(Please note: there is a slight incident of self harm in this chapter, in which Steve removes the bullet from under his skin himself. Just a head's up! The action isn't described, but there is blood)

Robin smiled as Thomas placed a plate of eggs in front of her, waiting for him to sit down before she began eating. She would've liked to wait for Steve, but he was still sleeping, and she had a feeling that he needed the rest. His body may be able to adapt to tough situations, yet he still needed rest like everyone else. At least, she thought.

As Tom stayed silent in front of her, she could hear his thoughts as clear as day, so much different than Papa's. She could hear him think about his own experiences with the government, see so many memories of a smiling girl with red hair, and feel real worry for Robin and Steve. It was nice to have someone worry about them for a change. And, this worry wasn't small, it was big. It was a sort of worry that felt almost like he would do anything for them.

It made her feel safe.

She knew that Steve was wary of Tom, though, it was obvious. He always watched him like Tom was about to attack them, that he was about to turn on them in an instant, and she believed that that feeling wouldn't go away for some time. He didn't have the advantage of reading minds, all he had were past experiences and his intuition to fall back on, and, from what they both had been through, Robin wasn't surprised that he fell into distrust. But, she trusted Tom. She knew that he only wanted to help, and she would instantly know if that changed.

She tried not to find happiness in her powers that were given to her through experimentation, though she couldn't say that it was a bad thing, especially in these sorts of situations.

"How are the eggs?" Tom asked gruffly, taking a sip of his coffee. She smiled, looking down on her plate, where half of the food was already eaten. She hadn't even realized that she was eating so fast.

"Very good, thank you. I usually don't like scrambled eggs, but this tastes like heaven. Well, I've never been to heaven, obviously, it just tastes so much better than poached eggs. I've never been a fan of it, even though my parents made it every single day in the ninth grade." Her voice slammed to a stop as she realized that she was rambling. "I'm so sorry, that happens a lot. Bad habit."

Tom smiled, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, it's nice to have some conversation in this house."

"Do you have a family? A wife?"

"I did have a daughter at one point, but she moved out. I'm happy to be alone, though."

She nodded, knowing that it wasn't true. He was too happy to have company to want to be alone.

They both looked towards the living room as they heard shuffling around, Steve slowly getting up from the couch and stretching out his arms, going rigid as he realized that he was being watched.

"Morning, Dingus." Robin said, trying to be comforting as she saw a fearful look in his eyes develop faster than she thought possible. He dropped his arms, slowly making his way toward them.

"Hey."

"Did you sleep well, kid?" Tom asked, and Steve nodded hesitantly.

"Yes, thanks. I…I need to use the bathroom."

With that said he rushed away, running his hands through his short hair, and Robin watched him go, concerned. He wouldn't tell her if something was wrong, especially with Tom around, but she hoped that he would, eventually.

She waited a couple of minutes nervously, her leg bouncing up and down. She tried to reach out with her mind, tried to read him, yet, like every time she tried, she couldn't.

"Why don't you go see if he's okay?" Tom asked, getting up and taking her near-empty plate, and she got to her feet.

"Sure."

She made her way through the house, wrapping the sleeves of her shirt sleeve around her hands and debated what she might find. Would he be in pain? Scared? Did he not sleep well? Was he feeling sick? Nothing was out of the picture at this point. Robin knew that what they had been through was traumatizing, she could feel it in her stomach whenever she thought about it, but something told her that Steve was really hurting because of it. She knew what Papa did to him, and she couldn't help but feel that she had it easy. She didn't drown or have to endure fire, and he did.

It pained her to know that he had gone through so much and she couldn't help him. So, she would try to help him now.

"Steve?" She knocked on the door, taking a deep breath as she prepared herself for whatever was about to happen. "Are you okay?"

He didn't respond, but she heard some movement, as well as the tap turning on, and she sighed.

"Answer me, Dingus. What's going on?"

"Is Tom there?"

His voice was surprisingly strong, so much different than what she expected.

"No, it's just me."

"Come in."

She opened the door to see Steve standing by the sink, gripping the counter with a strength that she never knew that he possessed. Blood dribbled out of his nose and onto his lip, his eyes were closed and he breathed heavily.

"Steve?"

She gasped as she saw more blood trickle down his arm, the arm where she knew that he was injured before, and Steve quickly slammed the door behind her.

"He can't know, okay? He can't know!"

"What did you do? Why are you bleeding?"

"I had to! He's not going to touch me like Brenner did!"

"Steve! He's not going to hurt us!"

"How do you know that?"

"Don't you trust me?"

Steve sighed, cupping some water in his hands and then rubbing away the blood from his nose.

"Of course I do, Rob. I just don't trust him."

She didn't know why she could feel tears burn in her eyes. She rushed to push them away.

"I've read his mind, he's a good guy. I know that."

"Then why isn't he saying anything? Asking questions? He picks up two kids in medical gowns, one of them unconscious, and both of them with crazy short hair. Surely it's strange to you how he's just accepting it!"

"If you won't believe me when I say we can trust him, we'll ask, okay? Now what in the world did you do?"

Steve's anger seemed to deflate at her concern, and maybe her tears, and he gestured to a pair of tweezers and scissors on the counter.

"I took out the bullet."

She glanced back at his arm where she knew the bullet had been, but was now discarded on the counter. She couldn't see an entrance or exit wound anywhere, and the blood flow seemed to have ceased, only now making its way down his arm in sickening red.

"You couldn't ask for help?"

