Chapter 16

The sound of footsteps in the hallway outside caused them to stiffen. Both Sarah and Alec unconsciously held their breaths as they waited for the walker to pass the room. But no such luck.

Berrisford entered the waiting room and was met by two pairs of identical green eyes, both suspiciously moist and red-rimmed. "Hey," he greeted quietly.

"Hey." Sarah turned to Alec again, searching his face for a sign.

His arms had tightened upon seeing Berrisford, but loosened as he smiled sadly at his daughter. "Go on. You're tired and you need a bath. Badly," he tried to joke.

Sarah didn't move. Two fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Alec wiped them off. "Don't cry, sweetheart." Anything but that. "Don't cry. It's okay," he whispered, his head close to hers.

She nodded and slowly moved out of his lap. Alec remained seated so that his and Sarah's heads were still at the same level. She stood facing him, but glanced back at her grandfather. He gave a slight smile and nod to indicate that they could have a little bit more time.

Sarah reached in her pocket and pulled out something that crinkled at the movement. "Here," she said, holding her hand over her father's. "You keep it."

Alec questioningly took the proffered item. Rachel's locket, still in its sealed plastic baggie. He looked back into his daughter's eyes. "Sarah, I can't…"

"Yes, you can." She smiled, the tears threatening to fall again. Sarah sniffed. "You can give it back to me next time," she said firmly.

Alec took a tired breath. "Sarah…"

"No," she broke in. "No. Next time."

Alec looked into his daughter's eyes, really looked. She was desperately clinging onto what hope she had. He couldn't refuse her this, he couldn't watch her break. "Okay, honey. Okay." He brought her close again for a last embrace before he had to let her go.

When at last they did separate, Sarah with her eyes still squeezed shut and biting her lip as if in denial, and Alec with his hands shaking a little, Berrisford broke the silence that had fallen in the small room. "Sarah. We have to go now." His voice was rough and trembling a little, revealing that this was just as emotionally charged and difficult for him as it was for Alec and Sarah.

Sarah nodded and swallowed. "Okay. I'm ready." She turned to her grandfather and hugged him. "Grandpa."

He hugged her back. "Are you alright, Sarah?" he asked. He could see without asking that his young granddaughter had grown up immensely since he had last seen her just the morning of the day before.

She pulled away and nodded, glancing into his face with newly old eyes, strange on such a young face. Berrisford's own teared up at the sight and his heart gave a tug. "Yeah. I'm okay, Grandpa." She turned to her father again, who was now standing. "Bye Dad," she said softly.

"Bye," Alec returned, his eyes burning. There was something constricting inside his chest, twisting and tearing. If he didn't have transgenic health, he would have thought he was having a heart attack. This had to be the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, letting her go again.

Berrisford took in the young man before him. He bore the haggard look of someone with a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. There was a slight change from the man he'd met three weeks ago, and a comparison with the piano teacher Simon Lehane brought even more differences to his mind. Alec McDowell was a man now, and he was tired, but he still had fight left in him, the urgent need to do the right thing. He was someone Robert Berrisford could respect, something he had thought impossible in the years after the car bomb and Rachel.

Ten years ago, he had seen the innocent attraction begin to blossom into something more and had tried to nip it in the bud by sending his young daughter away, but apparently, he had been too slow—they got to his family first. He had found out enough about the real purposes behind Manticore to hide the pregnancy (he had been too slow to prevent that as well) and subsequent birth. Adoption papers had been carefully forged to keep curious snoopers at bay and to ensure the safety of the child. Her father had been instrumental in the death of her mother, but the dark-haired wide-eyed child was innocent in all that, and as time passed, she grew on him. There was so much of her mother in her that Berrisford sometimes felt that his daughter had never truly left him. There were other times, however, when the drive to find her killer and avenge her overwhelmed him. Then he found him. And he couldn't do it; he couldn't bring himself to become a monster like him.

