved in this. It's dangerous." He brushed the stray wisps of hair from her face.

Sarah struggled to scramble to a position where she could look Alec straight in the face. "I already am involved," she said firmly. "I was in this from the minute I was born. I'm half-transgenic, so that means I'm a 'freak,' too. I wanna fight. This is going to be like that whole thing, like, seventy years ago, when black people and white people couldn't get married and everybody hated their kids because they were mixed. We learned about it in school. I'm like that kid. Humans wouldn't like me and transgenics wouldn't, either, if they knew. I don't want to be in hiding while you're out there fighting for me." She balled her fists in her father's jacket and glowered obstinately.

Alec tipped his head back and groaned. Why'd she have to be so stubborn? He was tired of this, all of this. All he wanted was to be able to go home peacefully to a loving family at the end of the day; why couldn't he have even that? He fought and fought for his people, for their rights, but they didn't seem to be any closer to their goal than they had been seven years previously. What did he ever do to deserve this? Well, besides killing a few people, but even that was under orders. He heaved a great sigh. Sometimes, it didn't seem as if—

"Dad. Dad! Are you even listening to me?"

The demanding voice and small hand thumping on his chest brought his attention back to the matter at hand. Opening his eyes and bringing his head back up on level with his daughter's, he said with a tired smile, "Yeah, I heard you. Sarah, I'm proud that you think that, but you're only eight. I need to know that you're safe. Let us take care of this, okay? You can join in the fight once you're old enough." He stroked her cheek, marveling at the softness of the skin.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Da-aad," she whined. She noticed her father's friend was still sitting there next to them, observing their interaction with a curious and interested eye. Sarah had already labeled her "cool" in her mind. Turning to her dark-haired rescuer, she added, "Come on, Max, what do you think?"

"Oh no, no, no," Alec cut in, turning Sarah's chin back towards him in one swift motion. "You are not bringing Max into this. This is between you and me, Sarah." He locked gazes with his obstinate daughter.

They remained like that for a while, neither of them breaking eye contact. "I just wanna say, I agree with what your dad's saying, Sarah. Sorry." Max smiled apologetically. "You know it's for your own good."

Sarah deflated and pouted. She knew when she'd lost a fight. "'It's for your own good,'" she mimicked, as she turned her body so that she was leaning back against Alec's chest. She crossed her arms and let her head fall back. "Is everyone against me or something? Knowing him, I'll never be 'old enough,'" she grumbled and arched an eyebrow at her father. "Isn't that right?"

Alec chuckled. "I'm that transparent, am I?" he asked, repositioning her on his lap so that she was closer up against him.

Sarah snuggled deeper into his strong embrace. "No, I just know you that well." She smiled.

"And I just want to protect you," Alec said and kissed her forehead gently. "I wish I could keep you safe forever," he whispered.

Identical green eyes met, and the owner of the younger pair whispered back, "I know, Dad, but you can't."

"But I still I wish I could," thought Alec before Sarah swallowed and said even softer, "I love you."

And then most quietly of all, heard only by the two sitting in the otherwise empty room (Max had silently slipped out, unnoticed by either of them), "I love you, too, baby."