Lilin and Sylis made eye contact; the teal sea and the auburn despair mixed together. It was only for a few milliseconds, but traumatic spectacles always call for the seconds to seem like centuries.

Finally, time returned to normal, and to catch up to the present everything had to fast-forward. Lilin raced towards the sound. "Piper!" she cried as she exited the dining room. Sylis quickly followed suit.

Sylis knew that there was only one room where Piper could be of arms reach at any time of gun. That was his bedroom. Lilin started diverging from the directest route and Sylis grabbed her hand, dragging her backward. "This way." Lilin tried to protest, but she quickly ran after her own hand.

They ran through the hall and then up the stairs, their elegance was forgotten in the rush. Lilin managed to get Sylis' fought grip off of her wrist and she pushed the double doors. The room looked like it was untouched except for a broken wall window leading out to the balcony. It had shattered and left a mess for Sylis to clean up sooner or later. Lilin looked around and when she didn't see her in the main room, she went toward the adjacent bathroom.

Now that Sylis had taken the frantic mother close to her supposedly injured child his job was done. "While she is busy I should start packing," he thought to himself. With leisure, he walked to his walk-in closet. His suitcase was already inside the room and was on the ground waiting to be used. He grabbed it and pulled it in front of him to place it on the ground and begin the packing experience, but he found something else in its place.

"Piper?" he questioned.

Sylis didn't turn on the lights for the walk-in closet because the sunlight from the wall window/balcony was enough for him to see most of what he needed. He could hear Lilin Cozbi run out of the room. "Looks like there was nothing in the bathroom. That's good; I don't have to clean anything in there, but then what happened?" Sylis thought.

"Shhh..." she said, but Sylis didn't see her lips move. It might have been because of the poor lighting. "Don't tell Mama."

Sylis was never good with children, or people for that matter. He never made it a priority to have a family (much less kids). His job was dangerous and he would be dead if he wasn't careful. He had made a few enemies while working and snooping on people's secrets.

He had many questions for Piper like: What are you doing? Why did you shoot one of my guns? Why did you come here into my bedroom and closet? Why are you hiding? Who is Lilin like? What is she doing? But he kept all of these questions in his brain and simply asked the first one so as to not overwhelm the child.

"What are you doing?" He got down on his knees so they could be on the small level. It was good to be similar or the same level as the person you are trying to get information out of so they are comfortable. People tend to like others who act and look like them.

Piper seemed to be overwhelmed, maybe it was because she just shot a gun or maybe it was because of something else. "Are you okay?" Sylis asked.

"Mama," she whispered. She sure was soft-spoken. "She wouldn't like what I did..." Piper looked downward at her feet. She was sitting in the fetal position, Sylis' hanged clothes sort of draped upon her blonde locks. "Mama doesn't like guns, she pre—"

Lilin dashed through into the bedroom once more. Piper slid her feet closer to her body while Sylis quickly closed the closet door. He locked it and the closet was encased in darkness.

"I'm scared."

Sylis turned to Piper and sat down next to her Indian style. "Of whom?"

"You," Piper replied, pointing at him. "I'm scared of you because I don't know you that well and Mama says that you will help us. She says that you will be my new Papa." Piper didn't look at Sylis, she focused on her shoes. "I don't know you and that's scary..."

"So Lilin already told her about the situation, or at least enough that she considers me her father to be," Sylis noted. "What is this crazy lady thinking?"

They could hear Lilin's calling from outside. She sounded frantic. A true mother's worry. Sylis sighed; it was up to him to bring Piper out and something told him that brute force would not help.

"Why are you afraid?"

Piper looked up at Sylis. "Mama doesn't like guns and I just shot one. I'm scared of what she's going to do with me. It was an accident, I swear."

Sylis tried to make himself sound empathetic instead of his normal apathetic. It wasn't that hard, he had done it many times before he was planning on doing the same thing for their fake married relationship. "You don't need to be scared. Mama will understand that it was just an accident," he said using Piper's terminology. "And it's a little bit of my fault since I'm the one who had a gun in the first place."

"Really?" Piper asked.

Sylis nodded his head, but since they were in an abyss of black he added, "Of course."

Piper launched herself to Sylis and tried to engulf him with a hug. His breath was lost to Piper as she held him close. His arms slowly hugged her back. He was never hugged this tight before in his life. Even if the closet was dark and maybe scary, he feel the warmth from the little girl. "You're going to be a great Papa."

Sylis could feel the warm mess that came from Piper's head on her shoulder and that coldness that came from a gun on his other shoulder.

Slowly Piper lifted herself off of him and Sylis stood up. She handed him the gun which he placed on a high shelf. Sylis then unlocked the door and looked at Piper. "Go find your mother, I'll be here once you are done."

"Okay," she said as she ran out to find Lilin, her blonde bob bounced as her little legs carried her.

Sylis turned to his closet. It seemed more empty than usual.