Please forgive my lack of medical knowledge here. I've only qualified in basic first aid and CPR, nothing fancy. I have no idea of the recovery time for a broken leg or when someone with a cast could be out and about with crutches.

Choices 2-5

I was worried about Lisa.

I had texted her a few times over the last week and received no responses. I even texted Tattletale's phone and got bupkis on that front.

Had she been caught?

Were her injuries from that night worse than she let on?

I began to question what I thought had been our friendship. Were we friends?

My phone buzzed quietly in the drawer of my nightstand. I didn't quite tear the drawer non off in my haste, but it was a near thing.

A text from Lisa. A series of short texts actually.

"I'm fine. Busy. Of course we're friends. Stop worrying."

My eye twitched and I had an urge to check my room for cameras.

My phone buzzed again. Checking the screen I found a shades smiley face emoji sent from Lisa.

I don't know whether to be relieved or annoyed. If she is well enough to be using her powers to mess with me she was doing okay.

More buzzing, another text.

"Want to talk to you soon. But I'm not the most mobile right now. Let me figure something out and I'll get back to you. K?"

I texted back to the affirmative. I waited for another text for a minute or so before putting it back in the drawer. As disappointing as it was that she didn't text back, Lisa did say she was busy. I was just going to have to accept that.

I checked the clock on the wall. Almost three. Dad would probably be home around five thirty, his usual. That gave me enough time to make a good sauce for spaghetti and if there was enough leftovers we could do chicken parmigiana tomorrow. Better get started.

.

I met Lisa on the way back from the library, just three blocks from my house. She was leaning on a pair of crutches taking the weight off of the leg with the cast the ran from her foot up to her knee. Her team must have dropped her off, I can't imagine she would have hobbled all they way here.

"Hey Taylor." She greeted without her usual grin.

"Hey," I returned, trying for a smile. "How's the leg?"

"Sore." She groused. "I've got some awesome pain killers but they make me sleepy." She wobbled forward on her crutches, in the direction of my house.

"Do you need help or anything?" I offered.

"No, I need the practice." She wobbled a bit further down the sidewalk.

In the time I've know her, Lisa has never been this short with me. "Is something wrong?"

"Something is always wrong. Hold up a second." She paused when we got to the last street corner within sight of my house. "Don't look anywhere but at me. We're being followed."

"Where?" I suppressed the urge to look around. Lisa hadn't steered me wrong. Yet.

I could practically see her frustration. "I don't know it's weird I can't pin it down. How do you feel about PDA? Can you manage without doing you know what?"

Uh, what? "Maybe?"

Lisa laughed. "You don't make things simple do you."

"I guess not." We were only a half block from my house. "Should we really be here?" I didn't want to lead villains to my house.

"We're in civies and potentially they have seen our faces. If we take action now then we would let on that we know we are being watched." She stopped in front of my house. "But we can test them a bit. Lets go around to the side door and I will stumble, you catch me then push me against the wall and kiss me."

"Pppbbttt What?" I couldn't believe what I just heard.

Lisa turned her head to give me a grin. "PDA makes people uncomfortable and it could tip things in our favor make our tail slip or lose interest. Can you do it or not?" She said her voice not matching her expression.

"I-I'll try?" What the hell. Lose interest? There's plenty of pervs out there that would stop to check out two girls kissing. men and women alike.

"I'll explain more once we're inside." She said in a low voice. "Lead the way." She gestured forward with an encouraging smile.

I did. I could hear the clack of her crutches right behind me. My face was heating up as I thought about what I was about to do. Why me? Why did I have to kiss her. Why couldn't it have been the other way around. I mean Lisa is way more assertive than I am. it would be more believable.

"Get ready." I heard her whisper from behind me. And just as we were about to reach the door I heard a skidding sound and a brief gasp of feigned surprise.

I turned in time to catch her as she fell towards me.

"Thanks," she giggled.

She giggled. This was some serious acting from Lisa. She bobbed her eyebrows once and I knew she was telling me, 'now or never Taylor'.

Sure, I can do this. I may have never kissed anyone before, let alone romantically, but how hard could it be. Just think about those sappy romance movies. Where time slows down, music plays, and the light shines in at just the right angle to light up their face. I could do that. Right? I got this.

Gently, I leaned Lisa against the wall, supporting some of her weight as I leaned in. She dropped one of her crutches and ran a hand along my cheek brushing the hair out of my face. Focus Taylor. I leaned closer, meeting her eyes and seeing a strange emotion in them. I held ready to push the urge to teleport away, but it wasn't there.

So close now I could feel her breath on my lips, not all together an unpleasant feeling. I closed my eyes as she pressed forward the final distance and our lips met.

It was just a quick kiss at first. Then we were kissing again. Her arms pulling me closer. Me, pushing her back against the wall.

Lisa moved her hand from my cheek to run her fingers back through my hair. It felt good. Surprisingly good.

We parted and I opened my eyes to see that know-it-all grin on her face.

"Ahem."

The rumble of my father clearing his throat was unmistakable.

My.

