James was organizing his equipment before he broke for lunch, squinting at the label on the newest piece, when the door to the laboratory opened. He didn't turn to look immediately; if it was Autumn again, he didn't rightly care to speak with the man. Anyone else was a mindless drone that he shouldn't care about.

After he'd placed the equipment away in the proper receptacle, and shut the door, he turned. If the person hadn't spoken, it was probably a soldier―

His hand slid from the cabinet door and he nearly lost his balance when he saw who it really was. "Lillie!" he said, surprised and confused.

The girl―a woman, really―standing before him frowned, and blinked once or twice. "Yes?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

James swept his eyes over her, taking in the sight. She was thin, and nearly the same height as he. Poor thing was doomed to live with his short stature―but she'd filled out in the last five and a half years, and her jumpsuit no longer lay flat against her chest. She had hips! Good Lord, he'd never been ready for that day to come.

Lillie looked at him and he saw his own face in hers. She had her mother's hair... the same yellow ringlets that he recalled adorned her head, a spotty patch on either side. He remembered the bumbling toddler again, and his hand curled up near his heart.

Pain, of course. He could see her mother in her eyes, shining back at him through the reflective lenses embedded in her orbital cavity. Judging him. As he ought to be judged, he knew. Right now, any number of Enclave researchers could be watching him through Lillie's eyes. Silently observing, recording. Why―

Why was Lillie here, though!?

She looked around the room and identified the intercom light, and spoke to it. "Why am I here, sir?" she asked, shooting a small glance at James.

So she really had been told he was dead. Jesus Christ, she'd forgotten his voice. James felt his breath building hotly under the visor. He moved to remove the encompassing material, his hand stopping on the seal when Eden began to speak.

"I informed you I would illustrate my point," Eden said, neutrally. "You were told he was dead, but he is not. Yet."

Lillie looked confused, and James peeled himself out of the suit as fast as he could, nearly tripping as he shook off the suit. He moved across the room with speed, toward the shocked-looking woman―his daughter, whom he had not seen in years―

"Dad?!" she said, putting a hand to her mouth. "Wha―" Her gaze went back to the wall for a moment. She put her hands out to stop him from grabbing her into a hug. "Wait!" she said, shrilly. "Wait."

James' heart sank when she turned to the wall yet again, looking up at the light with a frown. "This is―you're saying that he lied, sir?"

Eden sighed. "I said that the Colonel was riddled with error. I did not specify what type. Yours is the decision to be made, not mine, dear Lillie. Please report back to your room in one hour. Until then..." Eden cleared his throat. "Enjoy your visit with your father."

James held out a hand and placed it on Lillie's shoulder, shaking with emotion. "Lillie," he said, his voice caught in his throat.

She turned to him. "Dad..." she said, and her eyes teared up, and she threw herself on his shoulder in a low wail. "I'm sorry, Dad, I had to―I had to check with the President, I didn't mean to be rude―"

"It's okay," he said. "It's okay." He rubbed her back through the jumpsuit, feeling her shuddering with a stilted cry. "It's okay, Lillie," he said, and he smiled.

For the first time in five and a half years, James was smiling.

Lillie told him about her actions most recently, being blinded after falling on the training course. James raised an eyebrow at her as she described how she'd fallen directly onto her nose and bled like crazy―her face animated and her tone angry.

"I was so upset," she said. "And―" She stopped short and drew her hands into her lap, and looked down. Her mouth tugged into a frown.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" he asked, reaching out and placing a hand over hers. Sitting at the bleak laboratory dinette wasn't nearly as depressing, today. He was relieved, ashamed, and overjoyed, to have her with him. Glad she was alive and well, but so guilty in his damning her to this―this ridiculous dog-and-pony show that Eden was running.

"Colonel Autumn really did lie," she said, slowly. "Obviously. He told me you were dead."

"I'd bet he enjoyed every second of that," James said, trying not to let the anger bleed into his voice. "But you shouldn't put any stock into his words. Neither him, nor―" James sighed. She'd shown a very distinct loyalty to the President, when she first arrived. It was kid gloves, now; if she were to leave she might never come back. He wanted to squeeze every second he could, out of this visit. "The man is as well-spoken as a snake, Lillie."

"I―" she twiddled her fingers in her lap. "I can't really say why I believed," she muttered. "I didn't think he would lie."

"There isn't any love lost with that man," James grumbled. "I doubt he's got a moral bone in his entire body. It's okay to have believed him, sweetie. You know the truth, now."

Lillie sighed and rubbed her eye. "But now... I can't trust him," she damn near whispered, in a tone that sent a chill down James' spine.

Something, something probably quite unsettling for him, had been going on. James wasn't sure what to think, didn't want to think what was coming to mind. Most blatantly, his mind went to the physical reaction she'd had, moving her hands into her lap and acting defensive when speaking about Autumn.

