They sat in an awkward silence. Hands folded in their laps as they stared off into space. They had to talk but neither one knew what to say or where to start. One felt as though he were a naughty school child while the other burned with disappointment without the simplest notion of where the direction of that disappointment was pointed. They both flinched as the front door opened and a familiar figure came through it. They didn't need to look up to know who it was; the speed with which he had come through the door told them that. The third of their number sat down also on the same sofa as the probable cause of the morning's events, the catalyst that had set them in motion.

Subconsciously, Sportacus was wringing his hands. He was annoyed not just with himself but with Kit. He'd heard of what had happened and he wanted to hear it from the man himself.

"Why?" He breathed.

Kit looked up at the question, "I don't know. One thing led to another and if it's any consolation, she came onto me."

"This isn't the first time you've had sex is it?" Robbie's tone was slow, his words calculated.

"Most people call it making love and no, it isn't. It's happened once before."

Sportacus was genuinely surprised, "When?"

"The night Lily came along and blew the lid off of your secret. Robyn needed something other than the images of Cain in her head. I obliged."

Robbie shook his head, "I'd always hoped you two would be married when you took that step. I guess given the circumstances it couldn't be that way, just tell me you used protection."

Kit shook his head.

It was more than he could hear and Sportacus jumped up, shaking his head and pacing the room before coming to a stop in front of the window. Kit watched him as he measured Sportacus' mood and the reaction he might get if he spoke further. He didn't have to think too long before Sportacus beat him to it.

"What if she gets pregnant? I know it's unlikely but what if it happens?"

"Then at least the kiddy will know who their father is because Robyn doesn't does she?"

Robbie looked at Kit first then at Sportacus who had whirled round, his face telling both men that Kit had hit the nail squarely on the head.

"I'm not Robyn's father." Sportacus confirmed, looking at Robbie with eyes full of hurt. "The results were negative."

Despite all of their past and present differences they shared something in common. They had both spent much of their lives believing that they were Robyn's father and surrendered so much. Now they were proven not to be her father and shared each other's pain. Robbie stood up as Sportacus walked back over to where he'd been sitting and put his arms around him.

Kit felt tears prickle his eyes as Robbie and Sportacus embraced, holding each other as they cried. He got up and joined them, hugging them both with an arm around each man's shoulders.

They only parted when Langford entered the house.

They were home. Not her home but his. The home he had been born in and raised his children in. It was the home she would now remain in and she had little choice in the matter. He had ignored her protests and the pleadings of his wife to see reason. He stood now, outside the door of the bedroom that had belonged to his son and willed it to open but despite his knockings on the door and requests for it to open it wouldn't budge.

Yuliya came out from the living area and stood next to Nine. She put her hand on his shoulder and rested her head upon it.

"What did you expect, Nine?" She whispered, trying to mask her reproachful tone. "You take her away from everything she has ever known, everyone she has ever loved and bring her to a place that is alien to her. She was hardly going to take it well."

Nine growled under his breath, "You or she might not see it but I've done the right thing. I did what had to be done. She's been in there three hours. She will have to come out sooner or later."

"Not if she's anything like you, Nine. Perhaps you could let me try and speak to her? I'm gentler than you and hopefully she has no reason to be angry with me."

Accepting defeat was a hard thing for Nine to do but he agreed, grumbling under his breath as he walked away. When he had disappeared into the living area, Yuliya knocked gently on the door.

"Robyn? It's me, your grandma. Can you let me in?"

Stepping back from the door as she heard movement on the other side, Yuliya smiled when the door opened slightly and a cautious pair of eyes looked out from the crack. They searched the visible area outside of the door before opening it wide enough for her to pass through. She walked further into the room before turning and seeing her granddaughter shut and sit on the floor in front of the door where she had previously situated herself.

They were strangers to one another. Related by blood but never having gotten to know each other. She knew of her granddaughter's traumatic past, her husband having told her what he had been told. She had been saddened as had he and she too felt the sting of failure in not having involved herself in her granddaughter's life sooner.

Pulling a chair out from beneath a desk, Yuliya seated herself upon it. It had been a long time since she'd been in this room and it was almost as it had been the day her son left it to live in his airship. All around her were memories. Trophies stood on shelves, sports equipment cluttered one corner, photos of family hung in small wooden frames on the walls and a large number ten was emblazoned on the ceiling above their heads. Her son's number, an exact replica of the crystal casing he wore on his uniform.

Robyn was studying her as she studied the room. She looked down at her granddaughter and smiled gently, her smile dimmed as she remembered what Nine had said earlier.

"Nine told me you were upset in the airship. How are you feeling now?"

Robyn shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't know. I guess it's the first time I've really accepted it and relived it. I'd feel a lot better if I was at home."

"I know," Yuliya cooed sympathetically, "I don't know what Nine was thinking. He acts before he thinks when he should think before he acts. Unfortunately he always feels that he's right regardless of the truth. Don't think of him too harshly though, Robyn. He's a painfully proud man who takes the traditions of his family very seriously. He goes by the morals laid down to him by his forefathers and it's the only way he knows."

"It just makes me feel like no matter what I do, he'll always judge me. Like I'll never be good enough or I'll always remind him of Lily."

"Nine has always taken a heavy burden upon himself for Lily's actions. Ultimately I think he feels responsible for what she has become. Often he goes nights without sleep, trying to understand what made her the way she is and blaming himself for not seeing it or acting sooner. He is the way he is with you Robyn because he doesn't want to fail you in the same way he feels he failed her. Ever since we heard of your birth he shunned you because he feared that his influence in your life might have the same effect as it had on Lily. He came to see you that first time because he finally came to realise that he was wrong."

"But by doing things like this he's just going to keep pushing me further and further from him so the end result will be the same."

Yuliya nodded, Robyn was right. She just wondered how long it would take for Nine to see that as well.