Father.

Pure horror flooded my veins.

I looked around to find Dad standing in the open door at the side of the house, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised undoubtedly having seen our little performance.

At least I know who was watching us now.

My stomach dropped out and an all too familiar feeling filled me and I couldn't stop it in time.

I teleported, pulling Lisa with me.

We landed in on my bed, again, with me on top of Lisa. Though this time she pushed me off and hobbled through the door with a grunt of pain every time her casted leg thumped the floor. I got up to follow, the reality of the situation slowly dawning on me.

My dad was home.

He had seen me use my powers.

He had seen me kissing Lisa.

"Taylor?" Dad called up the stairs.

Oh god kill me now.

"I know you're up there." He called again.

He sounded amazingly calm, and that wasn't a good sign. "One minute." I called back.

He didn't respond, but neither did he come up the stairs.

Thank god for small mercies.

Lisa was in the bathroom curled over the toilet again, and like before, I sat on the tub and held her hair until she was done.

"Ugh. I hate your power." She said.

"You've gone with me before without being sick." I observed, thankful to take my mind off of who waited down stairs.

"Knew it was coming so I could ignore it or turn my power off." She burped and looked a little green. "You got me by surprise this time."

I looked at her cast. "How's the leg?"

"Hurts." She shrugged. "Didn't have any crutches and it seemed kinda rude to puke all over your room."

"Uh, Sorry about the crutches. I'll go get them." I stopped at the top of the stairs without looking down.

Oh man did I not want to go down there.

A thud and a muted "Ouch" from the bathroom told me I had to.

Suck it up Taylor.

I didn't have to go far. Dad had left Lisa's crutches leaning on the wall at the foot of the stairs. I descended as quietly as I could and grabbed the crutches and forgoing the trip back, teleported straight back to the bathroom.

"So this is going to be awkward." Lisa said, accepting the crutches from me.

"No kidding." This was going to be worse than telling him about the bullying.

Lisa looked me over, clearly using her power. "You want me to do the talking?"

"Is it bad that I want to say yes?" I laughed nervously. "But no, it's better try to do the talking."

"He the naturally suspicious sort?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"Not so much no." I shook my head. "You remember what I told you he was like after my mom died?"

Lisa nodded.

"Well since I ended up in the hospital he has been trying to make up for it. He's just not very consistent. He might think you are taking advantage of me."

"Depression can do that to a person." Lisa's tone gave me the impression she was taking a neutral position on the subject. "Come on let's go see how deep a hole we're in."

Watching Lisa navigate the stairs with crutches was a bit nerve racking. I kept expecting her to pitch forward down the steps. All offers to help were stubbornly rebuffed.

"In the kitchen!" Dad called. "I made tea!"

Lisa followed me into the kitchen. She pushed past me and all but fell into a chair at the kitchen table.

"Must be new to crutches." Dad observed.

Lisa wrinkled up her nose in annoyance. "Does it show that much?"

"Mmm," Dad took a sip of tea. "Not really, but you haven't padded the armrests for your crutches yet. Trust me, makes a world of difference Taylor can you grab a couple of the small towels from the hall closet?"

"If you don't mind?" Dad pointed at the crutches.

Lisa shrugged, "Knock yourself out."

Dad folded and wrapped the towels around each arm rest and secured it with duct tape. "I've never been much of a handy man and it ain't pretty but give it a shot and see if it makes a difference."

Lisa tested the changes and smiled a bit. "Much better, these things were murder on my arms."

"Sure." Dad sat down at the table across from Lisa. "Taylor are you just going to stand there or are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?"

Girlfriend? He thought that we- well of course he did after what he had seen. "Uh, Dad this is Lisa. Lisa, Dad." Way to go Taylor. All you needed was some ineffectual gestures to complete the image of your total dorkness.

Dad gave me a wry smile before turning his attention to Lisa. "Call me Danny. It's nice to meet you." Dad passed a cup of tea to Lisa.

"You as well." Lisa accepted the cup. "I'm sorry for sneaking around.

Dad waved this off. "I remember what it was like to be a teenager, even if it was a long time ago."

Lisa gave me a glance and a slight frown. A chill ran down my spine.. something was wrong. "You're taking this pretty well."

Dad chuckled. "As surprised as I am to find out this way I suppose I'm just glad that Taylor has someone she talks to."

Oh god this is not how I thought today was going to go.

"That's very progressive of you." Lisa's tone was odd. What what's she thinking.

Dad shrugged. "It's not the most shocking thing I've had to deal with lately."

What did he mean by that?

"Taylor, are you just going to stand there zoning out or would you prefer to join us?"

"Uh, Sorry." I sat in the only remaining chair next to Lisa.

"So how long has this," he gestured between us. "Been going on?"

"Oh, a few weeks," Lisa lied smoothly.

"Explains some of why she has been sneaking out lately." Dad frowned in my direction. "You could have told me."

He knew I was sneaking out? But I had been using my power to teleport. How had he known? "Uh, you knew?"

"Taylor I'm your father. Parents always find out eventually." He said.

