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[The tears start falling. The head kiss, and what felt like years of love, echoed in that moment. Her John. Her father. Dad. Daddy even.]

She became a spy because she wanted answers. She wanted to help her Uncle Arthur and Uncle Clem and most of all, her father.

Why...why were people after them? After her...mother died, things got so dangerous so fast.

[ He's just going to keep holding her. Petting her hair. Maybe a little bit of rocking her as he answers. ]

Your- her mother had something special in her genetic code. Something that she passed onto... that Aerith. Her work was a guarantee of her loyalty and paid for you to have a normal life. When she... died-

[ That comes out a little robotic, the pain still too fresh, but he continues. ]

They wanted to take you, raise you in a compound, train you to take her place. He didn't want that, but he wasn't... her. He didn't have the skills she had. So he had to give them more. Had to allow them to use him, break him, as a guarantee that... she wouldn't be used against them.

So that she could have a normal life as a normal child.

...oh. Oh dad that's...it's so much worse then I thought. But it also...

[She stops. Swallows. Rocks back against him, feeling her tears overwhelm her for a few moments.]

It sounds like when I was in the lab. How they wanted me and- how there was something different from other people.

I am so, so sorry they hurt that John. And you. It must have been so lonely.

[ He'll just hold her for a moment, move his hand to her shoulder and her arm, let her feel a steady, soothing pat. ]

He hated that he left you- her for so long. And that he made her doubt that he wanted to be with her. But he never regretted what was done to him. What he chose to protect her. Even if it was lonely. Even if it made the people he loved doubt him.

[ A breath out. ]

Breaches often echo things from our lives, reframe them so we can see them differently. Or watch them play out in a different way. I think both of us, that John and I, are glad that-

That they were able to protect their daughter.

[It's soothing. It's steadying when she's filled with...grief, she thinks it is. It's easier to get it out now, to relax with her father being here.]

I-she- was worried. She loved him so much. And losing her mother and father- if it wasn't for Arthur, she might have been broken.

[She took in a slow, deep breath.]

It was me.

My mother was the last known of her kind. And she passed it to me. My otherness- It's from her.

My adopted mom tried to make sure I didn't go back to the lab. Live a normal life.

And I got to play out both sides of that right in front of you. Oh, Aerith...

[ He'll give her another squeeze, hold her carefully as he offers up not just warm affection but also the willingness to accept: pain, grief, loss. He'll take it, hold her, hold it, if she needs to let it out. ]

At least you weren't being tortured to death in front of me...because I was the spare. But I could replace...her. And that John.

[He loved his daughter so much. All the grief, the pain, the loss. She covered her face in her hands. It's safe here. She can let go. Maybe then she can be angry and howl from it, with her father as witness. The rage of it all. How unfair John was treated. How they deserved better. How her mothers deserved better. Her fathers too.]

Right.

[ He won't deny any of that. ]

He was good at negotiating. It's how he got his first date with her. Her mother.

[She just hated that thanks. But no use in sugar coating it at all. She offered though, a little watery giggle.]

He did? I thought she was more stubborn then him. From what little I remember.

Oh no, [ and he says that fondly ] She was. But he was more patient.

Persistent, even.

[Another watery giggle, and a sniffle, as she tries to rub the tears from her eyes.]

That sounds like you too.

[ He wobbles a hand. ]

I can be patient for important things. [ Beat. ] I don't like it.

I'm mostly patient with plants. And people.

[She paused. Another sniff.]

Sometimes people.

But...how should we be...father and daughter, from now on?

How have we been?

[ He gives her a little squeeze. ]

Like I said: it feels like we've finally seen what was already there. So. Now we're looking at it. What do you see?

[She sniffs, and offers a gentle huff, rubbing at her eyes.]

...this is going to sound...maybe creepy. But...I trusted you from the moment we met. I'm still...figuring out what it means to be someone's daughter.

I love you like family John. It feels like...I can trust you to have my back. And you'll have mine. It's...okay for me to be honest with you, with all my feelings. And...I hope you feel the same way.

That...we can help each other, support each other. I...don't know if I'm using all the right words.

I'm kinda new at all of this.

That's the nice thing about trust, [ he says it slowly, thoughtfully ] namely that there are no... 'right' words. There's better words and words that might take a little longer. But they're all good words. And you don't have to be 'right'.

[ He kisses her temple. ]

It's not creepy, though. I...

I've felt the urge to look after you for a long time. A-and we'll figure out together, what being my daughter is, what me being your father is.

[ Wry. ]

Pretty sure most people only do it for the first time once. So... we're off to a good start.

Mm. It's...a feeling. And...

[She laughed a little.]

Yeah. Most people only do it once. Bit of a late start but...we'll figure it out. Or at least- just- well. We can...keep looking out for each other.

We'll figure it out.

[ He's got confidence about that. ]

Yeah, we will.

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