The arguments are always resolved – quirks of sisters, Simon supposes. Arguments that rage for two minutes then make-ups that last two weeks. But he'd never trade her in.

His family means everything to Simon – even if there's only one member in it. When his father had disowned him, it had broken his heart.

"If you walk out that door, you will be my son no more"

"How does that work, Dad? You proclaim it and make it so? You can shut me out of your heart, but you cannot shut yourself out of mine. I may not be your son, but you'll always be my father"

"You aren't the man I raised you to be."

"No, I'm not. I'm so much more, and thank God for that"

But he got over it – River needed him more than he needed a father who had never been there in the first place. And as long as she needed him, he'd hold himself together. Because she couldn't, and someone had to.

His family had never really worked in the traditional way. From the beginning it had been Simon catering to River's needs, while their mother manipulated their father and tried to take control. Simon found it easier to keep out of their way – all they ever did was argue anyway. It had been that way since before Simon could remember.

He always had to watch his mother's movements. Keep her in check; keep her out of their lives. Simon supposed that he had never really been a child, more a minder. More of a parent than both of his combined.

"And what do YOU suppose I do about the academy, Simon. I can't very well let her live there with you"

"I don't care what you do, mother. Just keep your claws out of River."

And so it went on, day after day of watching, waiting for the next move. Until one day, he looked away. And suddenly, River was in the academy and there was nothing he could do. No way he could help, save to wait and find out what was really happening.

"I'm telling you, they're DOING something to her and you WON'T LET ME HELP"

"Simon, please, calm down…there's no proof that they're doing anything…untoward with River"

"I HAVE proof, if you would just let me help her, Dad, please. Please, just let me help her"

"I don't know Simon."

"What he has, Gabriel, is a bunch of misspelt letters that he says are in 'code'. Trauma has made you mad, boy"

"Regan! Don't say that! But Simon, she's right, there's just no proof. It's a government building…nothing is going on."

"You never could stand up to her, Dad"

And he had. Two years of waiting and hoping, of throwing himself into finding his sister during the night, while at the hospital he juggled triple shifts. Two years of baited breath, of worry and sleepless nights. Just biding his time until he could find her.

And eventually he did…but she wasn't the same. They'd changed his baby sister, and there was nothing he could do except be there for her. So he was, he clung to her, looked after her, trying to coax some signs of the old her back into existence. But it never really happened.

But it didn't matter. She was his sister, and as long as she needed him, he'd be there for her. Just because he always had been, and she was the only thing he had life. He'd love her with his last breath, and he knew she knew that, and reciprocated. And that was enough.