- Daddy...
At her daughter's shrieks of joy as she entered the room, abandoning the nurse standing by her side, and went off, leaving them alone, Lucy rushed straight to her father, including an Eames who had hurried away from him, pink in the cheeks, and a Goren who looked at her surprised.
Daddy...
Goren had heard Lucy's name.
Hadn't he dreamed it.
Lucy had called him Dad.
How could that be.
Eames had told him to keep his paternity a secret.
So how could Lucy know.
Goren felt little fingers grasp his hand, which brought him out of his thoughts, to discover Lucy, standing there, right in front of him, a warm smile on her lips, holding his hand.
Still in shock, and understanding nothing, Goren turned to Eames, trying to understand.
Maybe she could shed some light on the subject.
- Lucy knows the truth... I told her all about your relationship with her.
Really...
So Eames had told Lucy the truth.
But why.
What had changed her mind.
Wasn't she afraid he'd abandon Lucy, as she'd accused him of doing with her.

His heart sank at the memory.
And he thought back to the question he'd asked Eames, just before Lucy entered the room.
He should never have asked her that question.
For if Eames believed he could abandon her, how could she ever go back to him.
It was simply impossible.
Perhaps he'd hoped too much, having come so close to death, to think for a second that Eames would even consider coming back with him.
But on the other hand, she'd told Lucy the truth.
So who knows...
Maybe she was beginning to trust him again, and no longer thought him capable of abandoning Lucy.
- If it's okay with Mom... Lucy squeezed her little fingers in his. When you come out... She turned to her mother. I'll come and live with you.
I'm sorry.
He'd heard wrong.

Lucy wanted to come and live with him.
Or at least, if Eames agreed.
It wasn't that he didn't want to.
On the contrary, his daughter would have her room back, and he would sleep on the sofa.
But would Eames really agree.
Goren wasn't really sure.
It was bad enough that she'd told him the truth about her relationship with Lucy, but asking her to come and live with him was perhaps too recent, too soon.
- Mom... Lucy begged her mother with her eyes. He'll need looking after.
Goren would need looking after...
Lucy wasn't wrong about that.
But could she accede to his request.
Would Goren agree to Lucy coming to live with him.
True, she had already spent a few days at his place, but Eames remembered that Goren only had a two-room apartment.
And so, knowing him, he'd sacrifice again and let her have the room.
And he'd end up sleeping on the sofa.
She couldn't impose such a thing on him.
But Lucy seemed to really want to take care of her father, and live with him.
And she didn't have the courage to refuse him.
Not after all the years Goren and Lucy had been apart.
So maybe she could accept.
But first, she had to ask Goren if he agreed.

Perhaps, after all, he'd like to be left alone while he readjusts, and not have his daughter on his back.
- Bobby... it's up to you...
Pardon.
It was up to him...
So Eames gave him the choice.
So he could enjoy his daughter to the full, recoup all his lost years, and above all, could finally act like a father to his daughter.
So if Eames gave him the choice...
- I don't mind Lucy coming home. He turned to Lucy, who was looking at him, her big brown eyes shining intensely. But if you really want to, Lucy.
At his words, a big smile broke out on Lucy's lips, lighting up her face with joy, and she nodded.
- Yes... I want to live with you.
Very well...
So it was decided.
Lucy would come and live with him.
Goren was satisfied, but not totally.
He would have liked Eames to come with Lucy too.
But he couldn't expect that.
Not after what Eames thought, and would always think, he'd done.
And above all, he had to stop hoping, and get it out of his head, that one day she'd come back to him.
Because Eames would never come back to him.

It was too late.
Too many years had passed.
So Goren would go on with his life without her.
He would build a new life with his daughter.
But he knew that despite everything, he would always have this void in his life, this missing place, without Alex.

My God...
Why had Goren agreed to let his daughter live with him?
Lucy was a real tyrant.
Preventing him from doing anything.
As if the slightest move could be risky.
Even though he was getting better and better.
What's more, Goren wanted to go back to work.
He'd had enough of being locked up and having to put up with his tyrant daughter.
Who, as soon as he dared mention the word "work", came down on him, telling him it was out of the question for him to go back to work.
And it was always the same excuse Lucy used...
His condition.
But his condition was better.
So why was Lucy stopping him from going back to work.
Goren could understand that Lucy was afraid of losing him, but still.
He was much better.
And best of all, he was a solid sort of man.
So why couldn't he go back to work.
If he wanted to.
Besides, he wanted to see Eames again.
And that, Goren couldn't tell Lucy.
He missed Eames terribly.
And work would give him a good reason to see her.

