Luther POV

'See you Monday for physical therapy!'

'Yeah, see you Monday, Gladys.', I mumbled, still hazy, as Allison pushed me out of the hospital doors in a wheelchair. Well, Allison, Diego, and one of the nurses. It was far more than a one person job, and I'm pretty sure the wheels had been leaving streaks in the tile floors.

'Gosh, Luther, you're heavier than a frickin' elephant.', Diego commented, struggling to push me along the concrete landing and out to the parking lot. I heard Allison smack his arm behind me, and I smiled.

'I've never seen someone this obsessed with anabolic steroids before...', I heard the nurse mumble beneath her breath, thinking I wouldn't hear her.

'Protein shakes and a dozen eggs a day, lady. That's how I got this built.', I answered her. She went silent, realizing that I'd heard her. Diego scoffed at the comment. And behind me, I just knew Allison was wearing a sly smile.

After a good two or three minutes of burdensome pushing across the parking lot, they got me to the car, Allison and I's minivan. It was weird having a minivan without also having a carload of kids, but I couldn't fit in any other type of car. Embarrassing.

'Do you think you can get up and walk a few steps?', Allison asked, grabbing my hand.

'Yeah, sure.'

Her and the nurse helped me to stand up, while Diego opened the van door. As I stood up, I got a bit dizzy, it felt like iron deficiency, but a lot worse. But for the injuries I had, I considered myself lucky to even be conscious. Allison had to explain to me what happened. Then, when I was completely clueless as to how I was still alive, she explained what Annie had done. I owed my life to a three year old, my niece. The kid is freaking amazing.

It was freezing outside, and I wasn't dressed for the conditions. Still wearing a hospital gown (having given me the largest size and still having to use two gowns to cover my body), a cold wind crept up my leg and gave me very uncomfortable feelings on my back side. I wore baby blue socks with grips on the bottom, which Diego had already made fun of multiple times.

As Allison helped me walk, I placed a hand down on the side of the van and it heaved.

'Easy now, godzilla.', Diego poked. I shot him a death stare.

'Can you never stop harassing me?'

'What would we talk about if I didn't?"

'Glad to see you already feel well enough to bicker with Diego...', Allison mumbled, clearing out the seat in the car where I would sit.

The nurse and Allison both grabbed one of my hands, helping me sit down. I hated all of this. I'd lived on the moon for four years and I had super human strength, and a nurse and my wife were helping me sit down in a car.

I got sit down and situated, then Diego came and sat shotgun. Allison was driving. Outside the car window, I saw her talking to the nurse for a bit, thanking her. Then, she got in the drivers seat, and looked back at me. Diego also stared back at me for a moment, smiling in an uncharacteristically nice way.

'What now?'

'Have I mentioned how soft and adorable you look in those socks?', Diego said in a mocking voice. I picked up a leftover McDonald's cup, chucking it at his head, and he dodged it, laughing.

'Quite a few times, actually, thank you.'

'Hey, stop throwing crap at each other. Are we ready to go?', Allison asked.

'Yeah, Luther, do you feel okay, buddy?'

I reached out and punched him in the arm, causing him to wince and try to hide it.

'Hey! Stop fighting.', Allison scolded as she pulled out of the hospital parking lot. 'Where do you guys want to stop to eat?'

'McDonald's'

'Chipotle'

'Do you have to disagree with everything I say?'

Allison shook her head and drove on down the road. 'We're going to Taco Bell.'

Five POV

I held the file in my hand, clicking my seat belt into place. I was ready to drive to her apartment, to reveal the truth to her immediately. And then, my phone started to buzz. Dolores was calling. I picked it up immediately.

'Hey?'

'Five, thank God. How quick can you get to my place?'

'Depends. Is this a 'blink there' situation or can I just drive?'

'My apartment building is on fire and I'm standing out here watching the firefighters put it out.'

My heart beat picked up ever so slightly. I looked up through the car windshield , seeing a plume of black smoke piling out of an area of the north of the city. The fire was fresh.

'I'll be right there. I'm bringing the car. Do you have a coat?'

'No, I wasn't able to get one quick enough. It all happened really fast.', she explained. Her voice was shaky, probably from adrenaline combined with the cold. I hated hearing that.

'Don't worry, Dory, I'm getting to you as soon as I can. Just hang tight.'

I blinked inside to Allison's room, quickly going through her closet to find a coat. Pulling it off the hanger, I blinked back to the car and put the key into the ignition.It wasn't far to her apartment building, maybe three or four minutes of driving, but I was going faster than usual which made it quicker. I could've blinked, but I needed the car to be able to pick her up in. She sounded fine over the phone, I didn't think she was hurt. But what worried me, however, was how the fire started. It could be as simple as a forgotten candle. But I was always suspicious of tampering. Suspicion is healthy.

I swerved through the city curves, getting to the apartment building. Dolores lived on the fifth floor, and looking up, I saw that the main jag of the fire, and likely the source of it, was on the fifth floor as well. Suspicious. Especially now.