Except he hadn't figured out what was going on at school until after the locker.

"Kids always think they are the first to come up sneaking out and forget their parents were once their age." Dad laughed. "And it was kind of a big tip off when you walked in the door one morning without ever having come down the stairs."

"The creaking." Lisa blurted out loud.

Dad nodded. "Exactly."

I covered my face with my hands. I had grown so used to the sounds of the house I never thought Dad had been using them to keep track of me.

"You don't seem surprised about the whole teleporting thing." Lisa probed.

I peeked at dad through my fingers. "It took me a while to figure it out. And it was a surprise to be sure but Taylor's a smart girl so I hoped she would stay out of trouble."

A guilt tipped knife stabbed me in the gut.

"Besides, with this she would be safer than most girls her age."

He had stopped bugging me about the pepper spray...

"But maybe I was just hoping she would talk to me about it." He said pleasantly.

The knife twisted in my gut.

"But so long as she didn't hat up and go off half cocked to be a hero I suppose I couldn't be too angry."

I think I'm going to throw up.

Lisa frowned in my direction before tuning back to Dad. "You knew?"

Dad sipped his tea. "I suspected. My daughter can teleport, then there are rumors at the DWA about a parahuman that teleports. Getting involved in stopping petty crime around the Docks and the surrounding neighborhoods." He shrugged.

Lisa scrunched her brow. "But you didn't say anything?"

"What could I say?" Dad shrugged. "If I tried to ground her she could just teleport away. I guess this way I could at least keep an eye on her somewhat."

My stomach hurt.

"I just prayed every night that she would come home safe."

My eyes stung with tears.

"I think she gets it." Lisa defended sharply.

"I don't think she does." Dad dropped the pretense of being nice and I recognized the signs of his temper. "I've lived in Brockton Bay all my life and do you know how many parahumans have come and gone in that time?"

"Well considering the first known capes started showing-

Dad cut Lisa off. "It was rhetorical. My point being that parahumans don't have a stellar life expectancy in this city and my daughter, the one remaining family I have, is going out to play at being a hero." Dad looked me in the eyes. "After the bullying, after the hospital I thought you knew that you can talk to me. That I would help you the best way I knew how. Why can't you trust me Taylor?"

How could I tell him? How do I explain that after mom died, I had to take care of the both of us. I had to go out to to get groceries and cook at the age of twelve. That when the money around the house ran out I had to eat at Emma's or go hungry. That he couldn't be trusted to take care of me anymore.

"Tell me!" He was on the verge of yelling.

Lisa grabbed my hand and squeezed. "I'm not sure-"

Dad fixed her with a glare and Lisa stopped talking.

"I just thought I could do it myself". I hedged. This was the safest route I could think of without setting off Dad and turning this into a total shit show.

He blew out an explosive breath and clenched his hands on the table. "I'm taking off work tomorrow and we are going down to the PRT. If you can't be honest with me then I think it's best you join the Wards. At least there I can be sure you're safe."

"No." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"What?" He demanded.

I glanced at Lisa. "I can't be a part of the Wards."

"Why the hell not?"

"It's complicated." It was a weak excuse and I knew it.

"Then uncomplicate it."

"You won't understand."

"Oh I think I understand it just fine." Dad got up from the table fished a folded piece of paper from his pocket and picked up the kitchen phone. "I understand that if you can't see what's right then I will have to do it for you."

I blew up the phone's cradle severing the phone line in the process.

"What are you going to do next Taylor?" He gestured angrily with the now useless phone. "You going to blow me up to keep your secrets?" He stomped his way up the stairs, likely to get the phone in his room.

Lisa tugged on my hand. "Come on we need to go."

"But-"

"If I stay I'm fucked. If you stay then you will be forced in to the Wards. You might have the powers but Danny is the legal guardian."

I glanced once more at the stairs. "Okay." I helped Lisa stand then hugged her tight. I wanted to be away from here. Away from all of this. I needed it.

Then we were gone.

Author's Note: So there are going to be some mixed feelings about this chapter and I get that. Let me make this clear I have no pairing in mind or if that is ever even going to be a thing so no Taylor/Lisa fans (love you guys) get your hopes up. Also if you haven't noticed my version of Danny Hebert is different. this is intentional. This is me bracing myself for impact.

Big thank you to you whom have Fav/Followed the story. you support is very much appreciated.

A shout out to Kknd2 for their reviews and the specificity that I crave. I look forward to reading more of your reviews :) I think that your reviews have earned a story teaser for everyone to think about.

Danny wasn't the one watching. I wonder who it was? you wont know for sure until next Arc (Insert evil laugh here). Thanks Kknd2.

To the rest of you whom have reviewed they are much appreciated as well. I will try to respond via PM to those I can.

Except for yours guest reviewer. Your anonymity emboldened rudeness will not be tolerated and your "review" deleted. Also Guest Mike there is a difference between critical and just being mean. There's no place for that here either so I deleted your latest review. If you want to leave a negative review great, but you don't have to be an ass to make a point.

K. Raiden