Part 14: For what I Missed

"How do you take your coffee?" Jack asked from the kitchen, "Black's fine." Delta said from his seat in the living room. "If you have any milk, I'll have some of that with it." Sofia said, "You got it." Jack said from the kitchen. Samantha and Eleanor decided to find a few toys for the younger girls to play with. Sam went into a closet, and came back out with an old basket of toys she and the other girls had when they were kids. All of the girls looked through the various toys inside of the basket, each one taking out something they thought was interesting. Delta noticed that one of the girls was playing with a strange looking device. It was a flat red rectangle, and it had little knobs on the front. Every time she turned one of the knobs, a little line would appear and go in a different direction. When she shook the thing, the lines would disappear.

Jack came into the living room with two mugs in his hands. He set on on the coffee table in front of Sofia, and she thanked him. Jack then set the other mug on a small table next to where Delta was sitting, "You don't have to do this Jack." Delta said to him. "Don't worry about it," Jack said to him in a reassuring voice, "it's the very least I can do. God knows it was hard enough for me to get started here, you guys don't need to go through all of that." Delta gave him a thankful smile, and Jack returned it. "So like I said before," Jack said, "make yourselves at home. If you need anything, just ask. I'm gonna feed the girls, but you can make yourselves comfortable." After that, he walked back into the kitchen. Delta took a long drink from his mug, and then let out a content sigh. He couldn't remember the last time he had hot coffee. All of the thermoses of coffee he found in Rapture were lukewarm or just plain cold.

Sofia sat on the couch, sipping from her mug. Delta looked at her for a few moments, as the gears in his head were still shifting. He had things that he wanted to say, but this was neither the time or the place for the thing he was thinking about. Samantha reached up to the coffee table, and grabbed the small rectangular device Jack was using earlier. She hit on of the buttons, and the TV came back to life. Before any of them could hear what was being said on the set, she was quickly flipping through the channels. When she stopped, it was on a show that none of out new comers had ever seen before. Samantha quickly explained that the show was about a group of mountain people, who got rich and moved to a place called Beverly Hills.

All of them just sat there watching, Samantha in just a regular fashion, where as everyone else in the room was astounded by it. Just then, something really funny happened over the show, which caused Sam, Eleanor and the younger girls to laugh. Sofia, still holding her mug, put her hand over her mouth to help suppress her laugh. Delta, who was taking a drink of his coffee, laughed while he was drinking. It almost caused the coffee to come up his nose, which burned like hell, but he couldn't help but laugh. One thing that made Delta happy though, was to hear Eleanor laugh, for the first time in who knows how long.

After a short while, Jack came back in the room. He looked directly down at Sam, "I see you've been showing our guests some of the new television, huh." he said to her. She just smiled to him and nodded. "Well, since they are still eating, you can go in the bathroom first." he said, she nodded and headed upstairs. Jack turned his attention back to Delta and Sofia, "Okay," he began, "I do have a bit of a plan. I still have copies of certain papers that we need to get all of you integrated into the system. Once we do a little of that, we can go and get you guys some needed essentials." "That's a good idea." Delta said agreeing, "Although, I think you guys are going to have to do that. I have a bit of an essential project of my own." "And what's that?" Jack asked. "I gotta get this damn suit off." Delta said looking over the entire suit. "Alright, that's a good idea." Jack said quoting him, "Are you going to need anything for that?" "Yes I will actually." Delta said back to him, "I'm gonna need a pair of scissors, a knife, a screwdriver, some soap, and quite possibly a lot of gauze."

For a while, things went on as normal (or as normal as things could get at that point). Jacks girls finished their breakfast, and all of them went upstairs to start their day. Upstairs, the rest of them could hear a small argument over who was going in the shower next. Jack just let out a sigh and laughed. "Okay," Jack said to them, "I'll go get the things you need," he said pointing at Delta, "and then you and I can get started with some of that paper work." he finished pointing at Sofia. Jack went off into another part of the house again, and told Delta to wait in the kitchen. Delta pushed himself off of the small couch, and lumbered into the kitchen.

When Delta got into the kitchen, he saw Jack had already set out a few of the things he needed. Jack then came back into the kitchen with the last thing he needed, a large roll of gauze. "OK," Jack said to him, "I'll make sure that no one comes in there while your doing this. I know that that's probably going to be pretty delicate." Jack turned to leave, but Delta called out to him. "Hey Jack," Delta said, causing Jack to turn around, "thank you... for everything." Jack went up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey," Jack said to him making eye contact, "don't worry alright. I'm gonna help you guys through all of this. You've done a lot, and we all need help sometimes." This made Delta smile slightly, and Jack returned it to him. After that Jack left into another room, leaving Delta to do his work.