Parking the car by the sidewalk, I blinked out of the car, holding her coat out for her.

'Five! Oh my gosh I-'

I hushed her as I pulled her into a hug, wrapping the coat around her shoulders. She slipped her arms through, then came back into the hug. She was shaking, freezing cold, and her teeth chattered. Two different fire trucks had arrived, infiltrating the building to try and save anyone still left inside, and the hoses were being used on full blast.

'It... the fire... I don't know how it happened I just-'

I hushed her again, squeezing her tighter into the hug as I continued to examine the fire in disdain. I furrowed my eyebrows. Was it her? One of her neighbors? How?

'Are you hurt?', I asked her, wiping a curl out of her cold, clammy face. Her nose was bright red from the cold.

'No, I'm fine now.', she answered through chattering teeth, her speech somewhat blurred. She was so shaken up. The whole block was lit up from the bright orange blazing fire, as the apartment building faced a heavily shaded area.

'C'mon, let's go warm you up and get coffee at Griddy's.', I said, grabbing her hand and keeping her close to me as I walked back to the car. She didn't say anything, but only followed silently. I heard her mumble something under her breath, incoherently.

'The candle, just, I yelled, it, bam!'

'So can you try and recall what happened?', I asked her as Agnes placed a mug of black coffee and a jelly doughnut in front of her. She was still wrapped up in the coat, her curls tied back in a ponytail, her nose still red as rudolph.

'Thanks, Agnes.'

'Sure thing, hun. Anything else I can get you? I think I have a hot water bottle in the back, I could get you that if you wanted.'

'I'm fine, but thank you.'

Agnes nodded and went to attend another customer.

'I'm not exactly sure what happened, that's the thing.'

'Just start from the beginning, what you were doing beforehand. That will help.'

She took a drink from her coffee, letting it fog up her glasses. Cute.

'Well, I was boiling some water to cook some spaghetti, and then I decided to light a candle because I'd burned the water and it started to smell bad in the kitchen.'

Burned the water. Adorable, she's a bad cook.

'And then what happened?'

'And then, I was trying to light the candle, and it just wouldn't work for some reason. The lighter worked fine, the wick had been trimmed, it was a fairly new candle. But I'd go to light it, it'd catch for just a moment, and then the flame would just... poof... die!'

'Faulty candle. Okay. So was that was caused it?'

'No, the plot deepens.', she said, pointing a finger at me as she grabbed a bite from her doughnut. Her hands still shook from her experience.I reached out and held onto her left hand, securing her.

'So, my phone starts ringing, its my mom, and she immediately hops on me and starts fussing about how I haven't visited in so long, and how if she didn't see me for Christmas she was going to be oh so upset.', she continued, rolling her eyes and pursing her lips.

Bethany, her mom. I could tell by the way she talked that they didn't have the best relationship. Oh, if only she knew what she'd done to her. That relationship was going to get so much more tense.

'And then she just hangs up on me after we argue for a bit about stupid things, and I'm on the verge of tears. So I put my phone in my pocket and try to light the candle again. And surprise, it wouldn't work again. And again. And I tried to light it like three more times, and I got so overwhelmed that I chucked the lighter across the room. I yelled, I couldn't control it. And at the moment I yelled, I kid you not, the candle EXPLODED in flames, the whole kitchen bar caught fire, it started spreading, and I got the heck out.'

Looks like Sir Reginald missed some details.

I nodded, listening.

'How are you so frickin' calm?'

I shook my head. There was nothing else to do but just hand her the file and let her figure it out for herself.

'What is this?', she asked, confused as she opened the front page. As her eyes rolled across the first page and came upon her own childhood photo, she was taken back.

'Wh... where did you get this, Five?'

'Found it in my dad's office, with all his files.'

She looked terrified. Her face went pale, and she started flipping through the pages in the file in a flurry.

'I don't understand.'

I sighed.

'Just read the description.'

Her eyes moved down the page and her breathing picked up. They got wide, looking more and more horrified as she read.

'Five!'

'What?'

Her voice got shaky, like she might start to cry. The face she wore hurt me, it looked miserable and deeply hurt.

'Did you ... did you know about this?'

'No, Dory, I promise I didn't.'

She shook her head in disbelief.

'I promise, I was on my way to bring you this file and talk to you at the same time you called me. I'd been looking through the office to find more information about Annie's powers, anything that might help. You must've left before I realized, I looked around the house for you, but you were gone.'

She started to cry. Hot tears ran down her pale face, in anger and confusion as she read the file.

I grabbed her hand in mine again, turning her face to mine and looking her in the eye as she tried to resist, and then melted.

'Your parents did this to you. It isn't your fault, it's not my fault.'

She shook her head. She didn't want to believe any of it.

'I have powers?'

'Like you and your siblings?'

'That's how the chips fall, it looks like.'

She was silent for several moments. I didn't know what to say to make her feel any better.

Lifting her mug of coffee, she drank. And drank. Until the last drop was drained. And she slammed it down on the table, her arm shaking like a massage chair.

'Get me out of here. And drive me to the airport.'