For this was one of the few places where Goren could enjoy Eames without having the little tyrant behind him.
Thinking about Eames made Goren wonder if he'd missed her as much as she'd missed him.
Good God...
Why did he always hope for the impossible.
Imagining that Eames could have missed him.
He really had to stop hoping.
But he couldn't.
And having a little teenager who looked like his Alex in his home, even if it was his own daughter, wasn't helping.
On the contrary, it was stirring the pot.
But he was glad to have his daughter with him, because he'd been able to take advantage of her, and had discovered that Lucy could be insufferable when she started worrying too much about him.
And as agreed, when he got better, Lucy would go back to live with her mother, but with Eames and he would alternate custody, so she would continue to live with him.

Thinking about alternating custody, Lucy must have missed her mother.
It was she who had taken on both roles for her thirteen years, so not having her daughter around any more must have been tough.
This was undoubtedly why Eames called Lucy every night.
Although Goren had to admit he wished it had been for him too.
But he never dared pick up the phone when Eames's name came up, preferring to let Lucy answer.
Besides, what could he say to her.
But in any case, Eames hadn't tried to talk to her.
When Lucy always finished the conversation, she'd hang up, without ever putting his mother on the phone.
And so that meant she didn't want to talk to him.
So why try to talk to her, if she didn't want to talk to him.
It would be stupid.
- Dad... It's time for bed.
At Lucy's words, Goren snapped out of his sad thoughts, only to see his daughter put the phone down in front of him.
What do you mean, sleep...
But oh...
Lucy wasn't serious.
Would she stop treating him like a child.

- I didn't...
- Taratata...
At this word, Goren felt his hair stand on end.
Taratata...
Good God...
How he hated that word in his daughter's mouth, who used it at every turn, and above all, to shut him up, and the worst thing was, it worked very well.
Since he hated the word, it always took him a while to get over the shock of hearing it.
- You know you've got to get your strength back.
But he'd already regained his strength.
So there was no need for her to be on him so much.
- I can't wait for you to go back to your mother...
- She approached Goren, blanket in hand. You always say that. She laid it gently over him, covering a large part of his body, but not enough, given that his father was a big man. But you'll miss me.
At her words, Goren looked at her, dumbfounded.

But she never minced her words, just like her mother.
Lucy, on the other hand, couldn't deny her mother.
It was indeed a little Eames he was looking at.
To her father, who said nothing more, a small, satisfied smile appeared on Lucy's lips.
Good God...
Her father really was acting like a child.
Always telling her that...
That he couldn't wait for her to go back to her mother.
When she knew full well he was lying.
In addition, when talking about her mother, she always worried about her father's condition.
When she talked to her mother on the phone, she always asked how her father was.
And Lucy always offered to put him on the phone, but her mother refused.
But it wasn't really a refusal.
It was more an embarrassment.
Lucy could see that her mother missed her father, and vice versa.
And that if her father wanted to go back to work, even if he wasn't up to it, it was just to see her mother.
Lucy had trouble understanding adults.
Least of all her parents.
If they missed each other, then why not at least talk on the phone.
What would it cost them.

Absolutely nothing.
But Lucy didn't want to interfere.
She didn't know how Goren would react.
But her mother would take it badly.
If only she could.
But then, she couldn't interact with them.
Besides, she'd better think of something else, or she'd go crazy.
Racking her brains, trying to find a way for her parents to at least try to talk to each other.
And right now, it was time for her father to get some sleep, even if he told her he wasn't sleepy.
Lucy knew very well that the medicine he'd taken a few minutes ago would take effect, and that within five or ten minutes, he'd be asleep as always.
- Come on... Stop acting like a kid... She leaned her face toward her father's, brought her lips to his cheek, brushed against it. Good night, Daddy.
What...
Already.
No, he didn't.
He didn't want to sleep.
But he knew that despite everything, Lucy was right.
Those damn drugs always made him fall asleep against his will.

And compared to his usual habits, the drugs made him sleep a lot, even too much.
Whereas he was the kind of person who didn't get sleepy, with the medication, it was quite the opposite.
But he knew very well that when he stopped the treatment, he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore.
He'd never been much of a sleeper, but since his separation from Alex, it had gotten worse.
And Goren knew there was only one person who could make him sleep again.
But that person wasn't there.
And didn't want him.
Whereas if Eames was there, by his side, everything would be different.
Because he'd be all right.
- Daddy...
At the concern in his daughter's voice, Goren snapped out of his thoughts, only to come face to face with two large brown eyes staring back at him intensely.
- It's nothing...
Was it true...
Why did her father always look so sad after dark.
Lucy was sure that this sadness was concentrated on her mother.

She'd have put her money where her mouth was.
Seeing that his daughter, was looking at him warily, as if she suspected he was lying, he brought his hand to her slightly wavy golden hair.
- Good night, Lucy.
What.
But he was trying to soften her up, to make her forget that she'd seen him sad, and above all, not to ask her any questions.
He was really very strong.
So reluctantly, she stepped aside and headed for the living room door.
But when she got to the living room door, she stopped and turned to look at him one last time.
- See you tomorrow, Dad.
With that, she left the living room and headed for the bedroom, leaving him alone.