He picked up the knife on the counter, and held out his left arm. He poked a small hole in the thick cloth on the upper part of his arm. He put the knife back on the counter, and picked up the scissors. He put the tip of the scissors into the small hole, and started to cut down. "Ow" he said in pain as part of the point from the scissors poked into his skin. He went on cutting, and cut out a neat square of the cloth. The skin he saw under it, was almost a ghostly white and completely hairless. He cut more of the material away from his forearm, until the only thing that was left was the tube for his IV, and the port for the IV. Delta held out his let arm, and carefully used his thumb and forefinger of his right hand to get a hold of the small port. He gave a very small pull on the thing, and immediately cringed in pain. It was going to be hard to get this little thing out.

He took in a deep breathe, and started to pull on the thing again. As the port was being pulled further out of his arm, he fought back the urge to curse from the pain. But after about two minutes of working at the thing, he finally got it out. Blood started beading from the hole in his arm, and he immediately wrapped it in the gauze. He took a look at the small thing, and it was no wonder it hurt to get it out. The end of the needle was barbed at the tip, sort of like a fishing hook. He put the thing in the sink, and then went on working. He picked up the bottle of liquid soap, and spread it all around his wrist. He then started to pull at the glove on his left hand, but the glove was nearly skin tight. After about another minute of pulling, he finally got the glove off his hand. He wiggled his fingers around, touching the tips to his palm. His own skin felt unnatural to him, like it was his but it didn't fell like it was his. He flipped his hand over, and one the back of his hand was something he didn't expect. That symbol was still there, like it was a scar or a tattoo or something. It would always remain with him, much to his disappointment. But in a way, it would always be a reminder to him. Of how he was able to do everything, and still have something after all of it. He then proceeded to do the same with his other hand and arm, and made quicker work of it then before, only his right hand didn't have the symbol his left did.

He looked down to his waist and noticed his dive belt. He reached down and unfastened it, and he dropped it on the counter. As he dropped it, one of the back pouches opened and something slipped out. He saw something sticking out of the back pouch, still half inside of it. He pulled the small device out of the pouch, and gave it a look over. It was made out of a gray plastic, and look slightly like one of the many audio logs he found in rapture, only this one was half that size. The small recorder also only had three buttons; play, stop, and rewind. Just above where the speaker was, there was what appeared to be words crudely etched by a knife, it said lullaby.

An old memory came back to Delta, one that was before his resurrection.

"Wake up now." he heard a herd a stern male voice say. He opened his eyes slowly, but his vision was blurred and he couldn't see properly. His vision cleared slightly, and he noticed two figures standing over him, he didn't know he was laying down. "Are you awake in there?" he heard a calmer voice say. He moaned slightly, but his voice felt different to him. "Ah good, it appears to have worked." said one of the voices again, "Now, stand up." Unwillingly, he complied and put himself into a sitting position. His vision was clear now, and he could see that he was in some sort of hospital room. He couldn't remember anything, not even his own name, and his body felt heavier then usual. He spun himself to the left, and then stood shakily on the floor. He looked up and someone was staring at him right in the face. "Good, good" he said as if he wasn't there, "he appears to have recovered from his recent showing sir. I think he's ready to start." "Excellent" said a voice beside him, he turned his head to see a man he would later know as, Dr. Alexander. "Please, come over here." he said to him making a motion with his hand. He groggily lumbered over to him, and saw a table with a few items on it next to him. "Now, your gatherer should be here any moment," Gil said to him, these items will help aid you through your rounds of gather during the night." Gil pointed to the table and he looked at it. On the table there were two large vials, one with a red substance, and the other with a blue substance. The other was a small recorder device.

"Now, turn around and we will attach them." Gil told him, and he unconsciously obeyed. He attached the vials to his back, and slipped the recorded into his back pouch. "These vials contain your EVE and medical fluids, there are devices on your gloves that activate them." He gave him a quick briefing of how to activate the fluid control mechanisms. "As for the recorder," Gil said to him, "our first gatherers had trouble getting used to being attacked, and then going back to working. So, to help maximize productivity, we have given you a special recording of soothing music. Should the child become unwilling or scared, simply play that recording, and the music will calm them down. Do you understand?" He gave him a half knowing nod.