Soon afterward, the transgenics declared their independence and right there on the television screen was the man known as Simon Lehane, and everything began to fall into place. He'd heard stories, rumors of the genetically engineered soldiers trained to kill, and realized he had brought it upon himself when he'd begun digging into Manticore. But to forgive the instrument of Rachel's death was unthinkable, although looking back, the boy had cared for her deeply. It wasn't until Sarah had gone behind his back to meet her father and begun chattering about her "Dad" all hours of the day that Berrisford realized that perhaps he had been too harsh on the young man. According to the media, he had been influential in keeping the peace between his people and the government—Berrisford could respect that, and he could also respect the obvious love Simon, now dubbed "Alec," had for his daughter.

"Alec," he said, "Thank you for finding her. I know…I know it's hard, parting from her like this, but…" He didn't have the words to finish, but Alec understood.

"I know," he nodded sadly. "It has to be done." They would each do their own part in protecting the only family they had.

Berrisford steered Sarah out the door with a hand on her shoulder, making sure she didn't bump into anything, as her gaze was concentrated solely on her father. She sighed when they turned the corner and she could no longer see the lonely figure in the empty room. "Do you think he's gonna be okay?" she asked her grandfather softly.

Berrisford was surprised at his granddaughter's insightfulness, but he shouldn't have been. In spite of her youth, she had always seen and understood things at a level well beyond her age. He sighed as well. "I sure hope so. He's a good man. This will all be over soon. We just have to pray for it."

Sarah tipped her head back to look at him. "He needs someone to keep him safe. Mom'll look after him, right?"

Berrisford smiled at her innocence. "Yes, I'm sure she will."

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

Alec watched the second love of his life disappear from the doorway and slumped down in the chair again. He ran his hands through his hair. He could do this. He was a soldier, dammit. He could detach himself from the situation; he'd been trained from childhood to do that.

But no, he was a father now. He couldn't just reduce his daughter to numbers and figures, statistics. She was a person, all he had left of Rachel, aside from his memories.

And the locket. He opened his hand. The plastic rustled when he picked it up and peeled the zipper open. The silver chain clinked against the cold metal of the heart-shaped pendant as he slid it out into his hand. He could still remember how it looked against Rachel's fair skin, nestled at the base of her neck.

"I like you. I like you a lot." The metal had felt warm from her body heat when his hand had brushed up against it as he kissed her. She'd tasted of vanilla, like the lip gloss she'd been wearing that day. And he'd felt…loved for the first time in his bleak life. It was an innocent, yet forbidden love, and he'd known he shouldn't have given in to it. But it had felt so right, and he craved it once he'd gotten a taste of what having someone care could be like.

Alec frowned. The chain was still broken. He fingered the ends absent-mindedly, remembering his daughter's words. "You keep it. You can give it back to me next time."

His heart caught in his throat as he stood and rushed out of the room and through the ridiculously long hallways, towards the front entrance of the station. He barely registered it when Max came up beside him, questioning him. He searched the crowded room for the small, dark-haired form of his daughter.

There! By the door. Berrisford pulled the heavy metal door open and a barrage of flashing lights lit up the room. The news crews were here. The kidnapping and rescuing of four wealthy children was a high-profile story.

Sarah tuned her face away from the door, squinting at the brightness, and in doing so caught Alec's eye. Time seemed to slow for the two of them. She smiled and brought up her free hand to wave at him. He returned the smile and brought his own hand up.

Then the moment was over. Berrisford and his security guards, who seemed to materialize from out of nowhere, whisked Sarah into the crowd and towards the large black car waiting in the street.

Alec didn't know how long he stood there watching the door his daughter had passed through; minutes, seconds, he honestly didn't know, but gradually, he became aware of Max's presence beside him.

She stepped closer to him, brushing her shoulder against his. "You gonna be all right, Alec?" He leaned into the comfort she radiated.

There was a long pause before Alec replied. Max had even started to think that he hadn't heard her. "Sure, Max. I'll be alright," he breathed. "I'm always alright. Thought you knew that by now." Turning to her with a shadow of his old smirk, he said, "Wanna race back to TC?"

AN: The end. Ha, just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you. There's an epilogue for the next chapter. Totally a happy ending. I'm serious. It's so syrupy it's Disney-esque.