Steven couldn't recall ever being as nervous as he was now. He'd volunteered for the riskiest missions and fought in the First Contact War, but that all paled in comparison to meeting his own child. He'd been relieved when he'd left Lizzy's apartment earlier that day, knowing he'd have at least another twenty-four hours to get use to the fact he had a child before having to actually meet her. But then Lizzy had called him a couple of hours ago and told him Alexandra wanted to meet him tonight. He'd almost backed out. In fact, in the past two hours, he'd been tempted to call the whole thing off at least three times. Actually, he was thinking of getting up from the table and walking out when he saw Lizzy walk into the restaurant. She looked better than she had that morning. Clean, at least. She'd put her hair up in a bun, and had put on a dress. It was a few sizes too big and it looked like it was meant to hug curves she no longer had, but it was definitely an improvement. Steven was surprised when she walked up to the table alone. A sense of disappointment hit him as he thought that maybe his daughter had changed her mind.

"Hello Steven! Isn't this place great? I haven't eaten here in ages!" Lizzy practically shouted across the room as she walked up to the table. Steven was pretty sure Lizzy had never eaten at this restaurant before, and that she'd only been allowed inside because she'd mentioned his name.

"Good evening, Lizzy. Where's Alexandra, why isn't she with you?"

"Oh she'll be here soon, don't you worry. She's just coming from a friend's house, you know how kids are."

Just then Steven heard a low whistle from one of the men at a nearby table. It was actually a table made up of a group of men, and they currently were all paying attention to something by the entrance. "Damn!" "Are you kidding me? She cannot be for real?" "Oh, give me one hour with that sweetness!" "An hour? More like ten minutes, John!" Steven couldn't help himself, and his curiosity made him follow the men's line of sight. He saw a woman standing by the host stand. Well first he saw her legs. They were hard to miss. Long beautiful legs topped by possibly the shortest skirt he had ever seen. As she turned towards the rest of the restaurant, he was surprised to see that her blouse was made of possibly less material than the skirt, a long open slit running down the front. Steven blushed, suddenly feeling like a dirty old man, which surprised him. He'd never had issues staring at a beautiful young woman before. (God, is this what it's like being a father?) But it was when he finally reached her face that he was really surprised. He was looking straight into his mother's eyes. The woman (no that's not a woman, that's a girl) in front of him was an exact copy of his mother. He'd seen many pictures of her when she was younger, and it was like she'd just stepped out of one. She was walking towards him now, and Steven stood up to greet her as she reached the table. She seemed surprised by his act of politeness and gave him a smile that almost blew him away. His mother's smile. He heard another whistle from one of the men at the table and turned to glare at them. They saw the anger in his eyes, and quickly lowered their gazes back to their own table.

"Wow, now that was impressive." Lex had heard the men leering at her as she walked in. It hadn't bothered her, she was used to it by now. Nikko always had her dress like this. She hadn't been able to see the look the tall man in front of her had given the men, but it had certainly worked.

Steven turned back to look at her. She sounded just like his mother, too. If he'd had any doubts that Alexandra would be his daughter, they were gone now. "Alexandra, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Major Steven Hackett." He held out his hand, and he was surprised once more when he took it, feeling the familiar tingle of biotics from her. He'd met several biotics recently as the Alliance worked to recruit them.

"Well major, you are not at all what I expected." She smiled at him as he stepped forward and pulled a chair out for her. "How'd you pull this off, Lizzy?"

"I...I don't know what you're talking about Lex. And I don't like your tone young lady!"

Steven sat down and looked at the two women. There was clearly something wrong between them. Alexandra was looking at Lizzy with disgust, and Lizzy just looked scared.

"Oh please, Lizzy, give it up." Lex turned to look at her…father. He was a handsome man. And she admitted that she noticed some similarities between them. He seemed to have class and he seemed completely appalled by Lizzy, so she just couldn't understand how they had ended up together long enough to have her. "Major, Lizzy tells me you wanted to meet me, so here I am. I hope I'm not too much of a disappointment." Of course, she was lying. She had hoped to be exactly that, to make sure that Lizzy never saw a dime of his money. If he wanted nothing to do with her, that was okay, she couldn't miss something she'd never had.

"A disappointment? Ah no, of course not. I'm just surprised. I hadn't expected you to be…"

"Oh, you'll have to excuse my attire, Nikko likes to make sure everyone knows how nice his property is."

Lizzy gasped. "Lex!"

"Property?" Steven looked over at Lizzy. Something was definitely wrong here and he could feel his anger rising. "What the hell is she talking about, Lizzy? Who the hell is this Nikko and why does he consider Alexandra his property?"

"Oh what? Lizzy, did you forget to mention Nikko to the Major?" She gave him a sweet smile. "Oh, Nikko is my boyfriend, or my owner depending on who you ask. I'm sure he'd call himself both. I just call him an asshole."

Steven was speechless. She didn't look or sound like a fifteen year old and if what she was saying was true…he couldn't imagine what her life was like. He realized he was gripping the table hard enough that his knuckles had gone white. He looked at Lizzy again. "What the hell have you done, Lizzy? Did you sell our daughter to this man? How could you raise a child and just give her away to some animal?"

Lex was surprised by the rage in the major's voice, and she felt a strange tightness in her chest. She felt her eyes water, but she shook it off. (What the hell is wrong with me?) "Oh, don't worry Major, she didn't do that. In fact, she didn't raise me at all. Did you Lizzy? We actually just met this morning."

Steven looked back at the young girl. But that couldn't be true, she looked just like his mother. "You're not my daughter? What did she hire you to…?"

"Oh, no, no Major. I'm pretty sure I am your daughter. And I'm definitely hers, but she abandoned me a long time ago. She never raised me." Lex glared at Lizzy. "Sorry Lizzy, but I'm not letting you make a dime off of me." She looked over at the Major. "And he actually seems like a decent human being, I'm not going to let you bleed him dry when you don't deserve a fucking dime!" Lex got up from the table. "Major, I'm sorry you had to go through this. I promise you that you will not hear from me again. And if she tries to get anything from you, I'd be more than happy to let any judge know the truth. Goodbye."

Steven just sat there, in shock. By the time he come to his senses, she was gone. He looked over at Lizzy. "You are going to tell me everything. The truth. And then you are going to tell me where I can find her." It wasn't a request.