"Tom was going to help last night, but I didn't want him to. Told him we could do it in the morning." Steve's eyebrows furrowed in anger at the reminder, and she frowned, wishing that he would understand that Tom was safe. "I wanted to do it myself."

"So you cut open your own arm? Don't you realize how dangerous that is?"

He shrugged. "It seems like I'm the one with healing powers, so it doesn't seem to matter, does it?"

She inspected his arm again, taking it in her hands in what she hoped was a gentle grip. He was right. The wound was completely healed over, like it hadn't been there in the first place. But, his nose was still sluggishly dripping blood, so she knew that even healing took some strength out of him.

"Steve…"

"It's over and done, okay? It doesn't even hurt anymore."

She knew that he couldn't fight him on that. He wasn't really in the mood to talk. And, he seemed like he was only in the mood to fight.

As soon as she let go of him, the anger was suddenly back, and Steve pushed his way out of the bathroom.

Robin didn't know what was going on, she had never seen him so angry. She was scared. Concerned. Worried. Worried for him and Tom, and maybe a bit for herself.

This wasn't the Steve Harrington she knew, in high school or Scoops Ahoy. Robin didn't know this person.

A part of her wondered if his powers were somehow in play here. The other part knew that she needed to stop him before someone got hurt.

She rushed out of the bathroom to be greeted with Tom facing Steve calmly as the teen, looking so strange in oversized clothes and short hair, yelled.

"Who are you? Who are you and what do you want with us? Are you working with him? Is he on his way right now to collect his experiments?"

"Kid, I know you're confused, but I can explain."

"Explain? You think that's going to help? Make me trust you?"

"Steve! Calm down!" Robin grabbed his fisted hand, pulling his attention to her. "Please. It's okay." She tried to send some of her own peace into his mind, knowing that he wouldn't like it, but she didn't know what else to do.

After a second nothing seemed to happen, and she believed that she may have been blocked by Steve's own mind. Yet, something did happen, and he soon looked indecisive, and Tom stepped forward, raising his hand like he was approaching an animal.

"I understand why you're angry and scared. I would be too, if I were you."

"So you know? You know what happened?" Steve's face was flushed, taking deep breaths to control himself.

"Yes. I don't know Brenner, or, Papa, myself, but I've met one of the children he experimented on. She's called Eighteen."

Robin could see the red haired girl again, freckles sprinkled against her light skin as she laughed.

Tom sighed. "I think I need to explain it a bit better, don't I?"

Steve nodded, his fisted hand becoming less tense in Robin's grasp. "Please."

The three of them went to the couch, where Steve and Robin sat beside each other, and Tom in an armchair across from them. After throwing the blankets from last night away from them and onto the floor where Robin slept, Tom kneeled forward and put his head in his hands.

"It was about two years ago." He began, meeting their eyes. "I was driving down the same road you two were on and saw a girl, maybe sixteen years old? Seventeen? She was a mirror image of you two, shaved head, gross medical gown, tattoo on her wrist."

Robin glanced down to her own wrist, where her number was covered by her sleeve. Tom must've seen it when she was still in the medical gown, she hadn't even thought about that.

Apparently Steve didn't either, and he seemed nervous at the fact that the tattoos weren't hidden very well.

"I didn't know what to do. She was so hurt and so scared, I knew that I had to help her." Tom continued, "So I did. And she told me all about the experiments, the tests, and the people behind it. She didn't think that there were other people like her, but it seems like she was wrong."

Steve frowned, all anger gone. "Where is she now?"

Thomas took a deep breath. "She lived here for a while until she moved to the city in search of a new life. She was pretty scared of being taken away again, so she wanted to go to a place with a lot of people."

"Easier to hide in." Robin commented, and Tom nodded.

"Yup. I haven't spoken to her since. But, as soon as I saw you two, I knew what you had been through. I knew that you needed more help than normal people stranded in the desert. So I tried to help. And, I'm sorry for scaring you both, especially you, Steve. I should've been honest from the start."

Steve looked to the ground, undoubtedly ashamed of his outburst. "I'm sorry, too. I never thoughtー"

Tom shook his head. "Don't be. Please. I understand how I was being suspicious. But I promise you, I want to help you. And, if I hurt you or Robin in any way you can personally take me to the authorities. Or kill me, if that's more your style."

"Can I ask you something?" Steve asked, ignoring Tom's comment.

"Of course."

He took a second before speaking up. "Did she have…abilities? Like, abnormal abilities?"

"Yes. She had a variety of abilities, though I couldn't understand it much. I won't ask you to tell me anything about you, but I know that you're likely something unique, too."

Robin couldn't help but feel comforted by the statement. Although it sucked that another person suffered because of Papa, at least this man knew that there was something different about them. He had taken care of another girl with powers, and didn't take her back to the lab. Robin knew that he was being truthful, all she saw was honesty and real memories in his mind.

So, this meant that he wouldn't take them in, either. If Robin had any doubts about him, they were all gone. She could only hope that Steve felt the same way, though, the way he began to relax made her believe that maybe he did.

"Tom?" Steve said, his voice shaky, and Thomas gave him a sad smile.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Thank you."

"Yes." Robin added. "Thank you so much. I would be dead if it weren't for you."

"You're both welcome. I'm here to help, no matter what. I promise. Now, does anyone want some more coffee?"

Steve let out a watery laugh. "Sure. I haven't had coffee in a long time."

"Well, I'll make sure it's one of the best cups that you'll have."