The sweet scent of burning incense pervaded his nostrils as he reached the top of the stairs and entered onto the hallway. Only one room out of the three was occupied, only one door of the three was closed and he knew to which he had to turn his attentions. His steps upon the carpet were nearly silent as he walked in that direction. A slight feeling of apprehension assaulted him as he drew nearer to the room it was his promise to enter, not knowing what was on the other side of that door was beginning to play on his mind. From what he'd been told he knew the problem to be more severe than he had first thought and knew that he had to tread carefully in order to disturb her no more. As he drew closer to the door he hoped that gaining access to the room would be easy, if he faced any resistance his options would be very limited. He could either argue with her until she let him in or leave her be, the second option was the most likely choice but he would set nothing in stone until he knew the nature of the situation facing him.

Standing now in front of the door he knocked upon it softly. There was a sound of rushed movement within and then silence. Counting to ten he knocked on the door once more, this time she seemed to have taken notice, the door opened.

"What do you want?" Robyn asked impatiently one hand on her hip the other rested upon the door handle.

"I wondered if I could come in."

"Why?"

Doctor Malone remained the effigy of patience, "Because I've heard you've not been feeling well. I want to help you."

"I don't want your help, leave me alone." Robyn replied and started to shut the door but found the Doctor's foot obstructing it.

"If you let me come in I'll leave you alone. All I want to do is sit with you, nothing more."

There was silence. Robyn was thinking. Turning over what he had said in her mind she considered that perhaps she could allow him into the room as long as he stood by his promise to leave her alone while she continued in her occupations. Seeing that this would work to her advantage and that there was every possibility that he would get bored and extract himself from the room within a short period of time if she ignored him long enough, she let him in. Besides, she knew that there was very little choice in the way of sending him on his way as she couldn't shut the door while his foot was still blocking it.

With an inward smile Doctor Malone walked past Robyn and into the bedroom. He stood in the centre of the room waiting for an invitation to sit wherever she chose to put him. He hoped that it wouldn't be anywhere too out of the way. He wanted to be able to observe her, to see what she did. When she had shut the door she pointed to the bed, he obediently sat on its edge. He watched as she walked across the room and resumed her seat by the mirror, he could hoped for her to position her in a better place despite the fact that she could watch him just as easily as he could watch her.

And she was watching him now.

Sportacus climbed the ladder to his parents' airship slowly, his hands touching every rung, feeling them as he had done when he was a child. Each time he pulled himself closer to the top he looked upwards, every time he gazed upon the shining underbelly of the airship he felt the strains of nostalgia tugging at the edge of his mind. Many a time as a young boy his father had carried him up the steep ladder when his legs had been to short and his arms too weak for him to pull himself up. Other times he had lain flat on his back on the ground looking skyward when he had been allowed out to play amongst the shadowed confines of what floated almost perilously above him. Now he was grown, a man, no longer a child, with responsibilities and once a home of his own. Now he was returning home, to see his father who would ask him about why his lower jaw was bruised and his mother who would fuss and try to make it better.

He was sure he could handle his father's piercing gaze and his questions but to face his mother and try to reassure her that his jaw wasn't as painful as it looked, or as serious, wouldn't be so easy. It had been a long time since he'd seen her, his father had come to him after he'd returned from Kit's room to say that he was going back.

"Son, what a nice surprise." Sportacus heard his father say when he reached the last limits of the ladder.

Looking up Sportacus saw his father gazing at him through the ladder hatch, "Hi, dad, I thought I'd pay you and mum a visit."

Nine nodded and disappeared from the hatch. His voice could be heard in the tones deeper than those of his son as he told his wife they had a visitor. A gentle voice was heard sounding a reply of slight surprise followed by the falls of rapid footsteps and the sound of things being moved about. Sportacus smiled, his mother was cleaning up. He slowed his pace in order to allow her time enough to make the airship look even more presentable than she always kept it.

Two minutes passed before he had reached the top of the ladder and climbed into the airship. He could see his parents looking at him out of the corner of his eye as he kept his head slightly bowed, trying his best to hide his bruised jaw from them. He knew that he wouldn't be able to keep it a secret long, even now his mother was walking towards him, her arms open wide to embrace her only son, arms that hadn't embraced their daughter for many a year. The arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders and the lips that bent to kiss him drew back before making contact, the arms tightened. The game was up. His bruise had been seen.

"Son, what happened to you? Your jaw…" Yuliya paused unable to say any more.

Sportacus nodded and tears began to sting his eyes, "Robyn, Robyn did this."

Shaking her head, Yuliya wrapped her arms tighter around her son and held him as he fought desperately against the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Slowly and carefully she turned her head to look at her husband, there was an expression upon his face that she didn't like.

In an attempt to shake away the eyes that seemed to burrow into him he looked around the room. There were only a few times when he had been here but never had he had a chance to study his surroundings. As he glanced from one part of the room to another he could see an obvious trace of femininity running through the theme of decoration. On one side there was a clear masculine presence that complimented its superior and worked in harmony to create a pleasant atmosphere that encouraged relaxation within its four walls.

Having taken some respite from the eyes he looked back towards the mirror, they were still watching him. They're depths not missing a single movement that he made, it seemed as if they were reading every thought that entered his mind but he dismissed it. It couldn't be true, he was just being paranoid.

"Tell me," Doctor Malone began, breaking his vow of silence, "What do you see when you look into that mirror?"

Robyn turned her eyes from the Doctor's reflection to her own, "I see me. I see a scar that will never heal. I see a face forever tarnished. I see myself and it is ugly to the core. Did my heart turn with my face or is this just the expression of what always lay within? It doesn't matter. It is me."

Doctor Malone didn't answer, he couldn't.