The sound of a door opening caught Dr. Alexander's attention. "Ah good, she's here. Let's see if the bond works." He turned his head to where Gil was looking and noticed a small child being led into the room by what appeared to be a nurse. The girls skin was a sickly pale, as opposed to her hair, which was very black. She had on a simple gray dress, with tiny shoes that matched it. Her hair was tied back into two braids, but the most noticeable feature about her, were her glowing yellow eyes. He didn't know why, but he felt a strange feeling for this girl, like she was his responsibility. He didn't know how right he was. "Daddy?" she said to him uneasily, but he didn't try to say anything back. He knelt down and put his arms out, like he was inviting her to him for a hug. Her face lit up with a smile, and she rushed to him. When they finally met, they full heatedly embraced one another.

Delta was snapped back to reality when he heard the sound of someone coming in.

He quickly hid the recorder underneath his dive belt. He turned around and saw Eleanor standing in the doorway, as if she was watching him the whole time. She smiled at him, and he returned it to her. She walked up beside him, and sat on the counter top. "How's it going?" she asked him, "Painful in some parts, but otherwise alright. It's just weird to actually have skin now." he told her, both of them laughed a little. He then ran his eyes down her thin arms, and noticed something. He had noticed it before, but before he wasn't in a position to talk about it. Now that thew two of them were alone, he talk to her about it.

The smile left his face, and he let out a sigh before speaking. "Eleanor..." he said with a hint of sadness in his voice, "you haven't been good to yourself." Eleanor gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?" "I think you know." he said as he motioned with his eyes to her wrists. On her wrist, was a faint scar, one line across each wrist, but you could only see them if you really got a good look at them. She moved her hand to cover the mark, and turned her head away from him. They just sat there silent for a short while, he stared at her, and she refused to make eye contact with him. "When did this happen?" he asked in a gentle and patient voice. She was silent for a moment but then finally answered him, "About a year ago, after I turned sixteen." She was having a very hard time bringing this up, he could tell by the fact that she was gripping her wrists tighter. He moved a little closer, and put his hand on her back. "Tell me." he said to her in the same soft voice, and he saw a tear roll down her face. "Mother had started experimenting with my condition." she said in a teary voice, "After Dr. Alexander failed, I could tell she still wanted to try for that supposed utopia. When I was alone one day, I started breaking things. I smashed a window that she had, because I thought it would make me feel better. I looked down at all of the broken shards on the floor, and that's when I noticed one in particular. It was large and jagged, I couldn't help but pick it up." Delta just continued listening to her, not saying a word, and definitely not judging her.

"I looked at the glass in my hand," she said with tears running down her face, "then I looked at all of the shards on the ground. The glass was now useless because it was destroyed. I thought... if I was destroyed too... then I wouldn't have to be tormented anymore. I just thought... there was no other way at the time." She brought her hands to her face and cried quietly. Delta saw how sad she was, and he truly felt bad for her. He hugged her as she wept, the only thing he could think to do to calm her down. After a minute or so, she returned the hug to him. She looked him in the eyes, and he wiped away the tears with his thumb. They felt so strange against his skin, and her her skin was warm and red. This new feeling of touch, was very foreign to him.

He turned around, and picked something up off of the counter. He then turned back to her, and he was holding the old recorder. "Take this." he told her, she looked at the recorder and then back to him, but slowly took it in her hands. He knew she was going to ask, so he answered her ahead of her words. "Just consider it my way of saying I'm sorry." he said in a sad voice, "For all the times that I wasn't there to tuck you in at night, for all the birthdays that I missed. For every thing that I missed." He turned away from her, not know what she would say or do. She looked down at the small device and inspected it. She noticed a small button on the recorder and pressed it. A gentle violin music started playing, coupled with the sound of a flute in the middle. Eleanor felt an immediate calmness from the music, like the song was trying to put her to sleep.

She walked up behind him, and hugged him from behind. He slowly grasped the hand that was around his waist, and he held it affectionately. "Thank you" she whispered to him. He turned around to face her, and he hugged her with all the love he had. "I don't want to lose you again." he said with a still sad voice, "You always keep me going. So just please... promise me you won't do that again." "I promise" she said back to him, and they both stood there holding each other. He took the recording off of the counter, and then picked up the knife he had. He started carving into the plastic, which only took about a minute or so. He gave it back to her, and she looked at what he wrote. The already written word was still there, but her wrote something beside it. It now said, Eleanor's lullaby.

She looked at him and smiled, and he returned it to her. They both met again for a hug, only this time it was not out of sadness, but a feeling of true understanding. "I love you honey." he whispered to her, "I love you too daddy." she whispered back to him. They truly had a special bond, but one that goes beyond that of science. For both of them had someone who understood, and would never judge them. This bond between a father and his daughter, could never be broken, no matter what.