"You and I both know how old your daughter is." Autumn had been referring to her adulthood, and―James was aware of how teenage girls could idolize men. Especially when they had been denied a proper paternal figure. He fought a sick feeling in his stomach.

"What's going on, Lillie?" he asked, masking his agitation. "You ought not trust the man. Why would you...?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, wiped them away and set her mouth. "It's nothing," she said, firmly. "Nothing to worry yourself about. Did you know..." she switched the topic quickly, "I'm going on a field test, soon?"

James blinked, leaned back and removed his hand from hers. Ignoring that she had not told him the entire truth, and that she was obviously perturbed by something involving Colonel Autumn―he did not like the idea of Lillie being out in the wastes. Even if she was with Enclave soldiers.

But... if she were outside of the bunker, and he could finally manage his own escape―James felt the thrill of hope for the first time in ages. No matter the cost, if he could get himself free, and she was outside of Raven Rock, he would find her. And he would remove her from the Enclave's grasping claws.

He watched her face, and imagined what she would look like outside of the dim blue lights of the bunker. How her hair would glow under the harsh wasteland sun, and what she would look like with a tan. How her eyes―damn. He would have to include exploratory surgery, to disable or remove VIOLA from her head. It was a morbid thought, wasteland surgery. But it was the only option they would have.

"You'll be outside of the bunker," he said, stating the fact aloud.

Lillie coughed and wiggled her nose. James suppressed a chuckle, despite his sore thoughts. He remembered that one. She had always done that when she was about to lie. As a small child, it had been adorable... but as a young woman, it was not desirable to know she was willing to lie to him.

She was not the virtuous child he had imagined, anymore. He watched her, and waited.

"Yes," she said, and her nose crinkled up again. "Colonel Autumn said I'd be going on a recon mission."

That was definitely a lie. What purpose did it serve to conceal the truth from him...? He guessed that she was going to be performing some action he wouldn't approve of, or that she was engaging in some sort of Enclave chicanery that he definitely wouldn't agree with. James sighed, and pressed the issue.

"Lillie, if you see reason to lie, please do it by omission," he said, tiredly. "I've got enough to worry about between President Eden, being separated from you, and Colonel Autumn's infrequent visits. I don't need to worry that you're being torn in half by some monstrous creature, too."

She colored violently. "It's a combat mission," she said, quietly. "I thought it would be better if you didn't know. ...I didn't want you to worry."

James rubbed his eyes and looked at her, her face red and eyes down. "Christ," he muttered. "I finally get to see you, and now they're sending you out to get yourself killed."

"It's not like that," she protested, looking up. "I won't―I'm not going to get killed."

"You say that with certainty, but I know you've never seen half of the danger the wastes have to offer." James closed his eyes, and shook his head. "God forbid your mother ever live to see us, now. She'd put her foot down on this moronic insanity―"

"Well, she didn't live, did she!" Lillie said, testily.

James' frown deepened. "Lillie!" he said, reproachfully. Teenagers. He ought to have reigned himself in, but what could he do? He was only a father who had been denied his child, and she had grown up without a mother and father to guide her in her later years. It made him, understandably, angry.

"You're―you're stuck here!" she cried, growing agitated. "What else can I do but help President Eden? He's been very good to me. I have to pay him back for my eyes―"

"Lillie, you wouldn't have been blinded if I hadn't brought you―" he jammed his mouth shut and calmed himself before continuing. The secret was still there, and he must still keep it. "It was my fault. My debt to pay, not yours. You should not be here, at all."

"You've been imprisoned for all these years because I was stupid," she replied, tetchily. "Don't lecture me on blame. I've had enough to go around."

"Lillie―" he began, but she'd stood up and was facing away from him. She shuddered once in a sob, and wiped her face. James watched her with a sinking feeling in his heart. She'd really bought into the Enclave's philosophy. She'd believed what they wanted her to believe.

It broke his heart more than he had thought possible.

"It's almost past time," she said, crossing her arms and looking at him over her shoulder. "I have to go back to my room."

"Please, Lillie, don't leave like this," James said, standing to move in front of her. "We haven't seen each other in so long, we can't end it on a fight."

"I'm sorry, Dad," she said, wiping her nose. "But I'm... I'm grown, now, and you're..." She looked about the lab. "You're stuck here, and I don't know if we'll ever see each other again―and you can't help me, anymore."

James put his hand out onto her shoulder and squeezed it. "Not by choice, Lillie. I never would have brought you here if I had known they were working against us―"

Lillie moved away, taking a step toward the door. "It doesn't matter now," she said, dully. "I... I have to go. Have to... think some things over. I―" She turned to face him and wiped her face, and he saw the tears streaming from her eyes. "I'll ask to come see you, I promise, but I don't know if―"

James nodded, moved forward, and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to him gently. "It's okay," he said, calmly. "I understand. I've asked to see you, too."

"I'll... I hope I'll see you again, Dad," she said, and disentangled herself.

She left him with nothing to do but sink into a chair and hold his head in ache.

His poor daughter. God help her.